TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 422.
Archive for 2014
July 5, 2014
HOBBY LOBBY’S BOYCOTTERS AREN’T CRAFTY ENOUGH:
Culture warriors face two additional problems:
They tend to want to boycott places they never shopped at in the first place.
The company’s actual core demographic takes umbrage about the boycott and stages a much more effective counterboycott.I can’t tell you how many times I have had some version of the following conversation:
Angry person on the Internet: Wal-Mart’s treatment of its workers is shameful. I am not going to give that company any of my business!
Me: How much did you spend at Wal-Mart before you realized its treatment of workers was shameful?
The modal answer to this query is sudden disappearance from the conversation. I’m not sure anyone has confessed to spending as much as $1,000 a year at the stores. Of those who claim to shop there, most seem to do so almost entirely on vacation in rural areas.
If this describes you, you are not Wal-Mart’s core demographic, and its executives don’t care whether you boycott the business; the loss in sales is less than they experience from miscalculating what sort of sunscreen to buy. They care very much about what their core demographic thinks, but those people are, by and large, not interested in these boycotts; they’re interested in paying 12 cents a can less for tomatoes.
Indeed.
LESSONS FROM GREECE: “I, like thousands of others trying to start businesses, learned that I would be at the mercy of public employees who interpreted the laws so they could profit themselves.”
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THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCANDALS CONTINUE: Sources: Whistleblower Forcing Out UT President. “Earlier this week, as an investigation was being launched into allegations that under-qualified students were being admitted into Texas’ flagship institution based on their political ties and relationships, the director of admissions announced she was leaving her job. This new investigation by Cigarroa comes on the heels of a cursory review by the UT System which found examples of inappropriate swaying the admissions process at the Austin campus. Those allegations have been at the center of an unprecedented impeachment effort — with lawmakers trying to silence the regent who first brought the problems to light.”
I AGREE: Micah Sifry: Why Facebook’s ‘Voter Megaphone’ Is the Real Manipulation to Worry About. And as I’ve noted, we don’t know that Facebook’s powers weren’t abused in 2012, but we do know that many Facebook workers volunteered for the Obama Campaign. And Mark Zuckerberg is involved in politics now . . . .
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CLUE, CHAMP? Setbacks Cast Cloud Over Obama’s Second Term.
THE FACEBOOK DEBACLE, and more.
WHO ARE THE MYSTERIOUS FORCES behind the “Draft Mitt” movement? Mitt looks better and better in retrospect, but I don’t think he’s the GOP’s guy in 2016.
That said, I think Mitt’s chances are better than Al Gore’s.
THE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR SEEMS HAPPY TO COVER FOR DEMOCRATS: SUNY Buffalo Refuses To Reveal Hillary’s Speaking Fee.
More on Hillary’s speaking fees here.
July 4, 2014
HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY.
JOHN HINDERAKER: Cracks Appearing In Democratic Coalition. “Such ‘irregularities’ have been going on for a while, but they are only now coming to light and being reported in the local press. Why? Because a Democrat’s ox is being gored, and the Democrat in question has her lawyers on the case. In the meantime, we can all enjoy the spectacle as the Democratic Party’s internal contradictions try to resolve themselves.”
RANDY BARNETT: The Declaration of Independence, Annotated.
WELL, IT’S MORE FUN THAN SMOKING CIGARETTES: Why Thousands Of Men Like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Are Getting Throat Cancer.
JONAH GOLDBERG: Resenting The Republic: Liberals Take Exception To Exceptionalism. “Why liberals have become so comfortable running down America is no doubt complicated, but I think one part of the answer is obvious. Liberals tend to equate patriotism with the government. Obama was supposed to usher in a glorious new era of European-style big government. He’s failed, though alas not entirely. But in the attempt he aroused a populist movement — the tea parties — full of people who wore their traditional patriotism on their sleeves and tricorn hats. The forces of American exceptionalism proved formidable, taking advantage of our exceptional constitutional structure to thwart European social democracy. And liberal resentment over that fact is palpable.”
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LAWS ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Consumer Financial Protection Pulls an IRS, ‘Loses’ Documentation.
According to a report issued by the Inspector General for the Board of Governors and subsequently released by the House Financial Services Committee on Oversight and Investigations, the CFPB not only failed to secure funding approval, but the report also concludes that the entire project of renovating the CFPB headquarters in Washington, D.C., has “no sound basis” at all. With updated costs calculated, the project is expected to total $215 million dollars, amounting to $120 million dollars in excessive spending.
CFPB did not even follow its own guidelines for obtaining approval for the renovation, and incredibly, the Inspector General was unable to locate any documentation on the actual decision to renovate the bureau’s headquarters, whatsoever.
It’s just a criminal conspiracy with the power to tax.
SORRY, VEGETARIANS: Plants Know When They’re Being Eaten.
Like they say, Carrot Juice Is Murder.
CHATTANOOGA FIREFIGHTERS rescue damsels in distress.
NOTHING TO HIDE: Multiple Security Guards Blocked Rep. Bridenstine from Entering HHS Facility Housing Minors. “Officials blocked Bridenstine from entering the HHS facility currently housing approximately 1,200 unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors Tuesday – leaving the Republican asking, ‘What are they trying to hide?'”