He was also in favor of gay rights long before it became cool...

I almost wrote today's column on Hef. Most people under 30 have no idea that nekkid pichurs of wimmen have not always been universally available at the click of a button. Hef changed America, and helped usher in the sexual revolution. For better or for worse, he was a pioneer, that's for sure.

-CW

I remember having caught a glimpse of Hef's "Bunny plane" - a reconditioned DC-10 painted black with a huge playboy logo painted on the tail - once when I was a child, at the El Paso international airport once. It was truly the most impressive thing I'd ever seen until I lost my virginity.

Today, Playboy.com consists of a picture of Hef from that era with a quote: "Life is too short to be living somebody else's dream."

Rest in Play, Hef.

"An average family might save a couple hundred dollars -- maybe -- on their taxes". That's an obvious dollar based upside.

The downside to the average family is much more subtle: reduced government services and/or budget deficits. Oh, and the rather abstract notion of "fairness."

The Democrats are going to fight hard against this sugar coated poison pill - especially since it puts more money in the pockets of the big Democratic donors too! Self sacrifice is hard, especially if nobody is looking too closely.

Off topic

From the founding fathers to Trump, a little dose of reality in an interview with Gerald Horne

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=20056

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So go back and check it out!

:-)

-CW

For example...

Excerpt-

"The BVI is known as a tourist location, but the island’s raison d’être for the ruling elite in Britain and globally is as the site for financial swindling on a vast scale. The BVI government derives 60 percent of its revenues from its financial sector. It is home to more than one million registered companies, according to the Financial Secrecy Index, with assets of more than $1.5 trillion—double their value as estimated by the International Monetary Fund in 2010.

The Financial Times reported in 2012 that the British Virgin Islands were the fifth largest recipient of foreign direct investment globally, “with inflows at $72 billion, higher than those of the UK, which has an economy almost 3,000 times larger.”

These are nothing more than shell companies that have little physical presence and employ few local people. BVI’s protective regime ensures anonymity, secrecy and a complete absence of wealth or corporate taxation.

Two thirds of these companies are used for “corporate structuring,” and tax “planning,” aka tax avoidance. More than 140 stock market-listed companies in London, New York and Hong Kong have at least one subsidiary in the BVI. According to the Action Aid charity, in 2013, 98 of the companies in the FTSE 100 had BVI subsidiaries."

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/09/27/bvir-s27.html

After the hurricanes, food, power and communication for the poor people are scarce, but the tax evasion operations are back in action!

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Considering how much wealth and income is not ever included in the tax figures the wealthy pay, it's safe to say all of the wealthy figured out that we're suckers... and they're right.

The silver lining in Trumps case is that he probably isn't actually as wealthy as he claims.

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