Today is Mitt Romney's 62nd birthday! Happy Birthday, Governor!
With today being the Xavier Musketeers first game in the Atlantic 10 tournament, I thought it would be an opportune time to share our "just for fun" NCAA bracket hosted by the Hamilton County Republican Party. (Yes, Bearcat fans, you can still participate.) You have until Thursday, March 19th to fill out your bracket. The winner of the bracket will win a lunch date with the Chairman! Check back to this blog for further information.
This morning I was picking up my regular morning coffee at the nearby coffee shop (I should really cut that habit and the cost) and couldn't miss one of the other morning regulars making a sarcastic announcement to the entire shop about an article in the USA Today announcing the world's billionaires are now "only millionaires" due to the current economic crisis. He sarcastically mentioned how sad he is for their losses. I bit my tongue and he is lucky because it was early in the morning and I was about to give him an earful. After reviewing the top 10 wealthiest people in the world, I recognized that most of these men are self-made individuals that should be commended for achieving their success.
What my quick-to-judge friend didn't consider this morning is the number of non-profits around the world that are suffering right now due to big donors tightening their belts. Do you know that non-profits derive 75% of their funding from just a small number of big donors?
And as if charities weren't already suffering enough financial heartache, President Obama's new tax plan includes a provision that will reduce charitable tax deductions for households earning $250,000 plus in income annually. Under this plan, a donor in the highest tax bracket would save $280 on a $1,000 charitable deduction, instead of currently receiving $396. Now I am clearly not a big donor or even a tax guru, but I do recognize that those are substantial number differences. Is that really the change voters were looking for?
