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An intense week of work at my day (and what seems to be also a night) job left me little time to keep up with the recent developments that have captured the attention of the nation's media. Without priority, here are some thoughts:

I started this post Saturday morning by asserting my hope for  a Broncos-Patriots AFC Championship game. That aspiration evaporated when the Baltimore Ravens outlasted Denver in a sudden-death thriller.  My impression of the game is that  Payton Manning was not at his best, and the Ravens defense made big plays at crucial times. Certainly, the interception Payton threw which led to the game-ending field goal was an ill-advised pass in any situation by any QB.

I was not surprised by the 49er's dominance of the Packers. In Colin Kapernick, the Niners seem to have developed not only one of the best of this new breed of running-passing QB's, but seem to have found very effective ways to use him. Blessed with size and speed, he is a game-changing runner. He is also an accurate passer with arm strength comparable to a shoulder-fired missile. Kapernick is savvy enough to protect his body, a lesson the talented Robert Griffin III must learn.  With a massive and athletic offensive line, a solid group of receivers and a Pro Bowl running back in Frank Gore, San Francisco seems to be hitting its offensive stride at precisely the right time. Oh- they can play defense, too.

Onto Saturday's other disappointment, the Treasury's announcement that they will not be minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin in order to circumvent the Congressionally-imposed limit on Federal borrowing. And so, the dream dies. I am left wondering whether or not the government may still resort to issuing script (essentially, IOU's) for debts that come due when the borrowing limit is reached without Congress voting to either raise or, more rationally, eliminate it completely. I do wonder if it may not have been a better negotiating tactic for Treasury to withhold its announcement for a few more weeks, if only to allow members of Congress more time to embarass themselves in public.

My original motivation in starting this blog was to explore topics I thought worthy of discussion. Tax reform is an area I have had an interest in for some time and intend to explore here. Recently. Bloomberg View had an interesting blog post by Evan Soltas on tax standardization. The are so many aspects contained in the phrase "tax reform", that a simple discussion of the topic would be reductionist. My intent is to, over the coming months, to explore the conspicuous features of our current Federal tax code, and to suggest some alternatives.

Finally, I will have to talk about motrocycle and The Big Trip. Details to follow.