Back In 15 Minutes April 16, 2010March 25, 2012 Well, or maybe not. But what a great day to reread YESTERDAY’s column, click the link to think through some Roth IRA conversion calculations, or click the other link to see Roz in her rowboat.
Tax Day April 15, 2010March 17, 2017 Roses are red, Violets are blue, Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society, So “BOO-frickin-HOO.” Most personal income tax bills are lower – and tax refunds higher – than last year, thanks to Obama’s first budget (that got not a single Republican vote). And the tax rate we pay here is lower than in most other First World nations. (Is there any other with lower taxes than ours?) It’s true, those of us fortunate enough to have high-paying jobs and/or significant investment income will doubtless see our tax rates rise in the not distant future. (So this is a good year to look hard at converting some or all your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.) But I’d guess most Americans will see their low tax rates unchanged, or raised only very modestly; and that for high-income taxpayers, it will be not so different from what it was in the – very prosperous – Clinton/Gore era. Man up, for God’s sake. And consider the possibility that paying taxes – or in this case, cashing your larger than usual refund check – is even more patriotic than complaining that you shouldn’t have to. You voted for Bush, you even reelected him, and thus you voted for the war in Iraq and the giant tax cuts for the rich and the massive debt and deficits they left us with. So now that it’s fiscal clean up time, grab a mop – not a gun – and help out like everybody else. (Warm smile. I’m not really this tough – I would make a very bad drill sergeant – and I’m not crazy about paying taxes either. But I mean . . . really . . . did “the Greatest Generation” complain this much about taxes?) TARAWA Until this week I had not ever even heard of Tarawa. (Well, had you?) And now in response to Tuesday’s post comes an email from Roz Savage, who rowed there from San Francisco. I don’t know which I find more astounding: that I am communicating, instantly, with a woman in a rowboat by an atoll in the middle of the Pacific . . . or that she rowed there. Roz writes: Planning to leave for Australia on Monday Tarawa time, which is Sunday in the US. So still a few more chances to get some zzzz before spending 100+ days alone in a tippy little rowboat! Thanks for the publicity!! Anyone is most welcome to use me as a spokesperson for the environment. Hell, even the Republicans. Well, okay, maybe not. But seriously, the environment should be at the top of EVERY political agenda. If/when we completely screw up the world, the consequences will not discriminate along party or country lines. Hopefully I speak as a passionately concerned human, rather than as a Brit or a liberal or anything else. We’re all on this planet together, and we have to look after it if we want it to look after us. If you have 3 minutes, here‘s my latest little video. It’s a bit home-made (did it myself a couple of weeks ago, and I’m no pro!) but hopefully it gets the message out there. My TED talk should be going on YouTube soon as well, again with the message that every action counts. Okay, time to get back to boat stuff! All best Roz Roz Savage 2006 Solo Atlantic from Canaries to Antigua 2008 Solo Pacific I from California to Hawaii 2009 Solo Pacific II from Hawaii to Kiribati 2010 Solo Pacific III from Kiribati to Australia Twitter: rozsavage Rowing the Atlantic (Simon & Schuster, 2009)
Not All Eggrolls Are Chinese April 14, 2010March 17, 2017 MINT Clare Durst: “Now that I pay my bills on-line exclusively, pay for on-line purchases with a credit card and on-site purchases with a debit card almost exclusively, I don’t need a full-blown Quicken-type product any more. So I’ve signed up with mint, which Quicken has bought and somewhat revamped. I can see all my balances, categorize expenditures . . . and in theory do budgets (at my age, if I don’t know how to spend money without a written-out budget, fuggedaboutit!) . . . right on my computer or on my iTouch or iPad. I cannot write checks from there; it’s fully just a mirror. But I find it very useful for a quick look, and to make sure stuff gets categorized as deductible immediately.” EASTER I know; this is like writing about Tax Day in May – the moment has passed. (Don’t forget to send in your first estimated tax payment by Thursday, if you need to file one; and whatever taxes you owe for 2009, or the amount due according to the instructions for filing on extension.) And I will admit, Easter is not entirely my thing. Then again, even the White House is late with Easter – they do it on Monday. “The White House egg roll” was just something I knew they did every year that sounded only marginally interesting – if you were five. I mean, really? Who cares? And then yesterday, I got this eggwitness account – complete with photos! – and found myself, by the end, grinning from ear to ear. My friends David and Joe had taken their three kids to Washington for the weekend to give it a shot. David writes: On Saturday we went on a double-decker bus tour. We were on the top which gave the kids a great view of everything. When we went by the White House the kids got all excited and in loud voices exclaimed, “That’s where the President lives . . . can we go in now?” This discussion lasted several minutes. Joe and I expressed the need for patience and Monday, April 5 would be here in no time. I don’t think they fully accepted our explanation. In fact they didn’t! When the big day arrived, the kids woke up and asked if we could go to the White House immediately after breakfast. Thank God the hotel has a wonderful outdoor pool. We got to the designated entry point and arrived at 1:10pm. Entrance scheduled for 1:45pm. The line ahead of us seemed to go on forever – until we looked behind us after waiting 20 minutes and couldn’t see the end. (They had given out 30,000 tickets to this, mostly by lottery over the Internet, but divide them up into six different time slots throughout the day.) I held the kids up one by one to see this. Wow dad they’ll never get in. It took about 50 minutes to get to the security clearance but remember it was hot (86*F) and sunny in DC that day. The kids were dressed smartly but in play appropriate clothes and ready for a hot day…they still wanted to take them off. We see the WH South Fountain. Can we please go swimming? No, it’s for viewing only. Why? It has water. Can you ask the President? It’s his house! Going through security . . . daddy/papa: “Why? This isn’t an airport.” Joe and I emphasize safety. Didn’t want to introduce the idea of nuts, extremists or terrorists. They’re still young and plenty of time for that. After all this is the WH! Another line to get to the ticket takers area. Another line . . . why? We have to give them our tickets…we’ll be through in no time. WH easter egg roll yellow bags given out (guide, schedule, event program, map and large beautiful, souvenir ticket) and wrist bands for kids only. All of a sudden the three of them come alive. They have concrete evidence that things are happening. We are now through the WH gates and the kids are thrilled. Can we go inside and see the President? My twin girls, nearly 5, asked for Michelle, Malia and Sasha. Not Jason, who is 7 . . . only the President. It’s definitely a guy/guy thing and a girl/girl thing! Trust me on this one. We go over the endless list of things to do with the kids. Ali/Isa want face painting and Jason wants football. Joe takes the girls and I take Jason. There were really no lines or at the most very short waits for everything. Once inside the WH grounds the crowd spreads out and there’s plenty of room. We get to the football area and Jason goes out for a pass… Thrown by Matt Lawrence/Baltimore Ravens (who gave Jason an NFL wrist band) . . . he catches it and has that look of I’m going pro! He continues with more. The NFL players were superb! We then head to the WH basketball court (down a mysterious narrow path through thick trees) which Jason loved and doesn’t want to take one shot . . . he wants to play one on one. Not happening. He did play for over 15 minutes . . . shot after shot after shot . . . finally they ask him if there’s anything else he’d like to do. He answered sure. Well handled by the WH people. We head over to meet Joe and the twins at the “Hop To It” sign above the South Fountain. As soon as they see me: daddy, daddy do you like my face? I love your faces . . . I can’t believe how beautiful my daughters are. They did look gorgeous but I am a little biased. The kids are now in full gear. Uh oh . . . there’s trouble ahead . . . Sponge Bob in the flesh . . . walking, talking and greeting the children. One must know that Sponge Bob is banned in our house, images or on tv. Our three kids all want to know why . . . if he’s at the WH why can’t he be at our house. I tell them I’ll send the President an email and ask him what’s going on? A diversion is in order!!! I ask who wants to go to the egg roll? All three yell, I do . . . off we go. There is a short line and anywhere from 6-12 kids race at a time. The course is set up in lanes just below the portico of the WH. Where’s the President? Is he coming out / why not? Can we ask? Please dad . . . I explain to them (Jason understood) that he was throwing out the first ball at the Washington Nationals game at 3pm. Didn’t work with the girls but by now they’re all lined up for the egg roll race. It’s a hardboiled egg, colored, and you roll it down your lane from the start line to the finish line with a spoon. My three kids are all in the same race competing against each other. Jason is a real athlete and can’t wait to beat his sisters and the other kids. Ready, set, go! Jason goes to make his first move and steps on the egg . . . splat!!! He looks devastated. I immediately get him into the next race in which he is far more careful and wins. The girls have a ball laughing through the whole roll. It was great fun to watch them and as parents we couldn’t resist cheering them on. There is a line to have your picture with Dora the Explorer but Ali and Isa have no interest in that. They just want to meet her so they proceed directly to Dora to say hello and tell Dora their names and begin to chat. I immediately whisk them away explaining if you want to talk to Dora you need to wait in line. They say thanks dad but they already met her. My strong-willed girls. I can’t believe they’re only 4, turning 5 on May 4! Will Eleanor Roosevelt be their role model? You never know. The kids were so fortunate to do so many more things . . . tennis, egg dyeing, hearing/seeing the cast of Glee (they had no idea who they were but neither did Joe and I until someone told us) and more. The time goes by quickly – two hours there at the WH – but I assure you it’s enough time at the event. It’s now time to make our way to the exit off the south lawn on to the ellipse to get our painted commemorative wooden eggs. We leisurely strolled out with three very happy but tired kids. Alessandra and Isabelle chose pink eggs and Jason chose a green egg. No surprise here! I left feeling proud not only of my family: Joe, Jason, Alessandra and Isabelle but my country as well. The kids finished writing their thank you notes to the President and First Lady this weekend.
Three Little Dots April 13, 2010March 17, 2017 SAVAGE ROWING Susie Slanina: “Roz Savage is on the back cover of this children’s book I just wrote. She will be rowing from Tarawa to Australia starting April 15 [having already rowed 3,000 miles from Honolulu]. It would be nice if you mention her in your next environmental column. I do not work for her, I only know of her work and met her at a book signing. Oh, and by the way, my book below makes a perfect gift for nieces and nephews.” ☞ Or just get those nieces and nephews plugged in to Roz’s magnificent adventure. Wowwww. RADIO.COM Type in the name of the artist you want to hear . . . and click. ELLIPSIS For those who try to figure out how the public discourse could have become so broken, here is an interesting example: the tale of a guy devoted to disputing – or was it distorting? – the projected cost of the health care bill. You decide. Three little dots, otherwise known as an ellipsis. INNOCENT, SHMINICENT From The Times of London Online (thanks, Tom): April 9, 2010 George W. Bush ‘knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent’ George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, according to a new document obtained by The Times. The accusations were made by Lawrence Wilkerson, a top aide to Colin Powell, the former Republican Secretary of State, in a signed declaration to support a lawsuit filed by a Guantánamo detainee. It is the first time that such allegations have been made by a senior member of the Bush Administration. Colonel Wilkerson, who was General Powell’s chief of staff when he ran the State Department, was most critical of Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld. He claimed that the former Vice-President and Defence Secretary knew that the majority of the initial 742 detainees sent to Guantánamo in 2002 were innocent but believed that it was “politically impossible to release them”. [ . . . ] A spokesman for Mr Bush said of Colonel Wilkerson’s allegations: “We are not going to have any comment on that.” A former associate to Mr Rumsfeld said that Mr Wilkerson’s assertions were completely untrue. The associate said the former Defence Secretary had worked harder than anyone to get detainees released and worked assiduously to keep the prison population as small as possible. Mr Cheney’s office did not respond. . . .
Cocoa Nibs April 12, 2010March 17, 2017 RETHINKING HIS IRA Eric Haglund: “I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to read the recent New Yorker piece on Paul Krugman (it’s a great read, as you’d expect from the New Yorker), but I was rather startled to find out that Krugman and his wife ‘pulled out of the stock market ten years ago and never went back.’ I know it’s not his particular area of expertise and that you shouldn’t allow yourself to get spooked by one guy’s opinion, but Krugman is a pretty damn smart guy and tends to be right a lot of the time. And there’s something to be said for the fact that somebody like me, whose knowledge of the stock market comes from books like yours and whose participation in the market is almost entirely limited to index funds, still really doesn’t know what the heck he’s doing with this stuff. Are P/E ratios way out of line with what they’ve historically been, as Krugman says? Search me! It occurs to me that if somebody challenged me on why my Roth IRA is entirely invested in index funds, all I’d be able to say in response is, ‘because guys like Andrew Tobias say that’s what you should do.’ Suddenly the ground beneath my feet doesn’t feel all that sturdy.” ☞ I don’t know how close you are to retirement, or any of the other factors that could affect your asset allocation; but with the Dow back at 11,000, I don’t think you’d be crazy to reassess a bit. For example, you might diversify with a little gold – GLD, which trades like a stock, is the simplest way – despite the fact that, for the long term, gold will surely not be as productive an investment as . . . well, actual productive investments. But the more intriguing shift might be into a Roth IRA under the management of my friend Joel Greenblatt’s Formula Investing. It’s sort of like index investing, but with a significant twist (namely, picking a basket of just the best businesses selling at the lowest valuations); with still-modest costs and, because this is a Roth IRA, no tax drag. There’s no guarantee, his method will beat the index funds. But Joel is a pretty smart guy. For example, if you read Michael Lewis’s The Big Short (do! do!), you’ll notice that Joel spotted Dr. Mike Burry (the one-eyed medical student whose phenomenal investing success, as written up by Lewis, was excerpted in Vanity Fair) and gave him $1 million for 25% of his aborning hedge fund before anyone else did. Clearly, rare people like Dr. Burry can beat the indexes by spotting value. And rare people like Joel have done very well spotting value themselves. His Formula Investing won’t make you rich; but I’d be surprised if, over time, it didn’t outpace the index funds, especially when sheltered from tax consequences inside a retirement account. Then again, how big is your IRA? If it’s large enough, me-mail me about a couple of small private managers who may be able to do even better still. (Or may not.) INCREASED CORPORATE POWER Corporations tend to back Republican Presidents, and Republican Presidents from Reagan on have been nominating justices like Scalia and Thomas – who gave us George W. Bush, who in turn gave us Roberts and Alito, who in turn decided recently in Citizens United to give corporations still more power to influence elections. As reported by ProPublica – here – that added influence can be easily hidden. And it extends far beyond national elections. . . . Businesses must reveal their identities on public [2] reports [3] to the Federal Election Commission if they buy advertising on their own. But one popular and perfectly legal conduit for companies wanting to influence politics under the radar is to give money to nonprofit trade groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber and its national affiliates spent $144.5 million [4] last year on advertising, lobbying and grass-roots activism — more than either the Republican or Democratic party spent, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of public records — while legally concealing [5] the names of its funders. The Los Angeles Times reported this week [6] that the Chamber is building a grass-roots political operation that has signed up about 6 million non-Chamber members. Some of the positions the Chamber has successfully advanced on behalf of its donors include a nationwide campaign to unseat state judges [7] who were considered tough on corporate defendants and opposition to a federal bill that would have criminalized defective auto manufacturing [8]. . . . CHOCOLATE Bob Diem: “Regarding your recent chocolate [reduces the risk of stroke and heart attack] post, your readers might be interested in cocoa nibs. I mix them with raisins and nuts to make a delicious and healthy trail mix. Keeps me away from the unhealthy snacks.”
Cap and Cash April 9, 2010March 17, 2017 NOT PLAY MONEY Victor Kava: “Although I personally don’t play with money I can ‘truly afford to lose’ – usually – except when I do – I enjoy reading the investment discussions you post. I believe that you are still Treasurer of the DNC, yes? I’d be interested in a write-up of how you manage the DNC funds. Especially, a discussion of how you view the investment goals, and then the investment strategy. My guess would be that the DNC funds are not invested in puts and calls.” ☞ Your guess would be correct. We keep the funds in the bank, which helps offset the bank fees for processing what last year were more than a million separate contributions. I keep arguing that we should put a little into Borealis, but the one guy who agreed with me turned out to be a McCain operative. Where the funds are really invested, in the main, is in building OFA (Organizing for America), the successor to OFA (Obama for America) – our hundreds of thousands of neighborhood activists determined to help move the President’s agenda and keep Congress in progressive hands. It’s an incredibly leveraged investment, because those activists work for free and pay their own expenses. THE CASE FOR “CAP AND CASH” Instead of “cap and trade.” Click here to see which you prefer. One way or another, we need to start reducing our carbon emissions. MODERATE REPUBLICANS? Following up on Wednesday’s “He Liked Ike,” on the demise of the moderate Republican . . . Rachel Maddow offered this view later that evening. BZ Kirk E.: “I still have several thousand of these BZ warrants that we bought way back when, and to me, the stock still looks cheap at only 4 P/E and has room to possibly run higher. My question is, do you still have some, and what is your take on the stock?” ☞ I still have lots – even after having sold lots – because something possessed me to buy zillions of them at 2 cents. (Not literally zillions, of course; but oodles.) Yesterday, as you saw, I suggested selling some and holding the rest. Not sure how solid that P/E is. Yahoo Finance shows the estimated forward P/E as 10.7, which is not quite as cheap. The company has a lot of debt and is highly sensitive to paper prices. If those prices rise – great. If they fall – not so great. Motley Fool lists BZ as “ready to roar,” but the market as a whole seems no bargain here, up 70% from the bottom, though we still face major economic challenges . . . and the demand for paper in an increasingly paperless world – well, all I can say is that if the stock does roar, fantastic. And if it doesn’t, I will still count myself very fortunate to have sold so many 2-cent warrants at prices like 80 cents and 90 cents and $1. DNDN Walkingmoney65: “You either have to be a complete nut job writing what you did yesterday, or it was written for your short positioned handler that is drowning in debt. They took the wrong side of the DNDN investment this time around and were stupid for doing so. The science and facts have proven this vaccine treatment to be everything that Dendreon claimed it to be. Even to those that had some doubt before, now understand this is the real thing. Do you really do any honest due diligence homework to try and be somewhat truthful with accurate fact finding before you write that trash, which in my opinion is complete [expletive deleted]? . . . Oh I see, one small part of it is to leave you a way out when you are proven wrong about your main objective and the content of your personal hidden agenda. Guess what? You are dead wrong and no one that knows and understands the true facts behind this science proven treatment are giving your opinion any validity at all. I personally think you are nothing more than a hack hoping that someone will believe what you have written in a last ditch effort to try and influence the price to come down enough for you or your handler to save as much money as possible. Screw the shorts and I love the fact that they are trapped now without a way out, except to cover and lose $$$$. . . . Disgusted with your hidden agenda behind that article, but I do love the fact the shorts are trapped and do not know what to do now.” ☞ I post that in its entirety with cautious optimism. It is written in the same tone that ran through endless emails a few years ago when we owned Nitromed puts. Remember NTMD? Guru suggested it would fall from $23 to $1, and the chat board folks grew agitated, mocking and abusive. But the stock fell to $1 anyway. Ultimately, it was bought out at 80 cents a share. There’s always the chance walkingmoney65 will be right – that the FDA will approve Provenge as he and the market expect – and that guru will be wrong. Even guru admits that possibility. If so, no terrible harm; we will lose some money we could truly, truly afford to lose. It’s happened before. But there’s also the chance that guru will be right. Have a great weekend. (And, if you can find ten minutes, don’t forget to watch Rachel’s clip on moderate Republicans. Or to read about “cap and cash.”)
May Day April 8, 2010March 17, 2017 GUESS WHO’S CRITICIZING THE SUPREME COURT? Lifelong Republican Sandra Day O’Connor . . . as reported here. The former Justice believes the 5-4 ruling in the Citizens United case (that went out of its way to unfetter corporate influence on elections) was wrong, harmful, and dangerous. She is not alone. Apparently, “A February poll by ABC News found that 72 percent of Americans favor efforts to re-institute limits on corporate and union spending in elections, including 63 percent of conservatives.” BZ+ Esther C.: “After selling a few of the BZ warrants you suggested, I still have 7,150 left. I bought them for 8 cents each and now they’re 88 cents. I am confused as to how this works. The stock is approaching $7.50. I know I have the right to buy the stock at $7.50. Do I exercise this right as soon as it reaches the strike price? ” ☞ No! The simplest and safest thing to do, especially as you’ve now owned the warrants more than a year (and thus qualify for long-term capital gains treatment) is sell them. It’s not every day you make 11 times your money so fast. As you say, each warrant gives you the right to buy a share for $7.50 – but that right is only valuable to the extent the stock is higher than $7.50. The right to buy a $7.50 stock for $7.50 is worth exactly zero! So you definitely would not want to waste them by exercising them when the stock is at $7.50. The reason the warrants have value is the possibility – however slim – that the stock might be $8 – or $10! – or $12! – before they expire in June 18, 2011. At $12, each one would be worth $3.50! If I were you, I’d sell 5,000 now and just wait to see what happens with the rest. DNDN Sharp-eyed readers will remember I have suggested buying puts – most recently, last week – albeit only with money you can truly afford to lose. The moment of truth may be approaching. “In much of the world,” reports Investors Business Daily, “May Day is a festive event. Worldwide, Mayday is a call for help. For Dendreon (DNDN), May 1, May Day, likely will be a celebration, not a distress call. On that date, the company is expected to get Food and Drug Administration approval for its prostate cancer drug, Provenge.” But not everyone expects that. Here are the May 1 scenarios my guru sees: 1. Dendreon gets approval as expected. Stock rallies several points. Perhaps the bulls are right and it triples over the next year. 2. Dendreon gets a delay because the FDA just hasn’t completed its review. Hopes to complete the review “soon.” Stock sells off several points, but should remain in the 30’s. It’s a trade-off between the bears, who will say this delay is a smoking gun for something more seriously wrong with the application, and the bulls, who say it is just a matter of some clerical issues. Puts will undoubtedly rise. 3. Dendreon gets a delay and the FDA announces that they will be reviewing it at the July 15 oncology panel. Stock drops immediately to the high teens or low twenties as the prospect of rejection gets factored in. Puts will skyrocket. 4. Dendreon gets a “complete response” letter citing manufacturing problems and an “indefinite delay.” Stock will drop 15 or so points. Then it depends on how much color the company can provide on the issues and when they will be resolved. I give this low odds of happening, but something to consider. 5. Dendreon gets a “complete response” letter citing the need for an additional trial to establish efficacy. Stock opens at 5 and sells to 2. I continue to expect this as the most probable outcome, but 2 and 3 above have a reasonable chance of occurring. I continue to hear rumors that the FDA will indeed convene a panel. Nothing has been announced so far. ☞ If the drug is approved, we lose 100% of the value of the puts. If a new trial is required and the stock collapses, we make maybe 500% (depending on which puts you chose – I have some that expire in August, some in January, some in January 2012, and at various strike prices). MYM MAC Bruce Katzman: “I finally had to give up Managing Your Money when the Mac stopped supporting the ‘Classic’ environment. I auditioned a lot of new programs and settled in on one called iBank. It is not as smart, as flexible, as intuitive or as useful as MYM was, BUT it is the only one (for my money) that comes close. They have a very friendly and responsive staff and customer service and they seem to be very open to customer suggestions. Version 4 may be out by the end of the year (we hope). Just letting you know in case others come calling for recommendations.” iPAD Charles loves it. It is very hard to get his attention anymore.
He Liked Ike April 7, 2010March 17, 2017 Admit it – you were all about Gerald Ford. Hey, that’s fine. Nice guy. And if you were never a Republican, surely you had friends who were. Chris Currey, “an old, free market, religious Republican businessman,” was the same way. His first vote was for Eisenhower. But as he writes here, something’s changed: . . . I voted for Nixon and for Reagan. Although I did not like the deficit spending of the Reagan administration, I blamed it on and rationalized it by the necessities of fighting the Cold War. I liked Reagan — who didn’t? Even my Democrat and liberal friends liked and respected him. I voted for Clinton, twice. I thought he was the best Republican president since Ike. No, I did not make a mistake. Bill Clinton was closer ideologically to Eisenhower and Nixon than Bush I and II could ever be. I thought that Clinton practiced and articulated true Republican ideology in his fiscal discipline, job creation, smart tax cuts, and foreign policy better than anyone since Ike. Then something happened in the 1990s. The leaders of the GOP grew belligerent. They became too religious, almost zealots. They became intolerant. They began searching for purity in Republican thought and doctrine. Ideology blinded them. I continued to vote Republican, but with a certain unease. Deep down I knew that a schism happened between the modern Republican Party and the one I grew up with. During the fight over the impeachment of President Clinton, the ugly face of the Republican Party was brought to the surface. Empty rhetoric, ideological intolerance, vengeance, and religious zealotry became the common currency. Suddenly, if you are pro-choice, you could not be a Republican. If you are for smart and sensible taxes to balance out the budget, you could not be a Republican. If you are pro-civil rights, you could not be a Republican. . . . ☞ It’s worth reading the whole piece. “How did we go from William F. Buckley to Glenn Beck?” he asks. How, indeed. CHOCOLATE Peter Kaczowka: “Eat LOTS of chocolate. Per Wikipedia, the world’s longest-lived person, Jeanne Louise Calment, lived on a diet of olive oil, red wine and chocolate, living 122 years and 164 days. There’s no need to eat cocoa powder, Lindt makes a delicious 90% pure chocolate bar. Calment ate nearly 5 oz of chocolate a day, more than an entire Lindt 90% bar which weighs 3.5 oz and has 550 calories. Calment was not eating ‘a little chocolate every day,’ as you advise; chocolate was a substantial part of her diet of unsaturated fats.”
Taxes April 6, 2010March 17, 2017 EAT (A LITTLE) CHOCOLATE EVERY DAY Tom Anthony: “According to a recent study by European governments, eating chocolate was associated with a 48% reduction in stroke risk and a 27% decrease in heart attacks. Chocolates, however, vary widely in their flavonoid content. To get the best health effects, alkali-treated chocolate, i.e. Dutch chocolate, should be avoided as this particular chocolate has been treated with alkalis to remove its bitterness and unfortunately many of its flavonoids. Note, for example, that Hershey’s DARK alkalized cocoa has much less flavonoid content than their regular cocoa. . . . The regular inexpensive baking cocoa at most supermarkets is natural cocoa and is what you want. Just adding a teaspoon of natural cocoa to your coffee should get you the reductions in stroke and heart attack risk without any of the added fat or sugar that you get by eating candy chocolate.” OH, CANADA Steve Baker: “Here’s the difference between Canada and the USA.” EXECUTIVES SAY IT’S TIME TO RAISE TAXES By Richard Blackwell Globe and Mail Mar. 29, 2010 Canada’s business executives, not usually a tax-friendly bunch, have acknowledged that it may be necessary for Ottawa to boost taxes in order to get rid of the deficit. Almost three out of five of the senior executives who responded to the latest C-Suite survey agree that in order for the federal government to balance its books, some form of tax increase may be necessary. While executives are almost unanimous that the recession is over and economic growth is under way, they are worried about how the government is going to deal with the stimulus-induced deficit. Half don’t believe Ottawa will be able to balance the books in five years, and that’s why so many think a tax increase is necessary. “I think it is in the country’s best interest in the short term to suffer a little bit and perhaps pay some higher taxes in order to try to get things back under control and back on an even keel,” said Chad Ulansky, chief executive officer of Metalex Ventures Ltd., a diamond exploration firm based in Kelowna, B.C. Mr. Ulansky was one of 151 top executives who responded to the C-Suite survey, which was conducted just after federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his budget in early March. The survey was conducted for Report on Business and Business News Network by Toronto research firm Gandalf Group. While almost two-thirds of the executives surveyed said they had a favourable view of the budget, half of respondents said it did a poor job of reducing the deficit and almost two-thirds oppose running a deficit through 2015. Mr. Ulansky, who believes consumption levies are the fairest form of taxation, said a temporary boost to the GST might be the best way to get the country out of the red – partly because it would involve the fewest administrative headaches. Other tax increases would also be acceptable to Mr. Ulansky. “I’d be willing to pay a little more on my income tax” and even a boost in corporate taxes might be palatable for the short term, he said. “If we could somehow have consensus around the country to all suffer through a bit of higher taxes for the next five or 10 years, we’ll be a far stronger country on the other side of it.” Philip Deck, executive chairman of Waterloo, Ont.-based software firm MKS Inc., said he, too, feels a tax hike may be necessary, and raising the GST makes the most sense. ☞ People seem horrified at the prospect that taxes might return to their levels under Clinton/Gore. Among Republicans, it hearkens back to 1993. The first Clinton budget got not a single Republican vote. Not one. And yet it wasn’t such a bad time for Americans at all income levels. The rich grew richer; the poor, less poor; the deficit, not at all. Think about it.
Watch Rachel April 5, 2010March 17, 2017 WHY NO COLUMN FRIDAY? Have you read my contract? It obligates me to publish only when the stock market is open – and the stock market was closed Friday. I don’t make these rules. Who am I, the President of the New York Stock Exchange? BULL. BULL. BULL. At least Rachel Maddow was working Friday. This clip starts with by showing how the right wing and Fox destroyed a decades-old advocate for the poor (by faking a video); then shows that the scandal over British scientists fabricating climate change data was itself fabricated. It proceeds to call out “the unmooring of politics from fact” . . . it runs through the fake Republican outrage over recess appointments and over the “individual mandate” (a Republican idea) and over terror suspects being read their Miranda rights (just as they were under Bush). . . . and more. Rachel concludes by affirming the importance of democratic dissent – but argues that “there are two things that disqualify you from this process.” Watch the clip and see if you agree?