Taxing School Slaves, And The Rest Of Us!

What's that?

Well I was one of the scant *No* votes this past week.

I voted AGAINST raising the town's school budget a mere *1.7%* or whatever it was sold as.

I figured that the existing $83 million allocation was plenty of money ($26,000 per student!!!)....and they didn't REALLY NEED $85 million, annually!

It's the same $hit in all these wealthy towns.

They run around telling all these gullible parents that their kids will "fall behind" if taxes aren't raised to pay for football, gifted programs, driver's ed, college guidance departments(!), special education, for low student:teacher ratios, etc.

But really it's just to keep paying lavish pensions...

What kills me is that even people who fancy themselves smart/educated are so easily manipulated. It's only the wise 'old coots' who show up and vote against these annual tax hikes, and only some of them. The really wealthy ones here don't even care to vote.

I can get a little confrontational about this stuff, but what's the point, really?

I usually just mock these Morons by yelling at them that *education has NOTHING to do with money* and that they are fools for thinking so.

I heard a great quote the other day, "Education is a process, not an institution."

Indeed.

Extortionary Church Taxes

We just signed up my son for CCD (Catholic church school) for next year.

Guess how much they are CHARGING for the classes plus the *first communion* fee...

How about $195 !!!

Okay - the teachers are volunteers and they simply use the extant school buildings. So what exactly is the money for?

As I've mentioned before (I think).... in 30+ years and at nearly 10 different parishes, the Catholic Church has NEVER ONCE asked me for my *time*, only money.

Non-Profit Morons - Falling Into Their Own Pit!

City Sends Tax Bills To Major Non-Profits

For the first time, Boston’s major tax-exempt institutions — its premier hospitals, universities, and cultural centers — are being asked to make regular voluntary payments to the city based on the value of their property to help offset the rising cost of city services and cuts in state financial aid.

Although many of the city’s nonprofit organizations have been making so-called Payments In Lieu of Taxes for decades, this marks a major change to a system that feels to some organizations uncomfortably close to tax bills. Boston officials recently mailed letters to leaders at 40 major nonprofits asking them to pay up to 25 percent of what they would owe if their property were not tax-exempt.

"We’re looking for fairness for Boston taxpayers and the nonprofits," said Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "This isn’t something we drew up on the back of an envelope. It’s something we put a lot of thought into."

The new revenue-raising plan — the first of its kind in the nation — is based on the estimated cost of providing basic city services, such as police and fire protection, snow removal, and emergency medical treatment, which account for roughly 25 percent of the city’s budget. And it is designed to gradually increase annual financial payments to the city by the major tax-exempt organizations from the $15 million they paid this year to $48 million over a five-year ramp-up period.

Hah!

Got to love those totalitarian statists in Boston.

After taxing all the business out of state....they figure (on the back of an envelope!) that they had better somehow come up with the dough to pay for continued pensions, pork, and waste.

AND the good thing about taxing Harvard as opposed to say Fidelity or tourists (14.45% hotel tax PLUS 20% car rental tax)....is that Harvard can't exactly bolt out of town! Although the Moron Greg Mankiw has suggested it in the past in response to *endowment taxation*.

There's no doubt in my mind that these so-called 'non-profits' will cave in and pay the voluntary taxes.

Of course the extortion will escalate and of course jobs/salaries will be cut and hospital bills will be padded...

But none of that will matter to the elitist brethren who run these institutions. They'll just want to make nice with their cocktail party cronies.

Another Presidential Moron?

From Wikipedia:

In 1981, the MUSE system was demonstrated for the first time in the United States, using the same 5:3 aspect ratio as the Japanese system.[4] Upon visiting a demonstration of MUSE in Washington, US President Ronald Reagan was most impressed and officially declared it "a matter of national interest" to introduce HDTV to the USA.

Clearer color TV programming....a *matter of national interest*???

I'm starting to kick my anti-TV agenda into high gear these days.

Seriously, the argument can easily be made that watching TV is far more unhealthy than smoking. After all, sitting on the couch all day, everyday, is both a mental and physical onslaught. So why shouldn't our nanny statists add *sin taxes* to cable bills as they do with cigarettes and whatnot?

Massachusetts Morons Vote For Self-Taxation, Again!

Massachusetts Morons had yet another chance to give themselves a tax cut.

But yesterday they overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have reduced the state sales tax from 6.25% to 3%.

Behold the propagandistic lies they, in the *most educated state*, fell for yet again:







The tax-cutter advocates up there must be completely frustrated. Two years ago they were able to get a *repeal the state income tax entirely* question on the ballot only to be resoundingly defeated.

So they took a more gradual approach this time - only proposing to roll back the sales tax a few percent - but that didn't resonate either with what has to be the stupidest group of literate and numerate people on the planet.

Any Mass business or frustrated taxpayer, seeing these last two election results, just HAS TO read the handwriting on the wall, stop fantasizing about it and just up and leave that doomed state once and for all!

Of course, so many *thinkers* have already left, and that goes a long way toward explaining these otherwise incredible election results...

See also:

Massachusetts - The Dumbest State, QED

C-Nut's Axe

In the past 18 months, I lost a boatload (or two) of money shorting this insane stock market rally.

However, we moved in with my MIL last May and reduced our living expenses, PLUS my wife landed a raise in coming back to work out of NYC.

So we're doing alright financially for the moment.

But we are in New York now where everything is outrageously expensive - like $36 per hour pre-school drama classes!

Last month I was hit by a crazy $180 ticket for answering my cordless cell phone in my car, in front of an unmarked cruiser.

For a while I thought about fighting it with the goal of, perhaps, getting it halved. Ultimately, I determined that spending two hours(?) in court for a *chance* at saving $90 would never be worth it.

While technically *I* paid the ticket, more accurately it was paid by others.

There were two occasions recently in honor of which we would normally send gifts BUT I instructed my wife to pass this time on both of them.

And I just received the annual plea from my private high school asking for money. For years I've sent them $100 each fall....but, not this year. As I told my wife, "Someone has to pay for my ticket!"

Earning 70 basis points on my cash, $3 a gallon gasoline, 8.625% sales tax, subway and train fare hikes, higher taxes and fees, etc....these days I've got to find some budget cuts - we all do.

I thought, for a second, about using this picture....but my female readership is too high now.

FDR's Ghost, Taxing Gold Again

I believe the story here is not precisely one of a *new tax* but rather one that simply closes an existing loophole. Allow me to explain.

I know someone who recently sold some precious metals they had been hoarding since the apocalyptic 70s. I believe they received a check for the proceeds AND assurance that the there would be no reporting of the transaction to the IRS. Imagine the ordeal of having to dig up your cost basis on gold or silver bought 30-40 years ago!  And then the ordeal of paying capital gains!

With gold the arch-enemy of a fiat-printing, self-enthroned Big Government....how long did you expect this info-loophole to last?

I'd say to still buy the precious metals. After all, you're probably never going to want to convert it back to dollars. It'll be toted to and for exchange in another less-bankrupt country. Or it'll be used to buy food and ammo!

BTW, this is hardly the first attack by slimy pols on a competitive currency.

Back in the Depression, FDR demanded that IRS agents be present at the opening of any safety deposit boxes or something:

"I, as President, do declare that the national emergency still exists; that the continued private hoarding of gold and silver by subjects of the United States poses a grave threat to the peace, equal justice and well-being of the United States; and that appropriate measures must be taken immediately to protect the interests of our people."

"Therefore, pursuant to the above authority, I hereby proclaim that such gold and silver holdings are prohibited, and that all such coin, bullion or other possession of gold and silver be tendered within fourteen (14) days to agents of the Government of the United States for compensation at the official price, in the legal tender of the Government. All safe-deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed pending action in the due course of law." 

Furthermore, since FDR fathered Big Government, we can still sort of blame him the rank thuggery of slipping gold regulation into *healthcare legislation* today.

See also - Book Rec - The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes.

Greenies Fiddling While The Economy Burns

Check out this car-stopping, camera-grabbing sign I drove by today:



An "Environment Party"?

Hah!

A municipality of what, 15,000 people in Port Washington, NY (18,000 if Sands Point is included)...has as its main ideological priorities trees, birds, electric cars, no-flush urinals, and recycling?

Oh yeah, this tiny town has a $128.2 million operating budget for 2010 - as delusional tree-humpers, both pols and voters, upped it 2.5% from last year.

Good luck to anyone hoping to inject some rationality into the local political dialogue - OR into any level of politics today!

It's Big Government's Money Anyway

Hah!

They list Hawaii, Alabama, New York, Idaho, Kansas, and North Carolina as the states most likely to delay tax rebates. But I suspect there'll be a whole lot more, e.g. California and New Jersey at least.

I am expecting a few grand back from the *Commonwealth* of Massachusetts, and as of now, about 13 grand back from the Feds.

Note the Feds don't have to delay rebates....they just *print more money*.

Confiscation Time

The last couple of days I've been busy on account my long lost sister being in town. I haven't seen her, a Phoenix denizen, or her babies in over a year.

Today I've been home and at my PC all day. But blogging has been put on hold as I try to get the taxes out of the way. This year I attempted to upload my trades (all 300) directly into TurboTax - and they did come through. Only I've already found some major *discrepancies*. So I'll have to do what I always do, manually input each and every one of them. And it goes without saying....that it ain't too fun rehashing my results, post-March anyway.

It's always a good idea to get the *confiscation* done sooner rather than later. But this year I have too much other nonsense to deal with. For one thing, my landlord is getting foreclosed upon any day now. Furthermore, I am still hoping to hit the road in a few weeks; call me a dreamer but I'm still hoping to pull off April in Naples!

Competitive Thievery - One-Upping My Landlord?

There's a local hardware chain here on Boston's South Shore that was recently shuttered by creditors.

Joseph's Hardware had a handful of locations - one of which in Hingham, pictured above, closed sometime last year. I remember reading the sign on the door and scoffing; it said the closing was purely for *medical reasons*. Yeah, right.

But there was more going on here than the usual, cruel boom-and-bust cycles of the business world.

Apparently the guy was a bit of scam artist - stiffing banks and government tax collectors to the tune of millions.

Last week, sheriff’s deputies and moving trucks pulled up in front of Joseph’s hardware stores in Norwell, Cohasset, Marshfield and Plymouth and seized inventory after the company defaulted on a $500,000 bank loan. The Patriot Ledger later reported that Joseph had amassed nearly $6 million in taxes owed to the state, including state income taxes, which he withheld from employee paychecks but never forwarded to the Department of Revenue.

Someone in the comment section of that article pointed out that *Joseph* suns himself in a $750,000 boat, that is docked locally.

My neighbor told me a story of this crumb yesterday.

He said that a while back, he and his wife went to Joseph's Hardware and ordered a $1,500 patio set. After sleeping on the transaction, they decided to cancel the order. Joe said, "No problem. I'll take it off your card."

But two weeks went by and the charge was still there. My neighbor called several times and Joe insisted he'd *take care of it*, but nothing happened. Now it's been a month and the credit card bill was due. My neighbor went down there and Joe started whining about his *wife being sick* (the *medical* excuse from above) - but what the heck does that have to do with anything?

The moment that guy said he'd take the $1,500 charge off, AND DIDN'T, this was a case of blatant thievery.

Eventually, after two hours of huffing and puffing, and refusing to leave the store, Joe took out a checkbook and made my neighbor whole. (I'd have probably punched him in the mouth!)

Joe's wife is in fact very sick. And he's doing his best to milk that defense.

Joseph, 47, the Scituate entrepreneur who opened his first hardware store in 1982 and expanded the chain to half a dozen locations on the South Shore, said in an interview on Monday that more than 40 workers lost their jobs when the stores closed. He insisted the company belonged to his wife, Jenny Madden, who is listed as president and borrowed the money from Holbrook Cooperative Bank.

So while his wife is battling - PLS (Primary Lateral Sclerosis), a rare and progressive neuromuscular disease - this scumbag is also going to lay the fraud and tax evasion all on his wife!!!

I wonder if he's going to BLAME HER for that attempted theft of my neighbor's $1,500?



So far three people this week have drawn the analogy of Joseph to my scumbag, thievin' landlord.

I still say *my guy* is worse - while his theft total stands at $5 million to Joe's $6 million,....my guy arguably killed someone!

Fools, Money, And Luck

I just read today that 70% of lottery winners go bankrupt within 5 years.

OUCH.

One guy, pictured above, lost everything after winning a $315 million Powerball jackpot.

I'll bet there's a good parable somewhere that addresses the *burden of instant wealth* or something.

Many of us, to varying, relative degrees, have also squandered windfalls throughout our lives. I remember when I was in college (1992-1995), working my tail off at several jobs, I suddenly was clearing over $200 a week. I had no idea what to do with my newfound *wealth* and couldn't even tell you where it ended up. Probably most of is was spent on food and alcohol. Basically, I was not prepared by my schooling or parenting to handle excess cash flow. Eventually, some years later, I did learn. But the lesson ended up quite expensive.

Now I would have expected to read that 70% of *pro athletes* or *performing artists* became broke soon after their fleeting glory - but I was a bit surprised by the high percentage of lottery winners who've given it all back. Perhaps the explanation is inherent in the type of people that regularly play the lottery? I don't suspect that guys like Warren Buffett, Michael Dell, Mark Cuban, Hank Paulson, or Suze Orman can be found every week ordering scratch tickets *by number* a la McDonald's extra-value meals.



In our self-centered, present-tense culture one might reflexively try to *characterize* the type of people who might be more inclined to blow a windfall fortune.

But a careful reading American history will illustrate that many, many famous AND accomplished people over the years lapsed into poverty before they died: Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Ulysses, S. Grant, et al.

And here's a longer list of notable bankruptcies.

Now I'm reminded of that great zinger from Gordon Gekko:

A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place...

See also:

Lotteries - Voluntary Taxation On Morons

On Wage Slavery

Pay Or Else...

Thorpe punished for $2M in unpaid taxes

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Professional golfer Jim Thorpe has been sentenced to a year in prison for failing to pay more than $2 million in income taxes.

Thorpe's attorney, Mark Horwitz, said Friday that Thorpe must turn himself in to authorities by April 1. The golfer also was sentenced to two years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service. He must try to repay the taxes while he's on supervised release.

In September, Thorpe pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to pay income taxes and had faced up to two years in prison.

Horwitz said Thorpe "has accepted his punishment and will be getting on with his life."

Thorpe has won 13 times on the Champions Tour and three times on the PGA Tour.

Wow!

It sounds like he never paid a nickel in income taxes. Either that or the penalties were included and severe.

Perhaps he's a diehard libertarian? You know, the kind that are fanatical about the unconstitutionality of confiscated wealth.

The poor guy turns 61 next week.

I'm expecting a presidential pardon...

Taxing Issues

Normally, a year of losses following a year of sizable *unrealized* gains would be easy to tax manage.

Except this year, I made a bunch of dough through March. See - Knocking The Ball Coverless! and An Aggressive Flattening - for *nostalgia*.

So this year was poised to turn out with a lot of realized capital gains and unrealized losses, again - at least until this past week when I rejiggered my portfolio.

I had to decide which losing positions to kill, and whether or not to re-build them in like instruments.

So last week, I took sizable losses on GS(short), EEV, QID, and FXP to offset my sizable realized gains on SRS, FAZ, WFC, etc. from last winter.

And, I bought Jan 2011 100-strike puts on Goldman Sachs and 30-strike puts on Wells Fargo, and a few more Jan 20 FAZ calls.

I've thought a lot about those levered ETFs over the past year and I still maintain that mathematically illiterate people have somewhat over-rated their decay. The problem wasn't decay so much as it was Bank of America going from 2.50 to near 20.00, Wells Fargo tripling, Goldman more than doubling, etc. Simple math said a 3X levered short would spiral to zero, and it did.

But for the moment, I am only shorting banks and REITs via long-dated puts. The high stock prices combined with relatively low premiums make this a no-brainer - at least versus dealing with the imperfection of leveraged ETFs. There's plenty of leverage in these bets, and I don't have to worry about path-dependency and some of the political risk of the ETFs. Click the first link above to see the outsized gains I made with out-month puts on Wells Fargo last year. And then contemplate the risk/reward profiles of today's banks' option prices for yourselves.

Here are my significant current positions in descending order of magnitude:

FAZ shares and Jan 20 calls

SRS shares

GE shares, short

SPG puts Jan(2011) 65-strike and Jan(2011) 50-strike

SWC shares

CDE shares

WFC Apr 24-strike puts, Jan(2011) 20-strike puts

JPM Jan(2011) 30-strike puts

GS Jan(2011) 100-strike puts

I've had some real extended trading woes over my 14 year career - but the past nine months rank up there with the worst of them.

Meanwhile, everything else in my life is blazing on all cylinders. So who the eff am I to complain? Life is darn good; and there's far more to it than money - even if I spent almost all of my life thinking(?) otherwise.



Though obviously, I am still hoping, and betting(!), that the *magazine jinx* is still regnant!

Click graphic to enlarge.

Worcester, MA - Old, Dumb, and Broke

My hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, just like every other municipality in America, is broke.

Some ten years ago they issued bonds for the expressed purpose of gambling the proceeds in the stock market. This was done to close a *pension funding gap*. When one is losing, just hit up a bookie and double up, right?

A decade after issuing nearly $220 million in bonds to close its pension funding gap, the city of Worcester’s bet on the stock market is under water.

The gamble by one of New England’s largest cities that it could make enough in the markets to pay back bondholders and generate returns above the cost of the debt has fallen way short. In fact, Worcester’s pension funding gap widened considerably in the past year as a global economic crisis waylaid investment portfolios everywhere.

Worcester’s bogey, as DelSignore calls it, is a true interest cost of 6.31 percent on the bonds. To produce savings for the city, pension investment returns have to beat that target.

But Worcester’s 10-year return through the end of 2008 was 3.79 percent, leaving the city’s pension liability only about 68 percent funded.

These cities and towns were bankrupt 10 years ago....and they are even worse off now.

They simply have no shot at surviving the next leg down on Wall Street.

Here's the most damning excerpt from that article:

Pension-related costs are now Worcester’s third-largest expenditure. Even with some relief from the state built in, the pension cost for fiscal 2010 will be $39.4 million, including $16.6 million in debt service on the pension obligation bonds. That’s more than what the city will spend on police ($38.9 million) and fire ($32.2 million), according to the Worcester Regional Research Bureau.

As you can see, taxes are, more and more, just levied for *income redistribution*. In other words, taxes do not get spent on SERVICES!

There is a simple and elegant solution to this:

Abrogate pension obligations!

Make those free-loading 'old coots' and 'old bags' go live with their kids.

This is what they get for electing and RE-ELECTING all those Morons over the years.

Thanks to aupanner for sending me this link and reminding me of my *roots* - some two months ago!

Give me a break, I've still got 500 unread emails in this inbox.

Stimulate Thy Neighbor...

Click to enlarge.

Would you believe that I couldn't find this Union Leader article online?

The Boston Herald also ran it but it's lost somewhere in their *paid archives*.

This makes me feel like an 'old coot'....trafficking in clipped-out newspaper articles and whatnot.

So I now feel compelled, for the good of state, to manually input the whole thing:

Bay State passes a stimulus bill for N.H.

by Al Girolamo

I just wanted to thank the Massachusetts Legislature - and the governor - for doing all they could to stimulate the New Hampshire economy.

I know they all worked long and hard hours to help us by seeing that the new 25 percent increase in sales tax would pass - and pass successfully it did!

But the bonus your state gave us with the increase in alcohol and meals tax was unexpected!

Also, the additional support your state gave us by mandating that the tracks in Revere and Raynham be closed couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you!

Seabrook residents are dancing in the streets as they wait to greet their new Bay State patrons to Greyhound Park. As we speak, vendors are increasing their inventories to meet the increased demands that will be placed on sales of everything from gas to cigarettes to beer, home goods and God knows what else.

And the best is that many of your state's welfare dollars will now be spent here thanks to that generous gesture of giving free cars to welfare recipients. Those who used to walk or take the train to Wonderland can now drive to Seabrook. We also appreciate your including free insurance and AAA membership for them. Because although New Hampshire is a non-mandatory insurance state, it's good to know that welfare recipients driving their free cars to Seabrook will be able to cover any property damage they may cause. And the tow companies are pleased with you providing them free AAA because if there is an accident or breakdown, they have a guaranteed paying customer.

Wow! It's like Christmas came early, and what better timing in the middle of a recession! I expect this will have an effect on unemployment figures here too, the increase in business will mean new jobs.

Yes, Massachusetts has done so much to help us bring major businesses to our state that I feel that we owe you a debt of gratitude that cannot be expressed in words. It brings tears to my eyes when I drive through border towns like Seabrook and Plaistow and see the parking lots full at Home Depot, Sam's Club, TJ Maxx, Lowes, Best Buy and Staples. Our restaurants too are busy due to your state's unprecedented generosity. It's a modern day Marshall Plan.

Just one more thing, and I hate to ask, considering all of the sacrifices that your citizens have already made on our behalf. But do you think that you could OK that 19-cent-per-gallon increase in the gas tax that the governor proposed? It would go a long way to help our gas station owners.

Again, my personal thanks to Gov. Deval Patrick, legislators and all of you wonderfully generous taxpayers and citizens of Massachusetts to whom we are eternally grateful.

Al Girolamo is a business owner in Hampton, N.H.

Note that some of that article refers to Massachusetts' recent banning of dog racing. The eco-pagans here were aghast at the alleged inhumane treatment of canines.

See - Massachusetts - More Morons Than Your State.

Massachusetts - Dumber Than Dishwater

Okay, so taxpayers will be paying MORE for LESS. Got it?

Full article here.

Well, flashback a mere 8 months ago to the election. Remember Mass Morons had a chance to ELIMINATE the state income tax. Not only did they take a pass, they voted down the repeal RESOUNDINGLY.



For more on that, read - Massachusetts- More Morons Than Your State!.

So why would anyone possibly vote FOR an income tax?

Well, people like my father were led to believe that his state pension would be cut.

And, others were led to believe that *local aid* would be slashed. In other words, their local government school budgets would get hammered.

Time and again I heard the essence of the latter. People were afraid that if income taxes were eliminated, that their *services* would really suffer.

But now Mass pols have cut services AND increased taxes!!!

In some ways I really do hope the Morons here keep electing the SAME politicians....so that this economic death spiral can speed up a bit.

Lotteries - Voluntary Taxation On Morons

I just came across a recent, informative article on state lotteries.

One excerpt:

CS: Do lotteries actually lower the average person's taxes? If so, any indication by how much?

MS: In numerous states lotteries were presented as a way to hold off a tax increase, yet taxes went up anyway. In the 1980s and 1990s lotteries played a greater role in state budget than they do now. Today, lotteries account for no more than 1 or 2 percent of state budgets. Public perception is often that lotteries are paying for much more than they really are. This is often because the lotteries were over-hyped when they were put into a public referendum.

Even in states where lottery profits are earmarked for education, their contribution to overall education budgets is a tiny fraction of the whole.

As a tax item, the lotteries are regressive. Much of the money comes, voluntarily, from lower income and less educated families and is distributed to the whole of the state without regard for the source of the revenue.

Now there are a bunch of 'old coots' in my family that voluntarily pay extra taxes by *religiously* playing the lottery: scratch tickets, slots, etc. (Private Caller as well!)

I recently heard that Massachusetts has shaved their *payouts* (on scratch tix?) to around 40%. Someone else can confirm or deny since the details are irrelevant for my purposes.

Of course a perpetually bankrupt government should be expected to indulge in such *downsizing*, no?

Anyway, I just want to point out a market reality. When a monopolist gets too greedy, it not only seeds, IT FERTILIZES competition. And since gambling has been *co-opted* by the state....competition in this realm means *black market*.

I recalled that when I lived in Philly, none of my 'old coot' gumbas ever went to a gas station or a mini mart (Wawa!) to *pay voluntary taxes*.

No, they gathered up the dollar bills, wrote down their *numbers* on a microscopic scrap of paper, and then funneled the transaction to a guy, who knew a guy, who was a bookie. They did this....EVERYDAY!

These corner bookies in SoPhilly take and pay out lottery winnings based on the precise numbers pulled by the government agents.

Only they....pay better!

the official bookie at the [censored] pays 600 to 1 for a straight number and 100 to 1 on a boxed number

The state pays 500 to 1 for straight and 80 to 1 for a boxed number

That is a direct cut-and-paste from one of my gumbas that's actually proficient in email!

Now how funny is it that these toothless *numbers' guys* have built livelihoods upon Big Government greed and ineptitude!

That last pic above is a *Soviet black market*.

Remember, it's axiomatic that the bigger the *state*, the bigger the black market.

I wonder if I can do an end-around the Mass Lottery and play numbers with bookies in *Southie* (South Boston)???

See also - On Wage Slavery.

The Misery Boom

Hah!

(For those of y'all reading this years from 2009....we are amidst the Greater Depression right now.)

I came across that cartoon this morning and immediately thought of a gentleman I was boozing with last night.

He's in *international tax*. In other words, he helps companies flee *high rent* districts and set up shop where thuggish governments don't confiscate all their assets.

I believe he's pretty darn busy these days; and could just as well be the smiling punchline of that cartoon.

First of all, Great Britain has just raised its top income tax rate from 40% to 50% - and set off a frenzied capital flight.

And, secondly, whether or not Obama and Congress do eventually make good on their promises to raise taxes on the wealthy....there are plenty of American concerns already taking precautionary steps.

These people all need advice and counsel. So the government is at least *stimulating* something these days - bankruptcies and the tax avoidance business.

Too bad none of us own stock in those industries!

Enough To Implode This Country

That article says Federal tax revenues are down a staggering 34% YoY for this past April.

Those figures, all by themselves, are enough to crash our fiat currency, the equity market, and the bond market - especially Treasuries.

But apparently the day of reckoning isn't coming until all the prudent bears are wiped out. So no one will be unscathed.

Al Gore might very well be proven right about a global apocalypse....even if he may have been *slightly off* on the details!