April 27, 2010 by Dave Rama.

Everyone has opinions. It is almost impossible to carry on a conversation without offering an opinion.  My opinions change from time to time, but not the fact that I’m right.  The phrase “a matter of fact” is almost always a matter of opinion.  The theory that one plus one equals two is only true if you are working in base ten.

There is an opinion that history is important because we learn from the mistakes of earlier generations.  Therefore we are wiser and safer and better looking and better in every way than our ancestors.  I find very little evidence to support that theory. For example, the big lesson to be learned from the career of Napoleon is that it is stupid to invade Russia.  The Germans of the middle twentieth century felt that they were smarter and better looking and wiser than the French invaders of the nineteenth century.  In spite of the fact no one has successfully invaded Russia since the Mongol hordes almost two millennia ago, I feel confident some bozo will try it again.  Can you say George W. Bush?

Speaking of the Democrats favorite Republican, the Russians proved that their army of soldiers and helicopters and tanks could not invade and win a war in Afghanistan.  The United States followed that lesson up within twenty years, and has so far proved the lessons of the Russian Army to be true.  Can you say George W. Bush?

Some people die because they have low morals and rotten character and limited intelligence.  There have been a few people who crossed my path that caused me to smile and wonder if the world would be more pleasant with fewer morons.  In spite of that, no one ever actually died from disagreeing with me. The great sage Mark Twain explained it this way:  “The trouble is not that the world is full of fools, it’s just that lightning isn’t distributed right.”

Speaking of morons, my compassionate side feels sorry for the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich, who must be going through terrible times when it is so painfully clear that the poor did not precipitate the mortgage crisis.  Their long-held theory that the poor are responsible for every American problem lies in ruins.  The people who run Wall Street have proven once again they are not trustworthy enough to go unregulated, just as they did in 1929 and 1893.  Drive the moneychangers out of the temple, and they sneak back in at the behest of the dull like Ronald Reagan, who find that deregulation is good, if only for the rich.  Have no fear dull folk, the market will crash again because we refuse to heed the lessons of history so that we can be wiser, safer, and better looking than our ancestors.

Speaking of better looking and dull, it seems crystal clear that if God is female, and I find no evidence to the contrary, She probably looks like Sarah Palin.  However, however, I much prefer to think that God is not a nitwit.  This is a classic example of how politics works in America.  We select our candidates on the basis of how they look on television, and Miss America is chosen on the basis of where she stands on the issues.

In my view, the greatest of all American writers is Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain. Halley’s Comet appears to our planet every seventy-five years.  It flew twice in Twain’s lifetime, once in the year of his birth, and the second time in the year of his death.  As the comet blazes across the night sky, Twain’s brilliance spews across the page. Ernest Hemingway called Huckleberry Finn the “best book we’ve ever had.  There was nothing before.  There’s been nothing as good since.”  I love Twain’s humor and irreverence. Mark Twain’s work does prove that freedom of expression exists in this country.  His comments on race, religion, and politics are relevant today.  Proof once again that the world has not changed much. The only things that have changed are the gadgets and tools.  The problems that come about repeatedly are the result of people and their egos.

One of the questions people ask when they learn that my wife and I have put together a book is:  “Where do you get your inspiration?” Ideas don’t just materialize out of my little pea-sized brain.  If you are an honest writer, you must admit that all inspiration derives from God.  It is not simply the big ethics books like the Torah, the Koran, and the Bible that are divinely inspired, but every scribble we put to paper. THEREFORE, if you have issues with the opinions expressed here, DON’T bring them to me.  I’m not your problem.  Take it up with the BIG GUY!

DAVE RAMA

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April 4, 2010 by Clair Button.

This is the monster we have created.

Ten people who entered the country illegally were busted in North Carolina for running a tax preparation business that claimed 22 million dollars in phony tax refunds for their clients between 2006 and November 2009. One tax credit improperly claimed on a majority of the false returns was for child care expenses, prosecutors said. The credit can result in a refund even if no taxes were paid. About 13 million in refunds were paid before the IRS discovered the fraud. A number of the guilty parties would “assist” their clients in cashing the refund checks, presumably pocketing a healthy cut of the refund.

Ask yourself why international criminal gangs would come here to target our tax system as a means to make a living.  The number one reason you should already know is that the tax code is so complex that even the IRS can’t figure out who owes what.

The second thing you should think about is whether it is really worth it to you to go through so much work and agony to get each tax break or credit the law allows.

While my retirement income is pretty straight-forward, I spent sixty bucks on a tax program to help me organize my records and calculate profit and loss on a pitiful publishing business and a significantly more successful bit of stock market gambling. In both cases, the software left me in the lurch to read multiple volumes of tax rules and instructions from the IRS. I had to file three different forms on a 75 dollar capital gains reduction that saved me close to 20 bucks. But I spent six hours scratching my head while reading the instructions in four different IRS publications. In other words, H&R Block either didn’t know what I should do, or their paid software engineers could not write software that could calculate it.  I would gladly have paid the 20 bucks just to avoid reading all that legalese garbage, but I didn’t want the IRS to throw me in jail for not filing three pages of forms which each had a single line item saying the form they required the oil company to submit did not apply to me or mean a damn thing.

If we re-write the tax code to cut out the wrangling over what we can deduct or whether the government ought to give us money for taking care of our own kids, I could have saved the 60 bucks on software, a net savings of 40 bucks without the reduced taxes. Imagine what I could have saved if I had hired a tax consultant to figure out I didn’t owe twenty bucks.

The IRS could have saved us 13 million bucks in fraudulent refunds, and we would have a few less illegals who come here to steal from us because our tax system is insane. Now, why in the world am I paying you to take care of your kids?

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