By Daniel A Barnes                                                                        October 29, 2010

The other day, I sat down to vote with my absentee ballot.  I laid out the pamphlets, voter instructions and ballot.  Then I got my father on the phone (who is a political junkie), and we discussed the propositions and candidates.

Now it’s not that I’m not familiar with the political process.  With two degrees in political science and all 156 episodes of “The West Wing” under my belt, you’d think I could read a proposition and figure out if I were for or against it.

Well, um, no, I couldn’t!

You see, you aren’t the only one’s confounded by the double negative speak of the propositions.  It was Proposition 24 in particular that tied me up.

So, here I was, trying to figure out if I were for — or against — the proposition. But first, I needed to figure out what the proposition was going to do, what it actually meant.

Proposition 24 is a repeal of some fancy new provisions that were put into place in 2008 and 2009 to allow businesses to carry current losses back to previously filed tax years.  It also allows companies to more easily shift their taxes losses among affiliated companies.  A “Yes” vote, is a vote to rescind those new laws.  A “no” vote, is a vote to leave those tax advantages as they stand.  (I’m not an expert enough on them to call them a loophole or not).

I tried to get a better sense of the proposition by reading the direct-mail pieces, but that didn’t help, because the direct-mail pieces speak in partial truths.  Those partial truths are not much help at all in understanding the issue.

At first I thought that I was against Proposition 24, so I voted no, and duly marked in the “no” oval with black ink.  But then I re-explained it to my dad, and in doing so, realized, that a “no” vote was a “yes” vote for the existing carryback tax provisions, which would allow and enable businesses to go back several years and amend their tax returns to get money back for taxes they’d paid in past years.  I realized that I am against those laws passed in 2008, and if I am against those, then I am FOR the proposition.

My “no” vote was an error.  I’d voted for what I didn’t want!  I can’t help but wonder, if I’ve misinterpreted these “double-negative” phrased propositions, I’m probably not alone.

I needed to change my ballot to “yes.” So my natural reaction was to cross out my “no” vote and change it to “yes.”  So I did it.

About 30 seconds later, it occurred to me, “What if by crossing out an answer, I just invalidated my entire ballot?”  I started thinking of the whole “chad” issues from the Florida recount 10 years ago that decided the Gore-Bush election.

I had just spent almost an hour figuring out my votes.  What if I just screwed the pooch with my cross-out?

The next day, I decided I would call the county election office in Martinez.  After about 6 or 8 minutes of listening to music, I got a real mensch on the line.  She informed me that my messed up answer on Prop. 24, would not invalidate my entire ballot.  “Whew,” I thought.

To correct it, however, is not so easy.  She told me that neither using Wite-Out nor crossing things out is permissible, but “correction tape” is.  I have Wite-Out, but not correction tape at my office, so I had to go to our neighbors and ask them for some, and thankfully, one of them did have it.  I took the correction tape and made several passes over the incorrect “oval marking.”  I don’t know if I did it correctly, but let’s hope so.

In addition to my focus on the elections, I recently read a scathing expose’ of Ameriquest, one of the worst predatory subprime lenders.  It reads like the story of business in the 3rd World, not the 1st.  Given the recent questions regarding the resolution of the foreclosure debacle and the impending Stimulus 2 plan, I think we are stuck in the “resetting” period of which I’ve written previously about.  Individually, I think we can cast our votes, hopefully as we intend, while focusing on living within our means and getting back to business basics, living basics and a more sustainable way of living.

Meanwhile, at my shop, Barnes Capital, we continue to protect client capital with municipal bonds, high-quality dividend-increasing companies and gold and silver, which have protected wealth in every epoch spanning five millennia of bankruptcies, inflation and other forms of attrition.

Barnes Capital is a Registered Investment Advisor located at in downtown Lafayette. With RB Capital Management, Barnes Capital develops custom tailored portfolios for its clients. Specialized in retirement income portfolios, financial planning in an integral part of our process. Call 925-284-3503 and visit www.barnescapital.com.

Barnes Capital is a Registered Investment Advisor located at in downtown Lafayette. With RB Capital Management, Barnes Capital develops custom tailored portfolios for its clients. Specialized in retirement income portfolios, financial planning in an integral part of our process. Call 925-284-3503.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 1st, 2010 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Monthly Column. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.