Long Time, No Post

Long time, no post. Well…I have been very busy moving my sister up to Michigan from Georgia. My wife and I drove down to Atlanta and helped my sister pack up all the dishes and glass. We rented a 26-foot U-Haul truck and hired Two Men and a Truck guys to load the truck. It is best to let the professionals load a truck because they can really pack it tight. As far as we know, nothing got broken on our 14-hour trip north.

26 feet was not large enough for everything so some things had to be left behind. The realtor will try to sell a few things and the rest will be given to charity groups. Some of the stuff we talked her out of bringing to Michigan. I would have loved to brought everything with us but there wasn’t the room. It would have been better to have a garage sale up here rather than leave it behind but you do what you have to do.

I believe she really likes the new house she bought “sight un seen”. Her large furniture fit nicely and looks homey in the house. She did go out and buy a few things to fill in a few places such as a smaller kitchen table and another chair for living room rather than a large couch.

It has been a tough couple of weeks for me with all the activity but I am slowly getting back to normal and mentally calming down. Dealing with all that activity and being out of my safe zone was stressful but I got thru it without too much anxiety. Now that I am back in my basement office, I feel much more secure and relaxed. Every Thursday, I can go visit my sister for lunch after Group Therapy. I think that will be fun and I am sure she will enjoy that also.

I had a few flashbacks during that period but I believe that the physical activity of packing and getting ready to move helped a little to relieve the stress of being out of my safe zone. We have a new member to our Group Therapy and I have only been to one meeting while he was their. New members tend to change the dynamics of a group so we will see how it does. My initial reaction was that he probably was not a good soldier and tends to hate the military and its rules. However, first impressions can be deceiving so I will wait and see how he turns out.

Big Veterans Day activities coming up in the area but I am not sure if I will partake. Stuff like that brings back memories that I try to forget. A couple of the guys in the group told me to try it so maybe I will. One of the activities includes a free dinner for two with a military program. Betty Bennett is a speaker and I have heard her speak before and really enjoyed what she had to say. She was a Wave Code Breaker in Washington D.C. during WWII. It was amazing what she had to go thru to keep her activities a secret during that time and she had to sign a paper not to reveal for 25 years what she had been doing. She confirms that Roosevelt knew about the attack at Pearl Harbor 4 days before the Japanese hit. I may go just to hear her talk.

Coming Out of the Dark

A couple more excellent videos dealing with PTSD.

PTSD Video

If you are a Nam Vet, be careful when you watch this video. It may bring back some bad memories or reactions.

Tax Plans

This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.

The first four men, the poorest would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18; and the tenth man, the richest, would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day; the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

So the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12; leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59.

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man, but he, pointing to the tenth. "But he got $7!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!" That's true!" shouted the seventh man, why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at
all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important.

They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!

T. Davies Professor of Accounting & Chair, Division of Accounting and
Business Law
the University of South Dakota

Happy Birthday Jo Ann

Well…my sister celebrated a milestone of a birthday yesterday. I won’t say which one but she is an old coot now. I have included a couple of recent pictures of her at her part time job at a Hallmark store. The one picture is also of her good friend Marie who she flew with for many years at Delta Airlines. The picture with the flowers is from a pilot that she flew with many times over the years. (Click picture for larger view) I am looking forward to next month when we move her up to Michigan. I sure hope this winter is not too bad. As a Southern girl, she is used to easy winters with a few chilly days. We live in an area that has “Lake Effect” snow. It blows in off of Lake Michigan and dumps the snow on our area. Happy Birthday Sister.

Labor Day Weekend

We had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend and the weather was perfect. Saturday, we drove 100 miles to Barlow Lake to visit my cousins. Uncle Hugo had a cottage at the lake for as long as I can remember and we spent many a summer day out at the lake. Now the kids have the cottage and they spend many of their summers there. I think Cousin Vincent is about four years older then me and Georgia is probably two years older. We have not seen them for many years so I just had to go to the lake to visit. Labor Day is the weekend that they bring in the boats and dock to store away for the winter.

Vince’s wife is Suzy and their son (Erik) and daughter-in-law were at the lake. In addition, Georgia’s husband Steve and their daughter and granddaughter (Samantha) were at the lake. Here is another case of my not remembering names. I should know their names but forget names so easily. I somehow missed getting a picture of Samantha.

The first picture is of Georgia, her daughter, Erik, Erik’s wife, and then Suzy. The next picture is of Erik, Erik’s wife, Suzy and then Steve (Georgia’s husband). The third picture is Suzy, Erik, Georgia’s daughter, and Erik’s wife. The fourth picture is of Steve and Vince (he graduated from Michigan). The last picture is of Joanne and me on the swing that has been part of the cottage for as long as I can remember. I was just as if I had never been away. (You can click on the pictures for a larger view.)

On Labor Day, the kids and grandkids took us out to dinner for our Anniversary. It was a fun time with the kids and little ones both at the restaurant and out on their patio at home.

An Evening With The Kids

My daughter-in-law did not want her picture taken because she said it would just end up on my blog. Guess I will have to post her picture here just for the fun of it. Kelly and her daughter, Lauren, were playing a game and that is why their arms are raised. I have included another picture of just Kelly and one of Nana, Mike and Josh.