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 February 28, 2018 edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2018/tidbits022818.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

 

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
Aristotle

 

How many times have we heard ‘free tuition,’ ‘free health care,’ and free you-name-it? If a particular good or service is truly free, we can have as much of it as we want without the sacrifice of other goods or services. Take a ‘free’ library; is it really free? The answer is no. Had the library not been built, that $50 million could have purchased something else. That something else sacrificed is the cost of the library. While users of the library might pay a zero price, zero price and free are not one and the same. So when politicians talk about providing something free, ask them to identify the beneficent Santa Claus or tooth fairy.
Walter Williams

 

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.
Eric Hoffer.

 

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Winston Churchill

 

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.

That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.
Thomas Jefferson

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

And many writers have imagined for themselves republics and principalities that have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for there is such a gap between how one lives and how one ought to live that anyone who abandons what is done for what ought to be done learns his ruin rather than his preservation: for a man who wishes to profess goodness at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good.
Niccolo Machiavelli

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

You can get a lot farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.
Al Capone

Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.
Teddy Roosevelt

Why did Mueller's indictments skip over the most obvious and pertinent statute that was violated? (to shield Hillary?)
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/02/why_did_muellers_indictments_skip_over_the_most_obvious_and_pertinent_statures_that_were_violated.html
Also see
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/02/why-mueller-didnt-indict-the-russians-for-meddling-in-the-presidential-election.php?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sw&utm_campaign=sw

NY Times: Tax Overhaul Gains Public Support, Buoying Republicans ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/02/ny-times-tax-overhaul-gains-public-support-buoying-republicans.html

 

Nate Silver:  How Much Did Russian Interference Affect The 2016 Election?
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-did-russian-interference-affect-the-2016-election/

The Atlantic:  How the Swamp Drained Trump ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/swamp-trump/551807/

The Atlantic:  The Danger of the Anti-Trump Recoil Going Too Far ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/jeff-sessions-anglo-american/553292/

The Atlantic:  What's Behind Trump's Rising Popularity? ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/trump-bounceback/553337/

The Atlantic:  What Iran is Really Up To in Syria
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/iran-hezbollah-united-front-syria/553274/

The Atlantic:  The Case of the Sick Americans in Cuba Gets Stranger ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/what-happened-to-american-diplomats-in-cuba-nobody-knows/553343/
Jensen Comment
The scary part to me is that there may be a sonic weapon that insiders (think CIA) does not want to talk about

The Atlantic:  A Taste of Washington Corruption ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/membership/archive/2018/02/a-taste-of-washington-corruption/553652/
 This one's not free

The Atlantic:  There's Still Time to Act Against Russian Interference Obama didn’t move quickly enough. Trump doesn’t have to make the same mistake ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/russia-mueller-trump-indictment-obama/553679/

One Pentagon Agency Lost Track of $800 Million—But Now We're Spending Even More on Defense ---
http://reason.com/archives/2018/02/14/one-pentagon-agency-lost-track-of-800-mi

Why women’s ice hockey has a higher concussion rate than football ---
https://www.vox.com/videos/2018/2/14/17009594/concussion-olympics-womens-ice-hockey

Texas state Sen. Uresti arrested, turns himself in to FBI ---
https://www.expressnews.com/business/local/article/BREAKING-Texas-state-Sen-Uresti-turns-himself-11152908.php

Stanford University:  Rent Control’s Winners and Losers ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/161ad17374b864d1

Cisco to bring $67 billion to U.S. after new tax law 
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cisco-returns-to-growth-after-two-year-sales-slump-1518645580

 

Conservative Californians are fleeing to Texas. Data show they're in for a surprise ---
https://qz.com/1189388/conservative-californians-are-moving-to-texas-for-the-home-prices-and-politics/

Snow-Making For Skiing During Warm Winters Comes With Environmental Cost ---
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/17/584494192/snow-making-for-skiing-during-warm-winters-comes-with-environmental-cost
Jensen Comment
From my desk on winter days I often see snow plumes rising from Cannon Mountain's 500+ snow making machines ---
Set 09 (my little red fox)  --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Snow/Set09/SnowSet09.htm
Set 10  --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Snow/Set09/SnowSet10.htm
 

Tesla also lost a staggering amount of money in 2017 — $2 billion — as it struggled to ramp up production of its first mass-market vehicle, the Model 3. The carmaker raised more than that during the year, by selling more equity (and diluting existing shareholders' stake) and making a foray into the junk-bond market. But it didn't raise that much more, and although it ended the year with over $3 billion in cash (thanks to conservative spending for the fourth quarter), that's only enough to keep the lights on for a year.
http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-focus-on-consumer-investor-expectations-or-face-reckoning-2018-2

Freakonomics:  What Does a CEO Actually Do ---
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/c-e-o-actually/
Jensen Comment
I think CEO pay levels are outrageous, but I'm not so concerned about compensation that comes with success. What I hate are golden parachutes that come with failure ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen//FraudConclusion.htm#OutrageousCompensation

Lesson From The Tax Court: The Phantom Of The Tax Code—Discharge Of Indebtedness ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/02/lesson-from-the-tax-court-the-phantom-of-the-tax-code.html
Jensen Comment
If you have enormous unpaid student loans and a wealthy significant other it may pay to get married. This is not mentioned in this article.

Asian-American groups are saying that affirmative action hurts their chances to get into Ivy League schools ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/asian-american-groups-doj-affirmative-action-definition-ivy-league-harvard-2018-2

As ISIS loses ground in the Middle East, its fighters are coming to the Philippines ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-fighters-are-coming-to-the-philippines-after-losing-territory-in-me-2018-2

Franklin Graham: Christians Should be Alarmed by ABC’s Anti-Christian Rhetoric ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2018/02/20/franklin-graham-christians-should-be-alarmed-by-abcs-antichristian-rhetoric-n2451602?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Joy Behar, one of the co-hosts of ABC’s “The View,” suggested last week that Christians who listen to the voice of God may be mentally ill ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2018/02/20/franklin-graham-christians-should-be-alarmed-by-abcs-antichristian-rhetoric-n2451602?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
Jensen Comment
In that case Christians should not be allowed to buy guns.

The USA Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to expand or reinforce constitutional gun rights in recent years ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/u-s-supreme-court-won-t-question-waiting-period-for-gun-buyers?cmpid=BBD022018_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=180220&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

Why Trump Isn’t Taking Democrats’ Offer For A Wall ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-trump-isnt-taking-democrats-offer-for-a-wall/

KPMG Report on New Tax Law (218 pages)
https://home.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/us/pdf/2018/02/tnf-new-law-book-feb6-2018.pdf

Why Justin Trudeau Is Being Snubbed in India ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/justin-trudeau-india-trip/553958/

Sen. Bob Mendenez's Financial Friend:  Palm Beach County eye doctor Salomon Melgen gets 17 years for Medicare fraud ---
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-n-palm-beach-county/palm-beach-gardens/palm-beach-county-eye-doctor-salomon-melgen-gets-17-years-for-medicare-fraud

How much Adjusted Gross income does it take to be in the Top 1%?, 2%?, 5%?, 10%?
http://ritholtz.com/2018/02/get-1-need-adjusted-gross-income-480930/

Australia has eliminated mass shootings — here's what the US can learn ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/does-gun-control-work-2018-2
Then pro gun control media generally cherry picks the gook examples and leaves out the bad examples
European countries such as Belgium, France and the Netherlands have even stricter gun control laws than Australia does, but their mass public shooting rates are at least as high as those in the United States --
-
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/23/us-gun-control-advocates-exaggerate-benefits-australias-gun-restrictions.html

When the AR-15s saved lives in home invasions ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/scottmorefield/2018/02/26/the-ar15-a-tool-for-good-nine-powerful-real-life-examples-to-counter-the-lefts-empty-rhetoric-n2454199?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
Jensen Comment
I favor banning the sale of assault rifles across the USA. For home invasions shotguns and pistols are more than enough protection.

North Korea's Winter Olympics cheer squad are being forced into sexual slavery, according to a defector ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-olympics-cheer-squad-allegedly-forced-into-sex-slavery-2018-2

Northern Kentucky University's law-school dean, who resigned from his post amid allegations of sexual harassment, will stay on as the law school's highest-paid professor ---
https://abovethelaw.com/2018/02/law-dean-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-allegations-but-will-be-back-as-highest-paid-professor/?elqTrackId=b3e32d5ddc264aa0bac377d5bff00597&elq=3f9a8a9e7b4a435db91913b0c9a42005&elqaid=17964&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7970
Jensen Comment
Hey these tenure protections really work!

Assad defies UN with 'chlorine attack' on eastern Ghouta ---
Read the full story
Will they ever get this monster for war crimes?

Counterfeit valium bought online in enormous quantities from China has been blamed for a steep rise in drug-related deaths across Scotland ---
Read the full story

Viewership of the Pyeongchang games was down 24 percent compared to Sochi ---
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/24/media/nbc-olympics-ratings-12-billion-rights/index.html
And the warm weather was lousy in Sochi

Rapes are soaring (20% increase) in Britain’s multicultural capital under Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan — but police claim they have no idea what could be behind the increase. 7,613 rapes were recorded in Sadiq Khan’s London in the 12 months to the end of January 2018 ---
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/02/26/police-dont-know-rape-20-per-cent-sadiq-khans-london/
The number of rapes in NYC in 2016 was slightly under 2,400, double that of 2014
https://projects.newsday.com/databases/long-island/new-york-city-crime-rate/
Rapes are dramatically higher in Paris where an estimated 90% of the rapes are never reported
I'm not sure how comparable the data are for London versus NYC versus Paris (in part due to differences in reporting rates) ---
https://news.vice.com/article/new-study-looks-at-rapes-in-paris-and-says-nine-out-of-ten-go-unreported

Rape Statistics --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics
Comparisons between nations are very difficult because of inconsistencies in how rape is defined (see Sweden) and differences in the reporting of rape (such as the low reporting rates in France)

 




 


 


Why Americans Are Proud To Pay Taxes (presented at NYU on February 15, 2018)---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/02/williamson-presents-why-americans-are-proud-to-pay-taxes-today-at-nyu.html 

Conventional wisdom holds that Americans hate taxes. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Bringing together national survey data with in-depth interviews, Read My Lips presents a surprising picture of tax attitudes in the United States. Vanessa Williamson demonstrates that Americans view taxpaying as a civic responsibility and a moral obligation. But they worry that others are shirking their duties, in part because the experience of taxpaying misleads Americans about who pays taxes and how much. Perceived "loopholes" convince many income tax filers that a flat tax might actually raise taxes on the rich, and the relative invisibility of the sales and payroll taxes encourages many to underestimate the sizable tax contributions made by poor and working people.

Americans see being a taxpayer as a role worthy of pride and respect, a sign that one is a contributing member of the community and the nation. For this reason, the belief that many Americans are not paying their share is deeply corrosive to the social fabric. The widespread misperception that immigrants, the poor, and working-class families pay little or no taxes substantially reduces public support for progressive spending programs and undercuts the political standing of low-income people. At the same time, the belief that the wealthy pay less than their share diminishes confidence that the political process represents most people.

Upending the idea of Americans as knee-jerk opponents of taxes, Read My Lips examines American taxpaying as an act of political faith. Ironically, the depth of the American civic commitment to taxpaying makes the failures of the tax system, perceived and real, especially potent frustrations

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
NYU is a left-leaning university in New York that teaches tax loopholes.  It makes me wonder why in the very shadow of NYU those civic-minded taxpayers are doing their best to avoid or defer income taxes.

Firstly, the high income folks on Wall Street and most other parts of New York probably spend more for NY  tax lawyers and NY accounting firms to minimize their taxes and take advantage of every loophole in the Federal and NY State tax code. At the moment New York's governor is leading the charge to re-write the state's income tax code to provide loopholes for tax avoidance of the forthcoming revisions of the Federal tax code.

Secondly, across the USA, nearly half the persons who file tax returns owe zero income taxes and are simply filing for their refunds or even their added cash from the earned income tax credit. Yes they pay payroll taxes but in return they eventually want those to come back in the form of Social Security and Medicare.

Thirdly, the $2 trillion tax avoiding underground economy is enormous in the USA, especially among undocumented immigrants.

Case Studies in Gaming the Income Tax Laws
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/TaxNoTax.htm

 


ICO --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_coin_offering

Why New York City Needs its Own Cryptocurrency ---
http://nautil.us/issue/57/communities/why-new-york-city-needs-its-own-cryptocurrency

Researchers at Cornell Release Paper on Cryptocurrencies ---
http://cornellsun.com/2018/01/23/researchers-at-cornell-release-paper-on-cryptocurrencies/
Thank you Glen Gray for the heads up

Facebook is banning all ads for bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and ICOs ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-bans-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-ico-ads-2018-1

The SEC has shut down another ICO — this time an alleged $600 million scam in Texas ---
http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/sec-shuts-down-arise-bank-600-million-alleged-ico-scam-dallas-texas-2018-1-1014571716

From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on January 31, 2018

SEC moves to stop digital coin offering
Federal regulators moved to halt an initial coin offering that allegedly raised $600 million in what amounts to the biggest U.S. intervention yet into the world of raising money by issuing digital tokens.

 


 

 


 


 


 


 

 


 


 


 


 

 

 

 

 




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

World Wealth & Income Database --- http://wid.world/

OECD Health Statistics 2016 --- http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/health-data.htm

Facts and statistics (Fast Facts) --- http://gwu.edu/~gprice/handbook.htm 

The case that Idaho’s brazen anti-Obamacare plan isn’t illegal after all --- |
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17037866/idaho-anti-obamacare-plan-not-illegal

Bob Jensen's links to data and statistics ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#EconStatistics

Bob Jensen's World Library ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm

The case that Idaho’s brazen anti-Obamacare plan isn’t illegal after all --- |
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17037866/idaho-anti-obamacare-plan-not-illegal

 

 

 

 

 

 




 


 


 


 


 

 


Bob Jensen's threads on health coverage are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm

 

 

Bob Jensen's Tidbits Archives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbitsdirectory.htm 

Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Summary of Major Accounting Scandals --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals

Bob Jensen's threads on such scandals:

Bob Jensen's threads on audit firm litigation and negligence ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm

Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Enron --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm

Rotten to the Core --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm

American History of Fraud --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudAmericanHistory.htm

Bob Jensen's fraud conclusions ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on auditor professionalism and independence are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001c.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on corporate governance are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm#Governance 

 

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 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm

Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews

Bob Jensen's economic crisis messaging http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm

Bob Jensen's threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/