“Bipartisan ‘Gang of Six’ in Senate developing framework for deficit reduction”.
Hey, here’s an idea: How about we just cut, and let the Dems either get on board, in which case Obama can veto the spending cuts — and we pin his refusal squarely to him in 2012 — or else they don’t, and we pin it on the Dems and Obama?
Christ.
Hewitt, who has been going full-on ballistic with as many congresscritters as he can get to agree to be on the show, will have a nuclear meltdown, showing up somewhere in China through the hole he melted.
Even
More
Civility
http://budget.wispolitics.com/2011/02/jeff-fitzgerald-assembly-adjourned.html
“Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald said he decided to adjourn the Assembly this evening because Gov. Scott Walker called minutes before lawmakers took the floor to tell him to get his caucus members and staff out of the building because their safety could no longer be assured.”
That tears it: if Walker doesn’t fire the lot of them and exile them to Detroit, the rest of us will have to provide an armed human shield around the WI assembly building.
the hermanator’s appearance tomorrow is going to be fun. any live feeds?
There are all kinds of little hints in that little write-up.
The most obvious is that Dick Durbin is involved.
“The most obvious is that Dick Durbin is involved.”
fail
the hermanator and althouse: what blogging material?
Your best bets for a live feed are 620 AM or 1130 AM.
“Two of the Dem state senators who have apparently left the state to prevent a vote on Gov. Walker’s budget repair bill could be the subject of recall efforts, according to statements issued Friday.
Daniel Hunt of Kenosha announced that a group to recall Sen. Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie would file papers with the Government Accountability Board next week.
“We need to inform Robert Wirch that his hiding in Illinois is unacceptable to the voters in his district, and that we are taking the first steps to remove him from office,” Hunt said in a statement.
Meanwhile, an Eagle River-based group said it expected to file with the GAB by the close of business today. The group’s statement alleges Holperin “has failed to carry out his official duties in the state Senate,” and committee leader Kim Simac said activists would evaluate the recall effort over the weekend.
Both groups touted the abilities of local Tea Party groups to “mobilize thousands of people quickly and effectively.”
link
Durbin should be, for anyone who loves this nation, a pariah. I have more respect for what is dug out of a grease trap, which is at least honest sludge, than for Sen. Dick.
The one word that gives the game away. Whose money is it anyways?
Those recalls are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m not kidding.
Yeah, Geoff. Wouldn’t you love to see these people try to pass a 101 accounting class? It’s really not that hard if you’re not a lying thief.
“Whose money is it anyways?”
Chup,
and I don’t think the housing market will just shrug off the loss of the mortgage tax deduction either.
scum
That’s DOA.
This simply cannot be happening. Get a rope.
The committee report called for the mortgage deduction to be eliminated at $250K Adjusted Gross Income.
The proposal to tax health benes is sure to raise hackles. The unions are going to just love it. Any bets the tax is levied on corporations only and not unions?
Taxing the “value” of health benefits opens the door to “imputed” taxation which the democrats have been playing with for years.
When are corporations and private employees gonna figure out that to beat the current system they should fire all the employees and rehire as contracted LLCs? Employees file as LLCs and the benes are back in. As are expenses and costs of doing business. Plus that home office? Deductable. Car? Deductable.
Then fuck the government as all LLCs refuse to submit quarterly tax payments and file taxes. Win!
link
Speaking of gangs:
I started listening to today’s podcast of Hewitt’s show but had to shut it off because I couldn’t deal with Hugh’s cluelessness while having no way to talk back. Hugh mentioned that Obama had feted some extremely wealthy businessmen:
Hugh was cheesed because he figured Obama was merely engaging in wealth worship, while the people he really needed to talk to were the small and mid-sized entrepreneurs, because they’re the ones who create most of the jobs. Figured Obama was just fund-raising.
But criminey, Hugh! Can’t you see what they all have in common? If you want to build an Internet killswitch, or at least control the flow of information, these are exactly the people you need to talk to.
The Internet is just a bunch of routers (Cisco) and servers (Oracle), and the enemy of a president who is fixin to do mischief are the social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook) and the search engines (Yahoo, Google). You want control of content streamers (Netflix, YouTube), and you want control of the iPhones and other gadgets that people use to record and upload events (Apple).
I hope someone put him some information later in the program, because I’m about ready to drive to CA and throttle some sense into him.
Coburn
Crapo
Chambliss
Pragmatists. Left turn, Clyde.
hh and michael meved? useless
Heh, Steph. Alternate title: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Schedule C-EZ.
link
I like the LLC construct. Wish I had paid more attention when one of the guys I worked for said he would give me the accounting lesson (he was working as an LLC sub to a prime contractor). Even managed to write of lots of expenses for his airplane. But the IRS regs, as I understand it, have been making the existence of LLCs or ICs very difficult to maintain. Something like loss of control?
Boy was I ever impressed with Walker–not an umm or an ahh in the entire unscripted untelepromptered speech as far as I could tell.
I may not have an accounting or law degree, but I do my own taxes and file my own incorporation papers and wills and executor’s shit as needed.
BTW: It ain’t hard to game the system if you think it through. The hard part would be getting everyone on board.
As an immediate step:
The federal gov’t would be shitting blank skittles right about now if every employee would change their with-holdings to 9 or so on their W-4. As long as you have 90% of your taxes actually remitted by December 31st, you are golden. Extra bonus: Deposit the difference between your current and the new amount in a savings account or other investment vehicle and earn the interest instead of giving it to the government to blow.
In fact, if the tea partiers (how many are there 2 million, more?) did just the with-holding scheme all at once, the government would be shitting its pants. If you are a net tax payer, you should do this immediately anyways.
Phase 2 of the tea party – Withholding parties to change withholdings would severely FU their revenue streams… just an idea.
Hrothgar: The LLC shit is right there in the government forms at the tax website if you look a little. Not hard to file and yes some of the regulatory shit has gotten more complex, but that should not be a disincentive to someone wanting to give the finger to the government. You could also go Sub S as an alternative, many of the same perks.
The only issue is that some ’employers’ require you to carry liability coverage and sometimes other insurance (WC). Costs me about $500 a year and yep, I deduct it. ;)
The only drawback is your FICA/Mediscare is taxed at the full self employed level 15.2% IIRC. You can usually negotiate for much higher pay, too as the employer treats you just like a vendor without all that messy HR shit thrown in. I’ve gotten as much as $14 per hour difference due to it.
Check it out.
And I’ll add, if you can piggy back your benes on your spouse’s coverage (they sign up for family) you really get the full advantage. Plus your retirement can go into SEP plans and other stuff you have full control over.
It’s really an awesome way to minimize your taxes. I can’t always get a prospective employer to agree to it, but I have the necessary stuff at the ready if I can.
I doubt that the Good Lord had anything to do with it.
If it gets real cloudy in DC, those clowns better find somewhere to hide. Lightning bolts and all of that rot.
Not Dick Durbin, please, not Dick!
link
Stephanie: thanks for the info on LLCs–I will give it a look. IIRC, the withholding form may have some “intent to defraud” language to discourage the sort of thing you are discussing. But I think that should be counter balanced by ensuring that you have 90+% of your maximum estimated tax paid to uncle (preferably with a certified check) before years end.
I am actually doing something like this, although for different reasons, so if it doesn’t work, my next post may be from a correctional institution.
newrouter:
But it is so easy to convince oneself that the price of eternal chains is far less than the cost to live as free men once did.
Particularly easy when you have a 55″ LCD and a cable subscription.
“Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale just get them all out of here
Is there gas in the car? Yes, there’s gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are
Read more: STEELY DAN – KID CHARLEMAGNE LYRICS http://www.metrolyrics.com/kid-charlemagne-lyrics-steely-dan.html#ixzz1ENOoeoaj
Copied from MetroLyrics.com
“
H: It does have the usual weasel language to try to dissuade, but the crux of the dissuadings is “You expect to.” I don’t ‘expect to’ survive tomorrow, if you get my drift. Besides, in this environment, most people ‘expect to’ be laid off reducing their taxable income later in the year to -0- so why would they overpay on the first 1, 2 or 3 quarters of the year?
Depends on what the definition of ‘expect to’ is, doesn’t it? I expect to owe zero additional taxes every year and am unpleasantly surprised in December.
BTW, going to a correctional institution should be a boon to your bottom line.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2010/dec/irs-gives-prison-inmates-millions-tax-refunds
Just sayin.
from the jimmy obama archives:
link
You can get a tax attorney to look it over for less than $500. If you think you’re getting “out there” with your tax avoidance, it’s very reasonable.
bh, the dirty little secret is that the IRS claims they will penalize for underpayment by quarter, but they don’t because *tada* their computers can’t tell that you did. Top o the line software, doncha know. It only looks at grosses of taxes paid v taxes owed for the year. Another point, does your W-2 show when you earned that total on line 1? No it doesn’t. So they can’t tell.
Learned that from a friend who works there.
cultural reclamation”
“They are hounded down
To the bottom of a bad town
Amid the ruins
Where they learn to fear
An angry race of fallen kings
Their dark companions
While the memory of
Their southern sky was clouded by
A savage winter
Every patron saint
Hung on the wall, shared the room
With twenty sinners
See the glory
Of the royal scam “
I did not know that, S. Hmmm.
I suppose the next question is how management might be an external worker. Our system is essentially associate and partner, almost like a law firm, both with equity positions. The IT staff and administrative is completely outsourced.
armadillo alert :
link
“London calling to the faraway towns
Now that war is declared-and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls
London calling, now don’t look at us
All that phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain’t got no swing
‘Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing
CHORUS
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
London is drowning-and I live by the river
London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, an’ go it alone
London calling upon the zombies of death
Quit holding out-and draw another breath
London calling-and I don’t wanna shout
But when we were talking-I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain’t got no highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes
CHORUS
Now get this
London calling, yeah, I was there, too
An’ you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won’t you give me a smile?
I never felt so much a’ like”
Management converts to an LLC with partnerships (senior and junior) or to a Sub S with partners with percentage stakes. For tax purposes. Sub S has to pass through 100% of the net earnings of the corp to the partners yearly (schedule K). There are some issues with corp owned assets and depreciation that may make one or the other more suitable for each situation.
If your admin and IT are outsourced already, they are probably third party companies that are glorified temp agencies for the big boys (Robert Half, Matrix Resources, etc) or the individuals are each mini corps like sub S’s.
I know of entire offices where there are no “official” employees or true HR department. Just a collection of mini corps working on the same goal, mission statement (barf) and products in the same office space.
“Neil Young – “Like A Hurricane” (Live 1976) ”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp1ZDBO0NWA
Could we get D&O liability insurance if we did that? Could we get related policies written for clients? We have to get a rogue trader/analyst policy written up for pretty much each client and work it back into billings.
I’m not a senior partner but maybe I need to look into some of this. Maybe I owe you a steak dinner or dozen, Steph.
Well, I am a senior partner. But, not really, for this purpose. For us it’s a matter of equity grade.
The senior senior partner (the guy with guns that are worth more than my car) wouldn’t like the idea of having the veil pierced without an insurance policy.
We might be off topic here. We might owe you a steak dinner. It’s very confusing really.
“I’ve been to Hollywood
I’ve been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean
for a heart of gold
I’ve been in my mind,
it’s such a fine line
That keeps me searching
for a heart of gold
And I’m getting old.
Keeps me searching
for a heart of gold
And I’m getting old.
”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh44QPT1mPE
Could we get D&O liability insurance if we did that? Could we get related policies written for clients?
Yes, and yes. Pretty much anything insurance wise, D&O (of course if you are an LLC or Sub S it would be tailored for that situation specifically) E&O, EPLI, general business liability.
I am no expert and I haven’t stayed at a Holiday Inn (I call that camping, I have ‘standards’), but I researched what would work for me and incorporated (first my baseball card shop, which I did as a Sub S and later my IT consulting as an LLC), and I think it cost me a total of about $250 each time for the fees and I used mostly stock incorporation forms. Of course, I’m just a one person outfit, but it really isn’t hard.
I am required to carry E&O for most jobs I do as my LLC and not as a third party hire.
Ever wonder why your doctor is in a group practice? LLC. Ditto more and more lawyers. Small businesses that have inventory and storefronts are usually more suited to Sub S although I have seen doctors as Sub S and management companies as Sub S, too.
I started my ‘white collar’ career in a Big 7 accounting firm as a lowly bookkeeper and tax preparer and paid attention. That was back in the double entry journal on paper days… macro tax law really hasn’t changed much since.
Hmmm.
(This is the noise I make when I’m almost completely ignorant but think it’s worth calling a lawyer next week to talk about it.)
Thanks, Steph.
And, yes, you read that right, I used to own a baseball card shop. Sold it just before the strike in late 93. Opened just as the craze started and the Braves went to their first WS. Impeccable timing wasn’t it?
Now some poor sob (it has changed hands a few times) has my card shop and I never see much activity there. Not a good time to be in a discretionary purchase industry. When I opened, there was a card shop on every other corner. Now I think my former shop is the only one left in the county.
I still have boxes of the good stuff in storage. Cards, autographed balls, bats, pictures, helmets, jerseys. Good Times.
YMVVW. A lawyer and/or tax accountant can give you better info for your particular industry/situation.
Here’s to giving the government the finger on Tax Day!
I was a huge card collector. My younger brother and sister stole and sold most of my rookie card stuff while I was away at college — I used to speculate, trading Orioles’ to the neighbor kids for, say, Rickey Henderson and Paul Molitor rookie cards — and my former in-laws sold the rest of my stuff when I was living in Italy with my now wife.
I’ve rebuilt some of the collection, but it’s not like it used to be.
I had something along the lines of 100 unopened wax pack boxes from the 70s and early 80s. And my rookie card book would have been worth tens of thousands. Turns out I was a good speculator: I had everything from Ryan’s rookie card to about 150 each Molitor/Trammell and Rickey Henderson rookies. Not to mention all the Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr, etc., George Brett, Jim Rice, etc., etc…
I have put together sets from the seventies going forward for my son. I also have a Willie Mays rookie that I’m holding on to.
I collected baseball cards too. But for some reason I never got into the speculation aspect of it with newer cards. I’d like to think it was due to being precocious about the nature of economics, but I just liked wasting my paper route money on cards from the 50’s and 60’s better. I also bought a lot of those early 1900’s tobacco cards.
I used to pay for spring breaks with a handful of Henderson rookies and maybe a 72 Ryan.
Damn, Jeff – I guess those old cards should have been inn a safe deposit box! Ouch…
Oh, and if you buy insurance for your business – consider your friendly neighborhood giant Swiss company, please. Stay away from Chartis (AIG) – they are next up on the Warren Buffet hit parade (Resolute Management) or so I am hearing.
Jeff,
I had four shoe boxes of cards from the 50’s and early 60’s (Mantle, Ford, Clemente, Skowron, Berra, Mays, etc – in multiples).
One day when I was about fourteen years old, I decided to clean out my parents attic. Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars went up in smoke.
Heh. And I thought pot was expensive…
Wow. I’ve still got my MMantle 2nd year card and Michael Jordan rookie basketball card and Berra and Mays and Musial and lots of cards.
I still freak out about all the cards that ended up in the spokes of my bicycle back in the day. Gack!
Nice to see folks appreciate the finer things in life.
On my way to a HS golf tournament today. It’s already 70 degrees. Woo hoo!
I am snowmobiling in the mountains, Bloodies, coffee and Baileys, and bacon for breakfast.
Dicentra #16:
It’s actually worse than you know. For example, Oracle software (database and middle tier) runs Amazon. And when they bought Sun, they actually got control of both Java and MySQL. SAP? Lots of their stuff has Oracle as the database underneath. I could go on, but you get the picture.
SDN: Oh, I get the picture. Oracle is everywhere one way or another. All of them are. I’m just surprised that Gates wasn’t there, but maybe he’s already on board. Maybe he’s the one who pointed Obama in that direction.
After all, Gates never envisioned Microsoft as the best software company on the planet: he envisioned it as the only software company on the planet.
And here I invested in machine tools. How much of a dumbass am I?