Tax Day

Don't know why, but I just felt like running that pic out again... I hope everyone has fun finishing off their taxes today. I did mine in February, sending them in the same day I realized that I was due a $700 refund. Of course, I never saw a dime of that money, as it went to pay down my current debt with the IRS. I should see a bit of that 'stimulus package' money they're sending out starting next month, though. I won't get the entire amount, but whatever is left after clearing the slate with those jackals in DC will be ok with me.


Since this is the first time since around 1999 that I've actually gotten a refund, and I won't be spending the day like the guy in the above picture, this is the first April 15th in almost a decade that doesn't fill me with a sense of dread.

Hell, tax time in 2000 (actually April 14th, a Friday) was the beginning of the end of the tech bubble. I remember having lunch at Houston's on Camelback Road in Phoenix with my buddy Devin and a group of folks in an options class that I was teaching, and we were sitting in the bar watching the bloodbath on CNBC. It was a huge selloff day that eventually started the turn of events that caused me to end up here in Vegas, working as a casino dealer.

Right now I'm ok with how things turned out, but damn, it sure was a rocky road there for awhile. Had I only known then what I know now... Well, I'd short-sell everything I could've gotten my hands on!

And it seems that the cycle is starting to repeat itself. There are no casino jobs available in this town right now, and just yesterday, the big boys--MGM/Mirage-- started their round of layoffs. This next recession, however, doesn't seem like it's going to be as bad as the one in 2001 (Well, I still have a job for instance...), so I'm hoping to emerge unscathed.

Anyhow, for those of you who have to write a big check to the gub-mint today, you have my sincere condolences. I have felt your pain for far too long. But just imagine how much good all that money could do for the economy if it didn't have to go to that giant sucking hole in Washington and was spent on things like, oh, I dunno, expanding your businesses, buying consumer goods, or god forbid, getting invested...

Mikey