187: Ignorance At Well Fargo

I do a lot of estate planning work.  Trusts of all sorts, wills, probate, etc.  It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant the employees are at big banks when it comes to the legal aspects of the relationship between a trustee and the bank (or brokerage). 

In this instant case, I am co-trustee of a brokerage account at Wells Fargo.  The other co-trustee has died, leaving me as sole trustee.  WF has now frozen the account since the SSN of the deceased trustee was associated with the account.  WF seems to think that there can be no tax liability for a SSN after the death of the SSN holder, which of course is not true.

WF is frustrating the whole purpose behind establishing a revocable trust.  The purpose is to avoid any interruption in ownership of the asset upon death. 

As I've said and written before, anyone with less than $100 million that does business with a money center bank is an idiot.

186: Corporate Charity

Recently, the Chicago Tribune did an excellent article on ComEd's (an operating unit of EXC) sleazy practice of taking money from ratepayers so that ComEd can then pass the money out to charities ComEd likes or needs.  Many corporations do this.  Some, blatantly ask you at the cash register if you want to donate this or that to some charity.  Only an idiot would say "yes" to that, but most people are idiots, so a lot of money gets raised for the company which then gets credit for the donations.  I always answer "no" to these requests.  I only wish I could say "no" to ComEd, but ComEd has the Illinois regulatory people practically on the ComEd payroll, so I along with all ratepayers will continue to get screwed.

After the above mentioned Tribune article, the CEO of ComEd, one Anne Pramaggiore, wrote a huffy and self-serving letter to the editor trying to defend ComEd's legal theft.  Do we really need Anne to decide who should be the beneficiaries of our largess?

185: Brian Williams

BW six month suspension for lying about war correspondent experience is a joke.  He should be banished from any type of broadcast journalism forever.  Sure, it's a tragedy for BW and his family.  But here was a guy making in excess of $10 million a year for reading what passes on network TV for "news."  Then, on top of that obscene compensation, he has to lie about his role in covering military ops.  He should take his lumps and retire to a life of cushy life of teaching young news readers how not to self-aggrandize.

184: Writing Off BO

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/12/are-we-writing-off-obama-too-soon-113509.html#.VIxkU8nnbqB

In the above link andy Kohut asks if BO is being written off too soon. HA!  Andy should ask all those Dems who have been booted out of office in the past four years.

183: In General, Not Exclusively

As I watch the current media circus surrounding Ferguson and NYC police issues, I am struck by my own stereotypical beliefs, based completely on my own personal observations and experiences.  Oftentimes I developed these beliefs against what I actually wanted to believe.  But direct personal experience always trumps fantasy.  The following statements are all preceded with the qualifier, "In general."  I am NOT saying "always" or "exclusively" or "absolutely." 

Car salesmen are liars.

Lawyers are arrogant.

Police are power hungry and insecure.

Black persons who have been beneficiaries of affirmative action are incompetent.

Politicians are self-serving and greedy.

Journalists report their own opinions, rather than facts.

Government bureaucrats are inefficient and incompetent.

Women in business make decisions based on emotions rather than logic.

182: Republicans For National Health Care

If a Republican with a national following, like Christie, or Jeb Bush, or Jindal, or Corker, or Walker - there are lots of them - came out in favor of national health care, he would walk away with the next presidential election.  Our health care system is so fouled up it cannot be fixed, except by amputation.  The first thing to do is to amputate all of the various insurance companies charging administrative fees and overhead in competing to provide the exact same services.  Whether you get your insurance through BCBS or Aetna or Cigna or United Health you get the same medical services from your doc or hospital.  Why have all these different entities and different systems for the same services?

Create a tax to pay for health care services, but structure the tax to incentivize taxpayers to be healthy.  The national health care agency would also reimburse docs and hospitals to incentivize them to cure patients, rather than treating them over and over for the same condition. 

A Republican who adopts this platform will be a winner.

181: Problems in Coloured Communities

BO says in justifying Ferguson looters, "communities of colour are not just making these problems up. "  Quote is from Economist. Does anyone in sycophant media ever challenge these inane statements?