Ron Paul Speaks

Ron Paul is coming to speak at Lindenwood University and I am half tempted to cut my vacation short to get the opportunity to hear him speak.  He will be in the Robert Hyland Performance arena on next Saturday at 3:00 PM.  Again, Lindenwood nails it in regard to taking it up a notch by bringing interesting figures like this to the campus.
 

While sitting in the Spellmann Dining Hall yesterday doing my weekly food tasting (and yes, it is indeed about the taste of the food), I was able to interact with a couple of faculty members whom I haven't seen in a while.  Academia is a place where you get a fairly interesting perspective on politics.  Faculty members are always good for some fodder if you bait them just right. Now, I choose not to pontificate about some things and politics are usually one of them.  However, the fact that Lindenwood is hosting a candidate like this is tremendous.  Just about as tremendous as hosting Rex Sinquefield a couple of weeks ago.
 

Paul has been described as conservative and libertarian and calls out the game players, the stakeholders in a system that is broken and undeserved to those who pay taxes.  I have written many a piece on the frustrating status quo of government and Paul pretty much makes a platform out of it.  Paul likes the Fed being out of State matters, and I applaud this.  "The government shouldn't be in the medical business." says Paul, referencing health care and other controversial issues related to regulatory health issues.  As for income taxes, it's the bureaucracies Paul would take out first, claiming never to have voted for a budget deficit approval in all of his years of public service.  He thinks the reduction of federal agencies can virtually wipe out the need for individual income taxes.  Do you think the agencies or the politicians will go down without a fight?
 

Pauls position might best be characterised in this statement:  “If the policies of the Republican Party are the same as the Democrat Party and they don't want to change anything on foreign policy, they don't want to cut anything, they don't want to audit the Fed and find out about monetary policy, they don't want to have actual change in government, that is a problem for me."  Actions tend to be the authority on whether or not this is true.  History shows that those that play the game want the rules to stay the same, and the income.

Here is a real life story to put in your pocket--

 I have found that by being in business you basically have a conduit to all sorts of agencies, this if you have employees, sales taxes to be paid and reported, other stuff needed to "be" in business--an ongoing communication with agencies ranging from employment security to the IRS to licensing for all sorts of stuff.  It is way too complicated for me to understand, and the need to engage and hire what I call "tick bird" special services, in the area of legal and accounting and consulting practices, is totally necessary to figure out how to report and stay within that of the feds expectations.  These are the agencies who are the business of  funneling more money to the government, the game, the game the game.
 

I was floored when I looked back at the last few years of accounting services totaling over $70,000.00.  This was for income tax preparation and consulting in order to make sure we have our act together so we don't get penalized for...whatever stuff they say we did.  Heck, I am focused on my business, shouldn't I be?  Or should we be focused on the thug at the end of the conduit, the Fed? I am not even touching legal services here.

We received a notice from an agency not long ago--I can't remember what it was but something didnt match up on one of our ongoing reports.  The fed had determined that we were in error and advised that we should go ahead and pay the penalties and adjustments somewhere in the neighborhood or $7000.00, regardless of our position and/or efforts to reconcile the matter.  These things do happen in business, but nobody asks for pay without justification.  This is what the fed has made a habit out of, because they are the fed. 

We found the problem quickly and (after hiring some special services to make sure it was not mis-interpreted) determined that there really wasn't an issue, simply a clarification needed to get back to the agency and rectify matters.  We promptly submitted. 

We were told that the agency was not able to provide "reconciliation services" at this time (they were too busy) and that we should send in our money and seek to become relieved of the penalties at a later time.  Not kidding.  This will sit unresolved until the Fed has the time to deal with it.  What would my clients say if this were how I treated them?  Meanwhile, it sits as a matter unclosed in our business, a tethered ball and chain; a reminder that the Fed has its fist waving at us at all times.

After doing my research on Ron Paul and my conversations with some faculty members...those who share the excitement to be part of such an incredible institution like Lindenwood, my hope is that we will have a better, more collective awareness of the broken game of special interest politics.   Perhaps our young folks will learn a thing or two by showing up and taking part.  Perhaps they won't just take my word for it. This is huge for Lindenwood and the students, and the entire community.  Applause, ifyouknowhatimtalkinbout.