In the Breeze

photography by Sam Hodges
July 22, 2012 

  

"Gentle prayers in gentle or tense moments are not about stress, but release into the unseen worlds, and admittance into the hallowed halls of stilled motion." - Gregory E. Woods, 2.18.17

AMERICAN businesses Be Aware

New tax rule could destroy millions of high-paying jobs

CNBC
Jay Timmons, Nancy McLernon
July 18, 2016


Editor’s note: The opinions in this article are the author’s, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of MSN or Microsoft.


For decades, policymakers in Washington have failed to keep our tax system competitive. In an era when the world is now offering the equivalent of 4G connected touchscreen tablets, the U.S. tax code looks a lot like a green-screened, floppy-drive computer from the 1980s. In dire need of an update, the U.S. tax system is dimming the advantages of operating a business in the United States. Sadly, instead of doing what it can to help make the U.S. tax system more competitive, the U.S. Treasury Department has introduced massive new regulations that would negatively impact the livelihoods of millions of U.S. workers


In what was billed as a way to curb a small sliver of cross-border mergers (sometimes called "inversions"), Treasury officials would like to impose new regulations that make the tax code more complex and give even more power to the IRS. These sweeping regulations are part of Section 385 of the IRS tax code and they have little to do with these mergers, but they will certainly raise the cost of capital and further disincentivize job creation.
The proposal gives the government broad authority to convert a company's related-party debt in common business transactions into equity, thereby increasing taxes, interfering with normal business operations and imposing new costs on businesses in the United States. This authority would not just apply to companies looking to conduct cross-border mergers, but all U.S. companies as well as global companies looking to invest in the United States


It sounds complex, but you can think about it this way: A first-time homebuyer relies on a home mortgage to finance her dreams. The ability to deduct the interest she pays on the loan helps make the purchase feasible. If Treasury's new rules applied to homeowners, years after the purchase of the home, the IRS could arbitrarily declare that because she used part of her income to buy gifts for her children on their birthdays instead of devoting those resources to reducing her home loan, the interest paid on her mortgage is no longer deductible. She is now responsible for paying hefty additional taxes.


If employers use revenue for purposes, such as paying a dividend, instead of paying off their existing loan, the proposed changes would allow the IRS to reclassify the outstanding debt as equity, thereby increasing the employer's tax burden.


Unsurprisingly, then, the business community has significant concerns with Treasury's proposed actions. Just as families would struggle to rearrange their lives, companies also face similar challenges if their planning and budgeting are suddenly upended. To comply with the new rules, many employers will be forced to spend resources on additional taxes and compliance costs that could otherwise go toward investment and job creation.


As leaders of two organizations deeply connected to America's manufacturing sector, we've been flooded with concerns over Treasury's actions. Manufacturers know what these rules mean, the job losses working Americans will suffer and the investment we will lose to other countries, if the rules go forward.


And there's a lot at risk: millions of high-quality manufacturing jobs.


We can't afford a mistake this large. The regulations create uncertainty for employers interested in expanding and creating jobs and will push companies to defer further investment into their U.S. operations. In other words, these regulations will increase the cost of capital, diminish America's ability to attract global investment, stall job creation and further dampen U.S. economic growth. The compliance cost of these new regulations could mean millions of dollars are diverted from future investment and expansions.


These rules also make life more onerous for businesses. They are unclear, often ambiguous and have a retroactive effective date of April 4, 2016. The government also reserves the right to go back through a company's books three years after the fact. Despite the fact that these are the most wide-ranging regulations proposed in the past 20 years, and overturn 80 years of case law and existing tax provisions, government officials say they are rushing to implement these regulations by the end of the summer.


At a time when America's economy needs a boost, the government is essentially putting U.S. workers at a disadvantage as it makes our country less attractive for companies that increasingly have global options when deciding where to grow their businesses. Instead of lowering taxes to keep us competitive, the government is plotting new ways to raise the cost of doing business on U.S. companies.


Manufacturers and all Americans deserve better. Misguided, piecemeal changes to our tax system are not the answer to any of our problems. It's time for President Obama to step in and stop Treasury from wreaking havoc on the American economy and risking U.S. jobs. Congress and the President must do the hard work of modernizing our tax system so that employers – both foreign and domestic – want to invest and create jobs here at home. It's the right action we need for manufacturers and our country.


Commentary by Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers and Nancy McLernon, president and CEO of the Organization for International Investment. Follow them on Twitter@JayTimmonsNAM and @nmclernon.


 

SHE teaches . . .

Lessons from The Garden


Jewish mysticism teaches us that each living being is a unique vessel bearing the same divine light. The vessel is our physicality, each one molded, chipped or fractured in a totally unique way by our individual experiences gathered in the passage of years in the physical world. The choices we make, the ability to forgive others and ourselves, the level of our own awakened consciousness helps or hinders the light we let shine. The light within is the source of all spiritual and religious traditions, such as those presented this afternoon, shining through different vessels revealing how much we all have in common. Where do we find the teachings that help us shine?

Many have read the book, "Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." Perhaps a variation on the theme could be "everything I need to know I learned from the tree in my garden." I want take her lessons to heart. This wonderful teacher, tall and strong, stretches her huge branches giving shade not only to us but to the many finches and hummingbirds who gather in her shelter. From her protective being-ness, I learn presence. In be-ing, I remove myself from worries of the past and anxieties about an unknown future. Presence. Oneness. I breathe - therefore I am.

She reminds me that there is a natural order to living peaceably. When I look closely, I note that her strong branches emerge from her powerful trunk not in some haphazard way as it may first appear, rather her branches spiral out from the center in an ordered fashion, each one emerging distant enough from the one that came before to make sure the older branches have room to grow too and can access to sunlight for their leaves. From her symmetry, I learn about sharing resources which I need to practice more mindfully this year.

True - her roots do lift and crack the paving stones of our deck, but she was there first, and will be there long after we have gone. From her, I learn resilience and forbearance that I know serve us well as the increasing winds of rapid change blow through our lives.

I relish her silence. She is. At day's end, ever so easily, she loosens her grip on those leaves whose time has come. She releases them to make way for the new growth. Oh, at the end of each day, to be able to drop regrets, frustrations and upsets that cloud our inner light, as lightly as she releases her leaves. These are some of Nature's silent, yet obvious lessons we can learn when we still the busyness of or lives. by Heather 9.17.10






Maat Petrova advises, 'Keep beautiful, delicate things around you to remind yourself of how beautiful you are and to be gentle with yourself.' (11.22.15)



It became more apparent in my neighborhood that indigenous grasses and plants have a righteous gripe when I realized that my neighbors and I never water our lawns. Comparing notes we realized no one had imported grass! Our grass flows with each season easily from one to the next season. All we have to do is cut the lawn or not. I leave mine uncut as long as I can to enjoy the remaining insects that need the natural foods. 

As I understand it weeds are plants indigenous to an area. They, like the land, are not accepting or used to imported grass from far away lands so they get 'weeded' out as an enemy. Two of the qualities of indigenous grasses and plants is their ability to dig deep for water and their long history and understanding of the land they come from and thrive in. What they know seems to have given us food and a knowledge of what to eat at the beginning of each season. How they know what our bodies need each season is nothing short of brilliant! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 7.10.14

Purpose



Angelina Jolie speaks as US Secretary of State John Kerry listens during an Iftar reception to mark World Refugee Day at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in Washington on June 20, 2016. photo by Anadolu Agency

Frequently, people mistake jobs for purpose and the purpose for living to the next day is for mere survival, not in service to others. What is your purpose? Why are you here on this planet and not another?

Years ago, when my little sister was in college she drove long miles from somewhere in Virginia home in Southern Maryland to tell the family a recent news story. Apparently, a baby was born. His first words at birth, "Jesus is coming back!" were his last words. He died after uttering them to the astonished nurse and doctor crew delivering the baby.

That little incident went into a vault never to be heard again but many remember it because the baby lived his purpose and left us. How his life purpose rippled is in the retelling of his story. How does your life ripple? ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.26.16
 

ESTEEM

“You think because he doesn't love you that you are worthless. You think that because he doesn't want you anymore that he is right ―  that his judgement and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Don't. It's a bad word, 'belong.' Especially when you put it with somebody you love. Love shouldn't be like that. 

Did you ever see the way the clouds love a mountain? They circle all around it; sometimes you can't even see the mountain for the clouds. But you know what? You go up top and what do you see? His head. The clouds never cover the head. His head pokes through, because the clouds let him; they don't wrap him up. They let him keep his head up high, free, with nothing to hide him or bind him. You can't own a human being. You can't lose what you don't own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don't, do you? And neither does he. You're turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him? He can't value you more than you value yourself.” 

― Toni Morrison, author

Dark fire of a Black woman 7

Danielle 2

dark beautiful Audrey 

STANDING

Gallery

Courtney Mattutino naked in mirror.

I am not a advocate of homosexuality but I say Black Heterosexuals(we) better get our cultural core right and stop letting the White man(Western world) tell you what is Heterosexuality. You think the Western culture, which is faulty to the root will have, by "magic", correctly define phenomenons such as heterosexuality? Sorry a apple seed changes to an apple tree not an orange tree.

Some of us do not approve of homosexuality but many Black men has western cultural core penis envy. On the flip side our women are mathematical feminist, this is when Black women think the white math is correct and women should have the same right to use homo(western) math as white men. When you send your children to them public, private or schools with western(homo) curriculum your condoning homosexuality as defined by the Western world and you agree that the White man has the right to define heterosexuality FOR YOU. Fact.  I say this with the Love of the Black Nation. New Black Nation(KemPtah). -  Kumwaga Ra-Nu Kiganja KemPtah 6.21.14

Who A Woman is Valued By

The day after Mrs. Trump's speech at the Republican convention she is under fire in a way men are not subjugated to at this level of achievement and presence in the world-at-large. There is a clever adage circulating the internet one can easily not examine.

"One is our First Lady, she has College Degrees, the other posed semi-nude for money, and she wants to be the next First Lady." is this a too narrow assessment of womanhood? ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 7.19.16