As we have said before the American people at the very least should insist on the removal of the IRS from Obamacare. That of course means a complete revamp (repeal?) of the program and very powerful interests ranging from the current administration to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries like Obamacare just the way it is. They after all wrote it.

Obamacare  is such a partisan issue. It has been since the very beginning  But honestly, even if one was for the program from the beginning  how can one now not join the chorus for IRS removal.

Progressives, the IRS will be used against you one day too. That is almost guaranteed without massive reform of the agency. (I prefer to just abolish it but we’re not there yet as a country.) Do you really wan’t the IRS driven by the equivalent of a “President Santorum” knowing your medical history?

“Well, it looks like you were treated for gonorrhea at one point in 2017 Mr. Smith. Oh and what’s this? A medical marijuana prescription?  Oh my. We are going to have to look at your records a little more closely. You fit the profile for an audit.”

(From The Weekly Standard)

Meanwhile, to exercise its newfound powers under Obamacare, the IRS has requested $440 million and 1,954 additional full-time equivalent employees for fiscal year 2014. That’s just for its Obamacare operations. Viewed in a certain light, this seems a reasonable request—for the taxman will be busy. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the loot that the IRS will be responsible for collecting over the 10-year span from 2014 to 2023 will total $1.2 trillion. That tally is solely for Obamacare taxes and penalties.

Click here for the article.

Vernon Hershberger ran a farm which exchanged raw milk for work on the farm, donations, and sometimes if people were hungry, for nothing at all. The government didn’t take kindly to the operation and so sought to make an example of Mr. Hershberger, at significant cost to the taxpayer.

He was however just acquitted of 3 of the major charges levied against him by the state. He was convicted of violating a food holding order.

Overall a victory for the little guys and the whole foods movement. It happens occasionally.

Click here for the article.

Charles Hugh Smith asks this. The answer is simple.

All hell breaks loose.

It is likely to happen? This is the more important question, and as Smith points out the chances of all 3 asset classes bombing out at the same time is much higher these days because all three are in the midst of Fed inflated bubbles. Once the funny money stops flowing, for one reason or another, watch out below.

Click here for the article.

Much has been made of Tesla’s repayment of its DOE loan. There has been much crowing. Finally a DOE loan which didn’t implode into a black hole. And we are very happy that the loan has been paid back, and ahead of schedule.

At $62,000 I am actually of the opinion that given the competition the Tesla Model S, which I’ve examined first hand, is pretty competitive. (The Porsche Panamera is about $100,00 well equipped and the Maserati Quattroporte another 4 seat rocket starts at $135,000.) It’s a neat car – so long as it doesn’t get too cold outside and one need not drive longer than 200 miles at a time.

But let’s not pretend that Tesla isn’t still supported by the American taxpayer.

(From The Daily Beast)

In addition, government regulations require the production of a certain number of alternative vehicles per year. Rather than build green cars themselves to meet mandates, some manufacturers simply purchase credits from companies that make zero-emission vehicles—like Tesla. In fact, as I noted recently, Tesla has a nice side business selling those tax credits. In the first quarter Tesla said sales of such credits amounted to $68 million, or 12 percent of revenue. Without the sale of those credits, Tesla would not have been profitable.

Click here for the article.

Don’t forget young college graduates to put money away for retirement. What’s that you say? You won’t have any chance of saving anything until you are 50 years old because you owe $250,000 in law school bills?  Wow, that really stinks. But at least you paid the salary of your law professor for a year. It takes a village after all. That should make you feel good. When you’re 47 and still in debt just remember that.

Click here for the article.

Take this from someone who lives in the leafy suburbs of Washington DC. It is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to fire a civil servant. Basically they would have to kill someone on the job, with 3 witnesses, to get relieved of duty. Even then they’d probably get to keep their pension.

You think I’m joking.

(From The Atlantic)

It’s an urgent question for anyone whose preferred policies presume a well-functioning bureaucracy staffed with capable civil servants to oversee and implement them. It behooves us to remember that the IRS and federal, state and local government encompass a lot of honest, hard-working people whose contributions are unsung and who hate scandal and incompetence as much as anyone. But having observed government at all levels for the last decade, I can’t help but conclude that the majority of proficient public employees are seeing their agencies and reputations suffer because it is excessively difficult to terminate the worst of the worst.

Click here for the article.

I wish I could have posted this in October when we did it but better late than never.

It opens with Bill Shireman, the CEO of The Future 500, a client of mine. He is then followed by a keynote from David Stockman discussing the book he was then writing, which has since become an instant classic The Great Deformation. Lastly is your editor and a great collection of guests talking about crony capitalism right before the 2012 election.

On the panel was Luigi Zingales, professor at the University of Chicago and author of A Capitalism for the People, Peter Schweizer the head of the Government Accountability Institute and author of Throw Them All Out, Susan Ochs writer for American Banker and one of the architects of TARP, Ed Haldeman the Former CEO of Freddie Mac and former President of Putnam Investments, and Anna Burger former Treasurer of the SEIU. It was a diverse panel and pretty darn entertaining if I do say so myself.

Everyone is great but Ed Haldeman was remarkably frank about the housing implosion. At one point a member of the audience tries to dismiss the idea that at least some corporate leaders had nasty intentions as they employed crony capitalism. Haldeman doesn’t split hairs. He calls the audience member naive.

It was a fun panel.

- Stockman starts at 7:53

- The panel starts at 38:28

Texas wants its gold back from the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Now they are about to abolish the sales tax on gold and silver. The state still has huge amounts of oil. It has a thriving high tech sector and plenty of open space. The climate is generally good, though a bit hot in the summer. Ron Paul lives there. Overall Texas has got a lot of things going for it and if it’s an early (re)adopter of sound money* it will only make the Lone Star State that much more attractive.

Why would anyone live in New Jersey?

Click here for the article.

*To the degree possible.