Sunday morning planning
I promised myself, given how many movies I'd not gone to see while I was coming down with that pneumonia that I would go to one the first full day I was home. That's today and I'll see either "Now You See Me" or "The East", both of which play nearby. I've also planned out a healthy day of eating. Breakfast here with the Sunday Times, two small pieces of pizza at lunch with some salad, and dinner will be a footlong turkey sub. Dry, with only tomatoes on it. Oh, and a small bag of pretzels. Apple and banana for a snack later. No matter how much I want some V-8 juice, the answer is no. That meal is well within what the nutritionist says I should be doing. It will get rougher on Monday night when I go to play trivia. They serve good burgers there. The trick will be resisting the temptation to order french fries (theirs are pretty good) rather than a salad as the side order.
Under normal circumstances Sunday would be a SoCal Team Trivia League night at Roxanne's in Long Beach. But according to the SoCalTrivia folks, Roxanne's has pulled out. That's why I'll be eating dinner in my room. Unless I get crazy and decide to go out. Unlikely though.
* * * * *
Imagine for a moment that you're in your mid-30s, happily married, with a couple of kids. Suddenly, your spouse is diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and two years later, that spouse has died. Less than 100 days after the funeral you get notices that you're being audited for all of those big medical expenses by the IRS.
The family PC has been fried so all of the records that the spouse, who'd been the one doing the taxes all along, are no longer available. You call the IRS and ask for a delay to gather the records, because you just suffered a death in the family. The request is denied. Not only is the request denied, but the manual for IRS procedures prohibits examiners from granting delays in examinations under any circumstance. This happened to a woman in Texas. She, with the help of friends who spent 12 hours on a Saturday sorting through medical bills, managed to meet the 30 day deadline.
She prevailed at the audit hearing. Every expense was substantiated. Not a dime was changed. But she was put through a horrific experience, being forced to delve through the details of her husband's fatal illness again within weeks of his death. Now she's trying to get the procedure manual changed so examiners can grant delays in cases where there has been a death in the family of the taxpayer. Makes good sense to me.
* * * * *
I have come up with a solution to the problem of $1 trillion in student loan debt, high default rates, and people who went to school to get degrees that leave them unable to secure employment to pay off even a portion of those loans. Well, they can pay them off but won't have enough money for food and shelter.
Crank up the U.S. Treasury's printing press. Print up some bills. $100,000 bills (they never circulated but in the days before electronic funds transfers, they were used to move money between Federal Reserve Banks). $1 trillion worth. Use those to pay off all outstanding student loans.
Just add the $1 trillion to the public debt. $16 trillion, $17 trillion, $20 trillion. What's a trillion dollars to the U.S. government, which is overspending its revenue by that amount annually?
You can recover a bit of the money by making the forgiven loans taxable to those who benefit from this largess. Then they'll complain that's unfair too, and someone will say to forgive the tax debt as well.
Bad ideas? Obviously. Okay, come up with a better one. I like the Obama Administration's plan where people can sign up and pay 15% of their "discretionary income" for 25 years. Then whatever balance is left is forgiven. Yes, that forgiven balance becomes taxable income. But the IRS is more flexible than ever about payment plans. It is the best plan I've seen thus far.
* * * * *
This Date in History:
On this date in 455, Vandals begin plundering the city of Rome. They will do so for two weeks.
On this date in 1692, Bridget Bishop is the first person tried in the Salem witch trials. She is found guilty and hanged eight days later.
On this date in 1835, P.T. Barnum and his circus begin their first tour of the U.S.
On this date in 1886, President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House. To date this remains the only wedding of a President in the White House.
On this date in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law. All Native Americans who were born within the territorial limits of the U.S. are granted citizenship.
On this date in 1941, German paratroopers massacred several dozen Greek citizens at the village of Kondomari in reprisal for losses during the Battle of Crete.
On this date in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II's coronation takes place and is televised.
On this date in 1997, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of 15 counts of murder and conspiracy in his role in the bombing of the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. He was executed just over four years later.
Famous Folk Born on this Date:
Marquis de Sade
Martha Washington
William Lawson
Thomas Hardy
Wallace Hartley (leader of the band on the Titanic)
Johnny Weismuller http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHWbsvgQUE
Tex Schramm
Johnny Carter
Sally Kellerman ("kiss my hot lips, Frank")
Stacy Keach
Charles Haid
Jerry Mathers
Joana Gleason
Larry Robinson
Dana Carvey
Michael Steele
Lex Luger
Wayne Brady
Gata Kamsky
Earl Boykins
Zachary Quinto
Justin Long
A.J. Styles
Abby Wambach
Movie quote of the day is from "Apocalypse Now". Skip ahead to 56 seconds in the clip below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JInEj95yoUQ
Captain Willard: "Who's the commanding officer here?"
Machine Gunner: "Ain't you?"
Under normal circumstances Sunday would be a SoCal Team Trivia League night at Roxanne's in Long Beach. But according to the SoCalTrivia folks, Roxanne's has pulled out. That's why I'll be eating dinner in my room. Unless I get crazy and decide to go out. Unlikely though.
* * * * *
Imagine for a moment that you're in your mid-30s, happily married, with a couple of kids. Suddenly, your spouse is diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and two years later, that spouse has died. Less than 100 days after the funeral you get notices that you're being audited for all of those big medical expenses by the IRS.
The family PC has been fried so all of the records that the spouse, who'd been the one doing the taxes all along, are no longer available. You call the IRS and ask for a delay to gather the records, because you just suffered a death in the family. The request is denied. Not only is the request denied, but the manual for IRS procedures prohibits examiners from granting delays in examinations under any circumstance. This happened to a woman in Texas. She, with the help of friends who spent 12 hours on a Saturday sorting through medical bills, managed to meet the 30 day deadline.
She prevailed at the audit hearing. Every expense was substantiated. Not a dime was changed. But she was put through a horrific experience, being forced to delve through the details of her husband's fatal illness again within weeks of his death. Now she's trying to get the procedure manual changed so examiners can grant delays in cases where there has been a death in the family of the taxpayer. Makes good sense to me.
* * * * *
I have come up with a solution to the problem of $1 trillion in student loan debt, high default rates, and people who went to school to get degrees that leave them unable to secure employment to pay off even a portion of those loans. Well, they can pay them off but won't have enough money for food and shelter.
Crank up the U.S. Treasury's printing press. Print up some bills. $100,000 bills (they never circulated but in the days before electronic funds transfers, they were used to move money between Federal Reserve Banks). $1 trillion worth. Use those to pay off all outstanding student loans.
Just add the $1 trillion to the public debt. $16 trillion, $17 trillion, $20 trillion. What's a trillion dollars to the U.S. government, which is overspending its revenue by that amount annually?
You can recover a bit of the money by making the forgiven loans taxable to those who benefit from this largess. Then they'll complain that's unfair too, and someone will say to forgive the tax debt as well.
Bad ideas? Obviously. Okay, come up with a better one. I like the Obama Administration's plan where people can sign up and pay 15% of their "discretionary income" for 25 years. Then whatever balance is left is forgiven. Yes, that forgiven balance becomes taxable income. But the IRS is more flexible than ever about payment plans. It is the best plan I've seen thus far.
* * * * *
This Date in History:
On this date in 455, Vandals begin plundering the city of Rome. They will do so for two weeks.
On this date in 1692, Bridget Bishop is the first person tried in the Salem witch trials. She is found guilty and hanged eight days later.
On this date in 1835, P.T. Barnum and his circus begin their first tour of the U.S.
On this date in 1886, President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House. To date this remains the only wedding of a President in the White House.
On this date in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law. All Native Americans who were born within the territorial limits of the U.S. are granted citizenship.
On this date in 1941, German paratroopers massacred several dozen Greek citizens at the village of Kondomari in reprisal for losses during the Battle of Crete.
On this date in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II's coronation takes place and is televised.
On this date in 1997, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of 15 counts of murder and conspiracy in his role in the bombing of the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. He was executed just over four years later.
Famous Folk Born on this Date:
Marquis de Sade
Martha Washington
William Lawson
Thomas Hardy
Wallace Hartley (leader of the band on the Titanic)
Johnny Weismuller http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHWbsvgQUE
Tex Schramm
Johnny Carter
Sally Kellerman ("kiss my hot lips, Frank")
Stacy Keach
Charles Haid
Jerry Mathers
Joana Gleason
Larry Robinson
Dana Carvey
Michael Steele
Lex Luger
Wayne Brady
Gata Kamsky
Earl Boykins
Zachary Quinto
Justin Long
A.J. Styles
Abby Wambach
Movie quote of the day is from "Apocalypse Now". Skip ahead to 56 seconds in the clip below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JInEj95yoUQ
Captain Willard: "Who's the commanding officer here?"
Machine Gunner: "Ain't you?"
posted by me at 8:28 AM
<< Home