The Frustrated CFO

Marketplace Fairness (???) Act, or Lets Stomp on Small Businesses Again

2013-05-23T19:25:24-04:00

Believe it or not, but the Battle for (or against, if you will) the Internet Sales Tax has been going on for 20 years now. First, there were no online sales taxes at all. Back in the early 90s, members of various legislative bodies thought that the World Wide Web was something that Al Gore invented and, therefore, didn't pay much attention to it, especially the Republicans. Meanwhile, the online vendors (the term e-tailer didn't gain wide acceptance until 2000) and their customers justifiably acted like pioneers in the brave new world: as far as they were concerned, they operated...

Quote of the Week: Just Because We Deserve It, We Do Not Have to Like It

2013-05-20T22:58:55-04:00

The original authorship of the statement "Every nation has the government it deserves" has been disputed, like, forever. Some attribute it to Joseph de Maistre, others to Alexis de Toqueville... There are also various translations, interpretations, etc. And why not? It's logical and simple to blame everyone (and no one in particular). To take an individual stand, however - that's a different story: "Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Quote of the Week: The Negation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Misguided Morality

2013-05-17T11:59:33-04:00

"Scott Fitzgerald was, in his own words, 'a moralist at heart.' He wanted to 'preach at people,' and what he preached about most was the degeneracy of the wealthy. His concern, however, did not lie with the antisocial behaviors to which the rich are prone: acquiring their wealth through immoral means... Like many American moralists, Fitzgerald was more offended by pleasure than by vice, and he had a tendency to confound them. In The Great Gatsby, polo and golf are more morally suspect than murder. Fitzgerald despised the rich not for their iniquity per se but for the glamour of...