Check Your Speed
Here in these United States, tax policy rests on the notion that tax rates should rise with income, so those who earn more pay a greater share of their income. In 2020, the top 1% of earners took home 22% of all income and paid 42% of all federal income tax. While a significant minority […]
It May Be Artificial, But Is it Really Intelligence?
Last month, an outfit modestly calling itself “The Future of Life Institute” released an open letter calling for all artificial intelligence labs to pause the development of new AI systems more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4, the current gold standard. The group argues that if labs won’t do this voluntarily, “governments should step in and issue […]
Fake It ‘Til You Make It
Here in America, were world champs at “fake it ‘til you make it.” Just look at Anna Delvey (Inventing Anna), Representative George Santos (if that’s really his name), Elizabeth Holmes (scheduled to report to prison by April 27), or Sam Bankman-Fried (cooling his heels under house arrest while he waits to get sent to a […]
The Art of Tax
April 15 is almost here, and panicky taxpayers across America are begging their tax pros for any help they can get for bills they aren’t ready to pay. “What can I do to pay less?!?” is the plaintive cry going up across the land. TurboTax users are even worse off. Even the $120 version doesn’t […]
I Won’t Go, Go, Go
When you were young, mom said, “It’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.” But now the rules are different. Now it’s all fun and games until somebody winds up in rehab. Drew Barrymore went for booze when she was just thirteen. Ke$ha went for disordered eating. Eminem went for Ambien. Robert Downey […]
Quelle Horreur!
Considering how much Americans think about retirement, it’s sometimes hard to realize what a new concept that phase of life really is. It wasn’t too long ago that you worked right up until you died. Or, if you were lucky, you took good care of your kids at the beginning of their lives – then […]
“Attaboy, Clarence!”
In the 1946 Christmas movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart plays banker George Bailey, who uses his honeymoon savings to keep his family building and loan afloat after a bank run. Years later, Bailey’s despair over a missing $8,000 drives him to cash in his life insurance by jumping off the bridge. You all […]
House Poor
This tax season, Americans are grumbling over the usual government forms, bureaucratic red tape, and looming deadlines. But it’s worth stepping back to realize the IRS isn’t responsible for the mess. That fault lies with Congress, where lawmakers spend their days conferring with their constituents, debating weighty issues, marking up legislation, and who are we […]
Tax-Free Bear?
Movie fans can have a tough time finding something new in today’s sea of reboots and sequels. The Marvel Cinematic Universe alone has sold $25 billion in tickets since Iron Man kicked things off in 2008. Right now, your local multiplex is screening the third Ant-Man movie. (Ant-Man? Really?) Next month, John Wick makes his […]
Tiny Violins
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi warned a young Luke Skywalker that he would “never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” than the Mos Eisley Spaceport. Obi-Wan was wrong, of course. That place is Washington, DC, for obvious reasons. However, the scum and […]