Erik’s Blog

Oh my! It seems that Glenn Beck has written a novel with the same title as one of my blog posts. While I continue to support the notion that it is important to examine the limits of what is not socially acceptable to discuss in political discourse, I also firmly disavow any notion that the utter nonsense spewing from Beck’s mouth has anything to do with such a window. Talking provably incorrect bullshit is not “pushing the limits”. Behold the nonsensical “dog returns to his vomit” (there may never be a more apt sentence written about this novel!) “burnt fool’s bandaged finger [going] wabbling back to the fire” teaser. It’s too bad you can’t burn eBooks…

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The more I research retirement savings plans, college savings plans, and think about my investment portfolio, the more I come across the phrase “tax deductible” or “tax free”. My 401K contributions come out of my untaxed gross salary. The interest gains of my IRA are not taxed. Up to $2500 of my contributions to my daughters college fund are tax deductible. In the US, up to $3000 of stock market losses are tax deductible. Think about what that means. You can lose up to $3000, and the government covers your losses, making your final total the equivalent of someone who did not play the market at all. It’s almost like every American being given $3000 of poker chips to be played on the stock market every year. The term “tax deductible” is like “free money from the government…if you know how to use it”.
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For years now, I have been listening to the opposition party in Spain complain about every little problem and blame it all on the current governing party. For one, this attitude lead me to my epiphany four years ago that Conservatives Complain More, but it has also lead me to develop a new pet peeve. Complaining about the government is easy. Everyone’s angry about something. If you’re not, you’re either high or stupid. What’s really hard is suggesting a better way to do whatever it is you think the government is bungling. Recently, I’ve made a point of countering complaints with, “How would you do X better if you were in power?” The result is amazing. Most people shut up immediately or ignore the question. The ones that actually have an answer are those that have actually thought through the problem. Those are the people to listen to.
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The other day I took Nora to the doctor to get her cough and recurring fever looked at. Actually I went in just to get an appointment, but as soon as the receptionist heard the F-word, she passed me right along to the pediatric waiting area. Eventually the doctor saw us, probed and prodded a screaming Nora, and gave us a prescription for a cough and fever medicine. We headed straight for the farmacia.
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Yesterday, as I was digging through my coins to pay for a cool European lager, I happened to glance at the artwork on the heads (Or tails? Who can tell anymore?) side of the coin. At first I thought it was some kind of joke currency or bizarre token that someone had slipped me in mistake or trickery. So I saved it, pretty sure it couldn’t be real. But lo and behold, it’s a special 2009 commemorative 2€ coin. To quote the Official Journal of the European Union (PDF):
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While I’m certainly not the first to think of this particular play-on-words, I do think that my book cover is better than the other parodies I’ve seen already floating around. The font, in case you’re wondering, is called Didot.

For those of you that don’t know who David Pogue is, he’s a technology columnist for the New York Times, and general internet geek celebrity who gets to test new gadgets before they are released.
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A few weeks ago, a poll surfaced on Facebook, asking whether or not people thought that President Barack Obama should be assassinated. As it began to get hundreds of thousands of votes, it also attracted the attention of the Secret Service, who never take any assassination threats lightly. Using all their government influence, they coerced Facebook into giving up the identity of the user that started the poll. Unfortunately, the initiator of the poll left very little information about himself. At the time of this writing, the Secret Services knows the following about the suspect:
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According to the laws of my native country, the United States of America, I will never be eligible for dual citizenship. If I apply for Spanish citizenship, I will automatically lose my US citizenship. This is not true, however, of my daughter. She has Spanish citizenship by birth, and can apply for US citizenship as the child of a US citizen. Because she did not actively request her non-US-citizenship, but acquired it automatically, she is allowed to hold both Spanish and US citizenships. While I do not know exactly what legal ramifications this will have on her banking or taxes, I think that in the long run many more things in her life will be facilitated by having dual citizenship than hindered by it. So, on June 1, 2009, we visited the US Embassy in Madrid and registered her to be a US citizen.
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This morning we went through the annual rigmarole that is reporting income and paying taxes in your country of residence when you work and pay income tax in another country. Once again, the amount of taxes that I pay on my income in the States was less than what I would pay in Spain if I earned the same salary. Because the US and Spain have a treaty to avoid double taxation, I was made to pay the difference. How much do you think that difference was? Keep in mind that I get free medical care, and the birth of my daughter didn’t cost me a penny. Yes, over here in pinko commie land, I suffer from the worst possible scenario imaginable: The government makes decisions about my healthcare!! I don’t enjoy the freedom that Americans have of letting an insurance company, whose goal is to make a profit for their shareholders by not giving out money and taking bribes from drug companies, make decisions about their healthcare. So, what was the exorbitant amount of extra money I had to pay for the superior equivalent of US health insurance?
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When I moved from England to Spain exactly four years ago, I began investigating how to manage my multi-currency financial situation. All of my assets were in British Pounds, my salary was in US Dollars, and I would be living in Spain paying all my bills in euros. My investigations led me to one of the most respected institutions in all of banking: Swiss Banks. At the time, there were not many banks that had support for multiple currencies, and the ideal of having my £, €, and $ all in the same bank, the tax free interest, and the allure of having a Swiss bank account were too much to bear. I signed up.
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