Category: News and Politics
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Leadership involves politics!
“Where do we want to go in the future? What is our vision? That is politics.” – Bernie Sanders, talking in Philadelphia yesterday to address those who say they are disgusted by the process, don’t want to talk about it, or don’t want to get involved. Sanders focuses on intelligent civil discussion of the the…
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Pennsylvania divided
The election discussion is drawing attention to the widening political divide between my two major client groups. Nate Silver, writing for fivethirtyeight.com says “eastern Pennsylvania is becoming more Democratic while western Pennsylvania is becoming more Republican”. This confirms the trend that I noticed that even seems to be affecting my business practice. This graphic shows the…
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Unregistered charity soliciting public donations
As a small business accountant working with nonprofit organizations I frequently find deficiencies in their accounting or legal filings. Minor oversights are commonplace and I’m pretty good at getting them resolved before they cause too much of a problem. But I’ve never come across such an egregious situation as a multi-million dollar nonprofit organization soliciting…
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Why some people are more likely to end relationships over politics
The divide in political ideology is drawing much attention lately as this election season raises these issues to a fever pitch. Lately I’ve read a series of articles and personal stories describing how people are ending personal relationships over political disagreements. One article reported a survey result that 15% of people reported recently ending a friendship due…
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USA Today takes a strong stand against Trump
I was impressed by the strong clear writing in today’s statement by the editorial board of USA Today. I’ve taken the same position and it feels comforting as more leaders come aboard the “never Trump” movement. USA Today emphasizes that this is the first time that USA Today has taken a stand in a political election. Here…
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Blind trust basics
I can’t figure out if the Trump campaign people don’t understand how a blind trust works or they just hope that the rest of America doesn’t. Blind trusts are usually a great tool for politicians. The basic concept is that the politician is not aware of what company stocks or investments their independent investment managers…
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Clinton Foundation vs. Trump Foundation
Recent news reports about the Clinton Foundation and Trump Foundation allow us to draw sharp distinctions between the two organizations. Starting with the basics, the Clinton Foundation is a properly registered charity that is actually active in attempts to do good in the world. The Clinton Foundation completes required filings and audits. Some transactions reported in this election…
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More on the education divide in the U.S.
I’ve written in an earlier bog post about the unprecedented ‘education divide’ where the level of formal education is now the most highly correlated indicator of a person’s political beliefs. Yesterday The Wall Street Journal ran a story about that same phenomenon with a series of findings by the Bowling Green State University National Center for Family…
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‘Ignorance is bliss’ but stay away from public leadership
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” – Albert Einstein One in three Americans admits that they did not read a book in the last year. Donald Trump is among them. He reportedly admits that he hasn’t read a book in 50 years. I suspect that his supporter…
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Where does electricity come from?
With electricity being such an important part of our daily lives, I am surprised how many people do not know where it comes from. The #1 source of electricity in the U.S. is coal. Natural gas obtained through fracking is expected to be the #1 source within the next 25 years. Here in Pennsylvania, the largest…