• ESTATE TAX PLANNING REMINDER: The current exemption level before a 40% tax rate is $13.6 million per individual, until reversion to $5 million in 2026. However, congressional changes are likely which could reduce that exemption much lower. An effective protection strategy to maximize the current exemption while still available is a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT), involving asset transfer into an irrevocable trust for a beneficiary spouse, but which can still allow full access through the marriage, including control over management and distribution as well as shielding the assets from potential creditor claims. DCG provides courtesy counsel in evaluating benefits of SLATs and other tax planning options.
  • BRAIN ENDURANCE TRAINING (BET) was developed for athletes but turns out to be an “effective countermeasure against mental fatigue and its detrimental effect on sedentary older adult’s cognitive and physical performance, including balance control to decrease risk of falls and accidents, especially when fatigued,” according to latest study by researchers at University of Birmingham UK. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-brain-boosts-cognitive-physical-abilities.html
  • THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ENABLED ‘RIGGING’ OF THE 2020 ELECTION, VIA BULK-MAIL VOTING AND ABANDONMENT OF I.D. REQUIREMENTS FOR LIVE VOTING. Over ten million ballots were cast after being mailed to the ‘last known’ address of every person on voter rolls, with zero authentication of who may have received or delivered the ballot, and irrespective of whether they’d moved or died, Currently, 15 U.S. states still do not require live poll voters to present I.D. – the biggest being California/ Illinois/ New York/ New Jersey/ Pennsylvania. In fact, CA Governor Newsome just officially banned any precinct from requiring voters’ I.D. anywhere in the state.  Other examples of failure in protecting America’s election integrity:  DOJ has harassed and sued several states to stop their plans to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. Repetition of these procedures is certain to impact the 2024 election.    https://patriotpost.us/alexander/111103-the-2024-election-is-rigged-2024-10-16
  • IF OPEN BORDERS POLICY REMAINS MUCH LONGER, “U.S. sovereignty will remain under grave threat. While up to 84% of Americans, including most democrats, favor a border wall, and more than 60% of registered voters, including a majority of Hispanics, favor deportation of illegal aliens, that is not what radical Left globalists want. For them, the current Administration spectacularly succeeded by intentionally pursuing a policy of opening the Southern border and relocating illegal migrants across the country, as part of their tripartite plan to achieve a permanent Democratic majority.”  https://americanmind.org/salvo/kamala-harris-open-borders-radical/

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

  •  As the nature of cyberthreats continues to increase in complexity and risk – from ransomware attacks, data breaches and insider threats accelerated by AI-driven assaults – 93% of CISOs and IT Decision makers are citing stress levels and burnout rapidly reaching a ‘breaking point.’  https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2024/10/15/the-cybersecurity-burnout-crisis-is-reaching-the-breaking-point/?mc_cid=110704831a&mc_eid=2f8ddc8ca6
  •  While CDC has just reported that COVID-19 across the country is at ‘low’ levels and related deaths at all-time lows, several northern California counties have just re-implemented mandatory Mask Mandates as of November for healthcare workers, regardless of vaccination status. Two counties also extended the requirement to visitors & patients, with violations punishable by fine, imprisonment or both. Despite the lack of the actual science evidence supporting the notion that masking prevents viral spread, masking seems to serve more as a political virtue signal than medically effective action.
  •  “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”