Scams and Tax Reform

As I was scanning the news headlines today one was about how a man stole $100 million from his clients and now is living in luxury.  I would think that would be the point although the story reveals a complicated possible con of wealthy people in Europe where the number of jurisdictions may have allowed the scammer to get off with a minor sentence and a lot of money.

Of course financial scams are tricky things, most of them fail, as this one did, when one of the victims wants some or all of their money.  Of course the question is how many scams don't get discovered?

One of the interesting things about this is how wealthy well educated people seem as easily tricked as everyone else.

Even maybe worse is how many companies, like the Swiss firm that was ruined by this person's actions, hire people who have the right background and connections, but no real qualifications.

Generally its possible that his luxurious life in the South of France may yet be disrupted, some of his victims are pretty determined, but for the last 15 years or so he has lived a lifestyle that eludes the vast majority of people and at worse he well end up in some European equivalent of a Club Fed.

What does any of this mean?  It seems that crime does indeed pay, it just depends what sort of crime.

Of course this week we are going to see a travesty of a tax bill probably pass which will put a trillion dollars into the coffers of business and add that amount to the debt we as a nation have to pay.

The biggest part of this con is that the dotard will lie and say it is a tremendous middle class tax cut, citing some numbers that are based on half the equation, the reduction in the tax rates and the increase in the standard deduction, ignoring the reduction in personal exemptions and itemized deductions.

Still, there are enough people who use the standard deduction that it is a net decrease, not much per capita, but a net decrease while of course all businesses and pass thru corporations get the full benefit of the corporate rate deduction.

One of the biggest scams is eliminating the requirement to get health insurance which appeals to certain people who don't want to pay their fair share now, but will cost many significantly in increased premiums. 

These are bills that will come due in the future folks, and like the financial scam above, they end up costing a lot in the end.