POTS * 5

DALLAS (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday praised his predecessor at the dedication of his library for showing strength and resolve in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks and said if Congress passes immigration reform "it will be in large part thanks to the hard work of President George W. Bush."

Obama spoke along with all four living former presidents in a rare reunion honoring one of their own at the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. "To know President George W. Bush is to like him," Obama said.

The presidents - Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter - were cheered by a crowd of former White House officials and world leaders as they took the stage together to open the dedication. They were joined on stage by their wives - the nation's current and former first ladies - for the outdoor ceremony on a sun-splashed Texas morning.

It was a day for recollections and reveries, and no recriminations or remorse.

The five men have been described as members of the world's most exclusive club, but Obama said they are "more like a support group."

"Being president above all is a humbling job," Obama said. He there were moments that they make mistakes and wish they could turn back the clock, but "we love this country and we do our best."

The leaders put aside the profound ideological differences that have divided them for years for a day of pomp and pleasantries. For Bush, 66, the ceremony also marked his unofficial return to the public eye four years after the end of his deeply polarizing presidency. "Oh happy day," Bush said as he took the stage.

the unequal society

The United States is an unequal society. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top 20 percent get about half the nation’s income, compared to the 5 percent of all income shared among the bottom fifth of households. The top 10 percent of the population controls about 70 percent of the wealth. Among rich countries, America’s inequality is certainly extreme. But the world as a whole is an incredibly unequal place. Norway—held up as a model of equality—still sees the bottom fifth of households with incomes less than a third (PDF) those of the top fifth.

Why is there such inequality? The choices we make as individuals can put us considerably above or below our peer average in terms of income or happiness or status. But our peer average itself is set by forces beyond our control—factors such as to whom we were born. And our peer average explains our relative standing against national averages far more than our own choices.

*** [6/11/13]

The net worth of the average American went from $194,000 in 1962 to $564,000 in 2007 (inflation adjusted).  However the median net worth went from only $52,000 in 1962 to $108,000 in 2007.  What's worse the average dropped to $464,000 in 2010 and the median dropped to $57,000, the lowest in 41 years.

something is rotten in Denmark

Denmark has among the highest marginal income-tax rates in the world, with the top bracket of 56.5 percent kicking in on incomes of more than about $80,000. But in exchange, the Danes get a cradle-to-grave safety net that includes free health care, a free university education and hefty payouts to even the richest citizens.

Parents in all income brackets, for instance, get quarterly checks from the government to help defray child-care costs. The elderly get free maid service if they need it, even if they are wealthy.

But few experts here believe that Denmark can long afford the current perks. So Denmark is retooling itself, tinkering with corporate tax rates, considering new public sector investments and, for the long term, trying to wean more people — the young and the old — off government benefits.

“In the past, people never asked for help unless they needed it,” said Karen Haekkerup, the minister of social affairs and integration, who has been outspoken on the subject. “My grandmother was offered a pension and she was offended. She did not need it.

“But now people do not have that mentality. They think of these benefits as their rights. The rights have just expanded and expanded. And it has brought us a good quality of life. But now we need to go back to the rights and the duties. We all have to contribute.”

Boston Marathon bombing

BOSTON >> Two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon today, killing at least three people and injuring more than 140 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs that raised alarms that terrorists might have struck again in the United States.

A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism.

President Barack Obama vowed that those responsible will "feel the full weight of justice."

As many as two unexploded bombs were also found near the end of the 26.2-mile course as part of what appeared to be a well-coordinated attack, but they were safely disarmed, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.

The fiery twin blasts took place about 10 seconds and about 100 yards apart, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending dense plumes of smoke rising over the street and through the fluttering national flags lining the route. Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories.

"They just started bringing people in with no limbs," said runner Tim Davey of Richmond, Va. He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to shield their children's eyes from the gruesome scene inside a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners, but "they saw a lot."

"They just kept filling up with more and more casualties," Lisa Davey said. "Most everybody was conscious. They were very dazed."

As the FBI took charge of the investigation, authorities shed no light on a motive or who may have carried out the bombings, and police said they had no suspects in custody. Officials in Washington said there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

the one man tax rate

In 1935, president Roosevelt set a special 79% tax rate on those earning more than $5 million a year. According to historian Mark Leff, only one man in America made that much money over the following three years: John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

[More from the article:]

The federal government collected tax receipts equal to 15.8% of GDP in 2012. That's less than the average of 17.7% since 1945, and a touch below the 16% average of the last decade.

But perhaps more important than the amount of taxes collected is how the burden has shifted. In 1950, corporate taxes made up 27% of revenue, and payroll taxes brought in 11%. By 1980, it was 12.5% and 30.5%, respectively. And by 2011, corporate taxes made up 7.9% of revenue, while payroll taxes made up 35.5%:

China and USA agree on North Korea

(Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday that China had agreed to work together to rid North Korea of its nuclear capability by peaceful means, but Beijing made no specific commitment in public to pressure its long-time ally to change its ways.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met China's top leaders in a bid to persuade them to push reclusive North Korea, whose main diplomatic supporter is Beijing, to scale back its belligerence and, eventually, return to nuclear talks.

Before travelling to Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry had made no secret of his desire to see China take a more active stance towards North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States and South Korea.

Kerry and China's top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, said both countries supported the goal of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

"We are able, the United States and China, to underscore our joint commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner," Kerry told reporters, sitting next to Yang at a state guesthouse in western Beijing.

But North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons which it described on Friday as its "treasured" guarantor of security.

Five ways Obamacare will succeed (and fail)

Succeed

Fail

Margaret Thatcher

London (CNN) -- Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in postwar British and world politics and the only woman to become British prime minister, has died at the age of 87.

She suffered a stroke Monday, her spokeswoman said. A British government source said she died at the Ritz Hotel in London.

Thatcher's funeral will be at St. Paul's Cathedral, with full military honors, followed by a private cremation, the British prime minister's office announced.

Thatcher served from 1975 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party. She was called the "Iron Lady" for her personal and political toughness.

Thatcher won the nation's top job only six years after declaring in a television interview, "I don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime."

During her time at the helm of the British government, she emphasized moral absolutism, nationalism, and the rights of the individual versus those of the state -- famously declaring "There is no such thing as society" in 1987.

Nicknamed the "Iron Lady" by the Soviet press after a 1976 speech declaring that "the Russians are bent on world dominance," Thatcher later enjoyed a close working relationship with U.S. President Reagan, with whom she shared similar conservative views.

But the British cold warrior played a key role in ending the conflict by giving her stamp of approval to Soviet Communist reformer Mikhail Gorbachev shortly before he came to power.

Thatcher -- born in October 1925 in the small eastern England market town of Grantham -- came from a modest background, taking pride in being known as a grocer's daughter. She studied chemistry at Oxford, but was involved in politics from a young age, giving her first political speech at 20, according to her official biography.

She was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, when the party was in opposition.

She made history four years later, becoming prime minister when the Conservatives won the elections of 1979, the first of three election victories to which she led her party.

As British leader, Thatcher took a firm stance with the European Community -- the forerunner of the European Union -- demanding a rebate of money London contributed to Brussels.

Her positions on other issues, both domestic and foreign, were just as firm, and in one of her most famous phrases, she declared at a Conservative Party conference that she had no intention of changing her mind.

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: 'You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning,'" she declared, to cheers from party members.

[CNN video]

Bitter Pill

Read the feature in the March 4 issue of Time magazine, Steven Brill’s “Bitter Pill: How Outrageous Pricing and Egregious Profits Are Destroying Our Health Care.” It’s long, but it’s worth the reader’s slog, for Brill looks closely at dozens of hospital bills from across the country. What he found were not nonprofit institutions devoted solely to the health of their patients, but profit centers that charge scandalous sums for pills, gauze, ointments and procedures.

How scandalous? A head scan that in Canada costs $122 will bring a U.S. hospital $510. An appendectomy in high-priced Switzerland will cost $5,840, compared to $13,003 in the United States. And a coronary bypass that puts a Frenchman back $16,140 will require $67,583 to get around a U.S. blockage.

According to Brill, the results don’t justify the prices we pay. In 2010, America spent more than $8,000 per person on health care; the Japanese, less than half that much. An American can expect to live to be 79; a resident of Japan, to 83. All the world’s developed countries do as well or better than the United States on the longevity scale, despite the U.S. spending $750 billion more on health care than all the other developed nations spend combined.

gun control bill passed in Connecticut

[4/4/13] Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy signed the nation's most far-reaching gun control bill Thursday, the ceremony in Hartford concluding several emotional weeks of debate and compromise since the state was rocked and the world stunned by the mass murder of children in Newtown.

"This is a profoundly emotional day for everyone in this room," Malloy, a Democat, said moments before signing the bill. He added that he hoped the state's bipartisan effort would provide an example for Congress.

"When 92% of Americans agree that every gun sale should be subject to a background check, there is no excuse" not to make it federal law," Malloy said.

The bill adds more than 100 weapons to the state's ban on assault weapons, limits the capacity of ammo magazines and requires background checks for all weapon sales, including at gun shows.

It also establishes the nation's first statewide registry for people convicted of crimes involving dangerous weapons. Access to the registry would be available only to law enforcement.