Bizzy’s After-Lunch Nap Avoidance Links (021606)

Free Links:

• Steven Bainbridge has a great piece explaining why Sarbanes Oxley may be unconstitutional — “The gist of the complaint is that the PCAOB is vested with extensive governmental functions and powers, including a quasi-law enforcement investigatory power and a quasi-judicial power to impose substantial fines for violations of its rules.” There’s a PDF link to the full complaint.
• In contrast to the US of late, where “unexpected surprises” have been the norm, Gross Domestic Product growth predictions in Europe have tended to overstate the resulting reality — sometimes significantly (HT EU Rota the Renaissance Man).
• This AP reviewer thinks H&R Block’s TaxCut is the best computerized tax preparation program. Yeah, better than TurboTax.
• But after you do your return, DON’T go to an H&R Block office to get a Rapid Refund. The company still hasn’t figured out a way to keep their refund-anticipation loans legal, or so says California’s Attorney General. Even if it’s legal, it’s ridiculously expensive. How expensive? The last time I checked (about a year ago), most cash advances on credit cards were “cheaper.” This is consistent with what California’s top cop believes: “Like many of the other suits that have been filed against H&R Block in recent years, Lockyer alleges the company consistently misleads its customers about the costs of the short-term loans, which sometimes impose fees that translate into interest rates of more than 500 percent.”
• One benefit of a warmer winter — “Housing Starts Near 33-Year High thanks to mild winter weather.”
• Stop the presses — A newspaper apologizes (HT Club for Growth) for beating up their local congressman over his opposition to the high levels of federal Katrina aid because of fraud concerns, which have since proven all too valid. See, “we were wrong; we are sorry” isn’t that tough to say after all.
• On a related note, who would have thought that Katrina debit card fraud and extravagant spending by users would be so interesting that The Smoking Gun would be all over it?
• The National Association of Realtors said that the nationwide median sales price for an existing single-family house rose to $213,000 in the fourth quarter of 2005, up 13.6% from the Oct.-Dec. period of 2004.