IRS Violations Of Privacy

I’m glad to see that more people are taking seriously the issue of the IRS making public personal income tax information that is supposed to be kept under the utmost secrecy and I wasn’t the only one who was alarmed by this illegal action by IRS personnel. However, don’t hold your breath expecting anyone at the IRS to actually be disciplined for this obviously partisan attempt to damage Bill Simon. They are routinely exempted from having to obey the laws that we peasants are forced to abide by.

KMK

Too Undependable

Even with the stock market on the way back up, there is no guarantee that it won’t dive again. In fact, odds are good that it will be a virtual roller coaster for the next several months at least. This is the very reason I have never liked stock investments, because one’s personal fortune can gyrate too drastically. It’s not a good secure feeling to have to check the stock markets on a daily basis to see if you are well off or broke.

What’s The Right Number?

As I’ve explained on several occasions, accounting is much more of an art than the cut & dried science that most people think it is. Even with the new Federal requirement that CEOs sign a statement swearing for the accuracy of their companies’ figures, there will still be plenty of room for different assumptions and methods of portraying a business’s finances.

Contrary to popular belief, GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) don’t dictate just one way of doing things. They encompass a very wide variety of choices, making the side by side financial comparison of different companies literally impossible to do. This is how it has always been and how it will still be when this new rule kicks in in a few weeks.

KMK

Stock Market Gurus

It never ceases to amaze me how the so-called stock market gurus can stay in business and have even a single follower when their predictions consistently fail to come true. Even these bozos, who predicted a Dow at 36,000 are covering their bets by claiming that they never said when it would reach that level. The problem is that most investors don’t have the luxury of holding out to the year 2525, or whenever the Dow does make it that high.

KMK

Merit Pay For Our Rulers

I have long bemoaned how unfair it is that our rulers are not made to suffer for their incompetent actions. They pass laws and do other things to screw up life for everyone else. As a reward, they receive huge salaries and fringe benefits. When they ever decide to step down from their thrones, they receive huge pensions. Even proven crooks & perverts, such as Traficant & Condit are going to be receiving very handsome pension checks.

Contrast that with an owner or officer of a business that fails. They often have to file for bankruptcy protection. That’s why I like this theory of how to link the pay of our rulers to the results they are able to achieve. Of course, the chances of ever seeing this are non-existent.

KMK

Economic Cycles

Every economist has his/her own theories as to what causes the ups & downs of the economy. Often, they take events that happened and try to link them as cause & effect, when in fact they were just coincidences. For example, Clinton worshippers have continuously claimed that his huge tax increase in 1993 caused the good economy of the late 1990s. The truth is that the economy did well in spite of the tax increases, not because of them.

As Bruce Bartlett explains here, economists can’t even agree on the effect of the current stock market gyrations.

I don’t claim to have the ultimate economic formula, and I don’t believe anyone else has it either. Such a predictor would enable its followers to become the wealthiest persons in the world. I am more inclined to believe the thesis of this study, which claims that luck is a big factor in how our economic cycles go. Despite their claims of omnipotence, our rulers in DC couldn’t fine tune the economy, no matter what tricks they try.

KMK

IRS Political Audits

It has been frequently discussed about how viciously the Clinton Gang used the supposedly non-partisan IRS to attack its critics. This is all very true. Several people and groups who were critical of Clinton policies were coincidentally selected by IRS for audits, as were Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, and other women who revealed their personal involvement with the crooked one. Shortly after publishing one of my hardest hitting exposes of the Clinton Organized Crime Family in my newsletter, I was notified of an audit of my personal taxes. What a coincidence.

However, just because the Clintons aren’t currently living in the White House doesn’t mean these kinds of things have subsided. The IRS is still filled with Clinton cronies, who are still as dedicated as ever to their mission of attacking critics of the Left. The illegal public release of Bill Simon’s personal income tax data by IRS personnel was an obvious indication that the Clinton moles are still on the job. It will only get worse when Queen Hillary moves back into the White House.

KMK

What the Heck Happened?

That renowned investment philosopher, Dave Barry, has another of his insightful analyses of the stock market. This time, he admits that we accountants are not as boring as the ages old stereotype would have you believe. He refers to accountancy as the Limp Bizkit of professions.

KMK

Part of the Game

Anyone who gets into the nasty arena of politics has to know that revealing one’s income tax returns to the public is standard practice, even though not legally required. Why did Bill Simon think that he would be able to make it through an election in the PRC without having to conform?

KMK

State Budget Problems

As has been discussed here on a number of occasions, almost all of the state governments are having budget shortfalls. I found an extensive report on how they are addressing these problems from the National Conference of State Legislatures. It’s long and only really interesting to other numbers geeks like me.

However, what I found interesting is this summary of how the states are planning to deal with their shortfalls.

Cutting spending (26 states)

Tapping a variety of state funds (23 states)

Using tobacco settlement funds (16 states)

Increasing taxes (16 states)

Tapping rainy day funds (12 states)

Raising fees (10 states)

I was actually quite surprised to see that 26 states would even consider cutting their spending, because normally that side of the equation is untouchable. Obviously, since we don’t yet have 103 states, some states are planning more than one approach. Many people would consider raising fees and raising taxes to be essentially the same thing.

KMK