Wisconsin is a tax hell, plain and simple. And if you live in the city of Milwaukee and actually hold a job and try to own a home, you are screwed even more.

So naturally it comes as a surprise (sarcasm!) that our politicians might be wasting money on unneeded trips (we call them boondoggles in the real world) yet telling us that they need to tax us more because there simply isn’t any money in the budget for anything!

Thank you, Milwaukee Alderman Joe Davis for wasting thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on your vacations.

Last year it was reported that Davis wasted over $15,600 on his taxpayer funded vacations over two years. The destinations of these trips included Las Vegas, Reno, St. Louis, New Haven, Charlotte, Wichita, and Washington DC (3 times).

When the company’s own employees are doing a Google search like this, it says something, doesn’t it?

herbalife greg probert fraud

Supporters of Patrick Byrne and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) can’t seem to get over the fact that the company has never turned a profit and that it is being investigated by the SEC (despite false assertions in the most recent conference call that the SEC has resolved “all the issues” and has sprinkled holy water on the company) and that there are numerous “unusual” disclosures and elements in the financial statements.

I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane regarding all these unusual, irregular, questionable, problematic, abnormal, odd items and see if a pattern emerges.

While under the watchful eye of the Sith Lord, I have generated quite a few blog posts regarding Patrick Bryne and Overstock.com. Isn’t it amazing how one, solitary public company can have situation after situation that indicates something is wrong with the financial data and disclosures?

I’ve been writing quite a bit for WalletPop these days. I love that gig!

One bright spot on the horizon for air travelers? – A new configuration for seats in coach that gives the illusion of much more room, and more actual comfort for passengers.

Travel insurance would have paid off: A cautionary tale - Don’t blame the cruise ship for exercising caution with regard to your child’s health!

Planning for $7 a gallon gas – It may or may not come to pass, but you can start planning your life now with that possibility in mind.

Consumers defrauded by telemarketers can file claims – Wachovia Bank has agreed to a settlement in the case in which it allowed fraudulent telemarketers to use their banking system to steal money from consumers’ bank accounts.

Will your tax rebate check be ‘found money’ to you? – What will you do with your check? Be responsible and save it or strategically pay down some debt? Or will you run out and spend it just because you can?

One more responsibility for schools- Schools are doing more parenting than lots of parents these days. New thing to add to the list: Teach kids about money.

Smoking (and lying about it) could cost you your job - If you lie about smoking on your health insurance forms at work, you should pay the price.

Last week in the Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) earnings conference call, the company’s executives had the following to say about the SEC’s investigation of the company:

Patrick Byrne

So, is it fair to say that all these other issues that the knuckleheads keep on raising as issues, the SEC examiners, looked at and sprinkled holy water on?

David Chidester

Yeah, I mean they took a deep dive they do that every three years or so. And again they are very good to work with. It is not adversarial at all and we’ve got all the issues resolved and it’s nice to know that we could move forward.

Those statements by Patrick Byrne and David Chidester were a big no-no, for two main reasons.

I wrote this one for WalletPop as tax season was wrapping up, but I liked it so much that I’m reprinting it here!

The agony of doing taxes is just about over for another year. I have only five tax returns left to do, and all the extensions have been filed, so we’ve got plenty of time. I don’t do many tax returns anymore, and I’m thankful. I don’t think I have the patience to do a lot of them.

Hopefully your tax preparer has more patience than I do, but you can test the waters with these five simple ways to drive her or him crazy:

I ran across a blog that did a series examining Primerica Financial Services, a multi-level marketing company that purports to sell financial products. While the company does offer life insurance, investments, and other financial products, like a typical MLM… they’re really out there selling the opportunity. The name of the game is endless recruiting.

The Financial Blogger did several nice posts about the company, but this explanation of the pyramid scheme aspect of Primerica was exceptional:

As the Essentials of Corporate Fraud book tour rolls on, we’re back at #1 in the Auditing category on Amazon.com!

I couldn’t make up stuff this good if I tried. Seriously. The things that Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) says are a journalist’s dream. (Yes, if Byrne can think of himself as a journalist, so can I!) I reported the other day on his comments about the secret fax machine at CNBC. Here’s the video of the clown actually saying it. Skip ahead to 5:00 to get to the good stuff.

And when Liz Claman says she’s never seen such a fax machine, Byrne says “I have a good source on that.” I bet you do, Wacky Patty.