Matters Financial

21 July 2003


Recession Ended 20 Months Ago
The National Bureau of Economic Research has brought the art of economics into disrepute by making the announcement last week that the business trough of 2001 began in March of that year and continued until November. Since then, the US economy has been in recovery mode, according to the NBER. That would be news to the 938,000 who have lost their jobs since then. Click here to read more.

IRS Cracks Down on Trust Fund Abuses
The Internal Revenue Service is no one's favorite part of the federal government, even among its employees. The fact is the taxman has been an unpopular figure since the first king expropriated the first subjects wealth in the grand protection racket that is called government. Yet, in the civilized 21st century, most have accepted as true Benjamin Franklin's statement that death and taxes are then only inevitables in this life. Death can never be fair, while taxes can. And the IRS should get at least two cheers for a recent move to stop the rich from stealing from the rest of American society. Click here to read more.

FASB Pension Rules Opposed by FEI
Financial Executives International is a group purporting to represent senior finance executives, and it is currently lobbying against a call by the Financial Accounting Standards Board for corporations to provide more information about pension plans. The surprising thing is that there are any pension plans left in America on which to report data. That said, the FEI's claim that they are trying to prevent "disclosure overload" should set off alarm bells far and wide. Click here for our view.