From Pro Publica.   How the largest corporations avoid taxes.  Did you know Microsoft has a company in Puerto Rico worth tens of billions of dollars, but one that pays almost no taxes at all?  Not picking on MSFT, it seems everybody is doing it.  The path seems to go straight through campaign contributions to representatives.  Why should most people care?  Well, in the short term makes it harder for small business to compete and it raises the tax burden on the rest of society.  In the long term, it undermines democracy and fair and equal treatment, and leads us into a more corrupt society.

The IRS Decided to Get Tough Against Microsoft. Microsoft Got Tougher.

For years, the company has moved billions in profits to Puerto Rico to avoid taxes. When the IRS pushed it to pay, Microsoft protested that the agency wasn’t being nice. Then it aggressively fought back in court, lobbied Congress and changed the law.

I found about 1,500 old family photos (some as negatives) cleaning out my office closet.  I didn’t realize I had them.  I suppose someone (probably my mother) gave them to me for safekeeping and I lost track of them.  I spent them last few days digitizing them. Found want I believe is the earliest known photo of me, as well as me with my first cigar.  Hey, it was the 1960s.  Everyone smoked.

Been reading about the booming US economy.  The stock market is up and Austin seems to be in a boom, especially when it comes to real estate.  Things are good around here, but I was curious about the rest of the country.  A quick Google took me to the Bureau of Economic Analysis web site which has a nice graph right at the top.  See that boom?  Me neither.  And remember that this is with a trillion dollars deficit, during peacetime.

Gross Domestic Product, Third quarter 2019 (third estimate); Corporate Profits, Third quarter 2019 (revised estimate)

Mostly Deep Ellum.

Bruce Schneier discusses modern privacy and Facial Recognition bans.  A simple, straight forward explanation of what is going on and what it means for individuals.

Just a short trip to Big D.

15 years old today!

From the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia).

US town rejects solar farm after residents say it would suck up all the sunlight

Turns out that here in Austin hundreds of properties, including many multi-million dollar Mansions, had big property tax exemptions.  Why?  Hard to say.  Except for a local newspaper article nobody noticed.

After Statesman reports, hundreds of lakefront properties avoiding taxes now may have to pay up

Not so much really new stuff this year.  My 2019 playlist (subject to changes).