In 2017 my Website was migrated to the clouds and reduced in size.
Hence some links below are broken.
One thing to try if a “www” link is broken is to substitute “faculty” for “www”
For example a broken link
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
can be changed to corrected link
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
However in some cases files had to be removed to reduce the size of my Website
Contact me at 
rjensen@trinity.edu if you really need to file that is missing

Tidbits Political Quotations
To Accompany the December 14, 2017 edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2017/tidbits121417.htm           
Bob Jensen at
Trinity University




USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ubl

In September 2017 the USA National Debt exceeded $20 trillion for the first time ---
http://www.statedatalab.org/news/detail/national-debt-surpasses-20-trillion-for-the-first-time-in-us-history

How Your Federal Tax Dollars are Spent ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4eab53ef01b7c8ee6392970b-popup

To Whom Does the USA Federal Government Owe Money (the booked obligation of $20+ trillion) ---
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/politicalcalculations/2016/05/25/spring-2016-to-whom-does-the-us-government-owe-money-n2168161?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
The US Debt Clock in Real Time --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 
Remember the Jane Fonda Movie called "Rollover" --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_(film)
One worry is that nations holding trillions of dollars invested in USA debt are dependent upon sales of oil and gas to sustain those investments.

To Whom Does the USA Federal Government Owe Money (the unbooked obligation of $100 trillion and unknown more in contracted entitlements) ---
http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/15/news/economy/entitlement-benefits/
The biggest worry of the entitlements obligations is enormous obligation for the future under the Medicare and Medicaid programs that are now deemed totally unsustainable ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm

How Americans Get Health Insurance ---
http://ritholtz.com/2017/08/americans-get-health-insurance/

 

Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because it's been fertilized with more bullshit.
Anonomous

 

Shoot for the space in between, because that's where the real mystery lies.
Vera Rubin
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/12/28/remebering-vera-rubin/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=f053a9c4e2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-f053a9c4e2-234390133

 

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot

There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen

Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.
Margaret Wheatley
Even conversations that are not politically correct.

Why, we grow rusty and you catch us at the very point of decadence --- by this time tomorrow we may have forgotten everything we ever knew. That's a thought isn't it? We'd be back to where we started --- improvising.
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Act I)

It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.

Babe Ruth, Historic Home Run Hitter
What's sad is to witness what Syria has become because nobody will give up.

And "because they're nonstate actors, it's hard for us to get the satisfaction of [Gen.] MacArthur and the [Japanese] Emperor [Hirohito] meeting and the war officially being over," Obama observed, referencing the end of World War II. 
President Barack Obama when asked if the USA of the future will be perpetually engaged in war.
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-on-americans-being-resigned-to-live-in-a-perpetual-war-2016-7

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. 
Joseph Campbell

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. 
George S. Patton

If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there.
Yogi Berra

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
Henry David Thoreau

Science says the first word on everything and the last word on nothing
Victor Hugo
The Last Word on Nothing --- http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/

Late Night Comedy Has Become Hate Speech ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2017/11/06/late-night-comedy-has-become-hate-speech-n2405257?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Rolling Stone:  Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal About Hillary Clinton
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/pizzagate-anatomy-of-a-fake-news-scandal-w511904
Jensen Comment
Interestingly Rolling Stone Magazine was convicted of creating its own fake news story of a rape on campus ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Rape_on_Campus

Crytocurrency --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency
Video:  The CIO of a crypto hedge fund explains the value in cryptocurrency — and why the market will explode over the next 2 years
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocurrency-value-explained-by-crypto-hedge-fund-cio-ari-paul-2017-11

India:  One year after demonetisation: Where did all that cash go? ---
http://www.livemint.com/Money/DjQdokLGJ1Dth7vJS7mTOK/One-year-after-demonetisation-Where-did-all-that-cash-go.html

Time Magazine:  Former Prairie Home Companion Host Garrison Keillor Fired Over Alleged Improper Behavior ---
http://time.com/5041315/garrison-keillor-fired-improper-behavior-allegations/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017112918pm&xid=newsletter-brief

United Kingdom:  Millions denied an NHS dentist ---
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/millions-denied-an-nhs-dentist-xfhbgzlz0

The Stanford Business School has acknowledged that despite claims it offered only need-based aid, not merit-based aid, it awarded large tuition discounts for years to women, international students, and other preferred applicants. The school also said it would close a hole in its computer security that permitted a student to review confidential financial-aid records and uncover the school's deception.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Stanford-University-data-glitch-exposes-truth-12396695.php?elqTrackId=7917b61cc5f94fcab4abc5c4fe2cfb43&elq=7d1711d8fc514bd9b250df9c0c457401&elqaid=16920&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7330

The Washington Post:  Elite colleges are making it easy for conservatives to dislike them ---
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/elite-colleges-are-making-it-easy-for-conservatives-to-dislike-them/2017/11/30/0d2ef31a-d52a-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html?elq=7d1711d8fc514bd9b250df9c0c457401&elqCampaignId=7330&elqTrackId=10f0f42168e144c29675327f8d330e5e&elqaid=16920&elqat=1&utm_term=.24a7b0a62a97

Lawmakers say the University of Nebraska isn’t doing enough to protect free speech and conservative voices. The university says the charges are reckless and motivated by a political agenda that is eroding trust in higher education ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Quarrel-at-a-Flagship-Ignites/241943?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=cba83898553845898f0e68958ece9cf3&elq=5e959f769f6d4738afb20c434d4e6247&elqaid=16919&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7329

Betsy DeVos Links Nation's Stagnant Test Scores to Lack of Parental Choice ---
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2017/11/betsy_devos_test_scores_stagnant_parental_choice.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2-rm&M=58295789&U=2290378
Jensen Comment
This leads me to wonder what telephone service would be like in the 21st Century if monopoly of this service had never been taken away from AT&T.
One of the wonders of college is that there is increasing competition, especially as highly respected colleges and universities are now offering online degrees across the USA

Will The Lawyers Ring the Death Knell for Football (USA style football)?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/12/01/avalanche-football-related-concussion-lawsuits-against-ncaa-and-conferences-could?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=b5ef334b09-DNU20171201&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-b5ef334b09-197565045&mc_cid=b5ef334b09&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Departed tax chief John Koskinen explains why even he can't see Trump’s taxes—and why we should ‘beware the collapse of the IRS.’ ---
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/15/john-koskinen-taxes-215830
Trump's tax returns are locked away in a special safe.

Three Lessons From How Congress Is Handling Sexual Misconduct Allegations ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/three-lessons-from-how-congress-is-handling-sexual-misconduct-allegations/

Congress Used $84,000 of Taxpayer Money to Settle a (single) Sexual Harassment Claim (this is only one of various settled claims kept secret from the public) ---
http://time.com/5045238/congress-sexual-harassment-settlements/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017120214pm&xid=newsletter-brief

A new scientific discovery could be a death blow to traditional lithium-ion batteries (don't hold your breath) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/new-discovery-could-be-death-blow-to-traditional-lithium-ion-batteries-2017-12

Germany wants to support rejected asylum-seekers who voluntarily move back to their home countries with a one-time payment of 3,000 euros ($3,570). The Interior Ministry says those who qualify can apply by a Feb. 28 deadline and they would get the money once they return home ---
http://kxan.com/2017/12/03/germany-offers-money-for-migrants-who-go-back-home/

Antifa’ clothing is no longer available on Walmart’s website as of Saturday afternoon. The clothing’s third-party manufacturer, TEE Bangers LLC, also appears to have pulled the line promoting the far-leftist group whose activities were “formally classified” by the Obama Administration “as domestic terrorist violence.”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/02/antifa-gear-no-longer-available-on-walmart-website/

A secretive British aid programme in Syria has been suspended amid claims that money paid to a scandal-hit contractor is funding excessive fees and reaching jihadist groups ---
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/britain-halts-scandal-hit-syrian-aid-programme-h3x7qmjbd

New York Giants defensive end Olivier Vernon ignited an outcry after telling fans if they don’t approve of his decision to kneel for the national anthem, “don’t come to the game.” ---
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/3/olivier-vernon-disgruntled-nfl-fans-dont-come/
Jensen Comment
Some fans are taking him up on his advice to the chagrin of NFL owners and players. Others are in the stands cheering when Olivier Vernon gets knocked on his ass. All these options are legal under USA freedoms.

MSNBC Host Joy Reid Made Crass Anti-Gay Jokes on Her Now-Defunct 2007-2009 Blog (Charlie Crist Bashing) ---
https://www.thecut.com/2017/12/msnbc-host-joy-reid-made-anti-gay-jokes-on-her-old-blog.html
Also see
https://www.americanewshub.com/2017/12/03/ny-giants-player-continues-protest-tells-upset-fans-thinks/?utm_source=americanews
Jensen Comment
She should be forgiven since her indiscretions happened so long ago. Wouldn't she do the same for long-ago indiscretions? Yeah Right!

New York’s Metropolitan Opera suspends conductor James Levine after sexual abuse claims ---
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/harvey-weinstein-scandal/new-york-s-metropolitan-opera-investigate-conductor-james-levine-after-n826086

New Yorkers have launched a petition demanding that the Metropolitan Museum of Art remove a 1938 painting of a young woman with her underwear exposed, “given the current climate around sexual assault.
https://nypost.com/2017/12/03/new-yorkers-call-for-removal-of-met-painting-that-sexualizes-girl/
Jensen Comment
Think of all those paintings of nudes in the the Met and the Louvre. They're blatantly porn and need to be thrown out along with other filth of artists and photographers in history. 21st Century censors are on a roll.

All 3 Networks Ignore ABC’s Brian Ross Suspension Over False Report ---
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kristine-marsh/2017/12/04/all-3-networks-ignore-abcs-brian-ross-suspension-over-false

What the Pliocene epoch can teach us about future warming on Earth
About 3 million years ago, carbon dioxide levels were similar to today’s. What other changes might we expect?---
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/what-pliocene-epoch-can-teach-us-about-future-warming-earth

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello Nevares last month asked federal taxpayers to shell out $94 billion to pay for the territory’s recovery from Hurricane Maria — then turned around and paid out about $100 million in Christmas bonuses to island government employees ---
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/3/puerto-rico-gives-christmas-bonuses-after-asking-h/

WASHINGTON — Drivers on eastbound Interstate 66 saw tolls fluctuate frantically and top out at almost $35 during the Monday morning commute, the first with dynamic tolling on the highway. Rush-hour tolling began at 5:30 a.m. and early morning drivers saw tolls at around $3.50. Within an hour, the tolls had risen to $10 and eventually reached $34.50 at the height of rush-hour. By 9 a.m., prices were back down to below $10, said WTOP’s traffic reporter Dave Dildine ---
https://wtop.com/dc-transit/2017/12/interstate-66-rush-hour-tolls-begin-inside-beltway/
Jensen Comment
It would seem that this is regressive pricing --- the opposite of progressive pricing. Higher income drivers get more privileges to use the crowded toll roads.

The Atlantic:  Democratic Women Senators Call for Al Franken to Resign ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/al-franken-women-senators-resign/547658/

Rich homeowners in blue states are among the biggest losers in the GOP tax plan ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/republican-tax-reform-bill-impact-states-rich-housing-markets-2017-12

The GOP tax bill could add billions to Amazon, Facebook and Google’s bottom lines ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-reform-bill-may-save-amazon-facebook-google-billions-2017-12

Tesla can't catch up to Chevy's wildly successful Bolt ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cant-catch-up-to-chevys-wildly-successful-bolt-2017-12

1.55 is Number of jobs available for every job applicant in Japan, the highest since 1973. Automation is a welcome trend in the nation given its shrinking pool of workers ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-06/japan-embraces-robot-takeover-thanks-to-worsening-labor-supply

TaxProf Blog:  'Holy Crap': Experts Find Tax Plan Riddled With Glitches ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/12/-holy-crap-experts-find-tax-plan-riddled-with-glitches.html
Jensen Comment
Criticisms by tax experts is decidedly bipartisan.

China Just Launched the World's First Electric Cargo Ship ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-just-launched-the-worlds-first-electric-cargo-ship-2017-12

Egypt's War on Books How far will Abdel Fattah el-Sisi go to stifle dissent?
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/12/egypt-sisi-books-freedom-of-speech/547259/

The woman who showed her high school yearbook bearing Roy Moore’s signature as evidence that he knew her admitted Friday that she wrote notes on the page herself while still insisting that his John Hancock was legit ---
https://nypost.com/2017/12/08/roy-moore-accuser-admits-altering-yearbook-entry/

 

 

 

 




AICPA:  2017 CPA Firm Gender Survey ---
https://www.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/career/womenintheprofession/downloadabledocuments/wiec-2017-cpa-firm-gender-survey-brochure.pdf

Partnership on average remains overwhelmingly male, with women representing only 22% of partners in CPA firms.

Smaller firms continue to have higher percentages of women partners than average.

A growing percentage of women are serving as directors or non-equity partners.

Only 47% of all firms have a formal succession planning process, and only 2% include a formal gender component in their plans.

A total of 89% of the firms surveyed had one or more types of modified work arrangement . and a large majority of firms believe they are worthwhile.

Flexible work hours are the most popular program, followed by reduced hours and telecommuting.

Substantially more women use modified work arrangements at the non-equity partner level. Mentoring is the most popular advancement program among firms, used by 45% of firms, while sponsorship is substantially behind, used by only 12%.

Firms that used advancement programs strongly believed that they achieved their goals.

 The vast majority of firms that have implemented diversity initiatives found them to be successful . Gender initiatives were the most common, followed by combined diversity and inclusion efforts and then minority initiatives.

Jensen Comment
The article is not clear about how much there's a mixing of international versus national statistics for the large Big Four firms that are now all headquartered outside the USA except for Deloitte ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_accounting_firms

One would not expect that women do much better outside the USA in large accounting firms. Even in the most progressive nations such as those in Scandinavia the proportion of women in business firm executive suites is abysmal --- not what one would expect in progressive nations.

I'm no expert on reasons for the lag in gender equality in the executive suites. It would appear that the initiatives to hire women in multinational CPA firms has been far more successful than initiatives for gender equality in equity partnerships. More than half the entry-level hires are now women whereas less than 25% equity partners are women.

I'm not sure what happened or is still happening with the huge gender discrimination suit by KMPG women.

Revealed: the number of female equity partners at PwC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte ---
http://www.afr.com/business/accounting/revealed-the-number-of-female-equity-partners-at-pwc-kpmg-ey-and-deloitte-20161118-gsspq9

PwC is lagging its big four accounting and advisory rivals when it comes to the proportion of female equity partners at the firm in spite of a range of strategies designed to get more women to the top.

The percentage of female equity partners at PwC has not improved during the past three years while it has increased year-on-year at rival big four accounting and advisory firms Deloitte, KPMG and EY, according to data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

Overall, the percentage of equity female partners is highest at Deloitte, at 24 per cent, around 20 per cent at KPMG and EY, and at 17 per cent at PwC, based on data supplied by the firms to WGEA as of March 31.

PwC says it has increased the level of women being promoted to partner and made other moves to address the gender imbalance and said there is a time lag for these to kick into effect.

Continued in article

December 2, 2017 reply from Dennis Beresford

Bob,

 

I've been reading EY's excellent 2017 quality report. It contains a large number of metrics, including several relating to the diversity of the US audit practice. (I haven't looked at reports for the other Big 4 firms yet but I suspect they have similar information.)

 

EY reports that 24% of its audit partners are female in fiscal 2017, the same as the year before but up one percentage point from fiscal 2015. But the numbers get more interesting at other levels. 52% of EY's "Executive Directors," 43% of senior managers and managers, and 47% of seniors and staff are female. 

 

Overall, 44% of the firm's US audit professionals are female and 43% of new partners this past year were female or minorities. And 44% of campus hires were female in the latest year - nearly 30% were minorities.

 

Clearly, the pipeline is being filled and the major firms like EY are doing a pretty good job of developing outstanding talent whatever its gender or ethnicity.

 

Denny

Bob Jensen's threads on the history of women in accountancy are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Women


Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Trump travel ban ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/04/supreme-court-allows-president-trumps-travel-ban-to-go-fully-into-effect.html

The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump's latest travel ban on six Muslim-majority nations to go into effect.

Two of the nine justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor — dissented.

The ban applies to travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.


Congressional Fraud Beat
Corrine Brown, a former Florida congresswoman from Jacksonville, was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud and other charges related to a fake charity she used to put money in her own pocket while serving in Washington ---
http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/ex-florida-congresswoman-corrine-brown-sentenced-five-years-prison-fraud?utm_source=Constant Contact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=News Alert

Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates Blog ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm


The IRS Scandal, Day 1671: Lois Lerner’s Secrets ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/12/the-irs-scandal-day-1671-lois-lerners-secrets.html

Wall Street Journal editorial, Lois Lerner’s Secrets: The Former IRS Official Wants a Court to Seal Her Testimony:

If only the National Security Agency were as good at keeping secrets as Lois Lerner. When news that the IRS had targeted conservative groups led to congressional hearings, the former director of the Exempt Organizations division declared her innocence and then clammed up. Now she and her former IRS associate, Holly Paz, are asking a federal judge to seal forever their depositions in a lawsuit that the IRS settled last month for $3.5 million.

Ms. Lerner and Ms. Paz say they or their families have endured harassment or death threats. But Edward Greim, the attorney for the roughly 400 tea-party clients who sued, notes in reply that the last threat Ms. Lerner and Ms. Paz cited was from early 2014.

Leave aside that the usual way of dealing with threats or harassment is to notify police or the FBI—not to keep information about an abuse of power by public officials from the public. Every other party is united for disclosure: the defense (i.e., the government, which has admitted wrongdoing and apologized); the plaintiffs; and the Cincinnati Enquirer, which has filed a motion to lift the seal. ...

American taxpayers who will fork out $3.5 million for Ms. Lerner’s actions have a right to hear how she justified what she did at the IRS.

Jensen Comment
Lois Lerner readily confessed to and apologized for, as an IRS administrator, her violation of the law by targeting conservative groups for delaying or blocking their efforts to get tax exempt status.
She resigned from the IRS in disgrace.
What prolonged this "scandal" for years is her refusal to testify under oath whether or not she was doing so at the behest of the Obama Whitehouse, --- which would've made it an enormous scandal that threatened his presidency in the second term All of that is now history except for the possible embarrassment this would be to memories of his presidency.


The EU has published its first 'blacklist' of tax havens — here are the named countries ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/eu-blacklist-of-tax-havens-published-2017-12

. . .

The 17 blacklisted countries are:

American Samoa

Bahrain

Barbados

Grenada

Guam

South Korea

Macao

The Marshall Islands

Mongolia

Namibia

Palau

Panama

St Lucia

Samoa

Trinidad & Tobago

Tunisia

The United Arab Emirates.

It also published a "greylist" of 47 countries, which include the British Overseas Territories (OTs) and Crown Dependencies (CDs) of Jersey, Guernsey, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Countries were blacklisted if they were deemed to have failed to meet international standards on tax transparency and tax rates, and had not provided sufficient commitments that they would change in the months leading up to the list's publication. Those on the greylist made promises to reform their tax structures, which include changes to ensure companies are not using 0% corporate tax rates to avoid paying tax on profits.

Continued in article


Simpson's Paradox ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox

How a statistical paradox helps to get to the root of bias in college admissions ---
https://aeon.co/videos/how-a-statistical-paradox-helps-to-get-to-the-root-of-bias-in-college-admissions?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=02a464a0c7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-02a464a0c7-68951505


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




Bob Jensen's health care messaging --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm

Democrats:  Are You Sure You Want Medicare (plus universal "free" nursing care) for All?
http://reason.com/archives/2017/09/12/are-you-sure-you-want-medicare-for-all
Jensen Comment
If done well it will cost more than the entire USA Federal budget with exploding future inflation expenses.

Harvard:  5 Ways U.S. Hospitals Can Handle Financial Losses from Medicare Patients ---
https://hbr.org/2017/11/5-ways-u-s-hospitals-can-respond-to-medicares-mounting-costs?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert&referral=00563&spMailingID=18456355&spUserID=MTkyODM0MDg0MAS2&spJobID=1140782818&spReportId=MTE0MDc4MjgxOAS2

Surprise! How Obamacare is beginning to look a lot like Medicaid ---
https://theconversation.com/surprise-how-obamacare-is-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-medicaid-86508

Data USA (community demographics, such as Medicare reimbursements by county) --- https://datausa.io/
Deloitte played a major role in developing this database on poverty, health, and many other data categories


The New York Times
Under New Tax Plan, the Cost of Aging Could Rise ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/your-money/tax-plan-medical-deduction.html

. . .

Meet Medha Godbole, 58, whose 60-year-old husband, Sanjay, is paraplegic, nonverbal and incontinent. The Solon, Ohio, couple have about $130,000 in expenses for Mr. Godbole’s round-the-clock, in-home care. Loss of the tax break would cost them close to $30,000 annually.

Meet Conrad Wagner, 88, who spent his working years at the Veterans Administrationand then teaching at Vanderbilt University. He expects to spend about $200,000 this year on care and expensive equipment for his 87-year-old wife, Jane, who has a stomach condition that requires 24/7 help in their Nashville home.

Meet Kae Yates, who had to spend over $75,000 this year. Her husband, Reggie, is 77 and lives in an assisted living home in the wake of a stroke. She’s 72 and still has all the usual expenses for her own home and daily life in Claremont, Calif.

How many more are out there like them? The AARP Public Policy Institute, relying on the latest Internal Revenue Service data from 2015, notes that 8.8 million people take the medical expense deduction each year. Not all of them are older. Many children with special needs, for instance, have so many expenses that their parents end up qualifying for the deduction. Ditto sick or disabled adults with all sorts of maladies.

Still, about 55 percent of the taxpayers who claimed the deduction in 2015 were 65 and older, according to AARP. Also, 69 percent have incomes under $75,000.

The average amount that people claimed was $9,904, which makes the couples we’ve met up above outliers. But it stands to reason that people who need long-term care will spend some of the highest amounts, given the high cost of nursing homes and similar care. And because 52 percent of people who live beyond 65 will need some kind of extended care before they die, according to federal health data, these outsize expenses are the ones that we ought to focus on when considering which tax breaks we want to persist.

In an ideal world, any big new tax bill makes things simpler. Cutting deductions for medical expenses does make the year-end chore easier. But is it fair?

Imagine two couples, both alike in incomes, in a state without income tax where we lay our scenario. They have $150,000 in income and $100,000 in medical expenses and take no other itemized deductions.

Now imagine that one gets a deduction for medical expenses and one does not. Using the 2017 tax brackets and a rule that would not allow medical deductions unless they exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income, a couple that could access the deduction would end up with $15,547 more at the end of tax season than one that could not deduct and thus paid more in taxes, according to calculations that Ruth A. Sattig Betz, an accountant in Farmingdale, N.Y., ran for me.

Take the income down to $75,000 (where the extra $25,000 for the medical costs to pay the $100,000 in bills would come from sources or savings that are not subject to income tax) and the household with the ability to take the deduction would end the year with $6,826 more.

So the medical expenses clearly matter, a lot. “Two households may have identical incomes, but they do not at all have identical capacity to pay taxes,” said Cristina Martin Firvida, AARP’s director of financial security. “And it’s not because of a choice that one of them made.”

Indeed, to critical observers, it looks like Republican leaders in Congress are using the tax code to punish states with high income taxes. They use the bill to accomplish this by limiting how much of those state income taxes are deductible. That effectively penalizes some of those residents, who did choose to live in those states, with a higher total tax bill.

Similarly, the proposal to lower the size of a mortgage that is eligible for interest deductions is akin to removing a subsidy for people who choose to buy bigger homes or live in more expensive areas.

Nobody chooses to be sick though, which makes the House’s move to strip out the medical expense deduction feel harsh to people who really, truly wish they had not qualified for it in the first place.

“This is completely out of our hands,” said Dr. Godbole, who is a pathologist. “It’s not like sending kids to private school,” she added, in a pointed reference to a new tax break that lawmakers hope to add for parents who do just that and could end up being able to do so with money they save in 529 plans, which are currently only for higher education.

Moreover, eliminating a deduction probably shouldn’t cause a chain reaction that will cost the federal government money. After all, the quicker that sick, older people run out of money because of higher tax bills, the sooner they will need Medicaid to pay for their long-term care. And who helps pay for Medicaid? The very same federal government that would no longer permit people to deduct high medical expenses.

If the changes comes to pass, Ms. Yates in California figures she and her husband could run out of savings in about five years. I contacted the House Ways and Means Committee to see what its chairman, Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas, thought about the specific impact of the House’s proposal on elderly people with high expenses. “Chairman Brady is committed to addressing this issue at the conference committee,” said Lauren Blair Aronson, the committee’s press secretary.

Dr. Godbole, who is still working, can make her household’s money last longer than the Yates’s savings. But her husband might live for decades, owing to his excellent heart, she said, and their money probably would not last that long.

She seeks no pity, she said. She knows many people in the stroke support club they belong to who will be in big financial trouble much sooner if the deduction disappears. But she sees the stories about Congress wanting to cut entitlement programs once they finish yanking the medical deduction, and worries. “It will be a double whammy for us,” she said.

Professor Wagner said that he understands the zeal to simplify the tax code. He expressed no particular ill will for his elected representatives, though he has written them to outline his situation and concerns.

Having worked until just a few years ago, he had hoped for financial certainty and the emotional peace it would have provided, even if he and his wife knew they could not predict their future health. But now, he said, he finds himself constantly checking the news for word on the tax plan’s progress.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The sad thing is that so many elderly folks planned their retirement savings in anticipation that long-term medical care (not funded by Medicare) would at least remain tax deductible like its been for decades upon decades. I predict that losing this tax deduction will lead to a lot more cheating where nest eggs are given away to heirs so that those elderly will get Medicaid to pay for all long-term care. This cheating is now somewhat common and will become rampant if the medical deduction is lost for income tax calculations.


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United Kingdom:  Millions denied an NHS dentist ---
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Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm

·     With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review (TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier

·     With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams

·     With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of Accountancy Ignores TAR

·     With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research into Undergraduate Accounting Courses

Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave  --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
By Bob Jensen

What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?  ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong

The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
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