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    The main mark of modern governments is that we do not know who governs, de facto any more than de jure. We see the politician and not his backer; still less the backer of the backer; or, what is most important of all, the banker of the backer.

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    Pets are People Too!

    Now here is some legislation I can get behind. An up to $3500 itemized deduction for pet care expenses. We give tax deductions and credits for people having children. Seems to me we should use tax policy to help people care for pets too. They are important too!

    As much as I favor this, the chance of this legislation passing is about the same as successfully [...]



    Return to the Gilded Age

    Bail out the rich.  Fail to regulate corporations.  Allow unconstrained corporate compensation agreements.  Do not facilitate unionization of workers.  Allow big corporations to control the media.  Make free trade more important than our manufacturing industries.  Ignore environmental priorities.  Keep taxes low.  Deficit spend on the military.  Constrain health care and infrastructure expenditures.

    And expect things to get better.

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    Les Leopold: Why Our [...]



    Sack GoldMans

    April 11, 2009–A New Way Forward organized bailout protests around the country. Locals hit Portland's Pioneer Square to protest our tax dollars being given to greedy Banksters.

    Colleen Lindsay and Mike Ellison at Bank Bailout Protest

    Photos courtesy of Rich

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    Let’s Bailout Paris Hilton Too

    Given the state of the Federal budget deficit, this just makes me sick (from Think Progress):

    Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) have a $250 billion proposal to cut estate taxes for the children of multi-millionaires even more than George W. Bush already did, and it’s attracting a disturbing amount of support.

    Their $250 billion proposal would raise the estate tax exemption [...]



    New Nationalism Speech – Teddy Roosevelt History Lesson

    Mt. Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt closeup. Image via Wikipedia

    Since the 1980s (when I worked for Eastern Airlines, which no longer exists due to deregulation fever) we as a people have amnesia when it comes to the lessons that history teaches us.  Regulations did not just magically appear one day.  They were derived from the wisdom that came about from the mistakes of the past.  Reagan [...]



    Cheating, Stealing and Intuition

    Image via Wikipedia

    Being a tax professional, I have to deal with client situations concerning a “little” cheating. This video describes what happens when people think that they will not get caught. It is too late for the Madoffs, Stanfords and Ken Lays of the world but perhaps the rest of us can learn something from this.

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    what do politicians hate more than anything else?

    Doubt. Doubt = weakness, and weakness = electoral failure.

    So it’s a minor miracle when a politician reaches the right conclusion and, despite his doubts, acts on it:

    SANTA FE — The Bill Richardson who announced a repeal of the death penalty in New Mexico on Wednesday was not the same Bill Richardson who usually shows up for face time with the news media.

    The Richardson who [...]



    time to name names and put the blame where it belongs

    On Hank Paulson’s bald head.

    When AIG started to become unwound last fall, who better to know just how much Goldman Sach’s own rape & pillage squad was going to depend on its AIG bad bet insurance than the former CEO, Paulson himself – and who else but the Treasury Secretary would be better positioned to make sure that at least his alma mater – if [...]

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