Thursday, November 8, 2012

The fat guy did it!

This is pathetic, the problem is not the Republican Party or Mitt himself but the campaign strategies of his staff, an alteration in tactics would have yielded better results - what a bunch of horse shit!  Romney’s campaign was hardly perfect, which no campaign ever is, but the Republican Party needs to do a hard and honest self-examination - that is where the problem is.  Beating up Mitt, his staff, hurricane Sandy, Chris Christie, or the dog that ate my fucking game plan is not gonna put you in the win column in 4 years.  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/life-after-defeat-for-mitt-romney-public-praise-private-questions/2012/11/07/4db3bc38-2916-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_story_1.html

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Time for Republican introspection not recriminations


As I have said often this season, if you have a Republican friend be sure to thank them for 4 more years of Obama.  It could not have been planned better if the Romney campaign actually hired David Axlerod as an advisor. 
Amid all the mewing about Chris Christie and “super-storm” Sandy, Governor Romney actually ran a fairly good campaign given that he was an intrinsically weak candidate to start with.  As I have discussed, a primary plank of his platform was the repeal of Obamacare, legislation of which he was the principal architect, add to this the dizzying velocity of flip-flops and you had quite a stinky stew.  I am rather stunned that he got as close as he did (I suspect the election would have been called even earlier in the evening if Obama had not slept thru that first debate).
It is now time for some serious soul-searching by the Republican Party, I think they have worked themselves into a position where they are going to be unable to successfully field a national candidate, and there are 3 things that need to happen:
1.     Figure out some reasonable solution to immigration.  We have millions of illegals in this county, they are not going to “self-deport” (to use Governor Romney’s laughable term).  John McCain (with Ted Kennedy) had a reasonable solution back in 2007 that practically ended his political career.  Whether conservatives are “right or wrong” it is obvious that their hardline position is not practical, figure it out, hold your nose and come to some resolution.  You are never going to get the growing Hispanic vote until you do.
2.     If you are serious about the deficit, you must understand that the solution HAS to include a less engaged, smaller, more efficient military.  The Republican equation that more money = better defense will simply make America the best armed country in the world bankruptcy court.  The right loves to mew about American exceptionalism, but bankrupting ourselves in the name of defense and homeland security is not a path to being “exceptional.”  You are never going to get the support of younger voters unless you stop the idiotic saber rattling and wasteful spending rampant in the defense department and homeland security.  
3.     Get out of the bedroom and STOP making personal issues of morality a federal matter.  This is both stupid and runs in direct opposition to the conservative values of smaller and less intrusive government.  You are alienating women and younger voters with these moronic discussions on contraception, rape, abortion and other matters.  It is not reasonable to lobby for the repeal of Roe vs. Wade, it has been the law of the land for almost 40 years there is no way modern women are going to move back into the alley for abortion treatments.  At this point it is a personal issue, if you don’t morally agree with abortions, don’t have one and work aggressively to offer alternatives so that women chose to not have them but further legislation on this front is futile, give it up!
History would seem to bear out that Governor Romney is probably a fairly centrist man, but he was hamstrung by the idiotic, right-wing Christian gauntlet that he had to run in the Republican primary.  This left Democrats with enough ammo for 5 campaigns.  If Republicans are smart, and the Governor is willing, Romney might be a wonderful resource for the party to start rebuilding.  Having gone thru what is no doubt a heartbreaking process coupled with his long career in analyzing problems and finding solutions he might be just the man to lead a rebuilding of the Republican Party into one more focused conservative economic values and move away from the angry, unreasonable and harsh social issues that are killing it.   

The Hangover Part III


Today there is little to celebrate, it is hard for me to imagine any thinking person being glad for 4 more years of President Obama (you may be happy to not look forward to a Romney Presidency but that’s different).  At this point in time we have to pray that President Obama seriously examines his legacy and decides that he needs to focus on 3 things; tax reform, entitlement reform and begin seriously addressing the deficit.  

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Etch-a-Sketch Mitt


Well I guess I owe Eric Fehrnstrom (senior aid to the Romney campaign) an apology, I ridiculed him in a previous blog on his “Etch-a-Sketch” remark.  I was clearly wrong as the “Etch-a-Sketch” seems to be working just fine. 
If Romney wins it will clearly hinge on the first debate, Obama slept thru while Romney slid to the center and defused millions of dollars in negative campaign ads in a short hour and a half.  Why did this work so well, after all the Romney camp could not have planned it?  You can’t possibly plan on a media master like Obama showing up so desultory. 
The aspect of all this that I missed is hidden in the numbers of viewers; the Republican nomination debates drew approximately 7.6 million viewers, the Republican Convention about 22 million, the first presidential debate; a whopping 70 million viewers.   Clearly millions of viewers were paying attention for the first time, and what they saw was a centrist Mitt Romney and I suspect the reaction of many viewers was something like “this guy’s not so bad.”  That (maybe) is all Romney needed in light of the failed presidency of Barak Obama. 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Mitt was right!


Many on the left have jumped on Romney's statement during last night’s debate; "But gosh, to tell our kids that before they have babies, they ought to think about getting married to someone — that's a great idea because if there's a two-parent family, the prospect of living in poverty goes down dramatically. The opportunities that the child will — will be able to achieve increase dramatically."   Many on the left viewed this comment as a slap in the face to single parents (I have heard references to this at least 4 times this morning).  What Romney was referring to, of course, was a famous study done by William Galston (of the Brookings Institute) a Clinton domestic policy advisor in which he stated;  “You need only do three things in this country to avoid poverty - finish high school, marry before having a child, and marry after the age of 20. Only 8 percent of the families who do this are poor 79 percent of those who fail to do this are poor.”

Romney did not make the argument as clear as he should, after all the question Romney was "answering" related to gun control but the clarity and logic of Galston's thesis is abiding and one that all American's and their policy makers should take to heart.  


Friday, September 28, 2012

Calling Rabbi Boteach, show us the way

In case you have not gotten the news yet, the Republican Party is going to have a very hard time winning a national election until they take to heart the words of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of New Jersey;  "Republicans are getting fixated with abortion, contraception and gay marriage."  
Until the Republican Party turns its back on the socio-sexual psychosis of the Christian right I think they are doomed in national elections.  Get back to true conservative values and the party might save itself, otherwise we need a viable conservative/small government 3rd party.   Read about the good Rabbi here - http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/06/after-winning-republican-primary-rabbi-takes-moderate-tone/

Thursday, September 20, 2012

The 3 Stooges go to Washington

Just when you thought the 3 Stooges that run the Romney campaign could not come up with anything more pathetic then they already have we have the new ad using an old (and heavily edited) Obama clip that we have all seen already (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/4-pinocchios-for-a-truncated-14-year-old-obama-clip/2012/09/20/9b40f4b8-0330-11e2-91e7-2962c74e7738_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics).  Now that I think of it I am going to have to stop referring to the Romney campaign advisers as the 3 Stooges, they really are not as smart as Moe, Larry & Curly! 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The Taxman Givith and the Taxman Takethaway

I would remind Mr. Romney that the same tax code that allows 47% of Americans to pay no income taxes is the same tax code that allowed him to pay (on average) 17.5% on his $21.5 Million dollars in adjusted gross income in 2010.  The 47% did not write their own tax laws anymore then you did, they are just abiding by them, same as you.  I think you might wish to turn your ire on Congress, they are the ones that write the tax laws.

Mitt Romney and the 47% Solution



In light of the latest Romney debacle, I think the proper question Mr. Romney should be asking American citizens today amid all the media mewing about the "47%" might be: “how do you run a democracy when almost half of its citizens do not pay income taxes?”  Let us be clear this IS NOT a question of whether Governor Romney “understands” or “relates to” the American electorate it is a basic question regarding citizenship in our country.  I would be interested in hearing Mr. Obama’s response to that question.

The media is no help on this matter, I know taxes are in my blood but I expect intelligent adults to know that there is a difference between income taxes and “payroll”/FICA taxes.  There are 2 elements to “payroll” taxes, Social Security and Medicare.  These amounts are used to fund the benefits/entitlements of these 2 programs that many Americans enjoy.  Income taxes are the county’s “general fund” (so to speak) that pays for everything else.  While I have had this argument with some very intelligent people I see these as 2 different taxes and as such I do not think that “payroll”/FICA and income taxes should be lumped together.     

But a serious question remains: how do you engage an electorate on important issues regarding the country’s finances and economy when they have no “skin in the game?”  Whey should they even care about treasury draining wars and entitlements, they aren’t paying for them (of course to a frightening degree nobody is paying for them as they are funded by the U.S. Treasury printing and borrowing money – but that is another story).

How does a democracy function effectively in such as corrupt and disconnected economic environment; as we seem to prove every day, it does not. 

Monday, September 17, 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

News Flash - Romney Loses the Election


Well actually this is probably not really news, as I (and many others) have noted Mr. Romney was a structurally weak candidate from the beginning, in fact, in both Romney and Obama you have candidates that are historically unelectable; Romney for being unlikable and Obama for the state of the economy under his watch, specifically the unemployment rate.
When Governor Romney loses to Barak Obama in November the Republican Party is really going to have to think hard about the control that the wacked out right wing of its party is exerting.  This socially conservative fringe does not hurt in state elections where the right wing candidate IS representative of the electorate (i.e. they are both wacked out) but is clearly killing the party in this presidential race.  As I have said since the beginning of this sorry campaign, Mr. Romney is the Republican Party’s John Kerry.  Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, opined recently that if the Republican Party cannot defeat Barak Obama they need to “shut down the party.”  GEE, this sounds hauntingly familiar to what many Democrats said about the John Kerry, George W. Bush contest!
The issue here is NOT conservatism per say, it is the weird Christian right morality agenda centered on abortion, sex, immigration, school prayer, gun laws, etc.  You have such nauseating charades as the Republican debate when the candidates debated the role of sex in and out of marriage!  You had Mr. Santorum stating that even in marriage you only have sex with your spouse for purposes of procreation.  ANY party that even considers such a candidate seriously must desire failure in a nationwide general election; this shit is just too frightening to normal people. 
When Mr. Romney’s advisor Eric Fehrnstrom, made the infamous “etch-a-sketch” analogy about the pivot to the general election, he missed the fact that said candidate has an opponent that is going to beat you to a pulp replaying all the stupid shit you said when you were busy kissing the ass of social conservatives. 
The Republican Party needs to figure out that this right wing Christian conservative social agenda is NOT actually/necessarily conservative.  The parties nominees have NO business opining on their view of sex whether in or out of marriage, these issues are largely none of governments business.  The social conservative agenda is out of step with many Americans feel on a number of issues.  I have noted a number of times when young Ron Paul supporters are asked by interviewers who they are gong to vote for in the general election now that their candidate is not running they invariably say Obama.  The reason these libertarian voters end up in the seemingly unlikely Obama camp is the scary and intrusive social conservative agenda of the current Republican Party. 
Until the Republican Party can embrace a truer conservative/libertarian agenda, and focus on economic conservatism and drop some of the unnecessary social issues (or kick them down to the state level) they are not going to win a national election.        

Romney and his tax Fantasy-land

OUCH, read this from the current issue of Business Week - http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-13/mitt-romney-and-the-fantasy-budget.  Gee, Mitt you can't name ONE tax break you would consider ending, hey I got a few for ya:

  1. Carried Interest - (Sorry Mitt - this one affects you) this is the tax break for venture capital and fund managers that allows them to take compensation at the 15% capital gains rate instead of ordinary rates.
  2. The myriad of special rates and credits for oil companies and their investors such as credits for intangible drilling costs and deductions for depletion and 
  3. The deduction for domestic manufacturing  
  4. The IC Disc
  5. ALL refundable credits for both corporations and individuals, you know those credits that cause the IRS to send refunds greater then the taxes that were withheld or paid 
  6. Orphan drug credit 
  7. R&D credit
  8. Limiting mortgage interest deduction to $500K of indebtedness (from the current $1.2 million) 
  9. Alcohol Fuel Credit 
  10. Section 179 depreciation deduction 
These are just 10 quickies that I can think of and you can't (on a national TV interview) name one!! 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Marathon Man


I have seen Bruce Springsteen probably somewhere between 20 and 30 times over the last 35 years.  That might sound impressive but in the Springsteen world that makes me a piker, as it is fairly easy to find folks that have seen him over a 100 times (like N.J Governor Chris Christie).  This year I decided I was going to see all 3 Boston Shows, the 2 at Fenway Park as well as the one at Gillette Stadium.  Based on what I was reading about the recently completed European tour as well as the superlative new CD “Wrecking Ball” I felt like this was a time to go all in.
Bruce has from the first moment I saw him on stage been “the boss.”  That was always clear; the E Street Band was never a “band” like The Beatles, for instance.  These days that is even more distinct, Bruce leads the band thru drummer Max Weinberg who seems to virtually never take his eyes off Springsteen, all on stage cue’s seem to move from Bruce to Weinberg and then out to the rest of the band.  Even Bruce’s old pal “Little” Steven never steps to the microphone to sing with Bruce unless invited, same with the horn players, they only come down to the front of the stage when called.  The tradeoff is, of course, the entire stage is in the hands of music’s greatest showman and performer.  
In all 3 Boston shows, especially the monumental 2nd night at Fenway Park, Springsteen was able to infuse a show with a stunning sense of purpose.  The second night at Fenway Park was a 3 and a half hour show that possessed an amazing continuity given the wide ranging musical styles covered.  It shifted from the opening tune, a quiet and serious duet with pianist Roy Bitten on “Thunder Road” to a “summertime hits” set of 4 party songs before settling into a handful of tunes from the new LP.  The middle of the show was a series of true rarities (“Does This Bus Stop on 82nd Street”,”Thundercrack” and a magical “Frankie”) as well as a killer cover of Eddie Floyd’s Memphis soul hit from 1967 “Knock on Wood.”  Next was an audience request that sent the Springsteen main-liners into rapture; “Prove it all Night” with the long, tortured guitar intro famous from the 1978 tour, this was followed by a gut-wrenching “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” at which point Dave Little leaned over to me and stated that we had just witnessed “the greatest 15 minutes of live music we had ever heard” AND there were still 6 songs to go in the main set as well as an 8 song encore!
Somehow Bruce Springsteen is able to move thru his own vast catalog as well as select covers that traverse the American music landscape of rockabilly (Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”), soul and R&B (Mitch Ryder’s “Detroit Medley” and Gary U.S. Bond’s “Quarter to 3”) and have it all hang together as a coherent whole.   This is done with the force of his personality as well as the masterful E Street Band that can turn on a dime and (seemingly) play material that they have either never played or have not played in many years (the last time they performed “Knock on Wood” was 1976, for instance).
It is an amazing history that the 62 year old Springsteen shares and represents to us fans.  As the original band members passes away (the only E Street Band member now onstage that played on Springsteen’s first 2 albums is bassist Garry Tallent), Springsteen himself remains ebullient, focused and committed and by my estimation he may, in fact, be better than he had ever been as a performer and that is (as the song goes) really saying something!    

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Some thoughts - Tragedy, Comedy, Tragedy, ?

A cursitory review of recent proposed legislation from the House of Representatives can only lead to one conclusion, when Republicans talk about lowering regulations against business they are talking about gutting environmental regulations, more political code.


 


The 2012 national comedy! One of the key platforms of Governor Romney is the overturning of Obama’s key legislation.  Unfortunately for Mr. Romney this is virtually the same piece of legislation that he passed while holding the only public office he ever held as Governor of Massachusetts.  In fact Obama modeled Obamacare on Romneycare.  SO Romney and Obama are the ONLY American politicians who have passed comprehensive healthcare reform and that major legislation is the main object of contention between these 2 candidates.  It’s a little hard to believe.  


 


The Legend Romney Hood explained - many clients are quite surprised when I tell them that approximately 25% of American tax filers get more back from the IRS then they paid in, yes that is correct, taxpayers for whom the IRS sends refunds in excess of what was withheld from their W-2’s.  For these tax filers and the corrupt politicians that support them the IRS has become a de facto Federal welfare agency.  Most Americans find this astounding, on top of the 50% + of American’s who do not pay any income tax, we now find that half of them actually have a negative tax liability.

Now how does this relate to the Presidents Legend of Romney Hood?  It turns out that Mr. Romney has proposed an end to the refundable tax credits (the earned income tax credit, college tuition credits, dependent child credit, etc) that allow these fliers to have a negative tax liability.  This proposition is being cast as a tax increase by the President.  OK, let’s review once again the pretzel logic in the legend of Romney Hood, Mr. Romney proposes that we end the role of IRS as federal welfare agency, that no taxpayer get a refund greater then what they paid in.  The filer never paid taxes in the first place, in fact had a negative tax liability and now that he or she is not going to receive this unwarranted “refund” any longer is being cast as a tax increase in the current presidential race. 
Can anyone doubt that by the end of this campaign will have seen these 2 midget’s and their sundry super PAC’s will duke it out and reach heretofore unseen depths of falsehoods, obfuscation, corruption, cynicism, crony capitalism and pandering in their race to be leader of the free world.
 

I think Paul Ryan has the ability to be a real game changer; we will see how Romney embraces and uses Representative Ryan as we move forward

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Revisiting Afghanistan


I thought it might be instructive to revisit Afghanistan as we sit on the verge of (perhaps) electing a new president who feels our efforts there need to be increased. 

Even after our “withdrawal” we continue to spend millions of dollars a day in nation building (let me be clear, the primary job the military should ALWAYS be the destruction of nations NOT the “building” of them).  We apparently continue to spend money and blood in Afghanistan because a small group of international criminals (al-Qaeda) used that as a base of operations over a decade ago.  The US military estimates that there may be a little as 50 al-Qaeda members currently in Afghanistan, yet we are still there.  While America itself is in need of “nation building” we have spent over $443 billion dollars in Afghanistan since 2001, and it has cost over 1800 American lives and almost 16K in American injuries all to make sure that this small band of international criminals don’t set up shop there in the future.  The Pew Trust reports that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have contributed more to growth in U.S. debt than any other policy since 2001 except the Bush tax cuts.

We fight al-Qaeda like they are a standing army when they are really more like the mafia.  They can set up shop instantly, practically anywhere in the World (including inside the U.S.) and fighting them like they are a traditional enemy is inefficient and stupid.  On the other hand it plays very nicely into Washington’s culture of corporate welfare and crony capitalism and I suspect that beyond the insane Republican sub-culture of the neo-cons that is sadly, often what Afghanistan and the “war on terror” is really about, pork and lining the pockets of friends and supporters.

As much as I would love to “hope” that Mr. Obama’s 52nd birthday be spent out of public office I live in real fear of Mr. Romney and his fleet of neo-cons sailing into the White House.       

Sunday, July 22, 2012

There is no joy in Mudville


2 random recent events highlighted an interesting void is our current, pathetic presidential race. 

The first was a Beach Boys documentary DVD (the excellent “Beach Boys – An American Band”) that included a funny clip of President Regan.  The President was hosting a Rose Garden event with the Beach Boys.  Regan was intervening in what had become a minor national uproar, when Secretary of the Interior James Watt decided that the “hard rock” band the Beach Boys we not suitable July 4th entertainment on the Washington Mall because they would attract the “wrong element” – he had booked Wayne Newton instead!  The President was funny, relaxed and clearly enjoyed hosting the band and poking good natured fun at Watt as he overturned Watt’s decision.

The second thing that got me thinking was a recent dinner party where a liberal guest challenged the conservative host to name one Democrat he liked, he responded “Bill Clinton.”

It struck we that one of the things that unite Clinton and Regan (besides presiding over successful Presidencies – no small matter) is that both clearly enjoyed being president.  On a recent Washington Week show one of the reporters joked that there were still claw marks on the woodwork of the White House where they dragged Clinton out at the end of his second term. 

I think remembering both President Regan and Clinton (regardless of your political persuasion) helps highlight the joyless, humorless campaign of Obama vs. Romney.  Leadership in a President is a combination of a vision for the nation coupled with an outline of the policies that will achieve that vision.  Neither of these men seems capable of elucidating any real positive vision, or even making a passion argument WHY we should vote for them.  At this point in the race the “argument” on both sides is simple; the other guy sucks (true in both cases) so you should vote for me (untrue in both cases).  Sadly I think a subsequent Presidency by either man will also be a visionless, humorless and joyless 4 years, why would we expect anything else? 

As such, this pitiful exercise is so tedious and depressing that (all evidence to the contrary) it seems America MUST deserve better than this!        

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Spotify

Have I mentioned lately that the online streaming music site Spotify is DA BOMB!!! - now the second program I open on my computer every morning.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Step right up and see Corporations love, cry and dance

Jack and Suzy Welch wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal today titled; “It’s True: Corporations are People.”  Here are some samples:


Of course corporations are people. What else would they be? Buildings don't hire people. Buildings don't design cars that run on electricity or discover DNA-based drug therapies that target cancer cells in ways our parents could never imagine.


And later in the article:


And while they're doing that, people in corporations do indeed love and cry and dance.  (this “cry and dance” language is a reference to a speech by our own Elizabeth Warren that begins the article).  If you don't know that, you've never been part of a team that has pulled together over coffee and late nights and shouting and laughing and created something amazing to hit a deadline. You've never been in the room when a longtime client says it's not working anymore and she's taking her business to your biggest competitor. You've never sat in the lunch room when someone runs in and says the new medical device that no one thought had a chance, the little heart valve or something like it that every engineer in the place has been working on for two years, has just passed its first human clinical trials with flying colors.


 


REALLY Jack and Suzy, corporations are “people” because people happen to WORK there.  SO if I happen to have a job at legally created, state (not federal) business organizations (corporation) and I “cry and laugh” then the artificial business organization takes on my human attributes.  Furthermore if I happen to not see this magical corporation/human transformation then I am anti-business as they explain in the closing section of their op-ed:


This fact is so obvious that there can only be one conclusion drawn when we hear the pronouncement, "Corporations aren't people"—that it's doublespeak. That is, when people say that corporations aren't people, what they really want to say is, "Business is evil."


 

Please keep in mind that this really is a magical transformation worthy of Harry Potter.  This state created business organization, whose primary function is to make a profit AND is granted (thru the corporate structure)  limited liability of its shareholders and employees is granted human properties (after all Jack and Suzy tell us this legal creation can "cry and dance")!  


Maybe you are saying what I said after I read this today, “it took 2 people to write this pile of moronic drivel?”  The great business leader and his wife can’t come up with a more salient, focused and intelligent defense of corporations and business then this?  He dissed Elizabeth Warren; Mitt Romney was praised along with the (by inference) “Citizens United” case, wonder if there were any ulterior motives at work?, after all it is hard to believe this imbecilic article was simply meant to stand on its own.

The Beach Boys






Went to see The Beach Boys at the Pavilion in Boston a few weeks ago; the 5 surviving members have reunited for the bands 50 year anniversary.   Backed by a large group made up of Mike Love’s and Brian Wilson’s superb touring bands the group sounds good as they moved thru a 2 set show playing a generous 47 songs.  It was fascinating to see the bands long running dichotomy still playing out after all these years.  The twin peaks of America’s great band is, of course, the pure pop genius of Brian Wilson juxtaposed with the showmanship of Mike Love.  This was manifested in the audience as well, baby boomers there to grab a bit of nostalgia and those of us there to hear them play the high art that was Brian’s musical output in the 1960’s.  The nostalgic attendees (like the 60+ women in front of us who was bound and determined to “dance” to every song no matter how inappropriate) reacted loudly to Mr. Love and Bruce Johnson’s sing-along’s and cheerleading but a deep round of applause went up when Brian Wilson took the mike 4 songs into the opening set with “Hawaii.”  The Beach Boys sounded excellent and, contrary to several early reports, did seem to sing a vast majority of the vocals and harmonies.  Brian cannot do his signature high falsetto harmonies anymore so those are ably handled by his long time band mate Jeff Foskett.

I must say that it is an unnerving experience being at one of these baby boomer “reunion” type shows.  There are folks there that clearly do not go out to hear live music much and for whom the show is some weird exercise in reclaimed youth.  This was vividly played out when an old coot in suspenders sitting in front of our 60+ year old go-go dancer leapt to his feet to “dance” to (of all things!) “When I Grow up to be a Man.”  Not sure if he got the strange, surreal irony of that, made me think if you did not get your youth right the first time forgetaboutit!


Thursday, July 12, 2012

NPR


When discussing NPR with my brother recently he opined that the perfect NPR report would go something like this:  “World to end tomorrow; minorities and women to be disproportionally affected.” 

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Hey American, Heads I win, Tails you Lose!


Recently house republicans released e-mails that give further granularity and detail to the well known story of how big pharmaceutical giants shanghaied Obamacare in the cradle during the summer of 2009.  With the help of the Machiavellian Rahm Emmanuel and the White House devoid of any vision and convictions, companies like Pfizer made sure that ObamaCare became our Rosemary’s baby rather than America’s (huge) bundle of joy.  This study in ugly crony capitalism even had the Wall Street Journal up in arms in a recent op-ed piece, seeing that the virtual ownership of our political process by big business is undermining free markets, capitalism and democracy itself, in a word it is destroying America.


Crony capitalism is a primary animator of both the petulant Tea Party the infantile Occupy Movement but I am not sure either is going to move this ball very much alone (even thought I do hold out hope for Occupy’s Guitarmy :).  This issue should be a point of unity for both, and together with independent voters might exact some change. 


Crony capitalism is a sort of pure evil that should unify all political sects; Tea Partiers, Occupiers, Conservatives and Progressives.  I would suggest members of all “movements” read Luigi Zingales wonderful new book “A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity.”  Zingale’s book lays out the scorched earth policy that is crony capitalism as well as any I have read.  Crony capitalism is undermining the public’s understanding of the free markets, democracy and is the key element in the America’s deep distrust of government.  Until this demon is beaten back there will be no meaningful change in our land.

Girl's

On a recent episode of the HBO series “Girls” the lead character Hannah, played by the show’s creator Lena Dunham states that she is not “trained to do anything.”  This comment has stayed with me in light of all the mewing about the student loan debt crisis.  This “crisis” has prompted those paragons of virtue moveon.org to start a website called signon.org that has a morally reprehensible petition called “Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012” (less said about this the better).


A good friend recently sent a post to Facebook lauding the purity and higher good of education, i.e. college should not be turned into vocational training, and I agree.  That useless degree in journalism is fine if you or your parents have the wherewithal to pay for it.  On the other hand IF you are going to graduate with that degree in journalism and $10’s of thousands of dollars of student loan debt then you are going to have to address the responsibility of paying that loan back.  You cannot blindly stumble into one of the cockamamie new college degrees, accruing massive debt with no plan on how that debt is going to be repaid.  After all that “Women’s Studies” degree MIGHT not prove that marketable.  Couple this with the fact that the “Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012” might not pass and you are up shit’s creek!


I also wonder where are the adults in this travesty, are parents cosigning their children’s student loans on for these intellectually bankrupt college degrees (Women’s Studies, African American Studies) or traditional degrees with virtually no marketability; philosophy, psychology, sociology, journalism, etc.?  And what about the colleges, overpriced, creating contemporary “degree” programs and established programs for suckers.


Something certainly has to be done about the cost of college education; but writing off student loan debt while morally unconscionable will not help this problem, and would be college students are going to have to hit some balance between the cost of the degree/debt and their post degree earnings.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Who is the Asshole?


Favorite joke by Mr. Kimmel at the White House press dinner Saturday (and I paraphrase):  The difference between the people that watch Bill Maher and the people that watch Bill O’Rielly?  The folks that watch Bill Maher know he is an asshole!

Is Capitalism “Moral”?


I attended a luncheon with Steve Forbes yesterday and he made an interesting statement that capitalism is moral because is “provides products and services that people need or want.”  It struck me that we had now entered the outer reaches of reason in our defense of the free markets.  I was waiting for all the suits in attendance to get up and start singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” while marching around the room!


CLEARLY capitalism is not immoral or moral by its nature it is amoral.  This is apparent in that I can be a great business person and admired in my community and the world while selling a legal product that kills my customer; fast food and cigarettes being 2 obvious examples.  There are millions of examples of good free-market, capitalist decisions that were intrinsically evil (that harmed people).  I can be a legal war profiteer, or a large multinational that makes a calculated business decision that it is cheaper to pay damages and wrongful death claims then to fix a faulty product.  There are also many wonderful examples of hard charging capitalist whose behavior in their business dealings (at least) skirted the outer edges of “morality”  that ultimately have used their wealth for powerful good in the world; Bill Gates.


I would remind Mr. Forbes that like a vast majority (if not all) of human enterprises and systems, capitalism is about the choices one makes that make it moral, that is the way it is in our fallen world.  While I love “Onward Christian Soldiers” as much as the next guy, morality is a lot tougher than your choice of economic system or political persuasion.   

But Isn’t That the Country you Want!!!

On a recent episode of Bill Maher’s show the subject of taxes came up by way of the idiotic “Buffet Rule.”  One of the guests was the estimable Matthew Weiner, creator of the wonderful TV show “Mad Men.”  Weiner implied that in paying more in taxes the government is able to do more for its citizens and (I guess) firm up the “safety net,” and be more like the “country we want.”


The first issue you have to tackle here is that if I were to offer to pay an extra $100 in taxes the percentage of that money that would go to “social welfare” is small (approximately 7%) and over half would go to defense.  Of that 7% that goes to social welfare what amount do you suppose ACTUALLY gets to people in need and what percentage gets chewed up by the government bureaucracy?  This is of course a hypothetical question as there is no real way to know this as there is virtually no accountability or transparency in the governmental process but we clearly know that waste and inefficiency rule the day.


I would propose to other progressives like Mr. Weiner who like to feel good while our government picks their pocket that they consider non-profits.  My CPA firm does a lot of work with non-profits and while they tend to be somewhat inefficient by nature there is far more transparency and accountability then there will ever be in any government program.  There are non-profits that cater to virtually any interest or concern in virtually any part of the world.  Concerned with hunger in Africa, Asia or your hometown?  There is a NPO that serves that need.  You can go to the great Guidestar website (guidestar.org) and you can see the organizations tax returns, independently audited financial statements (generally) and get a real sense of HOW much of your donation is going for administration and fundraising vs. its stated purpose.  Try doing that with the food stamp program.


Want a kinder, gentler nation, lower taxes by 5% and let folks give that 5% to the charity of their choice and we will get a lot closer to Mr. Weiner’s vision.     

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Tax Planning Revolutionized & Proscribed

As someone who lives and breathes taxes everyday it is interesting to see the interaction between the typical business owner and the tax code.  I think for most business owners the tax code does not drive decisions.  Business owners decide on a course of action that makes sense for their business and THEN they sit with someone such as me and see how that decision might be undertaken thru the prism of the tax code.  For example: the need to major equipment purchases might cause us to talk about the section 179 equipment write-off election, new hiring might be focused by talking about IRS hiring credits, expansion into foreign markets might foster me to discuss the IC-Disc, purchasing real estate might lead me into an entity and structural discussion on the LLC, etc. 


You get the point, the tax tail doesn’t wag the dog, NO business owner says, “gee I don’t need to hire anyone right now but those hiring credits are sure enticing, maybe I will.”  Of course all this calls into question the very logic of tax breaks for business, if they do not actually promote certain business behaviors do they make any sense???  We will leave that discussion for another day.


If commentator Fareed Zakaria is correct (and he might be) that our bloated and corrupt tax code is essentially ground zero for crony capitalism, we see the above paradigm turned on its ear.  Companies like GE are essentially able to make the same business calculation that the small business owner does; what is the best route forward for our business?, but then they are able to lobby for and achieve custom loopholes in the tax code that optimize their plans in terms taxation.  Of course these tax breaks MIGHT actually help other businesses large and small but that will be a happy accident as none of the participants in these travesties cares.


Years of this sort of behavior has left the US tax code bloated with thousands of special interest loopholes and provisions specifically written for these large companies.  It has corrupted capitalism and business in our country and has necessarily led to deep cynicism about business, government the rule of law.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

The 4 Horsemen of the Idiocracy

What a spectacle, 4 middle aged, white guys discussing contraception!!   Welcome to the bizarro world of the Republican debates, where the idiots in the audience boo and clap like they were watching an old silent movie (if only they were).  There was a recent cartoon of Obama sitting in the White House with a big bowl of popcorn watching the debates and laughing, as well he should. 

The left has made a big deal about this contraception debate with a “what century are we in” tag line, but I would remind everybody; people like to fuck and they have loved it in all century’s and most of the time they are NOT interested in procreation, in fact, generally they are specifically NOT interested in procreation even in the context of marriage (Sorry Rick!).  

The issue was one of religious freedom (after the inept Obama administration angered the Catholic Church with the Obamacare mandate) and that is where it needed to stay and not get sidetracked into their personal views on contraception.  One the other hand this just fits nicely into the Republican Party’s campaign to make sure Obama is reelected to a second term.  It also works well in that it further highlights that their “electable” candidate, Romney, has NO perceptible personal standards or beliefs (beyond the belief that he should be President) and no real vision for the county.  Christ, they don’t even like him!

If the Republican have any sense at all, they will cancel all further debates and start to pivot quickly to the general election, if they going to subject us to Romney, let’s get on with it.  Romney might have some kind of shot at the presidency if he starts working at it now.  Let Rick get on with procreating, Newt can chase broads and reopen his Tiffany’s charge account and Libertarian Ron Paul can go back to Texas and continue his case for liberty and sanity with a 3rd Party run.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Mitt meet John - John meet Mitt

Is anyone else getting the uneasy feeling that Mitt is the Republican Party's John Kerry?  The candidate that seems like they should be electable, after all they are not the incumbent.  The resume is good, they both look fine, but are both completely incapable of making a passionate case for their presidency.  For Mitt there is an undeniable sense of entitlement, a sense that a guy like him simply should be president, he has earned it.  He gains ground by having his minions assassinate his rivals, NOT by making a positive case for himself.  Mitt is the non-Obama candidate for Republicans much like like John was the non-Bush candidate for Democrats.  Folks, this is not a strategy for anything but a 2nd term walk for President Obama.  I think even Republicans cannot believe this is happening, and they are not known for their intellectual acumen.  It is kind of unbelievable with a platoon sized field of candidates, and hatred of Obama so hot, that the Grand Party could not do better the Mitt.  

A pundit early in the Obama's term mused that the Obama presidency might end up having historical similarities to Jimmy Carter.  I thought this a prescient comment at the time, maybe Obama will be lucky in that Romney is no Ronald Regan.
Hey Republican Party sing along with me; "4 more years, 4 more years, 4 more years, 4 more.........." 

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Sir Paul McCartney Sings Standards

Just watched/listened to Sir Paul’s iTunes full length video concert from his new LP “Kisses on the Bottom.”  The title is from the Fats Waller song “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Right Myself a Letter,” FYI, the “kisses on the bottom” refers to the kisses on the bottom of the letter.  Backed by the Diane Krall quartet augmented by the great John Pizzarelli guitar and orchestral arrangements by Tommy LiPuma the concert is very charming, especially when Paul is singing to big Abe Laboriel Jr. (his drummer) who sings backup on several tunes.  But it was hard to get around the fact that with Diana Krall on his right and John Pizzarelli to his left that either one of them could do a much better job of singing those great songs then Sir Paul could.   

Monday, February 6, 2012

Prophylactic Newt

You would think with Newt’s very public extra-marital affairs he would be more supportive of birth control then he seems to be.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Notes to Herman Cain and Bill Maher + Mitt's Taxes Redux

Note to Herman Cain – after your pathetic and stupid campaign and the endorsement of “we the people” followed by backstop your endorsement of Newt Gingrich I have a suggestion.  Your new book should be titled “9-9-9, How I Joined the Media Circus and became a National Clown” and you can do your book tour with a big red ball on your nose.  You won’t have donors to help support that tour but it will be a hell of a lot more fun.

Note to Bill Maher – first I wonder if folks on the right, who I suspect loath you, notice that you are essentially the mirror image of Bill O’Reilly.  O’Reilly’s show preaches to the converted on the right, letting them bask in the warm knowledge that their world view is correct, your show serves the same purpose for liberals.  Conservatives are generally brought on to your show to act as punching bags to your leftist worldview, much the way left leaning thinkers are used on O’Reilly’s show.  Both shows are essentially the same, support the audiences preexisting view without bringing to the table a scrape of intellectual rigor – fun stuff, but does not support or enhance our national dialog (such as it is).

On a recent show Maher stated that he thought it was wrong that Mitt Romney got to take a tax deduction of almost $3 million dollars for charitable giving ($1.5 million to the Mormon Church).  In all the corruption of our current tax system it is hard to think of any tax deduction more in keeping with our heritage and deeply held beliefs then the charitable deduction.  It should be unquestioned and unabated because we can all find a charity that we can support no matter what our beliefs and proclivities.  I would propose to Bill Maher if he does not like the religious and conservative bent of Romney’s giving that he find secular and liberal charities to donate to.

Romney’s overall  blended tax rate of 17.38% would have gone to an overall rate of 18.9% if he had not done his charitable giving which saved him about $835K in taxes.  Hey (both) Bill’s, fuck you!        

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Mitt Romney, Taxes, YOUR Fair Share, etc

Mitt Romney filed his tax returns following IRS rules, that is the beginning and end of this stupid story, investment income has ALWAYS had favorable rates under the tax code since its inception.  There is a clear reason for this; it is the result of capital investment the heart and soul if the American economy. 

Mr. Romney gets a significant part of his income as long term capital gains (taxed at 15%) thru the “Carried Interest” rule.  Carried Interest is a tax maneuver that allows hedge fund and private equity managers to receive what is essentially compensation as investment income; they are allowed to “share” in the profits they generate for their clients.   There is almost no reasonable basis in the tax code for this, and the Internal Revenue Service has fought this for years, it is a loophole virtually any way you look at it BUT that is the current law of the land as defended vociferously by the New York Democratic congressional delegation.  My issue with carried interest is that these fund managers receive comparatively little straight compensation and that is what makes it egregiously wrong.  I think the correct path would be a mix of W-2/Compensation and Carried Interest, a meaningful % of their income HAS to be traditional compensation at normal tax rates.  But the bottom line is Mr. Romney did not make these rules and has not lobbied for them and simply followed the tax code in effect.  It also appears to me that Mr. Romney no longer provides "services" to Bain Capital so it seems mostly correct to me that virtually ALL his income would be in the form of investment and 0 in compensation (in his case). 


The other phrase that gets thrown about in this discussion is the term “fair share,” usually directed towards the “other guy” who is not paying his!  Interestingly it is never directed at the almost 50% of Americans who routinely pay NO federal income tax.  I am sad to say, in my opinion, the term "fair share" and taxes NEVER belong in the same sentence.  The reason is that the tax system is so complex and corrupt that I don't know how you apply the word "fair" to it in any circumstance, one is either filing a correct and honest tax return (as did Mr. Romney) or you don’t – “fair” does not enter into it. 


One final political thought on Mr. Romney; Newt Gingrich is so corrupt and debased that he makes Romney look like a school boy, if Republicans nominate Gingrich they will rue the day, I suspect Obama would eat him for lunch!        

Monday, January 9, 2012

Message to Martha – GET ELECTED FIRST!

In my writing on the disease of crony capitalism I always felt that it largely centered on financing campaigns, but Kevin Williamson’s article in National Journal “Repo Men” has shown me otherwise - http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/286704/repo-men-kevin-d-williamson.  He has exposed the blatant and legal insider trading that is fed to congressional leaders by their Wall Street handlers in exchange for political favors.    This is one of those articles that I feel all Americans should be forced to sit and read.  Hey, who knew that Martha Stewarts only mistake was that she did not get elected to Congress before she invested in ImClone Systems!