McClatchly ran an article on the bankruptcy of LandAmerica 1031 Exchange Services Inc.. A lot of the investors are upset that the Federal government didn’t bail out LandAmerica.

Excuse me, but LandAmerica was a tax dodge. If you didn’t want to pay the capital gains taxes due after selling your house, you put the money in 1031 [IRS code number] fund and then bought your next house. Why would anyone expect the Federal government to bail out a tax shelter?

If these people had paid the 15% capital gains tax, they wouldn’t have lost 75% of their money. If you view your house as an investment, rather than a place to live, you should read the fine print about there being no guarantee of a profit.

The woman at the end of the article who doesn’t want to cash the check for $84,000 because she thinks it will affect her food stamps and heating assistance, is totally lost in space. The state of New Jersey will make her pay back all of the assistance she has received since she received the check, and she could face criminal charges over failing to report it. What planet do people like this live on?

The same Florida Senate that is advocating cutting the salaries of state employees [who haven’t had a raise in four years, BTW] is pushing to give raises to their staff!

How stupid are these people? They expect those who work for the people of Florida to absorb the inflation of the last four years, and then have their pay cut, but those who work for the part-time legislators deserve a more money‽

It’s at times like these that you see the reason we have term-limited our legislators. The state would be better off if we selected the legislature at random from the jury pool.