Steve

Thieves At Work

This entry was posted in Privacy Taxation on by

senator carl levin (d-irs) is holding hearings:

This morning the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair, is holding a hearing to look at two banks that have relied on secrecy and deception to hide, not just the tax avoidance schemes of their clients, but the actions they themselves took to facilitate U.S. tax evasion.

On the surface it sounds like these banks are providing a level of secrecy and privacy that should be automatic at all banking institutions.
levin goes on to note:

Each year, the United States Treasury loses an estimated $100 billion in tax revenues from offshore tax abuses. Tax havens are engaged in economic warfare against the United States and honest, hardworking American taxpayers.

A slightly different way of stating this:

Each year, Americans protect an estimated $100 billion in assets from the United States Treasury.

I can’t say rather they are hard working or honest Americans. If the assets they are protecting have been acquired via theft or fraud than these folks should find their way to court and be required to return the funds to the victims.

Otherwise, the mafia US Government should put their guns away and leave these folks alone.

Who Wants To Be “led?”

This entry was posted in Government on by

Mark Brady asks:

…presidential hopeful Barack Obama yesterday explained his foreign policy. He called for “America — once again — to lead”, to be “ready to engage the world”, “to lead the world anew.”
Does it ever occur to the Columbia-and-Harvard-educated Barack Obama that perhaps the world does not want to be “led” by the United States?

I’m sure it has no more occurred to him than to the current occupant, to mccain or to any of the previous presidents.
Nor has it probably occurred to him that most of us, we the people, don’t want to be “led” either. At least not by fiat.
Rather, be a good government*: do your basic job of dealing with perps who use force or fraud to get their way; deliver a judicial system that provides timely services and response times; and leave the rest of us to our lives, our liberty and our pursuit of happiness.
And, as far as leadership goes: set a good example and if you can be persuasive enough perhaps you will generate a consensus to complete certain activities. Otherwise, go away.

*Possible oxymoron acknowledged.

Economists Weep With Joy Over the Discovery of the Cause of Inflation

This entry was posted in Apple Computer Economics Humor on by

Here is the headline:

Apple Licensing May Contribute to Inflation

and here is the meat:

If it seems prices of the latest iPod and iPhone accessories are rising, you may have Apple’s licensing department to thank, according to a story in Popular Mechanics. Though the company is typically reticent to discuss the details of arrangements such as the one that allows some electronics manufacturers to place a “Made for iPod” designation on their products, managers and decision makers for both retailers and manufacturers indicate Apple’s licensing fees and specially made chips that allow gadgets to work with Apple gear can add 10% or more to the price consumers pay for an item.

Yep, licensing agreements may indeed drive up the price of these accessories.
But, contribute to inflation? Naw, not unless these accessories are part of your price index and people actually bought them at the higher prices while also buying the rest of the goods in the index at the same or higher quantities and prices.
Which would mean that people had more money than they had before which suggests that the real cause of the inflation was most likely an increase in the money supply.
All of which is to say that I thought that headline was really broken.
NB: The headline in the Popular Mechanics article linked in the above quote is much more accurate:

How the “Apple Tax” Boosts Prices on iPod & iPhone Accessories