CAN You Find Talent for $1 Million a Year? July 18, 2012July 19, 2012 RELEASING TAX RETURNS So Mitt Romney is stonewalling on his taxes — and getting pretty badly beaten up for that. Jonathan H.: “I received an SBA loan to help my small business grow. Thanks Uncle Sam! I had to provide three years of tax returns to get this loan. Is my little $38,000 loan more important than the top job in a country with a $14 trillion GDP? Seems as though due diligence for that position should be more extensive.” Why would Mr. Romney not release all his returns, going back as far as, say, his dad did? One might guess it’s because whatever they would reveal is worse than the hits he’s taking for not releasing them. And what could that be? Well, how about a year or two when he made millions but paid no tax — something like that? All perfectly legal, but the kind of thing that could rankle the average gal or guy struggling to make ends meet. That may not be it at all. I don’t know. But there does seem to be something about his prior tax returns he really does not want voters to see. AN AUDACIOUS PROPOSAL This crazy economist offers to run Barclays for just $1 million a year. What is he: a communist? A mother Teresa impersonator? Who can live – in London, no less – on $1 million a year? Yet I hope his offer catches fire. Because the truth is, CEO compensation has long been out of control. And Kotlikoff makes the case bitingly here for Forbes. JESUS IN JACKSONVILLE Jacksonville, Florida, is considering an ordinance to ban discrimination. Here‘s what one former Jacksonville Mayor, now President of the University of North Florida thinks of that: I am a pro-life religious conservative. I pray and read the Bible daily. I’m a rock-solid, loyal Republican. I am with Ronald Reagan’s ideological tutor, Sen. Barry Goldwater regarding homosexuality: Live and let live. . . . I support the bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. . . . Jesus boiled down God’s mandates to two: Love God with all one’s heart, and love one’s neighbor as one’s self. The sinners that Jesus most often criticized were the arrogant, the righteous and the sanctimonious. You need read further only if you don’t already agree — or want to read more before forwarding it to your Bible-reading “rock-solid, loyal Republican” brother-in-law who has yet to see the light.