I was recently involved in negotiations with someone trying to sell a 1955 Mercedes 190SL.  They were using Google Auto Protection as their scam.  When I wrote them back I told them how I would conduct business or else we were done.  I haven't heard back from the party involved.   I mean, what idiot thinks that someone...more

You have to do some real research on best states for retirement.  If you are looking to minimize taxes, I suggest you check out  the southern states.  Mississippi, for example (I know) has a top rate of 5% on income; a 7% sales tax rate; very reasonable property tax rates, with retirees having a $75000 homestead exempt...more

You had very poor tax advice.  Your mother's house was purchased fo 20K.  You need to know the value of the home on the day she passed.  If the  house appraised at 200k, and you sold it for 200K, you would owe no taxes--estate, federal, or state.  The "stepped up value" makes the cost basis of the  house (for you) the ...more

This article is filled with many distortions.  Here's the facts, having just inherited a bunch of money.  It is true that you can pass your estate to your spouse "tax free."  However, when that spouse dies, it will be taxed.  All you have done by leaving it all to your spouse is temporarily avoiding the tax.  So 100% o...more

The issue here, I understand, seems to be "compassion."  Here's the problem, though.  Extending unemployment benefits only extends the problem.  There is no money to extend the program, so all the government is doing is printing money to pay for it, adding to the debt.  The POLICY is wrong.  Government needs to promote...more

The average guy reads Money magazine, Kiplingers, Forbes.  These magazines scream, 'Best Stocks for 2010", "Raging Bull". etc etc.  They are financial pornography.  When everyone is telling you to buy, that's the time to sell.  When they're telling you to sell, that's the time to buy.  It takes balls.  When Bank of Ame...more

Pigeons have long been a city dweller's treat.  We would catch them in their nests in the Oakland piers, while fishing for stripped bass.  If the fish weren't biting, the pigeons were getting caught.  We'd feed them corn and oats to fatten them up and then clean them and cook them.  Like a cornish hen.   Squirrels ar...more