08-01-2016, 10:47 PM
The tax law professor who helped turn carried interest from a technical tax term into a populist cause is coming to Washington. Victor Fleischer, whose 2006 academic paper started the debate on how private equity managers are taxed, will become co-chief tax counsel for Senate Finance Committee Democrats. His partner will be Tiffany Smith, already a member of the Finance Democrats’ staff. “Victor is a true outside thought leader in this space and Tiffany has been invaluable over the past years executing our agenda,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) said in a statement. Carried interest is the profits share that some investment managers typically get, and it’s taxed at preferential long-term capital gains rates, now 23.8%, compared to the top ordinary income rate of 39.6%. Mr. Fleischer made the case that their work was more like labor income and that the tax law was allowing some of the wealthiest people to pay low tax rates.
He Made ‘Carried Interest’ Famous. Now He’s Going to Help Write The Law - Real Time Economics - WSJ
Many sector stocks have broken out to new highs, but plenty of low-risk opportunities wait to be discovered, especially at middle and lower capitalization levels. Relative strength analysis uncovers these gems efficiently, identifying strong stocks that haven’t broken major resistance levels, allowing market players to get on board before buy signals draw in the trading crowd.
Chip Stocks Flying High (XLNX, FLEX) | Investopedia
When it comes to height, Dutch men and Latvian women tower over all other nationalities, a study reveals. The average Dutchman is now 183cm (6ft) tall, while the average Latvian woman reaches 170cm (5ft 7in). The research, published in the journal eLife, has tracked growth trends in 187 countries since 1914. It finds Iranian men and South Korean women have had the biggest spurts, increasing their height by an average of more than 16cm (6in) and 20cm (8in). In the UK, the sexes have gone up virtually in parallel by about 11cm (4in). "Mr Average" in Britain is now 178cm (5ft 10in) tall; Ms Average stands at 164cm (5ft 5in).
Dutch men revealed as world's tallest - BBC News
Should we be surprised that friendship isn’t always mutual? That is one of the findings of a team of researchers at Tel Aviv University who’ve just published a paper in an academic journal. They asked several hundred students to identify which members of their peer group they considered to be ‘friends’. On average, half the people included in this category by each respondent did not feel the same way about them. According to the researchers, this news would come as a shock to most people. The students in the survey thought that 95 per cent of the people they regarded as ‘friends’ would identify them as ‘friends’ too. But I can’t say I’m surprised. In fact, a 50 per cent reciprocity score strikes me as suspiciously high. The researchers cite another friendship survey in which the score was only 34 per cent. That seems about right to me.
The day I stopped believing in the friendship myth
Based on a meta-analysis of medical research literature, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society jointly released a consensus statement last year recommending that adults receive at least seven hours a night to maintain optimal health. This recommendation was based on a systematic review of former studies. It also said that getting fewer than six hours of sleep a night on a regular basis “is inadequate to sustain health”.
BBC - Future - How do politicians get by on so little sleep?