Americans are so detached from the products we buy in a grocery store we have little clue why they cost what they do. We recently toured a cheese manufacturing plant outside of Venice, Italy. We saw the trucks roll up to the factory with the milk that is used to make 100 million pounds of cheese annually. Then we saw what it took to make the fifty different kinds of cheese and the facilities where the cheese had to be stored to be aged for nine months or more before being put on a truck. A special truck delivers the finished product to an airplane that ships it to the United States where it is then shipped around the country to be delivered to your grocery store. There are even more costs added to the price of the cheese and that is what this column is about. One of the biggest elements for product costs in America is lawsuits. We have a complex legal system that is often abused by people for their own financial purposes. That causes the many forms of insurance a company pays, including liability and worker’s compensation, to soar thus driving up the cost of goods for us all. A recent study by the Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform… Read More

Being Anti-Semitic seems to be en vogue these days, not that it every really went out of style. Even while our governments were focusing on anti-Asian or anti-Muslim or anti-black hate crimes, the Jews were still at the top of the hate crime statistics. The question is: who is the biggest threat to the Jews in America – the Left or the Right? It is important to lay down some ground rules for this. No matter the source, Anti-Semitism is intolerable. As a reader, you probably know my history on this subject and know I do not accept hatred of Jews from any source. I have written on this subject many times over the forty years of my columns. Our federal government and an array of left of center groups want you to believe the problem comes from White Supremacy on the right. That is despite the recent attempt by Democrats to defend a virulent anti-Semite from being removed from a Congressional committee she should never have been on. There are several problems with this theory. The groups they focus on are made out to have a vast network, but not if you read the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) study on the issue from 2015. They state that the… Read More

Our society has created a class of people with too much time on their hands. That has caused such recent sensations as the USC School of Social Work determining the word ‘field’ should be banned from the lexicon because of “possible racist connotations.” Another decision that affects society is legislatures determining how pay should be handled by private entities because of some perceived potential inequity. The issue at hand is new laws requiring inclusion of the salary range for any open positions. Nothing irritates some people, especially me, more than having state legislators tell people how to run their businesses. It is particularly galling since few have ever worked in private industry and fewer have run a business with all the accompanying challenges. California’s legislators are not the first to wade in on this particular subject. Colorado adopted a law in 2019. As these matters go, it spread like a swarm of locusts even before there is time to analyze the effects of the new decree. New York City, which envisions itself a state as California envisions itself a country, was next to step into this mire. California had to follow… Read More

It is not often this column takes a position that is at least semi-quixotic, but sometimes one must take a stand and hope that some others join the cause. The FBI is so out of control and counter to what its real mission is that a new agency needs to be formed with new leaders, new personnel, and a revised mission. The FBI is akin to a federal police force, meaning a group of detectives enforce federal laws while working in conjunction with municipal and state law enforcement particularly where criminal activities cross state borders. Recently the agency’s mission has significantly changed. 9/11 was the catalyst the organization’s change. Robert Mueller took over as FBI director on September 4, 2001. To state the obvious, the events soon after were a startling beginning to his career (as the agency’s sixth director). As he stated in his presentation to a House subcommittee on September 14, 2006, “After the September 11 attacks on America, the FBI priorities shifted dramatically. Our top priority became the prevention of another terrorist attack. Today, our top three priorities—counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and cyber… Read More

Americans barely knew nor thought about Ukraine until Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces invaded the country, which then erupted into the largest land war in Europe for at least 75 years. The vast majority of support for Ukraine has been supplied by American, led by folks who just 50 years ago were devotees of the anti-war movement. Let’s take a look. We can pretty much agree that Russia’s actions are barbaric and something we thought we moved past in the civilized world. We can also pretty much agree that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s elected leader, has been steadfast in his defense of his country. We can also agree that the Ukrainians have put forth a valiant effort to rid themselves of the Russian invaders without asking for America or its allies to supply troops. They have told the world: “give us arms and we will fight and win the war.” There is not much dispute on these points. My concern is that anyone espousing something other than blind allegiance and support to Ukraine is branded as a malcontent and thus misguided. Many elected officials and some members of the press (on both sides) are pointing at these people as traitors to the cause.… Read More

It was entertaining to see the House Ways and Means Committee go through gyrations of why they thought it necessary to obtain Mr. Trump’s tax returns and then their justification for releasing said tax returns to the American public. We know there was at least one overriding reason. The Democrats hate the man and will do anything to tarnish his image. The entire matter is quite humorous while displaying the lengths to which these people will go to concoct things to justify what they do. “The American people need to know,” was the reason given when the tax returns were released to the public. Karen McAfee, the top committee staff person, was unable to enunciate a rationale for releasing the returns and provided the non sequitur “to make sure that the audits start on time.” Enough with the Committee’s malicious malfeasance. Mind you almost no one other than people like myself (a CPA) can decipher tax returns even when they are 30-50 pages long. Why would anyone spend their time looking at a 500-page return? I have clients with twenty investment entities (K-1s). Mr. Trump has roughly 400 investment entities. These returns are nearly impossible to… Read More

Did you ever have a friend that is always a challenge with whom to deal? At times you know why you are friends. But then there is simply too much drama. Every conversation with this friend includes some form of hysteria in their life. Just when you think things have settled down, a new tumultuous event happens. You finally conclude that no matter what you once thought about this person, there is just too much agony to continue the relationship. That is Donald Trump and that is why he cannot be the Republican nominee. Sure, some of the drama around Trump is maliciously created by his political enemies. But too much is self-inflicted. A client recently called with a referral for me. While on the call, I did an internet search of the potential client and included that in the discussion.

I had no idea who Nick Fuentes was before he had an impromptu dinner with President Trump. But I certainly would have known who and what he was before I met with him. This is a perfect example of how irresponsible Trump can be. Kanye West just showed up with a friend and he has a sit down with a former president. If Trump can’t… Read More

After a person shot up a Colorado nightclub frequented principally by LGBTQ people, fingers started pointing. The immediate reaction from the Left of Center crowd was to blame Republicans and rhetorical leaders on whom they rely. Many tied this incident to the deranged person in the Paul Pelosi incident. Someone I have known for many years did just that on an Instagram post. That is when I started a discussion as to why that posting had been done. I wrote to that person, “I am often fascinated when people want to attribute the actions of mentally ill people to a political philosophy. This particular nutcase (in Colorado) tried to kill his mother last year. Seems like someone not driven by any particular brand of hate. Why he went into this nightclub is not worth exploring. He was a sick person who needed to be institutionalized. We should not be debating his motive. Or pointing fingers. “ The person wrote back, “If you close your eyes, turn your head, and plug your ears long enough, you’ll never see what you don’t want to see.” “’Not worthy of exploring’ and ‘We should not be debating his motive’ is what someone says… Read More