My dear readers - 6

Per usual, I awoke to the classical music and NPR news of my favorite local radio channel. Business as usual, except that it wasn’t.

It wasn’t because today was the sound of an unscheduled station membership drive.

As a not-for-profit, the organization supplements its government allocations and grants with income derived from local members.

But the fact is, these membership drives are only held twice each year and for a week at a time – in the spring and in the fall.

So to wake up this morning to the anchor’s almost desperate plea for listeners to pick up the phone and make a donation was a disturbing way to be jolted out of bed.

Antenna tuned, here’s what I learned about this drive.

First, it was a one-day drive.

Second, it was quickly assembled to make up some portion of what the station recently learned is a 50 percent cut in its state funding!

I was astounded.
Evidently, so were station execs. In belt-tightening mode for quite some months, their expectation was for a 20 – 25 percent reduction.

Imagine their concern (panic) when they learned it was indeed going to be 50 percent?
Imagine my concern to think that my precious NPR station might need to cease its local programming and rely strictly on the canned stuff?

Did I pick up the phone this morning?

You bet I did.

What’s next?
Is my church going to close for lack of Sunday contributions and diocesan budget cuts?
Is the state college where I teach going to eliminate my program because it has 10 fewer students enrolled than last year?
Do you think this economic game of dominos will ever cease?

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

My dear readers - 5

I’m calling this letter “The All-American Steak-out (Not)” in honor of what has become the most devastating economic time since the great depression.
Needless to say, we are NOT eating a lot of steak out.
Perhaps you’ve noticed many restaurants suddenly closing their doors with nary a notice to customers or employees?
Or, for those stalwart souls who keep their restaurants running, the menus have changed: fewer selections and higher (much) prices.
A glass of wine?
Get this, I paid $9 for a glass of the house wine in one of my favorite haunts, recently.
Haunt is indeed the word – I am haunted right out of it and most restaurants for some time to come.

Now for the subtitle of this little diatribe of mine:

How to Out-Steak and Survive a Tumbling Economy.

Onward with our adventure:
I’ve compiled a medley of techniques, ideas, and suggestions to help you keep your financial feet on the ground during this turbulent time:

1. Destroy all credit cards:
   No more living on credit, gang.
   That’s how this whole thing began!
   What you can’t pay cash for, you simply don’t get.
   But what’s cool is that you’ll be able to sleep at night while Joe Blow down the street who went and bought it on credit will lay awake nights wondering how he’s going to pay for it.
2. Discontinue all services.
   From now on, shovel your own driveway, mow your own lawn, clean your own house, sew on your own buttons.
   Think of the exercise, the fun, the Zen!!
3. Drastically cut your entertainment budget.
   Now, mind you, I’m not saying to cut out entertainment, I’m just saying to cut the budget.
   I mean: forgo the five-star restaurant for a five-course home-cooked meal. Quit your movie outings and get Netflix instead.
   The midwinter Caribbean cruise?
   Nope – go buy a palm tree, sunlamp, and mix up a pitcher of pina coladas.
   Summer in the mountains?
   Take the kids to the local climbing wall instead.
4. Keep your car:
   forever!
   Well, this is a bit of an exaggeration, but the days of a new car every other year or so should be GONE!
   Should be no problem as long as you keep your car in good condition and keep up with the every 3,000 mile oil change, new tires when needed, and so on.
5. Downsize.
   Do you really need that monstrous house in the ritziest suburb around?
   We drove up to a disgustingly big house one day and my daughter asked me, Dad, is this really necessary?
   Keep it simple, Simon (and Sally) and get what you need – no more, no less.

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

My dear readers - 4

Some accuse me of favoring an equal distribution of wealth, thereby wanting to eliminate class and economic distinctions in favor of pooling financial resources and distributing them equally to all people.

Please, time to set the record straight.

I do NOT believe in a society/economy where everyone’s financial resources are the same.

However, I AM an egalitarian.
What’s the difference, you say?
Big difference, I respond:
an egalitarian advocates for equal political, economic, and social RIGHTS!

In other words, I believe we are entitled to that which we earn, but the person making $10 an hour deserves to have the same political, economic, and social rights!
Everybody savvy on where I’m coming from?

Phew, now that we’ve got that solved!

Until next time …

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

My dear readers - 3

Have you discovered BoingBoing.net?
According to author Chris Anderson, (The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More) in 2006 it was the world’s most popular blog, known for its comments about technology and subculture.
Today it is number 21

Why do I bring up BoingBoing?

First, I highly recommend it as a valuable source of knowledge and commentary with a slightly liberal slant.

Second, on a recent reading, I discovered this link: http://www.wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/

Mind you, dear readers, I am not a sales agent for this operation, but I urge you to review the site and ponder this issue of Death and Taxes, specifically, examine where your hard earned, tax dollars are going.

Think about who is calling the shots.

Think about the confusion and complexity of the budget and its appropriations

Scroll down the site and read some of the comments.
One that I particularly took note of was:

“I have your chart hanging in my office - I work for the Dept. of Defense, and I enjoy reminding my fellow civil servants of the trust and confidence placed in us by the taxpayer, as evidenced by the sheer magnitude of dollars they send us.

For me, it’s a helpful reminder of how lucky I am to work here and that I’d better accomplish something meaningful with these resources.”

Kevin Marlowe, Director, Strategic Plans and Policy USJFCOM Joint Systems Integration Command

Here’s another interesting comment:

“We have it up in the lobby of 5 Sylvan Learning Centers.

Everyone who studies it is captivated.

We point out that everything is proportional, and like to point to the Department of Education.
Our clients are amazed, and often horrified, to see how Congress sees education relative to, say, the “War of Terror”.

You know, I hear government expenditures referred to all the time on the news, and sometimes they even say “this contrasts to the Department of Defense’s budget of ….”, but NEVER in the context of the whole budget.

It’s quite the learning experience to see it all in one place!”brLee Pierce, Sylvan Learning Center

My point is twofold.

First, imagine the person hours and resources necessary to convert monies collected by the IRS into this massive, complex, complicated budget.

Second, consider how the dollars are allocated, what the priorities are.

If you are indeed a left winger, then a budget heavy on military spending will be hard for you to swallow.

If you are without health care, a budget that insurance companies at the expense of the little guy will be impossible to understand.

But imagine if you didn’t have to pay any taxes?

If your government representatives were beholden to you, their supporters, for budget decisions and financial allocations? Imagine what a world this would be.

To be continued…

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

My dear readers - 2

I truly don’t portend to be the prophet of doom, but I suppose that to achieve my goal in creating a tax-free society, I must be when discussing the current situation.

Fact. tax time loometh.

Fact. It’s time to make an appointment with the accountant, yourself, or TurboTax.

Fact:

There are several types of accountants and I’m going to tell you about (warn) them right now.

1. The legitimate, honest, in-your-corner guy:
   This is the accountant we dream about.
   This guy gets all the necessary information from you, knows the latest tax laws, and manages to legally get you the absolute best deal he or she can.
   I am lucky, I have one of these guys in my corner, and though I cringe every year thinking, this is it, the year I’ll have to pay, never happens
2. The honest, in-the-fed’s corner guy: I once had one of these guys, and he was SCARY!He was scary because dealing with him was like dealing with the IRS.In fact, he was a certified IRS agent, which meant he did everything by the book, and it wasn’t my book!
   The guy was meticulous, I’ll give him that, but he followed the rules to a “T.”
3. The dishonest, in-your-corner guy:These guys are smart – don’t want to take that away from them, but they are also sleazy and often lazy.They pride themselves in getting you money back, but we’re talking beyond bending as in breaking the rules.
   Some people flock to these folks, but talk about walking on thin ice.
4. The dumb, incompetent guy:Let’s face it, there are a lot of essentially incompetent tax accountants out there.Lord only knows what you’ll end up with when you get hooked up with one of these guys.

Fact

When my tax-less, cash-less system is implemented, all your tax time loometh woes will be gone!
Now what could possibly be better than that?

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

My dear readers - 1

The other day I got an email from yet another dear reader that was certainly about an issue to which we can all relate.
Rather than repeat her story, I have decided to print her note to me in its entirety, with her permission, of course.

Dear Corney,

It’s time, last Tuesday I went out and bought my yearly pair of shoes.
It doesn’t so much matter what kind of shoes I buy – this year it happened to be a pair of those sassy short boots that are all the rage – its more the box that they come in.
I mean, during the year I buy other shoes – I don’t relish walking around barefoot – but this between Christmas and New Years shoe purchase is my annual ritual.

To what ritual might I refer?
A long time ago, when I was so traumatized by the whole tax process, had my own small business, and never could get the necessary receipts together at the end of the year, a good friend told me to keep it simple and use a shoebox to collect my receipts in.

She told me that whenever I come in with a receipt to just toss it into the box and forget it to the end of the year.
A miracle!

I have been using this miraculous technique for 10 years now, and it does keep me sort of centered around record keeping, though it is notably low tech.

But the main thing I wanted to tell you is that although the ritual of going out and buying a new pair of shoes after Christmas every year takes some of the sting out of this tax process, I dread it, I hate it, and I think it is the scourge of modern civilization.
I have depression and anxiety at the beginning of every year, a time when I should be celebrating, taking stock, and positively planning my life for the upcoming year.
Do I do that?
Do any of us do that?

No!
We scurry around collecting receipts and records, making appointments with accountants, downloading the latest version of TurboTax, and going shopping for shoes that come in a satisfactory size box. (This year my box is the perfect size – small solace though it be).

So, dear Corney, as we waste ¼ of 2009 completing the required tax forms, and all of 2009 keeping track of receipts and records, I implore you to get out there with your tax-less, cash-less plan so I can once again breathe easy and don’t feel compelled to buy a damn pair of shoes during the last week of December every year.

Your devoted reader and fan,

Doreen Hildebrand

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

Here we go again!

“A one-time lawyer and certified public accountant has been indicted on criminal charges related to an allegedly fraudulent tax shelter that helped wealthy persons avoid paying more than $103 million in taxes”

Doesn’t it give you a burn?

I mean, here we go, the people who can most afford to pay taxes are doing their damnedest to avoid paying even a nickel.

This comes from an article that appeared on line on November 17 of this year, written by Chad Bray of Dow Jones Newswires.

And back to our story, the culprit here at hand is one John B. Ohle III who was once a supervisor for Chicago’s Bank One, and then co-owner of Dumaine Group LLC also in Chicago.

Here’s the charges against him: conspiracy, five counts of tax evasion, and obstruction of IRS laws and procedures.

Now, want to feel pity for dear old John?
The prosecution is seeking $1.7 million, which includes his home in Illinois (one would imagine the home is quite grand), the condo in New Orleans, and his sports memorabilia collection (what’s he have, the Buffalo Bills hiding in his back room?)

There are several issues here, issues that wouldn’t be issues given Corney’s Model for a cash-less, tax-less economy.
First, it is the guy on the bottom rung of the financial hierarchy who ends up footing the bill for the wealthy jerks and their astute CPAs who cheat the system at every turn.
Second, think about the resources necessary to cheat the system, as well as to find and punish the cheaters.

My friends, the whole thing is what I call a totally dysfunctional economic system.

As a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free, when you apply for it.

USA – Dollar Currency Zone

By
Corney Vanhelden

As a lifelong entrepreneur and astute student of global economy, currency, and market, I have experienced first-hand the effects of taxes, exchange rates, and currency conversion.
There are tariffs, income taxes, sales taxes, and a myriad other costs required to simply deal with currency.
Crazy, don’t you think?

I think so, and therefore, several weeks ago I wrote an article about some of the world’s key currencies and their associated zones.
My exploration of currency zones is part of my quest to introduce a tax-less, cash-less model to be implemented in an appropriate part of the world.

The concept is this:
Set up an economic system that requires no cash, and in which people pay no tax. (Sound good? Find out more).

But to do this right, it needs to be set up in a single currency zone, one that is geographically widespread and with a currency that is strong and stable from a financial perspective.

The currencies I’ve been exploring as possible candidates for a currency zone include Europe’s relatively new euro, China’s yuan, America’s dollar and Russia’s ruble.

So far, here are my findings.

Euro
The euro is a strong candidate as the base of a currency zone.
It is growing, and several countries are already using it as the peg for their own currency. And it’s also well computerized.
It also covers an expanding geographical area.

YUAN
The value of the yuan is still in question.
Some experts say it is over-valued, others say it is just right, and still others say it is under-valued. (Sounds like a fairy tale I once hear).

I don’t know what the true answer is on this one, but until there is consensus, as the basis of a currency zone, the yuan would not be a good choice.
Also the computerized infrastructure has a long way to go.

Ruble
The ruble?
No way, my friends.

The issue is that the ruble has never been a particularly stable currency.
Even today, the Russian banking system is a veritable mess and is at least 30 years away from being the base of a solid, stable economy.

Dollar
Now let’s examine the dollar, the currency that has long held the position of pegging many world currencies.
From its beginning in 1792, the dollar has been pegged to the value of gold at standard rates that have changed over the years.

Indeed, the dollar has already achieved worldwide currency status.

It surpasses any other currency in the global currency reserve by 63.9%, and many countries use it to measure and support their own currencies.
There are even a few countries that discarded their currencies and now use the dollar, including Ecuador, Panama, and El Salvador.

However, today there are growing concerns about the long term viability of the dollar as a solid, stable currency.

Some experts believe the ongoing cuts of the prime interest rate is damaging in an unrecoverable way.
One example is that for the first time ever, Saudi Arabia did not follow suit with the U.S. in cutting its prime rate.
The significance of this is that it is an indication that the Saudis may withdraw their use of the dollar to peg their currency, a move which would then most likely be followed by other Middle Eastern nations.

Of course, from an internal standpoint, the U.S. feds hope that continued rate cuts will stimulate spending and investment.
But then some economists feel the rate cuts will just spur inflation.

Bottom line, once the bulwark of world currency and economic stability, the dollar is, to say the least, going through a rough time.

Is it then a viable candidate for a currency zone? The verdict is not yet in.

Corney Vanhelden is a successful entrepreneur and international businessman with many years of experience. This article is a short note on one of the chapters of his new book `How to Survive without Taxes`, see his site for www.Done-with-IRS.com specifics.

Who Dropped the Brass Ring?

By
Corney Vanhelden

You worked hard.

You put up with politics, lousy bosses, miserable jobs.

Then, about 10 years ago, the days brightened, the horizon loomed, far still, but within sight.
Your cache was packed and almost ready to go.

Just 10 more years, a few more stock investments, and playing the cards right, you thought.

You thought.

Thought – the operative word, a word that sorely disappointed you.

Sorry, my Baby Boomer friend, child of war, flower power, and JFK.
You did your duty for God and country, contributed to a rich and robust culture, and witnessed one of the finest presidents of this country get shot.

Sorry for the drama, dear readers, but dramatic it all is.
Here’s the crux of it:
in a 15 month period ending in September, 2008, retirement savings lost $2 trillion (you read right!).

“It’s clear that Americans’ retirement security may be one of the greatest casualties of this financial crisis,” said Rep. George Miller (D. – CA), chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor.(as quoted in washingtonpost.com)

True, 401K retirement plans have been the most vulnerable during this wild ride, down 20% overall.
But, traditional defined-benefit retirement plans are right behind with a 15% decrease due to financial volatility.

So here’s what you’re facing – your retirement plan dwindles daily, your expenses rise daily, and even though you may not be quite ready to step out that corporate door, you haven’t been able to make any contributions to your retirement plan because you simply can’t make it today.

A disturbing 20% of you almost-retirees are in this sinking boat.

With my model, none of this would be happening.

As a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free, when you apply for it.

If It Doesn’t Glitter, It May Be Gold

Don’t despair, my friends, Corney is here.

The financial news is nothing but interesting these days.
Up and down, down and up: wow!
Are you as dizzy as I am? Harrowing is the word.
I watch the ticker running across the bottom of my TV every day trying to maintain an emotional even keel despite the minute by minute variation in the prices of my stocks.
Can you relate?

Alright, now I want you to take a deep breath and answer this question:
have you done any harvesting lately?
(And I don’t mean the tomatoes, potatoes, and avocados in your back yard.)

A little known tax loophole, to harvest your tax loss means to offset up to $3000 of your income with the excesses in your overall loss in stock investment capital.

This is a dollar-for-dollar deal and a sunlight on a rainy day kind of strategy.

Now, this thing gets more complicated than that with various exceptions, rules, and restrictions, and therefore you need an expert accountant to keep you on the straight and narrow. I mean, for now, this tax loss harvesting strategy is certainly a ray of sunshine in an otherwise stormy sea.

But, imagine how simple it would be with no taxes at all?

As a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free, when you apply for it.