Wednesday, November 16, 2011

WHAT’S THE BUZZ? TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENIN’ – WEDNESDAY EDITION

+ Don’t forget to check out the NOVEMBER issue of LOIS.

+ David Logan points out that a “Major Flaw of the VOW to Hire Veterans Act Lost Amid Political Popularity” at the Tax Foundation’s TAX POLICY BLOG.

Targeted incentives are poor policy in general, but are especially wasteful in this case.  Why?  Legislators failed to include a provision saying that business must increase net employment in order to receive the credit.  Given the lack of such a provision, a business could hire a veteran and fire one on the same day, eventually collect a government check of up to $9,600, and not reduce veteran unemployment by a single job.”

David correctly explains that “politically popular legislation which has not been properly thought through is not the answer”.

Hey, when have the current idiots in Congress ever “properly thought through” any legislation they pass?

+ The LA Times reports that the idiots on the “Deficit 'Super Committee' May Put Off Decisions”.

Rather than risk stark failure, the congressional panel could decide now on only the outline of a deal, deferring the tougher calls until after the 2012 election”.

Why am I not surprised?

+ Kay Bell follows up with “Deficit Panel Might Pick Tax Amount, But Let Others Figure Out the Details” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

The nail’s head is firmly hit by Kay with (highlight is mine) –

Harry Truman is famous for, among other things, the sign on his desk proclaiming that ‘The Buck Stops Here’.

Buck passing, not stopping, is an area in which Congress is expert.

+ The Wall Street Journal’s TAX REPORT tells us there are “Special Tax Deductions for Special Education”.

More than six million children in the U.S. fall into the "special needs" category, and their ranks are expanding. The number of those affected by one developmental disability alone—autism—grew more than 70% between 2005 and 2010.

The tax code can help—if you know where to look.

The item tells us where to look.

+ Illinois accountant Daniel Stoica states the obvious in his post “Defaulting on Student Loans is a Bad Idea”.

+ Rae Hoffman-Dolan and Missy Ward have launched a new blog titled IT’S A WAHM THING to provide advice for work at home moms. 

+ Not only are they idiots – but crooks as well!  BUSINESS INSIDER discusses the revelations in Peter Schweizer's book, "Throw Them All Out" in “FULL DETAILS: How Congress Insider Traders Abused The Public's Trust During TheFinancial Crisis”.

The highlight below is mine –

Specifically, Schweizer tells how on September 16, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke held a private meeting with legislators in which they reported that the economy was in deep trouble and predicted near-term disaster in the markets.

Congressmen privy to this information reacted--not by dropping everything and drawing up a plan to save the economy, but by dumping stock and avoiding the losses everyone else would take in the coming month. Others bought stocks in financial firms that would later be saved by the federal government.”

Again – why am I not surprised?

THE LAST WORD:

Today’s BUZZ continues to illustrate the fact that the members of Congress are truly idiots. 

No one can doubt that the primary objective of a “Congresscritter”, as Joe Kristan of the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG likes to call them, is getting re-elected and certainly not the competent running of the country.  As I quoted from the LA TIMES above (highlight mine) – “Rather than risk stark failure, the congressional panel could decide now on only the outline of a deal, deferring the tougher calls until after the 2012 election”.

They are indeed lazy, as witness the FU with the VOW to Hire Veterans Act – as Joe Kristan puts it “another example of how you shouldn't look to the tax law to solve every problem.” 

And, as suggested in the above item on insider trading, they are also crooks (which Chuck Rangel had previously demonstrated) with a double standard.  As the item correctly states – “If this behavior had happened in the private sector, Congress would be outraged.”

The title of Peter Schweizer's book suggests a good solution - "Throw Them All Out"!   

TTFN

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