AAA Magazine Picture

According to Aunt Toni, someone we know is in thisissue of AAA's Gateway magazine. The only problem: who?

I don't think it's this picture:



So it must be this one:



Can't tell who it is but I suspect it's Michael or Shannon. Any guesses?

The Bestest Day Ever!

If you ask Emily.

It's her birthday. Happy birthday, Emily!

Plans? Already blogged about 'em. Doesn't mean there won't be surprises in the mail or a card or cake or something. Just to keep things interesting.

If you see her, give her a shout out, okay?

Market Response to the Stimulus Package

You can be sure that if this chart was flipped, I'd advise you to ignore it and just get on with your lives:



So shouldn't I be saying the same thing now with this dismal performance?

Bad news is harder to ignore and what this means may be ominous. I'd be the first to say that, with a nod to William Goldman's adage about Hollywood, no one knows anything. Who really knows why the market is responding the way it is? I don't know and experts have different opinions.

One thing seems to be clear is that the market is ignoring the stimulus package. And one thing the package is missing is bold tax cuts. We've tried everything else. Why not that?

But I didn't answer my question, did I? My advice remains the same, no matter the market: keep on doing what you're doing. Work hard, live frugally, save what you can. Above all, enjoy your life with your loved ones. This will sort itself out.

Doesn't Anyone Pay Their Taxes?

Not if you want to be part of the Obama team:

Add Ronald Kirk, former Dallas mayor and President Obama's U.S. Trade Representative nominee, to the long and growing list of administration nominees and officials with tax problems (Gregory Craig, Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner, Nancy Killefer, and Hilda Solis). The Senate Finance Committee today released a three-page report detailing various mistakes on Mr. Kirk's 2005-2007 tax returns. Mr. Kirk has agreed to pay almost $10,000 in additional taxes for, among other things, wrongly deducting $17,000 for season tickets to the NBA Dallas Mavericks and wrongly taking charitable deductions for contributions of honoraria from speaking fees from Austin College even though he had not included the honoraria in his income.

These aren't even innocent mistakes or differences of interpretation of the law; this is flat out evasion. Anyone of lesser status wouldn't get away with it.

(Er, I guess Kirk didn't get away with it, either, did he?)

Via Tax Prof Blog.

Twitter Update

If you've been following my Tweets - and you can, with the widget there on the right hand side of this blog - you'll see I've tried gamely to keep up. Not quite what I want it to be just yet - I'd like it to be more of a mini version of this blog with no repeat posts but so far it seems to be work and tax related. Maybe that's because I keep trying to answer the question that Twitter asks me: What are you doing? Working, mostly, when I'm able to access it.

I'm having a good time with it, though, and I like the people I'm following and I hope I'm giving good value for those who are following me. Let's give it another week and see where we stand with it.

Switch to New ISP Complete

Time to back down the SNAFU alert to normal. The transition is complete and no harm seems to have come to us. Sure, there was some doubt when we tried to access the Internet through the hub but Clara did some furious typing and frowning at the monitor and somehow that fixed things. Time to get the notifications out about our new e-mail address and shut down the old one.

Alphabetical iTunes

I'm still working my way through my iTunes alphabetically and I'm up to number 208. I've cleared the A's and now I'm well into songs that begin with the letter B. The dismaying discover? The number of songs I have that begin with the word "boogie."

Emily's Birthday!

Okay, we're a little early - it's not until tomorrow, the 3rd - but we celebrated early at, where else, The Cheesecake Factory yesterday. It's Emily's default place of celebration after all so that's where we went.

I think her expression has more to do with Dad using his cell phone camera to take her picture than her mood. Inside, she's thrilled. No, really:

Ah, but you couldn't tell we were at the Cheesecake Factory unless there was some kind of Cheesecake Factoriness in the background. A tilt of the camera and there's the proof:

Emily allowed us to embarrass her the best we could by telling our waiter it was her birthday. They sang to her and then gave her her dessert with a candle.

Oh, Dad, if you must:

A splendid time for all.

And a great time to remind us again about the blessing that is Emily. It was thirteen years ago that we were anxiously awaiting her arrival. The 3rd was on a Sunday that year and we had gone to the zoo because Clara was feeling kind of bored. Emily wasn't due to arrive until the 7th so what was the harm? We had a wonderful time with Rachel at the zoo like we always did and came home to messages on our voice mail: Emily had arrived. I told Clara she wouldn't be feeling bored anymore. Off to the hospital we rushed and we greeted our Emily and welcomed her to our family. She completed our family and we've been blessed by her ever since.

So, yes, quite a day to celebrate.

Bono Rejects Criticism of U2 Tax Status

Good for Bono:

U2 SINGER Bono says he was “stung” and “hurt” by criticism of the band moving part of its business to the Netherlands to lessen its tax burden.

In an interview in The Ticket today, he speaks about the band’s 2006 decision to move part of its business out of Ireland following the Government’s decision to put a cap on the amount of tax-free earnings available to artists.

U2’s move was criticised by politicians and some development groups. “We pay millions and millions of dollars in tax. The thing that stung us [about the criticism] was the accusation of hypocrisy for my work as an activist,” the singer says.

He suggests there is a double standard involved in welcoming international investment in financial services in Ireland while criticising Irish entities that operate abroad.

“I can understand how people outside the country wouldn’t understand how Ireland got to its prosperity but everybody in Ireland knows that there are some very clever people in the Government and in the Revenue who created a financial architecture that prospered the entire nation – it was a way of attracting people to this country who wouldn’t normally do business here,” he says. “And the financial services brought billions of dollars every year directly to the exchequer.

“What’s actually hypocritical is the idea that then you couldn’t use a financial services centre in Holland. The real question people need to ask about Ireland’s tax policy is: ‘Was the nation a net gain benefactor?’ And of course it was – hugely so.”

Making a smart tax move has little to do with philanthropic work. You can be both tax-smart and an advocate of charitable giving. Render unto Caesar and all that.

Noonan: Barack Obama Begins to Look Presidential

Peggy Noonan swoonsover Obama and his speech:

A mysterious thing happened in that speech Tuesday night. By the end of it Barack Obama had become president. Every president has a moment when suddenly he becomes what he meant to be, or knows what he is, and those moments aren't always public. Bill Safire thought he saw it with Richard Nixon one day in the new president's private study. Nixon always put a hand towel on the hassock where he put his feet, to protect the fabric, but this time he didn't use the towel, he just put up his feet. As if it were his hassock. And his house.

So with Mr. Obama, about four-fifths of the way through the speech. He was looking from the prompters to the congressmen and senators, and suddenly he was engaging on what seemed a deeper level. His voice took on inflection. He wasn't detached, as if he was wondering how he was doing. He seemed equal to the moment and then, in some new way, in command of it.

Do I have to remind how much of a fan I am of the Pegster? That's why her unabashed admiration of Obama's speech is all the more painful for me. I think she's over the top with her praise, though if anyone should know about speeches, she should. No, I didn't watch the speech but as far as I know it was a merely okay. Certainly the markets paid little attention to anything he had to say. I think Noonan should fan herself and take a sip of cool lemonade and compose herself for a more gimlet-eyed review of the speech.

Obama's just starting out and no matter how badly we want him to perform miracles, he can't do them just yet.