The Omaha Bugle-Global News Network

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Adam and Jeff discuss the state of Russia's 4-year misadventure in the Ukraine and point out that this conflict has lasted longer than Russia's involvement in World War II. Jeff points out that Russia has suffered about 1.2 million military casualties. This conflict has taken a toll on the Russian economy because there is a severe shortage of young workers to man the factories. The war has also exposed the poor state of the Russian military and highlighted the "fight to the death" mentality of the Ukrainians. Jeff points out that Ukraine's tenacity is rooted in part in Russia's repeated invasions and engineered famines of Ukraine over the centuries. Adam and Jeff also discuss the fact that Texas-sized Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe and should not have been viewed as a low-risk high-reward adventure like Putin's previous outings in Georgia and the Crimea. Ukraine's historical animosity toward Russia has fueled unprecedented nationalism and drained Russia's military capacity while also causing both Sweden and Finland to join NATO. Even though Russia may end up occupying a strip of territory on Ukraine's eastern frontier indefinitely, it is hard to see how this conflict has helped Russia in any way, particularly as it has become ever-more reliant on its "eternal friend" China.

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Almost-billionaires Adam and Jeff discuss the recent proposal in California to implement a "one-time" 5% tax on the net worth of all persons with assets in excess of $1 billion. Despite the repeated failures of such taxes in other parts of the world, California seems determined to press ahead with this ballot initiative. Adam believes many billionaires will choose to move to a state other than California in order to evade this tax if it should become law. Jeff points out that most billionaires do not necessarily have the cash or liquid assets to pay a significant tax because much of their value is tied up in their own companies and other illiquid assets. He also points out that other politicians seeking to tax "unrealized gains" on stock holdings are strangely quiet about the idea of issuing refund checks on "unrealized losses." Adam notes that New York's current $12 billion budget deficit could be fixed right away if only each of its 120 or so billionaires would write a check for about $100 million. Adam and Jeff believe that there are far too few billionaires to make a dint in the revenue shortfalls on either the state or the national level and that people will actually have to start living within their means--which is not a very popular solution. However, Adam and Jeff urge that the threshold for any wealth tax be just above the combined amounts of their individual portfolios of assets in order to be "fair."

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Always ready to spotlight instances of government waste and folly, Adam and Jeff turn their attention to the boondoggle that is the government effort to purchase electric mail delivery vehicles from a defense contractor that has never built trucks for the civilian market. As about only 612 vehicles have been delivered at a cost of $3 billion, which is equal to a price of almost $5 million per vehicle, Jeff and Adam wonder if there is a better way to deliver the mail. They consult the want adds and find out that there are numerous lightly used trucks available for $20,000 to $30,000 each that could be used as mail vehicles. However, Jeff takes it one step further and proposes that the nation's children become mail carriers and deliver the mail on their bikes--offering a solution that is environmentally green while getting the kids outside for some fresh air.