StarFleet Carl: Blog

As I received several emails and comments about the gold and gems, I did a minor rewrite on Chapter 8 before posting, hopefully as a bit of an explanation. Which means if I screwed things up, it's on me.

Where a lot of confusion comes into play is simple. First, this has started prior to the US Federal requirement to report all cash transactions of $10,000 or more. The second is that the only gold sold was was went to the jeweler, in Chapter 2. The rest of it is a case of Cal has a physical asset - gold and gems - that he wishes to borrow money against, using the physical asset as collateral for the loan. The bank has possession of the physical asset, and when he doesn't make payments, will simply transfer an amount from his pile of gold to their pile of gold - thus, he's not selling the gold, and having to report that as income. Or pay taxes on it.

It's effectively just like doing a home equity loan, where you borrow money against the equity of your house. If you don't make pay that money borrowed, plus interest, back, the bank can take your home. But you don't have to pay taxes on the money you borrow, because that's not income. You already own the asset - your house.

It's a little sneaky and devious, but since Cal already 'owns' the gold, as his 'inheritance', all estate taxes, if any, are presumed to have been paid. Considering that Elroy is also sneaky and devious, and is an honest politician (meaning once he's been bought, he stays bought), there won't be a whole lot of problems from this.

Of course, later on, the corporation that Emily didn't advise him to form will get the income, and pay the taxes at the corporate rate, with appropriate deductions. (And yes, the story gets that complicated later.)

Wow!

I uploaded Chapter 6 on Easter Sunday, just short of noon local time. More than 7,000 downloads in less than 48 hours. Thank you all, for reading.

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks! (Okay, emails and comments, but you know what I mean.)

I've received a LOT of emails about this story. Thank you, I appreciate that. My wife works in senior care, with her facility going to room lockdown, I can only imagine how you guys are coping that are in this situation. So, here's a new chapter for you guys.

Couple of things. Book One is NOT completely finished, I'm writing Chapter 29 right now. This is a VERY slow story - not my writing, but the timeline. Chapter 6 starts Friday, August 31, 1984. Chapter 29 is right now on Friday, October 26, 1984.

I do address some of the 'Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex' issues in this chapter, too. If you don't like explicit sex - what the hell are you doing on this website? Stay safe, and thanks for reading.

Hope you like the way this one goes. Things are getting a bit more complicated for Cal, like they weren't bad enough already.

I appreciate both the emails and the comments.

Hope you're all doing fine with whatever isolation you're undergoing. My work is considered essential, so other than reduced hours and changes to staff shifts, I'm still working nearly a full schedule.