Ochs Sulzbergers and the Estate Tax

The New York Times has been in the same family's hands since 1896. Adolph Ochs purchased the New York Times and, since then, the Ochs Sulzbergers have retained control of the family business through inheritance via a family trust. The Ochs Sulzbergers are the wealthiest of the wealthy, among the top one thousandth of one per cent in terms of assets, yet the inheritance or death tax has not affected them, nor do they seem to think it should. Recently, shareholders of the Times complained, alleging mismanagement on the part of Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Adolph Ochs's great grandson, but the Ochs Sulzberger family asserted privilege of ownership. I wonder if Arthur Ochs Sulzberger would lead the most powerful newspaper in the country if he did not inherit this position via a family trust.

Despite the fact that the Ochs Sulzbergers have inherited their assets, live off an inheritance, and the current generation has done little of importance other than be born to the right great-grandfather, the Ochs Sulzbergers preach an inheritance or death tax for others, but not for themselves.

On June 21, 2005 in a baldly hypocritical editorial, the Times wrote:

"This is not about saving mom-and-pop shops or the family farm, as President Bush and his allies would have you believe. Repealing the estate tax would cut taxes for the top 2 percent of Americans at an estimated cost of $745 billion during the first 10 years of repeal. That is more than the United States is projected to budget for homeland security. Many supporters of a repeal say the cost would be $290 billion over the next 10 years. But that lower estimate includes five years in which the estate tax is still on the books. Properly done, estate tax reform would be welcome."

In other words, if you're a family of sharpies like the Ochs Sulzbergers then you get to inherit and drive a billion dollar family fortune you did not earn into the ground, but if you're a small businessman who doesn't think in terms of legal niceties and trusts, inheritance is a selfish and reactionary proposition, a matter of budget balancing for the elite to ponder. After all, the inheritance tax is targeted at grimy small businessmen, not virtuous aritocrats like the Ochs Sulzbergers who utilize trusts to avoid the taxes that they wish to impose on others.

Although I oppose the inheritance tax, I do favor a special inheritance tax for families who own newspapers in trusts. Let the Ochs Sulzbergers practice what they preach, frauds that they and the New York Times be.

Letter to Governor Rod R. Blagojevich (D-IL) Re Obama Birth Certificate

PO Box 130
West Shokan, New York 12494
August 4, 2008

The Honorable Rod R. Blagojevich
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Blagojevich:

This is an inquiry as to why Dan White’s Board of Elections has failed to investigate the eligibility of Senator Barack Obama to hold the office of Senator for the State of Illinois. Under the Constitution, a Senator must be a US citizen for nine years prior to becoming Senator. Proof of citizenship is an authentic birth certificate. But in recent weeks Mr. Obama’s supporters have posted a fraudulent birth certificate on a Web site, and Mr. Obama has failed to respond to my and others’ requests for a copy of his birth certificate. The issue of whether Mr. Obama was actually born in the State of Hawaii is heightened by his birth’s having been recorded in two unrelated hospitals, both in Honolulu, and by persistent questions about his mother’s whereabouts at the time of birth. Because of its culture of secrecy, the State of Hawaii has refused to make the presidential candidate’s birth information public.

Some observers have suggested that, like Hawaii, Illinois’s famously corrupt and secretive political culture ensures that Mr. White will fail to do his job and investigate the propriety of Mr. Obama’s holding the office of Senator. I urge you to oversee a thorough and open investigation of Mr. Obama’s place of birth.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

Cc: Dan White, Executive Director
Illinois Board of Elections
1020 S. Spring St.
Springfield, Illinois 62704

Letter to Governor Linda Lingle (R-HI) Re Obama Birth Certificate

PO Box 130
West Shokan, New York 12494
August 4, 2008

The Honorable Linda Lingle
Capitol, Room 415
Honolulu, Hawai`i 96813

Dear Governor Lingle:

This is a public follow up to my earlier letter to Chiyome L. Fukino, MD, Hawaii’s Director of Public Health. Dr. Fukino has not responded to my earlier letter. I am now inquiring with you as to why the State of Hawaii has been violating its Open Records Law and § 338-18 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes by refusing to make public the birth records of a major party presidential candidate in which all Americans have a direct and tangible interest.

Might it be time to allow sunlight in to disinfect Hawaii’s secretive Public Health Department?

Sincerely,


Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

Cc: Dr. Chiyome L. Fukino, MD
Director of Public Health
State of Hawaii Department of Health
Honolulu, Hawaii 98601-3378

It's the Jewish Lobby's Fault

By CHARLES HUTZLER, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago

BEIJING - In an audacious and deadly attack just days ahead of the Beijing Olympics, two men from a mainly Muslim ethnic group rammed a truck and hurled explosives at jogging policemen in China's restive far west Monday, killing 16.

The attack in a city near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border brought an immediate response from China's Olympic organizers, who pronounced security precautions ready to ensure safety in Beijing and other Olympic venues when the games open Friday.

Yet the timing so close to opening day heightened the attack's shock value and bore the hallmarks of local Muslim militants, said Li Wei, a counterterrorism expert affiliated with the government.