5333 private links
Despite the flowery promises in the White House “American Families Plan” Fact Sheet, The Heritage Foundation summed it up as follows.
Biden’s American Families Plan will hurt families. The AFP would increase Washington’s control of preschool, child care, community college, and four-year colleges.
The AFP is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, promising “free” assistance that will result in more debt for our children and grandchildren to pay.
The wolf promises to ease our burdens but, in reality, stands ready to take charge of the decisions that families and communities know how to handle best.
“More debt for our children and families.” Bingo. Including potentially catastrophic financial disasters for untold numbers of those children and families.
Part of Biden’s plan to fund the AFP is by amending federal estate tax law — the so-called “death tax” — that would eliminate stepped-up-basis on appreciated assets inherited by family members, meaning heirs would be forced to pay taxes on assets that increased in value during the lifetime of the deceased relative.
As reported by Just the News, current federal estate tax law — not to be confused with the various state inheritance tax laws — includes a stepped-up basis tax provision that allows an heir to report the value of an asset at the time of inheriting it, thus “stepping up” the cost basis to the current value of an asset at the time of the inheritance, at which point they could sell the asset immediately and essentially avoid paying capital gains taxes, or retain the asset and either sell it later at an appreciated value, at which point they would pay capital gains tax on the increase between the inherited value and the selling price — or retain the asset and pass it to heirs at death. //
If we’re talking investment portfolios — fine; we can have that debate at a later time. But we’re also talking about family farms — many of them, generational family farms — as well as other family businesses. //
One potential family disaster is the fact that most family businesses consist largely of illiquid assets. Large plots of land owned by farmers are a perfect example; the land can often push a modest farm valuation past Biden’s $1 million threshold. //
“Farmers responsibly pay taxes to contribute their fair share to our country. They should not have to face tax burdens to pass their land from one generation to the next. This is how we keep generations of families farming.
“Therefore, we need to maintain protections to ensure the long-term success of family farms. They are the backbone of economic activity in rural areas, and we know the production of food and fiber is a national security issue.” //
Jmied01 • 19 minutes ago
“If we close that loophole, that saves us $400 billion”
Ala Ozark’s Marty Byrde: The *** it Does.
As if merely because it exists, you were always entitled to it? Removing more money from tax payers under implied threat of force is SAVING you money?
Well, I’m just going to rob a bank! I’m only SAVING MONEY. Knocking off the corner store? Creating new income! Nabbing the purse of the little old lady across the street? Generating revenue! //
scgrl625 • an hour ago
Here's some facts. If you plan on leaving your spouse or children anything, set up a revocable trust. If a spouse or child receives your inheritance, they will not have to pay inheritance taxes on the monies and property received from that trust. Also, there are only 6 states in the US that require an inheritance tax. Those states are PA, NE, NJ, MD, KY and IA, but not all tax laws for those states are the same. Some heirs may have to pay, and some may not.
Here's a quote from Smartasset.com, story titled "All About The Inheritance Tax" by Amanda Dixon, dated 7-30-2021.
"If the value of the assets being transferred is higher than the federal estate tax exemption (which is $11.7 million for singles for tax year 2021 and $23.4 million for married couples), the property can be subject to federal estate tax. States have their own exemption thresholds as well. Estate taxes are deducted from the property that’s being passed on before a beneficiary claims it. However, President Joe Biden has proposed eliminating the “stepped-up basis,” a provision that resets the value of inherited property to its current market value when its original owner dies." //
skeptic62 • 6 minutes ago • edited
I would encourage those who would be impacted by Biden’s government seizure by taxation to consider this. Choose a worthy heir early and sell your property, farm or business to your heir for a dollar plus a lifetime lease for you and your spouse. You don’t have to move out of your house. You don’t have to shutter your business. Everything stays pretty much the same. So, when the Grim Reaper comes a callin’ Uncle Sam can only seize your liquid assets. Done right, this would be a much smaller bill. //
johncv skeptic62 • 4 minutes ago
They have you covered with "gift tax" rules. Maximum per year "gifts".
Recent studies suggest that over half of millennials do not see themselves as 'emotionally and behaviourally' connected to their job and company. Exhausted from high-pressure jobs and with a growing sense of burnout, some millennials are following a personal finance strategy that allows them to quit the day job and retire decades early. //
FIRE = Financial Independence, Retire Early
- 25x annual spending is enough to retire early?
the Democrats are following the Cloward-Piven strategy to bankrupt the country and usher in a “socialist Utopia.” And why wouldn’t they since the modern Democrat Party is nothing but a collection of “democratic socialists” and Communists-by-other names (e.g., the 100-plus members of the “Congressional Progressive Caucus”)? They couldn’t care less about fiscal responsibility and living within one’s means.
The Democrats’ goal is to pass this giveaway to Democrat constituencies and then force a follow-on gigantic tax increase to pay for it (or at least some of it). Everyone – even the RINOs in Congress – know that is the standard Democrat tax-and-spend play, except this time the order is reversed: spend first then tax to pay for it. The Hologram’s tax plan announced in April totaled $1.8 trillion in new taxes. The remaining $1.7 trillion would be deficit spending, with a big spike added to the federal debt.
https://tricentennial.us/2020/04/03/is-the-cloward-piven-strategy-being-used-to-destroy-america/
In August 2019, former President Trump signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 that suspended the debt ceiling through July 31, 2021. //
Republicans need to use the debt ceiling to halt the Democrats’ spend-and-tax plans in order to prevent an economic tailspin in the country. That and the filibuster are just about the only tools left to congressional Republicans (besides enhancing election integrity laws in various states and electing fiscally conservative Republicans in 2022). //
The bill is going to come due at some point; there will have to be tax increases to pay for the deficits planned by the Democrats to finance their schemes. Those taxes will be the biggest negative impact on businesses and the economy in general moving into the future. The scale and scope of the federal government is so gargantuan that there will never be a return to fiscal discipline and a balanced budget unless action is taken now. A general economic slowdown is inevitable unless the out-of-control spending stops.
And it will require grassroots pressure to provide the Republicans with the spine and staying power needed to fight off the inevitable Democrat-media onslaught. //
Skeptical Techie
12 hours ago
One respectful correction. While Democrats were once the "tax and spend" party, that is no longer the case.
Now, the Party is the "spend and tax" party.
What came before was almost, ALMOST, at least a tip of the hat to fiscal responsibility or maybe a sort of fiscal acknowledgement. Now, blowing up anything resembling fiscal acknowledgement is THE POINT. Blow up the budget so as to FORCE draconian taxation and the attendant draconian control to collect such weighty taxes.
A conversation on Twitter this week resurfaced a Wall Street Journal report from April about big investors getting into real estate, overbidding normal people to do so. “If You Sell a House These Days, the Buyer Might Be a Pension Fund,” the title says. “Yield-chasing investors are snapping up single-family homes, competing with ordinary Americans and driving up prices.”
The resulting social media traffic made the article No. 1 on the WSJ website on June 10.
“You now have permanent capital competing with a young couple trying to buy a house,” real estate consultant John Burns told the Wall Street Journal. “That’s going to make U.S. housing permanently more expensive.” His firm estimates “that in many of the nation’s top markets, roughly one in every five houses sold is bought by someone who never moves in.”
This is a direct consequence of the Fed printing so much money and long encouraging debt by keeping interest rates so low for so long that investors are looking for better assets. Our government has long privileged debt over savings in large part because that makes it easier for the government to deficit spend, making debt less costly to Congress. So normal people essentially get punished for saving because Congress won’t stop spending.
Since the government quietly taxes away your savings through inflation, people and institutions who want to put money away for future use, or just grow their assets, are forced into riskier and more distortive behavior. Thus mega-dollar money asset managers and private equity firms are snapping up millions of homes at inflated prices because government profligacy has made it harder for them to secure a yield. //
CulturalHusbandry
@APhilosophae
Jun 8, 2021
Replying to @APhilosophae
So where does this position the average American in 30 years when its a given that every new neighborhood is to be bought up whole so they can be utilized as SFR's? It positions them as peasants. Being poor can be temporary condition bettered by upward mobility.
CulturalHusbandry
@APhilosophae
In the US and other nations home ownership is often the 1st and most vital step. This can provide for generational wealth and success. But as permanent, guaranteed renters youre pissing away a lifetime of equity and the chance for mobility. You just become a peasant. //
Blackrock is well known for its use of its massive financial power to elevate leftist social causes, including, as the tweeter noted, the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” strategy. WEF also predicted in an infamous 2016 video, based on “input” from their Davos crowd, that by 2030 “You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy.”
But when people “own nothing,” they are not happy. Refusing to take ownership is a refusal to take responsibility. In the beginning, that may seem carefree and glamorous, but in the long run, a refusal to take responsibility — whether that be refusing to commit to marriage, children, faith, a community, or to all of the above — actually makes people deeply unhappy.
In responsibility is where people find happiness. Our government should stop making financial decisions that steal from all of us the ability to take responsibility for our own families, homes, and happiness. And, regardless of what our corrupt and feckless governments do, each of us must continue to pursue ownership of our own lives through every avenue possible.
In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: “We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust.” He was referring to blockchain, the system behind bitcoin cryptocurrency. The circumvention of trust is a great promise, but it’s just not true. Yes, bitcoin eliminates certain trusted intermediaries that are inherent in other payment systems like credit cards. But you still have to trust bitcoin — and everything about it.
Much has been written about blockchains and how they displace, reshape, or eliminate trust. But when you analyze both blockchain and trust, you quickly realize that there is much more hype than value. Blockchain solutions are often much worse than what they replace.
First, a caveat. By blockchain, I mean something very specific: the data structures and protocols that make up a public blockchain. These have three essential elements. The first is a distributed (as in multiple copies) but centralized (as in there’s only one) ledger, which is a way of recording what happened and in what order. This ledger is public, meaning that anyone can read it, and immutable, meaning that no one can change what happened in the past.
The second element is the consensus algorithm, which is a way to ensure all the copies of the ledger are the same. This is generally called mining; a critical part of the system is that anyone can participate. It is also distributed, meaning that you don’t have to trust any particular node in the consensus network. It can also be extremely expensive, both in data storage and in the energy required to maintain it. Bitcoin has the most expensive consensus algorithm the world has ever seen, by far.
Finally, the third element is the currency. This is some sort of digital token that has value and is publicly traded. Currency is a necessary element of a blockchain to align the incentives of everyone involved. Transactions involving these tokens are stored on the ledger.
Private blockchains are completely uninteresting. (By this, I mean systems that use the blockchain data structure but don’t have the above three elements.) In general, they have some external limitation on who can interact with the blockchain and its features. These are not anything new; they’re distributed append-only data structures with a list of individuals authorized to add to it. Consensus protocols have been studied in distributed systems for more than 60 years. Append-only data structures have been similarly well covered. They’re blockchains in name only, and — as far as I can tell — the only reason to operate one is to ride on the blockchain hype.
All three elements of a public blockchain fit together as a single network that offers new security properties. The question is: Is it actually good for anything? It’s all a matter of trust. //
In 2012, I wrote a book about trust and security, Liars and Outliers. In it, I listed four very general systems our species uses to incentivize trustworthy behavior. The first two are morals and reputation. The problem is that they scale only to a certain population size. Primitive systems were good enough for small communities, but larger communities required delegation, and more formalism.
The third is institutions. Institutions have rules and laws that induce people to behave according to the group norm, imposing sanctions on those who do not. In a sense, laws formalize reputation. Finally, the fourth is security systems. These are the wide varieties of security technologies we employ: door locks and tall fences, alarm systems and guards, forensics and audit systems, and so on.
These four elements work together to enable trust. Take banking, for example. Financial institutions, merchants, and individuals are all concerned with their reputations, which prevents theft and fraud. The laws and regulations surrounding every aspect of banking keep everyone in line, including backstops that limit risks in the case of fraud. And there are lots of security systems in place, from anti-counterfeiting technologies to internet-security technologies. //
What blockchain does is shift some of the trust in people and institutions to trust in technology. You need to trust the cryptography, the protocols, the software, the computers and the network. And you need to trust them absolutely, because they’re often single points of failure.
When that trust turns out to be misplaced, there is no recourse. If your bitcoin exchange gets hacked, you lose all of your money. If your bitcoin wallet gets hacked, you lose all of your money. If you forget your login credentials, you lose all of your money. If there’s a bug in the code of your smart contract, you lose all of your money. If someone successfully hacks the blockchain security, you lose all of your money. In many ways, trusting technology is harder than trusting people. Would you rather trust a human legal system or the details of some computer code you don’t have the expertise to audit?
Blockchain enthusiasts point to more traditional forms of trust — bank processing fees, for example — as expensive. But blockchain trust is also costly; the cost is just hidden. For bitcoin, that’s the cost of the additional bitcoin mined, the transaction fees, and the enormous environmental waste. //
To the extent that people don’t use bitcoin, it’s because they don’t trust bitcoin. That has nothing to do with the cryptography or the protocols. In fact, a system where you can lose your life savings if you forget your key or download a piece of malware is not particularly trustworthy. No amount of explaining how SHA-256 works to prevent double-spending will fix that. //
Do you need a public blockchain? The answer is almost certainly no. A blockchain probably doesn’t solve the security problems you think it solves. The security problems it solves are probably not the ones you have. (Manipulating audit data is probably not your major security risk.) A false trust in blockchain can itself be a security risk. The inefficiencies, especially in scaling, are probably not worth it. I have looked at many blockchain applications, and all of them could achieve the same security properties without using a blockchain — of course, then they wouldn’t have the cool name. //
Honestly, cryptocurrencies are useless. They’re only used by speculators looking for quick riches, people who don’t like government-backed currencies, and criminals who want a black-market way to exchange money.
To answer the question of whether the blockchain is needed, ask yourself: Does the blockchain change the system of trust in any meaningful way, or just shift it around? Does it just try to replace trust with verification? Does it strengthen existing trust relationships, or try to go against them? How can trust be abused in the new system, and is this better or worse than the potential abuses in the old system? And lastly: What would your system look like if you didn’t use blockchain at all?
Every so often a new scam comes down the pipe that sounds so good, that so many good people want to believe in that the inevitable happens. Innocent people get hurt. Amazon automation is as close to a perfect scam anyone could hope to invent. It subverts a couple of outstanding business models, namely Amazon FBA and Wholesale Distribution.
Car insurance is required for everyone who uses the Turo rental car platform—that includes hosts as well as guests renting the car. However, coverage on Turo (formerly known as RelayRides) works differently from typical car insurance, and you have a few options for how much coverage you buy.
As a general rule, the more protection you choose, the higher your costs for coverage will be.
Non-owner car insurance is a liability policy for those who drive but don't own a car. Whether you rent or borrow a car often, or need to file for an SR-22 without a vehicle, a non-owner policy is a relatively inexpensive option to purchase auto insurance liability coverage. Non-owner auto insurance rates are often 5% to 15% cheaper than those for a standard policy. However, non-owner insurance isn’t the right choice for many people, including those who cohabit with a car owner or would otherwise be required to be listed on a car’s primary policy.
The greatest threat the digital yuan poses to the United States is that it endangers the international financial system America has led since World War II. //
Communist China became the first major economy to create a government-sanctioned digital currency — digital yuan. Such a move will significantly impact the great power competition between the United States and China and may reshape the dollar-dominated global financial structure forever.
When Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party General Secretary, talked about returning China to a world superpower status, he always envisioned China’s currency (the yuan) would achieve a global reserve currency status akin to what the U.S. dollar has enjoyed since the end of World War II. //
Yet, despite the Chinese government’s relentless efforts, the Chinese yuan currently accounts for only 2 percent of global foreign exchange reserve assets while the dollar’s dominance remains unchallenged. Close to 90 percent of foreign-exchange transactions entail U.S. dollars, and more than 60 percent of all global central-bank reserves are held in dollar-denominated assets. China’s digital yuan, however, presents a challenge. //
The biggest threat the digital yuan poses to the United States is that it presents an alternative to the existing international financial system America has led for two generations. Individuals under U.S. sanctions will avoid suffering any financial pain by using digital yuan to access their assets thus rendering typical economic sanctions toothless.
America’s adversaries, such as North Korea, Iran, and Russia, will likely use digital yuan to exchange money, settle trades, and engage in weapon sales or other illicit activities. Doing so will enable them to bypass the existing financial system entirely, meaning American intelligence agencies won’t be able to monitor such activities and hurting the ability of the United States and its allies to anticipate potential threats before they metastasize. //
There are at least three things the United States should be doing in responding to the digital yuan. First, the Security and Exchange Commission should approve the existing requests to launch exchange-traded funds focusing on cryptocurrencies. Such funds will bring an inflow of fresh capital, stimulate the development of digital currencies and digital assets, and make them more accessible to the general public.
Second, the Fed should consider accepting some of these well-established cryptocurrencies into the U.S. financial system. Some well-known businesses such as Tesla and the Dallas Mavericks basketball team have already announced they would accept specific cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or dogecoin as an alternative means of payment. As more businesses embrace digital currencies every week, the Fed may ultimately not have much choice but to adopt at least some type of digital currencies. If that’s likely to be the case, it’s better to do so now rather than later.
Finally, the Fed can issue a digital dollar as long as there are sufficient privacy protections in place to prevent some ambitious politicians from using the digital currency the way the CCP does as a means to control the American people.
Competition produces better goods and services at lower prices. The more free-market choices of digital currencies we can offer, the less likely China’s digital yuan will replace the U.S. dollar and gain international dominance as the CCP intended.
Twenty-year-old Alex Kearns took his own life last June mistakenly believing he'd lost nearly $750,000 in a risky bet on Robinhood, the stock-trading app where he started trading as a teenager.
Microsoft wants to make managing your finances easier. Money in Excel allows you to connect your financial, bank, and credit card accounts, view transactions, and budget your money. We’ll help you get started!
What Is Money in Excel?
Money is a dynamic template and add-in for Excel that you can download and start using in just a few minutes. It provides all-inclusive financial management in an application you already use daily.
Using Money for Excel, you can do all of the following:
Connect various financial accounts, like banks, credit cards, investments, and loans.
Sync your accounts with just a click, and receive the latest transactions and account balances.
View helpful charts, graphs, and tables to gain valuable insight on your spending, saving, and financial goals.
Customize categories and use templates to tailor your experience.
Microsoft uses a third-party company called Plaid to connect your financial services. The plug-in supports most major U.S. financial institutions. If you have any questions, just visit the Plaid help page.
To use Money in Excel, you simply need a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription in the U.S. and the latest version of Excel 365. You can use Money in Excel on your desktop or online. Unfortunately, it’s not currently available on mobile devices.
Yesterday, the House passed — unanimously — a new law imposing United States accounting standards on all foreign companies that are listed on US stock exchanges.
The Senate has already passed the bill — also unanimously — and Pres. Trump is expected to sign it into law without delay.
The bill, the “Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act,” requires that any foreign companies traded on US stock exchanges must prepare financial disclosures and audits in compliance with US accounting standards. The consequence of a failure to comply is that the company will be delisted by the exchanges. Compliance is to be enforced by the SEC in the same manner that it enforces accounting and audit standards on US companies.
It is no secret that the legislation is aimed squarely at Chinese companies that have listed themselves on US stock exchanges in order to access US capital markets. One provision in the new statute requires Chinese companies specifically to identify any Directors who are members of the Chinese Communist Party.
Most foreign companies traded on US exchanges already comply with US accounting standards, as most have operations inside the United States.
But Chinese owned companies operate under Chinese laws that prevent corporate records and audit papers from leaving China. In most respects, this leaves investors who purchase shares in the companies largely in the dark as to whether the company’s publicly reported financial condition is a true reflection of its actual financial condition. //
According to a government report, there are 217 Chinese companies listed on NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and NYSE American, with a total market capitalization of $2.2 trillion. Some are also traded on foreign exchanges, and may simply allow themselves to be delisted in the United States while remaining on those foreign exchanges.
But the US stock exchange markets have one significant difference from most foreign exchanges — companies are allowed to become publicly traded before they show net profitability, unlike in many foreign stock exchange markets. This allows start-up companies — often companies with cutting-edge technology advances — to go into the equities markets to raise money from investors for development and advancement based on projected future earnings.
Taking this action will likely result in greater Chinese government financing of developing companies in China — with the risk of failure to rest on the Chinese government rather than investors in United States equities markets. The Chinese had adamantly worked to prevent the passage of this legislation, and there is much uncertainty about how China might react — especially in response to a Biden Administration (maybe).
Thread of notes comparing the 990 tax forms of
- Samaritan's Purse (2019). CEO: Franklin Graham.
- World Vision (2018). CEO: Edgar Sandoval Sr., previously Rich Stearns.
- Compassion International (2018). CEO: Santiago "Jim" Mellado.
Thread of notes comparing the 990 tax forms of
- Samaritan's Purse (2019). CEO: Franklin Graham.
- World Vision (2018). CEO: Edgar Sandoval Sr., previously Rich Stearns.
- Compassion International (2018). CEO: Santiago "Jim" Mellado.
👇
Number of employees / total revenue / profit / net assets:
Samaritan's Purse: 3,305 / $734,112,873 / $44,985,504 / $701,956,825
World Vision: 1,049 / $1,135,591,490 / $-13,516,839 / 193,274,099
Compassion: 1,196. / $953,223,395 / $20,603,361 / 268,592,542 - designates high.
The public showing of the redesigned Google Pay is less than a week old, but already there are important insights into how it could reshape the commerce landscape and the players operating within it.
Dave Ramsey looking at Donald Trump’s debt
[ Fred Sanford staggers in horror]
USD to LRD currency converter
Convert US Dollar to Liberian Dollar
Bureau of the Fiscal Service Reports, Statements & Publications Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange Historical Rates
Fundraising software built for ministries, missionaries and churches.
MPDX is a free, secure app that helps you grow and maintain your ministry partners in a quick and easy way.
TntWare started out in 1997 as Troy Wolbrink's hobby, so that he could be more organized while raising a personal support team. Today more than 500 mission organizations and 12,000 missionaries use his software.
One of the reasons Troy and his wife Tammy are so passionate about TntWare is that they use it personally. Troy and Tammy use TntConnect to help raise their financial support as missionaries with Global Service Network. The ministry of Global Service Network has standardized on TntWare tools (DonorWise and DonorHub) to process donations and electronically deliver that information to their missionaries (as an electronic report that shows up directly in TntConnect).
Because our financial support team has paid for our time to develop TntConnect, it is our privilege to bless you with this tool as a free gift. In return, if you were to consider investing in our ministry with Global Service Network, we'd be truly honored.