Economy and Business
When Congress Serves the Other NRA
Of High-Speed Fastballs and High-Speed Trades
The sweet-swinging Detroit Tigers infielder Miguel Cabrera may or may not turn out to be, by the time he retires, the best hitter in baseball history. But Cabrera already holds a historic distinction Just before the opening day of the 2014 baseball season, the...
Ryan’s Joke Is on Us
My guess is that Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican Party's highly touted budget guru, doesn't have a very tight grip on the concept of irony. Otherwise, why would he choose April Fools' Day to release the latest version of what the GOP intends to do to federal programs...
Wall Street’s MIA Ethics
Let's review the rap sheet of Wall Street banks: defrauding investors, cheating homeowners, money laundering, rigging markets, tax evasion, credit card ripoffs… and so sickeningly much more. At last, though, some of the cops on the bank beat seem to be having...
Want to See Where Your Taxes Go?
Millions of Americans file their federal income tax returns by April 15 each year with no idea what the government actually does with all that money. This is surprising, considering that individuals are our nation’s primary bill payers. Income taxes paid by...
This Week in OtherWords: April 9, 2014
This week, we're running our annual OtherWords Tax Day special edition. Chuck Collins and Bob Lord explain how billionaires are bypassing the estate tax and what's wrong with that. Jim Hightower and cartoonist Khalil Bendib skewer Caterpillar Inc. for an offshore tax...
A Better Path to Prosperity
Washington politicos aren't quite right when they say that federal budget proposals are "dead on arrival." Even if they don't become law, budgets stand as living, breathing testimonies of the values and priorities of the people who write them. And it may surprise you...
WhatsApp with the Estate Tax?
What does Facebook's recent purchase of WhatsApp have to do with the estate tax? Actually, a good bit, if you're concerned about America's concentration of wealth. Why? Because an economy needs effective checks and balances. A tax on inherited fortunes essentially...
Close the Paris Hilton Loophole
If our leaders want to balance the budget, here's a suggestion: Congress can scrap a new "Paris Hilton" giveaway that's draining billions of federal tax dollars. This giveaway takes the form of a complex tax loophole designed to circumvent the federal estate tax, one...
Hiding Profits in Slimy Offshore Wormholes
The dictionary defines the caterpillar as a "wormlike larva" and a "crawler." Also, that "pillar" part of the word is derived from a French verb that means to "pillage, abuse, mistreat." Good to know. Now, meet Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest maker of...
