Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Too Big to Pay

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As you are paying your property taxes, sales taxes, federal income taxes, state income taxes, utility taxes, gas taxes, and God-knows-what-else taxes, here’s a fun thing to keep in mind: plenty of gargantuan corporations not only pay zero taxes, but they actually get REBATES from the government. This is the miracle of corporate lobbying in D.C., folks! Here’s a taste:

Food conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland enjoyed $438 million of U.S. pretax income last year and received a federal tax rebate of $164 million.

The delivery giant FedEx zeroed out its federal income tax on $1.2 billion of U.S. pretax income in 2020 and received a rebate of $230 million.

(more…)

Should We Clubhouse?

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Early in 2005, my wife told me I should start a blog. I told her I thought it was a dumb idea. She kept pushing. I kept saying it was dumb. I finally relented on March 29, 2005, and here we are on Slope. In my life, she is basically batting 1,000 about being right.

She’s been at it again. This time, regarding Clubhouse. This is the invitation-only audio app. I don’t want to do it. She thinks it’s a great idea. I think it’s dumb (plus – how shall I put this delicately – – surprisingly urban). Although the empirical data suggests I should listen (specifically, of the past fifty million opinions she has expressed, none of them have been wrong) I’d be interested to know if any of you would want to try this. I can’t imagine people wanting to hear each other, especially me, but who knows. Let me know……….