IRS upgrade hits another glitch – IRS has a long tradition of flushing millions of dollars down the toilet in attempts to modernize their computer systems. Having the deep pockets of the Federal taxpayers to bail them out prevents the IRS from suffering the same fate that private companies would have met under similar incompetencies.

The unachievable goal of a perfect trading market for stocks and other things is that everybody has access to the exact same information as everyone else has, so that nobody has any advantage over anyone else. As Martha Stewart has discovered, what constitutes illegal insider info is a very subjective assessment.

This morning’s interview with Baltimore radio station WBAL was moved up at the very last minute. I’m not a morning person, and was up much earlier than normal for the original interview time of 7:25 our time. Luckily, I got up at 6:30, with the goal of browsing the current news beforehand. However, a call came in from the WBAL producer before I could even check the first site. She said they were running behind and needed to put me on earlier than planned. We ended up only having three minutes for this interview.

Since it’s not likely many of you heard the interview at the time, we recorded it off the WBAL Internet feed and I have posted it in standard MP3 format on my site. It runs just over three minutes and the file size is 2.3mb, which is much smaller than the 17mb original wav file.

For anyone interested in how to record things like this, I have been using the Total Recorder program for a few years now and have been very happy with its ability to record anything that is playing through our computers.

Democrats Not Shying Away From Tax Talk. Candidates Discuss Raises, Not Cuts – Just one of many reasons to despise DemonRats.

Why Medicare Expansion Threatens the Bush Tax Cuts and Undermines Fundamental Tax Reform – As with all government programs the actual costs will be several times what the proponents claim they will be. As with such boondoggles as MediCare, the big government fans know that once people are hooked on the program, it will be impossible for it to be scuttled just because it costs a hundred times as much as they told us it would at the beginning.

CNBC Disclosure Stirs Ethics Debate in Business Media

It’s always been a dilemma in regard to financial writers who tout certain stocks. While many media companies have rules forbidding their writers from covering stocks that they personally own, if it’s such a good investment, it does give one pause if that person doesn’t put his/her own money where his/her mouth is. On the other hand, there is also the concern that the writers are using their clout to stimulate buyers to run up the prices so they can be unloaded; pump & dump. I don’t have a preference for either; but I think it is a god idea to have writers disclose their personal ownership.

I always get a big kick out of the hot stock tips that come via email. They imply that the analysis is objective, yet the fine print at the end often says that the writer was given several thousand dollars or several thousand shares of the stock for sending out the emails. I always wonder how many people are stupid enough to actually buy those shares regardless of the obvious blatant conflicts of interest.

Interesting variation of the name of the congressional committee that writes our tax laws.

Brown enters not guilty plea – The reported size of the theft from Harrison Abstract has grown since earlier accounts. The original estimate of $400,000 has been revised to a million dollars. I doubt if the entire scheme has been unraveled yet, so that figure will most likely be changing.

We’ve finally worked out the time for a live on-air interview on Baltimore radio station WBAL, triggered by my FoxNews.com article from last week. I am scheduled to be on Dave Durian’s Morning Show for about ten minutes, starting at 8:25 am EDT tomorrow, July 29. For those not around the Baltimore area, the station has online broadcast capability. I tried it myself this morning and it actually started up and played a lot more easily than the other radio outlets that I listen to online.

IRS Given More Power To Break Laws – IRS’s PR program to convince our rulers that they can’t do their job without breaking laws that would put regular people in the slammer seems to have worked. The more we hear about the deficit, the more pressure there will be to unleash the IRS Gestapo and let them do whatever it takes to squeeze more money out of people. It’s classic ends (money for government) justifying the means (whatever it takes). As I’ve documented on several occasions, the infamous “tax gap” of supposedly uncollected taxes, is a pure guess (on the very high side) by IRS. They have admitted that to me when I pushed for documentation of how they calculated their numbers, which are used routinely to justify their collection tactics.

Sound fiscal advice for families should apply to state budget – With all of the focus on creative accounting done by large corporations, it’s interesting to note how practically all of the fiscal shenanigans played by our rulers at pretty much all levels of government would put corporate executives in the slammer. This means that corporate shareholders are legally given more recourse over fiscal mismanagement than are taxpayers.

Pension Problems, Pension Politics. Many plans aren’t solvent but Congress shouldn’t make the problem worse.

Seven Rules for Investing Young

Protect disabled with special needs trust – when discussing estate planning, I’ve long suggested that people imagine themselves as being in the position of puppeteers from the other world after they pass on. However, to ensure that one’s wishes, including special arrangements for family members, and even pets, are actually carried out, everything has to be properly spelled out in proper documents. I have yet to hear of the terms in a deceased person’s will or living trust being changed based on conversations from beyond the grave, regardless of the popularity of people who claim to speak with the dearly departed. I advise people to project ahead to when they are gone and write down what they would like done with their assets. A good estate attorney can usually draw up documents that will ensure that those things are actually accomplished.

A (Less) Taxing Time. Experts Say Breaks Help But Don’t Merit Change in Your Plans. – From the AARP Bulletin