Why Corporations Get Away With Hiding Cash in Bermuda and The Cayman Islands

Good Day World!

Donald Trump thinks he's a genius because he gamed the tax system and is not paying taxes. 

He's not alone however.

American corporations routinely stash cash overseas in two islands so they don't have to pay taxes. Like Trump, these corporations are gaming the federal tax system which needs to be changed.

Hiding money in a office box in Bermuda is a good way to avoid paying taxes if your a corporation, or even a rich individual. 

You may be wondering why Bermuda and the Caymans are so attractive to big corporations. For starters, according to a recent study  they have little in the way of a tax system.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requires publicly held corporations, to disclose how they interact with the federal tax system — how much they pay in U.S. taxes, how much they pay abroad, how much cash they hold abroad for tax purposes. 

But guess what? No one is enforcing these requirements or the corporations wouldn't do it. It's going to take a re-write of the Federal Tax Laws - and enforcement - to stop corporations from hiding money abroad to avoid paying taxes.

Right now, it's easier to stash corporate funds in these two islands than it is to get a library card, according to Matt Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Meanwhile, the rest of America is paying taxes. That, my friend, is not right!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Could Hurricane Matthew Be The October Surprise Trump Needs?

                                                Good Day World!

Millions of Americans are on edge as Hurricane Matthew slams into Florida today. 

Lives, and votes are on the line.

I can't emphasis enough how important it is for the Obama administration to respond quickly to the state's expected needs. 

If there's any controversary about how relief efforts are handled, the Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump, will seize upon the chance to convince voters he could have done better.

With the election mere weeks away, Trump could use an October surprise as he's been sinking in the polls again since losing his first debate with Hillary Clinton.

Dire predictions spurred a mass exodus in Florida Wednesday as Gov. Rick Scott warned people not to stay there and try to ride the storm out. 

About 1.5 million Floridians all up and down the coast have been evacuated and 3,500 members of the National Guard have been activated.

Related:

How Hurricanes Have Disrupted and Defined Past Elections

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Need a Good Laugh, Or Two? Read On...

Good Day World!

Need a good laugh?

Read on...

A couple was going on vacation but his wife was on a business trip so he went to the destination first and his wife would meet him the next day.

When he got to the hotel he decided to send his wife a quick email.

Unfortunately, when typing her address, he mistyped a letter and his email was directed to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away the day before.

When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.

At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:

"Dearest Wife, 
Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.

P.S. Sure is hot down here.

(via http://academictips.org/blogs/funny-short-stories/)
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OLD SCHOOL BASKETBALL

I don't know if you noticed last season, but five NBA players were fined for having shorts that were too long..they went below their knees.

Does anyone remember the NBA in the 70's and 80's?

Basketball players used to play in Speedos and halter tops!
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ALONZO BODDEN ON POLITICALLY CORRECT COMEDY

"A joke is either funny or it's not funny. If I hear a funny joke, you know what I do? I laugh, that's what I do. I don't start a focus group to see who got hurt by the joke."

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Divided We Fall: Will America Survive This Election?

Good Day World!

America had a pretty good run for 240 years, but the noble experiment is exploding as we watch in horror.

The wealthy are moving to consolidate their power as a billionaire runs for the presidency. Visions of no taxes for the 'job-makers" are dancing in their greedy little heads.

Partisan politics have not only polarized our government into bowing before brands - no matter how corrupt and loathsome - but they have lost any veneer of civility in the election process.

The bar has been set so low by followers of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, that it's no longer safe to let your children follow the toxic campaign.

And it couldn't come in a worst time in our history.

Racial unrest has become a front-and-center topic. Immigration is a subject bitterly fought over. More have-nots are giving up hope for a better life.

Slithering to the top of the toxic brew in this election is the alt-right support for Donald Trump. Neo Nazi's and klansmen are crawling out from beneath their rocks and basking in the air of legitimacy Trump is giving them.

Read The Alt-Right Will Rise And Fall With Donald Trump

Will America survive this election? 

Time for me to walk on down the road...

It's Never Too Late To Start All Over Again

"It's never too late to start all over again
To love the people you caused pain
And help them learn your name
Oh no, not too late
It's never too late to start all over again."
-Steppenwolf

Good Day World!

Tuesday testimonial time.

I've had to start all over again a couple of times in my life. The first time was the transition from civilian (19 years-old/photo) to soldier. 

Coming back from Vietnam in 1970 was a jarring transition. From playing pickup basketball in gyms to humping through jungles full of enemies, my world spun like a top.

When I got back in "the world" I had to suddenly adjust from combat to being a civilian again. Hard times. I drifted for several years, roaming from job-to-job, from state-to-state, and from my nightly nightmares.

Long story short. I fell in love and got married. That was the start of a journey that took me back from the edge of sanity to college and a career as a journalist.

The story doesn't end there however.

After 20 years of working in newspapers and magazines, PTSD got the better of me. I could no longer work and descended back to the dark places in my brain that pulled me - screaming - back into the jungle.

It took over two decades to get to the place that I can now say is a good one. I can honestly say I've learned how to live with my PTSD. It'll never go away, but there are many things I can do to save my day.

That's it folks. I sincerely mean it when I say, It's never too late to start all over again.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Alarming Buzz On Bees: 7 Types Now On Endangered Species List

Good Day World!

Albert Einstein once prophetically remarked, "Mankind will not survive the honeybees' disappearance for more than four years."

Today, humans worldwide are facing the loss of the global honeybee population.

U.S. Adds 7 Types of Bees To The Endangered Species List For The First Time

The consequence of a dying bee population impacts us all at the highest levels on the food chain, posing an enormously grave threat to human survival.

Death and Extinction of the Bees

Think about it. There is no other single animal species that plays a more significant role in producing the fruits and vegetables that we all take for granted.

Here's Why All The Bees Are Dying

You don't see the subject of the rapidly declining worldwide bee population on the mainstream media very often. Perhaps some people don't want us to be concerned. I'm not sure.

It seems to me however, that the disappearing bee community should be a concern that we're ALL TALKING About.

What can you do to help?

Why We Need To Save The Bees + 10 Things You Can Do To Help

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Who Knew Frankentrump Would Turn On His Creators? A Film Buff?

                                        Good Day World!

It took decades for the Republican party to piece together their creation, Frankentrump.

Last year the GOP happily declared "It's alive! It's alive!" when Frankentrump walked over his competition in the primaries.

In an interesting case of life reflecting art, we see the Frankenstein monster and Donald Trump merge - created by conflicting forces - and become the embodiment of the grand spectacle the GOP hoped to stage in order to gain back the presidency.

Sociologists say many Americans are feeling they have little control over their lives.

Republicans have taken this sense of helplessness, and anger, and have used it for the last thirty years to tell their supporters that they should be angry about blacks, immigrants, big government, Muslims, terrorists, and a host of other issues that have nothing to do with the problems they face daily.

Frankentrump emerged fullblown from this steady indoctrination, becoming their leader. But the established Republicans that created him found that they couldn't control him.

The GOP found out, too late, that Frankentrump was never really their monster.

He was influenced by them, but belonged to the legions of angry under-educated white men waiting to create chaos.   

He knew interesting is preferable to informed or reasonable or lucid. That's why he goes off-script so often and riffs on stage like a stand-up comedian.

That approach didn't work out well however. That was evident during the First Presidential Debate with Hillary Clinton (9/26):

Analysis: Hillary Clinton's Studies for Debate With Donald Trump Pay Off

Donald Trump and the Perils of Little Preparation

A Fool's Folly: Donny T's Big Bad Night

Meanwhile establishment Republicans are hunkered down in their offices waiting. In shock. Waiting, and hoping that Frankentrump doesn't complete his mission of destruction if elected.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Everybody Quit One Day - Just Like That

Good Day World!

A movie came out in 2004 that you may not have heard of because it wasn't a box office hit.

I thought it was quite unique however.

It was called - A Day Without A Mexican.

The film was a satirical look at the consequences of all the Mexicans in the state of California suddenly disappearing.

Imagine the possibilities for humor and pathos?

I thought it would be interesting to look at a situation where everyone in America quit one day. 

Office workers, police, and restaurant workers all quitting.

Store managers walking out of Walmarts across the land. Pilots, traxi-drivers, bus drivers, and roller coaster operators all quitting.

The President and Congress all quitting. Aimless politicians talking to themselves on street corners because people have quit listening to them. 

Overnight. Just like that.

Bank guards and gang bangers quitting. Plumbers and electricians quitting. Park Rangers roaming listlessly after quitting.

Doctors and scientists quitting. Tree surgeons, professional football players, clowns, and actors quitting. Pastors and poets quitting.

For one day. 

Can you imagine the chaos? The deadly silence? The roar of no-accountability? 

Time for me to walk on down the road...

A Survival Guide To Living in an Age of Rage

"It looked as if a night of dark intent was coming, and not only a night, an age. Someone had better be prepared for rage..."
-Robert Frost

Good Day World!

We live in an age of rage.

Our anger is reflected in everything we do. 

Even the most common things, like driving a car, have been twisted into vehicles of road rage that kills hundreds of Americans every year.

For example: Take Florida native Gary Lynne Durham who served a decade behind bars for killing a man during a 2001 road rage incident. 

Ironically, Durham was recently killed in another traffic related dispute when he confronted another driver with a gun.

The rage keeps growing.

Rage incidents on airplanes have become a new problem for travelers in America and worldwide. The once friendly skies are not so friendly now.

So the question is, why are we seeing so many frequent outbursts ranging from an impolite gesture from another motorist to road rage that can lead, quite literally to death?

One explanation is given in this informative article:
Psychiatrists: Rage Comes From Accumulation

Anger can be caused by both external and internal events. I've watched, with dismay, our presidential election process become a conduit for hate and rage.

Raging rhetoric has stirred the flames of anger into something so ugly any sense of humanity has been squeezed out of most Americans by now.

In the end however, it's up to us to not let rage rob our senses, and make us do something we'll regret. We can't do anything about the next person, but we do have the option of keeping our own cool.

Related:

Age of Rage Survival Guide
Controlling Anger Before It Controls You

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Tell Me It Ain't So Pepe the Frog!

                                     Good Day World!

I love frogs. My family nickname is "Frog."

As a frog-lover who thinks Kermit the Frog should have run for president, I'm always looking out for frogs making headlines.

You can imagine my dismay when I heard that cartoon character turned Internet meme, Pepe the Frog, has been added to the Anti-Defamation League's database of hate symbols!

Pepe's good name was trampled on when websites 4chan, 8chan and Reddit spread his likeness around with memes promoting anti-Jewish, bigoted and offensive ideas.

In recent months, Pepe has been almost entirely co-opted by the white supremacists who call themselves the "alt right." They dressed Pepe up with swastikas and other symbols of anti-semitism and white supremacy.

Donald Trump, Pepe the frog, and white supremacists: an explainer

I think it's pretty damn low to drag frogs into politics, especially politics of hate. Real frogs have more sense than to hang around politicians - it makes them uneasy that there's another species more slimey than them!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Fantasy World's Are Not Always Benign

Good Day World!

When it comes to football, I'm living in a fantasy world managing six NFL teams. 

When I'm focused on setting my teams line-ups, the real world slips away.

It's a great distraction from often ugly reality.

All fantasy worlds are not so benign however.

If you're a Donald Trump follower it means accepting his blatant lies and turning your head away from truth to get on the bandwagon.
The fantasyworld Trump proposes is a poorly formed vision that comes with an old slogan, Make America Great Again.

Trump offers no details on how he's going to accomplish this lofty-sounding goal. What exactly does it mean to Trump followers?

All their dreams are going to come true!

Hallelujah! The doors to fantasyland are going to be thrown wide-open and society as we know it will cease to exist. Everything they don't like will be fixed. 

If you're black, brown, or olive-skinned this fantasyland does not include you. Oh, the things Trump will do!

I think it's safe to say there's enough Americans that won't buy into Trumps fantasyworld on election day. 

Make sure to keep it real...and make sure you're registered to vote.

Related:

The Hilarious and Frightening Fantasy of Donald Trump's Foreign Policy

Time for me to walk on down the road...