So-called tax experts are gazing dumbly towards the haze of pot smoke hanging over I-5 between Washington and California. Apparently, that tract of land isn’t limited to a freeway and a few rest stops between Seattle and San Francisco. No! There’s an entire state there with its own big-boy capital and training pants tax code. And lawmakers there are pissing all over it. Why are national tax experts interested in little ol’ Oregon? Why, because Oregon’s trying out a tax increase to deal with their bankrupting state. And the “experts” see it as a the first canary in the tax-raising mine. Yes, Oregon is proposing a(nother) income tax increase to pay for… well, something. But give the Oregon legislature a little credit – they’re not simply pushing through a tax increase, they’re having the people vote on it. “No problem, TaxRascal,” you say. “People don’t vote for tax increases.” Wrong! People don’t pass tax increases on themselves. But they’ll happily tax the teeth off their neighbors. Yes, the hippie (communist) spirit is alive and well in that patchouli bog of the Willamette Valley, and when you’re voting on a tax increase on anyone making more than $125K a year, well, then, let’s ...

Reid Hoffman (CEO of LinkedIn, and self-proclaimed 'free-market socialist') says we should let startups bail us out. As an investor in more than sixty startups, he ought to know how effective they can be. His plan comes in three stages: He wants a program that will provide small loans (up to $50,000) for startups. He wants to change the current skilled-worker visa system, so that instead of a quota (65,000 H-1B immigrants per year), there's an unlimited number of immigrants and a 10% payroll tax on each, to be reinvested in job training for Americans. He wants the government to match investments for venture capitalists and angel investors (giving them 50% of the profits from any investment). There are a few problems with this plan. The first one is that, since he suggested it, Reid Hoffman has more or less permanently torpedoed any chance that this will take off. The plan gives him $3 million in cheap loans, a larger labor pool, and millions more in matching funds -- all at a time when those of us who aren't CEOs of billion-dollar startups are hurting for jobs and loans. Not only that, but the hedge ...

It's a common question in online tax forums: was last year's stimulus check a gift? Or was it a loan? When the stimulus was passed, the economic situation looked bad. Now, it looks catastrophic. Getting an extra $600 then was a nice boost, but paying back $300 now (or more, with interest) could be awful. The good news is that nobody is going to ask you to return your stimulus payment, and the cost of it won't be deducted from your next tax refund. But that's only because of how fungible money is, sometimes: the cost -- $300 per taxpayer, plus $300 per dependent, less some exceptions for high-income earners, but plus some other tax incentives -- comes out to $152 billion. So who pays for it, and how? Obviously, taxpayers -- the same people getting the checks -- are the ones footing the bill. Of course, that obscures the real answer. Even though the bill offered money to each taxpayer, there's little chance that each one will pay back the same share. Right now, the top 1% of earners pay up to 31% of all taxes, depending on how you run the numbers. And since a large part of President Obama's economic ...

Here are some of the jobs that are featured on Craigslist as of today for Wasilla. I want to make her return to Wasilla as easy as possible, so I have gone ahead and taken a look at what jobs she could apply to and given her sample responses to each post.   1.) Wanted - Customer Service Specialist (see original) Looking for a highly motivated (YES!) Customer Care Specialist for an established Modeling Agency. This position will be responsible for all Customer Service needs that are required from all of our clients. This job is also the main connection between the client and the customer. We need someone who can work diligently under little supervision and solve problems.  (DOH! NO!) CONCLUSION: NOT QUALIFIED   2.) Admin Assistant -part time (see original) Experienced administrative assistant (DOH! NO!) needed for part-time afternoon hours. Minimum requirements for position include excellent oral and written communication skills (DOH! NO!); proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, Access, and Outlook(DOH! NO!); experience in designing and creating forms, spreadsheets, brochures, signs, etc.; excellent proofreading skills; experience in records management; ability to work well independently; (YES! MAVERICK!) clean driving record; must pass drug test . Salary DOE. If you meet these minimum requirements, please e-mail resume to karenh@tayloredrestoration.net or fax to (907) 373-1237 Attn: Karen. NO PHONE CALLS. If ...

While employees of the former Washington Mutual and Wachovia are busy fixing embarrassingly apt broken signs and fairly awkward ads, their depositors are wondering: what next? Although their deposits are protected by the FDIC, many people would just prefer not to be a customer of JP Morgan Chase or Citigroup -- they want their old bank back! I can't offer that, but I can offer a few tips on choosing a new bank: Try to find someone a little less trendy. Wachovia bought one of the biggest providers of adjustable rate mortgages, at the peak of the property boom. And WaMu cleverly reasoned that, at a time when people are beginning to mistrust big financial institutions, and to worry that these companies were not exercising careful stewardship over their customers' money -- it was time to sink millions of dollars into an ad campaign associating WaMu with the phrase "Whoo hoo!". As in, "Whoo hoo, we lost $14 billion before before being taken over by the government and sold to a competitor!"To avoid this, try to find a bank that's un-trendy, or better yet, anti-trendy. Forget about subprime -- think about the last incredibly stupid financial bubble. A company like Crazy Woman ...

While yesterday, most people were (rightfully) concerned about the 777-point Dow crash, many stories were largely ignored, or at least, barely mentioned. Here is a list of those stories that you probably missed yesterday (in no particular order): 1. Canada Gets Hit by a Hurricane Hurricane Kyle went through parts of Maine and hit Canada, bringing heavy rain and wind. 2. Ron Paul says it how it is: corporatism - not free markets led to crash 3. For the past 2 weeks, people in Tenesse, George, & North Carolina have limited access to gas People in these states are getting ever more aggravated as they are being forced to wait in long lines to gas up their vehicules. This may encourage more to use alternative transportation on the other hand...only if there were more of it available. 4. Bob Herbert comes down on Palin In an editorial on Monday, Herbert says, "History has shown again and again that a vice president must be ready to assume command of the ship of state on a moment’s notice. But Ms. Palin has given no indication yet that she is capable of handling the monumental responsibilities of the presidency if she were called upon to do so." 5. Olmert says Israel ...