Harry Kalas: Part of my escape from the ’70s

When I grew up in New Jersey in the ’70s and into the ’80s, one of the constants in my life was my father’s love of the Philadelphia Phillies.  Throughout the Spring and Summer, we would turn the rotor Antenna toward Philly and bring in snowy Channel 17, WPHL, to watch the game and listen to Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn.  When we were on the road we would listen to them as well, as one would provide coverage on the TV and the other on the Radio.

Part of following a sport on TV is listening to commentary.  A bad announcer can really turn off someone, whereas a good announcer can bring a new dimension to the entertainment. Everyone has their favorites, and there have been legends, like Murray Walker for Formula 1, and Howard Kosel for boxing and football.

In baseball in San Francisco we think of Lon Simmons and John Miller.  St. Louis and Chicago had Harry Caray, and in NY it was people like Ralph Keiner and Phil Rizzuto, who passed away in 2007.

Some years ago Hall-of-Famer Richie Ashburn died of heart attack in his room on the road.  Now legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas, the dean of the game caller core, as also died, after having collapsed in the Phillies’ broadcast booth.  You may also recognize his voice from This Week in the NFL, but those of us who followed the Phillies got to enjoy him at his best, when they won the NL series in ’80, and then the World Series.  We escaped from the grim ’70s, when interest rates and unemployment skyrocketed, when the Soviet Union was strong, and when Iran held Americans hostage, to listen to Ashburn and Kalas, who were low key when that was called for, and pitched when it seemed appropriate.

When an entertainer dies, we lose our escape.  Reality intrudes in a most unwelcome way, and our constants are no longer constant.  It is not just a loss for his family, but for the fans.  The bubble bursts, and we see what we are reminded of all we tried to escape, including our own mortality.

Rest in peace, Harry Kalas, and my escapes from the ’70s.

Tax Time! Here we go again!

paperworkSome time ago I wrote about the difficulties that expatriates face when we calculate our taxes.  As an American I don’t mind paying my fair share of taxes, even though I don’t live in the country, and even though America is practically the only supposedly-civilized society to tax non-resident citizens.

And as I wrote even more recently, I began the process in early March, trying to sort through this year’s paperwork.  For those keeping track, this year’s taxes look to weigh in at about 350 grams, or just over 3/4 of a pound. Here are some things we expatriates have to do:

  • Keep track of every day we spend in America for business.  This is the chunk of change the U.S. gets.  I think the idea is that someone shouldn’t live just across the border in Vancouver, for instance, and then commute to Washington.
  • Don’t just assume Turbotax will do the right thing with the standard deduction.  In fact, this isn’t just an expat thing: if you are subject to alternative minimum tax (AMT), the standard deduction is taxable, and so if you have some deductions it is sometimes better to itemize.  The change from last year is that more expatriates pay AMT this year due to America’s deflated currency.
  • Keep track of the largest sum in each foreign account for the year.  This is because the Department of Treasury wants to know if we’re laundering money (we aren’t).  This one is particularly important to manage because the government claims they can seize accounts for which information is not correctly reported.  It’s also not made easy for investment accounts, where portfolio values vary by the day.  This is a change from last year.
  • Allocate deductions between those that are related to foreign income, and those that are not.  The change from last year is that many could have used the standard deduction.
  • Properly calculate exchange rates for both income and taxes paid or accrued.  For those who have to do this, www.oanda.com has a lovely web site for this purpose.  Perhaps the most annoying thing for expatriates is that many of the fields we fill in need to be converted to dollars.  What’s more, in Europe it is not uncommon to have multiple currency accounts, making everything just a bit trickier.  This is particularly true in Switzerland where some securities are only issued in euros.

And so, the average expatriate has to fill out the following forms:

  • 1040 (no 1040a or -EZ);
  • Schedules A, B, and possibly D.
  • Four copies of Form 1116 for Foreign tax credit (general, passive) both normal and AMT;
  • Two copies of Form 2555 for Foreign Income & Housing Exclusion;
  • Form 2441 for children;
  • Form 6251 for AMT;
  • Treasury Form TD-F 90-22.1 for foreign bank accounts;
  • a plethora of explanation statements for currency conversion and allocations.

If you own a home, there’s more paperwork.  If you have other income, such as royalty income of some sort, you have more paperwork.  If you have a disability, there’s more paperwork.  If you have a home office, there’s more paperwork.

This is all for federal taxes.  Nominally many states such as California would then like you to repeat the effort.  If you have any deferred compensation from when you lived in the U.S., such as stock options, you will end up having to file state returns just to reclaim excess withholding.  Some states want you to file for merely having attended a professional convention or conference (what some people call the basketball tax).

And so you might say, “Eliot, isn’t your time worth more than doing all of this paperwork?”  No. The cost of accountants who prepare expatriate tax returns runs into the thousands of dollars for us, and ours is a relatively simple return.  Often times employers will pay for these returns.  If so, it’s a good deal for the employee.

Also, all of this does not take into account the taxes we must file in Switzerland.  Here we do use an accountant.  While my German has improved somewhat, each country has their own rules on where to fill in what column.  I will say this about Zürich: they provide free copies of tax software to anyone who has to file.

Happy Passover!

Is there such thing as a healthy passover diet?  Let’s see.  What are we eating?

  • Egg water.  Egg, salt, and water.
  • Matzoh Ball Soup, which contains at least part of an egg in the matzoh ball, and probably some chicken fat and salt.  (Mine were absolutely floaters, by the way).
  • Haroset.  Apples, walnuts, cinnamon, and wine.  Not so bad.
  • Four cups of wine.  We did a 1994 Chateau Musar.  Forgive me, but if I’m going to have four glasses, they’re going to be good glasses of wine, and this one was VERY good.
  • Farfel.  Yumm.  Matzoh, egg, salt, and maybe carmelized onions.
  • Spring vegetables and perhaps a salad.  This is perhaps the healthiest part of the meal.
  • A meat or two.  Lamb provides easy access to a lamb shank.
  • Lots of sweats for dessert.
  • Matzoh-bry for breakfast.  More matzoh and egg.
  • Matzoh meal pancakes.  That’s 3 eggs, 3/4 cup water, salt, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1/2 cup matzoh meal.  Then sour cream or apple sauce.

No wonder there are so many Jewish doctors.  And we really need cardiologists!

Here’s hoping you had a huge seder and a grand old time, and that there was lots of help cooking and cleaning up.

Latest GM SUV: Big and 30MPG

I don’t have all the details, but a quick look at this article shows that GM’s plight was, at least in part, avoidable.  The base model comes with a 182 horse power 2.4 liter engine, and gets you 30 mpg.  There is no reason in the world that GM could not have produced this vehicle two years ago.  In doing so, they would have seen demand shift from some of their other lines, but also from Ford, Toyota, and Dodge.  In addition, they could have easily picked up some gas guzzler trade-ins.  Why did they wait?  It’s quite simple: they have absolutely no foresight.  The GM motto could be “what works today will work tomorrow”.  Of course, that motto doesn’t work.

This to me supports the Obama position that if these guys want help they have to change.  I remain uncomfortable about the government running a company, and when this administration can force out long time CEO Rick Wagoner, that is what is happening.

Where then is the balance?  When should the government not use its coercive power when it doles out money to broken companies?  When should it let them fail?  And what does one do with the thousands upon thousands of individuals who have been mishandled by bad leadership?  I don’t know, but somewhere somehow they have to shoulder some of the burden.  Some of this is their poor decision to tie their fates to people like Wagoner, who really did need to go.

Time to change time

Welcome to International “Screw up your calendar week”, otherwise known as the changing of the clocks to Daylight Savings Time (DST) in America.  For those elsewhere, or if you happen to live in Arizona, Hawaii, or certain parts of Indiana, or if you happen to live elsewhere in America and have appointments with those living in AZ, HI, or IA, or anywhere else in the world, be sure to check that your appointments haven’t shifted by an hour.  For the next two weeks, though, America will be one hour closer to Europe.  Oh, and then check again in two weeks.

This debacle is brought to you by the last Republican U.S. Congress who somehow thought that shifting DST would actually save energy.  It didn’t, according to one blog and a report on NPR.  Whatever.

My beef with this semi-annual nonsense is simply this: don’t change the rule again.  Doing so causes chaos to everyone’s schedules, requiring software updates on numerous platforms.  It’s a mini-Y2K bug that gets periodically legislated into our programs.