IRS Does Not Seem to be Slowed Down

It is tax time again and there seems to be some fear this year because of all the people being cut from the federal government. A lot of people are worried that Elon Musk and his seemingly gang of 20-year-old thugs is going to slow down tax returns being mailed to honest working Americans. Knowing this, I sat down last week and worked to get my extra complicated taxes filed. It took all week but I submitted them on Saturday afternoon. I then read the fine print and discovered I should expect my return within 21 days.

One of the reasons I have a complicated tax return this year is I cashed out a rather sizeable investment which I promptly reinvested in something with much better returns. The only problem is that I have to pay capital gains on the increase over the past 30-plus years. In doing so, I withheld federal taxes as if you owe more than something like $1,000 you will get hit with penalties. The state of Utah is different in that as long as you pay your taxes by April 15th, there are no penalties. My hope was that I would get enough back on my federal taxes to cover what I owe the state. I am actually getting slightly more back than I owe so I might be able to take my wife out to dinner or something. I did my taxes early enough that receiving the federal return within that 21 days would give me more than enough time to pay my state taxes.

Today I had to log into my bank account for a completely unrelated issue and noticed my balance is larger than expected. I clicked on the details and noticed that my federal tax return is sitting in my account ready to be sent to the state of Utah. It only took 5 days for me to receive my refund! This is the fastest I have ever received a tax return.

Let me return to my second sentence in this post about Elon Musk and his seemingly gang of 20-year-old thugs slowing down tax returns. I think this is one myth that doesn't fly with me. Granted my experience is one in 300-plus million Americans and your experience may vary. However I'd like to believe that the mere threat of dead wood being cut from the federal government has lit a fire under IRS workers and they are working with the speed we haven't seen in decades.

Another Apple Mistake

I think Steve Jobs would die he wasn't already dead and if he knew what his successors were doing to his company. I used to be a big fan of Apple and their products. That is changing at an alarming rate. This last week was the crowning moment that has me avoiding everything and anything to do with Apple. I even had a pear for breakfast this morning instead of the usual red fruit.

Last week I was in a meeting when a coworker walked in and asked me to try and log into our company's virtual private network or VPN. While other coworkers could accomplish the task on their Window's-based laptops, I couldn't on my Mac. I logged a support ticket with our IT's help desk. They got back to me and said that Apple turned off Java. Our IT department had a workaround that solved the problem but it left me with a few questions.

I did a quick search on the Internet and discovered that the Department of Homeland Security sent out a warning that running Java in your browser could open you up to potential security threats. Apple then decided to turn off Java running in browsers on every Mac computer connected to the Internet. My first question is: How did they do that? A good second question is: If Apple could screw up my computer, doesn't that mean someone else could? If I was an unscrupulous hacker and found out about Apple's little trick, I would be looking for a way to exploit it.

Frankly it scares me knowing that a company can reach into my computer and make modifications without my consent. While I have been happy with Apple in the past, I'm not any more. It is time to start looking for another laptop, tablet, and phone supplier. At least it gives me something to write about.

Government and the Internet

Yesterday I got a concerned e-mail from my computer-using Grandmother. She was taking part in a Tea Party/Town Hall group north of Seattle, Washington. They were all sitting around having a great conversation when someone made the comment, "What are we going to do when they cut off the Internet?" My wise Grandmother didn't think that was possible but wanted to ask me the question.

Technically it would be next to impossible to turn off the Internet. The United States Department of Defense paid for the research that created the Internet. They wanted a communication system that would continue to function even in the event of a nuclear war. That means that you can take out every major city in the country and the Internet would continue to function. It might not be as fast, but it would still work.

Many years ago the government gave up control of the Internet to private industry. It is now a big business and controlled by the telecommunications companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and others. In addition to being big business, the Internet is a huge source of tax revenue for the federal government.

So suppose that President Obama wanted tighter control over the American people and introduced a bill to kill the Internet. Not a single representative nor senator would vote to pass it. It would be political suicide (which is why the President would never try to introduce such a bill). We as a people have come to rely on the Internet for e-mail, sharing information, doing crossword puzzles, paying bills, and entertainment. There would be riots of biblical proportion.

Let's just assume that we all went to sleep for a year and during that time, someone was able to pass a law that eliminated the Internet. Let's also assume that the year we were asleep also allowed this individual the time necessary to dismantle the thousands of networks used to make up the Internet. What would happen when we all woke up? It would take an amazingly short time for us to recreate the Internet. It would start out as a group of small networks that continued to grow until we had the Internet as we know it today.

About the best the government can do is to start censoring the Internet like China. However we are smart people and for every site that becomes censored, five more just like it will appear out of nowhere. Just look at what is happening on College campuses where they try to block sites like YouTube and MySpace. The students quickly figure out how to circumvent the restrictions and continue online life as usual.

So the next time someone sends you an e-mail talking about how the government is going to "shut off" the Internet, you can rest assured that it probably won't happen in your lifetime unless it is replaced by something better.