Articles I found interesting last week:

Remember when everyone said that there would be consequences for our nation taking on a huge amount of debt and tripling our deficit in one year? Remember when people like Ron Paul said that printing money like toilet paper might not be the best choice? Maybe they were right.

Maybe the Community Reinvestment Act had more to do with our financial crisis than we have been led to believe.

President Obama recently called the long-term US debt load “unsustainable”. He is right, our country needs to start practicing fiscal discipline right away . . . heyyy . . . wait a minute . . . he really said that?

USA Today told us that safety could suffer if we boost mileage by making cars smaller. No, really?

I call it the “green industrial complex”, but the Wall Street Journal calls it the “climate industrial complex”. I was first!

The worst-polluting nation in the world is telling the US to cut our emissions by 40% right away! They are also telling us that we are carrying too much debt. The next thing  you know, they will be lecturing us on human rights . . . We must be in bad shape if Communists feel the need to tell us to clean up our act.

Numbers from the personal finance blogosphere:

10 bad driving habits you should pick up now that gas is cheap again comes from Punny Money.

41 bloggers shared their best personal finance advice at Squawkfox – and yours truly is near the top of the list!

1001 money saving tips and ideas was posted at Moolanomy. Yours truly also makes this list a couple of times.

10,001 Ways to Live Large is a book review that ups the ante from the Digerati Life. Just think if you only saved $1 with each one . . .

Have a great week!

Picture by nyki m

I do not advocate or promote the practice of deliberately breaking the law in order to avoid paying the taxes for which you are legally obligated. Tax fraud is wrong, no matter how oppressive our government becomes. However, I believe that just profits first belong to the companies or individuals who took the risk, made the investment, came up with the idea or worked hard to generate income. Furthermore, I believe that said companies or individuals are well within their rights to pursue any legal means necessary to protect their profits from government. In fact, if a company is not doing all it can to legally avoid taxes, it is not stewarding resources well nor representing the best interests of shareholders.

I readily admit that I don’t know everything there is to know about tax havens or corporate tax law, but it seems to me that if a country truly desires a strong tax revenue base and employment for citizens, the leaders of that country will do all it can to encourage business to set up shop within it’s borders.

Here are some news accounts that will help you to get a good grasp of our government’s recently announced crack down on tax havens.

From Bloomberg, the Obama announcement of his plan to collect an additional $190 billion in tax revenue by closing man corporate loopholes. I wonder how many more Americans will loose their jobs when this $190 billion is removed from the surplus side of corporate books by the IRS?

Not everyone is on board with President Obama’s strategy:

Some members of his own Democrat party are in opposition: from the Huffington Post.

Also from the HuffPo, Republicans defend tax havens. Some believe that it represents the greatest ever tax increase on American corporations and that it places US companies at a disadvantage with foreign business interests.

The last group of people who don’t like the idea are some of the European countries that have been called “tax havens” by the administration. First, they don’t want to lose the revenue (get it? revenue) and secondly, they don’t like being called names. The global elite – not in the conspiratorial sense, but in reference to political leaders who are not bound by borders (UN, IMF, EU, etc.) – want foreign countries to report financial information, including tax information to a higher authority. You see, the effort to redistribute wealth is not limited to “socialist” countries, it is a global objective.

On a side note, noted tax cheats Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and House Ways and Means Committee chairman Senator Charlie Rangel are helping Mr. Obama carry out his plan to knuckle down on companies who are using legal means to avoid paying taxes.

What was it we used to say in grade school? Takes one to know one? Or maybe George Orwell said it best in his classic allegory, Animal Farm:

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Have a great weekend!

Photo by: jacreative

I greatly enjoyed Mr. Ramsey’s presentation in his Townhall for Hope event last night and I appreciate many of the ideas he presented. He was more political than I expected and I think that many views that have been presented here at Rocket Finance were validated. More to come.

Dave Ramsey emphasized that hope comes from positive, hard-working people who depend on themselves, God and family to solve life’s problems. Unfortunately, those who depend on government to solve problems usually end up in despair and riots.

Interesting articles from the week:

Democrats in Congress have refused to allow a global warming expert and skeptic, Christopher Monckton, to appear along with Al Gore in hearings this morning. I know that liberal/socialist/progressives or LSP’s are all about free speech and everything, except when it affects their agenda. Al Gore is advancing the theory of man-made global warming because it will enrich him and his friends.

Three entities that have been LSP utopia for years are finally teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and anarchy – which is the way of all command economies:

California is thinking about a redraft of their constitution, because, in the words of John Grubb who serves on the Bay Area Council:

Look anywhere in California and you’ll find a crisis. Our education system used to be the best in the country, now we’re 49th or 50th. Our transit network is the worst in the nation, our water system is on the verge of collapse, and our prison system is overflowing. The Legislature responsible and they aren’t able to do their jobs.

Workers in the government-run power company, EDF in France are not just going on strike or rioting, but they are shutting off power in the country. Their goal is a ten percent raise – not because they are doing a great job at generating profits for their company, but just because they think they are entitled to a ten percent pay-raise. Too bad there is no competition between power companies in France . . . no other options for these workers.

Germany is also moving toward major civil unrest as a result of their banking crisis. Strange, I always thought that this crisis was a result of “capitalistic greed”.

Yet there are still some people who think that government would do a good job with health care . . .

Not every community is accepting the “Obama stimulus money”. It seems that there are at least a few people who do not want to go down the same road as California, Germany, France, etc.

Have a great week!

Photo by police5150.

Interesting news articles from the week:

I have been getting a lot of my news from a brand-new site called Great Nexus. It is a great place to start your day and get your news . . . although I would like to see a feed for NewsMax, Politico or WorldNetDaily to balance out the Huffington Post and the New Republic. Great Nexus also features a feed from Rocket Finance on the personal finance page.

If you pay your taxes on time, you will be happy to know that at least one member of your government would like to give some of your money to failing newspapers. Why not? If your company is close to going bankrupt, Uncle Sam has a deal for you.

There is at least one objectionable word in this video from a tax tea party in Chicago, but it highlights a fallacy in the minds of many people. The CNN reporter in this clip believes that Illinois is getting $50 billion from the stimulus package. The thing she fails to realize is that the federal government had to take (or will take) that $50 billion out of the economy in the first place. The money has been (or will be) taken from individual Americans and it will be spent in the way that best benefits the politicians who happen to be in power at the moment – not you and me.

From the Personal Finance blogosphere:

Free Money Finance posted some humorous tax statistics.

Mighty Bargain Hunter tackles the age-old question of debt reduction or retirement savings.

Being Frugal posted some frugal prom ideas. I was not interested in the post in the least, but you might be.

Gather Little by Little has added a new writer.

Have a great week!

Interesting news articles from the week:

Michael Moore still thinks that the President of the United States is working on your behalf. Let me ask you, when President Obama fired the president of General Motors, by holding your tax dollars over the heads of the board of directors, did it make your life any better? Are you now more likely to get a job? Or secure a future for your family?

President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Immanuel, made $16 million from three years as an investment banker. Including $320,000 for attending six meetings while serving on the board of government run mortgage giant, Freddie Mac.

But he was working for you.

Another White House appointee struggles to pay taxes. Only $7,000.

ho hum

Government Gone Wild:

Another area where the government has gone wild is in bailouts for failed companies. Ultimately, in order to assist “losing” companies, government has to collect more resources (meaning taxes) from “winning” companies and individuals.

Congress is rescuing failing banks, failing manufacturers and now failing newspapers. I wish I had been around when the government bailed out blacksmiths and lamplighters. Isn’t it ironic that that Ford and Chevrolet drove horse-manufacturers out of business a hundred years ago? What if our government was still paying off the horse and buggy manufacturer’s union?

Seriously, when is this going to end?

Another example of President Obama working on behalf of the little guy:

But this can look pretty good if you think your team can win the political game. Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE, is certainly excited about the opportunities Obama’s innovations in political capitalism offer his well-positioned corporate behemoth, which wields considerable influence in Washington. “The interaction between government and business will change forever,” Immelt recently wrote in a letter to shareholders. “In a reset economy, the government will be a regulator; and also an industry policy champion, a financier, and a key partner.” And GE, Immelt is sure, will profit nicely.

GE is one of the few companies still doing business with Iran – GE also owns MSNBC, home of Chris “Obama makes my leg tingle” Matthews.

From the personal finance blogosphere:

My post Financial Fairytale was included as a part of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. I haven’t had time to google “pecuniary” yet.

Trent at The Simple Dollar has reached the Honeymoon in his “reasonable” series. I happen to think that the honeymoon is the one time in life when you should not be frugal.

Punny Money is back! and posting about hamburgers.

Gather Little by Little wrote about canceling cable and sattelite. This is something that my wife and I discuss on a regular basis. My blogging income just about covers our cable bill, internet bill and water bill. I wish it covered our mortgage or rent.

Have a great week!

Picture credit.