by Linda Beale Private equity doesn’t do us much good; avoiding taxes does us considerable harmcross posted with Ataxingmatter I. Private Equity, leveraged buyouts, and carried interest On MarketWatch, David Weidner’s “writing on the wall” column for Nov. 2, 2010 comments on “Paying for Wall Street’s Prosperity: Loophole could cost taxpayers $70 billion“. What loophole? […]

The Economist offers a timely note (h/t Rebecca): It’s short, but the gist is that Japan could increase productivity, jobs, and reduce the fiscal deficit by adopting daylight savings time. The last paragraph: “‘The best part is that it doesn’t cost anything,” chirps Mr Alkire. “It’s a real fiscal stimulus without any money.’ Adopting DST […]

By Noni Mausa The Promise Merchants Part II — Postulates(Dan here…reformatted from the original posted earlier) 1. There is always [1] excess production. Individual human beingscannot produce enough to live comfortably, but people in groups can’thelp but overproduce. 2. People can’t stop producing. The time, attention and efforts ofhuman beings are expended continuously. Their energy […]

by Linda Beale The Mortgage Loan Foreclosure Mess: Yves Smith on the Banks’ Gluttony; Problems with MERS and Sloppy Securitizations Edited noon 11/1/10 to clarify discussion of certificates as qualified mortgages in a REMIC. crossposted with Ataxingmatter Yves Smith has an op-ed in the Oct. 31, 2010 New York Times on the mortgage mess. See […]

New Questions Being Raised About Filings in Foreclosure Cases as JPMorgan Chase Resumes Foreclosures The expanding investigation into foreclosure fraud in Florida has turned up a new problem: individuals hired by law firms to notify homeowners when their foreclosures are to be heard in court may have filed false or faulty documents. Law firms that […]

Over at Econospeak is a fascinating conversation of arcane economic thinking: Peter Dorman at Econospeak states: I have just taught the theory of the supply curve at the principles level for the umpteenth time, and my conscience is in open rebellion. This business with the horizontal demand curve and setting supply equal to marginal costs […]

New rules finalized last week by the U.S. Department of Education are good news for students and taxpayers. For all topics except “gainful employment,” this was the final step of the negotiated rulemaking process initiated by the Department more than a year ago to ensure the integrity of the federal financial aid programs. Among other […]

by Linda Beale Why taxes are important crossposted with Ataxingmatter The so-called tea party adherents and many libertarians, treat taxes as robbery, thinking that “it’s mine and the government has no right to it.”  That crazytalk, which most would realize if they ever had the opportunity to live in the brute-force world of no taxation.  […]