Category: News and Politics
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US issues ‘slap on the wrist’ to 16 responsible for bombing a hospital
Yesterday the nation’s highest ranking military leader, the Commander of the US Central Command, announced that 16 servicemen would receive what amounts to a slap on the wrist for errors they made in bombing a hospital operated by Doctors without Borders last October. 42 civilians were killed and even more injured in the attack. The…
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Discouraged by NJ government corruption
I’ve faced resistance and retaliation stemming from my efforts to expose NJ government corruption and it is taking a toll on my business and personal life. It has been almost 10 years since I called New Jersey State Police in Port Norris to report receiving a death threat by telephone for my actions as a…
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Uber wins independent contractor case in California
Worker classification has been one of the hottest issues of business management affecting large and small businesses alike. Yesterday one of the high profile cases in this arena was resolved when Uber announced that it negotiated the right to continue to classify workers as independent contractors in the state of California. Uber gave up the…
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CPAs’ role in the political process
Within the next few weeks I expect to be involved in the filming of a video by the New Jersey Society of CPAs about the importance of CPAs’ legislative involvement. Here is the Illinois version of the same topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB_eKQlri-o. While I’m not the filmmaker and am not in any position of charge of the…
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The worst of residential real estate performance
I’ve been negative on residential real estate as a financial asset for at least the past 12 years but that’s perhaps mostly because I’ve personally taken such a beating in suburban Philadelphia and along the bayshore region in south Jersey. Ten years ago in 2006 this historic (c 1901) stone home in Bala Cynwyd on the…
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Fiduciary rule should raise awareness of more important issues
I have mixed feelings about the new federal push in retail financial market known as the “fiduciary rule”. Depending on the specific facts, there is a strong argument to be made on either side of the issue. One thing that is certain, however, is that the new rule is intended to increase public awareness of the value of…
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What is the value of a financial adviser?
One of the surprise lessons of this tax season was learning how many sophisticated and successful clients are paying more than five figures annually for what essentially amount to picking mutual funds. Many of the cases I saw while preparing tax returns were fees paid through Charles Schwab for funds offered in retirement plan accounts…
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A dark day for Christianity
Today we have compelling reasons to be ashamed of elected officials claiming Christian values. Yesterday a group of Christian clergy connected with Moral Movement Tennessee staged a demonstration at the Tennessee state capital. The clergy object to Tennessee state lawmakers claiming Christian values but blocking expansion of health care for the state’s poor under the Affordable Care…
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Polls are even more useless than we knew
We were reminded of the huge limitations of voter polls this past week when every major news source who made a prediction in the Michigan primary proved to be wrong by a margin of 25% or more. The simple explanation seems to be that traditional polling methods do not reach a large portion of the population…
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Why tax rates will be higher
We should recognize that tax rates for the wealthiest individuals and corporations will be higher in the future than they are today. I stirred up a handful of comments yesterday on Wall Street Journal social media about the future of income tax rates. Some people apparently think that higher income tax rates are not possible…