Friday, February 27, 2009
Lent Regulations for Latin Rite (Roman) Catholics
Every year there seems to be some confusion about church laws on fast and abstinence, ages, and other matters. Jimmy Aiken clears it up well using the church's official documents. If you need to refresh your memory, here's the link http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2007/02/ash_wednesday.html
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tax Evasion Is Not Considered A Crime In Switzerland
Looks like lawyers that specialize in financial crime are going to be busy in Switzerland (and if the Justice Department prevails, they will be busy here too). Apparently a dozen or so possible tax evaders are suing UBS and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority for violating Swiss secrecy laws. UBS was supposed to turn over about 250 names and our Justice Department suspects around 52,000 more Americans of evading payment of taxes.
With our banks in crisis, I can understand wanting money (that is, if you have any) in a stable bank, but why should anyone be permitted NOT to pay their taxes just because they have enough cash to send offshore? Wasn't it Leona Helmsley that mumbled something about "only the little people pay taxes" as if the rich had some special privilege unavailable to lower castes? Her big mistake was thinking that people with meager funds are "little", which is pretty funny when you think about it. Great wealth is a source of great obligation, it does not make you "big" as she apparently thought.
It makes you wonder, too, if this means those with secret accounts perjured themselves when they signed their tax returns, as well as the possibility of collusion of others?
Article at http://www.cnbc.com/id/29385606
With our banks in crisis, I can understand wanting money (that is, if you have any) in a stable bank, but why should anyone be permitted NOT to pay their taxes just because they have enough cash to send offshore? Wasn't it Leona Helmsley that mumbled something about "only the little people pay taxes" as if the rich had some special privilege unavailable to lower castes? Her big mistake was thinking that people with meager funds are "little", which is pretty funny when you think about it. Great wealth is a source of great obligation, it does not make you "big" as she apparently thought.
It makes you wonder, too, if this means those with secret accounts perjured themselves when they signed their tax returns, as well as the possibility of collusion of others?
Article at http://www.cnbc.com/id/29385606
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Our Economy is Sinking -- I've Got a Brilliant Idea, Hire American Workers
Our Economy is Sinking
Let's put the pedal to the metal and get our economy moving upwards. We need to demand that companies doing business here hire -- now, not only hire, but retain -- American workers. There have been way too many layoffs of capable American citizens.
Our laws have been way too lax in permitting lower cost foreign workers to be brought over here to fill jobs that Americans can do as well or better -- but foreign workers are less expensive. We will have to wait to see whether there are any real teeth in our new administration's governance with regard to employing Americans and truly much less brought over under laws that permit hiring from outside our country.
I am adverse to excessive government controls, a business needs to be free to run its business responsibly, but perhaps laws that particularly target the scenario where Americans lose their jobs, or are not hired, but foreign workers are brought in, could be very relevant and change a lot of "corporate think".
Responsibility of Leadership
Quite frankly, all corporate leadership needs to be held accountable for diminishing American jobs when American jobs are sent overseas or foreign workers are brought in to take over jobs that Americans can do. When a job is eliminated, together with its pay grade and title, and other jobs are created that take its place, it isn't hard to see how lower paid workers are replacing the higher paid ones.
There is no denial that some of this can be legitamite company restructuring, but this is a tactic very often used to eliminate workers with seniority, and all the costs that go with it. What has been done might be legal, but laws don't make these actions moral. It can just mean that a company's pockets are deep enough to afford the right legal counsel to come in under the radar and not run afoul of established law.
Outsourcing
Cheap labor overseas reduces the costs of doing business. Large and sometimes not so large businesses contract for services, further reducing American jobs. It benefits the bottom line, but the service is often very poor, and reaching someone whose command of the English language is so bad that a caller cannot understand what was said, is totally frustrating and wastes my time. Apparently wasting my time is not a consideration when it is a cost cutting benefit to a business. It's just as if they had said to me "screw you".
The BIG Ouch
Greed reduces the purchasing power of American citizens. Is it any wonder there is such economic chaos in this country? When the only thing that matters to a business is the bottom line showing profits, their priorities are totally out of order.
What Can We Do About It?
Let your Congress Critters know you disapprove, and that you can vote, will vote, and are watching the actions of those who represent you. Learn the issues and get good, solid information by digging deep enough to get it.
Discuss it with your family, friends, neighbors and every group where you belong, listen to all the views, pro and con. Call the businesses that do this, express your dissatisfaction in polite terms. Write polite letters, send petitions, be active. Make sure to tell them if they want to do business here, they need to employ American workers here. If this trend continues, there won't be any Americans who can afford anything and we will find ourselves a third world country.
Get the names of the businesses that hire foreign workers instead of Americans, and the ones who outsource American jobs. Most everyone knows someone who knows what has happened at certain businesses, word gets around, but verify the information. Where possible, get information on profits and executive pay and bonuses. Make certain you are sitting down when you get this information, some of it will be overwhelming.
Some of this information is readily obtainable. Exorbitant executive pay, bonus structures and perks at a business that employs foreign workers, or outsources work that Americans can do should raise alarm bells. We do not want to put excessive governmental controls on businesses, but we do want their behavior to be responsible without these controls.
Public pressure can help a business stay responsible, no matter how large they are. BLOG your opinion -- reach others, and let's turn the tide. Daily prayer and moral behavior on your own part work well too, show the leadership you have.
This is not just about you and me, but about our children and their children's future as well. Let's work hard to make everyone's future, including capitalistic business, solid as a rock.
Let's put the pedal to the metal and get our economy moving upwards. We need to demand that companies doing business here hire -- now, not only hire, but retain -- American workers. There have been way too many layoffs of capable American citizens.
Our laws have been way too lax in permitting lower cost foreign workers to be brought over here to fill jobs that Americans can do as well or better -- but foreign workers are less expensive. We will have to wait to see whether there are any real teeth in our new administration's governance with regard to employing Americans and truly much less brought over under laws that permit hiring from outside our country.
I am adverse to excessive government controls, a business needs to be free to run its business responsibly, but perhaps laws that particularly target the scenario where Americans lose their jobs, or are not hired, but foreign workers are brought in, could be very relevant and change a lot of "corporate think".
Responsibility of Leadership
Quite frankly, all corporate leadership needs to be held accountable for diminishing American jobs when American jobs are sent overseas or foreign workers are brought in to take over jobs that Americans can do. When a job is eliminated, together with its pay grade and title, and other jobs are created that take its place, it isn't hard to see how lower paid workers are replacing the higher paid ones.
There is no denial that some of this can be legitamite company restructuring, but this is a tactic very often used to eliminate workers with seniority, and all the costs that go with it. What has been done might be legal, but laws don't make these actions moral. It can just mean that a company's pockets are deep enough to afford the right legal counsel to come in under the radar and not run afoul of established law.
Outsourcing
Cheap labor overseas reduces the costs of doing business. Large and sometimes not so large businesses contract for services, further reducing American jobs. It benefits the bottom line, but the service is often very poor, and reaching someone whose command of the English language is so bad that a caller cannot understand what was said, is totally frustrating and wastes my time. Apparently wasting my time is not a consideration when it is a cost cutting benefit to a business. It's just as if they had said to me "screw you".
The BIG Ouch
Greed reduces the purchasing power of American citizens. Is it any wonder there is such economic chaos in this country? When the only thing that matters to a business is the bottom line showing profits, their priorities are totally out of order.
What Can We Do About It?
Let your Congress Critters know you disapprove, and that you can vote, will vote, and are watching the actions of those who represent you. Learn the issues and get good, solid information by digging deep enough to get it.
Discuss it with your family, friends, neighbors and every group where you belong, listen to all the views, pro and con. Call the businesses that do this, express your dissatisfaction in polite terms. Write polite letters, send petitions, be active. Make sure to tell them if they want to do business here, they need to employ American workers here. If this trend continues, there won't be any Americans who can afford anything and we will find ourselves a third world country.
Get the names of the businesses that hire foreign workers instead of Americans, and the ones who outsource American jobs. Most everyone knows someone who knows what has happened at certain businesses, word gets around, but verify the information. Where possible, get information on profits and executive pay and bonuses. Make certain you are sitting down when you get this information, some of it will be overwhelming.
Some of this information is readily obtainable. Exorbitant executive pay, bonus structures and perks at a business that employs foreign workers, or outsources work that Americans can do should raise alarm bells. We do not want to put excessive governmental controls on businesses, but we do want their behavior to be responsible without these controls.
Public pressure can help a business stay responsible, no matter how large they are. BLOG your opinion -- reach others, and let's turn the tide. Daily prayer and moral behavior on your own part work well too, show the leadership you have.
This is not just about you and me, but about our children and their children's future as well. Let's work hard to make everyone's future, including capitalistic business, solid as a rock.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
