New Year’s Day… taking our cue from David Letterman, “It’s so cold today that Bernie Madoff is actually looking forward to burning in hell.” The still-unfolding Madoff scandal reminds me of having to sit through the inane movie, Weekend at Bernie’s, with some of my children almost 20 years ago.

For those of you unfamiliar with the film, a few words of advice: keep it that way. The ironies, though, abound. A quick check of The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) reveals this: “A lively comedy about a guy who isn’t.” Drilling down a little further, Wikipedia’s plot description notes that, “Larry and Richard uncover a fraud involving multiple life insurance payments.” In the interest of full disclosure, Mr. Madoff’s sons—the ones who turned him in—are named Andrew and Mark… if it’s true that a ripped-off party in daddy’s $50 billion scam included a Russian oligarch, they may find life imitating art. (more…)

A random thought, or two, as April 15th approaches…

Thanks to Larry Kudlow for pointing out that those IRS tax rebate notices everyone recently received cost us taxpayers a “cool $42 million.” And speaking of government waste at the local level, kudos to Comptroller Peter Franchot for initially sending out Maryland’s quarterly vouchers, for this year, with “2007” printed on them… wonder how much that cost us in re-printing and re-mailing costs?

As for these rebate checks, talk about an idea whose time has definitely not come… oh, and by the way, those who comprise the top 5% of taxpayers and pay 60% of all personal income taxes, will find their rebates either reduced or completely phased-out. This brings to mind Thomas Jefferson’s observation—“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have.” (more…)