Hey Mr. Treasury Department man, I have a suggestion!

Via TaxProf Blog:

The Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy and the Service use the Guidance Priority List each year to identify and prioritize the tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other published administrative guidance.
...
The Treasury Department and the Service recognize the importance of public input to formulate a Guidance Priority List that focuses resources on guidance items that are most important to taxpayers and tax administration. Published guidance plays an important role in increasing voluntary compliance by helping to clarify ambiguous areas of the tax law. ...

Okay, here’s a thought: Let’s make sure that members of Congress, the Cabinet, and other Washington types pay their fair and honest share of taxes, including all the penalties and interest for errors in reporting or paying that would be charged to regular citizens.

In reviewing recommendations and selecting projects for inclusion on the 2009- 2010 Guidance Priority List, the Treasury Department and the Service will consider the following:

1.  Whether the recommended guidance resolves significant issues relevant to many taxpayers;

I, and, I am certain, many other taxpayers, have a significant issue with a bunch of politicians flouting the tax law to no apparent consequence.

2.  Whether the recommended guidance promotes sound tax administration;

Sound administration of taxes requires that the collection process be perceived to be equitable.  Failure to collect taxes due from privileged individuals promotes taxpayer contempt for the system and sets a bad example for taxpayer compliance.

3.  Whether the recommended guidance can be drafted in a manner that will enable taxpayers to easily understand and apply the guidance;

“The law will be enforced, without fear or favor.”  (I imagine that even a Congressman could understand that.)

4.  Whether the Service can administer the recommended guidance on a uniform basis;

See #3 above.

and
5.  Whether the recommended guidance reduces controversy and lessens the burden on taxpayers or the Service.

That high government officials are seen to receive treatment no different from that applied to other citizens will Encourage the Body Politic, dispell Gloom and Cynicism, and provide opportunity for General Merriment.  To the extent that said government officials pay their full burden, where in the past they paid only a portion, will lessen the financial burden of government to other taxpayers.  And possibly, after confronting the Full Majesty of the Tax Code, said government officials might- just possibly- move toward increasing its simplicity and equity, thereby reducing the burden of explanation and enforcement to the Service.

There, how’s that?

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“How’s that again?” again

Hi boys and girls!  Time for another episode of “Pedantry Corner.”

Barack Obama, who vowed he’d provide a transparent administration staffed with disinterested public servants with the self-restraint of Roman castrati, appointed an admitted tax cheat to run the Treasury Department— and he’s hardly the only one in the administration. - Jonah Goldberg

Ummm... the castrati were frequently noted for rather notorious (and noisy) lives:

Caffarelli was… typical of many castrati in being famous for tantrums on and off-stage, and for amorous adventures with noble ladies. - Wikipedia

Could Goldberg have been thinking of eunuchs?  No, they weren’t exactly self-restrained, either (if you get my point). Well, somebody must have been disinterested and self-restrained– unless maybe Goldberg is backhandedly implying that the president’s appointees have been, by and large, anything but.  (Such a reverse-over-and-under spin seems much too nuanced to appear in the Los Angeles Times, however.)

To take but one example: the elder George Bush “may be a New England Yankee blue blood, but he has the tear ducts of a Sicilian grand­mother.”  The yield of such lines is exceptionally high, and it’s fair to say that the particular talent required to produce them is one of the few that William F. Buckley lacked. - review of Christopher Buckley’s Losing Mum and Pup

Ouch:  Right up there with, “He has the heart of a little child. Which he keeps in a box under his bed.”  Except this one (admittedly, quoted without context) seems opaque to the point of transparency.^[1]  Given William F. Buckley’s customary care at selecting the appropriate word for the appropriate circumstance, one would belive that, if he lacked “the particular talent required to produce” analogies examplified by the one quoted, it would be a lacking for which he was most grateful.


Credits:  Goldberg via Instapundit, Buckley via Kaus.
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Their priorities aren’t yours

Amity Shales assumes good faith, misses motives:

Unsure of whether it wanted to punish or stimulate -- and so choosing to attempt both -- the administration generated legislation to help financial institutions and legislation that hurts them by restricting rates and terms for the credit cards they issue. Obama’s call for putting more student loans in federal hands is clever politically, and may even save students money in the short term, but it likely will restrict the availability of such loans in the future.

Standard procedure:  Use legislation and regulation to create an untenable situation.  When things blow up, blame the peon who has to comply,^[1] then call for more legislation/regulation to “fix” the situation.  Nothing unexpected here.

...Obama speaks beautifully but is on his way to a “D” grade when it comes to making the U.S. attractive for international investment, a fact the Chinese are already noting by shopping for non-U.S. bonds.

Why should he care?  “Making the U.S. attractive for international any investment” is not a Democrat priority.

The Democrats of 2009 are showing less awareness than their predecessors did in President Bill Clinton’s time on the importance of no interest whatever in either low taxes and or reasonable regulation. Only these permit strong growth... which both diminish the power of the political class and work against their party’s political agenda.

FIFY.

Because the ruling Democrats have tilted too far left have chosen policies certain to produce adverse consequences for most of the country, their allies are out on a mission of distraction, trying to prove that everyone else is too far to the right demonize and discredit anyone who would bring those policies and their consequences to the public’s notice.

...and that one, too.

Link via IP.
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The mystery would be: How to pay for it

This highly important three-rotor Enigma deciphering machine was liberated from the Nazi SS headquarters in Prague II, Czechoslovakia in May 1945.  It is one of only two used in the whole Czech Republic by the Nazis during World War II.  According to the military museum in Prague, a Czech citizen who lived two blocks away from the SS headquarters “rescued” this machine and other electronic equipment towards the end of the war.  When the freedom fighters arrived shortly after, they assumed the Nazis had taken it with them when they rushed out of town...  Examples of the Enigma machines are exceptionally rare and almost all known models are in museums.

Nifty slide show and Antiques World article at the seller’s site.

The bidding starts at $98,500.

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Further thuggery, or “inflammatory nonsense”?

FINEMrespice

Today, I have the distinctly unpleasant distinction of being on the receiving end of... a bit of dialogue so genuinely awful that- were it not from a source I consider impeccable, and unimpeachable- I would not dare to credit at all.  Unfortunately, I must do precisely this, and personally believe it to be totally, frightfully accurate.  I take no pleasure in relaying it, instead hoping that someone more directly in the business of running such matters down and printing them will carefully document it and- if true- expose it, or- if not- discredit it quickly and finally.  This (as yet unproven) yarn goes exactly like this:

Confronting the head of a non-TARP fund holding Chrysler debt and unwilling to release it for any sum less than that to which it was legally entitled without compelling cause, this country’s “Car Czar” [that would be Steven.Rattner? - o.g.] berated the manager of said fund with an outburst of prose substantially resembling this:

Who the fuck do you think you’re dealing with?  We’ll have the IRS audit your fund.  Every one of your employees.  Your investors.  Then we will have the Securities and Exchange Commission rip through your books looking for anything and everything and nothing we find to destroy you with.

As they say, don’t (automatically) believe everything you read on the web.
But then...

Follow Up: Less Than Desired Duplication

...unlike the supposed experience of Tom Lauria’s client, the tale of woe that has been passed to me does not have as its agent of malice the White House Press Corps, which, while certainly annoying, lacks a certain killer instinct and terror inducing reputation...

UPDATE 090507 23:27:

Earlier this week, we ran a number of stories about how Steve Rattner allegedly threatened hedge funds that refused to drop their opposition to the Obama administration's Chrysler plan.

We asked the White House to comment, and after three days it has become apparent that they have no plans to respond.  The White House has denied earlier charges that it threatened to use the White House press corps to ruin the reputation of a firm that was opposing its Chrysler plans.

By refusing to comment on our subsequent story about additional threats, the White House appears to be backing away from its earlier denial. - Business Insider

Soooo...?

Original link from Howard, update via Glenn.

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More good thoughts needed @ Mark’s

Get one healthy, then, concerns about another.

Good cats (and their people) don’t deserve stuff like this.  Here’s hopin’...

UPDATE 090505 20:22:  Saying goodbye sucks.


Sympathy to Mark and Toni.

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“Smug Is Not a Workable Business Plan.”

Boston Herald:  Shed no tears as Boston Globe fat gets Pinched

Via:  JammieWearingFool

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Making politicians accountable

Charleston Daily Mail:

FOR a quarter of a century, state and public school employees in West Virginia were told that they could trade unused sick leave for health insurance premiums once they retired.

Legislators past didn’t bother to calculate what that would cost.

Now a change in federal accounting rules is forcing state agencies and the 55 county school boards to face up to the expense of what are called Other Post-Employment Benefits.

Wood County School Superintendent Bill Niday said his county will have to set aside $12 million for these benefits by the end of 2010.

“What you have is a bare-bones, no-frills budget as a result of the OPEB issue,” Niday told the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. “Next year will be at a deficit. There is no question. There is no way out.”

How about starting by clawing back any government-supported pension or medical benefits belonging to those 25-years-worth of legislators?

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And the Pope isn’t Catholic, either

Some moonbat:

Bush is evil but the Dalai Lama proclaimed he loved him. The Dalai Lama is no Buddist.

Got a little cognitive dissonance there, don’tcha Bucky?  (Erm, excuse me, Mr. DalaiLama sir, but you’re never gonna get any respect around Cambridge if you keep sayin’ stuff like that.)

Backstory here.  (via: The Anchoress)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:31:00 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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A “DEMOCRAT noise machine” all along?

Lauria [bankruptcy attorney Tom Lauria]:  Let me tell you it’s no fun standing on this side of the fence opposing the President of the United States.  In fact, let me just say, people have asked me who I represent.  That’s a moving target.  I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday.  One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.  That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.

Beckmann [WJR talk show host Frank Beckmann]:  Was that Perella Weinberg?

Lauria:  That was Perella Weinberg.

You know, if we had any real reporters out there, somebody might be checking this out.

UPDATE 090504 13:36: Somebody is. (Via IP, who has more links.)

“The charge is completely untrue,” said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, “and there’s obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way.”

What’s that rule that begins, “Anytime somebody uses the word ‘obvious’...”?

And I’d still like to know:  Which reporters (other than “all of them”) did the White House trust to be sufficiently in the tank to go along with something like this?
-----------------------------------

Transcript by:  Corky Boyd at Island Turtle (via IP).

Elsewhere:  audio at WJR

Related:

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