The Complicated Tax Code

One election year promise of George W. Bush that I hoped would come to pass was simplification of the nation's byzantine tax code. Unfortunately, reports the Economist, W has made it even worse.

During the past five years America's tax code has become far more complex, somewhat less progressive, and has done less to improve incentives to work and save than first appearances suggest. [...] Tax rules were horribly complicated, of course, long before the Bush presidency, but during the past five years things have got much worse. The number of pages of federal tax regulations has risen by over 40%, from 46,900 in 2000 to 66,498 this year, according to Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute. The number of different tax forms issued by the Internal Revenue Service has soared from 475 in 2000 to 582.

On the other hand, I guess it was unrealistic of me for W to have success in even this simple goal. Why should this be any different than any other area of governance?

OK, I Have to Brag....

Wife and Sister-In-Law,
originally uploaded by chintanamin.

....on my wife.

16.1 Gallon Fill-up Today

cost me $50. Un-freaking-believable. Granted, this was at the Standard Oil station at the corner of Virginia and North Highland, probably the most expensive gas in town, but stil...

Wedding Photos...

Everything Old is New Again

Autoblog reports that Volkswagen is going to revive the Rabbit name for U.S. and Canadian market Golfs.

Good Work Saturn...

I knew it wasn't too much to ask of GM to introduce cars in the $25,000 price range that weren't pieces of absolute garbage from an aesthetic standpoint. The question is, is this too little too late?

The Aura is available with a 260+ bhp DOHC V-6. Saturn will also offer a hybrid in the car.

As you can see, the interior is not Audi-VW level, but has refinement lacking in most GM vehicles.

What's Apple Up To?

Apple usually has a sign like this up when it is introducing new product. But no announcements? I wonder what they're up to...

Another Sign of the Apocalypse

Septagenarian Shoties? Buick is targetting the urban crowd with a DUB (magazine) edition Lucerne. What the hell? Edmund's reports:

Buick spokesman Dave Darovitz tells Inside Line the GM brand is pleased with the changes to the Lucerne. He said one of this year's auto trends has "tuners preferring larger sedans and more elegant styling for a sinister, gangster-like vehicle appearance."

I am so not cool anymore.

More Pics of the New TT

Pictures from the German Car Blog.

T Minus Seven Days

and counting until I get married. I can't say I'm nervous about being married to my fiancé. To the contrary, I'm pretty excited about it. But I am nervous about actually pulling off two days of festivities. It should be fun. Maybe I'll post a picture or two of it....