When Are We Going To Stop Taxing Social Security Benefits

 

When are we going to stop taxing Social Security benefits?

The federal government can tax your Social Security benefits if your combined income – your annual adjusted gross income (AGI), any nontaxable interest, and half of your Social Security benefits – exceeds $25,000 for an individual or $34,000 for a married couple. Some states tax Social Security benefits as well, though each has its own formula to determine the level of taxation.

Those are ridiculously low thresholds to be taxing SS benefits. They have been in effect for decades (since 1984) and have never been indexed to inflation so that now they tax the SS benefits of the poor and the middle class, when their original intention was to tax only the wealthy.

More ridiculous, your SS benefits, are subject to tax rates that can reach as high as 50%!!!!!! The highest Federal income tax rate for wealthy Americans including millionaires and billionaires is only 37%!!!! When Social Security was initiated in the 1930s, SS benefits were supposed to be tax free. We need to return to that intent.

Outlaw All Government Pensions

 Obviously, governments cannot be trusted to manage pension plans, especially when government employees can outrageously inflate their own pension through overtime pay in the last year before retirement (many government pensions are based on just the income earned in the last year of employment including overtime, instead of the average of the best 5 consecutive years out of the last 10 years as corporations who still offer pensions normally do). Time to outlaw government pensions and put that money invested to support pensions in "special"  401K plans, using a percentage (6 to 10%) of worker's salary invested each paycheck, paid by the state and also the Federal government, not the government employee. To that, the government employee can also add to his own "personal" 401K each paycheck, held separately from the "special" 401K described previously . At retirement, the special 401K becomes the "pension" with the state invested part taken out at 4% a year, divided into 12 monthly payments (which should make this pension self sustaining with inflationary increases occurring over time as investments should grow more than 4% a year long term based on stock market history). The employee part can be utilized however the state retired employee wants. In addition, there would also be Social Security payments each month as the worker must contribute to it while working as non-government employees do. No exemptions out of Social Security  for these workers. Problem solved. No more ridiculously generous early retirement pensions and no more 100% pensions based on overtime pay in the last year when the intention was for a 50% pension. Any needed reductions in pensions for current retirees would come out of the overtime cheaters first who inflated their pensions their last year of work to get them back to a 50% pension as originally planned by the state.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/12/11/every-states-pension-crisis-ranked/115099952/

Stock Market Pull Backs – Did You Really Take a Loss

 The stock market, the greatest generator of long term wealth, never gets there in a straight upward line. It is always a series of constant daily, weekly, monthly, annual ups and downs, sometimes small; sometimes quite large. 20-30% pullbacks (normally over weeks or months) are not unusual and sometimes 50% pullbacks occur but they are rare and normally occur during deep Recessions. When any of them occur, did you lose money?

Answer - it depends. Most people compare their highest stock portfolio valuation to what the stocks are worth after a downturn and consequently think that they have lost money. That's not necessarily true. For example, let's take the worst case scenario – a 50% decline in the stock market for a portfolio that was worth $100,000 at its height, but is now worth $50,000.

Scenario 1 – You invested the entire $100,000 at the peak of the stock market and now it is worth $50,000. Yes, if you cash it out, you definitely lost $50,000. However, if you leave it there for decades, and the stock market follows its historical precedents, then you likely will recover that $50,000 in 7 years or less, and go on to double and redouble that initial $100,000 investment.

Scenario 2 – You have been investing regularly for years and have actually spent $30,000 purchasing your current investments over time. Therefore, when your appreciated value of $100,000 at its peak high, drops down to $50,000, you would be wrong to say that you suffered a 50% loss. In actuality, you have a $20,000 gain over your $30,000 cumulative investments totals for a percentage gain of 67%. Again, if you do not sell it and just hold onto it for decades to come, you will likely again reach $100,000 and then double and re-double that amount over decades.

In order not to be forced to sell during a downturn of the stock market, the money that you have invested should not be money that you are going to need a short time later (whether that be a few months later or a few years later). Keep that money apart from your stock market investments and instead in a safe short term, liquid investment such as money market or short term CDs “laddered” to keep each CD reaching its term limits on a regular cyclical basis while the others are still not at maturity. For example, 6 one year CDs with one CD reaching maturity every two months. Gains will be tiny but safe.

Scenario 2 above is the best method of investing – in frequent small increments over a long period of time. That way when stock markets are high, the same amount of money invested then buys less shares at high prices and when the stock market is low, the same amount of money invested then buys more shares at low prices. Most people find it easiest to determine what percentage share of income they want or can afford to invest and automatically buy that same percentage each month.

What should you do if you want to use Scenario 2, but haven't in the past and now have a large amount of money available to invest? There is no perfect answer here:

If the stock market has recently crashed very substantially and hasn't yet started to recover, investing the whole amount of money available has the best chance of paying big dividends relatively soon (7 years or less).

If the market is at or close to an all time high and has been increasing nicely for 7 or more years, the stock market is at higher risk for a serious pullback. Investing the whole amount of available savings carries more risk. However, markets in the past that have reached an all time high sometimes experience hundred more all time highs over a number of years before any serious pullbacks begin. No one knows the short term future.

One possible play would be to start your investment program by investing each month your normal percentage of income that you would like/hope/can afford to permanently do in the future. To that monthly investment, also invest some of the already accumulated savings each month for say the next five years or more. So $100,000 saved would add another $1,666 invested each of the next 60 months (5 years). $60,000 saved would work out to $1,000 added investment per month. This won't make you the most gains possible, but it should earn you considerably more than not investing it at all, while also guarding against potential stock market crash short term catastrophic loss in value if the whole amount is invested in one shot.

Productivity is the Key to Jobs, Raises, Promotions, and Wealth

 Productivity is the measurement of the change (up, down, or even) of the total goods and services produced at any level (nation, industry, company, person) divided by the number of workers at that level. The more productivity grows faster than price inflation, the more real wealth is produced. It is the growth in productivity that produces the wealth that enables companies and their employees to prosper. It is responsible for job growth, the ability to give larger raises, the need for more workers and more managers to lead those workers (thus more promotional opportunities), and consequently more wealth growth.

Workers seem to think that is the managers and owners that determine their wages and promotions. In actuality it is a company's customers that ultimately hire and fire workers and hand out the raises and promotions. Managers and owners merely allocate the will of the customers (or lack of them). So managers try to hire and promote the most productive workers that they can find and fire the unproductive workers. This productivity “process” produces the most wealth for a company, a nation, and its citizens. Capitalism is the ultimate producer of productivity and wealth and is the most successful economic system in human history, the only one to raise billions of people out of poverty. Socialism has no such incentive and is the reason why it is the most failed economic system in human history, leaving all of its victims desperately poor and therefore miserable.

Socialism – Why It Always Fails

 

Two Reasons – Waste and Lack of Innovation.

Socialism is defined as government running a nation's economy. Socialism is the most failed economic system in human history and has left all of its victims poor and miserable, and many often dead from starvation.

On the other hand, Capitalism is the most successful economic system in human history and the only economic system to lift billions of people out of poverty.

For a company to succeed under Capitalism, it must provide the products and services with the quality and price that consumers are willing to pay without producing significantly more than what the free market is willing to purchase. The better it does this, the more profit it makes, which is the “reward” and “incentive” for being in business in the first place. If a company doesn't provide what people want to buy or produces much more than people are willing to buy, it has wasted the physical and human resources responsible for its products and services causing the company to lose money or profits to substantially shrink. When a company has produced an overstock of products that people are willing to purchase at the original price, Capitalistic companies monitor this and cut back on future production and/or are willing to cut prices to increase demand for their products so that they at least get something for their over production instead of nothing plus having to pay to store the unsaleable overstock, further adding to over production costs and therefore losses.

Socialist nations have none of these incentives and simply set socialist company sell prices and production “goals” to meet, whether or not those goals meet demand or are much more than demand, or are the price and quality that meet consumer wants and needs. Normally, they do not cut prices, nor reduce production quotas when their product sales are weak because governments have no incentive to do so. Nor do they increase production when product demand exceeds production goals, thus losing a profitable opportunity. Governments do not go out of business in these wasteful situations as do capitalistic companies.

Also, unlike capitalistic companies, Socialist government companies have no incentive to innovate. Unlike capitalist companies, there is no “reward” for doing so in a socialist nation, thus no incentive. That explains why the world's major innovative and wealthy companies originated right here in the United States – Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Google, Facebook, Tesla, Intel, etc.. Also explains why older, formerly successful companies that rest of their former laurels and do not compete aggressively and/or innovate shrink or go out of business – Sears, K-Mart, JCPenney, TWA, Pan Am, Grant's, A&P, Montgomery Wards, Radio Shack, Blockbusters, WoolWorths, etc..

Consequently, the people of Socialist governments, the victims of government waste, inefficiency, and lack of innovation, have much less wanted and needed products and services, and therefore much less wealth than the people of Capitalistic nations.

Restoring Confidence in Voting Results

 

The number one issue in my mind concerning the 2020 election is how do we amend the voting process in a way that permanently instills certainty and confidence that future vote counts will be accurate everywhere. The starting point must be developing and enforcing national standards that every state must follow. Here are my ideas.

1. Have a full proof system of keeping the list of registered voters accurate and up to date. This would involve updating the rolls of registered voters with every relocation and death event. Landlords, banks, real estate brokers, and funeral parlors would have to report moves (with one common form signed by the relocating adults involved, each indicating whether or not they are a registered voter) and deaths (signed by the funeral parlor director and a witness, preferably a family member) to a common national register and that register would be the ones that all states and territories utilize. In addition, this register would be checked and action taken if the same person voted in two or more locations.

2. Registered voters would be allowed to request mail in ballots for valid reasons such as poor health or vacation during elections. States would not be allowed to send mail in ballots to people who did not request them. All mail in ballots must be postmarked 10 days before the election date to insure that all are received by the election date. If there is a pandemic, then offer open tent locations to vote in person safely for those who want a safer way to vote.

3. All ballots whether mail in or not must be signed by the registered voter and the signature checked by the vote counters.

4. All voter polling places must require voters to show a government photo ID in order to vote.

5. All voter polling places must require election observers from each major party plus film the entire process from voting to counting at all times and provide that film to national authorities.

6. Forbid non-paper electronic voting machines. Too easy to program fraud and very hard to check. Use paper ballots. You can use machines to scan and count the paper ballots, but those machines must keep a record of each voter and who they voted for. After the machine has counted them, then a second check will be done, looking at randomly selected ballots (at least 10 per thousand ballots) and comparing each paper ballot to what the machine recorded for that same paper ballot to see if they agree. If even one error is found, then all the ballots must be recounted by hand. To avoid massive recounts, after every 1,000 votes, check the machine for errors. That way recounts are limited to 1,000 vote samples instead of possibly tens of thousands of votes.

7. There is no effective difference between an invasive army trying to replace the legally elected government of the United States and trying to do the same thing through intentional voter fraud. We would defend ourselves and shoot to kill an invasive army. We must treat voter fraud the same way. Anyone found guilty of intentional voter fraud would be executed – No Exceptions.

Credit Card Impact of Making Only Minimum Payments

Credit Card interest rates are generally around 20%, give or take a few percentage points. Let's take an example where the credit card interest rate is 18%, you spent $1,000 for the month (food, clothes, gas, etc.) on that credit card, and only make minimum payments for the next several years. How much did you really spend?

No matter what the interest rate is, the magic number to remember is “72”. Dividing the interest rate into 72 gives you the number of years it takes for your actual interest costs to double. 72 divided by the 18% interest rate is 4. So if you make only minimum payments (which generally are interest only payments) on your credit card, your actual costs increase on the amount charged (an increase of $1,000 in this example) every 4 years.

So after 4 years, that original $1,000 monthly credit card bill costs you minimally $2,000 ($1,000 in interest paid plus $1,000 in principal still owed). To keep it at $2,000 and not go higher, you would need to pay off that $1,000 principal in full immediately after the four years are up. If instead you keep making just minimum card payments, that $1,000 monthly purchase will continue to increase $1,000 in actual interest paid every 4 years, plus you still owe the $1,000 principal, thus costing you $3,000 in 8 years ($2,000 interest paid plus $1,000 principal owed), and $4,000 in 12 years ($3,000 interest paid plus $1,000 in principal owed).

If your credit card interest rate is 24%, then the numbers in the previous example would be the same, except that the timing would be every 3 years (72 divided by 24 equals 3). So your actual costs for that $1,000 monthly charge would be $2,000 after 3 years, $3,000 after 6 years, and $4,000 after 9 years.

Plus if you keep making more monthly credit card charges each month and still keep paying only the minimum charge, your actual costs will continue to zoom up in the same manner for those new credit card charges too. 

Judges – Don't Allow Them to Steal Your Freedom

 

In America, both our Constitution and our laws by which we are governed were passed by legislatures at either city, state, or Federal levels and signed into law by mayors, governors, or Presidents, all of whom we elected to serve our will. In essence, we the people are in charge of our government.

Judges are mostly non-elected officials whose sole duty is to enforce the Constitution and laws as written. To do otherwise, with the exception of laws that violate the Constitution, is to take our freedom away to govern ourselves. No sane person should ever tolerate that. Yet, we have so called “liberal” judges who take it upon themselves to reject the clearly written intent of our laws and Constitution and instead of enforcing them, they instead “interpret” them to fit their own personal political ideology. By doing so, they've taken away our freedom to govern ourselves. No matter what our political party allegiance, all of us should be adamantly against judges who make their own laws instead of enforcing our laws as written. Vote out of office those politicians who support appointing liberal judges to do the job that politicians we have elected are supposed to do.

End Social Media Censorship

 Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Media have taken it upon themselves to "censor" posts that they don't believe are true. It doesn't matter who you are, including the President. Who made these social media the "experts" on facts and science? "Science" is mostly the evolution of theories with non-universal agreements among scientists. There is no such thing as "settled science" which is a term so often quoted by liberals to promote their biased viewpoints. Theories can and do change as learning never stops in science. For example, it has been theory that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light for decades. That is no longer true. Man-Made Climate change - a favorite censorship topic for social media - does NOT have universal scientific agreement, not even close. In a "free" country, we need to pass laws banning censorship by social media, which are mostly mouth pieces for liberal causes and ideas.

California – Imposing a Liberal Dictatorship

 In California, political parties are NOT allowed to select their own candidates through primaries and run their party winner in the General election. Instead, the top two primary vote getters for all political parties combined, no matter what their political party, are the only ones allowed to run in the General election, including candidates for Governor, Senate, and Congress (but not yet President). In a heavily Democratic State, this pretty much guarantees that only Democrats can run in the General election. So instead of a Democratic candidate and a Republican candidate and any other political party candidate running against each other in the General election, it is almost always two Democrats running against each other in the General election with no other political party candidates on the ballot. How this is legal and not yet challenged and over turned by the Supreme Court is incomprehensible. It teaches all of us to be very scared of liberals because their goal is to impose a liberal dictatorship by any means possible on the rest of us.

America – Thank God that We are NOT a Democracy

 Most Americans think of our nation as a Democracy. Not True. We are a “Republic”. Be very grateful that our very wise Founding Fathers feared a true Democracy where a mere 51% of the population could restrict the freedoms of the other 49%. For example, in a true Democracy, a simple majority of 51% could declare a national religion that everyone must belong to under penalty of death. 51% could eliminate the right of women to vote or even go to school. 51% could enforce stringent dress codes for everyone. 51% could take away freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

In America's Republic, we have very important rights guaranteed in our Constitution that a simple majority cannot take away. We can change, delete, or add to our Constitution, but NOT with a simple majority. Just to propose a Constitutional Amendment requires either two thirds of Congress or two thirds of States to propose it. Next, to become law, three fourths of State Legislatures must ratify it. A very daunting process that makes it very difficult to pass “bad” Constitutional Amendments, thus preserving our Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. Important – not an impossible process, as 27 Amendments to the Constitution have been passed such as Amendments giving Blacks and later women the right to vote.

While most nations, including strict Democratic nations, at the Federal level have a single legislative body to pass laws, America is extremely fortunate and indebted to its Founding Fathers to have two legislative bodies – the House of Representatives where the most populous States are represented in relation to their population versus small States, and the Senate, where every state has an equal vote (two Senators each). Also in the Senate, filibusters can result in the need to have 60% of the Senate agree to pass legislation or approve Federal nominees. Even then, the President can “veto” the legislation, effectively stopping it from becoming law unless two thirds of Congress overrides the Presidential veto. The Founding Fathers wanted the political parties to work together and if necessary to compromise in order to pass legislation in a manner that prevents bad legislation from being passed into law. Absolute Genius!!

In the same manner, our wise Founding Fathers invented the Electoral College to elect Presidents so that an overwhelming majority from large population States could not impose their will on the smaller States. The intent was for any President to be elected, he/she would have the need to campaign and listen to the voices of all States. Otherwise, Presidential candidates might totally ignore smaller states and only cater to and campaign in large states. Again, Absolute Genius!! We just saw how well that worked in the 2016 Presidential election. A huge majority in California for the Democratic candidate gave that candidate a multi-million vote national majority. Without California, smaller State majorities gave the Republican candidate more than a million vote majority of the other 49 States and the Electoral College to win. Worked as planned!!

Retirement – How to Really Help Americans

 If you really want to help Americans save for retirement, then make all 401Ks and IRAS tax free when we make deposits and also tax free when we make withdrawals, plus stop taxing Social Security benefits. Also, it would be a great idea if for each American born citizen, we deposit $10,000 when they are born into an investment account which buys only ETF indexes (S&P 500- SPY, Nasdaq 100 - QQQ, S& P 400 mid -size companies - MDY, S&P 600 small size companies - SLY) and leave them there (never trading them) until age 65. After that, (when likely it would have grown to over 5 million dollars based on 10 to 11% long term stock market growth) they receive 4% a year (about $200,000 a year to start which should be divided by 12 and paid monthly) until they die. Likely the amount paid each year as benefits will grow in size most years given the 10-11% long term growth of the stock market. The annual cost would be roughly 30 to 40 billion dollars initially or only about 1% of the total Federal budget. Over time, the left over amount when people die must be utilized to fund new future newborn, thus becoming self sustaining over time. Increase the initial $10,000 by the inflation rate each year. Even a hard working poor American with no savings would be well off at retirement.

How To Pass Annual Federal Budgets

 

Congress almost never approves a budget each year because it only takes 40 Senators out of 100 to stop it. The Democrats, despite trillion dollar deficits, always want more spending except for military spending because they want to use needed military funds to add to social programs. So Democrats never approve of budgets with spending cuts in them and Republicans never approve of budgets with giant spending increases that Democrats like to pass. The end result is a series of temporary "continuing spending resolutions" each year that must be approved by Congress. Democrats love these because it takes last year's spending and automatically adds more to it. Never any cuts to spending that way; always increases to spending. Republicans can technically fight for spending cuts for these continuing spending resolutions but Democrats won't give it to them. The only option is to shut the government down by not passing spending resolutions to put pressure on Democrats to compromise. However, the fake news media always falsely blames Republicans for government shut downs, making it political suicide and the Democrats know this. We need a new method - a Constitutional Amendment that forces government to pass an annual budget or else the budget is automatically cut by 10% from last year except for Social Security which goes up by the inflation rate. No temporary continuing spending resolutions allowed. Only then will both parties be equally motivated to compromise.

Social Justice Protests Are Deeply Flawed and Consequently Won't Work

 

So called social justice protests occurring across the nation based on an infinitely tiny fraction of perceived unjustified killings or injuries of a handful of Black people by police are understandably having the opposite effect of what is intended. The reasons are clear and simple:

1. Every single one of the incidents protested were caused by one or more of the following criminal acts by the perceived “victims” - disobeying police orders, resisting arrest, struggling or fighting with police, threatening police, shooting at police, and fleeing police. If you do any of those things instead of quietly cooperating with police and you are injured or killed by police, then that injury or death is on you, not the police. None of these people who were injured or killed by police would have been harmed if only they had peacefully cooperated with police. Therefore, many of us have zero empathy for those who got hurt or killed by police because they willfully did not cooperate peacefully with police. If you are innocent, you will get your day in court to prove it.

2. There are roughly 800,000 police in 18,000 police departments making roughly 13 million arrests per year, often in very dangerous situations. The very fact that only a handful of arrests result in questionable deaths speaks volumes of how extraordinary well police do their very stressful and dangerous jobs. Note that a cop is 25 times more likely to die in the line of duty than a Black person is likely to be killed by a cop. 25 times!!!!

3. In the rare cases where a police shooting or killing of a Black or any person results in the cop's arrest and charges of assault and/or murder are filed, then it is time to stop protesting that incident and let the justice system run its course which is a trial by a jury of his/her peers, not a trial by mob protest. You would want it no other way for yourself should you someday be charged with a crime. If you don't want to lose that right for yourself, then you must also preserve it for police.

4. Social justice protests have all been continuously violent for months with innocent people getting injured or killed by protesters, cars and buildings being vandalized or burned and destroyed, and often looting taking place. Many people who may have initially supported the social justice cause being promoted across the country have lost patience, live in fear of the violence either in their own neighborhood or potentially reaching their neighborhood some day, and understandably no longer support your cause.

Racial Income Inequality is Self-Inflicted

 

It is a statistical fact that only 10% of married households with children live in poverty. The poverty rate of single households with children is roughly 50%!! Back in the 1960s, prior to the start of the Democratic “Great Society” welfare programs that within 10 years increased welfare by a factor of 20, 3 out of 4 black babies were born to married parents. Today, just the opposite, 3 out of 4 Black babies (and 1 out of 4 White babies) are born to single parent households – the engine of poverty!! The most basic reason for income disparity is that Black educational achievements are the lowest of any race. In relation to total population, Blacks drop out of high school in far greater numbers relative to race population than any other race. Blacks enter and graduate college at the lowest rates relative to race. In many big cities where Black populations are statistically higher compared to Whites than the Black national population, the average spent per year per public school student is about $20,000 each, double that of the national average!! So we are spending the money to educate Blacks. Finally, Blacks commit crimes at 8 times the national average. Jail is not a good place to earn income. These are the issues (Single parent households by design, Education, and Crime) that Blacks need to fix and only they can do that. Otherwise 50 years from now nothing will have changed

How to Stop Illegal Voting

 

If another nation or organization tried to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States by military force, all of us would fight back and kill those that tried to take away our freedom to govern ourselves. However, that is not the only way a legitimate government can be overthrown. For example, enough illegal votes from either non-citizens voting and/or from citizens cheating and/or voting multiple times either under their own name or that of others, including dead people and nursing home residents, if large enough in number, could also overthrow the legitimate government of the US by preventing that legitimate government from being honestly elected and thus taking office.

The end result is the same as a military takeover and should be viewed and treated the same – an attempt to overthrow the legitimate government of the US. The penalty should be severe - automatic execution of those who vote illegitimately - no exceptions.

How the Democratic Party Tricked and Betrayed Black People

In 1964, when Democrats, whose history from Day 1 was to enslave and deny Blacks their rights through slavery and later through segregation, property and voter suppression, and discrimination, lost the battle to to stop the 1964 Civil Rights legislation from being passed, then Democratic President Lyndon Johnson came up with a plan to, in his words, have Blacks vote Democratic for the next 200 years. He came up with the Great Society Welfare programs vastly increasing welfare by 20 fold in the next 10 years and deliberately targeting more benefits to single women with children. The idea was to move Blacks to the unstated “Government Plantation” to keep them dependent on welfare. Half of single parent households with children live in poverty versus only 10% of married households with children. Education is the key to adult financial success. Since 1964, Black births which were 75% of Black babies born to married households then deteriorated to 75% of Black babies born to single parent households now. In addition to being poor, fatherless children perform worse in school and are more likely to commit crimes. Those two factors keep people poor and dependent on government. Democrats oppose raising educational achievements in poor urban areas through charter schools to keep Blacks uneducated as much as possible and to support public school teacher unions. The only fix for this – Vote Republican, the only party that freed the slaves and fought consistently for the rights of Black people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_a7dQXilCo&list=PLRgsJJy0LGRTl3axkxBC5hnqMe1miUbSK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OURy5WFp0zk

Mail In Voting - A Recipe for Cheating

How come the liberal news media never reports on these problems, and in fact denies that there are any problems with mail in voting? Nor does the news media distinguish between the TWO TYPES OF MAIL IN VOTING - requested absentee voting by registered voters (not a problem) VERSUS mass mailing of non-requested mail in voter ballots to everyone whether they still live at those addresses (1 in 10 Americans move each year) or are even alive (huge problem that should not be allowed). Plus the practice of "ballot harvesting" where an individual collects ballots from multiple voters and turns them into the state or doesn't turn them into the state is a sure recipe for fraud. Why didn't the news media report that 6 million mail in ballots in the 2016 Presidential election were lost? Seems kind of important. See link:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/04/24/28_million_mail-in_ballots_went_missing_in_last_four_elections_143033.html?fbclid=IwAR24__Ya1CVVfTYauJxEd9y-Cc-5G8x40qTOVo-sr4EhsN7Ps00N0w65eM8

Financial Advisors – Just Say No

 I do not believe in Financial Advisors managing my money. Here's why. Most take 2% of the ENTIRE value of the assets (not just 2% of the gains or losses) in fees each year. Plus the S&P 500 index, which costs you nothing to buy and sell at most brokerage firms (ETF symbol = SPY) outperforms financial advisors 70% of the time. If 2% fees don't sound like much, think again. For example, if they had a good year and your assets went up 10%, they take 20% of your gains as fees. Likewise, in a bad year where your assets went down 10%, those fees add 20% to your losses. If your assets went up 5% for the year, that 2% takes away 40% of your gain, and if your assets only went up 2% for the year, that 2% fee takes away 100% of your gain (while a 2% loss, is doubled by that 2% fee to a 4% loss).

China – Time to Disengage Completely

China – Time to Disengage Completely

China is a dangerous, rogue nation that steals technology from companies doing business in China as a condition of doing business there, plus engages in worldwide spying to do the same, manipulates it currency to give it trade advantages, does not honor its international commitments such as the 1997 50 year one country, 2 systems treaty in Hong Kong, and international agreements about ownership of sea lanes by nations sharing those sea lanes, brutalize its people, and is striving for world dominance and control by the year 2050.

It is time for America and its NATO allies to work together in a measured step by step way to disengage from China completely (no trade, no diplomatic relations) until that nation changes its criminal behavior, adopts democracy, disbands its Communist Party, allows other political parties, and conducts free and fair elections. Economically, given that China exports far more than it imports, China would be hurt far more than the US and Europe if trade ceased with China. Don't do it at once. First fix trade imbalances with needed prescription drugs, rare Earth, needed production, and any other critical products by increasing domestic production of these valuable items. Once safely established, then give China a one year ultimatum to accomplish the goals set out. If they refuse, then cut off all trade. Also make it known to companies and other nations, that America and NATO won't allow imports of goods from their countries that were partially produced in China or containing Chinese made parts.

China is never going to change its outrageous, dangerous, and criminal activities until it pays a high enough price for its deeds. Let's start the process to influence China to free its people and behave responsibly before the situation gets any worse.

Social Security Benefits – Stop Taxing Them

If you really want to help seniors, then stop taxing Social Security benefits. SS benefits were never supposed to be taxed. Then in 1984 with overwhelming support from both Democrats and Republicans, retirement total income above $25,000 for singles and $40,000 for married couples (then considered income amounts for only the "wealthy") had their SS benefits taxed. Those income maximums were never indexed for inflation. So now, 36 years later, much of the middle class has their SS benefits taxed and more of the middle class are added to those retirees taxed each year. Minimally, those income limits should be raised to reflect the inflation of the last 36 years, and indexed to inflation each year in the future. Ideally, make it simple, and as originally promised in the 1930s, and stop taxing Social Security benefits.

Poverty – How to Avoid It

If you honestly want to avoid poverty, there are three simple, easy to follow guidelines:

1. Education - make a strong effort at school and strive to not only graduate high school, but go on to college or technical school to gain the skills that employers are looking for and pay more for those skills. America spends more per public school student per year than any other nation (about $10,000 each per year). In large cities where many of the poor live, we spend double that. Now show your appreciation and your good fortune for having such a fine education system, behave in school and put the effort in to learn. Parents - You must be involved with your children's education. Monitor their behavior in school, make sure they study and do their homework on a daily basis, and set high standards for achieving good grades. Teachers alone cannot control your children's behavior toward learning. It is a dual responsibility.

2. Marriage - never have children out of wedlock. 50% of single parent households are poor to only 10% of married households with children. Two parents working together for family and income can obviously make more money than one parent.

3. Crime - Don't commit crimes. You can't make money in jail, and when out of jail, few want to hire you due to your criminal background.

Police Killings – The Truth

Statistics on police killings that are based on “total” racial populations are irrelevant, biased statistics that are purposely designed to distort the truth. Comparisons to racial population totals count for nothing, yet these are the only ones you hear from the news media. What counts are comparisons to the “number of law breakers” by race because law breakers are the people that police deal one on one with, not with entire populations. Consistently year after year, Black crime rates are roughly 8 times the national average. 8 times!!!!!!!!!!!!! Therefore, when that fact is calculated, a White criminal is more likely to be killed by police than a Black criminal. If you truly want to stop killings by police of all races, follow these simple guidelines:

1. Don't commit crimes.

2. Follow police directives immediately and without complaint.

3. Never threaten, fight with, or attack police - remember if innocent, you will get your day in court to prove it.

4. Never run away or drive away from police.

The History of Slavery and Public Statues

Let me start with the obvious – Slavery is a totally disgusting and unacceptable crime against humanity. Slavery was embedded into America as both a colony and a nation until the Civil War ended the practice. When you see the news and protests in America about slavery and early important American leaders who owned slaves, it is easy to get the false impression that slavery was a uniquely American invention. Unfortunately, slavery has existed for thousands of years before America existed. It has existed on every continent including Africa. Some African tribes had slaves. Some African tribes sold people to the slave traders from Europe, America, and South America. That's right – Blacks in Africa had slaves and Blacks in Africa sold Black people into slavery to White slave traders. The obvious conclusion – nobody has clean hands when it comes to slavery. History cannot be changed no matter how much we protest. It should not be hidden either – Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. We only can change the present and the future.

That said, logically, every Confederate soldier and politician was a traitor to America and they should not be honored by statues in public view. However, don't tear them down by mobs. Let all of America have a say and therefore do it legally. It will mean a lot more historically if the majority of Americans stood up and were counted in this process.

What about statues of very important leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson who birthed our nation and preserved it through the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 where America's existence was far from certain, but themselves owned slaves? America owes them their existence so give them their fair due. Be grateful that the Founding Fathers, when they could not after vigorous debate, convince the Southern colonies to give up slavery, gave America the means to amend the Constitution in the future. George Washington did free his slaves in his will, the only slave owning Founder (not all the Founders owned slaves) to do so. Keep their statues, they earned them, but remember both aspects of their history. As to the Lincoln statue with the slave that by some is regarded as demeaning, remember that the statue was erected and paid for by former slaves. Obviously, those former slaves saw nothing wrong with it. Respect that and leave it be.

Democrats – America's Only Racist Party – Just the Facts, No Opinions

Democrats – America's Only Racist Party – Just the Facts, No Opinions

The Democratic Party was founded in 1829 to preserve slavery.

In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that Blacks were property with 7 Democrats for to 2 Republicans against.

Democrats started America's Civil War to preserve slavery in which 600,000 Americans were killed (more than both World Wars combined at a time when our total population was a lot less).

After losing the Civil War, Democrats founded the Ku Klux Klan, instituted over 100 years of segregation and discrimination to keep the former slaves terrorized and on the Southern Plantations as cheap labor. They also prevented blacks from owning property.

Democrats voted 100% against giving Blacks the right to vote.

When they lost that battle, Democrats imposed voter poll taxes and literacy tests to stop Blacks from voting.

In 1964, Democrats blocked by filibuster the Civil Rights Bill for 75 days until Republicans garnered enough votes to break the filibuster.

After they lost that battle, Democrats created massive welfare programs, not for the benefit of the poor, but with the stated intention by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson to keep Blacks voting Democratic for the next 200 years.

Prior to the massive welfare bills, 3 out of 4 Black babies were born to married parents. Today, 3 out of 4 Black babies are born to single parent households, thus destroying the Black family unit.

50% of single parent households live in poverty compared to only 10% of married households with children living in poverty.

Democrats today are against school choice, denying parents the freedom to better educate their children through Charter schools and improve their prospects for a secure financial future.

Through welfare programs and lack of school choice, Democrats have succeeded in keeping many Blacks on what has accurately been labeled “The Government Plantation”.

Racial Issues - Lying With Statistics that Evade the Problem Instead of Solving the Problem

Racial Issues - Lying With Statistics to the Detriment of All

Statistics don't lie, but it is very easy to lie and distort the truth using statistics. Every comparison I see about the “inequities” by race utilizes the proportional “national” sizes of each racial population to make comparisons that conclude that Blacks are discriminated against on the particular issue being reported. These comparisons never talk about the real causes for these differences. In the interest of actually coming up with solutions that will actually work to reduce and eliminate racial disparities, let's examine some of these causes:

1. In the most current and emotional issue of the day – police killings of Blacks is decried, using total racial population differences, to be twice the rate of Whites killed by police:

This comparison deliberately ignores “root cause” and is therefore statistically meaningless. Now for the truth. Police deal one on one with “ law breakers”, not total population. Consistently, year after year, Black crime rates based on their population is about 8 times the national average. What that means for police killings by race is that a White criminal is more likely to die in a police killing than a Black criminal. In other words, the real truth is being ignored and purposely distorted by the media and liberals for political purposes.

2. Black prison population is out of proportion compared to Whites based on total racial population:

Answered in point 1 – Black crime is 8 times the national average. That's why the prison population is skewed heavily toward Blacks. What are we supposed to do – arrest and jail innocent White people so that the prison racial populations will reflect total national racial populations?

3. The Truth - Police have a very demanding job and overall do it very well:

Finally on this issue, with all the hatred currently misdirected onto all police for the sins of a very few bad cops, let us always remember that, based on population size, a cop is 25 times more likely to die in the line of duty than a Black person is likely to be killed by police!! 25 times!!!!

4. Blacks, on average, earn less money and have less wealth than Whites:

There are several reasons for this.

A. The most basic reason is that Black educational achievements are the lowest of any race. In relation to total population, Blacks drop out of high school in far greater numbers relative to race population than any other race. Blacks enter and graduate college at the lowest rates relative to race. This result is despite the fact that Black populations are largest compared to Whites in big cities. Why is that important? In America, we spend more on public schools than any other nation on a per student, per year basis. The national average is about $10,000 per year per student. In many big cities where Black populations are statistically higher compared to Whites than the Black national population, the average spent per year per public school student is about $20,000 each, double that of the national average!! We are putting the resources there for all races to achieve success. Blacks are not fully taking advantage of those resources and it is up to them to do so.

B. Blacks have a higher unemployment rate than Whites. True, but the reason has already been explained. Blacks lag in educational achievements by a wide margin. In the real world, as should always be the case, jobs and income are simply not given out by race. It has to be “individually” earned. Many people of all races have figured this out and are successful because they went out and earned it. That's the way, for the benefit of all of us, it should always be.

C. It is a statistical fact that only 10% of married households with children live in poverty. The poverty rate of single households with children is roughly 50%!! Back in the 1960s, prior to the start of the Democratic “Great Society” welfare programs, 3 out of 4 black babies were born to married parents. Today, just the opposite, 3 out of 4 Black babies (and 1 out of 4 White babies) are born to single parent households – the engine of poverty!! This is easy to understand as a cause of poverty. A married household with children has two potential income earners and two people who can care for the child. A single parent household has only one person to be both the income earner and the person taking care of the child. Two parents are likely to be in a better position to earn income and stay out of poverty than one parent. See link:

http://marripedia.org/effects_of_single_parents_on_poverty_rates

D. In the only statistical comparison that matters, the fact is that people, no matter their race or gender, with the same educational levels and years of experience on the job, essentially earn the same income. That should not be a surprise. That's been the law for over 50 years. The current political nonsense of coming up with just one national pay rate to utilize as an income “comparison” by race or gender by putting people of all types of jobs, full time and part time, along with high school drop outs and graduates, plus college dropouts and graduates together to come up with one statistical pay rate by each race or gender is utterly and totally statistically meaningless!

E. Black home ownership rates are the lowest of all races in the US. Of course they are for all of the reasons previously explained above.

5. Health Disparities by Race:

There are several making the rounds.

A. Black women die in childbirth at a higher rate than White women. Teenagers die in child birth at a higher rate than women in their 20s to 40s. Teenage births, comparatively speaking, are higher for Blacks than any other race. There's your root cause.

B. Covid-19 deaths are much higher for Blacks than Whites. Very easy to explain. Covid-19 deaths are proportionally higher in cities than rural areas. We've already established, that based on population, Blacks live disproportionally in big cities.

C. Blacks, on average, die at younger ages than Whites. Obesity rates, a leading cause of disease and death is much higher for Blacks than Whites. See Link:

https://redice.tv/news/new-study-reveals-american-obesity-rates-by-race

Conclusion:

Unless Blacks address and fix the issues documented here, then 50 years from now, nothing will have changed, nor should it change. The opportunities are there for each of us to achieve progress, success, and parity with all other races. There is nothing to stop anyone in America from being successful in life. Millions have proven that from all races. We have even had a Black President elected and re-elected. America is the greatest nation in the world, not due to handouts, but due to the freedom, perseverance, and hard work of its people to earn and achieve great things. Go for it!!!

How to Avoid Poverty

Education:

Take full advantage of the public school system. Study hard, aim for good grades, persevere, behave in school, and graduate high school. Parents – it is your job to monitor their school work and discipline your children as required so that they achieve these goals.

Next, continue your education with either college or skills training for good, non-college jobs.

Family:

Only 10% of married parents with children live in poverty while roughly 50% of single parents live in poverty. Easy to understand – two potential household workers and two child care takers have more potential for income than one. So do not have children unless you are married. Children with fathers, especially teenage boys, are more likely to finish their education and less likely to get in trouble.

Live within your means:

Never use credit cards unless you can pay them off entirely each month. Credit card interest rates are so steep that, in time, they can double or triple the actual price you initially paid to purchase goods and services with credit cards. Same is true with the Pay Day Loan services. Don't use them. Homes and cars are normally people's largest expenses. Buy what you need and can afford, not what you dream. Especially cars, buy much cheaper used cars with warranties over more expensive new cars. Doubly true if your annual miles driven is low.

Go to Colleges that you can actually afford:

College costs can be astronomical at some schools. If you or your parents can't afford them without borrowing huge sums of money, then go to a more affordable college such as Community Colleges, some State Universities, and online colleges. Live at home if at all possible to save room and board college costs. Work part time when taking classes and full time during summer recess.

Persevere hard at your job:

Whether college educated or not, you are in competition with your peers for promotions and raises. Strive to be the best that you can be at your job. Also, strive to learn and gain the skills needed for higher paid positions. Never quit your current job until you have been hired for your next job.

Save and invest at least 10% of your income:

Avoid as best you can living paycheck to paycheck with no savings. Read again the Live within your means section if necessary. You need savings for emergency living expenses that will come up, eventually buying a house if that is your goal, vacations (only take vacations you can afford without borrowing), retirement (you will have a lot more money for retirement if you start young in your early 20s with 401Ks and IRAS than if you wait until your 40s or later), and peace of mind. Favor Roth IRAs and 401Ks over Traditional ones. Better to pay a small tax now instead of a large one later. Learn how to invest in the stock market.

Tips for the Novice Investor:

Here are some tips to help the novice investor. Never buy individual stocks - they can go to zero or just stagnate far longer than any stock market, plus you are not smart enough to know when to get in or out. Buy pooled assets such as mutual funds, ETFs, and index funds and hold onto them for decades without selling. Only have a small amount to invest - The S&P 500 ETF index (SPY) is all you need. It reflects the stock market trend which over the past long run has averaged 10 to 11% average annual growth or a doubling "average" every 7 years. SPY is composed of 500 of the largest stocks ( virtually no risk of all 500 going to zero), is cheap to buy (about $5 to $7 at most brokerage houses) and has the added value of being able to buy or sell it instantly during open market hours (as do all ETFs; mutual funds buy and sell prices are calculated after the market closes and if you buy them after the market closes, then your price is determine after the next day's stock market close which is why it is better to buy these within the last hour the market is open but not too close to the end). Want a technical stock market play also - buy the ETF - QQQ, which reflects the top Nasdaq 100 stocks (heavily weighted toward technical companies, but not only technical companies).

As your wealth and experience increases, to attain more investment diversity – try the ETFs – MDY (S&P 400 Mid-Caps) and SLY (S&P 600 small caps). For additional diversity and balance, there are also “growth” and “value” versions of the S&P 500 indices - just put a “G” for growth, or a “V” for value at the end of them (SPYG, SPYV, SLYG, SLYV, MDYG, and MDYV). Note that growth and value funds over the long run achieve about the same results. In the short run, growth outperforms value funds when the general stock market rises, but value funds outperform growth funds when the general stock market falls.

Guidelines on How to Prevent Violence and Deaths in Confrontations with Police

1. Do not break any laws.

2. Never physically attack police (with your fists, hands, or body, projectiles, firecrackers, fire bombs, vehicle, weapons, or other means).

3. Follow police instructions faithfully when given to you.

4. Do not run or drive away, yell at, or verbally attack police. Keep your voice calm and low.

5. Do not resist police handcuffs – you will get your day in court to defend your innocence should that occur.

Always Remember:

1. Before mass protesting publicly which often leads to violence,property damage, businesses and job lost, and often people hurt or killed, remember that all deaths at the hands of police are investigated and if guilty, police are punished and/or sent to trial and the guilty police to jail. Given that there are about 800,000 police, over 18,000 police forces nationally, and 13 million arrests annually, plus the fact that there are no “perfect” humans, in numbers that huge, there will always be rare cases of police misconduct or criminality. When this happens, never paint all police as violent or criminal on the basis of one person's actions. You would never want another person's bad or criminal actions attributed to you too. We are each solely and individually responsible for our own actions and not collectively guilty of other people's actions.

2. We live in a modern, technological world of instant news. Instantly transmitted provocative videos of police violence, often incomplete as to everything that occurred or even sound, can never and should never result in instant retribution. That's called a lynch mob – something we never want to see in America. The wheels of justice necessarily move slower than instant news. That is a good thing that protects all of us so that a proper investigation can occur and if justified, the proper charges can be filed. In America , we are all innocent until and unless found guilty in a court of law. You would not want it any other way for yourself.

3. Police killed on the job, as a percentage to total police population, is many times higher than the percentage of people by population killed by police by race. Police work in a high stress job, where sometimes necessary split second decisions often mean the difference between their living or dying. Police do not have the luxury of time in these types of situations that we do when later reviewing and judging these situations and their outcomes to carefully ponder the “Should I or shouldn't I react” split second decision that police must sometimes make.

Capital Gains Taxes on the Sale of your Home

Currently, the capital gains exemption is $250,000 for singles and $500,000 for married couples. There are two key issues here:

The exemption amount was never indexed to inflation and therefore has not changed since 1997 even though home prices are much higher today than 1997. Therefore, in inflation adjusted dollars, the benefit is much less than in 1997.

When a spouse dies, the survivor has two years to sell the house or their capital exemption will be cut in half, from $500,000 to $250,000. It is hard enough to lose a spouse, but given that for many millions of Americans, their home is their greatest financial asset, surviving spouses who would rather stay in their homes, make the uncomfortable financial decision to sell their homes that they really would like to keep, so as not to lose $250,000 in tax exemptions and the tens of thousands of tax dollars that they will likely need as they age to live on.

Both these issues need to be addressed. First raise the home tax exemption to reflect inflation since 1997 and permanently index it to inflation. Secondly, stop punishing surviving spouses by no longer reducing their married couple home exemption when a spouse dies.

Millennials – Socialism is the Most Failed Economic System in Human History

Apparently, according to news reports, a majority of Millennials believe that Socialism is superior to Capitalism. Part of this belief stems from the fact that many Millennials had difficulty entering the job market during the 2008 Recession. Also, Millennials did not live through the so called “Cold War” that matched Communist/Socialism ideology against Capitalism from the end of World War 2 in 1945 until the collapse of Communist Soviet Union in 1989. So let's review the history of Socialism.

It started to 1917 when the Bolshevik, followers of Marxist leader Lenin, the inventor of Communism, forcibly took over Russia and instituted Communism. Communism was supposed to create a “workers paradise”. Did it? Emphatically No. Without the profit/loss incentive that private companies have to produce what customers really want at prices and quality that they are willing to buy, the Russian government took over industries and operated on “production goals”.

For example, if told to produce 5 million coats, factories would produce the 5 million coats even if people only bought 3 million. So instead of creating wealth, they wasted material and labor resources that could have instead been utilized to produce products and services that people actually wanted. Also, with no ability for people to create their own companies, there was also no incentive to invent new technologies and new industries as there is under Capitalism. The best Communists could do would be to steal these technologies from the Capitalist nations that invented them, but their products, such as cars, were far inferior to Capitalist nations. The Russian people became poorer but could not create political parties to vote out the Communist dictators.

After World War 2 in 1945, the nations that Russia “freed” from Nazi Germany were not given their freedom, and instead were forcibly incorporated into new Russian “States” and Russia renamed their country the Soviet Union. A few years later, when China became Communist after the rebel Communists won a Civil war, China also adopted the policy of taking over industries and dictating production. North Korea, North Vietnam, and Cuba did the same thing with the same dismal results. Their citizens were much poorer than Capitalist nations.

So military force and sometimes walls were utilized to keep these dictators in power and very importantly to keep their citizens from fleeing to neighbor Capitalist nations. Many of those citizens fled anyway, and some lost their lives trying. Citizens from Capitalist nations did not try to flee to Communist nations. That should tell you something important.

In 1989, the Communist model of the Soviet Union collapsed. The Eastern European nations, a population of almost half a billion people, who were much poorer than their Western Capitalist European neighbors, were freed from Communism and became capitalists. Today, they are much wealthier than they had been under Communism.

In 1970, with a very stagnant, poor economy, China allowed limited capitalism. They have improved dramatically though their Communist run industries are losing lots of money and are propped up by China subsidizing them with lots of printed money (a recipe for eventual financial disaster). The average wealth of an American is $69,000 compared to $21,000 for the average Chinese.

An excellent example of the failure of Communism/Socialism is Korea. Same people, same culture, same language. Capitalist South Korea averages $72,000 wealth per adult, while Communist North Korea averages less than $2,000. Millions of North Koreans eat grass in order to survive.

The only thing that Socialism accomplishes is to make everyone equally poor and miserable. So yes, you attain equality of income with Socialism, but at the cost of everyone being poor. Who really wants that?

Why Do We Still Allow Discrimination in America?

We have several kinds of discrimination in America. Age discrimination, reverse discrimination, and gender discrimination come to mind. As an older American, I have faced age discrimination. Just before I turned 65, my allergist for 5 years, informed me that she was dropping me as a patient due to Medicare. If you are retired and age 65, try to get private health insurance instead of Medicare. You can't. When I went to an urgent care center at age 72 during non-business hours for my doctor, they refused to see me because it was their corporate policy to not treat patients age 70 and older (no explanation given). Now with Coronavirus pandemic, Cruise ships are banning customers 70 and older unless you have a note from your doctor within the 7 days prior to your trip that you are “fit to travel”. Airlines are considering doing the same thing. It is hard enough to get a timely doctor's appointment and will get much worse if doctors are bombarded by elderly travels for such notes. I doubt that Medicare would pay for the costs either, since there would be no existing Medicare “code” for it (without the right “code” submitted by doctors to Medicare, Medicare won't pay for your treatment or drugs). So if you are stopped from flying due to your age, will hotels and rent a car companies refund your prepaid reservation money? Not necessarily as many are not refundable.

Reverse discrimination is pure discrimination and therefore totally disgusting but employed everywhere. If you are the most qualified for college admission or a promotion at work but are White or Asian, a less qualified Black or Hispanic, may be chosen over you to meet racial quotas at colleges and employers. That's not what Martin Luther King fought for. He fought for “No Discrimination”. Today, reverse discrimination has been expanded to gender. Less qualified women will be admitted to colleges or promoted at work over more qualified males to reach gender quotas. People need to “earn” their admission to college and promotions at work.

No one should be discriminated against due to skin color, gender, or age. All discrimination should be illegal. Until it is, America is not living up to its ideals.

Medicare For All – A Terrible Idea

First, medical fraud on government run health care programs is estimated to be between 10 to 25% depending on which newspaper article you read. Either way that tens of billions to hundreds of billions of dollars lost annually. What is private insurance medical fraud? Answer - less than 1%, thus proving it is better to have private industry run health care rather than the government. Secondly, Obamacare was supposed to save us $2,500 a year plus we would be able to keep our doctors. Instead, health care premiums went sky high and so did deductibles so that the average American family that is not subsidized by Obamacare must spend $25,000 of their own money in any given year before they see a penny of health care benefits. We do have one Medicare for All government run health care system - the one for military veterans and that has been a disaster. Many veterans have died waiting for needed appointments or surgeries. Others suffered in pain. The VA rated its own hospitals on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest rating. Most VA hospitals were rated a 1, the worst rating of all. Plus they are few and far between. When I entered the VA health care system, the VA warned me NOT to give up my own health care insurance. If that doesn't convince you how bad government run health care is, then you must be dumb, deaf, and blind.

Inherited IRAs Withdrawals – Strategy for New Rules in 2020

After reading this newspaper article about the 2020 tax rule changes, I came up with the following strategy for those who inherit IRAs. As I have always preached, Roth IRAs and 401Ks are much better than Traditional IRAs and 401Ks, but with the new rules, even Roth requires developing a strategy to handle the new changes in the law.

Starting in 2020, new rules concerning IRAs eliminate inherited lifetime “stretch” IRAs except for spouses and people who are less than 10 years younger than the deceased (for example a brother or sister within 10 years of your age). The old “stretch” IRAs required inheritors to withdraw annually for life from the inherited IRA (both Traditional and Roth IRAs) with the withdrawal amounts required each year based on their age.

The new rules, with the exceptions previously mentioned, requires IRA inheritors to withdraw the entire amount within 10 years. However, you do not have to withdraw the money every year, You are allowed to skip years, or withdraw it all in the 10th year – your decision. In both the old stretch IRAs and the new current rules, Roth withdrawals are not taxed.

Since once withdrawn from the Roth IRA, any of that withdrawn money re-invested in a non-IRA will be taxed as it grows – both dividends and capital gains, my advice is to withdraw money each of the required 10 years and then use those Roth withdrawals to reinvest to the maximum allowed into your own Roth IRAs and Roth 401Ks each year. Remember, since you are using tax free money to do this, unlike a regular Roth IRA deposit using your own “earnings”, this is like getting the tax free initial investment of a Traditional IRA and the tax free withdrawal of a Roth IRA – the best of both IRA worlds!!

If some of the inherited IRAs or 401Ks are Traditional, your mandatory withdrawals during that 10 year period will be taxed. So take the net after tax and invest them in Roth IRAs and/or 401Ks each year up to the government imposed limit allowed. There would be no additional tax, they will grow tax free, and the withdrawals will be tax free and not mandatory at age 72 as is the case with Traditional IRAs and 401Ks.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/17/secure-act-stretch-ira-rmd-retirement/4488419002/?fbclid=IwAR1xLn_SrHzSGlZvp9OBNn4lJ1J5Od3T8tRohJy4YQ6mF8OPzGDDovTK0XQ

Taxes and IRAs and 401Ks – Don't be Fooled by the Government

The number one fact to always remember is that you are taxed on EARNINGS (and capital gains, interest, and dividends if you have any), and NOT what you deposit from your earnings into checking, savings, and brokerage accounts whether those accounts are tax deferred or not.

So whether you put money into a Traditional or Roth IRA and/or 401K, there is NOT a single penny of additional taxes due to the government.

Both Traditional IRAs/401Ks and Roth IRAs/401Ks have very different tax savings implications:

However, Traditional IRAs and 401K “tax savings” are a government “trick”or “shell game” that you want to avoid. Sure you get tax savings for the year you invest in them, but that's the trick that suckers you in. When you withdraw from those Traditional accounts (and the government forces you and/or your heirs to withdraw from them later in life), it will likely be decades later when they have doubled in size several times and thus are much, much larger than your initial investments. All of that money (original investment plus what it has grown to) is taxed. This is a great tax bonus for the government and a tax disaster for you, even if you are in a lower tax bracket when retired because there is so much more money subject to tax.

On the other hand, a Roth IRA/401K is a legitimate and very large tax savings for you. You paid zero extra taxes each year when you made deposits into those Roth accounts and you pay no taxes when you withdraw from those accounts, which likely have also doubled in size several times over decades, no matter how much money is withdrawn. Plus the government does not force the original owner to withdraw ever.

Now some employers offer Traditional 401Ks, but unfortunately may not offer Roth 401Ks. If there is a substantial company match to your deposits into those accounts, then given the fact that there is no Roth 401K alternative, you do want to take advantage of that opportunity.

For heirs to IRA and 401K accounts, the government forces you to make withdrawals even if it is a Roth account. You won't be taxed on the Roth account withdrawals, but you will be taxed on Traditional account withdrawals. My advice in either case, is take as much money from those forced withdrawals as the government allows or you can afford and reinvest it into Roth IRAs and/or 401Ks. Remember from above, it costs you nothing in additional taxes to do this, plus it saves you lots of taxes in the future as opposed to putting it in a Traditional IRA or 401K account or a non-IRA account.