Obama's OffShore Tax Haven Crackdown.

Im all for it.

This one is actually one of my big pet peeves.  We'll see how much actually gets done.  Im guardedly hopefull..whatever that means.

I reccomend the book Perfectly Legal by David Kay Johnston for a primer on how these are being abused.

On a side note, for those of you who worry about the fate of billionaires.  I heard an interesting podcast last week.

It was one of NPR:  Planet Money's  Look for the title about pirates.  They interviewed some diplomats stationed in Africa about how the pirate business model works.

They even interviewed a Danish businessman whos shipping company was hit by pirates recently.  He paid between 1-2 mil (he wouldnt be more specific) and his ship was detained for several weeks during the process..costing him more.  When asked why you would negotiate with pirates he explained how his ships are registered in the Bahama's for tax reasons and the Bahamian government doesnt have a big navy operating off the African coast,  let alone SEAL snipers...so he has to negotiate and pay.

Many people comented on the stupidity of those guys attacking a US registered ship in the first place.  You just dont do that because..well, we all saw what happened.  Not too profitable for the pirates (or their financial backers).  So to all who say you waste your money paying US taxes, here we have an ironclad example of what you get for your money...US shipping should have a long stint of no pirates in its future...Tax dollars at work.  I think the oil guys have had a few black eyes in central/south america over the years when small governments spontaneously declare all the equipment and procedes government property..well, thats what you get when you do business in rinky dink countries sometimes.  Have to factor that into the business model.

On a side note, NPR podcasts are decidedly left wing and kinda a noobie guide to money..the podcast Econtalk is much higher up the education scale and way out in right field..I listen to both regularly..good to get both sides.