While we were all sitting down to our Thanksgiving dinner, a pioneer passed away from the complications of an hemorrhagic stroke. Dr. Joseph E. Murray of Peter Bent Brigham (now Brigham and Women’s Hospital), who won the Nobel Prize in 1990 for developing the first living transplant, sharing the honor with Dr. E. Donnal Thomas, who pioneered bone marrow transplants (who died just one month earlier).
Continue reading Au Revoir to a Pioneer
I have been amazed that we have build many an ethanol plant in water short areas (like Florida). I have been even more amazed when these same facilities are not designed to reuse the water they employ, which would both save them money- and reduce their impact on the environment. Our numbers show these folks can increase their profits about 3 to 5 cents a gallon- after accounting for the cost of water treatment- by incorporating water reuse.
Continue reading No fracking way!
The fiscal cliff. Or, the fiscal stepstool. I’m not trying to say it’s not important- it is. (See my previous post on this matter, here.) We need our politicians to get off their own cliffs and negotiate- honestly. But, that rarely happens. We have at least two problems. We have a deficit problem- and we have a recession problem. To some degree, they are related. If we were booming, then our deficits would be down- way down. But, we’re not-we are barely keeping even. (Sorry, 2% growth is just that. )
Continue reading Taxes and Deficits
I have already discussed the issues with inflated CEO compensation. One primary cause driving compensation upward is that many firms employ a technique that insures that he (it is typically a he) gets salary increases regardless of the performance at the firm. I have also discussed the problem that executives are paid ridiculous multiples (not 10 to 50, but 250 to 500 times) of the average pay at their firms.
Continue reading CEO Compensation and Corporate Performance
Continue reading Luck, Skill, and knowing the difference!
When we travel on business, we are required to track our expenses. ( OK, only if we expect to deduct these costs as legal expenses.) Typically, that means that we keep our receipts and prepare an expense report. (Substantiation is required by IRC 274 (d).)
Continue reading Food, Entertainment, and the IRS
Thanksgiving. An American tradition. One that is supposed to make us consider what it is for which we are really thankful.
Continue reading Gobble Gobble
I’ve written a little about the recent 2012 Elections in the US. And, I don’t want to make a practice of letting politics overtake this blog. But, this post is not really about partisanship.
Continue reading Are Voters Stupid?
We all know this statement….Ignorance of the law is no excuse. It can also make you look rather foolish. One of my friends, Ann Sattley, writes a blog about these law foibles.
Continue reading Ignorantia juris non excusat
Medical professionals have been opting to use stents over bypass surgery for a while. Not only because there are fewer risks to the patients, but because the costs (before insurance) are dramatically different. Should you not have insurance, you can expect the insertion of a stent to run you about $ 41K, but bypass surgery can run about $ 170K. Now, these are not your out-of-pocket costs, because there are negotiated rates for those covered by insurance, but you can bet that it still costs you more for bypass surgery, even with insurance.
Continue reading Bypass Surgery should not be by-passed!