THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:
Vulpis didn’t know he had a big problem with the four-year-old bill until last December, he said, when he was served with papers notifying him that he had lost his Middletown, N.J., home to foreclosure. Neither he nor his wife were notified of the foreclosure process until the final judgment was granted last December, he said.
While we’re watching the Olympics, several hundred thousand workers from Qidong protest an open ended waste water pipe being routed to the sea…
IRS data suggests that, globally, U.S. nonfinancial companies hold at least three times more cash and other liquid assets than the Federal Reserve reports, idle money that could be creating jobs, funding dividends or even paying a stiff federal penalty tax for hoarding corporate cash.
Do the ‘Job Creators’ really need more cash? – Ed.
It’s directors’ job to care deeply about governance, rather than to dismiss serious concerns from legislators, regulators, and shareholders as “bizarre governance things”. And for all that companies love to bellyache about the costs of Sarbox compliance, the fact is that if you’re looking to governance issues as a reason why it sucks to be public, you’re looking in entirely the wrong place.
Typically, eminent domain has been used to clear property for infrastructure projects like highways, schools and sewage plants. In this case, supporters say, the public purpose is served because communities battered by foreclosures have seen tax rolls decimated and services gutted and have suffered economic blight.
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:
Avoid these clichés, because they’re umbrella terms everyone uses, so your resume gets lost in the shuffle. In this competitive job market, your resume really needs to stand out and be memorable for you to get that interview.
During the 2008 campaign, Fast Company magazine called Obama a brand. Sadly, it turns out that they were right. Like most brand advertising, Obama identified with people and projected the things people wanted for their country, without having the will or ability to deliver. He lifted up a new ideal of government, creating at the same time a great height to fall from. He had a huge job that required Lyndon Johnson or FDR or Truman levels of courage and skill to pull off. But he hasn’t displayed that talent, the ability to push for common ground while being simultaneously willing to smack the opposition.
When Republicans campaign, they’re nasty bastards. They will do ANYTHING to win. If you want to sell a war, talk about mushroom clouds over American cities. If you want to boost the debt to sky high levels, suggest that gays getting married will cause the collapse of the civilization. If you’re opposed by a war hero, make him look like a total pussy. Mitt Romney’s multiple positions on everything tells you everything you need to know. They just put their heads down and charge.
Democrats on the other hand need to look like they’re fair. They want to be seen as standing on the moral high ground and knowing what’s best for all of us. They say they want everyone to get along when in reality they just want everyone to think like them or shut up. They want to be superior, but are inept at using power. They act like a brand new manager who believes the title should give them respect and action from subordinates. As most of us know, those managers get smoked, usually by one of their underlings. The next job you see them at they’re the boss from hell.
Continue reading “Must See TV: America on the Edge! | Peter Mehit”
The only alternative is a wealth tax. Anyone who has a net worth over $5m (or $20m, or chose a number) has to pay 1% (or 2%) of that amount, every year. It would be like a death tax, except you paid it while you were alive. Think – pre-paid estate taxes.
Warren Buffett is always complaining that he doesn’t pay enough in taxes. The guy has a net worth of about $40b. If there was a 2% wealth tax he would have to cough up an extra $800m a year. That would shut him up quick; it would also solve all the fiscal problems.
Bill Gates would be forced to come up with an extra $1.2B. The Walton family would have to pony up $1.6B. And the good old Koch brothers would toss in a $1b.
If a 2% wealth tax was applied to everyone who had a net worth in excess of $5m it would add up to about $700B a year. That’s just about the right amount to get the budget to where it starts to make sense. This tax increase would not come out of current income, therefore the consequences to the economy would be muted versus a similar sized income tax increase.
Doesn’t Obama have that same expression that Princess Liea had at the end of ‘Star Wars’? – Ed.
Dispatches From The Front 