Your Money and Attention to Detail

At last count, two Obama appointees have withdrawn because of tax problems, the latest being Tom “I need a limo and driver” Daschle.  A third tax miscreant is now Secretary of the Treasury.

How does it feel to know more about our tax laws than the Secretary of the Treasury – you know, the guy who is in charge of the Internal Revenue Service?

It does not give me a good feeling at all, but not for the reasons that you might think.

Let’s assume that these appointees are not tax cheats and that, according to their defenders, are persons of the “highest integrity.”  I’m still not satisfied. Read more

Meet Your New Friends …. Same as Your Old Friends

Mr. ToughMoneyLove has voted in elections since 1968.  In 1971 The Who (remember them?) released my favorite of their songs, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”  I think of that song each election night, particularly the last lines: Read more

Want to be in a Working Family? (Hard Workers with Money Need Not Apply)

One of the constant battle cries of politicians running for office is that they support “working families.”  Much of the political whining and hand wringing is about the “plight” of “working families.”  It seems that every tax cut, new entitlement program, and stimulus package is intended to cure “working families” from all sorts of economic illnesses.  When I see or hear a political ad or speech that focuses on “working families”, I am left wondering what the phrase actually means.  At the same time, I also get the impression from the context of the political ad or speech that the Mr. ToughMoneyLove family is not welcome in the domain of working families for the simple reason that we have money in the bank and don’t live paycheck to paycheck. Read more