Recent content by oldfart

Hey William, long time no see! I'm just dropping in for my annual visit to see if there is any intelligent life still here before Scotty beams me up. What section of Florida are you in? I have a tax practice in the Panhandle and we are reconfiguring the office this week. Per your question...

Not to nitpick, but the Little Red Book was published after Hitler's opus, and had the saving grace of being a hundredth of the length. For unreadability, I nominate "Das Kapital". All three books are undoubtedly required reading in hell.

I used to teach college economics and had the opportunity to teach in a variety of environments. This course (International Economics) is from the information given a "service course). As such it is really not meant for majors, as it has no prerequisites and is a prerequisite for no other...

Actually buried in the announcement is language that implies that the definition of a "child" and of a "dependent" will remain unchanged. In fact, a non-refundable credit of $500 is added for non-child dependents. The $1,000 per child cap on the refundable amount of the child tax credit will...

Over the past 38 or so years I have represented somewhere between 3500 and 4500 taxpayers in various proceedings before the IRS and in Tax Court. Of those, there may have been 300 or 400 that would not have arisen if the Trump plan had been in effect. The rest dealt with issues that are not...

Beleive me, that lobby is practically nonexistent. The professional associations have some clout (AICPA, ABA Tax Section, NAEA, etc.), but simplicity is not an issue they see as either an opportunity or a threat. Each loophole (vitally necessary tax break for my Congressman's district) has its...

I've had this debate before. To me, the flag, pledge, and national anthem are symbols of America's aspirational goals. We fall short a lot, but that's not the same as to stop trying. Those goals are high standards of personal liberty, justice, equality, and community as demonstrated in...

With pensions and health care.

I rarely comment on any of Trump's speeches, so lumping me with the many who wig out on every tweet is an unfounded assumption on your part. I wonder why you do that, assume things about people with no evidence at all? I made the OP because I have a 60 year relationship with the Scouting...

It's been a long time since I stood before a class, but I still try to keep up. Lots of posters on this board get involved in methodological arguments regarding statistics and almost all of it is third or fourth hand. For anyone interested, this link will take you to the CBO explanation of how...

We have had this discussion in detail dozens of times. It's a zombie meme. Personally, I look at the age adjusted labor force participation rate (unpublished, but easy enough to crank out) as the best measure of what we mean by "involuntary unemployment". And yes, I used to teach labor economics.

I agree.

We are repeating ourselves, so I think it's time to end our exchange. We've each said what we had to say. Please feel free to have the last post in our exchange. I have enjoyed the exchange.

Just making observations from what you post. I have attended one National Jamboree, six NOAC's and the largest annual Scouting event about 15 times, all of which have had prominent and often political speakers. This is the first time I have heard anything approaching what Trump did. From the...

Frankly I have no idea what your point is. Can you put it in little words for the feeble-minded like myself?