Middle Class Dismissed

California Governor Calls for Legislation that will Increase Unemployment

"Gov. Jerry Brown says he supports a bill in the Legislature that would boost the California minimum wage next year and in 2016 by a total of $2 an hour, reports LaTi. The bill would raise the current $8-an-hour minimum wage to $9 on July 1, 2014, and to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016. The Governor, displaying a total lack of understanding of basic economics, said: 'The minimum wage has not kept pace with rising costs. This legislation is overdue and will help families that are struggling in this harsh economy.' What it will do is cause an increase in unemployment. Prices can't be regulated, wage prices or otherwise. It is basic supply and demand economics." Continue reading →

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Why I renounced US citizenship

"I flew to Switzerland and was hired by two large international firms at the same time within a few weeks, both offering double the pay and with better benefits. I had to choose. Months later, my spouse joined me there. 11 years later, I learned that Swiss banks were rejecting little people simply because they had US citizenship and as a result of US policy. It was clear that the US citizenship had to go. Overall, I find that the American job market is often trigger-happy, overreacting to strongly to non-issues. In Switzerland, I’m trusted, my skills and motivation are respected and appreciated and my minor human errors are forgiven. To anyone thinking about working in America: think again." Continue reading →

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FATCA Hassles: Feds Cracking Down on Overseas Tax Evasion

"Switzerland, which has strict privacy laws protecting customers’ confidential financial information, has effectively declared American citizens personae non gratae as far as their banks are concerned. Banks are shuttering accounts, refusing mortgages and refinances, and refusing to open accounts for Americans living abroad. The rules create an incentive for foreign employers to cease investing in America, avoid hiring Americans, or both. And in some cases, Americans have been refused employment or promotions at foreign companies because the job description requires them to be signatories on the company’s account." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFATCA Hassles: Feds Cracking Down on Overseas Tax Evasion

American threats against innocent expats are increasing

"A willful failure to file is considered a felony punishable by five years in prison. Holders of unreported foreign accounts have more than jail to fear. The IRS has proven itself very adept at finding taxpayers that have not filed an FBAR. Those that are caught can expect both a tax bill and a penalty assessment of the greater of $100,000 or half the highest balance in the account. Making things worse for taxpayers is next year’s looming FATCA law. If the IRS thinks you moved or renamed your account to avoid detection, chances of criminal prosecution increase dramatically. The Quiet Disclosure strategy not only doesn’t work, it sets up taxpayers for a huge interest and penalty bill." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerican threats against innocent expats are increasing

David Stockman on his Book and the Bailouts

"The panic and bailouts that followed were really about protecting the bonuses and incomes of very wealthy and politically well-connected managers at banks and other heavily leveraged businesses that were eventually deemed too big to fail. What followed was a massive transfer of wealth from the taxpayers and middle-class savers, in the form of bailouts and zero interest rates on bank deposits imposed by the Fed, to the so-called One Percent. As I show in my book, none of this was necessary to save the larger economy, since the losses that would have taken place as a result of the collapse would have been largely limited to Wall Street." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Stockman on his Book and the Bailouts

76-Year-Old Man Loses $197,000 Home Over $134 Tax Lien

"On the day Bennie Coleman lost his house, the day armed U.S. marshals came to his door and ordered him off the property, he slumped in a folding chair across the street and watched the vestiges of his 76 years hauled to the curb. Movers carted out his easy chair, his clothes, his television. Next came the things that were closest to his heart: his Marine Corps medals and photographs of his dead wife, Martha. The duplex in Northeast Washington that Coleman bought with cash two decades earlier was emptied and shuttered. By sundown, he had nowhere to go. All because he didn’t pay a $134 property tax bill." Continue reading →

Continue Reading76-Year-Old Man Loses $197,000 Home Over $134 Tax Lien

Why Cash Costs the U.S. Economy Real Money

"With all the buzz about Bitcoin, PayPal (EBAY), Google Wallet (GOOG), and all the other innovations in digital currencies, it’s easy to forget that cash remains remarkably resilient. In part, that’s because the cost of using it is often hidden to the users themselves. Chakravorti, along with co-author Benjamin Mazzotta, says that’s especially true for those who don’t even have a bank account. The unbanked are four times more likely to pay fees to get their own money, yet are also more likely to trust cash and feel comfortable carrying around large amounts." Continue reading →

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Record 90.5 Million Out Of Labor Force; Half A Million Drop Out In One Month

"While the Establishment survey data was ugly due to both the miss and the prior downward revisions in the NFP print, the real action was in the Household survey, where we find that the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 516,000 in one month, which in turn increased the total number of people outside the labor force to a record 90.5 million Americans. And what is even worse, the Labor Force Participation Rate declined from 63.4% to 63.2%: the is the lowest print since August 1978! Whether or not this means the Fed will continue QE at this point is largely irrelevant: what is more relevant is that the Fed so far has failed miserably at its core mandate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRecord 90.5 Million Out Of Labor Force; Half A Million Drop Out In One Month

Personal Retirement Accounts Are Great only if You Can Stop Confiscation

"Most Western nations have huge long-run fiscal problems because of unfavorable demographics and misguided entitlement programs. That’s the bad news. The good news is that dozens of nations have fully or partially shifted to mandatory private savings as a pro-growth way of modernizing bankrupt tax-and-transfer Social Security systems. But good news in the short run doesn’t mean good news in the long run if greedy politicians decide to loot the wealth accumulated in personal retirement accounts. That’s already happened in Argentina and Hungary, and now it’s happened in Poland." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPersonal Retirement Accounts Are Great only if You Can Stop Confiscation