Bandit Gang Writ Large

Obamacare’s ‘Cool Calculator: Work Disincentives Like Never Before

"Look at what happens once a single person who is 50 or older hits annual earnings of $45,961. At that point, what remains of those wonderful “tax credits” goes up in smoke. For a 50 year-old single person, dollar number 45,961 causes their annual exchange premium (i.e., 'tax') to increase from $4,366 to $5,390. That’s because what Kaiser calls Obamacare’s 'government tax credit subsidy' (they’re also having a hard time with the language) goes from $1,024 to zero. For a 64 year old, a 'tax credit subsidy' of $4,688 gets zeroed out. The marginal tax rate on dollar number 45,961 for that person is a whopping 468,800%." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare’s ‘Cool Calculator: Work Disincentives Like Never Before

Irvington police chief paid $115K while suspended

"Irvington Police Chief Michael Chase hasn’t worked a single day in the past nine months, but a series of legal fits and starts has allowed the town’s suspended top cop to take home roughly $115,000 so far this year, leading to a state investigation, officials said. Chase was suspended in December 2012 after an investigation by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office accused him of quashing a probe into alleged misconduct by his police officer nephew and charged him with failing to properly supervise his department’s Internal Affairs Unit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIrvington police chief paid $115K while suspended

IRS official caught in tea party scandal retires with $50,000/year pension

"Lois Lerner, the IRS official who presided over a partisan program that targeted conservative organizations because of their political beliefs, will retire on Monday with a full pension package, a source at the Department of Treasury told MailOnline. Lerner, 62, has been a federal government employee since at least 1981, making her eligible for the most robust retirement package the federal government offers career employees. In May Lerner herself launched the scandal that would eventually claim her job, by answering a planted question about how the IRS handled politically oriented groups that applied for tax-exempt status." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS official caught in tea party scandal retires with $50,000/year pension

The IRS Rewrites Obamacare

"Obama and his IRS are bypassing Congress and rewriting Obamacare on their own. The IRS is imposing health insurance mandates on employers and individuals even in states where by law they're exempt (http://shar.es/iI2HW). Obama also broke the law by extending the deadline for the employer mandate by a year. He bypassed Congress in making these arbitrary changes. He's picking and choosing which provisions to enforce, and when. Neither Obamacare nor the Constitution give him that discretion. His actions are illegal. And he's setting a precedent that will allow future presidents to ignore or rewrite legislation. But his lawlessness exposes a truth..." Continue reading →

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What Will ObamaCare Cost You, Beginning on January 1? Do You Know?

"They call this insurance. It’s not insurance. It’s free care for the already ill. Someone must pay. Guess who? You! How much will your premiums be raised? Have you been told yet? If not, do you know how to find out? Have you made the household budget revisions that will be required on January 1? Or are you just waiting to see what happens? This gigantic change in American health care is due to go into effect on January 1. Everyone is supposed to enroll on October 1. Are they ready to comply? Do they know how to comply? The IRS will administer this. What if most people fail to comply? What will the IRS do then? With what percentage of its employees?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Will ObamaCare Cost You, Beginning on January 1? Do You Know?

And the money trail leads to…

"A case in point is the Dodd-Frank Act. Wall Street was officially horrified by this law, which officially sought to end some of the practices that led to the financial collapse and big bailouts of leading U.S. investment firms in 2008-2009. But buried in the bowels of this 2,319-page law was a provision targeted squarely at 'foreign investment managers.' Simply put, the new rule forced every foreign bank, brokerage, or financial advisor with 15 more U.S. clients to register with the Securities & Exchange Commission. One Swiss-based investment manager who went through the process told me he spent more than $100,000 in legal fees to do it – not to mention hundreds of hours." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnd the money trail leads to…

Ron Paul: Internet Sales Tax Could Crush Small Businesses

"It is amazing that some of the same conservatives who rightly worry over Obamacare’s effects on job creation and economic growth want to impose new taxes on the most dynamic sector of the economy. The main proponents of this bill are large retailers and established Internet business. Big business can more easily afford to comply with a national Internet sales tax. In many cases, they are large enough that they already have a 'physical presence' in most states and thus already have to collect state sales taxes. These businesses are seeking to manipulate the political process to disadvantage their existing and future small competitors." Continue reading →

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The Millionaire Residency Visa

"For foreigners, it used to be that hard work and plenty of patience for bureaucratic red tape would garner access into a coveted country. But, these days, sometimes all it takes to grab that golden ticket is achieving multimillionaire status and promising to make a hefty investment in a new homeland. Countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand are all embroiled in a global tug-of-war for the wealthy, and each has either rolled out or reauthorized what are known as millionaire visas in recent years. These programs, which are aimed squarely at wealthy investors, fast-track these individuals' path to permanent residency—and sometimes even citizenship." Continue reading →

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Just Say the Magic Word

"When your government starts arbitrarily seizing skyscrapers, the time to start thinking about and devising an internationalization strategy was yesterday. If you have not already started, I'd suggest that it is high time to get going. This goes double for libertarians and anyone else who could one day become the government's next enemy du jour. All the government has to do is say the magic T-word, and poof: your rights, your assets, and even your life can be taken from you in an instant, without due process, and the vast majority of people will approve of it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJust Say the Magic Word

Kevin Trudeau jailed for not paying $38 million to feds over natural remedies

"The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been after 50-year-old Trudeau, originally from Massachusetts, for several years after he made millions flogging what he claims are natural cures for serious and potentially fatal illnesses. The ruling at the end of last month was the latest round in more than a decade of legal battles that began with a suit filed by the Federal Trade Commission. Trudeau was slapped with a $38 million fine in 2011 after allegedly scamming customers for decades. FTC put the value at $37.6million as to how much consumers were defrauded by 'deceptive infomercials' that Trudeau filmed in order to plug his book - The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKevin Trudeau jailed for not paying $38 million to feds over natural remedies