ON
THIS DATE: April 22, 1970 - First Earth Day Celebrated
The first Earth Day was held in the U.S., marking the birth of the
modern environmental movement. The idea for a national event stemmed from
Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who was inspired by the massive 1969 oil
spill in Santa Barbara, Calif. His plan to have a day dedicated to hosting
“teach-ins” of environmental issues on college campuses became what is now
recognized across the world as Earth Day. He was later awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.
Happy Earth Day!
Some depressing facts - Hawaii's Waikiki Beach could soon be
underwater, as rising sea levels caused by climate change overtake its white
sand beaches and bustling streets. Honolulu will start experiencing frequent
flooding within the next 15 to 20 years, officials predict. State lawmakers are
considering spending millions for a coastline protection program aimed at
defending the city from regular tidal inundations.
U.S. nuclear plants weren't built for climate change: 54 of the
[60] nuclear plants operating in the U.S. weren’t designed to handle the flood
risk they face. Nineteen face three or more threats that they weren’t designed
to handle.
The most powerful paragraph I’ve read recently, which is also the
final paragraph of Nathaniel Rich’s new book, “Losing Earth”:
“Everything
is changing about the natural world and everything must change about the way we
conduct our lives. It is easy to complain that the problem is too vast, and
each of us is too small. But there is one thing that each of us can do
ourselves, in our homes, at our own pace — something easier than taking out the
recycling or turning down the thermostat, and something more valuable. We can
call the threats to our future what they are. We can call the villains
villains, the heroes heroes, the victims victims and ourselves complicit. We
can realize that all this talk about the fate of Earth has nothing to do with
the planet’s tolerance for higher temperatures and everything to do with our
species’ tolerance for self-delusion. And we can understand that when we speak
about things like fuel-efficiency standards or gasoline taxes or methane
flaring, we are speaking about nothing less than all we love and all we are.”
TAX
HANGOVER - Conor Barnes, an accountant in New York, decided to
stop telling her clients to “have a nice day” at the end of their meetings. Often
she delivered news that had, in fact, ruined their day: They owed the
government money, sometimes a painfully large amount.
The overhaul of the tax code — the first in three decades — caused
much confusion this tax season, which was only worsened by the monthlong
government shutdown. Many taxpayers were upset when they found out that they
owed money to the federal government, even if their tax burden was lower.
And if taxpayers don’t adjust their paycheck withholdings, next
year could bring an even bigger shock.
“If they don’t go out and make a change now, they will have even
less withheld in 2019, so their situation will just get worse,” said Nathan
Rigney, lead tax research analyst at H&R Block’s Tax Institute.
How did it happen? New guidance from the Internal Revenue Service
prompted employers to adjust workers’ paychecks last March in an attempt to
match up what they would owe under the new tax plan. And in some cases — if
taxpayers didn’t update the relevant withholding forms — they ended up owing
money, even if their total tax liability dropped.
The updated tables were in effect for about nine months last year.
But this year, they’ll be in effect for all 12, meaning the problem will be
magnified if taxpayers don’t take action — and soon.
Withholdings are updated by filling out I.R.S. form W-4 and giving
it to your human resources department, or whoever handles payroll. It’s an eye-glazing
task, which may be why nearly 80 percent of filers, according to H&R Block,
failed to update last year.
“Most people were taking a wait-and-see approach, as no one is
dying to increase withholdings,” said Debra Taylor, an accountant and financial
adviser in Franklin Lakes, N.J. “It was difficult to generalize how the new law
would affect taxpayers as everyone’s situation was truly different.”
If a family was able to take the child tax credit or new qualified
business income deduction, they might not have ended up owing anything, even if
they could no longer deduct their state and local income taxes, Ms. Taylor
said. But if they did not receive benefits from some of the newer tax breaks,
“then they could be losing all the way around. Hence the high level of
frustration and surprise among folks.”
Early this tax season, I.R.S. statistics showed that the average
taxpayer refund was down nearly 17 percent. Things have evened out since then:
As of April 5, the average refund was $2,833, down 1.1 percent from last year.
But that’s not the whole story: A million fewer taxpayers had
received refunds.
Averages also gloss over what was happening in individual
households across the country. In New Jersey, for example, H&R Block found
that, on average, its clients owed about 30 percent less in taxes than in 2017.
But their refunds declined by about 6 percent, according to an analysis among
customers who filed through the end of March.
Over all, H&R Block said that its average taxpayer’s total
liability dropped by $1,200, while refunds were up $43. Instead of
substantially bigger refunds, those taxpayers received about $50 more in their
biweekly paychecks starting in March 2018, for a total of $1,156 — which they
may not have even noticed.
To use the I.R.S. calculator, you will need a copy of your 2018
return, along with your most recent pay stub (and your spouse’s, if
applicable). The calculator can determine how much you need to withhold to end
up with the right amount set aside at the end of the year. But it’s already
April. If you need to withhold more, the longer you wait, the fewer pay periods
there will be to absorb the changes.
Make sure you keep all of that information handy — you will
probably have to do this again, and sooner than you would like. The reason? The
I.R.S. is updating the W-4 form.
The W-4 has to be overhauled because it was built around personal
and dependent exemptions, which the new tax law eliminated.
The tax and payroll industry was critical of the initial proposal
released last June. They said it was far too complicated for workers and their
employers, and it also asked workers to provide sensitive information — about
outside income, among other things — that they might not want to share with an
employer. A new draft is expected at the end of May.
After soliciting comments and making more tweaks, the final
version should be available by the end of the year, in time for the 2020 tax
year.
It hasn’t been an easy task.
“Do you want the form to be absolutely accurate or do you want it
to be simple and easy to complete?” said Alice Jacobsohn, senior manager of
government relations for the American Payroll Association, a group for industry
professionals.
When the new form is available, you should probably run through
the withholding exercise again. Your employer might ask you to fill out the
revised form anyway.
But as you work out how much you want withheld, keep one thing in
mind: As good as it feels to get a fat refund, what you’re really doing is
giving the government an interest-free loan. So instead of withholding too
much, you might direct that extra bit of money into an interest-bearing
account, and pay yourself instead.
Whether or not you owed for 2018, now is the time to update your
withholdings. The I.R.S. suggests performing a “paycheck checkup” annually to
avoid surprises. Big life events like getting married or having a child are
other reasons to go through this exercise again.
Using the I.R.S.’s withholding calculator makes it easier to fill
out the W-4. TurboTax and H&R Block offer similar tools. The calculator
helps taxpayers estimate their 2019 income tax and compare that amount with
their current withholding. That will show them whether they should have more or
less money withheld from their paychecks.
The amount withheld is determined by the number of so-called
allowances. The fewer allowances you claim, the more is set aside from each
check. You can increase your
withholdings further by specifying an additional flat dollar
amount to be set aside each pay period.
Where is the aspirin????
COLLEGE
CHRONICLES – Ithaca College has decided not to renew its contract
with Sodexo to operate the campus dining program, and will instead take those
operations “in house.” The change is being made with the intent to provide
improved programming, simplified meal plans, and a lower cost to both the
college and to students. The new meal plan structure will be designed to help
address food insecurity on campus.
What the bribery scandal has exposed about elite colleges and the
wealthy families that sustain them.
A student at Wake Forest University tells her professor that her
go-to house wine is Tignanello, which runs about $100 a bottle. Parents ask a
revered professor at Stanford if their teens can work free for him during the
summer, hoping it will give them a leg up in the admissions process. For
professors at elite colleges, encounters with the scions of wealthy families
have long come with the territory.
But the admissions-bribery scandal, which came to light last
month, has brought renewed scrutiny to the codependent relationship between the
nation’s top-tier colleges and the power brokers who fuel their endowments,
finance their buildings, and willingly pay full freight for their children to
attend. The scandal has brought into sharp focus the myriad advantages that
high-income students have when applying to highly selective universities.
BOOB
TUBE
- Is there anything in this world more comforting than watching Ina Garten make
challah French toast? Hulu released two more seasons of “Barefoot Contessa:
Back to Basics” a few days ago, and for you galloping gourmets this is a must
see . You may not be cooking them in an impossibly sun-drenched East Hamptons
mansion, but her recipes are simple and butter-filled. Highly recommend.
CAPITALISM
- Capitalism in crisis: U.S. billionaires worry about the survival of the
system that made them rich: For the first time in decades, capitalism's future
is a subject of debate among presidential hopefuls and a source of growing
angst for America's business elite. In places such as Silicon Valley, the
slopes of Davos, Switzerland, and the halls of Harvard Business School, there
is a sense that the kind of capitalism that once made America an economic envy
is responsible for the growing inequality and anger that is tearing the country
apart.
A hot book at Harvard Business School: "Winners Take
All," by Anand Giridharadas, a journalist and former McKinsey consultant.
The book is "a withering attack on America’s billionaire
class and the notion that America’s iconic capitalists could use their wealth
and creativity to solve big social and economic problems that have eluded ...
government."
TOP
FIVE
- Winter 2018-19 is officially over, and for five locations in the United
States, it isn't a moment too soon.
It would seem formidable to narrow down and rank five places that
had it worst this winter.
- Nebraska
- Record snow, cold, and rain, enough said.
- Montana
- After Groundhog Day, Great Falls, Montana, had a streak of 44
consecutive colder-than-average days through March 18.
- Tennessee
- In America's wettest winter on record dating to 1895, Tennessee was the
only state to set a record-wet December-through-February period, according
to NOAA.
- Seattle
- You might think this is an odd pick. How bad can a winter be in a place
that averages only 5 to 6 inches of snow a year? From Feb. 3 to 12,
Seattle picked up 20.2 inches of snow from three separate winter storms.
In just nine days, the Emerald City measured almost four times their
average annual snowfall, making February 2019 only the eighth month on
record in which the city picked up at least 20 inches of snow – the first
such month since January 1969.
- California
- Storms in early December and mid-January also triggered some mudslides
and rockslides in both Northern and Southern California. The worst of the
flooding, however, was in late February, when the Russian River reached
its highest level in 25 years, isolating the towns of Guerneville and
Monte Rio. Over 2,000 homes and businesses were damaged, and nearly 4,000
residents were ordered to evacuate Guerneville.
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Gene Hasse…famous
Father, Ashley Judd
(51) Lexington, KY.; Joe Z. ….famous
Jacob Javits Republican; Queen Elizabeth II (93) London, England.
MUELLER
INVESTIGATION - The Mueller report shows us someone who’s ill-suited
to his job and deficient in character. But we already knew that.
While it’s true that Mueller’s investigation “did not establish
that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian
government in its election-interference activities,” as we have known for
weeks, the actual report is brimming with incidents and behavior that appear,
at the very least, deeply corrupt.
The special counsel investigation was often cast as a clash
between President Trump and Robert S. Mueller III. But there was always a third
player, for whom victory seemed assured no matter the outcome.
Russian President Vladimir Putin set this sequence of events in
motion with a Kremlin campaign to destabilize American democracy. That
operation and its aftermath inflamed partisan tensions in the United States,
eroded public confidence in core institutions and triggered a two-year
investigation that consumed the nation's attention and much of the Trump
presidency.
Over more than two years, Trump tried to pressure law enforcement
officials, back-channel to witnesses and deter inquiries into his murky
relationship with Russia.
It was over breakfast in London when a shadowy professor leaked
the news to a Trump-campaign official: The Russians have “dirt” on Hillary
Clinton. The highly anticipated report by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller
III, released on Thursday in redacted form, provides new details about the role
that Joseph Mifsud, a former London-based professor with Kremlin ties, played
in the Russian ploy to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.
Mifsud, a Malta native, is described in the report as a
globe-trotting professor who linked George Papadopoulos, a foreign-policy
adviser to the Trump campaign, with Russian nationals and gave him advanced
notice about hacked emails that would undercut Clinton’s candidacy.
MARKET
WEEK - It's a packed week on the earnings calendar, with Whirlpool on
deck after the market closes today and tech behemoths Microsoft, Facebook and
Amazon slated for later in the week. Results from industrial stalwarts United
Technologies, Boeing and Caterpillar are also on tap.
The WSJ Dollar Index surged to its highest level since early March
on Thursday following upbeat retail sales data, pulling within 0.1% of its
early year peak. The dollar is still up more than 7.5% in the past year after
edging lower Friday, threatening corporate profits for large multinational
companies.
The dollar also has been strengthening against the currencies of
emerging countries, like China, where many American businesses generate
significant revenue.
Companies generally don't change prices because of currency
fluctuations, so a hypothetical 20-yuan Big Mac could translate to $3 when the
dollar is weak, but only $2.90 when it's strong. McDonald's sells over 1
billion Big Macs a year in China, so that number makes a big difference.
The Fed hasn't raised interest rates this year and isn't expected
to do so any time soon, but interest rates on credit cards are still
increasing.
U.S. card holders are expected to pay $122 billion in interest charges
in 2019. That's 12% more than what they paid in 2017 and 50% more than what
they paid as recently as 2014.
Credit card interest rates tend to move in concert with U.S.
overnight interest rates, controlled by the Fed. LendingTree's Magnify Money
website found that between December 2015 and December 2018 the Fed had
increased rates by 2% while credit card interest rates had increased by 2.16%.
The average credit card assessed interest rate is now 16.91%. It
was 13.14% in the first quarter of 2014.
- Canopy
Growth (+3.99%), the world’s most valuable marijuana company, plans to buy
fellow pot company Acreage Holdings for $3.4 billion...when (if?) weed
becomes legal at the federal level in the U.S.
- Binance,
the world’s biggest crypto exchange, has launched its own blockchain.
Here’s what that means.
- Facebook
(-0.28%) said it stored millions of Instagram passwords without the proper
security measures.
- Amazon
(-0.17%) announced a free, ad-supported music streaming service to win
more customers for its speakers and Alexa-enabled devices.
- Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will introduce a bill that raises
the federal minimum age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21.
DRIVING
THE WEEK - Monday: Earth Day; existing home sales; earnings
(Kimberly-Clark, Halliburton); Tesla revealing autonomous tech
· Tuesday:
New home sales; earnings (P&G, Verizon, Coca-Cola, United Technologies,
eBay, Twitter, Snap)
· Wednesday:
Earnings (Microsoft, Facebook, Visa, AT&T, Boeing, Caterpillar, PayPal,
Tesla, Chipotle)
· Thursday:
Durable goods orders; earnings (Amazon, Intel, Comcast, 3M, Altria, UPS,
Starbucks, Ford); NFL Draft starts
· Friday:
GDP; consumer sentiment; earnings (Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Sony); a few of you
may see Avengers: Endgame. Friday brings the first look at Q1 GDP and after
initially looking bad it should come in above 2 percent. So not a terrible
headline for Trump. Q2 could be a different story. The U.S. consumer is back on
track, almost. ... We have never bought the idea that the past few months
represent the end-of-cycle weakening in consumption. That idea is impossible to
square with robust growth in payrolls, increasing wage gains and elevated
confidence.
SWAMI’S WEEK
TOP PICKS
–
NHL Game of the Week – Tuesday 4/23 7:00 PM ET, NBCSN: Game 7
Eastern Quarter-final Toronto Maple Leafs (3-3) vs. Boston Bruins (3-3). Can
the Leafs end the dreaded Game 7 curse against the B’s. Auston Matthews gets
the winner, Leafs move on 4-3. (Season to date 8-3)
MLB Game of the Week – Saturday 4/27 4:05 PM ET, FS1: Cleveland
Indians (12-9) vs. Houston Astros (13-8). Two likely opponents come the playoffs,
Stros win this won 6-4.
2019 Season
to Date (12 - 8)
Next Blog: Word and
Jack Ass of the Month.
Until
next time, Adios
Spring
Arbor, Michigan
April
22, 2019
#IX-21-389
CARTOON OF
THE WEEK – “ Earth Day” The New
Yorker
RINK RATS
POLL –
What does Earth Day mean to you?
___ Sadness
___ Call to action
___ No worries
___ Helplessness
___ Fear
QUOTE OF THE
MONTH
– “I only feel angry when I see waste.
When I see people throwing away things we could use.”
—Mother Teresa
