Archives for 2011

Investor genius Warren Buffett recently made headlines when he announced to the world that his tax bill was too low. In an opinion piece published by the New York Times, Buffett lamented that his secretary’s personal income tax rate surpassed his capital gains rate paid on investments. In doing so, Buffett created the clear impression that he would gladly pay higher taxes if only the government asked. There’s only one problem with this picture: the government has asked, and Buffett has repeatedly refused to pay higher taxes. Newsmax reported that Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the IRS over $1 billion in unpaid taxes. And it isn’t the first time – as recently as 2005, Buffett agreed to a favorable settlement with the IRS over a dividends-received deduction after a protracted 14 year battle. It seems that Warren Buffett believes everyone should pay more taxes – except him. … [Read more...]

Founder and editor-in-chief of publishing house epress-online, Ms. Margaret Carr was found dead of natural causes in her home last week after she failed to attend a company meeting. On October 30, 2000 Ms. Carr announced to the world the pending arrival of epress-online into the publishing world. She helped pioneer electronic publishing, a world about to explode with the advent of the Kindle and other reading devices. I never had the opportunity to meet Margaret Carr to thank her personally for all she has done for me. ePress-online published my first book and only book to date, Divine Evolution. With no small amount of pride I can say that I am a published author (not self-published) thanks to her. She will be missed by all of her friends, and aspiring authors everywhere. … [Read more...]

Most Americans must be financially illiterate. There's no other explanation for the lack of overwhelming outrage over the irresponsible rate of federal spending. Daniel Gross wrote a remarkably ill-informed article for Yahoo! Finance, blaming Congressional Republicans for our credit rating downgrade. The very people Gross chose to criticize are the only ones in Washington trying to introduce the federal government to fiscal responsibility. In stark contrast, Dave Ramsey did a beautiful job explaining our national spending crisis in terms anyone can understand.  Our growth of federal debt is unsustainable and requires drastic change immediately, which he made remarkably clear. At his website DaveRamsey.com, he wrote The federal government will take in $2.173 trillion in 2011. That’s their income, and it sounds pretty good. Until, that is, you factor in that the federal government will spend $3.818 trillion during the year. So, just like many families, the government’s outgo exceeds their income—to the tune of $1.645 trillion in overspending. That’s called the deficit. Altogether, the government has $14.2 trillion in debt. What would happen if John Q. Public and his wife called my show with these kinds of numbers? Here’s how their financial situation would stack up: If their household income was $55,000 per year, they’d actually be spending $96,500—$41,500 more than they made!That means they’re spending 175% of their annual income! So, in 2011 they’d add $41,500 of debt to their current credit card debt of $366,000! What’s the first step to get … [Read more...]

President Obama gave a speech last night about raising the debt limit. Having become quite accustomed to have any politician twist the meaning of words beyond comprehension, I naturally expected his narrative to deviate from the truth in no short order. According to a transcript of his speech, significant distortion of the truth began with his fifth sentence. One of the first four was, "Good evening." Maybe even that was debatable. Courtesy of the White House press secretary, here's the full transcript of his opening remarks. Good evening.  Tonight, I want to talk about the debate we’ve been having in Washington over the national debt -- a debate that directly affects the lives of all Americans. For the last decade, we’ve spent more money than we take in.  In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus.  But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card. He was right about one thing : the prescription drug program is cost prohibitive.  Yet POTUS conveniently forgot to mention the "expensive" program Bush created was opposed by Democrats for being too stingy with taxpayer money. I cannot stress this idea enough. I'm tempted to "shout" in capital letters. A tax cut does NOT equal government spending. Government spending describes funding the military, our legal system, and yes, social programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Plus student loans, research, and don't forget, … [Read more...]

Career criminal Vaughn Matthews thought an assault on a woman three months pregnant made for easy pickings. He punched Lindsey O’Brien in the face, snatched her laptop bag, and took off running. Surprised when she chased him down, he broke her wrist and punched her visibly pregnant belly using his forearm. With righteous indignation and an obviously powerful maternal instinct, Ms. O’Brien planted one foot and drove the other into his leg, snapping his tibia like a twig, in two places. The police didn’t need to chase Mr. Matthews down. He was still lying right where she left him, writhing on the ground in agony. Apparently most Philadelphia policemen are too busy hassling law abiding citizens to protect innocent victims. The arresting officer who arrived at the scene said, “She really did a number on his leg. I would never want to get kicked by this girl.” I’m mildly disappointed the reports did not include her taking an open shot on his defenseless testicles with that same enthusiasm before looking for the police, but I’m sure her arm hurt and she worried more about her unborn child than giving this man the beating he deserved. Too bad the judge would never allow something like that as part of his sentence. Thank God at least it’s still safe for pregnant women to defend themselves. Or can we be sure that the district attorney won’t charge her with assaulting Mr. Matthews? It is no longer obvious that sanity reigns supreme in our judicial system. … [Read more...]