Tax Matters

A Subtle Form of Theft-Simon Black at SovereignMan.com

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Notes from the Field 

Date: December 5, 2011
Reporting From: Santiago, Chile

 

Say what you want about him, but Bernie Madoff was a guy who knew how to keep the party going. For years, he ran one of the largest private-sector Ponzi schemes in history and always heeded the golden rule of financial scams: make sure your inflows are greater than your outflows.

He was finally done in when redemptions exceeded new investments. He didn't have enough cash to pay out investors, and he wasn't able to scam more people into paying in to the scheme. As a result, Madoff finally had to admit that the whole thing was a total fraud. 

Governments around the world are in similar situations right now with their own public sector Ponzi schemes. Faced with failed auctions, declining demand, and rising yields, politicians are having to resort to desperate measures.

Like any good scam artist, they're appealing to the masses first; all over Europe, governments are sponsoring new marketing campaigns suggesting that it's people's patriotic duty to buy government debt.

In Spain, they're actually issuing instruments called 'Bonos Patrioticos,' or 'patriotic bonds.' Ad campaigns say that the bonds are "good for you, good for the future." 

In Ireland, they've issued "Prize Bonds" which carry a 0% interest rate; instead of receiving interest, bondholders are entered into a weekly lottery contest.  Naturally, lottery winnings are only possible as long as people keep buying the bonds... pretty much the definition of a Ponzi scheme!

In Italy, they're rolling out the country's sports celebrities to encourage everyone to buy Italian sovereign debt. 

What's ironic is that Italy's dismal balance sheet is almost universally acknowledged. It's as if everyone knows the country has almost no chance of making good on its obligations, but they still feel the need to willingly throw away their hard earned savings for the greater good of political incompetence.

Thing is, it's not the millionaire sports stars, wealthy business leaders, or political elite who are buying these bonds... at least, not in anything beyond a token, symbolic amount. It's the average guy on the street who really stands to get hurt when the government finally capitulates.

This is a truly despicable act and amounts to theft, plain and simple. 

The United Kingdom, which is rapidly reaching this banana republic sovereign debt status itself, has unveiled a plan to issue roughly $50 billion in infrastructure bonds. This would be the equivalent of issuing $300 billion in the US-- not exactly chump change. 

Given Britain's already colossal debt level, private investors aren't exact diving in head first to loan the government even more money. 

Undeterred, British Chancellor George Osborne plans to 'highly encourage' UK pension funds to mop up about 60% of the total amount. "We have got to make sure that British savings in things like pension funds are employed here and British taxpayers' money is well used," he said.

In other words, 'we are going to make sure that British people buy our junk, one way or another.' 

The last year has seen numerous pension funds around the world, from the United States to Argentina to Hungary, be raided for the sake of keeping these Ponzi scheme going.  The UK is already lining up to be the next. 

It's one of the last acts of a truly desperate government to begin directing public and private savings into their Ponzi schemes. 

Fast-forward a few downgrades and you can plan on seeing the exact same thing in the United States-- appealing to people's patriotism to loan their hard-earned savings (if they even have any) to the Federal government at a rate of interest that fails to keep up with inflation.

It's nothing more than a very clever (and subtle) form of theft. 

 

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com

 

    

 

A COLOSSAL COVERUP-Bruce Wiseman

This was sent to me from a great friend. I feel it deserves to be rebroadcast.        

                                 A COLOSSAL COVERUP

 

It is one of the biggest cover-ups in US history.  

The oil is still gushing in the Gulf.   

All available data indicates that the original wellhead was never capped: the latitude and longitude of the camera through which we were all watching the oil spew from the wellhead actually changed to a wellhead 7 miles away, and that is the one they capped.  No mention has ever been made of the original wellhead since then.  That’s right, they plugged another well and showed a picture of that one.

So that is lie number one.

In addition, it is a known certainty that the seabed was fractured so badly for miles around the original well that oil has continued to spew uncontrollably from the sea floor, with no way to plug it.

This has been withheld from the public. Number two.

 If oil is pouring from a well and cracks in the ocean floor, why the Hell can’t we see it?

 The answer to this is two-fold.

 First and foremost, someone is continuing to spray the Gulf with the chemical “dispersant” called Corexit. Corexit breaks up the oil so that it quickly sinks below the surface and is hidden from view. Once there, it spreads the mutant concoction throughout the water creating a toxic environment from which the marine life cannot escape.  It eventually sinks it to the bottom of the ocean where it continues to do long-term damage to the entire marine eco system – but that’s not all.

The EPA has stated that Corexit ceased being used on July 19th, 2010. But unmarked, military-type aircraft (C-130s and C123s) have been flying sorties over the Gulf in the dead of night, spraying the poison over the now-toxic ocean to conceal the fact that voluminous amounts of oil are still spewing into the water. The amount of oil reaching the surface has become so evident that they are now risking being photographed spraying during daylight.  Lie number 3.

           

                  

Photo of Corexit being sprayed next to the beach

at Long Beach, Mississippi on March 15th, 2011 (Note from tom-Sorry I could not figure how to get the picture for you when I reposted this to my blog)

  

The dispersant may hide the oil but it is doing massive damage to the eco-system – massive. Moreover, Corexit has one other little problem – it is carcinogenic.

 

In fact, this chemical is so toxic, that people handling it are instructed by the manufacturer’s product handling information to wear Haz Mat suits and full-blown respirators.  Unfortunately for thousands of cleanup workers, BP wouldn’t allow them to wear the suits because they didn’t want it to look like there was any danger attached to the cleanup - it might increase their liability.

 

Not only is the seafood from the Gulf now laced with this stuff (despite the government’s statement to the contrary - #4), the relentless spraying has initiated a massive human health crisis.

 

According to one study, a staggering 50% of the people in the Gulf are experiencing the toxic effects of the Corexit-laden atmosphere. Moreover, there is a report from one of the gulf oil cleanup workers that, “Thousands of Gulf Oil Spill clean-up crew are dying.”

 These workers are experiencing symptoms such as severe neurological damage, kidney and liver failure, paralysis, internal bleeding, "flu" symptoms that won't go away, and death.

 You can see the story of one woman who has documented her own case and that of many others. (It’s not pretty. Don’t watch if you have a weak stomach.)

 http://current.com/news/93090046_thousands-of-gulf-oil-spill-clean-up-crew-are-dying-video-of-the-dying.htm

 This isn’t just another health problem: this is an apocalyptic and immediate  health crisis.

 So, while we are now engaged in a third “war” against a dictator in Libya for human rights abuses against his own people, BP, the EPA and other government entities are engaged in a cover up of an ecological disaster by secretly spraying a virulent poison into the Gulf that is destroying the eco-system, the fishing industry and the lives of people that live and work there.

A deadly hypocrisy.

 A hypocrisy that is hidden in plain sight.

 I said there were two reasons that you couldn’t see the oil. The other “reason” is…you can see it. The oil is now coming up in such massive amounts that it is overwhelming the ability of the Corexit to hide it. And, as mentioned above, the C-130s are now taking the extraordinary step of spraying in daylight.

 These pictures were taken over the Gulf on March 19, 2011 by a professional aerial photographer from a private plane. (same apology as above about pictures)

Just a little odd when BP and the EPA say the well was capped on July 19th, 2010 and that there was no more evidence of oil.  Per journalist Harlan Kirgan, who attended a press conference held by Mike Utsler, chief operating officer of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration,

“Utsler said, ‘We are actually very encouraged. And, I say we collectively as federal, state, local and trustees and landowners at the progress that has been made in the state of readiness for the upcoming tourism season.'

“Utsler said the overwhelming body of peer-reviewed science that has been published has shown there is no longer an oil plume.”

Lie #5.

Unfortunately for Big Mike’s credibility, 5 days later, the Grand Isle and Fourchon beaches in Louisiana underwent a military-type takeover to shut them down completely and prevent anyone from getting anywhere near them, especially independent scientists who wanted to take samples of the massive oil plume rolling in.

 If you want to see more current pictures of the oil in the Gulf, including pictures of fishing boats fishing in the middle of masses of oil, go here: 

http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll297/creekkeeper_2008/BP%20Slick%20photos/Barataria%20Flight%2003_19_11/?action=view&current=_MG_0837.jpg#!oZZ29QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs291.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fll297%2Fcreekkeeper_2008%2FBP%2520Slick%2520photos%2FBarataria%2520Flight%252003_19_11%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3D_MG_1018.jpg

So why am I telling you this shocking and tragic story?

 Because something needs to be done about it and there is a solution.

I have done something here, which I don’t normally do. And that is, I am forwarding information from my wife’s work.

 Those of you that are also on her email list know some of what I have told you above. And some of you know Barb. But for those that don’t, she is the International President of The Earth Organization http://www.TheEarthOrganization.org , an independent, international conservation and environmental organization.

So, here’s the deal: Barb and the US staff of The Earth Organization have been working on this situation flat out for several months –night and day, 24/7; New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida. They came across a solution – a product that dramatically speeds up Mother Nature’s natural processes of cleaning up the oil in a non-toxic way. Whereas, nature would take over a century to clean up the massive amounts of oil in this spill, this method would do it in a matter of a few weeks - and with absolutely no adverse side effects.

The product has been used to clean up more than 16,000 oil spills planet-wide over the last two decades. I repeat, 16,000.

 What is the reaction of British Petroleum and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency when informed about the toxic nature of Corexit (which they already knew) and the eye-popping results of the natural product, which they also were aware of? … …A product which has been used over 100 times by the US Navy to clean up oil spills just in San Diego Bay?...

They won’t let the product anywhere near the Gulf.

 Huh?

 Impossible,” you say. “How could a government agency whose purpose is to clean up the environment and protect the public’s health, permit an oil company to poison the eco-system and thousands of Americans?”

 You could just as easily ask how the FDA, an agency charged with protecting the public’s health, can approve drugs that cause heart attacks, suicidality and death, while stopping or curtailing non-toxic health solutions that are nutritionally beneficial.

 There are plenty of other examples. I’m sure you know of some. But my purpose here is not to investigate all of the evil on the planet; my purpose here is to let you know that a national tragedy is occurring right under our noses and there is a solution available.

 Barb and her team have investigated this catastrophe and its solution relentlessly. She is working with world class scientists, professional investigators, state and federal legislators, activists and manufacturers of a product that can clean up the oil spill in a beneficial and non-toxic way. 

 Neither she nor The Earth Organization have any financial interest in the product; their sole intention is to halt the environmental catastrophe still occurring in the Gulf, return the waters to even better than their pre-blowout condition, and save the lives of millions of people living and working there.

 Last week, she took evidence of the situation to key members of the United States Congress in an effort to get the EPA to cease allowing the spraying of Corexit in the Gulf and permit natural solutions to be implemented.

 She had several meetings. They went extremely well. Key congressional committee staff have asked for some additional information, which her team is in the process of gathering. But they are up against one of the biggest oil companies in the world with 96,000 employees and revenues of $297 billion, and a rogue government agency that is supporting the poisoning of the environment and citizenry in the Gulf on a colossal scale.

 Which actually makes it a pretty even fight; but it’s costly, folks.

 The Earth Organization is a registered nonprofit. They rely on the donations of members and supporters. This last cache of information requested by congressional staff is available, but a number of high-priced professionals are needed to scientifically document certain aspects of this, and to bring the necessary pressure to bear to get this situation turned around.

 So I am writing to you to give her a hand.

 We all devote a great deal of time, money and effort to make this a better world. This project, brought to a successful conclusion, will not only save an enormous area of environment, massive numbers of marine life and wildlife, but countless human lives.

 I don’t mean to be gruesome, but people poisoned by the Corexit there are suffering agonizing deaths.

 What do you say, can you give Barb and The Earth Organization a hand in bringing an ethical solution to the toxic holocaust now occurring in the Gulf.

 God will smile. 

Click the link below to donate.

 And thanks for your help!

 http://www.earthorganization.com/Join2.aspx

 Best,  

Bruce

 

Bruce Wiseman

[email protected]

www.BruceWiseman.net

 

Tax Consultant Warns of New Plan by State of CA to Collect New Use Taxes

Consultant Says New Aggressive Tax Strategy Will Bankrupt Many CA Businesses Unless They Prepare 

SACRAMENTO: A tax consultant warns that the California Board of Equalization (BOE) has enacted a new tax reporting system, which is going to effect all California businesses. The new plan involves forcing businesses to set up Use Tax Accounts and pay use taxes on any tangible personal property that has been purchased and brought into the state of California.

Thomas Alston, President of Aero & Marine Tax Professionals (http://www.aeromarinetaxpros.com), the pre-eminent experts in helping purchasers of aircraft and vessels to avoid paying sales and use tax in California, warns that this new strategy of the BOE could bankrupt businesses.

“I want to let business owners know the dangers involved in this new strategy by the state,” stated Alston. “My guess is that many California business owners have received a letter from the Board of Equalization (BOE) over the past few months notifying them that the BOE has arbitrarily assigned them a Use Tax permit number and has set up an electronic account for them to file their returns. I received such a letter recently. I was very angry and called a person at the BOE. He explained that letters have been going out for several months and the BOE is concerned that people don’t totally understand what is happening. He said he has been doing nothing but answering the phone about these use tax accounts. If anyone gets a letter from the BOE about setting up Use Tax account, you should call me. The wrong thing to do is ignore the letter,” concluded Alston.

Aero & Marine Tax Professionals shows purchasers how to avoid California aircraft tax and to make certain the full value of their next aircraft, vehicle or vessel goes into their pocket--not the Government's. They have successfully filed hundreds of tax returns with the California State Board of Equalization. Mr. Alston has also published many articles on strategies for saving on sales and use tax. See the full article on this topic below. Mr. Alston can be reached at 916-691-9192, extension 108.

Scapegoat is the Name

by Tom Alston

This is the evil person or thing that is always blamed for what happened in the past that put us into a condition we are currently struggling with. Hitler blamed the people in the insane asylums for infecting his country so he could start abusing them and conducting medical experiments on them without objection by the population. He viciously attacked the gypsy population so he could expand his reach for more guinea pigs for his medical experiments. Ultimately he blamed everything on the Jews. He blamed the bad economy, the inflation rate and “profiteering” on a larger group of people.

Who knows who would have been next if his regime had not crumbled, maybe the Catholics, maybe the Communists?  The point is that the people of Germany constantly had their attention misdirected by the government.  The government had mismanaged itself into crisis after crisis. As most government often do, they blamed someone other than themselves for creating the problem and their solution was more government control by the very people who had created the crisis.

A recent article from the Las Vegas Review Journal has this to say…

“As California teeters, Democrats are left to contemplate how this living laboratory of liberalism -- with its smothering taxes, intrusive regulatory apparatus, generous social services and well-fed, heavily unionized public sector -- could now find itself on the brink of collapse.”

Rather than conclude the obvious -- that decade after decade of high-tax, anti-business, anti-growth policymaking designed to sate an ever-expanding state is ultimately unsustainable -- a handful of liberals have found their culprit: Proposition 13, a measure limiting property taxes passed by voters in 1978.

Time magazine calls it the "root of California's misery." Leftist commentator Harold Meyerson argues that Prop 13 started the state down "the road to insolvency."

What a joke.

To believe this twaddle, you'd have to believe that California has been hamstrung in terms of raising tax revenues since 1978 thanks to the restraints imposed by Prop 13. That's nonsense. California remains one of the highest taxing states in the nation, with an income tax burden that can hit 10 percent. Even property tax collections have gone up consistently since 1980, increasing -- on average -- a healthy 7 percent per year in Los Angeles County alone.

According to the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., California residents suffered the 11th highest tax burden in the nation in 2008.

The group also put California's business climate at 48th in the nation and noted that its top individual income tax rate is the highest in all the land.

"Supporters of increased state spending have spent 31 years trying to make Proposition 13 the boogeyman," writes Joel Fox, former president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, in a Los Angeles Times commentary. "The measure has been held responsible for a freeway collapse during an earthquake and even for O.J. Simpson's not-guilty verdict in the 1995 criminal trial. But for a great majority of Californians, the boogeyman label doesn't stick."

That's because the label is flat-out wrong. And if California's spending class had actually heeded the message voters sent when they passed Proposition 13 more than 30 years ago, the buffoons in Sacramento wouldn't find themselves today scrambling to shore up this house of cards. “

Obviously the writer has a bias versus Democrats, but his words are true. 

The real problem is that no one that has been elected is in-charge or responsible.

The Democrat majority that will ultimately have to shoulder the blame for the reckless spending is beholden to a behind the scene labor lobby who refuse to see the obvious. 

Whoever is the governor will share the blame because he is the “head of the state government” and all this crap is happening on his watch.

The minority Republicans will be blamed because they always voted against every tax increase like a stubborn child.

What I am afraid is that no one will resolve the obvious problem other than the universe itself.  Any entity that spends more than it receives is bankrupt, even though they can pretend to survive for quite a long time by borrowing, printing IOU’s and never paying the money back.  This is called theft.

The physical universe will eventually crash this insane plan.  The current economic crisis is going to crash the government of California.  Sure the legislators can blame the International bankers for their obvious role in the crisis, but a well managed economy would have had a sane plan of reserves and checks and balances to minimize the destruction. Our Legislators have lived off projected revenues for too long.  If it were a private business most of the managers would be in jail for managing a huge Ponzi scheme.

California currently supports over 30% of all welfare recipients in the United States, has over 60% of its annual budget tied to education as our students fall further behind every year, has income tax rates that are the highest in the nation for any state, and siphons off billions in tobacco taxes that sit in a bloated fund for a Hollywood personality to use to try and create more opportunities for himself to create more taxes to put him in charge of more funds.  That is a run on sentence, but if I tried to list all the insane points without making you lose your breath trying to keep up, you would not get the physical impact I want you to get from my words.

When you get mad at the golden parachutes extended by failing corporations to people that ran their business into the ground, contemplate this;

Check out the current and retired politicians’ retirement programs that allow them to double or triple dip the retirement programs from the State of California.  Look at the people that have been in the power to resolve this financial crisis for the last 30 years. How do you evaluate their performance?

Remember that the system used to hide the Enron company’s real condition was born from an accounting system that looks perilously like standard government accounting practices.

I was told a story that in the past California politicians balanced a budget by merely announcing they were going to hire more personnel for a tax agency without having to actually hire the people and producing the desired effect.

No matter what, the true scapegoat is you and me.  When we look in the mirror we have to acknowledge that something can be done about it.  Once we acknowledge that, we have a moral obligation to do something.

The news media have failed us. The elected politicians have failed us. And yet, we are responsible because we have allowed it.