(We are pretty sure the 87,000 new IRS employees will be concerned with the 1% on this Tax Day, right? Image Getty)
There is some success to report this Tax Day. We submitted a hefty check to the people at the IRS a week or two ago, and we hope it flies. One thing we have experienced to mild surprise is the complexity of preparation. For several decades, there was only the requirement find the W2 and a bank statement for interest plus the mortgage totals to deduct.
Not so much anymore. There are several sources of assorted income and a stack of disparate medical expense that jumble all together in an unruly stack. We will see how this year’s adventure goes. But there is a dramatic background to the issues with which we have personal responsibility. So, balancing success is something else.
Failures? The Iranian missile attack against Israel. US international leadership, since the word “Don’t,” even if uttered gravely, seems to have no effect.
There is more, of course. Things this morning reflect messaging turbulence. The initial reports about the stunning success of the Iron Dome missile defense system were part of the messaging. Reports this morning though include the note that many of the Iranian barrage failed on launch. So, readiness and capability is in the spotlight, and cost of the defensive response, estimated at a billion dollars.
Those are just a couple of the complications on what this means, and what it specifically means next.
America’s appeasement of Iran, seems to finally been revealed as folly. The decision of the gerontologic Religious leaders in Tehran to directly attack Israel from Iranian territory is huge. It marks both strategic and basic change in regime tactics. The region’s political, diplomatic and security calculation is in motion.
Some sources insist the news is not so much that things may lurch into a regional crisis. They suggest that is already well in progress with the killing of senior Iranian commanders in Syria. Iran has always responded through proxies. This time it was directly and massively from Iran itself.
But that was yesterday’s opinion. This morning it is closer to “why did the Iranians launch an attack that was doomed to fail and achieve no military advantage. Only the intent of the message is now open to question for what is next.
Why such a dramatic change? Is it about a transition in Iranian leadership with more restive Persian public? Is it an assertion of regional leadership that cannot be sustained? The U.S. is telling Israel to “accept the victory,” and maybe it can be played that way. Or not.
Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com