A couple of years ago the pro golfer Phil Mickelson said in an interview that he was thinking of leaving California, where he was paying around 13 percent in state income taxes (along with myriad other state taxes). He was sick of paying more than 60% of his income in federal, state, and local taxes, he said. He was considering doing what Tiger Woods and many other pro golfers have done — moved to zero-income-tax Florida. The commentators at Huffingandpuffingtonpost went nuts, as did much of the rest of the “mainstream media,” outraged — outraged!! — that anyone would think that he had a right to keep the money he has earned through his own hard work and diligence.
Fast forward a couple of years and we learn over the past two days that the FBI and the SEC have been “investigating” Mickelson, who plays golf once in a while at his home club with a wealthy investor. That investor, and Phil Mickelson, are said to be “under investigation” for “insider trading.”
It is of course important that the FBI investigates all rumors of unfairness on Wall Street for, after all, every single Wall Street investment banker is more moral and ethical than Mother Theresa or maybe even Jesus Christ himself. There is, and never has been, any kind of unfairness, cronyism, or corruption involved with the Fed-fueled enrichment of the Wall Street banksters, thanks to the ever-diligent bureaucrats at the SEC.
2:18 pm on June 1, 2014
