RANT: Intuit's Turbotax bait and switch tax increase

I've been using Turbotax Deluxe for more than ten years out of habit and familiarity. If you're a typical middle class filer Deluxe would handle most situations you might encounter such as homeowner and investment tax issues. For business situations you needed Premier or higher. On Monday 1/26/2015 I received an apologetic email from Intuit, Subject: Our apologies. We want to make it up to you. In short Intuit has subtracted IRS schedules C, D, E and F from its Deluxe product in an effort to force a $40 price increase on large numbers of its longtime users. Thankfully, the response has been ferocious. Reviewers in large numbers on Amazon have blasted the change. In the email this was Intuit's explanation for this price increase that it doesn't call a price increase. "Here's why we made the change. Over the years, we have worked hard to make it easy for you to choose the TurboTax product that is right for you and your unique tax situation. We want that choice to be clear and confidence inspiring. However, as new online and mobile technologies emerged, our products, and the tax scope and features they included, began to differ, leading to customer confusion. These differences also impeded our ability to introduce new innovations across our entire product line.       So this year, we made the product experience consistent across all TurboTax offerings. This change enables us to innovate faster and make improvements that benefit all customers at the same time, regardless of whether they use our online or desktop software. You can be sure that we've preserved what's unique to our desktop product: the ability to e-file up to five returns, switch to forms mode and install the software on multiple computers."     Clearly Intuit thinks its users were born yesterday. I doubt I'm alone having used the same Turbotax version over the last 10 or 15 years because it fulfilled my needs. Did Intuit really think someone filing essentially the same tax return year in and out wouldn't notice the sudden absence of essential tax forms and schedules? This is not the same thing as the stealth price increases by grocery product manufacturers. Grocery shoppers have many choices and frequently buy products on sale at deep discounts.  Intuit benefits from a universally despised, obnoxious, annual and uncompensated government imposed individual mandate. It's bad enough millions of wage earners and business  owners must consume their time with this yearly exercise in misery but having a company pull this kind of bait and switch price increase is rubbing salt in the would. I for one will be taking a long hard look at alternatives to Turbotax such as H&R Block's software and TaxAct.

Mild Rant: Poorest final Jeopardy bets of the year?

Amazing!

Last night on Jeopardy (1/22/2015), going into final jeopardy, the previous night's champion had accumulated $1800  while the two challengers were tied with $7400 a piece. They could not be caught by the champ if both bet nothing and became co-champions. From the title you can guess that they blew it.  Both bet everything and both got the final Jeopardy question wrong.

The champ, realizing he had nothing to lose bet $1799 and with the correct question continued as champ. With a small chance of getting the final question wrong the logical strategy would have been for both challengers to swallow their pride and bet $0. Sure they'll be second guessing their decision for a long time.

Rave: Tim Smyczek

Gotta give a BIG rave to pro tennis player Tim Smyczek. Early this morning I tuned into the Australian Open to watch 112 ranked Tim Smyczek battle no. 3 in the world 14 time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. Nadal had already taken the first two sets and it looked like it was going to end in straight sets.

But Nadal started fatiguing and Smyczek got the momentum and took the next two sets. The two battled back and forth until Nadal was able to break Smyczek at 5-6. Taking #3 Rafa to a 5-6 fifth set would be worth a rave alone but there was more.

With Rafa serving for the match someone shouted from the audience as  Rafa's was hitting his first serve causing it to go long for a fault. As Nadal glared in the direction from which the rudeness came Smyczek against competitive instincts asked the chair umpire to grant Nadal another first serve, a truly class act of sportsmanship. 

Smyczek went on to win the point while Nadal won the match.

Rave: Charles Clark, custodian at Trinity High School, in Euless, TX

I watch the CBS Evening News and one of my favorite segments is On the Road with Steve Hartman. These are "feel good" stories about people doing really good deeds. Last night's segment was especially resonant for me in light of the recent Black Lives Matter movement and in the face of deaths of young African American men at the hands of police.

Last night's On the Road segment was about Charles Clark, a school custodian who on his own volition has for decades mentored students at Trinity High School in Euless, TX. Many of the young men are African American who are often at a crossroads where they could choose to screw up with the guidance of other screw ups or to make choices that get them on  the right track. Mr. Clark started his avocation decades ago spotting troubled kids early on and  approaching them with his council. He's had so much success getting kids on the right track that school guidance counselors refer kids to him. Some of his mentees have gone on to further education and beyond.

We often talk about the achievement gap and the wealth gap. I recently heard an interview with best selling author Wes Moore  that ends with him talking about the expectations gap which he characterizes as today's most dangerous gap.  He's right. And, we all may share varying degrees of low expectations for young black and brown men and boys. This is the beauty of Charles Clark's example.  Decades ago he just assumed kids he spotted could do better and had done something about.

If the Black Lives Matter movement really believes black lives matter, maybe a few percent of them should take a lesson from Charles Clark's example and find a way to mentor some of those young black lives. This will not solve the problem of racially biased and inept policing. But, it can set some of these young people on the right track and reduce their chances of interacting with police.  Michael Brown might be alive today if he hadn't robbed a convenience store then triggered an encounter with officer Wilson while walking in the street. Eric Garner might be alive today if he didn't have an encounter with the police over selling illegal cigarettes.

Just a thought.

Oh, no, Callie!

One of my favorite programs is the Friday evening WGBH TV  Boston program Beat The Press hosted by Emily Rooney the daughter of the late Andy Rooney. Each week BTP panelists critique the way the press covers recent news stories. Former ABC producer and Academy Award nominee Callie Crossley is an African American women regular panelist who brings a high level of race and gender consciousness to the program. This level of consciousness and self righteousness comes with risks.

Beat the Press has a segment called Rants and Raves, to which this blog owes a nod for its title, where panelists get to slam or complement a particularly egregious  or praiseworthy example of press behavior. This is where Callie seems got herself in trouble.

Callie's rant this week was against Fox News for allegedly using a picture of ESPN's Stephen A. Smith in place of a picture of Stuart Scott the ESPN personality who recently died of cancer. Both men are African American. For Callie it was yet another one of those 'They all look the same' moments.

There's only one big problem. The story is a hoax by the satirical website Naha Daily as pointed out by Politifact and Snopes. This is the kind of non-fact checked lazy journalism Callie herself has railed against in the past. I don't know how she got the hoax story though I know it was widely tweeted. However, aside from its silly sounding name Naha Daily does have the following disclaimer at the bottom of its webpages:

"NahaDaily is a daily satirical news source. Meaning complete fiction. "

Read more at: http://nahadaily.com/world-news/fox-dead-wrong-rip/

Callie might want to use her rant time next Friday to issue a mea culpa about letting herself be swept up in an easy narrative then running with it. It would be the high road thing to do Callie.

Rave: Tracfone Reviewer blog

Own a Tracfone? If, yes then you want to bookmark the TracfoneReviewer blog. The owner(s) provide news and reviews about all the various Tracfone products and services as well as tips on getting the most out of your phone.

My favorite page and perhaps one of the most popular is the one that gives a monthly list of Tracfone promo codes. Tracfone typically starts texting promo codes that give you bonus minutes about 10 days before your minutes will expire to nudge you to buy minutes. More than once the promo codes on the TracfoneReviewer blog give more bonus minutes.

If you own an Android Tracfone TracfoneReviewer does provide the following caution about promo codes "But note, the new Android phones will not accept promo codes."

IAC check it out if you're a Tracfone user.

Tom Ashbrook's return to On Point

One of my favorite public radio programs is On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Tom's an outstanding talk show host who treats guests and callers with respect  but willing to challenge a caller or a guest offering up weak or ad-hominem arguments.

Sadly Tom was away for all of December after losing his wife and childhood sweetheart of so many years.  It was good to hear him back on the air on January 2.

Introduction

Simply put, each day I read or hear stories in the news or  have personal experiences that either set my blood figuratively boiling or give me that nice warm feeling. Then there are long term issues that pop into my mind that deserve editorial attention.

I was trained in and had a career in science (chemistry), but I'm also a news junkie. This makes me a bet sensitive to the way the press covers science and health. I'm especially sensitive to the way journalists use statistics. Look for me to go after those oft quoted and anonymous 'studies that show' and the lazy use of percentages or out of context large and small numbers.

Often the sloppy use of statistics accompanies activist driven stories that offer a solution to a real or perceived problem. Too often these stories  do little to explicitly challenge or confirm the premise put forward by the group being covered in the story. Sometimes there are deeper issues that could be examined in connection to an issue.

A simple example is a recent story NPR story about whether voters should reverse the ban on plastic grocery bags.  An plastic bag industry representative was allowed to present the industry case while an environmental reporter presented what she considered to be the environmentalist view. This unfiltered vs. filtered view creates an imbalance in arguments by putting the reporter in the position of responding to the industry rep's well rehearsed set of bullet points.A more balanced story would have pit a pro-ban activist point for point against the industry guy.  Unaddressed in the story was the issue of plastic ocean trash that breaks down into particles and fiber pollution. This is a far more insidious problem than the occasional, unsightly plastic bag hanging from a shade tree.

So what will I rave about?  I'm a guy who celebrates solutions(to problems in contrast to those in chemistry). I'm especially fond of solutions that come from the grass roots or from uncelebrated individuals. If an approach 'teaches a man to fish' all the better. For example, a few years ago a New Jersey pizza guy overheard some local kids teasing each other about poor grades on report cards. He took issue with their lack of embarrassment while challenging them to bring in good report cards with free slices as the reward. The story was more than a decade ago so I have not been able to find it via Google. However, Google "free pizza" +"report cards" and you find lots of places that offer rewards for good grades. It's this type of self empowerment incentive that gets me excited and raving.

So, there it is. It's 1/1/2015 and my resolution is to write some form of rant or rave each day.