EMPLOYEE vs INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

Not one or the other – both

For most of my life have been an employee while at the same time taking advantage of other talents that I have and offering them to those who would hire me.  I made a conscious effort to never work for a unionized company, so I never had to contend with that financial burden.  I have been careful to never operate in the gray area of the federal IRS guidelines defining employees and contractors.  I may be a fairly rare specimen who has had two distinct careers, so here is how I did it.

1.       1. I am a holder of a master’s degree in Theology.  I have been engaged by churches for           varying amounts of times and for specific deliverables.

2.      2.  I am fluent in four languages so I am always available for translating/editing projects.

3.           I offer my education and my life experience to a travel company and organize                       pilgrimages.

4.      3.   For years I maintained a relationship with a multi-level marketing organization.

   4.    Twice in my career I did work for a former employer as a contractor.  This happened when I left my job to follow my spouse to another city far beyond commuting distance.  This was possible because I was talented enough to carry some projects with me and deliver the results according to set deadlines.

For the last twenty years I have not been a full-time employee.  For the last 15 years I have not been a direct employee at all.  I take advantage of my social security benefits, including Medicare and I continue to make my personal talents and abilities available to those who want them.

Being a pure independent contractor can be lucrative for those who have the ability and talents but I personally want to caution the reader to be sure to consult professional people who can inform and teach the aspiring contractor concerning the intricacies of law and practice.  The legal framework around employment is complex.  The ability to “be on your own” is not given to all who would be attracted to it.  One of the reasons why I split my energies is the attraction of funding my social security/Medicare account, the insurance coverage offered by employers (Life, health, workers compensation, steady work schedule, etc.) and the national and international networking opportunities that come from working for a large, successful enterprise.  The split endeavors that I practiced served as training for the day (now) when I would not be an employee but could continue working and earning.

Oh, I almost forgot.  No, not really.  I was keeping it for last. Taxes, remember them?  This is one of the areas that require study and constant attention if the independent contractor wants to take advantage of the tax code of the USA.  This is the point of this post.  

The independent contractor who is not a direct employee at the same time may have income tax advantages but these advantages can be wiped out by other aspects of the tax structures present in every American’s life.  Don’t forget the taxes that are required but are not necessarily refered to as "taxes, i.e. social security, Medicare, IRS, State income tax, higher automobile insurance rates, etc.  It is possible to lessen the tax burden if while being a contractor there is a direct employer carrying the basic, if not full tax burden that every employed adult incurs.

Being independent can be nice.  I enjoin you to educate yourself about the regulatory world into which you will be plunged if you become “independent.”  I pray that you will be successful and I remind you not to cry at my funeral.

DEMAGOGUE ON THE LOOSE

In August of 2016 I wrote this piece in order to share the vision of the immoral reality that is Donald Trump.  

QUID EST VERITAS?

Russian proverb:  "It is better to be slapped by the truth than to be kissed by a lie."

The two year old boy on his grand father's lap has already been told that it is not OK to lie.  He hasn't yet had to suffer the consequences that visit people who do lie.  Later on, in not too many years he will come to know what happens to those who lie and get caught in the falsehood that they proclaimed.  He has grown to be the 82 year old author of these simple lies and is telling you now, that Camay bath soap sure tastes BAD.  As I write this, the sensation of the Camay memory is actually bringing goose bumps to the nape of my neck.  It was my mother's favorite punishment against lying and swearing.
That should have been bad enough, but being the stiff necked, proud, I'm "smarter than you are" kid, I can still feel the pain of a well planted right hook from the kid down the street who caught me lying to him once.  I also remember the edict from my father that I had to submit one half of the money that I might receive at Christmas to the offering basket at Church one year when he caught me lying.
Now, here's why I am telling you this.  There is a high placed political operative by the name of Michael Flynn who lied to the FBI, who is now in court over the facts (the true facts) and his defense is, "The FBI didn't warn me not to lie."
What?  Have you ever heard such a heap of stercus taurorum in your life?  Does a successful(?) 60+ year old man have to be warned not to lie?  Can such a person be so naive and daring as to try to defend himself by blaming the FBI for not warning him that lying can bring on much greater punishment?  Sheeesh!
As it turns out, he is not the only one who downplays the value of the truth.  The president of the country and his flacks are all afraid of falling into "perjury traps."  What?  How can you perjure yourself if you tell the truth?  If you don't want to tell the truth because it would incriminate you, plead the 5th to protect yourself.
Frankly, it is shiveringly disgusting to hear such immoral expressions taking root in our society.  Jesus had to put up with the distortion of the truth, so we are not experiencing anything new.  All we are left with is the famous question, "Quid est veritas - what is truth?"
Finally, if you don't agree with me, just Don't Cry at My Funeral

WALL AGAIN...BAD IDEA

Two Palestinian women on the street walking past the painted image of Donald Trump on the separation wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

The following is a comment about the linked video:

https://www.facebook.com/prageru/videos/2078089425567236/

I did pass some time with Mr. Krauthammer who appears in the video behind the above highlighted link.  It turns out that it is 6 minutes of self indictment to the incompetence and the crass venality of the US government.  He admits that a wall in and of itself is not sufficient to "protect" the country from illegal "immigration."  The illegal immigration reality in the world is not a "problem" that can be solved mechanically.  The only solution lies in the resolve of the people on the one side to assure that the people on the other side will not find safe haven.  Walls do not work because of the lack of human resolve on the one side.  The only true wall is the internal conviction on the one side that the people on the other side should not have access.  Walls without human conviction on the one side enforcing their reason for being are useless.  Krauthammer makes this point very clearly.  He mentions visa "over-stays" which account for 40% of illegal residents present here.  He mentions the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986.  It failed because of one, and only one reason: The lack of enforcement by a venal government owned and lobbied by voracious employers seeking cheap labor.  The self-same government that had passed the law in the first place.  I know.  I lived through it during the height of my Human Resources career.

He does not mention the most common-sense weakness of any wall: The gates.  Intruders do not have to foil the forbidding surface of the wall...all they have to do is to befriend (or reward) or outwit the gatekeeper.  The reason why walls do not work is the human element.  Walls with, or without, draconian Laws, and yes, even with armed military and technological support to enforce the physical barrier, do not work.  Human ingenuity will always win.

I could name the number of "insurmountable" walls I have lived with and/or visited in my short life.  Even the Israel/Palestinian barrier.  I am here to tell you that most of them (95%) have become tourist attractions.  [Jerusalem (old and new), Rome, Vatican City, Carcassonne, Paris, Jericho, Manila]  The one that most people praise the most, the Israel/Palestinian Authority one, is not impervious for the reason stated above, the human factor.  I have witnessed it first hand.  Plus, the intrepid souls can walk until they find the end, in the desert...just like here.

Finally, pay attention to the presentation and you will note that it never promises 100% impermeability.  Neither Krauthammer nor Trump can do that...the indomitable human spirit will win and the artifact will become a tourist attraction.

On the personal side, I have to admit that I shake my head in wonder that the trammel of history doesn't seem to mean anything to those who keep running back to solutions that have failed.  Walls, in my view, are nothing but glowing confessions that humans have not matured to the point of discovering how to get along with one another.  Walls,in my view are an extension of the opinion of my namesake, "The Law brings Death,  the Spirit brings Life. (2 Cor. 3;6)" I suppose that we have not yet attained the last chapter of John's masterpiece, we will always need Law until...

  20  The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.  Amen  (Revelation, chapter 22)

ELECTRIC CAR - 1905? SEE BELOW

The other day I received this picture from a friend of mine who regales himself with reminders of this sort about how things were when I was "younger."  I have to admit that this one really got me going.  I was feeling OK about the picture and the insinuation about my age until about 9:00 AM this morning when I got a telephone call from my favorite auto mechanic.  The "Maint Req'd" light went on yesterday, so I decided to do something about it before things got worse.  That was a good decision because as it turns out things were already "worse enough!"  They are 15 years old, 262,000 miles "worse enough!"  I'll spare you the shock of the bottom line "worse enough!"

Now that was this morning.  The other day I was shaking my head at the thought that here was a 115 year old picture of an electric car.  How old was Elon Musk in 1905?  I mean, really??  This was 35 or 40 years after the Europeans had invented the internal combustion engine.  We were still messing around trying to figure out how to have a long enough extension cord to be able to drive to the corner grocery store and back.  Boy! What a bummer!

Now, come back this way a couple of steps and listen to this.  15 years ago we bought this neat little Japanese hybrid Honda.  Four cylinders and 50 MPG's.  Really, but only in certain directions.  San Francisco to San Diego = 50 MPG.  No lie.  San Diego to San Francisco = 42 MPG.  It's the lay of the land.  No refill going south.  One refill going north at the same cruise control setting of 70 MPH.
Interesting, right?  OK.  Now here's something more interesting for those of you who might think that you know something about cars, internal combustion engines and a combination electric and gasoline engines and the number of cylinders (4) that they have. I found out this morning that our little four cylinder Japanese car needs eight, yes, 8 spark plugs all for the king's ransom price of  11,290 Japanese yen ( $105.00 ).  Yes, it is somehow true that our little four cylinder Honda Civic Hybrid requires two spark plugs for each cylinder.  Once again, Elon Musk, where are you?  Better yet, if you have a battery to help the internal combustion engine you have to add an extra spark plug for each cylinder?  Is that the battery's fault?  Now, I ask, Is progress by any other name still progress?  Wouldn't it be easier to just produce a 600 mile long extension cord?

Tesla Roadster 0 cylinders
0 extension cord

ALL GENDER - INCLUDING NEUTER?

MALE, FEMALE, WHEELCHAIR? Hmmm!

More and more, signs of this format are staring me in the face when I decide to test the ceramic fixture offered to the cross-legged dancing public for expulsion relief. This is a fine arrangement when I happen to be in a lightly frequented establishment where there is but a 15% probability that the facilities will be blocked by a slow moving line of "dancers."
I think that the hub-bub about the separation of rest rooms is nonsense.  65 or so years ago I took a trip to Canada with EFR Dion.  We went fairly far north to a place by the name of  Midland.  It is a small city that is situated some 20+ miles south of Georgian Bay, an arm of Hudson's Bay.  This was FAR from our home in Western Massachusetts so we had to make several "pit stops" along the way.  At the first one we looked in vain for a "Men's Room."  So, after a few moments we decided that the "Toilet" was the "Rest Room."  We were glad to discover that it worked very well...just like back in the USA's "Men's Room."  In the week that we were in Canada we were unable to find one of these "Toilets" that was defective.  We even greeted some women coming out from behind the door.  Yeah, 65 years ago.  Think about it.

So, boys and girls, my suggestion to you is this:  Hold your urge until it gets to be so intense that you will be able to use the public toilet with nothing else on your mind but relief.