Shock from Senators as Large Firm Attempts to Maximize Profits!

“US Senators Accuse Apple of Avoiding Billions in Taxes,” reads the front page headline from the May 21 print edition of the Financial Times (link to online article here).  Before I started reading, I thought perhaps this beloved provider of all that is I-phone was guilty of a Leona Helmsley or Walter Anderson-style case of [...]

Fighting for Veterans: Taking Action on the Disability Claims Backlog

House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is spearheading

Are Millennials Ready for Social Security Reform?

Government is very good at crowding out private sector activities.  When government borrows, it can cause interest rates to rise and crowd out more productive private sector borrowing.  When government expands welfare programs to help the hungry and homeless, the effect is the crowding out of individual giving to more efficient private-sector programs.  And decades [...]

Do Veterans Game the VA Disability System?

During my morning ritual of coffee and checking for daily updates on the Department of Veterans Affairs most recent follies, I came across an article published in 2005 by the British Journal of Psychiatry.  The particular search terms were a result of recent conversations I had with a number of veterans participating in the University of [...]

Taking All the Fun Out of Home Economics

It’s bad enough that market work has been decimated by high taxes, burdensome regulations and a generous disability system, but do we really need to start targeting non-market domestic endeavors due to the behavior of a few?

Even Jay Leno Recognizes the Tax Burden on Small Business!

I guess the current business climate is worse than I thought.  From Newsbusters on how to close Guantanamo Bay.  

The VBA Drops the Ball Once Again

Earlier this month, VA Undersecretary for Benefits Allison Hickey released an article about the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans Affairs new pilot programs to reduce benefit claim waiting times and increase accuracy rates.  Their new initiative is this: “Start processing the oldest claims first.” Since the majority of claims are still processed through paper [...]

College Degrees: You Read it Here First (Again)

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the diminishing value of the bachelor’s degree compared to a two-year degree at a community college.  With the billions of dollars of federal money poured into college aid and the predicted shortages of workers in jobs that require technical training, it is no wonder that more people are [...]

An Uphill Playing Field for Online Retailers

Just when I thought we could get a break from bad news this week, the Internet sales tax collection bill  reared its ugly head.  It has a way to go before becoming law, but according to the New York Times, a majority in the Senate has voted to take it up for debate and amendment. While [...]

Gold is Falling! Next Subject…

Two years ago during the gold-buying frenzy, I analyzed the rate of return to gold.  Bottom line:  The price does not rise indefinitely, in many cases the rate of return to gold does not come close to stock market returns, and as we have seen today, the gold market is subject to fluctuations like any [...]