I was in a class when the planes hit the Twin Towers.  I had driven to Minneapolis to take the class and was waiting for it to begin when I heard the news.  I called my wife the first chance I got, then I called my parents.

All of the talk that day in class was about the terrorist attacks.  Two planes had hit the World Trade Center towers, one had hit the Pentagon.  Another one had crashed in Pennsylvania.  The rumor was that the plane that crashed was headed for the White House or Congress.  Even more rumors swirled that day and in the days that followed.  We heard that more attacks were planned and everything from the Sears Tower in Chicago to our local power plant became a potential target.

When I got home, I saw the video of the twin towers being hit and destroyed.  People in the street stood in disbelief.  Clouds of ash covered everyone and everything.  Families searched for loved ones.  Notices were posted on shop windows and telephone poles seeking information on missing friends and relatives.

As the buildings burned, I remember seeing images of people flinging themselves from open windows, falling helplessly to a sure death.  Police and fire fighters rushed into the Twin Towers only to have the buildings collapse all around them.  Every image was more gruesome than the last; every story more heartbreaking.

As we prepare to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, one program after another will be shown on TV featuring the images of that fateful day.  I don’t want to see them.  The memories are still too painful, the emotions too raw.  I try to put the images out of my mind, to forget even if just for a little bit, but I can’t.  The moment was too powerful, the aftermath too tragic.

I have heard it said over and over again that we will always remember; we will never forget.  It is true.  The images are burned into our collective minds, a constant and painful reminder of what happen on the day terrorists attacked the United States and changed our lives forever.  We will always remember the men and women who died that day, the first responders who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, and the heroes of Flight 93 who gave their lives to prevent even further tragedy.

On this, the 10^th anniversary of the attack that took place on September 11, 2001, we remember the victims and the heroes, the images of the carnage, the stories of tragedy and triumph, of heartbreak and hope.  We remember because it is the right thing to do, and because we can never forget, no matter how hard we try.

Earlier this year, I set several goals for myself that I want to accomplish before the year is out.  Previously, I would routinely set goals and then hope to accomplish them.  Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t.  But what I didn’t do is follow up periodically to see if I was making any progress.  That changes this year.

Here is a list of the goals I have set for myself along with notes on the progress, if any, I made on the goal during August.  The majority of the goals were detailed in my Making Plans for 2011 post from earlier this year.  I’ve added a few goals to the list since then as well.

You can find updates from previous months here:

• January 2011
• February 2011
• March 2011
• April 2011
• May 2011
• June 2011
• July 2011

August was a very productive month.  Most importantly, my writing really took off.  I finally cleared away all of the clutter and got started on a novel.  Unfortunately, not all of the news was good.  Due to a database error in the hosting system at Go Daddy, I lost all of my WordPress websites for a couple of weeks.  Worse yet, my Weekly Stories short story website was lost completely and is still not back up and running.

For all of the activity I had during August, both good and bad, keep reading.

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In previous posts, I have talked about the decision I made more than 11 years ago to go into business for myself.  During those years, there have been a lot of ups and downs, but one thing I’ve never complained about is the amount of freedom my decision has afforded me.

Most days, I am free to do whatever I want. If I want to write, I write. If I want to go fishing, I go fishing. If I want to sleep in, I sleep in. You get the idea. Having freedom is wonderful. But one thing I have learned over the years is that in order to have freedom, you have to be willing to give up security. In fact, the more freedom you want, the more security you have to give up.

The other side of this coin is that if you want security, you have to be willing to give up freedom. The more security, the less freedom. These two concepts are simply mutually exclusive. The more you want of one, the more you have to relinquish the other.

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I promise, I’m not turning this blog into an outlet for my political views. In fact, if you know me at all, you know I hate politics. Even so, I just keep running across information on taxes and job growth that amazes me.

In my last post, I included a quote from Sean Goldsmith of the S&A Digest. In that quote was a link to an article from the Washington Examiner that compared Texas’ low taxes and high job growth to California’s high tax/low job growth formula (the Examiner article is part three of a five part series. You can find the first part right here). The comparison is really quite stark. There’s a lot of good information in the article, but the bottom line is this: Texas has low taxes and they have added more jobs than any other state in the country. At the same time, California has attacked their economic problems with higher taxes. The result? In just the last year, California has lost more than 112,000 jobs and their unemployment rate now stands at 12%, compared to Texas which has an unemployment rate of just 7.9%.

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Yesterday, I posted my thoughts on how the U.S. tax code encourages companies to set up overseas corporations, denying the United States the benefit of the taxes that could be generated from those companies. In particular, I discussed the emergence of Lug, Switzerland as the hot new destination for corporations seeking low taxes.

Recently, Sean Goldsmith, writing for the S&A Digest (August 29, 2011), shared a few thoughts on the trend of corporations moving their headquarters to Lug:

Switzerland is known as a tax haven for the wealthy. But within Switzerland, the canton of Zug is the pinnacle of economic freedom. Zug has the highest concentration of U.S.-dollar millionaires in Switzerland – nearly 10% of all households, according to Boston Consulting Group.

The highest personal income tax anyone in Zug pays is 22.9%. Companies pay around 15.4%, compared to 35% in the U.S. (the second-highest in the world behind Japan). However, if you meet with tax officials in Zug and tell them you’re choosing between Zug and another canton for your business, they’ll likely cut you an even better deal on taxes.

How have rock-bottom individual and corporate tax rates worked for Zug? The number of companies with operations in Zug increased from 19,000 to 30,000 over the past decade. Companies with headquarters and/or large operations in Zug include global construction giant Foster Wheeler, commodities trading firm Glencore, Burger King, SABMiller, and many others.

The number of jobs in Zug increased 20% in six years. Unemployment in the tiny canton is 1.9% (compared to 9.4% in the EU and 9.1% in the U.S.). Residential vacancy is 0.3%. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Luxury shops abound, government coffers are flush, and there are so many jobs that employers sometimes have a hard time finding people to fill them.”

That’s quite different than the U.S. and Europe, where high taxes and government intervention stifle entrepreneurship. (Also note the difference between the robust economy of low-tax Texas versus the sickly economy of high-tax California.) We wonder when they’ll learn their lesson, though we’re not holding our breath.

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The U.S. Government’s financial situation is in bad shape. The Congress recently had to increase the government’s debt ceiling before they could borrow more money to pay the interest on the money they had already borrowed. That’s messed up!

If you or I were in this type of situation, we would likely reduce the amount of money we are spending. Unfortunately, the Congress has not taken this option seriously, instead opting to use shady accounting methods to give the impression of cutting spending, while focusing all of their efforts on increasing revenue.

One option the Congress is considering to raise revenues is repatriating corporate money that has been sent overseas to avoid U.S. corporate taxes. Repatriating money? Here’s what I’m talking about.

For years, corporations have done everything possible to avoid paying taxes. Naturally, all corporations deduct business expenses in order to reduce their tax burden. But some corporations have kicked it up a notch by relocating their corporate operations to a more tax friendly overseas location.

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A-list blogger Leo Babauta recently posted an article entitled The Tragedy of Missing Out.* In the post, Babauta tells the story of a father and son who go fishing. The son catches a fish and the father congratulates him. The son doesn’t enjoy or celebrate catching the fish because he is worried that there is another bigger fish out there that he can catch. So he sets to fishing again and he indeed does catch a bigger fish. The father once again congratulates his son and the son once again worries that he is missing out on an even bigger fish. This goes on all day. The son continues to catch bigger fish, but he’s unable to enjoy the experience because he’s worried that he is missing out on even bigger fish.

At the end of the day, the father asks the son if he enjoyed the taste of the fish he caught. The son says, “I don’t know what the fish tasted like. I was too busy looking for even better fish.”

“Don’t worry,” says the father patting his belly. “They were delicious.”

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If Pat Summitt’s name doesn’t ring a bell for you, then you’re probably not a sports fan. Summitt is the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee.  But to call her “just” a basketball coach is like calling The Beatles “just” a band.  She has transcended the sports world and has become a mentor, a leader, a role model, a consultant, an advocate, and a friend to countless individuals and businesses throughout Tennessee and the nation.

You might be more familiar with Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach “K”). If you are, you know that he is very respected, both in the basketball world and the larger world outside of basketball.   Well, Summitt is much like Coach K, but with a better record, more admirers, and fewer detractors.  That’s saying a lot, but considering the life Coach Summitt has lived and the example she has set, it is accurate.

Let’s start with her record.  Coach Summitt is the all-time winningest basketball coach for men or women in NCAA history.  In her 37 years at the University of Tennessee, Coach Summitt has compiled a record of 1,037 wins and 196 loses, had 18 Final Four appearances in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, and won eight national titles.

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I want to buy a boat.  Before you say anything, I already know.  I know a boat is a very poor investment.  What’s the old line? A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.  I know.  I get it.  Even so, I want to buy a boat.

I was discussing this with some friends recently and the husband of the couple agreed with me.  We both live near a lake and he thought it would be a lot of fun to have a boat.  His wife eagerly chimed in with a heartfelt, “No way!”

When I asked why she didn’t want to get a boat, she talked about depreciation, maintenance costs, insurance, storage, towing costs, and how the money being spent on the boat could be much more useful in a retirement plan or other investment.  She had the argument down chapter and verse.

It’s not that she was wrong.  In fact, everything she said was factually correct.  But what she didn’t consider was the fun factor.  She didn’t consider the experience argument or the “building memories” position.

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In my post earlier this week, I spoke about three inspiring people, including swimmer Diana Nyad.  Last Sunday evening, Nyad began a swim that was scheduled to take her from the shores of Cuba to Key West, Florida, a journey of more than 100 miles, taking 60 hours and an estimated 200,000 swim strokes.  I had learned about Nyad’s most recent endeavor, but what I wasn’t aware of was the rather incredible and successful life she has lived.

Nyad’s father died when she was just three years old.  Her mother remarried and the family moved from New York to Fort Lauderdale.  Nyad soon began swimming competitively and she won three Florida State High School Championships in the backstroke.  She set her sights on the 1968 Olympics, but was sidelined in 1966 with an infection in her heart.  She was unable to regain her strength or speed in time for the Olympic trials.

Nyad was a bit of a rebel and a daredevil in her younger years.  She entered Emory University in Atlanta, but was kicked out of school for jumping out of a 4th floor dormitory window while wearing a parachute.  The incident forced her to find a new school, but it barely slowed her down.  She left Atlanta and enrolled in Lake Forest College in Illinois where she played tennis and began focusing on long-distance swimming events.

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