Mr. Scott goes to Washington - Act Three, Scene Five: The (tax-free) Final Frontier
Alright, so in the interest of readability (that's right, loyal readers - I actually care about you), I've decided that making one post for an entire week isn't really practical... so I'm going to try to split things up a little. This post is going to cover the period from Sunday, Nov. 13 to Thursday, Nov. 17.
That said, this is probably going to be quite short. Nothing really happened on Sunday - I worked on my report on the pacifist speaker (which I mentioned before), and basically vegged as I do most Sundays.
On Monday, (Nov. 14) Claire and I missed our 11AM speaker, as we had been invited out to lunch by the heads of our section at the embassy as a bit of a 'thank you' for all the work we've been doing. We went over to Gordon Biersch, which is this cool brewery restaurant where they serve about eight kinds of their own unique beer. Again, I was thwarted by my under-agedness and ended up drinking Sprite. But it was actually a pretty great time, I had a really good talk with our section head about her experiences in the Foreign Service, so that was cool. She had some really interesting stories about her time in Cameroon...
After our lunch, Claire and I went over to the Department of the Interior for a speech by the Treasurer of the United States. They had arranged it in a very odd way, I thought, with some random low-profile TV personality "interviewing" the Treasurer. This lasted for about half an hour, and then they opened it up for questions from the audience. However, questions from the audience were not particularly forthcoming, so Claire and I were recruited to ask questions as part of an effort to prolong the interview. I asked a question about federal tax reform (my area of (relative) expertise), which the woman didn't answer, and then Claire asked a question about the security of American money, which the woman... didn't answer. I love politicians. That night, as always, we had class.
Tuesday (Nov. 15) was a pretty slow day. I thought I had a House Ways and Means Committee hearing to cover, so I hiked over to the wrong House office building, before hiking to the right House office building, only to find out that the hearing had been postponed to Wednesday morning. So, I returned to the embassy and finished my report on the previous Thursday's sugar policy lunch. Then I ate some candy.
Wednesday morning (Nov. 16) was the complete opposite of Tuesday - I had two committee hearings to cover, one Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Foreign Policy and the High Price of Crude Oil" and the aforementioned Ways and Means Committee hearing on reforms to the tax code. Since I can't be in two places at once (...yet), Claire graciously agreed to cover the Ways and Means hearing for me. So, while I was over on the Senate side learning about exciting geopolitical ramifications of the United States' dependence of foreign oil (as told by former Secretary of Defense Schlesinger and former Director of Central Intelligence Woolsey), Claire hiked over the the correct House office building only to discover that the hearing had been moved, again, to Wednesday afternoon. She wasn't feeling well, and since I could now cover the hearing myself, she went home.
So Wednesday afternoon I was back on the House side for our third try at covering this tax reform hearing. It took all afternoon, as 25 Congressmen and each presented their own ideas of new exemptions and reforms that should be included into the current tax code. The most interesting idea, following a number of family and building tax exemption proposals was a Representative from California's plan to declare outer space as a special tax-free economic zone. His plan was quite specific and clearly thought-out, he had plans to made capital gains tax-free on investments in companies who earn 75% of their revenues in space, and to offer tax breaks on dividends paid on space-based investments. Surprisingly, I appeared to be the only person who laughed... although I swear the Chairman almost cracked up, too. I didn't get out of the hearing until almost 5.45, and as I was walking back to the embassy it started pouring rain and I got absolutely soaked. So I skipped out on the gym and just went home.
On Thursday I ran over the Ways and Means hearing with the embassy's Finance Counsellor, who agreed that nothing of any real interest was said, so I didn't have to report on it. I also prepared my report on the Foreign Relations hearing for the Energy Counsellor.
Wow, wasn't that brief and relatively painless to read? Excellent.
That said, this is probably going to be quite short. Nothing really happened on Sunday - I worked on my report on the pacifist speaker (which I mentioned before), and basically vegged as I do most Sundays.
On Monday, (Nov. 14) Claire and I missed our 11AM speaker, as we had been invited out to lunch by the heads of our section at the embassy as a bit of a 'thank you' for all the work we've been doing. We went over to Gordon Biersch, which is this cool brewery restaurant where they serve about eight kinds of their own unique beer. Again, I was thwarted by my under-agedness and ended up drinking Sprite. But it was actually a pretty great time, I had a really good talk with our section head about her experiences in the Foreign Service, so that was cool. She had some really interesting stories about her time in Cameroon...
After our lunch, Claire and I went over to the Department of the Interior for a speech by the Treasurer of the United States. They had arranged it in a very odd way, I thought, with some random low-profile TV personality "interviewing" the Treasurer. This lasted for about half an hour, and then they opened it up for questions from the audience. However, questions from the audience were not particularly forthcoming, so Claire and I were recruited to ask questions as part of an effort to prolong the interview. I asked a question about federal tax reform (my area of (relative) expertise), which the woman didn't answer, and then Claire asked a question about the security of American money, which the woman... didn't answer. I love politicians. That night, as always, we had class.
Tuesday (Nov. 15) was a pretty slow day. I thought I had a House Ways and Means Committee hearing to cover, so I hiked over to the wrong House office building, before hiking to the right House office building, only to find out that the hearing had been postponed to Wednesday morning. So, I returned to the embassy and finished my report on the previous Thursday's sugar policy lunch. Then I ate some candy.
Wednesday morning (Nov. 16) was the complete opposite of Tuesday - I had two committee hearings to cover, one Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Foreign Policy and the High Price of Crude Oil" and the aforementioned Ways and Means Committee hearing on reforms to the tax code. Since I can't be in two places at once (...yet), Claire graciously agreed to cover the Ways and Means hearing for me. So, while I was over on the Senate side learning about exciting geopolitical ramifications of the United States' dependence of foreign oil (as told by former Secretary of Defense Schlesinger and former Director of Central Intelligence Woolsey), Claire hiked over the the correct House office building only to discover that the hearing had been moved, again, to Wednesday afternoon. She wasn't feeling well, and since I could now cover the hearing myself, she went home.
So Wednesday afternoon I was back on the House side for our third try at covering this tax reform hearing. It took all afternoon, as 25 Congressmen and each presented their own ideas of new exemptions and reforms that should be included into the current tax code. The most interesting idea, following a number of family and building tax exemption proposals was a Representative from California's plan to declare outer space as a special tax-free economic zone. His plan was quite specific and clearly thought-out, he had plans to made capital gains tax-free on investments in companies who earn 75% of their revenues in space, and to offer tax breaks on dividends paid on space-based investments. Surprisingly, I appeared to be the only person who laughed... although I swear the Chairman almost cracked up, too. I didn't get out of the hearing until almost 5.45, and as I was walking back to the embassy it started pouring rain and I got absolutely soaked. So I skipped out on the gym and just went home.
On Thursday I ran over the Ways and Means hearing with the embassy's Finance Counsellor, who agreed that nothing of any real interest was said, so I didn't have to report on it. I also prepared my report on the Foreign Relations hearing for the Energy Counsellor.
Wow, wasn't that brief and relatively painless to read? Excellent.
posted by Scoops at 7:45 p.m.
2 Comments:
I thought a Trekkie like you would appreciate tax breaks that aid in the colonization of the galaxy!
How much do you think it would cost to build the U.S.S. Enterprise at today's labour rates?
Wow, for the first time there's an anonymous poster I can't identify.
Maybe all of this Pad Thai has dulled my reflexes...
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