It's Epidemic

Elder abuse is a growing threat in Salt Lake City. Two very recent cases of horrible abuse and neglect have given law enforcement officers pause to rethink how they respond. Too often it is seen as a family matter, especially financial abuse. It isn't it is a crime. A local KSL news report quotes the county sheriff saying that Salt Lake city used to get six elder abuse cases a year, now it's a twelve a month and it's a crime that's underreported.
Law enforcement's Family Crimes Unit now holds monthly meetings to train more specifically for handling elder abuse.

Somebody's gotta pay for this thing

Funding Health Care. Tax the rich, tax passive income, make big pharma pay, soda pop tax, make "non-profit" hospitals chip in more. These are the options currently on the table:

* Expanding the 1.45% Medicare payroll tax on earned income to "passive income," or unearned income, which could raise $100 billion;

* A 5% surtax on individuals who earn more than $500,000 and couples who earn more than $1 million;

* A tax on employer-sponsored health benefits at a level higher than previously considered, with one proposal to tax plans worth more than $20,300 for a family and $8,300 for an individual. The proposal could raise $240 billion. Another option would be to increase the cutoff to plans worth more than $25,000, which could raise $90 billion;

* Capping the tax break on itemized deductions at 28%, which could raise $168 billion, or a freeze on the top deduction rate at 35%, which could raise $90 billion;

* Issuing tax credit bonds to pay for the proposed Medicaid expansion, which could generate $75 billion in new revenue;

* Charging fees to pharmaceutical companies and insurers, which could generate up to $20 billion and $75 billion, respectively;

* Raising taxes on sugary drinks. A three-cent tax increase would generate $30 billion, while a 10-cent tax increase could result in $100 billion in new revenue (Budoff Brown/Rogers, Politico, 7/9); and

* Requiring that not-for-profit hospitals provide a minimum amount of charity care, which would both increase the amount of care provided that the federal government does not fund and force those hospitals not providing enough no-cost care out of tax-exempt status (Martinez, Wall Street Journal, 7/10);

Don't Ask Your Doctor

TV networks are lobbying against a measure that would end tax deductions for drug-company advertising, a change they claim would threaten jobs. If they dropped all tax deductions they could take in as much as $37 billion in the next decade that could be used to help our disaster of a health care system.

But it would improve my own health and certainly my moods if I didn't have to listen almost non-stop to prattling on of nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pains, rashes, headaches, itching, dry eyes, dry mouth, muscle aches, strokes, and rare complications that will cause death, every time there's a program on that I want to watch.

Sounds Warm and Cozy

Hainsworth Coffins offers natural wool coffins and caskets.

"This is an innovative coffin and something completely new for the alternative coffin market, but the use of wool in burials is nothing new. The Burial in Wool Act of 1667 made it a legal requirement for the dead to be buried in woollen shrouds in an attempt to boost the struggling woollen industry of the time. With the current social eco agenda, rising concerns on the environmental impact of burials and this innovative product, the industry has come full circle.”

H/T Boingboing.net

Who's Conning Who?

In Operation Short Change, the FTC has targeted companies defrauding consumers.

“Rising unemployment, shrinking credit, record-setting foreclosures, and disappearing retirement accounts are causing consumers tremendous anxiety about making ends meet, but to con artists, today’s challenging economy presents just another opportunity to play on consumers’ worry and bilk them out of money.”

The action involves 15 FTC cases, 44 by the DOJ and actions by at least 13 states and D.C.

Two have ties to Utah, Google Money Tree and Mentoring of America. Salt Lake City Weekly earlier reported on Mentoring of America, reporting fraudulent sales practices, drug abuse at work, and campaign contributions to AG Mark Shurtleff of $30,000. The defendants Gary Hewitt, Douglas Gravink, John Beck, John Alexander, and Jeff Paul marketed John Beck’s Free & Clear Real Estate System,” “John Alexander’s Real Estate Riches in 14 Days,” and “Jeff Paul’s Shortcuts to Internet Millions.”

Here's an Inside edition report about the fraud.

Gravnick and Hewitt were also charged in a weight-loss scheme, the AB Energizer in 2002. The stipulated final orders in that case provided for a $43.4 million judgment.

Operation Short Change targeted get-rich-quick plans, "guaranteed jobs," "government grants," rapid debt reduction plans, work-at-home schemes. City Weekly reports that Mentoring of America, has been under four separate state investigations between 2004 and 2009 that resulted in administrative citations and one enforcement action by the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Last month Mentoring was charged by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection with eight counts of deceptive trade practices. The citation notes that company representatives allegedly charged consumers with fees ranging between $5,000 to $14,000 for real-estate coaching sessions.

It also reports that when Mentoring was faced with charges in 2007, the charges were dismissed at the encouragement of the Utah Attorney General’s Office and Consumer Protection. Utah's Attorney General is Mark Shurtleff. He is the same person under a cloud for influencing the decision whether or not to investigate our own Krazy Kapitalist Rick Koerber.

Google Plaintiffs are Infusion Media's Jonathan Eborn, Stephanie Burnside, Michael McLain Miller, Tony Norton many of their DBA's Google Money Trees Google Pro, Internet Income Pro, and Google Treasure Chest were operating out of Springville, Utah.

Here's One You Don't See Every Day

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As a thank you, a man has left $152,000 - half his estate - to the Ohio insurance company where he worked for 25 years.

In his will, Jack Boyle said the bequest to Columbus-based State Auto Insurance Cos. was in gratitude for his livelihood and his good pension in retirement.

Boyle was a claims representative in Cleveland from 1953 until he retired to Boca Raton, Fla., in 1978. He was 91 when he died in Florida last year.

Jenny, Jenny who can I turn to - 867-5309 - the story continues

Last year we told you of the elderly man who lost the right to handle his own financial affairs because he spent $20,000 making hundreds of calls to sex chat lines. He is still fighting to regain control over his affairs.

He says the Australian court had no concerns about his capacity to make decisions about his financial matters "outside the issue of his chat line telephone calls."

The man's appeal will be heard next month according to the Courier Mail.

Defending the Homeland

Just like in the children's book "The Little House," by Virginia Lee Burton, the city imposes itself on the little house. But this little house wouldn't go.

In place of the working class Scandinavian families and cottages, the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle became home to industrial buildings, chemical plants, abandoned lots, and garbage left everywhere. Edith Macefield's house was the last one standing on her block. Government assessors put the value of the house and land as less than $110,000.

In recent years gentrification saw the neighborhood fortunes change once again. Developers rushed in but Edith Macefield refused to sell her 108-year old little cottage. She refused developer offers of nearly $1 million. She's been there for over fifty years; she wanted to stay. And that was that. Soon her little house was surrounded by a five story health club and a Trader Joe's.

When she died last year, Ms. Macefield willed the property to Barry Martin, the construction manager who oversaw the five-story development that surrounded her house. He has sold the property for $310,000 to a developer who will leave it essentially where it is. They will keep the home exterior intact, elevate the house and create a two-level gated open space beneath it. The house itself will become office space.

The story is at the Seattle Times

Government Trivia of the Day

Al Franken, comic and author, was sworn in this morning. As the junior senator from Minnesota, he will be replacing Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden D-Or, who is a lawyer, on the Senate Judiciary Committee. More at oregonlive.com.

Your Choice

Carolyn Kellogg of the LA Times, commenting on the Jacket Copy on an "Idiot's Guide" book. Apparently the author is available to comment on the process Michael Jackson's family or others will have to contend with when dealing with the estate of a family member or friend who has recently died. He can discuss aspects to writing a will and how to start getting affairs in order.

"Indeed. Well they've gotten their publicity. But I won't be calling the "Idiot's Guide" author. Nor would I recommend that anyone who wants to leave their affairs in order begin at the idiot level; I'd say a lawyer is a safer bet." ☺

Michael Jackson Blogging

Though Michael Jackson's personal life and finances were definitely different, his business acumen was legendary, and according to Kiplinger.com, he left an estate plan that we can all learn from.

Here's what he did.

He made a will, which unfortunately most people don't do. Most people's estates will be distributed according to state law. Jackson, on the other hand, spelled out what he wanted to happen. He cited each of his children by name and specifically excluded those that he did not want to share in his estate. This makes it clear that these were considered choices, not oversights.

Along with his will, he created a revocable trust. This trust is actually a legal entity. The pour-over will dumped all of the assets into the trust, which now owns all of Michael Jackson's assets. With this move he avoided probate, which is public record, assuring some privacy for his affairs.

While he was alive, he administered the trust. He designated who he wanted to take over (act as trustees), when he was gone. He set up two independent co-trustees with specific relevant experience, a lawyer and a business manager, both of whom had long histories of working with him. Both have excellent reputations in their perspective fields. By relying on experience and expertise Jackson improved his odds that his wishes would be followed.

So far the estate plan has already survived the challenge from his mother who wanted to administer the business affairs and distribution of the estate. But the big fight is going to be custody of the children.

Jackson made it that he wanted his mother to care for the children, but it looks like the biological mother, Debbie Rowe is going to challenge that. Usually the court will give preference to a biological parent over everyone else unless they are unfit or have given up parental rights. The mother, Debbie Rowe relinquished her rights, but later petitioned to reinstate them. Who knows what's behind that story. Another issue is Michael's mother's age, which is 79. And it could get wild because there's a third surrogate mother out there who could show up for the party.

So it looks like in death Michael's personal life is mess as it was when he was alive, but his business affairs will be fine because he took the effort to get good legal advice and did some sound estate planning.

Security Alert

Microsoft is warning of a serious computer security problem. It affects Internet Explorer running on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. It allows hackers to remotely take control of victims' computers. Thousands of sites have been hacked and all a person has to do is visit one of those sites to be affected.

Microsoft is advising users to deactivate the Video Active X control until the problem can be fixed. Go here to do this.

Or scrap IE altogether. firefox and Chrome