Money

When it comes to investing, nothing kills good returns more than nationalism. And nationalism rules at large investment firms.

President Bush has proposed a health care plan designed to make health care affordable to millions who are not covered at present. Estimates run as high as 10 million that would be newly covered. Congress's Joint Committee On Taxation (JCT) has recently reported that this health care plan would save the government $333 billion dollars over ten years. The function of the JCT is to "score" tax policy changes.

Yahoo! have been in talks with Facebook for over a year now and apparently recently got shy at Facebook’s $1 billion asking price but as I will explain here Yahoo! have missed out on an absolute bargain.

Believe it or not, one of the best online tax preparation resources is the IRS. They have finally chosen to begin with the assumption that preparing tax returns is destined to be a confusing process. Just as their telephone interaction has improved, so has their website. It's designed for the consumer, not the accountant and it's a good place to start.

Every year the master of stock investing, Warren Buffett takes the time to create a letter which usually runs about 20 plus pages in length. In the latest letter, he lays out for anyone to see, exactly why he is the premiere investor in the world today. Warren Buffett is the best at what he does because he understands what he is, and what he is not. In over a half century of investing, he has never bought a technology stock.

More and more people are taking to the streets in cities like Chicago to try earn a living by asking for financial help. Could this be the sign of a rapidly shrinking middle class?

Foreign companies have provided over 6 million jobs here in the U.S. in recent years, most of those paying well above the average. Job displacement is unfortunate but inevitable. In a perfect world, no job would ever be lost. Business failures alone, costs millions of jobs.

In 2005, congress indulged itself with over 13,000 earmarks. In 2006, a few courageous House members and senators got the number down to less than 10,000, still outrageous. However last year’s efforts shone so much attention on the practice, it even had the King of Pork, Senator Robert Byrd discussing some of the negatives.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. It’s hard to believe, but subprime lender New Century which is experiencing potential bankruptcy type problems from its subprime lending portfolio decided that the way out of its problems was to make additional subprime loans.

The term outsourcing has become a weapon of the class warfare crowd. The mainstream media should be balancing the discussion with the benefits of insourcing. It is most unlikely that will happen.

As the deadline approaches for filing income taxes, it is appropriate to look at an alternative to our current system.

Topps, the maker of trading cards and Bazooka Gum, has agreed to be acquired by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner and others. Topps shareholders will receive $9.75 a share in cash in a transaction valued at $385.4 million. Eisner's involvements will be through Tornante Company, a private company he founded in 2005 for the purpose of making such transactions.

We should seek 25-30 year olds to run for congress. Among other priorities we would guide these young candidates to set an example by reducing congressional salaries, and perks including their hefty pensions. Voters might in turn support these candidates in larger numbers with many small donations and heavy internet support and with an eye toward making lobbyists as unwelcome as possible.

If you're just boarding on the AdSense train, and looking to find a quick way to make the profits you've seen all being pulled of all over the Internet, you might be interested in a couple of tools.

The safest way to beat the stock market is to not get into the stock market. According to “day traders” the best way to beat the stock market is to get in and get out quickly. The best way to beat the stock market by my Aunt Sara is to buy good stocks in good companies and hang on to them. Okay, I don’t have an aunt named Sara. My nonexistent aunt did not buy Microsoft when it was a penny stock.