Are you totally clueless about your taxes? Don’t worry, the government is here to help! The IRS puts out a 300-page document called Publication 17. It can serve as a getting started guide for doing your taxes and answer questions like what to do when you have a baby, retire, or sell stock. Pub 17 also covers some of the new changes in store for 2008, like the expiring capital gains tax, IRA deduction increases, changes to child’s investment income, and ever so much more. No, you don’t have to read the whole darn thing. It’s a PDF so you can search for specific keywords and phrases. If you’re doing your taxes yourself and have some basic questions you need answering, Pub 17 is a good place to start.
Government Policy
$800-$1600 Rebates Expected In Bush Stimulus Plan
By 1.18.08
It looks like Bush’s economic stimulus package is going to take the form of instant cash bonuses: $800 for individuals and $1600 for married couples. That’s dumb, everyone should get Costco coupons! All kidding aside, the NYT says the ~$500 rebates granted after the 2001 recessions proved “surprisingly effective…people spent most of the money rather than salting it away in savings or using it to pay down credit card debt. A 2004 study by economists at the Department of Labor, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania found that households spent between 20 and 40 percent of the rebate within three months and another third in the following three months.” Will this “wealth surge” be just what the countries needs to beat back the forces of recession holed up in our economy, terrorizing our financial well-being? Bring on Operation Cash Dump.
Stay Away From Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
By 1.18.08
I saw a big billboard for Jackson Hewitt showing a broadly smiling woman of indeterminate ethnicity holding a fistful of money that she just got by getting a refund anticipation loan, and it reminded me of how we need to do our annual telling of people to once again stay away from said refund anticipation loans.
Patient Sues Eye Doctor, Claims His Assistant Licked Her Toes
By 1.17.08
Well, this post is pretty much written—I can’t do better than that. But here are details: a Illinois woman named Roman Tesfaye alleges that when she went for an eye exam this past summer, the assistant, Joseph Vernell Jr., put a strip over her eyes and told her to keep them closed for 5-7…
JFK Airport Is Notoriously Corrupt: Baggage Handlers Caught Stealing $250,000 In Diamonds
By 1.17.08
Queens prosecutors said Monday that a 51-year-old worker and his 39-year-old supervisor are charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property. They say the jewelry was stolen last week from a container marked “high value” that was being shipped from Switzerland to Brazil.
We won’t lie, corrupt baggage handlers piss us off. These two specimens broke open the container and stole the jewelry, hiding it in a locker at the American Airlines terminal.
Law & Order Does Ripped From Consumer Headlines Show
By 1.17.08
OMG, is anyone else watching Law & Order right now? They’re doing an episode based around that judge who sued a dry-cleaner for $54 million over a pair of lost suit pants. UPDATE: And there’s a Wal-Mart improper relations between co-workers angle, too! The shirts are yellow and the place is called “Savings-Mart.” UPDATE: And a poison toothpaste from China angle! Same as was in the headlines, glucose replaced by antifreeze, then the tubes were dumped on discount stores, prisons, mental institutions, and old folk’s homes. UPDATE: I missed it but apparently when the detectives walk in the Savings-Mart execs apartment, he tells them to not trip over the Thomas the Tank Engine. That wouldn’t be the Thomas The Lead-Painted Tank Engine, now would it?
CPSC Boss: Toys "Are Safer Than They Have Ever Been"
By 1.16.08
Consumer Reports takes issue with some of the statements CPSC chairperson Nancy Nord said in a recent speech:
Doctor Forces Rectal Exam, Patient Punches Doctor, Police Arrest Patient, Patient Sues
By 1.16.08
A 38-year-old construction worker who suffered a head injury on the job was sedated and given a rectal exam against his will, says the New York Times.
FCC Probably Powerless To Fine ABC Over Diane Keaton's "Fucking Personality"
By 1.16.08
Diane Keaton, while appearing live on “Good Morning America,” told Diane Sawyer that she’s admired her looks, particularly her lips, saying “that if she had lips like that she wouldn’t have had to work on her ‘fucking personality’ and would be married by now.” Obviously, Diane Keaton is awesome, but FCC chairman Kevin Martin is notoriously fond of attempting to punish stations that allow free spirited celebrities to slip in a few “shits” and “fucks” into their live television appearances.
By 1.15.08
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The FDA’s announcement today that cloned beef and dairy is safe was met with criticism by several consumer groups, which isn’t surprising, and the US Department of Agriculture, which is—they say that food producers should continue to honor a “voluntary moratorium” for the indefinite future…
Class Actions: Bed Bath & Beyond May Owe You A Small Amount Of Money
By 1.15.08
If you bought sheets at Bed Bath & Beyond you may have some money coming to you from a class action settlement. BB&B has begun notifying customers that they’ve settled a class action lawsuit brought over the thread count in their sheets. Apparently, said sheets had been labeled in a non-standard manner.
Make Money At Home Stuffing Supplement Capsules—No Anything Required
By 1.15.08
This personal testimony about health supplements from winstonthorne on today’s earlier post is too good—and disturbing—to leave buried in comments:One of my friends actually stuffs capsules for a living for a company making an herbal “sexual stimulant” – she literally sits there on her…
Eat Cloned Animals, FDA Says
By 1.15.08
According to a soon-to-be released FDA report on cloned animals, the government says it’s safe for you to eat Dolly, Dolly, Dolly and even Dolly. On every single measure of animal healthiness, the FDA analysis of cloned animals found virtually no difference between clones and animals reproduced by normal means.
Hormone-Filled Dietary Supplement Caused Cancer In Two Men, Say Doctors
By 1.15.08
A new article published today in Clinical Cancer Research says that two men “developed aggressive and incurable prostate cancer within months of taking the same supplement.” The doctors examined the supplement and discovered it contained testosterone and estradiol, and “when they tested it on tumor cells in the lab, they found it fueled the growth of prostate cancer cells more potently than testosterone alone.” Either don’t take herbal/hormonal dietary supplements, they urge, or make sure you fully disclose to your doctor what you’re taking.
By 1.15.08
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Why J.K. Rowling should lose her misguided copyright lawsuit against the author of a Harry Potter reference book. [Slate via BoingBoing]
TSA Traveler Website Exposed Private Citizens To Risk Of ID Theft
By 1.15.08
The Transportation Security Administration’s traveler redress website—which was launched to give travelers a way to get their names removed from the government’s toddler-centric no fly list—operated for months without proper security in place, leaving citizens who submitted detailed personal information to it wide open to identity theft. Gee, we’re this close to thinking that the TSA is run by a bunch of grotesquely incompetent, slug-like bureaucrats.
Yankees Fan Sues: Steriods Are Almost "Consumer Fraud"
By 1.14.08
A longtime fan is suing the New York Yankees over some players’ reported use of performance-enhancing drugs, saying he wants repayment for $221 in tickets and a public response from his once beloved team.
A Stranger Is Using The Bank Of America Debit Card That Is Sitting In My Desk Drawer
By 1.14.08
The other day reader Dave wrote us because he’d noticed a bunch of strange debits from Sprint on his bank account. Since he uses Sprint, he thought it was a billing error, albeit a serious one, because Sprint had debited $1,717.49 in the past two weeks. Dave hadn’t been able to find anyone at Sprint to help him reverse the charges and wrote to us for advice. Yikes!
