I’m Not Mark Cuban… But

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Mark Cuban, outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks, TV shark and luckiest Internet bubble buyout recipient ever made news with a tweet early this morning.

Cuban is talking about corporate inversions. That’s where a large company buys a smaller company then adopts its favorable headquarters location for tax purposes.

It doesn’t move. It just declares this new place its HQ. By virtue of this paper shuffling they stop paying most federal taxes!

Cuban will sell their stock.

I can’t do that. I own no common stock. However, I pledge to stop supporting businesses that do this.

I’m talking to you Walgreens!

From the Wall Street Journal:

Walgreen is currently thinking about leaving American shores, as part a plan to buy the rest of Alliance Boots GmbH, which operates a U.K. drugstore chain and is based in Switzerland. The move could help Walgreen lower its U.S. tax bill saving the company hundreds of millions of dollars a year—money that wouldn’t flow into the U.S. Treasury.

That’s my prescription bottle at the top of this entry. Walgreens–it will be my last and I’ll absolutely join the boycott of your stores which will surely follow.

I’m not concerned whether your move is legal. I just know it’s wrong.

A New Credit Card… Again

A New Card Is On The Way  GmailExcuse us while Helaine and I pull all our hair out by the roots one strand at a time!

Our Southwest Airlines credit card is being replaced, again. The new card gets a new number. EVERYONE we do business with on a regular basis must be told.

Maybe you remember the last time this happened? We were driving from Connecticut to California. We were in Lincoln, Nebraska when we got the call.

I’ve lost count how many times this has happened, but at least five. We expect Chase not to extend the expiration date, so this will have to be done again in about a year. Make it at least six times.

What we’ve learned through all this is EVERY website puts credit card number changes in a different place. Each requires different hoops be jumped through and that you understand their particular style of business English. Some changes will take seconds, others will follow long minutes of head scratching.

Part of the reason this stings so much is because each-and-every time this has happened it’s been because of how Chase (and other American banks) issue cards.

It’s my understanding the “Target Caper” couldn’t have happened in Europe or Asia. There, credit card issuers have spent a little money to improve security. Here in the states, their security ends up being part of my job!

Not happy.