Jinn of Current Events

Most industrial and developing countries tax individual and corporate capital gains more lightly than does the United States, according to a survey of twenty-four industrialized and developing countries. Also, missing from the survey are countries without capital gains tax, such as Switzerland. The comparatively harsh US taxation of capital gains creates a relative bias against saving and investment, raises the cost of capital for new investment, and slows economic growth. Short-term gains are taxed at 39.6% in the USA compared to an average of 19.4% for the sample. Long-term gains are taxed at 20% in the USA compared to an average of 15.9% for the other countries in the sample. [source: ACCF CPR] 

by Oriana Fallaci, September 2002

The Islamic world is engaged in a cultural war with the West and the worst is still to come, says Italian author Oriana Fallaci. The hate for the West swells like a fire fed by the wind. The clash between us and them is not a military one. It is a cultural one... Such is the thesis of The Rage and The Pride — the short book Miss Fallaci felt compelled to write immediately after the September 11 massacre. Written in two weeks, it is a striking, emotional essay, mixing anecdotes about the modern Muslim world, fighting in the Italian Resistance during WW II, histories of heroic radicals for freedom, and the conflict between Western freedom and Islamic tyranny. Some of it is pride in ancestors, some of it is a scream of rage, some of it is Italian history, some of it is autobiographical (and some parts are personal gossip). Unfortunately, beyond the rage, and beyond the pride, there is no advice to the reader, because emotions are neither tools of cognition nor proper guides to long-range action. Still, worth reading, despite its faults. My only regret is that it could have been an extremely powerful book if it had been the work of someone who believes in objective writing (Fallaci doesn't, and it shows).

Miss Fallaci has received death threats and been sued in France because of what she says and writes about Islam. While her book is a bestseller in Italy, it has barely been noticed in the US (the copy I have was printed in Italy) and it is nowhere to be seen in the UK.