Do Americans Have to Die for Israel?

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's attempt to get President Obama to join him in drawing a "red line" for the Iranian nuclear program amounts to having Obama issue an ultimatum to Iran that the US will invade if Iran crosses it.  Netanyahu's idea is apparently that Iran nuclear facilities can be knocked out by an air strike, but how badly would an air strike damage Iran's nuclear program and how would Iran retaliate.  If an air strike failed to do serious damage to the program, would the US and Israel send in ground troops?  Iran appears to be a more formidable opponent than either Iraq or Afghanistan.  If the US invaded, it would be more expensive in lives and treasure than either of those two wars. 

Unlike Israel, America does not appear to be directly threatened in the short term by an Iranian nuclear bomb.  It would be much more difficult for Iran to hit the US with a nuclear warhead than Israel, which is much closer.  Therefore, a US attack on Iran would be almost entirely for Israel's benefit. 

Israel is a close ally, but a somewhat unusual one.  The closest comparison is probably to America and Great Britain in World War II, still sometimes referred to as a "special relationship."  In the 1940s, America was pretty much an Anglo, English-speaking nation, although there had been waves of immigrants, mainly from other European countries -- Germany, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia -- with lesser influxes from Asia. Our President, Franklin Roosevelt, was of Anglo background and clearly wanted to help England and Churchill as they came under attack from Germany,but he felt he could not do much because of a lack of public support for going to war.  Lend-lease was a start, but one that kept the US out of the conflict.  The decisive event was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought America into the war.  Arguably there was still no reason to go to war in Europe, since Germany had not attacked the US, but it suited Roosevelt, and most of the population of the US, to go to war in Europe, actually first in North Africa, while the US moved more gradually across the Pacific towards Japan.   Ironically, England had gone to war with Germany because of Germany's invasion of Poland, but Poland ended up being lost to the Soviet Union. 

Now we have Netanyahu trying to force the US into a war with Iran, by drawing a "red line," issuing an ultimatum to Iran that if it does X, e.g. produces 225 kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to 20%, then the US will attack it.  Should the US really do this for Israel?  The US does not like Iran; Iran held the staff of the US embassy there hostage for 444 days, until the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in to replace Jimmy Carter.  But if we really wanted to destroy the Iranian government, wouldn't we just invade Iran the way we invaded Iraq?  If it is in our national interest, we should do it.  In this case, the invasion called for by Netanyahu seems to be in Israel's interest, not necessarily ours.  An Iranian nuclear attack may be an existential threat for Israel, but not for the US.  It is a lot easier for Iran to reach Israel with a nuclear armed missile than the US, and the US is a lot bigger.  The explosion of one rudimentary nuclear weapon in the US would be terrible, but it would not be an existential threat to the nation. 

My concern is that American Jews and some American gentiles have divided loyalties.  They are more concerned about Israel than about the United States.  They are willing to sacrifice thousands of American lives to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb that poses little threat to the US.  Unlike Anglo Americans during World War II, Jews constitute a relatively small percentage of the US population, yet they are very influential politically and economically.  They may have the political power to force the US to go to war for Israel.  Many young, relatively poor, conservative redneck Americans would probably go willingly, although the majority of the US population probably would have serious reservations about going to war again in the Middle East, especially after the war in Iraq strengthened the hand of Iran. We would have fought the Iraq war to strengthen Iran by installing a Shiite regime, and then fought a new war with Iran to weaken Iran, to undo what we did in Iraq. 

If Roosevelt had difficulty coming to the aid of England during World War II, despite America's close ties with her, I hope that we will have at least as much difficulty going to war with Iran when there is a much smaller group of Israel-loving Jews pressing for it. 

Netanyahu's Red Line

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's campaign to have President Obama draw a nuclear "red line" that Iran cannot cross, amounts to having Obama issue an ultimatum that the US will invade Iran under the conditions specified in the "red line."  From his UN speech it appears that Netanyahu sets his red line at Iran's production of an amount of uranium enriched to 20% that will produce enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb warhead, according to Reuters.   According to Wikipedia, the critical mass of U-235 metal needed for a warhead would be about 52 kilograms.  Arms Control Now says 225 kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to 20% would be about the amount needed to produce the uranium needed for a 90% highly enriched warhead.  Uranium hexafluoride is the gas that is run through the enrichment centrifuges.  Once weapons-grade enrichment level is reached, the uranium metal is separated from the fluorine to produce the warhead.  Wikipedia says weapons grade enrichment is usually more than 85% U-235.  (Natural uranium contains only about 0.7% of the U-235 isotope.)  However, Arms Control Now reports that according to the last two IAEA reports, Iran's stockpile of 20% enriched uranium went down because Iran is using it to fuel its research reactor which needs 20% enriched uranium fuel to operate.  The latest IAEA report for August 2012 said that Iran had only 91.4 kg of 20% enriched uranium, considerably less than the 225 kg it would need for a warhead, according to IPS News.   The IAEA report for the previous quarter said that Iran then had a 20% stockpile of 101 kg. 

According to IPS, the IAEA report also said the total amount of 20% uranium hexafluoride produced by Iran rose from 143 kg in May 2012 to 189.4 kg in August 2012, or about 15 kg per month.  At this rate, to go from 91.4 kg to about 225 kg would take about 8 or 9 months, if no enriched uranium was diverted to the research reactor or other uses.  In that case, Iran would reach Netanyahu's red line around June of 2013. 

Arms Control Now says that once Iran has 225 kg of 20% enriched uranium hexafluoride, it would take about one more month to increase the enrichment to 90%.  It would also take time to convert the uranium hexafluoride to uranium metal and then to fabricate the warhead. 

NYT Op-Eds

Two New York Times op-eds on Tuesday ended on very good points.  David Brooks lamented the Republican party's focus only on economic conservatism, to the neglect of more traditional conservative ideas.  He closed by saying:

Conservatism has lost the balance between economic and traditional conservatism. The Republican Party has abandoned half of its intellectual ammunition. It appeals to people as potential business owners, but not as parents, neighbors and citizens.

On the same page, Joe Nocera commented on the Forbes 400 list of the richest individuals.  He supported my concern about the capital gains tax as welfare for billionaires.  He said:

The American dream exists not because of the capital gains differential but in spite of it. It is the tax break that most glaringly exists to benefit the wealthy. If you have any doubts about that, all you need to do is read the latest Forbes 400.
 

Romney's Taxes

Romney's release of 2011 taxes and an accountants' statement don't do him many favors.  They do show that he paid taxes in all previous years, contrary to Sen. Reid's claim.  Otherwise, he does not do much to support America.  He paid very low taxes.  Andrea Mitchell noted that the summary of 20 years of prior taxes look higher because the tax rates were higher in previous years.  I was surprised to find the best listing of prior year tax rates in Forbes. 

For much of that 20 year period the top tax rate for salaried income was over 40% and the maximum capital gains tax rate was over 20%.  For 2011 the rates were 37% and 15%.  The table shows how much taxes on rich taxpayers have gone down.  When you look at Federal payroll taxes (for Social Security and Medicare) and state income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes, the formerly "progressive" tax rates where rich pay higher taxes than the poor, have become "regressive" taxes that fall more heavily on the poor.  Romney's claim that 47% of potential taxpayers pay no taxes, ignores all taxes except federal income taxes. 

If Romney were a loyal, patriotic American earning as much as he does, he should pay something on the order of 30% of his income in federal taxes, not less than 15%. 

Romney and other Republican tax bashers say capital gains taxes have to be low, because they experience double taxation.  Their companies pay tax, and they get their investment income only after the companies are taxed.  But if the companies paid no taxes, workers salaries could be higher, too.  Why don't salaried workers get a double taxation break?  In addition, capital gains taxes are paid only after an asset is sold.  Therefore, many wealthy individuals have the earnings tax free for years. 

For example, if you buy some stock for $100, and it goes up $50 the first year.  You have made $50, but you pay no tax on it, because you don't sell it.  The next year, if the stock goes up another 50%, you make $75, but you pay no tax on that $75, plus you have made money on ALL of the profit you made the first year, because that profit was not taxed.  A salaried worker pays taxes on all of his income in the year he makes it; there is no benefit from compound interest, i.e., interest on the prior years' interest.  On the other hand, a rich person can hold a profitable asset for many years without paying any taxes on it, earning profit on the earlier profit that was not taxed.  Then when he sells it, he pays much lower taxes than someone who works for a living.  Basically the government gives him an interest free loan of the taxes due each year until he sells the asset.  Who's the "welfare queen" in this picture? 

It doesn't seem fair to me.  It's a good deal, but it's not fair. 

Year	Top Regular Rates			Max. Capital Gains Rate	Capital Gains Taxation Notes
	Wages & Other Earned Income	Unearned Income Except Cap Gains	Above Joint Taxable Income of
1916	15%	15%	$2,000,000	15%	Realized gains taxed same as other income
1917	67%	67%	$2,000,000	67%
1918	77%	77%	$1,000,000	77%
1919-21	73%	73%	$1,000,000	73%
1922	58%	58%	$200,000	12.50%	Maximum rate
1923	43.50%	43.50%	$200,000	12.50%
1924	46%	46%	$500,000	12.50%
1925-28	25%	25%	$100,000	12.50%
1929	24%	24%	$100,000	12.50%
1930-31	25%	25%	$100,000	12.50%
1932-33	63%	63%	$1,000,000	12.50%
1934-35	63%	63%	$1,000,000	31.50%	Sliding exclusion of 70%>10yrs 0% <1 small="small" yr.="yr.">
1936-37	78%	78%	$2,000,000	39%
1938-40	78%	78%	$2,000,000	30%	Excl. 50%>2yrs; 67% 18-24mo; 0%<18mo 30="30" ax="ax" small="small">
1941	80%	80%	$2,000,000	30%
1942-43	88%	88%	$200,000	25%	Exclusion 50% > 6 months; 25% maximum
1944-45	94%	94%	$200,000	25%
1946-47	86.50%	86.50%	$200,000	25%
1948-49	82.10%	82.10%	$200,000	25%
1950	84.40%	84.40%	$200,000	25%
51-64	91%	91%	$200,000	25%
64-67	70%	70%	$200,000	25%
1968	75.30%	75.30%	$200,000	26.90%	Transition
1969	77%	77%	$200,000	27.50%
1970	50%	70%	$200,000	32.30%
1971	50%	70%	$200,000	34.30%
1972-75	50%	70%	$200,000	36.50%	50% exclusion - minimum tax effects
1976-77	50%	70%	$203,200	39.90%
1978	50%	70%	$203,200	39%
1979-80	50%	70%	$215,400	28%	60% exclusion
1981	50%	70%	$215,400	23.70%	50% or 60% exclusion
1982-86	50%	50%	$215,400	20%	60% exclusion
1987	38.50%	38.50%	$192,930	28%	Maximum rate
1988-90*	28%/33%	28%/33%	*	28%/33%	Realized gains taxed same as other income
1991-92	31.90%	31.90%	$82,150	28.90%	Maximum rate
1993-96	43.70%	40.80%	$250,000	29.20%
1997-2000	43.70%	40.80%	$275,000	21.20%
2001	43.20%	40.30%	$297,350	21.20%
2002	42.70%	39.80%	$307,050	21.20%	18% top capital gains rate in rare cases
2003-05	39.00%	36.10%	$311,950	16.10%	Reduced maximum rate which also applied to dividends
2006-07	38.60%	35.70%	$336,550	15.70%
2008-09	38.30%	35.40%	$357,700	15.40%
2010-12	37.90%	35.00%	$373,650	15%
2013-on	44.60%	44.60%	$396,100	25%	21.2% income tax plus 3.8% Medicare tax; also on dividends