WORDS OF WISDOM

The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. - Author Unknown

CATTLE AND ETHANOL AN OPPORTUITY FOR NEBRASKA

(High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal) -- Distillers grains, the co-product from ethanol production, has helped strengthen Nebraska's economy and increase the efficiencies in feeding cattle in the state, according to Craig Uden of Darr Feedlot in Cozad, Neb. According to an analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association, ethanol plants across the country produced 23 million metric tons of livestock and poultry feed last year. Uden said the availability of distillers grains has been tremendous for Nebraska. "It's a golden opportunity for this state," he said. "Because we have cattle and corn, we have an advantage over most states." Although distillers grains can be dried and shipped across the country, the biggest economic benefit comes when it can remain "wet" or only partially dried and delivered to nearby livestock operations.

US TREASURY HUMOR

Treasury released the new US Dollar bill today.

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT AIRLINE FEES BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK

Here is the perfect list that puts together all the fees that the airlines now charge their customers.

One click to:

http://www.swabiz.com/travel_center/pod_chart.html

and you can see what each airline charges for everything from making a reservation by phone to checking in oversized baggage.

Here’s how you can pay $702 in fees on your next $120 flight from Omaha to Chicago

If you looked at the chart above at all the fees, you can see how crazy they are. To illustrate, I thought I would build a hypothetical flight to go golfing in Chicago taking my golf clubs on the trip. The cheapest airfare is a bargain for about $120 roundtrip. Now come the extras. First, lets assume you check in two bags each way ($15 for the 1st and $50 for the 2nd = $65 each way = $130 total); select a special seat assignment ($25 each way = $50); have a meal ($5 each way = $10); enjoy a drink ($6 each = $12) plus add $125 each way ($250 total) for an oversized bag (golf clubs) and add $125 each way ($250 total) for one of your bags being over 50 pounds. Add all those fees up and you could actually pay an extra $702 in fees (585%) to fly the friendly skies. Maybe in the future the airlines should give away seats if you pay all the fees.

2008 ELECTION

My dad always said don't talk about religion or politics, but I just had to pass this on.

AUTO DEDUCTIONS

The attached is a good summary of the rules for auto deductions. Let me know if you have any questions: Maximizing Car and Truck Deductions.

It is a pleasure serving you.

Larry Kopsa CPA

MORE ON FDIC

RUMORS

I recently published a blog entry on FDIC. There are a lot of rumors going around regarding FDIC Protection. Snopes.com addresses some of these rumors in their article: FDIC AND YOU. I thought you might be interested.

BAILOUT PLAN

You may have already seen the We Deserve It Dividend, an article by T.J. Birkenmeier, proposing to give $85,000,000,000 to America, instead of using this money to bail out banks and lending institutions.

A client who sent this link to me was all for voting this guy in as President. I read the article and, being a "math guy", noticed that the decimal was off three digits, which totally blew Birkenmeier's plan out of the water. Snopes.com realized the error as well. Check it out by clicking on the link above.