As a follow up to the articles I have been touching on from a business perspective on the Swine Flu epidemic and scare of a potential pandemic, here are some statistics:
1. Did you know that in the Untited States of America that yearly around 30,000 plus people die from the flu? A lot of them are elderly or infants.
2. As of this article, the peanut butter poisoning still is (or was) a greater death threat than the Swine Flu in terms of fatality.
3. If this is so serious, how come the U.S. doesn’t close the borders to Mexico if only for a few days? Sure people will still come through but you can at least play the percentages to cut down on traffic. Other countries are tightening things to the point that they don’t want anybody at all from the United States visiting them for awhile.
4. Did you know that the best way for avoiding the flu is ducking from a sneeze and washing your hands?
5. As Cousin Barry says, “If you have any pigs at home, kill them, cook them well and eat the bacon.” He is joking of course but you get the idea.
6. If things do get weird for awhile, make sure that you have enough food and water at home to handle things. Keep anywhere from 3 days to at least a week’s worth of food ready and have cash to cover any emergencies. You never know how nuts things might get for the short term.
Be safe and if we have moved into pandemic stages if you are reading this please keep your head, don’t use any anti-flu treatments until you are sick and have to otherwise they won’t work.
Also – here is a late breaking bit of news for people in Los Angeles:
Business Tax Penalty Amnesty is kicking in on Friday. If you haven’t registered your small business (and that is for all of my Schedule C clients and readers out there in the Los Angeles area), you have a break for a little bit of time but you need to file. You will still have to pay your taxes but there won’t be any penalties. The glorious city of Los Angeles, for the second time in five years (and I suppose it is because they realize that we are in a Depression), is starting a three-month tax amnesty program on Friday, with the hopes of bringing in $10 -$15 million in extra revenue.
The program was authorized earlier this year by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council as a way to recapture unpaid taxes for business, telephone, utility, commercial tenant occupancy, transient occupancy and parking. I think it is a decent idea. This way they can get people from under the radar to pay their taxes and people who have been balking won’t get penalties – but remember, you still need to pay your taxes.
Here are a few more of the particulars:
Businesses with incomes of $100,000 or less do not pay any business taxes. That affects most of the small businesses that I know of.
The city of LA has begun advertising the program, which runs through July 31 and requires taxpayers to pay all unpaid taxes, without having to pay interest or penalties. City officials said those costs could be as much as a whopping 40 percent more than the tax bill. Once the program expires, the very same city officials said they will begin a range of enforcement programs that will include an additional 10 percent penatly, a whistleblower program, expanded audits — including on-site investigations — and possible revocation of permits. I’ve done my part, gang. You have been notified! If you haven’t filed, you have been told that you could do so now without any penalties as long as you pay your taxes.
It doesn’t take much time to fill out the forms and for most of you who are making less than $100,000 a year in income, I don’t get why you are waiting. Please take care of business so you can move forward without this hanging over your head. Okay, I think I’ve beaten this horse to death, don’t you? Or would the appropriate comment be “beaten this swine to death?” Just kidding animal rights people. I love my horses and pigs. Wait. That may not have come out right…
Be healthy and safe.
Apr 30 2009 Mid Day
If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.
Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement
Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.
Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.
Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime. Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.
Kim Isaac Greenblatt
Swine Flu Reality Check