It’s that time of year again. Where every Senator, Congressman, Businessman clamors for tax reform. Which really is never about tax reform, but about making the playing field more beneficial for someone (their special someone).
Continue reading We Need This Tax Reform
I am so tired of hearing how corporations pay 35% of their income to the Internal Revenue Service. That fiction needs to stop- now. There are a slew of companies that paid nome o corporate inctaxes in 2012 (and years prior).
Continue reading Tax Rate Fictions
So, we’ve learned that caring for our aged is a major expense. That is not surprising given that by 2030, some 73 million Americans will be over 65; two years ago that number was about half that- at 40 million.
Continue reading Is this job for you?
I wrote earlier about how one company managed to get a bonus slipped into the Fiscal Cliff bill. One that “made them” $ ½ billion. Well, they are about to take a big hit, if no one tries to overrule Medicare (or slip another ‘mickey’ to the American public in another bill).
Continue reading Dialysis Boondoggle
OK. This is rant time. Corporate profits are doing fine- even if we (the consumer, the population) are not. A lot of this profit is due to the fact that workers are not being paid well, or that there are not enough workers (i.e., corporations are “running lean”, often meaning there are too few workers for the tasks at hand).
There is a growing realization that high growth for many nations is no longer in the cards. Oh, if you live in one of the developing nations of Africa- you can say this is wrong. But, even in China, which is slowly entering that state of economy that includes Israel… While neither which is officially a “First World” nation, they are, for all intents and purposes, there- and their growth rates are so demonstrating. Robust growth- growth over 3-4% over 5 years or more- is something that will only occur in those states that are becoming industrialized, not for those with existing corporate/services infrastructure.
Continue reading Knock, knock….Is anyone listening out there?
We have tough choices. We’ve been requiring the use of ethanol in our fuel, to lower our consumption of foreign oil. Now, we find we can (actually, now that the price of fuel is high enough, it makes sense to) obtain even more fuel from American sources, or at the very least from Canadian sources.
Continue reading Alternative Transportation Fuels
With the fiscal (cliff, bump, curve, impediment) approaching, everyone is writing about how this will affect (investing, jobs, taxes, mortgages, home building, charity). I figured that gave me the right to write (had to use that one) about their crazy thoughts. The chart that is seen right below is the one that forced me to respond.
Continue reading Charitable Giving…
When we setup our first consulting firm, we had long discussions about rates and collections. These are not idle issues- and they are related. Having a written plan makes it easier to deal with problems when (not if) they arise. To do this properly, we had to understand our market. Were we going to be a local entity, a national entity, or an international one? And, if we were to offer our services internationally, would there be different prices for different regions? Who would be our typical client- and would it be the same in different regions? We eventually decided to start nationally and then expand to international vistas. ((OK, so we were more than a little cocky. And, that change in market focus- it turned out to be less than 18 months, when our first international client approached us.) And, we decided that our fees would not be based upon geographical region, but upon the financial size of the client. (This was a pretty radical decision back in the 70’s.) While we offered the same quality of service to all, we wanted to have the chance to be more involved in more aspects of the projects, which would typically occur with the smaller firms- and a lower pricing wouldn’t hurt our chances, either. This was before the age of websites- or we would have developed one right away. But, we did develop a logo, prepare our business cards, brochures, and secure office space immediately. And, while we were reluctant, we did elect to buy furnishings that would last at least a decade and fit the image we chose for our logo. Our logo was big and bold- certainly novel at the time. And, we wanted visitors to our office to develop that same feel- knowing they were in the office of a firm that took interest in their firms, would develop bold products and stances for their needs, but always deliver solutions with substance. 
That was an expensive choice, but one we felt was necessary to obtain our “ideal” clients. Would you expect to obtain a fine meal if you visited a restaurant whose furnishings were chipped plastic and school house seats- or one with clean tablecloths, decked with silverware, and plush seating? Continue reading Rates and Image
So, I was reading the Wall Street Journal. An article by John McKinnon. It was to explain a plan developed by Martin Feldstein (Harvard University, Chairman of Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan), that “demonstrated” how a plan (now espoused by Speaker of the House John Boehner) to limit tax breaks would actually raise revenue. Except that the “sample data” was as realistic as having a jet plane land on my driveway.