I’m sorry, but how the hell do you give a guard that much shooting room when a three wins it? Wow.

Kudos to Austin Rivers for knocking down a clutch bucket, especially considering the insane rivalry. That’s gonna leave a mark.

Let’s go with the title first.

“5 Tax Deductions That Help the Rich Get Richer”

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Clearly, we know where this one is going. Notice the title isn’t “5 Tax Increases That Help The Rich Get Poorer Because They’re Paying Almost All of the Tax Burden In The United States And The People Complaining Aren’t”

Maybe that title would be a bit long.

Without further ado, here’s the first:

Mortgage interest: a homeownership incentive?

So, essentially, their argument is this: Rich people with bigger and more expensive homes get a bigger deduction for their interest.

That’s it. That’s the entirety of their argument.

Now let’s be honest about something: I think the mortgage interest deduction should be abolished (and this is coming from someone who’s about to buy a house!). I see no reason that you should be able to write off your interest for a house you choose to live in. That being said, it’s common sense that people who have more expensive homes get a bigger deduction. It’s also common sense that if you live in, for example, New York City, you’ll be buying a more expensive house whether or not you’re rich. In fact, our new home in Suffern will cost us $285,000 but you could get this house anywhere else in the country that isn’t a major metro area for roughly $150,000. I’m aware of this. That being said, I’m not rich, but I will obviously get a bigger deduction on my interest than you will because I’m paying more for my house.

Stunning, right?

The article also doesn’t mention something incredibly obvious: many of the “rich” don’t have mortgages. They have houses they’ve owned for generations, some are entertainers or multi-millionaires who pay cash, and so on. In other words, they benefit is bigger, true, but that doesn’t mean everyone takes it, and in fact in the upper brackets, they’re more likely to take shorter mortgages at lower rates when they do.

A non-issue, in the long run.

Next issue…

Capital gains: how the rich get richer

Sorry, but capital gains aren’t the panacea they’re professed to be. While it’s easy to say the “rich get richer” on capital gains, it ignores three realities about capital gains.

1. They’re distributed after 35% corporate income tax is levied against the company.

2. If a stock runs from $1 to $2, that means the value of the company doubled, but the country after doubling pays 35% of that. You pay 15% on $2 even though the company is, in theory, only worth $1.65 after corporate taxes, bringing its actual value (after taxes are cleared) to $1.50 a share. To put it bluntly, the gain is 100% in dollars, which is what you pay taxes on, but you only gain 50%, a tax rate of 50%.

3. Capital gains are available to everyone who buys stock, or makes other investments. Again, I’m not rich, but two years ago I had stock in two companies and made money on both. I, in turn, paid capital gains on both.

The argument that capital gains aren’t taxed as high as income ignores the fact that corporate income taxes are taken at 35% before 15% more comes out of your gains.

But hey, why let the truth get in the way of some good class warfare, right?

Next issue…

Step-up in basis: how the rich remain rich

Without getting too far into the minutiae of this one, the gist is simple: if you have an estate and pass it on to your kids when they die, it’s not taxed at what it’s worth when you do so. This is a big issue for some people because they believe you should be taxed every time the wind blows. The reality is that your house (for example) was purchased after your taxes were levied, so these people believe that what you were left with after you were already taxed should be taxed again, probably until you have nothing left to tax, then they can take what you own in exchange for the taxes you owe.

No thanks.

Retirement savings: tax shelter for the rich

Again, another thing that’s not exclusive to the rich. How many union members who work shit jobs get a pension? Almost every single one I know of. This is a non-issue of the highest order.

Charitable deduction: good cause, policy flaws

Again, a non-issue. Do you really have to be told why? The idea here is that rich people donate to charity they get a bigger deduction on their taxes because they’re in a higher tax bracket. Apparently, being in a higher tax bracket is only unfair when you get something back instead of paying something in.

This whole article rings of one philosophy: that the rich in this country shouldn’t be rich, that they’re sneaky and slimy, and that they simply aren’t taxed enough. The article argues percentages when it’s convenient, but dollars when it’s more convenient. For example, in the last example, they point out how someone in the 10% tax bracket only gets back $100 but someone in the 35% tax bracket gets back $350. What they don’t mention is that the difference in income at those two levels is massive.

Also, this article unwittingly makes a great case for something I’ve been saying forever:

17% flat tax rate for all income taxes.
No deductions.
No loopholes.
No exceptions.
No exemptions.

Lower the rate, broaden the base, increase revenue.

What Bankrate seems to be advocating for is the abolition of tax exemptions for people making a certain amount of money. What they never once mention is that no one who’s rich is paying the zero percent in income taxes that 51% of the American population is paying. What do we do about getting them to participate in the system?

That’s truly the question, isn’t it?

“Reopening the Elmhurst Station will go a long way toward revitalizing the Elmhurst community and growing Queens’ economy,” said Rep. Crowley. “This is more than an investment in improving residents’ commutes; it’s about making Elmhurst a destination for all New Yorkers and visitors. Councilman Dromm and I are joining forces in calling on the LIRR to join us in making this idea a reality. The truth is Elmhurst residents already endure the noise and inconvenience of a train running through their neighborhood, why shouldn’t they enjoy the benefits of it becoming an integral part of the neighborhood?”

“Restoring service to Elmhurst on the Long Island Railroad is vitally important for the development of Elmhurst and the surrounding areas here in Queens” said Council Member Dromm. “By linking its residents to Manhattan, we are effectively spurring the job creation and economic growth necessary for communities like Elmhurst to flourish. The reopening of this station is something that will be a boon to all New Yorkers as it would burst opens the doors to one of the world’s most diverse and vibrant neighborhoods.”

The impression created is clear. Elmhurst is cut off from the city. It’s transportation poor.

That’s crap. Here’s a map. The blue arrow shows where the station used to be (the Long Island Railroad closed it a few years ago because it wasn’t used enough to justify it being open). The red arrow represents existing subway stations for the E, M, R, and 7 trains.

How much more transportation does Elmhurst need? Remember, none of these arrows represent buses. These are all trains, and every one of them goes to Manhattan, which is approximately a 20 minute subway ride away. When buses are factored in, much of the un-arrowed area will be covered by surface transportation as well.

The question for Representative Crowley and Councilmember Domm is clear. How much transportation does this tiny neighborhood need before it’s considered “transportation rich” enough to not throw more money at?

The bus was picking up Romney after his New Hampshire primary win. Williams did not get to meet him upon his arrival, but aides told her to head to a rally in Columbia that evening, which she did.

Romney, briefed by his staff about her story, came over to talk to Williams after that rally. She spoke to him tearfully and asked him about his economic policies. “He was kind to me,” she said. “He stopped doing everything.” She told Romney she had a sick son and was looking for a job. “I told them about my problems and that I just want to work. I just want to work,” she said.

Williams said she had been cleaning houses for home builders, but with the downturn in the housing market, had been unable to find work since October.

She said Romney took down her contact information and told her that perhaps the state of South Carolina would be able to help. She took down contact information for the campaign and found a warm welcome at his Columbia campaign headquarters the following day. She said she’s been volunteering there ever since, cleaning and cooking collard greens for the staff.

On Saturday, Romney recognized Williams on a rope line here and handed her $50 or $60, according to his staff. Williams said it was the first time that she has directly received money from the campaign, but that South Carolina treasurer Curtis Loftis — who chairs Romney’s South Carolina campaign — paid her light bill this week.

Here’s the problem I have. It’s not with Ruth Williams herself, it’s the spinmeisters beating her story into the ground so let me just say this.

Some black activist was on Massive Shit NoBody Cares about (MSNBC) complaining that Romney giving Williams some cash made her cringe because it played into all the stereotypes people have about black people. Others are carping about how “staged” it must’ve been, because God knows that couldn’t have happened spontaneously.

Here’s the problem if you’re Mitt Romney.

If you don’t give her money when she asks, he’s a racist uncaring one-percenter. If he does give her money, then he’s patronizing and playing into stereotypes.

Is there any angle for this story where Romney can escape criticism? Nope. The lib spinmeisters love a story like this because it’s a win all the way around for them with an outcome that’s not only easy to predict, but portrayed as negative however it plays out.

I probably won’t vote for Mitt Romney.

In fact, I don’t think I can bring myself to even think of Mitt Romney as President.

That being said, the attacks about Bain that are being trumped up by people like Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and John Huntsman? Embarrassing. In fact, the only candidate who’s had the stones to say the attacks are ridiculous crap is Ron Paul.

Go figure.

Here’s Factcheck.org’s summary of that piece of crap movie about the evil Bain Capital, and here’s the Washington Post’s.

You wanna hitch your wagon to that horse, Newt? Go right ahead. It’ll only serve to accelerate your irrelevance and put you on the wrong side of yet another issue.

I’m taking a stand. I refuse to believe anyone would make a statement that idiotic. No one knows what gold is backed by, but the fiat crap that Washington DC manipulates the value of at will by printing more as it goes through its “quantitative easing” maneuvers is safe?

And this person reports on financial news?

And don’t tell me she was just repeating what she was told. If I told her the sky was under her feet and the ground above her head, she wouldn’t repeat that, would she? Of course not because she has the minimal intelligence necessary to understand that statement is ridiculous.

Well, that proves to me that she shouldn’t be talking about finance and the economy; she’s utterly and completely clueless.

Senator Tom Coburn mentioned him on the Senate floor as a shining example of government waste, and asked the Social Security Inspector General to look into the man and why he was collecting disability and not working. Well, the report is out, and the man will continue to collect YOUR MONEY so he can live out his fantasy of being a 350 lb. baby.

The California man who lives part of his life as an “adult baby” and collects Social Security disability payments says the federal agency has cleared him of wrongdoing and will continue sending checks.

Stanley Thornton Jr. now wants an apology from Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who called for the benefit review because the investigation disrupted the final months of life for his roommate Sandra Dias, who playacted as his mother, spoon-feeding him and helping him into his baby clothes until her death in July.

“We recently reviewed the evidence in your Social Security disability claim and find that your disability is continuing,” the agency said in an August letter that Mr. Thornton posted on the website he maintains to document his adult baby lifestyle.

In a letter to “fans” posted on his site, Thornton mentions all the health problems that keep him from working and force him to collect SSI, and while some of it seems enough to keep one from working (i.e.: heart problems, spinal injury), one would have to wonder, as a Coburn staffer did…

John Hart, a spokesman for Mr. Coburn, said Tuesday that the senator, who is also a medical doctor, is still puzzled by how “a grown man who is able to design and build adult-sized baby furniture is eligible for disability benefits.”

“Yet, the problem is not with Mr. Thornton, per se, but with the politicians and bureaucrats who have coddled him,” Mr. Hart said. “Disability fraud effectively steals from those who are truly disabled, while weakening the economy for everyone.”

Mr. Hart expressed sympathies for Mr. Thornton over the death of Dias.

Frankly that’s the part I have the biggest problem with all of this. This man who’s supposedly incapable of working can somehow muster the energy and ability to build giant furniture to support his fetish.

How does that not stick in your craw? It’s 8:35am and I’m going to be getting ready to go to work soon, while he sits in a self-made crib and pees his diaper.

To everyone talking about “fair share:” When do I get my fair share and when does this lazy piece of garbage get forced to stop collecting the money I’m working for and go get a job?

But is it really the end of days, or does Topeka just need to re-align its priorities?

Seriously? Of all the ways to pinch pennies, we’re supposed to believe that leaving women vulnerable to abusive partners is the best option? There’s not another line in the budget that could be cut so that the police can do their job and protect Americans? This calls for The Google, my friends.

After a few quick searches, I found out that government employees in Kansas only have to work five years before being guaranteed a monthly payment for the rest of their lives. Benefits are based on averages of the three or four highest years of salary. No wonder the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System is one giant unfunded liability.

Another benefit of living in Kansas is the state’s Child Care Assistance. Apparently, the state will pay your babysitter if your income qualifies (below 185% of the federal poverty level). Topeka also funds several recreational facilities, including skate parks and fishing holes, and there’s even a Senior Olympics for aged athletes!

So after reading this, how justified do you think the end of prosecutions are? Do you really think that not prosecuting domestic violence cases is necessary?

Far be it from me to argue that Topeka does not have a right to smash its city into the crapper as fast as they want to; that’s federalism at work, and the police power resides with the idiots and how they choose to use it is up to them. It would be nice, however, if we could have context like this as the talking heads breathlessly report how broke the city is.

In fact, put it to a vote. Ask the citizens if they’d rather pay for someone’s welfare or prosecution of domestic violence. Or 99 weeks of unemployment. Or the Senior Olympics.

Someone in Topeka is pulling a snow job on the rest of the country and everyone is just playing along.

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It isn’t. The commercial below is 100% real.

As the Postal Service continues on its downward spiral toward insolvency, this is their last hope: paper is safer than those new-fangled computers.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu acknowledged Thursday making the final decision to allow a struggling solar company to continue receiving taxpayer money after it had technically defaulted on a $535 million federal loan guaranteed by his agency.

Chu spokesman Damien La­Vera said in a statement that the secretary approved the restructuring agreement for Solyndra because it gave the company “the best possible chance to succeed in a very competitive marketplace and put the company in a better position to repay the loan.”

This is what happens when the government picks winners and losers.

I wish that was the most obvious fabrication in the story, though.

Also Thursday, a law enforcement official confirmed that the criminal probe of Solyndra is focused on whether the company and its officers misrepresented the firm’s finances to the government in seeking the loan or engaged in accounting fraud. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe.

That’s a clear lie. Solyndra didn’t lie about its finances, as evidenced by the fact that the DOE said no to a loan under the Bush administration. As soon as Obama rolled into town, that changed. Nothing changed about Solyndra, just the desire of the person in the Oval Office to push through a nice loan for a guy who donated large amounts of money to his campaign, a coincidence, I’m sure.

Then this:

Solyndra was the first company approved for a loan guarantee under the Obama administration; its application originated several years earlier during George W. Bush’s presidency. Early on, there were concerns about Solyndra’s finances, but the company was still endorsed by President Obama and received high-profile support from Chu. Both visited the firm at different press events. Chu flew to California to announce the loan approval at the groundbreaking for a $750 million factory that was built mostly with funds from the loan.

Again, they keep pointing out that the loan was originated during the Bush administration as if that’s relevant. The Bush administration rejected the loan. The Obama administration took the loan up and passed it shortly after he was inaugurated. The repeated mentioning of George W. Bush and his administration in every story about Solyndra strikes me as nothing more than a petty attempt to tie him to the scandal in an effort to paint it as bipartisan and thus lower the damage done to The Great One^tm.

It’s clearly not, no matter how much Obama’s guardians at the editorial desks would like it to be.

You only wish I was kidding.

In its quest to promote taxpayer-funded entitlement programs, the Obama Administration has actually rewarded one state with a $5 million bonus for its efficiency in adding food-stamp recipients to already bulging rolls.

It’s part of the administration’s campaign to eradicate “food insecure households” by improving access and increasing participation in the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  Incidentally, the program was recently changed to SNAP to eliminate the stigma that comes with a name like food stamps. Just a few months ago the federal agency that administers the program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), launched a multi-million-dollar initiative to recruit more food-stamp participants even though the number of recipients has skyrocketed in the last few years.

This week Oregon officials bragged that the USDA has given the state $5 million in “performance bonuses” for ensuring that people eligible for food benefits receive them and for its “swift processing of applications.” The money comes on the heels of a separate $1.5 million award from the feds for making “accurate payments of food stamp benefits to clients.”

And we pretend we don’t understand why we’re in an economic malaise.

Why would anyone work for their dinner when the state will just hand it to them, along with housing and medical care?

I’m starting to wonder what in the hell I’m working for in the first place. If I sat on my lazy ass, the government would provide all for me and I could just enjoy my life!

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For some reason, some folks in the food service biz never learn the lesson that they shouldn’t vent their anger at a customer by insulting them on a receipt, to-go pack or in this case, a Starbucks cup.

“I was shocked. I didn’t understand why they would do that,” says a ‘Bucks customer who claims a staffer at the coffee colossus scrawled what appears to be the word “bitch” on the cup holding her caramel frappuccino.

“[M]y name is not bitch,” she explains to WABC-TV. “it’s Vicki.”

She says the incident was the result of her and her coworkers making light of a mistake the Starbucks staffer had made. And when she got back to her office, that’s when she noticed the five-letter word scribbled on her cup.

No, your name is bitch. And the fact that you went to the local news with this nothing story tells me you’re an even bigger bitch than one that would warrant having a beverage with the word on it.

I’m not condoning the behavior of the employees of Starbucks, but I have two things to point out:

1. This wasn’t some random unprovoked incident of bad behavior.

2. I have friends who are baristas and people treat them like garbage as if they’re paid to take the abuse of some snot nose who got 2 shots in their drink instead of 1 1/2.

Here’s a tip for “Vicki.” If you don’t want to be called “bitch,” don’t act like one.

Note the Director of the Office of Cultural Diversity Susana Pelayo-Woodward asking if the guys handing out Constitutions were a “white supremacist” group. Because clearly Constitutions are the provenance of White Supremacists.

Now, in a world of common sense, a slip of the tongue like that wouldn’t matter, but this isn’t a world of common sense when black people are concerned, is it?

A television weatherman was fired after referring to slain civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. as “Martin Luther Coon King” on the air, station officials said.

Rob Blair, of KTNV-TV, was delivering the extended forecast Saturday morning when he said: “Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Day, gonna see some temperatures in the mid-60s.”

Jim Prather, vice president and general manager of the ABC affiliate, said Blair stumbled when he uttered the remark, but the excuse was not enough to save his job.

“This kind of incident is not acceptable under any circumstances, and I’m truly sorry that this event occurred,” Prather said.

Blair, who worked at the station for about three months, apologized during the station’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts Saturday.

The only reason I remember that was because the clip was being passed around like wildfire, when the weather guy obviously slipped up and jumbled King and Junior producing “Coon King Junior,” and immediately corrected himself.

Since he was fired because it was assumed that he clearly meant what he said and didn’t slip up, when can we hold The Great One^tm up to those standards?

Yeah, I know. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but make no mistake. Obama’s “slip of the tongue” will be forgiven while Rob Blair’s had to be punished immediately and severely.

Good morning double-standards.

Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government’s latest attempt to protect the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products.

The action is part of an agreement signed by the U.S. and other nations to stop using substances that deplete the ozone layer, a region in the atmosphere that helps block harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun.

But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the alternatives, which contain the drug albuterol, range from $30 to $60.

All this in the name of going green.

“If we don’t save the trees, you won’t have oxygen. Now go ahead and die without your inhaler.”

Idiots.

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Bet you didn’t eat that well last night, didja?

Anyway, there’s a story behind that receipt and an interesting corollary so go check it out. It ought to make you scratch your head real nice. Of course, you could also read my experience with a similar situation if you haven’t already.

He’s looking more like a bobblehead every time he speaks.  From left to right, nose in the air, all the while talking down to those of us he views as stupid.  Well, we may be stupid, but we certainly can add, subtract, multiply, and divide better than the POTUS can.

In Obama’s fist-pounding, finger-pointing, bellyaching repeat of many previous speeches, he put forth a “plan” to bring down the deficit.  And what an original non-plan it was.  Raise taxes, fake spending cuts — just like all his other non-plans.  Nothing written, you understand, just promises to cut out fraud and waste.  And, of course, tax the rich. 
This time he prefaced his “tax the rich” part by saying, “This is not class warfare; it’s math.”  Math?  Mrs. Davies, my 1st-grade teacher, would probably take exception to that.  Now, it seems, even arithmetic has joined the sciences taken over and rearranged by the liberal left.

The president: “They should have to defend that unfairness — explain why somebody who’s making $50 million a year in the financial markets should be paying 15 percent on their taxes, when a teacher making $50,000 a year is paying more than that — paying a higher rate.”

Since we all have a tendency (yes, even conservatives) to rush to judgment before we know the facts and what we are talking about (and because I admit I don’t believe anything this guy says anymore), I forced myself to have a conversation with my accountant before I went on my rant.

Wanna take bets on how that conversation turned out? Deep down you already know, but click through anyway.

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If the 2008 financial crisis caused the nation to tighten its belt, the Justice Department didn’t get the memo.

The federal agency spent about $490,000 on food and beverages at 10 conferences, including $16 apiece for muffins, more than a dollar an ounce for coffee and $32 per person on snacks, according to a new report from the Justice Department’s inspector general.

The half-a-million-dollar tab represented more than 10 percent of the $4.4 million total cost of the events that were held between October 2007 and September 2009.

“Some conferences featured costly meals, refreshments, and themed breaks that we believe were indicative of wasteful or extravagant spending – especially when service charges, taxes, and indirect costs are factored into the actual price paid for food and beverages,” the report reads, citing a $76-per-person lunch at one workshop.

The inspector general made 10 recommendations to improve oversight and minimize conference costs, all of which were accepted by the Justice Department.

You have to improve oversight and develop procedures to stop people from spending $16 on a muffin?

This is why I roll my eyes when I hear stories like this. The people spending this money know, inherently, that those numbers are ridiculous, yet they don’t care because it’s not their money, it’s YOUR MONEY. There is no more inefficient system than one that takes money from one person to spend on another. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself the obvious question: if you were going to buy muffins, would you spend $16 a piece on them? Of course not.

But in the government’s mind, the spending isn’t the problem. The lack of care for your money isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that there wasn’t enough government oversight. In other words, the problem isn’t the action wasting your money, it’s that there wasn’t enough government overseeing that wasting of money.

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

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Now the story…

Police are asking for the public’s help tracking down a large group of violent teenagers.

They say 10 to 15 young people — described as black or Hispanic and both male and female — attacked four white men on the 16th Street Mall at about 10:45 p.m. on Sunday.

Denver police say the men were standing on the mall near Arapahoe when they were approached by the group. After a conversation, the group turned violent and they attacked the men.

Question: If 10-15 white kids had attacked a Black or Hispanic man, would the motive be unclear? Would that headline have passed the Editor’s desk? No. The title would’ve been “Racially Motivated Attack At 16th Street Mall” or “Race Suspected Motivation In Mall Attack” or “Bias Attack At Mall.”

White guys get beat by a group of thugs? Well, then they become “teens” and “young people” and the attack’s motivation? Unclear. Unknown. Under investigation.

Tell me there isn’t a double standard. I dare you.

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