Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

Tax-cut punch

Naysaying Times.  The paper of record will never throw props to a tax cut. – Of course, given the NY Times’ reputation for fabricating news and printing lies as truth, what good would their endorsing a tax cut do?

Six Important Rules for Real Social Security Reform 

A company that loses money is socially irresponsible – A Peter Drucker classic

Economic Profit Vs. Accounting Profit

Why Smart Managers Do Dumb Things – Motivations for creative accounting tricks.

Give Us Disclosure, Not Audits – There have long been serious problems with the practicality of GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) in audited financial statements as investors try to make reasonable decisions.  This isn’t a new problem by any stretch of the imagination.  I can still recall this as a topic in my early college accounting classes, almost 30 years ago.  One of the biggest surprises when I started learning about accounting is there is no such thing as one way to do things.  GAAP includes a wide range of optional methods that can be used, making a truly useful side by side comparison of different companies’ published financial statements impossible.  I’m sure most people, including many financial planning advisors, are completely unaware of that fact.