From the NY Times comes this tale of a recently-deceased billionaire, Dan L. Duncan, whose estate will be the first ever billion-dollar estate in the U.S. to pass to his heirs 100% tax-free.
This situation is the bastard child of the Bush-era tax “reform” in which the estate tax was characterized as a “death tax” and [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Politics'
Call It The Dead Billionaire’s Tax
June 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment · News, Politics
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Unfortunate and Telling Quotes from Today’s Debate on Repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
May 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Politics
Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, the No. 3 Republican in the House, accused Democrats of trying to use the military “to advance a liberal social agenda” and demanded that Congress “put its priorities in order.”
Shutting down a policy that has eliminated more than 10,000 uniformed solidiers should be a pretty high priority, but maybe the [...]
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“Amazingly”, Anyone Can Run For California Governor and Get Votes
March 13th, 2010 · No Comments · Politics, The NY Times Spins Another Cliche About The West
Link: Same Race, Same Opponents, Three Decades Later
“Mr. Darling, you see, is running for governor, going head to graying head in the Democratic primary with Mr. Brown, a man he last challenged in 1978, when Mr. Brown was governor and Mr. Darling was trying to stitch up the San Andreas fault [...]
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Well That Didn’t Take Long, Usurious Banks
February 22nd, 2010 · No Comments · Business, Politics
Now that the most predatory practices of credit card issuers and banks are being zapped by regulation, banks are working overtime to figure out new, even scummier ways to drain the money from your account:
Given the billions at stake, consultants are urging banks and credit unions to hire them to help. “Your fee income will [...]
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New Credit Card Regulations Go Into Effect Today
February 22nd, 2010 · No Comments · Business, Politics
A mere five and a half years since I started posting about the usurious business practices of consumer credit-card lenders, the new federal regulations on credit card lending go into effect today. Thanks to our most excellent congresswoman Jackie Speier for this link to a summary of the new regulations.
There are still a few loopholes [...]
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Private Companies Like SpaceX Look to Take Over From NASA
February 16th, 2010 · No Comments · Politics
I guess I was confused; I thought that Republican legislators believed that free enterprise was the panacea for all of society’s problems. That must only be the case when the free enterprise happens to be in the congressman’s home district.
Aerospace giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin will almost certainly also submit bids for the new [...]
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Forces Pushing Obama on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
February 1st, 2010 · 1 Comment · Politics
“In the middle of two wars and in the middle of this giant security threat,” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC, “why would we want to get into this debate?”
It’s telling that Boehner believes that simply debating the status of gays in the military [...]
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Anonymize Political Donations
January 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Politics
Just read the dismal news that the Supreme Court has gutted the McCain-Feingold restrictions on campaign contributions that have been in effect for 20 years, thereby once again permitting corporations to make unlimited contributions to political campaigns.
The toxic influence of campaign donations on politics should be something that Republicans and Democrats could agree on, but [...]
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Provide an Efficient Market for Pay TV
January 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Business, Politics, TV
I’ve been following the News Corp vs. Time Warner Cable standoff over retransmission pricing, not because it affects us (we are longtime DirecTV satellite subscribers) but because it calls out how inefficient the market for pay TV is. The basis of the conflict is that News Corp (the content provider) is trying to shake down [...]
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Stop Responding to Terrorism with More Security Theater
December 26th, 2009 · 4 Comments · News, Politics
Over Christmas we were following the story of the loon who attempted to set off some kind of incendiary device on an airplane. Today, this:
According to a statement posted Saturday morning on Air Canada’s Web site, the Transportation Security Administration will severely limit the behavior of both passengers and crew during flights in United States [...]
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