The Financial Flipside Podcast, Episode 30B: Resignation-gate, part 2
The Financial Flipside Podcast
Photo via on Pexels Although , the Great Resignation is still going strong: as of the beginning of June 2022, Americans , and data from the a global survey by Price Waterhouse Coopers found that up to . Further, the Great Resignation is , which have long been believed to be more stable (however far that belief is from the reality of most of the sector’s workers). With all that in mind, we are back with the second half of our Great Resignation episode. This time around we’re talking about factors that influence quitting, lying flat, labor costs, worker-management relations,...
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 30
The Financial Flipside Podcast
Odds are, you know someone who has moved on from their job recently, whether a co-worker, family member, or friend. Maybe you’ve made a similar transition yourself. If so, you may be part of the Great Resignation, a socio-cultural phenomenon that is baffling researchers and reporters, and which is causing no small degree of anxiety among employers. As we explore in this episode, the reasons that people are leaving their jobs are complex and really get to the heart of why we work in the first place. Also in this episode: life updates, an inside view of what happens when accountants fire...
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 29
The Financial Flipside Podcast
This episode, we’re talking about the tax gap, that is the yawning void between how much tax is owed and how much tax gets paid to the IRS. Where does the tax gap come from (hint: not always where you think)? Why are some people so reluctant to pay their fair share, despite having more than enough money to do so? We also take a detour into dynastic wealth, moral millionaires, and what money does to our brains.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 28
The Financial Flipside Podcast
Infrastructure touches every aspect of our lives, from the roads we drive on to the water we drink to the electricity powering the laptop I’m using to type these show notes. If part of our country’s (or city’s or state’s) infrastructure falls apart, we often end up paying for it in ways both big and small. Infrastructure projects are also really expensive, making them sites of debate about who pays and what's worth paying for.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 27
The Financial Flipside Podcast
On this episode of the podcast, we’re talking about scarcity, both the economic concept and how it plays out in our daily lives. Along the way, we’ll discuss sneaker drops, free markets, living wages, human nature, and moments when instinct takes over. We also dedicate our Flipping the News segment to examining the financial aftermath of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 26
The Financial Flipside Podcast
A quick note: This episode was recorded on October 31, 2020, before Election Day or any of the subsequent events surrounding the results or the transition process.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 25
The Financial Flipside Podcast
Your hosts take look at the history of reparations in the US, examine some of the past and present barriers to reparations for slavery, and discuss what a national reparations program might look like in our current moment.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 24
The Financial Flipside Podcast
We’re back, and we’ve come bearing gifts in the form of retooled format (including a new segment!). Join us as we recap a weird tax season, take a look at the storylines that emerged after the Treasury Department finally released data about who received PPP loans, and wrap up our discussion of economic indicators with a deep dive into the stock market.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 23
The Financial Flipside Podcast
Though it may be hard to believe, the US economy isn't officially in a recession. In this episode we talk about why that is, what economic indicators tell us about the economy, and what they sometimes leave out. Plus, we discuss some tips for weathering an economic downturn, recession declaration or no.
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The Financial Flipside Podcast Episode 22
The Financial Flipside Podcast
After some time off, a move (L), and a partial pivot to video (J), the Financial Flipside Podcast is back! For our first episode of 2020, we thought it would be a good idea to talk about a goal that heads up so many of our lists of New Year’s resolutions: getting organized. Specifically, we’re talking about business systems, those combinations of processes, workflows, and tools that we use to do everything from monitoring cash flow to training employees to literally keeping the lights on.
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Photo by Bruno Figueiredo on Unsplash
Taxes took center stage at the Met Gala recently, when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attended the event wearing a white gown with “TAX THE RICH” emblazoned on the back in red. The ensuing discussion was wide ranging, covering everything from the designer’s background to Ocasio-Cortez’s salary and net worth and the ethics of politicians attending the Met Gala at all. There were even articles that worked the dress into a wider discussion of the Democratic party’s tax plan. Whatever you think about the dress, politicians attending museum galas in general, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez specifically, the message was clear and called attention to a real issue: the fact that the amount of tax some of us pay relative to the money we make doesn’t seem to add up. Further driving this point home is the recent release of the Pandora papers, the largest release of offshore financial information in history which shows how wealthy individuals from all over the world store their wealth and set up trusts in places like the Cayman Islands or South Dakota (yes, it turns out that South Dakota is a major tax haven), where it’s less subject to what they view as “unfavorable” taxation.
Speaking of taxes and things that don’t add up, that brings us to the subject of this episode: we’re talking about the tax gap, that is the yawning void between how much tax is owed and how much tax gets paid to the IRS. Where does the tax gap come from (hint: not always where you think)? Why are some people so reluctant to pay their fair share, despite having more than enough money to do so? We also take a detour into dynastic wealth, moral millionaires, and what money does to our brains.
Mentioned on the show:
Millionaires asking billionaires to pay emergency taxes
ProPublica’s The Secret IRS Files series of stories on the taxes of the ultra wealthy, including an article about how and why they conducted their reporting.
Abigail Disney on what wealthy families teach their children about holding onto dynastic wealth.
How the “famliy fund” loophole make its easier to avoid paying taxes
Kelly Phillips Erb talks to Brookings Institute Senior Fellow Steve Rosenthal about whether or not billionaires pay income tax
Another primer on the tax gap and its components, this one from the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget
A closer look at the IRS’s tax gap numbers.
Examining who commits federal tax evasion and why.
Who gets audited? The IRS has admitted that it’s just easier and cheaper to audit poor and working-class people.
More than 130 countries have agreed to a 15% corporate minimum tax.
US senators drop IRS enforcement from bipartisan infrastructure bill
According to the International Monetary Fund, healthy countries run, in part, on tax revenue.
The number of people renouncing US citizenship hit an all-time high last year, mostly out of a desire to pay less taxes?
Looking at “golden passport” programs in Malta and Vanuatu
Does money change the way we relate to others? [An interesting article to revisit in light of the global popularity of Squid Game, a South Korean series about heavily indebted people playing life-or-death versions of childhood games for an enormous cash prize-L]
From the Cleveland Clinic: Why “retail therapy” makes us feel better
From the Harvard Business Review: Don’t estimate the power of luck when it comes to success in business.
Bonus:
A new bill proposes forcing corporations to pay tax on their profits rather than what they report to the IRS
Most Americans would actually be find with the rich paying more taxes (h/t @taxtweet)
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has done some really in-depth, excellent reporting on the Pandora papers: What’s in them, and what do they teach us the strategies wealthy individuals use to avoid taxes/hide their wealth?