Today's journalism is not a wartime journalism. Even though we've been at war in west Asia for 20 years, and in a civil war 30. Journalism has been living in the 80s, I guess. The assumption being that elections and laws have meaning. In war, elections don't matter. You can't win a war in court. #

I wish Facebook were better integrated with the rest of the web.#

I tried to listen to a Joe Trippi podcast today, an interview with another political insider, Max Boot, member of a political thinktank and columnist for the Washington Post. It's the same discussion you can hear on every cable news show or political podcast. Basic question -- what can we do to stop the Repubs from taking over the government and destroying everything. They run through all the options and come to the conclusion that there actually is nothing to be done. I got through the first ten minutes, on a 1/2 hour drive to town, so I paused his show, got out my iPhone and recorded my response. I don't like picking on Joe, he's a nice person. The thing that makes him different from say Chris Hayes is that he might listen. There is something that can be done. But it means leaving business as usual behind. You can't win a war with an enemy that is 1/2 of your government. So listen to my 12-minute answer to Joe. #

When your “worth” rises, that’s not income. You don’t pay income tax until you sell the asset whose worth increased. Journalism almost never explains this. That’s why if your net worth rises by say $1 billion, you might not pay any income tax.#

An example. I inherited IRAs from my parents. You can put income into an IRA to defer taxes until you retire, when presumably you will have less income and therefore will pay less tax. My parents' IRAs outlived them, so I'm holding them, the taxes still deferred. They will be one of the last things I sell to pay the rent and buy groceries. It might be that their IRAs will outlive me too! I also am holding stock that has appreciated. Nothing like Bezos or Musk, but I don't want to sell the stock until I have to because I don't want to pay taxes on the appreciation, and I think/hope the stock will hold its value. In other words, everyone tries to keep taxes to a minimum, not just the super rich. The government knows this, and uses that desire to create incentives. In the case of IRAs, they want people to save for retirement. #

It would be so much better if people had a rudimentary understanding of how money works, and if journalism didn't hide reality, (I guess) to get people angry. #