Taking a tax break? Here’s what it really costs. Match.com: is screening for sex offenders possible? Teaching gay history in California schools. Where does the road paved with good intentions take you?
Taking a tax break? Here’s what it really costs
Now that tax season is over, maybe you’re congratulating yourself – or your accountant – on the tax breaks you got. But the three biggest breaks – the exclusion for employer-provided health insurance, the mortgage-interest deduction and the exclusion for 401(k) contributions – cost the government $1.2 trillion in lost revenues last year. Experts say these loopholes are seriously flawed, and eliminating them would make the tax code more efficient. Democrats and Republicans agree that these tax expenditures are an expensive problem - the first one alone costs us slightly more than the combined budgets of the departments of Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State and Veterans Affairs. In our country’s hour of need, would you give up your tax loopholes to help balance the budget?
Guest:
Jesse Drucker, investigative writer for Bloomberg News covering taxes and tax shelters
Match.com: is screening for sex offenders possible?
A California woman is suing Match.com, saying she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on the dating site. Attorney Mark L. Webb filed a civil lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday on behalf of Carole Markin, an entertainment executive who claims she was attacked in her home by a man she met online who, it turns out, is a documented sex offender. Although their first date went well and she felt safe with him, it was on the second date that she was attacked. The lawsuit demands that Match.com screen its members for sexual predators and asks for a temporary injunction barring the site from signing up more members. Match.com declined to join us live but issued a statement saying that screening for sexual predators is hardly a guarantee that all members are safe and could actually lead to a false sense of security. But they are moving forward with a plan to do so now because a “combination of improved technology and an improved database now enables a significant degree of accuracy.” But since the man was only convicted of misdemeanors he would not have shown up in this kind of screening. So how else can candidates on a paid dating service be better vetted? What are the steps one should take to avoid dangerous situations when meeting someone from an online site?
Guest:
Carole Markin, plaintiff in the Match.com suit
Teaching gay history in the schools
Legislation that aims to include gay, lesbian and transgendered history in middle and high school textbooks passed the California state senate last week and is headed to the assembly. The bill’s author, Democratic Senator Mark Leno, says the bill’s passage sends the right message to young people who identify themselves as LGBT. According to Leno, research indicates that when a wide range of people and issues are included in instructional materials, students report a more accepting environment at school. But critics say the government has no right to legislate the content of textbooks, and that historical figures should be included based on their contributions, not on their sexual orientation. Have gays been excised from history and their contributions minimized? Is sexual orientation even relevant in this context? And does the government have the responsibility to force the inclusion of LGBTs in history textbooks?
Guests:
Jim Carroll, interim executive director of Equality California, one of the organizations that sponsored the bill
Ned Dolejsi, Executive Director, The California Catholic Conference
Where does the road paved with good intentions take you?
Every day, people, organizations, companies and countries make decisions with the best possible intentions in mind. However, a noble thought does not a successful deed make. Often times these decisions will go astray and end up causing more harm than good. In his new book Best Laid Plans: The Tyranny of Unintended Consequences and How to Avoid Them, William Sherden tackles this issue head-on. Setting aside the myths of human error and generic misfortune as causes for such problems, Sherden, a veteran management consultant, has identified eight specific social mechanisms which work in concert to steer decisions astray. What exactly are these reasons for even the best laid plans to go awry? How can we learn to anticipate such consequences? Is it possible to become better at making decisions and carrying out plans?
Guest:
William Sherden, author of Best Laid Plans: The Tyranny of Unintended Consequences and How to Avoid Them, Adjunct Professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School and veteran management consultant