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Michael Cohen’s Days in PrisonIntakeMichael Cohen will self report and surrender to Federal prison on May 6, 2019. Most probably no later than 2 PM. If he misses the deadline, he will be considered a fleeing felon. US Marshals will come after him with a warrant.Most likely, he will step in through the front door of the Federal Correctional Institute in Otisville, New York. FCI Otisville was requested by Cohen’s attorneys and recommended by the Judge in Cohen’s sentencing memorandum.Otisville is a Medium Security Prison with a detention center, and an adjacent Minimum Security Satellite Prison Camp, which is home to about 117 men. The Camp is where Cohen will serve his time.Traditionally, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was not bound by Judges’ requests. But typically they would honor a Judge’s recommendation. The First Step Act, signed into law in December of 2018, now actually requires the BOP to assign a convicted felon to a facility within 500 driving miles of home.It is possible that due to his close association with the current President of the United States, and for his safety, the Bureau of Prisons may decide to assign Cohen to another facility rather than Otisville. We shall see.If Cohen ends up at Otisville, from my personal experience, there will probably be many lawyers serving time there. As well as doctors, politicians and business executives. Michael Cohen should have plenty of company and feel right at home. He’s going to be with a lot of people just like him.FCI Otisville meets the needs of a Jewish inmate population, offering Seders in the cafeteria among other accommodations. In general, Low Security Prison Camps are not as restrictive as higher security prisons. But contrary to popular belief, they are by no means “Club Fed”. In the final analysis, it’s a Federal prison.Doors are locked and Cohen doesn’t have the key.Cohen will probably enter through the same door visitors and guests use to enter the prison. He will have to surrender any jewelry and other personal effects, except for a wedding ring, and religious artifacts such as a mezuzot, and for Christians, a chain with a cross. Other religious artifacts, such as kufis, headbands, yarmulkes and other materials will be available for purchase in the prison commissary.But what he can bring in, including money, will be entirely up to the particular prison and intake corrections officer (CO). That will be Cohen’s first encounter with BOP authority and rule. Nothing after this first encounter has to or will make any logical or humanistic sense. It just has to make BOP sense. Or even more restrictively, CO sense.Now, according to the FCI Otisville Inmate Handbook, Cohen is:INTRODUCTION — You are now in the custody and care of Federal Bureau of Prisons staff of the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, New York.Once he is escorted from the non-secure waiting room, through the heavy, imposing security door that can only be unlocked by COs behind bullet proof dark glass, his life changes. He moves from the free world, to a world where he has lost the vast majority of his freedoms.Many of the niceties of life, the little things he once enjoyed will be gone for the length of his stay. He may have researched all of this himself, or have been counseled by his white-collar crime specialist attorneys. Or he may have even purchased or been given a copy of The Federal Prison Handbook.Any and all of those sources will give you some idea of what is in store for you. But the fact is, you don’t know what you don’t know, and won’t, until you actually know.The proof is in the serving and living of a jail sentence…The rest of Cohen’s intake will go down like this:Fingerprinting, Photograph/Mug Shot, DNA SwabDisrobing — his clothing and shoes will be returned to a person and address of his choice — in my case my wife received the package with my clothing and shoes. She left the package unopened for 33 and 1/2 months. She could not bear to even look at it.Body search and cavity check. They don’t touch you, but you have to “drop trou’” and spread. A humiliating episode. The first of many.Assignment of ill fitting temporary clothing and shoes, plus bedding, towel and toiletries. He may not actually get any toiletries. They seem to “miraculously” disappear from intake.Otisville winters are cold. So the clothing may be warmer than a thin white t-shirt, skimpy pants and thin-soled sneakers like those issued during my intake. This temporary clothing will be all Cohen gets until the next time the Camp laundry opens, and until he is able to establish a prison account and purchase commissary items.Cohen will receive a cursory orientation and will be referred to or may even be provided a copy of the FCI Otisville Camp Admissions & Orientation Handbook. Click on that link for some interesting reading.After his intake process is completed you will be able to look up Michael Dean Cohen in the BOP Inmate Locator and find his inmate (Register) number, Prison location, age, race, and sex, and that all-important estimated release date. The actual date will be based on a number of factors that will play out during his sentence.You can look him up now, but this is what you will see:Michael Cohen’s BOP Record Locator Search ResultsHow do I know that is his actual record? The last 3 digits of his Register Number are for the Southern District of New York. And the number 86067 is an indication that he is a relatively new assignee. 86,066 have gone before him.Plus he is not in BOP custody yet, and his release date is unknown. Until he self surrenders and is processed, he won’t be in BOP Custody and his release date will remain “unknown”.With respect to his release date, the First Step Act provides for credits an inmate can earn while serving time. These credits can be used for early release to a Half Way House or to Home Confinement. It remains to be seen how this will impact Cohen’s sentence.After processing, Cohen will take his bedding and other things he was given, and will be walked over to the minimum security Camp by the CO where he will be assigned a bunk and left on his own. Now it will be up to him and his new “bunk mates” as to what happens next.Typical Living and Sleeping Accommodations in a Federal Minimum Security Prison CampFirst Afternoon and CountCohen will likely be assigned a bunk before the 4 PM daily count. He will have to learn how to make that bunk bed properly. It varies prison by prison. In the camp where I served the majority of my time the Warden insisted on “hospital corners”. Why? Recall what I said about BOP rules and logic. Just because.Here is more about daily counts from the Otisville Camp Prison Handbook:“Ordinarily, there are five counts during the week, and six counts on weekends and holidays. During the week, counts are held at 12 midnight, 3 AM, and 5 AM, 4 PM, 10 PM. On weekends and holidays, a 10 AM count is added. Notwithstanding this schedule, additional counts may occur at any time.”This is how the BOP determines that every one of the inmates they are responsible for is present and accounted. They count noses as their “fail safe” method ensuring no one has escaped. It is a manual count. No clickers, iPads, handhelds or anything even closely resembling the 20th or 21st century. No writing anything down until the entire count is complete.Yep. The CO goes down the rows of bunks counting, with index finger extended, out loud or under their breath: One, two, three. Sometimes they hold a pencil to point and count with. This is why you can’t talk during the count, lest you confuse the counting CO. It is easy to confuse COs. They are easily distracted and confused.During my stay with the BOP there were many counts that had to be redone in mid-count. Because the CO got confused or lost track. Maybe he or she (yes there are female COs in Male prisons) was thinking about all those inmate toiletries they had squirreled away in their locker and they lost concentration.I saw some recounts as well, after the total count, when the actual numbers didn’t match what was expected. As a result, the whole count had to begin from scratch. Pissed COs, and the inmates are pissed as well.So to provide the right “environment” for the COs you must stand for most of the counts, and remain totally silent. The midnight and 3 AM counts are the exception, since they are taken while you sleep. But your head must be uncovered and visible.What happens if you talk during a count? Besides confusing the CO? It will probably get you a strong warning and may even earn you a “shot”. This a black mark on your record. Shots are tracked by the BOP Prison Counselor.Too many “shots” and you end up in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) which is a much more restrictive area. It is indeed a special place.Too many of those SHU visits and you may end up being transferred to a higher security even more restrictive facility.Understatement: This would be a really bad thing!More on the special’ness of the Special Housing Unit later.Once the 4 PM count is over, Cohen will be able to have his first prison meal at the Camp Cafeteria. It will behoove him to have made some cursory acquaintances by then. Because there are inmate rules and norms, especially kitchen, cafeteria and food related. For instance, where you sit, and who you sit with.These are best learned from other inmates and by first hand careful observation. Not from having inadvertently and unknowingly violated them.Meals and FoodMeals at Otisville are served at the following times:Monday — FridayBreakfast 6:00 am Lunch 11:00 am Dinner 4:15 pmSaturday, Sunday, and HolidaysBreakfast 7:00 am Lunch 11:00 am Dinner 4:15 pmSupposedly the food at the Otisville Camp is “good”.I’ve eaten at 7 different prisons. Federal and State. I’m not a hardened criminal or anything like that. I just got to travel a lot BOP style. Did a lot of undesired travel on “Con Air” with US Marshal escorts toting shotguns and automatic weapons.The US Marshals are no laughing matter…As a result of my travels, I got a chance to sample the fare at many prison facilities. And I also got to eat quite a few bologna sandwiches.I’m not sure what other people’s definition of “good” is. I wouldn’t exactly label any of the Prison food I ate as “good”. Passable is as far as I would go. In some cases, the food is downright inedible.A rare exception was the food at the Strafford County Department of Corrections in Dover, New Hampshire, a privately run prison where I served 4 months. The food was surprisingly good. And plentiful.And the issue with prison food is not just the ingredients. It’s also the way the food is prepared. A few examples of both types of issues…Undersized chicken sold cheaply to the BOP because no other food distribution outlets will accept itBoiled canned collard greens, unseasoned and bitter. Served regularly. To this day I can’t even look at collard greens without gaggingMystery meat. No further comment neededWatery, unsalted canned green beansWatery coffee, often with grounds. In the camp I was in, coffee was made in a big stove top boiler and then siphoned off into plastic dispensersOn the plus side of food, prison breakfast is usually good. Cereal, oatmeal, and eggs on the weekend. Sometimes pancakes.Fruit is always a popular item. Bananas are highly prized, although not always offered on a daily basis. Apples are a regular offering. Oranges are frequent. At one prison where I served time, we had a 4 week run of Peaches that were huge, juicy and outstanding, I thought I was in heaven.And milk. Milk is always available. A good source of protein. I would drink 3 or 4 glasses a day for the protein. Especially important when I began to work out regularly and lose weight.Those inmates that can afford it, supplement cafeteria food with purchases from the commissary. They become Masters of the Microwave and can prepare tasty, if not downright elegant meals. Rice. Beans. Chicken. Salmon. Tuna. Mackerel. Beef.There is a Prison combo microwave meal called “Batch”, which is made up of rice, beans, a protein, such as chicken, beef or fish, and whatever spices can be purchased from the commissary or “borrowed” from the kitchen. It’s tasty.Some inmates make and sell “burritos” from the Batch. Price? One pouch of Tuna or Mackerel. Tuna and Mackerel pouches are prison currency. As are stamps.A haircut is usually one pouch of Tuna or Mackerel. Want your bed made up nice? With those hospital corners? A pouch.By the way, the burritos are awesome!Inmates without the culinary inclination and with the means, may “hire” another inmate to cook for them. Often times these meals made from commissary items are supplemented with contraband items either smuggled in to the prison or stolen from the cafeteria. Onions. Peppers. Chicken. Tomatoes. And the ever popular bananas.Though I was never inclined to hire a prison “Chef”, and could not afford one even if I had been, I’ve tasted meals cooked up by these entrepreneurs. Unbelievably good. Actually, incredible. I had a piece of prisoner made Flan once that rivaled any I’ve had in good Miami restaurants.Once during my time at FCI Miami, an inmate who was a former Chef at a well known Miami restaurant made me a meal to thank me for help I provided him. It was INSANELY good. I couldn’t believe what he had accomplished with just the Microwave. Even the presentation was great.Just to make clear though, I much prefer to dine on excellent food as a free man, at an actual restaurant, and with loved ones…First NightAfter Cohen eats his first BOP provided meal there will be a few hours for recreation, personal hygiene, hobbies, phone calls to family, letters, reading or sending emails, reading scripture, attending classes, listening to music, or engaging in personal reflection before the 10 PM count and lights out.However most likely, he will be too disoriented, unfocused and confused. Plus, his available resources will be severely limited to engage in any meaningful activity.As an example, since a portable radio is required to listen to Camp TVs, he will not have access to one unless someone lends it to him. Possible, but unlikely.He won’t be able to call anyone, including family members for at least several days. No telephone account and codes will have been established for him yet. And he won’t have any money in his account with which to pay for calls. Even if he brought cash with him, it was taken, to be deposited into an account under his name.Feeling altruistic? You can send money to Cohen’s account. He can buy Tuna and Mackerel pouches and get a haircut or have his clothes pressed for visits.Perhaps due to his “celebrity” status, many Camp inmates will seek Cohen out. Just to talk. Size him up. Or exploit and intimidate him. He’s going to be a hero to some, a goat to others, and an anti-Christ to the Trump supporters.He’ll have to eventually reconcile with all of this. Most assuredly, he will. It’s inevitable. Soon the celebrity status fades, and then Cohen will be old news.Tonight though, he is merely trying to make sense of it all. And to survive his first day and night. He is “trying on” this new persona. And slowly learning how to act, talk, adapt, behave. He is slowly processing and defining who THIS version of Michael Cohen is right now, and who he will become in the months to come.When the 10 PM count is over, the lights go out, he lays on that ridiculously thin mattress, and his head hits that BOP-issued poor excuse for a pillow, he will most likely have trouble falling asleep. He will stare at either the ceiling above if assigned the top bunk, or the bunk bottom directly above him.Reality has set in. And In prison, reality is a true and relentless bitch…First Wake UpHas Michael Cohen been an early riser throughout his life? Well, he is now.The day at Otisville Camp begins with a 5 AM count. Rise and shine. Stand at your bunk. Mouth shut. Until the count is over.Establishing a sustainable morning routine is essential. Typically you would want to have one for weekdays, and one for weekends. In my case, on weekdays, I was up, hygiene tasks done, dressed, out the door, and in line at the cafeteria. Not the first in line, but definitely not in the last 3/4 of the line.The weekend would necessitate a slightly different schedule, for reasons I will elaborate below.Breakfast at Otisville Camp starts at 6 AM. If there are bananas or other highly coveted items, you’d best be in line and in the cafeteria before they run out.Stand in line. File in once the doors are open. Walk your tray through the line. Get your breakfast. Sit with your usual crowd. Finish up and get out. Time for a few minutes to get the day together in your head and it’s time for “work”.Cohen’s WorkThe prison work day starts at 7:30 AM. Cohen most likely won’t have a job on his first day at the Otisville Camp. Jobs are assigned by Counselors. A Counselor is a glorified CO. I met very few Counselors that I would actually consider the counseling type. For the most part, in my experience, Counselors were arrogant, rude, ignorant, and mean spirited. But they wield immense power. Don’t piss off a counselor.So Cohen will most probably be given some busy work, such as policing the grounds, until the counselor is able to assign him to a work detail. Typical first work detail assignments for a newbie would be in the camp cafeteria.Entry level cafeteria tasks would include preparing the room for meals, washing trays and dishes, and cleaning up after meals are served. No cooking or meal prep at first. That is left to more experienced kitchen-assigned prisoners. Besides, Cohen doesn’t seem the type to want to cook.Cafeteria duty is not all bad, if the right CO is in charge. You tend to eat more and better than your fellow inmates. Although the early shift typically begins at 4 AM, to get the prep done. And that takes some getting used to.In my case, the FCI Miami Cafeteria CO was sadistic and cruel. And he treated the inmates in accordance with his mean streak. I could not wait to fulfill my cafeteria duty, and then move on to other prison jobs. Maybe Cohen will be lucky and get to skip that whole ordeal.First WeekCohen’s first week will be more of the same as his first day. Except that he will probably get issued his regular prison clothes (a nice Khaki color in Otisville), undergarments, shoes, and standard bed roll consisting of two sheets, 1 pillowcase, 2 towels, and 2 wash cloths.The undergarments leave a lot to be desired. Tin Miami, they were threadbare and stained. With worn out elastic. And plenty of holes. Maybe Otisville will be more fashion-conscious.Cohen will be well advised to purchase a few T-Shirts, underwear, socks and a towel at the Commissary. I could not afford to buy any of these until family and friends were able to put together funds and deposit them in my account.As such, I used the prison issued underwear and towels for about 6 months. This experience molds and shapes you. Especially if you have become accustomed to expensive clothing, custom shirts and suits, silk ties, bespoke shoes and the like.Cohen’s focus for this first week should be to settle in, get his financial account established and funds deposited so he can purchase essentials at the Prison commissary, make phone calls and send emails.He will have to establish phone privileges as well. This means he will have to list and register the numbers he wants to call with the Camp Counselor.Cohen will be allowed 300 calling minutes per month which can be used for either direct or collect calls. Any minutes remaining at the end of the month will not carry over to the next month. Extra minutes are given during months with major holidays.There is a 15 minute maximum per call and you must wait 30 minutes between calls. There is usually a line to use the telephones. After a call, it could be several hours before you can use the phones again. The cutoff is 10 PM every night. So typically, you are going to get one chance at a call per day.All calls are recorded and monitored by Prison administration so Cohen must be careful what he and the people he calls, say to each other. You don’t talk to your lawyer on a regular prison phone. Those calls are made with permission and in the counselor’s office.Cohen must track his phone time carefully. Once he exceeds the monthly 300 minute limit, he can make no more calls until the following month.Do the math…300 minutes per month in a 30 day month is 10 minutes of calling per day. It’s not hard to use up your time quickly, especially at first when separation anxiety sets in and you want to speak to many family members.By the way, each call Cohen makes is announced to the recipient as a call originating from an inmate at a Federal Correctional Facility. The called party must acknowledge and accept that call.If the recipient rejects the call, either by accident or on purpose, the called telephone number is taken off the allowed call list. Getting it re-established in the system will require a trip to the counselor’s office.First MonthBy now, Cohen will be receiving visits from people on his approved visitors list. He will need to place people on his list and request they be approved by the Camp Counselor. There is a limit. As I recall, no more than 12 visitors. The BOP will perform a background check and will vet the requested visitors before approving. This is a hassle for potential visitors.The whole VISITING experience is a big hassle.You’ve got to really want to visit someone who is serving time in a Federal prison to put up with the hoops you must jump through…Cohen will be allocated 12 visit points per month. A weekday visit is one point. weekend or holiday visits are 2 points. He must alternate weekend days, and can have no more than 4 weekend visits at 2 points each for a total of 8 points. That leaves 4 points for weekday visits. Cohen must keep track of this as well.You can’t just show up to visit someone in Federal prison as the mood strikes you…The BOP has no flexibility when it comes to these rules.That first visit will be a big milestone of Cohen’s prison stay to date.These are the FCI Otisville visiting hours. But as mentioned earlier, not both Saturday and Sunday. Prisoners are assigned a day that alternates. One week, it’s Saturday, the next week its Sunday, and so on.Monday 8:00 am — 2:45 pmFriday 8:00 am — 2:45 pmSaturday 8:00 am — 2:45 pmSunday 8:00 am — 2:45 pmHolidays 8:00 am — 2:45 pmIf Cohen is going to be like most inmates I served with, he will make sure to look his best for visits. Well groomed, Hair cut and combed. Clothes clean and pressed. With a small application of prison-approved fragrance oil (no alcohol, naturally).The goal is to put your loved ones at ease when they realize you are taking care of yourself and you exhibit a positive frame of mind.MailNo surprise, there are many rules. As you might well imagine.The most important rule to know — All mail, incoming and outgoing, is opened and read by a CO.This is how they control contraband, illicit photographs, questionable materials, and how they “snoop” on you.Mail is distributed at a daily/nightly mail call.If you are not there, you don’t get your mail until the next mail call. Some COs will relax these rules, and give you mail outside of mail call. Or even let someone collect it for you. I wouldn’t count on that, until you see it consistently practiced.What you can receive is tightly controlled.No surprise, there is an 8 page Bureau of Prisons policy on incoming publications. You can find it HERE . In most cases, certain types of publications, such as books and newspapers, and some magazines, can only be received if they are sent directly from a publisher or distributor.From the policy:At all Bureau institutions, an inmate may receive hardcover publications and newspapers only from the publisher, from a book club, or from a bookstore.The BOP states:Publications determined detrimental to the security, good order, or discipline of the institution or that may facilitate criminal activity, or are otherwise prohibited by law, will be excluded from Bureau facilitiesAnd their policy goes on to state:The Warden may not establish an excluded list of publications. This means the Warden shall review the individual publication prior to the rejection of that publication. Rejection of several issues of a subscription publication is not sufficient reason to reject the subscription publication in its entirety.Mail is important in prison, It is a vital way of keeping in touch with loved ones. And an important part of staying connected to what is going on in the outside world, through newspapers, periodicals, and books. And a major factor in staying busy, productive, educated and fulfilled.Suffice to say, Cohen won’t be able to assume he will be able to “legally” receive and read whatever he wants. There will be limits. Just one more in a long list of freedoms lost.Cohen’s “Permanent“ Prison JobMost certainly by this time, Michael Cohen will have landed his full time prison gig. He will be paid anywhere between 0 (yes, zero. Some jobs pay NOTHING) to 40 cents per hour, based on the job and where he is assigned.Although there are a few prisons that have Industry jobs that pay higher.Did you know there is a BOP policy for Inmate Work and Performance Pay? Of course there is.Cohen will most probably change jobs multiple times while serving his sentence. It is pretty common, especially since the first job or two is usually in one of the less desirable work environments.Suffice to say, he won’t be “making ends meet” in the style to which he is accustomed on Federal Inmate prison pay.Medical CarePerhaps I should title this section Lack of Medical Care. Although I found that most of the health care employees that work in the BOP have good hearts and want to do the right thing. The issue is, their hands are tied by policy and a lack of freedom, scarcity of medication, and very few actual treatments they can prescribe and dispense.The psychologists and drug program counselors that I met and worked with, were extremely dedicated and competent. So if Cohen has to address any of these types of issues, and the prison he is eventually sent to is staffed with these people, he will be in competent hands.However some of the doctors I encountered in the BOP are just plain hacks.Cohen should be careful what kinds of diagnoses he receives and remedies he is prescribed by BOP doctors.Run of the mill issues like hypertension and diabetes are dealt with in a pretty straightforward manner. Although I did see some diabetics experiencing wild swings in their blood sugar levels and being rushed out of their cells suffering from hypo or hyperglycemia.And the BOP does a decent job of ensuring that those inmates that suffer from dependency to substances get their daily doses of methadone or whatever other medication they require. These are strictly controlled during “sick call”.If any other serious health issues are experienced by an inmate, they will usually be sent to a local hospital, clinic or specialist. This the rare exception, and is not easy to get accomplished. It usually takes persistence and consistent “noise” on the part of the inmate until the BOP doctor agrees.Some inmates who suffer from chronic conditions that are not treatable in a regular BOP prison medical facility may be transferred to a BOP special medical prison, such as Butner in North Carolina.Butner “is the Bureau’s largest medical complex, which operates a drug treatment program and specializes in oncology and behavioral science.[1]Among its inmates is Bernie Madoff. — from WikipediaButner, NC Federal Medical ComplexAt least at these types of facilities, an inmate can expect a higher level of medical care than they can get at a regular prison.Suffice to say, Cohen should do any and everything in his power to stay healthy and not require medical treatment beyond the more regular types of ailments. He should also look to the commissary for over the counter medications that are allowed for purchase and use to address any specific minor ailments.First YearThe first year tends to crawl by slowly. In Cohen’s case, with less than 3 years to serve, it will seem to move more quickly. Although each missed set of holidays while in prison tend to cause one to experience the slow ticking of the clock.As such, it will behoove Cohen to not “count the days”. Counting days is “counter productive” in prison. Not at all recommended. Your experienced and senior fellow Cons will tell you that immediately if they see you counting.You serve your sentence one day at a time. But you don’t count those days…If Cohen stays busy, occupying his waking hours with interesting and worthwhile activities, time will move briskly for him.Unless…he messes up…The SHUIf Cohen commits any violations, or earns enough “shots” even for minor infractions, he could serve time in the Special Housing Unit. This is a place akin to Solitary Confinement, although you will typically share a confined cell, complete with it’s own toilet and sink, with a fellow inmate.Just think for a brief moment about the logistics of a small, confined cell with a shared toilet which is out in the open and connected to the wash basin.2 Inmate SHU — It is Indeed SPECIAL!Private SHU Accommodations!A stay at the SHU also comes with a resplendent and complementary orange jumpsuit to differentiate Cohen from the regular population.No TV in the SHU. And a very limited supply of well worn paperbacks wheeled by once a week. You must select no more than two books through the pass through in the door.No magazines or newspapers are allowed.And you get a choice once a week between a shower, or recreational time. One or the other.But not both.Recreation time is an hour confined to chain link holding cells with no roof, within a concrete structure. You get to see a piece of sky while pacing back and forth.And the shower? Supervised the whole time by a CO. No privacy.The food is similar but not the same as the regular prison food. Plus it is cold by the time it gets to those in The SHU.I spent 2 weeks in the SHU. Needless to say, not at all an enjoyable experience.If Cohen stays within the rules, he will never experience the friendly confines of the Otisville SHU.He will fall into the rhythm of regular Federal prison life and just do his time.Perhaps he will begin working on that book we all know he is going to write!Fast Forward to the Last YearThat last year is a longish seeming stretch of time. Again, not focusing on time itself is a wise ting to do. If Cohen listens to his more successful fellow felons, in this last year of his sentence, he will intensify efforts towards activities, perhaps even involving himself in a few new ones.A new hobbyLearning a new skill (musical instrument, for example)Taking some additional coursesPicking up some additional books to readStepping up his exercise and physical activitiesPreparing a Life Plan — what to do with the rest of his lifeAs before, the trick is, to fill those days to the brim with stuff to do.Idle hands are the devil’s workshop…Last MonthIf Cohen has kept his nose clean all this time, he is in the home stretch. His good time calculation has reduced his sentence by a certain percentage, and he is not having to serve the entire 3 years. Soon, Prison staff will call him in to the office and provide him with a calculated release date for the halfway house. At this time, they will also tell him what facility he will be assigned to.Now he should be focusing on the following release-related activities:Preparing a plan for the immediate next 6 monthsLining up potential employmentFilling out required formsArranging for personal property to be mailed back — on his dimeDeciding what personal property to leave behind and give away to his inmate buddies — food, clothing, toiletries, headphones, radio, etc.Last DaysIt will be hard to focus as the magical date nears. Again, executing the items on his release To Do list should be his entire focus.Cohen needs to concentrate and keep his eyes focused squarely on the prize —Which is his RELEASE!Last NightI couldn’t sleep the night before my release. Understandable, right?This is probably the night Cohen gives away all his stuff.He will also say all of his goodbyes, and pledge to keep in touch.Except for a few rare exceptions, he most probably won’t.I have kept in touch with a handful of people I met during my time. We were there for each other, and I saw and continue to see them as reformed, contrite and positive people who have turned their lives around. It will be up to Cohen to make the decision as to who is worth keeping in touch with, and who is worth forgetting about forever.Day of ReleaseThe day of release is a whirlwind of activity. Cohen will probably be ready to go even before lights-on in anticipation of his departure from Otisville.He will bathe, and dress in the clothing he will wear to the half way house. Strip his bed and take it to the on duty CO. Empty his locker if he hasn’t already done so, and wait for his name to be called over the PA system, or for a CO to come get him.I distinctively remember how that went for me:“Fiallo. Report to the Main Building for Release.”Sweet music to my ears…Slaps on the back. Shaking of hands, and a short walk to the same place where the original intake was done. As I walked those steps, I never looked back. Cohen will probably do the same.Once in the main facility, the CO performs the following ritual:Form to be signedInstructions for reporting to the halfway house, including how much time you have been given to get thereInventory of anything you are taking with youEscorting to the main entrance by the CO, where it is verified that you are who you are supposed to beThen that massive iron door is opened, and you step outAnd Cohen is finally out…Again, I never looked back, and most probably, neither will Cohen.Whoever is picking him up will meet him in the parking lot where a happy reunion outside the confines of the BOP, will take place. And he is off to the half way house.In my case, I had enough time to first stop home and greet family before the eventual trip to the halfway house.Releases vary from prison to prison. A lot will depend on Cohen’s actual and specific circumstances. But how I described is probably how it will go down.Half Way HouseHalf-Assed House, or Prison Lite, is what I’ve heard these facilities called by the residents.I’m honestly trying to be very objective here.Half Way Houses are designed to facilitate re-entry from the stark reality of prison to the “real” reality of street life.They go by other fancy names as well. Such as Residential Re-entry Facility.An Actual Residential Re-Entry FacilityFrom Wikipedia:In criminology the purpose of a halfway house is generally considered to be that of allowing people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support. This type of living arrangement is often believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a straight release directly into society.From the artificial reality of prison life to the real reality of normal life…In reality, the Half Way House is not that much different than prison. In fact, you can argue that it is worse, because in many cases, the people having dominion over you are for the most part, minimum wage employees who can’t get any kind of real law enforcement jobs. And there is little to no real or valuable support and assistance for residents to aid in their re-entry.Some of the workers lord their positions over the residents constantly and treat them like second class citizens. I would submit that this is counterproductive to creating an environment where someone who has served their sentence can successfully re-enter society.That being said, I don’t know how Michael Cohen will fare with his half way house experience. I am sure there are some half way houses in this country that do a great job. In my experience, talking to many inmates and looking at the facts as objectively as possible, many do not.Typical Half Way House Sleeping ArrangementsThis is probably what Cohen will experience:His entire stay will be closely monitored. That, they do a great job atLeaving for work, arriving at work, leaving work to return, and arriving back will be tracked and loggedCohen will not be allowed any stops to and from work, without express written permissionHe will not be allowed to go out to lunch while at work. He will take a lunch packed and provided by the halfway houseCohen’s work supervisor at his first job, will be initially interviewed and will also be periodically asked how Cohen is doingHe will be periodically checked up on at the job by a halfway house employee, in personCohen will have an assigned Half Way House work detail, in addition to his regular day job — kitchen detail, cleaning bathrooms, general cleaning, yard work, etc.He will eat three square meals a day at the Half Way House until he is placed on home confinementCohen will have to get permission and formal approval for any other “excursions”, such as — haircuts, doctor’s visits, trips to the DMV or Social Security Office — the time it will take to get there and back will be calculated and Cohen will be tracked and expected to call in when he arrives, and when he leaves to returnCohen will have to “drop urine” on demand. Even after home confinement, when called, he will have a prescribed amount of time to return and “drop”Cohen will be subjected to breathalyzer tests — usually upon returning. Alcohol is strictly forbidden while under Half Way House jurisdictionCohen will experience random searches for contraband, which is any item or material not allowed in your possession by the Half Way House. His locker will be “tossed” while he is away.Most likely, Cohen will not be allowed to have a cell phone while at the Half Way House. His specific facility may have relaxed this ruleA monthly financial statement will need to be prepared and submitted by Cohen, detailing income and expenses. The Half Way House takes 20% of his gross pay every weekFamily visits will be administered similar to when in prisonCounseling sessions will most likely be prescribed and are mandatoryCohen won’t be allowed to drive unless his license is current and he has a clean record. He will have to show proof of insurance, and that he owns the vehicle, or that the owner has allowed him to use it. The car will be thoroughly inspected, and will undergo random inspections as wellCohen will meet with his probation officer at least once during his Half Way House timeOn the plus side, the food in the halfway house will most probably be good, although not necessarily plentiful. After all, there are many mouths to feed.A Half Way House Food Line — this one was good!Residents BewareAny violations of rules may result in his Half Way House term being violated and he will be returned to prison to serve the remaining time.One Saturday morning, as I was having breakfast at the Half Way House before being released to home confinement, the US Marshals showed up. They took one of the guys at our table back to prison, in handcuffs, to serve out the remainder of his sentence. The Marshals were not happy campers and showed it. They’d much rather be chasing fugitives ala Tommy Lee Jones…His violation? He had stopped on his way back to the Half Way House from work to buy an ice cream cone.They mean business…Home ConfinementSoon after arriving at the Half Way House, Cohen should be doing all he can to receive “home confinement” status. Assuming his family agrees to take him back in the home (not always a slam dunk), this should be Cohen’s primary objective in order to reclaim some semblance of normalcy in his life.Half Way House time sucks. Big time.The quicker you leave, the better off you are.A job is the primary requirement to earn home confinement status. If he has one already lined up before he arrives, then he is “half way” home (excuse the intended pun).The other requirements are:Continue to obey all Half Way House and BOP rules. One needs to remember, even while at a Half Way House, you are still under BOP jurisdiction. You are serving out the last 6 (or less) months of your sentenceStay clean and soberAttend prescribed individual or group counseling sessions if applicableMaintain your work statusInstall a separate land line in your home with no call forwarding, so that the Half Way House can always reach you. And you can’t “fool” them by forwarding that line to wherever you may “unauthorizedly” beReport to the Half Way House immediately when called for any reasonAnswer the separate land line when they call — in my case, they would call at least twice a day, every day, with one at 2 AM every morningPay the Half Way House 20% of your pay once you start a job, for the duration of your termContinue to submit monthly financial statementsDo not associate with anyone having a criminal record. Report any encounter to the Half Way HouseReport any encounter with law enforcementDo not drive a motor vehicle unless you have been authorized to do soRequest written permission for any time to be away from home or work — including haircuts, attending religious ceremonies, or doctor visits. Once granted an excursion, you must abide by the times allotted for the trips. And you must call when you leave, call when you arrive, call again when you are departing for home, and call when you arrive homeAll of these restrictions and requirements continued for me even after I was put on home confinement. For the whole 6 months of my term. It’s possible that rules have changed or have been relaxed by the time Cohen begins his home confinement.Back to the Real worldMichael Cohen was disbarred by the New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan on February 28th. Having lost his law license, he will most probably never get it back and will no longer be able to practice his trade. He could try, but chances are, he will not prevail.I know many disbarred attorneys under similar circumstances, that have tried to get their licenses reinstated. Despite obtaining many letters of support from other attorneys and people in the community, they have not succeeded.Life after a felony conviction is different. Obvious, right? There are many things you most definitely won’t ever be able to do, and others that you can’t do, either temporarily, or until some action is taken to remove the restriction.For example:Voting — some states allow felons to vote, others require a petitionOwning a gun — at the present time, only a Presidential pardon or commutation can restore this Constitutional rightHolding certain offices — I don’t know the specifics of his sentence, but he may not be able to run for, or hold certain offices. The terms of my conviction bar me from ever becoming a Corporate officer or serving as a member of the board for a public companyBeing hired by certain companies — some opportunities will be forever closed to you. Some companies maintain a policy of not employing convicted felons. Period.Some will tell you that a felony conviction does not immediately disqualify you, but the reality is, you get nowhere when you try to seek employment with these companiesRejection by social or community groups, associations, and clubsDisapproval for certain financial transactions or for creditAs he faces these, and encounters other difficulties related to the stigmatization associated with being a convicted felon, he will be serving the other terms of his conviction.Being snubbed by former acquaintances and “friends” is something else Cohen should be prepared for. There are people that were close “friends”, of the fair weather variety, while you were flying high. Now they won’t have anything to do with you. For the most part, Cohen will be better off not having these kinds of people as “friends”.The terms of Cohen’s sentence includes a probationary period where he will have to report weekly to a parole officer, more commonly, a Probation Officer.Missouri Department of Corrections — A PO Meeting With a ParoleeAnd let’s not forget about the $1.39 million in restitution, $500,000 in forfeiture and $100,000 in fines. Those are obligations he must meet, if he hasn't already.By the way, during the time he is BOP custody, Cohen will most assuredly have to make agreed upon restitution payments. These will be taken out of his commissary account.Cohen’s probationary period was set at three years of supervised release. This time will be overseen by Cohen’s assigned US Probation Officer. It is likely that he will have different POs during his supervised release period.He may have community service to perform as well. I was sentenced to 200 hours of community service which took me a year and a half to complete.At the end of the first year, if he has kept all the rules and the Probation Officer has no objections, Cohen could apply for a shorter Probationary Period. There are no guarantees of getting that approved.During the probationary period, Cohen will continue to file financial reports, and must also report any encounter with law enforcement and with other convicted felons. He may also be required to attend prescribed group or individual counseling.To maintain good standing with his “PO” during the entire period, he will have to continue to be gainfully employed.It’s important to note that a violation could land him in jail, potentially to serve out the rest of his probationary period. For example, if Cohen were to lose his job, he would have to find alternative employment rather quickly or risk violating the terms of parole, and ending up in prison again.Cohen should do every and anything he can to stay on the narrow path and on the good side of his PO.Where the Rubber Meets the RoadFor Cohen, this is complete transition time now. The end game.A new life. Unless he forgot all about what earned him a prison sentence in the first place, he will have made or at least begun the transition from high flying huckster lawyer/fixer to convicted felon while serving his sentence.If he didn’t change his ways, his prison stay definitely will afford him the opportunity to keep shucking and jiving, bragging, wheeling and dealing, continuing to be a total asshole, and to actually refine and hone these skills.If he has the right attitude and resolve, the full transition he has to make is from Federal Inmate to regular human being.Is he capable of that?We are all capable. But for numerous reasons, some of us succeed and some of us fail. We continue the same foolhardy mistakes over and over.Groundhog day…Given the high rate of recidivism among Federal Felons (anywhere from 16% to over 80% depending on factors such as age, education and type of crime), some fall again. And they return to the warm, cozy confines of jail.It will be up to Cohen, and Cohen alone which way his life goes, and which path he decides to take.In the end, perhaps now, Michael Cohen will find peace.Finding that peace is totally up to him.Just like it was to me…“It is the bungled crime that brings remorse.”― P.G. WodehouseThis is how Michael Cohen will experience prison…Visit my blog at Enrique Fiallo – Mediumor my web site at The Way - Practical and Simple Life Coaching

There are many ways in which a thing can be true, and not all of them are equal.While ProPublica’s story is mostly true in a narrow sense, it’s also concerningly simplistic. It gives us a taste of the truth — enough to make us drunk with outrage. But what it doesn’t do is arm the reader to participate in the sort of discussion that might solve the real problems underneath.Compounding this, the dozens of clickshare re-writes of ProPublica’s story by other outlets have almost all been worse. What the ProPublica version lacked in breadth, the rest lack in depth (and also breadth).While we’re going to going to tackle those themes a bit more while unpacking the main elements of the tax story itself, just two bits of house-cleaning first:My main interest here is bias. Not political bias, mind you. More in the vein of what Jon Stewart suggested was the default bias of all mainstream media: “sensationalism, conflict, and laziness”.Some angles of this story get into murky territory, especially as it concerns legal recourse. I’ve done my best to be transparent about where I’m sure and where I’m speculating. As ever, I offer financial rewards for all corrections and meaningful improvements.Ok, on we go.Historical ContextBack in 1998, Congress passed the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act, which, among other things, spelled out one notable big-letter goal: “having 80% of Federal tax and information returns filed electronically by the year 2007”.Fast forward to 2002. The Bush II administration announced a new policy related to achieving that 80% goal: the creation of Free File Inc. (hereafter FFI) as part of the Free File Program (FFP).The basics:FFI is a consortium of a dozen major tax-prep companies.FFP is a deal that FFI made with the IRS wherein they would create software that allowed the bottom 60% (now 70%) of US earners to file their taxes electronically for free (no cost to the IRS or the filer).In exchange, the FFI demanded a non-compete agreement from the IRS. For as long as FFI was supplying these freebie filing options, the IRS couldn’t go and create their own.The FFP wasn’t law. Just a department policy predicated on a renewable contract between the IRS and the FFI. (This contract is referred to as a “memo of understanding”, or MOU.)Now, there are many ways of parsing this. On the one hand, free electronic filing for 60% of taxpayers was a win. Plus the government didn’t have to bother with creating this software from scratch. On the other hand, FFI members had motivations beyond charity and civic pride. In exchange for their “donation”, they got to ensure the IRS wouldn’t cut their revenue streams by creating a better option of their own. (They knew that most filers would end up buying a paid product regardless of free options, which is something we’ll get to.)All said though, this being a negotiated contract meant it was mostly a win-win. The IRS got to focus elsewhere, and taxpayers got something useful. And in the event that the deal no longer made sense, the IRS was free to either renegotiate or try something new.What Happened This WeekThe House passed the Taxpayer First Act of 2019 this past Tuesday. Section 1102 of said bill began with this clause:The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s delegate, shall continue to operate the IRS Free File Program as established by the Internal Revenue Service and published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2002 (67 Fed. Reg. 67247), including any subsequent agreements and governing rules established pursuant thereto.The force of this is pretty simple: the FFP (and the MOU underlying it) would graduate from department policy to federal law.But before we get into the implications of that, I want to contrast the above with a clause from a previous (unpassed) bill:The Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate, may not establish, develop, sponsor, acquire, or make available individual income tax preparation software or electronic filing services that are offered under the IRS Free File program, except through the IRS Free File program, the Internal Revenue Service’s Taxpayer Assistance Centers, Tax Counseling for the Elderly, and volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) programs.Note the difference: in this second version, the non-compete aspect would have been part of the federal legislation itself (as opposed to it being a clause in an MOU referenced by the law). It also would have limited the IRS from sponsoring private partners outside the confines of the FFP. This is the kind of bill that lobbyists really wanted. What they got this week was a distinctly lesser win.Anyway, as for the MOU in question (now in its 8th version, having been renewed late last year), there are a few clauses in play here:In recognition of this commitment [of FFI members to offer free filing software to the bottom 70% of earners], the federal government has pledged to not enter the tax preparation software and e-filing services marketplace.But while this exchange is a classic quid pro quo, this isn’t to say the deal is entirely equal.Any unilateral changes imposed by the U.S. government on FFI whether by statute, regulation, or administrative action will result in an immediate re-evaluation of the decision to continue FFI, and could result in an immediate suspension of free services upon the decision of each Member.This is where things get really interesting, and where FFI lobbyists clearly earned their money. The new bill, while less onerous than previous attempts at codifying the MOU, does include one slippery sentence: it mandates that the government “shall continue to operate” the FFP.Here’s why this matters: if the IRS decides to revise the MOU to remove the non-compete angle, the FFI would have a powerful incentive to exercise the above clause. The presumption is that they’d then argue something to the effect of “the government’s unilateral decision forced our hand, and now the FFP is basically dead, and the law says that the government needs to keep the FFP alive”. (I’m not sure how successful this argument might be, but it certainly seems that the legislation was crafted to allow the FFI to make it.)But there’s one more thing from that MOU that represents a curveball:Should the IRS commit funding to offer Services for free to taxpayers, the IRS shall notify FFI immediately.This clause has been in the MOU since the first draft. It basically allows the FFI to stop offering the free services if the IRS begins their own. But this is somewhat in tension with the unilateral changes bit. If the IRS exercises an option that’s always been part of the MOU, does that weaken a potential claim by the FFI?(To be clear, I don’t know how this would play out in court. Different judges could rule differently — though there are surely precedents I’m unaware of that might make certain outcomes more or less likely. What is clear though is that there would be non-trivial litigation risk for the IRS if they were to drop the non-compete and the FFI were to object.)Anyway, there’s more to the MOU that we need to look at, but I want to set up that discussion by reviewing a few other things first.There Must Be A Better Way!The crux of this week’s commentary has mostly been “man, it would be great if the US could be like other countries and have an option where the IRS just sends out a pre-filled postcard, and all we need to do is verify and sign it”.The easy narrative here is that this system doesn’t exist solely because of the FFP (i.e., the companies that make up the FFI don’t want to lose revenues, and have thus thrown lots of lobbying dollars at Congress to keep the FFP in place, and that’s why we can’t have nice things).While there are other problems with this narrative, I think it’s worth getting into a fuller list of cautions that past studies have raised as it concerns the US pursuing such a program (pulling mostly from this 1996 GAO report, though leaving out all the arguments that have been obviated by tech advances):At the time, 55% of filers would have needed to make amendments to any pre-filled form the IRS could have come up with (or else would have needed to just do their own filing from scratch). While that number would be lower now, the complexities of US tax regimes (at both federal and state levels) combined with the backwater efficiency of most inter-governmental data-sharing systems would keep this number from being quite as low as that of most other developed countries.Tax prep companies pay lots of tax on their profits, and they employ lots of people who pay lots of tax on their wages. If you eliminate those jobs, the government takes in less money. Plus governments have to pay benefits to unemployed people until they find new work.Lots of US citizens don’t trust the IRS, which could mean that lots of pre-filled forms would be challenged, thus increasing the overall workload. In contrast, the selling point of “we’re going to help you pay the fewest dollars to the big bad government” is compelling to lots of Americans, and often solicits more trust (even if it shouldn’t).There was a fear at the time that people would be less likely to declare side income if their filing was pre-filled (I’m sure there’s relevant data from other countries who use this system — would love a link if any reader happens to know of quality research here).Employers are really bad a sending on forms in a timely way, making it hard for the IRS to gain the needed data to make correct calculations while also maintaining their current tax calendar.We can add two more things to this list:The IRS is intentionally under-funded (down nearly 20% this decade, despite a host of new responsibilities). It’s hard to imagine either party giving them loads of money to institute new programs in the current climate, whatever their potential benefit. It’s just an electoral nightmare. Lobbyists and messaging consultants have done too effective a job at poisoning that particular well.US government agencies are generally bad at managing software projects. It isn’t at all clear that they’d get further developing their own system vs. forcing the FFI members to improve their existing offerings.Now, those arguments vary in power. I’m skeptical that even taken together they mean that the IRS shouldn’t try a large-scale pilot. But the last two are definitely non-trivial. Giving the IRS a larger budget is widely considered a non-starter, and changing political perception there would be a massive undertaking. But if you had to get them more money for either oversight or building their own program, oversight would be a whole lot cheaper, and may have a higher ROI.Bad Faith EffortsYou might be wondering: if the FFP has been around since 2002, why do only ~3 million people a year use it? (A number that’s been trending downward.)There are a handful of high-level answers here:Per the MOU (4.35), it’s actually the IRS’s responsibility to market the FFP. Doing this well would require them having a budget to do so (and them having the institutional competency to use that money well).Also per the MOU (4.15.4), FFI members are responsible to advertise the free service from their “Free File Landing Page”. They are not responsible to make this landing page easily accessible. In most cases, said pages are only reachable via the IRS’ little-known FFP program page.Most of the FFI’s FFP offerings suck (on purpose). The IRS has the right of review, but doesn’t use it very effectively. (As the FFI largely sees improving these offerings to be contrary to their financial interests, they’re only going to go as far as they’re pushed.)Some FFP offerings suck less, but the FFI is dominated by Intuit (TurboTax) and H&R Block (i.e., the two players most opposed to improvements).Free options aren’t generally good at helping you find all eligible deductions, leading most filers to opt for a paid service they perceive to be better at that.Filing taxes normally via TurboTax or a local outfit isn’t all that hard or expensive, and most taxpayers just aren’t bothered enough to seek an alternate solution.Of those factors, I want to focus on 3 and 4. To illustrate what bad faith means here, let’s look at how TurboTax goes about fulfilling their FFP obligations.Now, you might be thinking “well, that’s no so bad at all! — after all, the free option is clearly marked in an attractive way”.But then you click on that “simple tax returns” subheader and you’re greeted with a curious disclaimer:Hmm. Now why would these things not be covered? The obvious answer would be that artificial restrictions are useful for pushing customers to premium options. Pretty normal practice. But doesn’t the MOU forbid this type of upselling on FFP offerings?Trick question! The above offering has nothing to do with the FFP.TurboTax does have an FFP option, which does cover all those situations from the disclaimer. It’s just hidden. The only way you’d ever find it is if you came in via a link from the IRS’ FFP program page. The fact that the two offerings share a confusingly similar name (“Free Edition” vs. “Free File”) is, ahem, a bit of poor luck. They say it isn’t their fault if consumers are confused, as it isn’t their job to educate them.And this is hardly the only kind of spirit-violating nonsense that FFI folks have gotten up to. Remember how the MOU demanded that the lowest 70% of earners all be given free options? Well, the MOU didn’t demand that each provider meet that goal individually — just collectively. The natural consequence? Each FFI provider has seemingly arbitrary restrictions on location and age/income ranges. While you’re guaranteed (if under the income cap) that one of them will work for you, the same one might not work for your sibling or next-door neighbor. It may not even work for you two years in a row! It’s complicated enough that the IRS had to develop a lookup tool that requires you to complete a survey to match you with the right offering. Friction, friction, friction.Why Governments Suck, Part IIf you read through the MOU, you might find yourself surprised at some of the clauses.4.36.3 - IRS and FFI mutually agree to support and promote Free File as an “Innovation Lab” to test, pilot, and offer capabilities to simplify taxpayer compliance, such as data importation offered by industry as described herein, and such as IRS’s Application Programming Interface (API) projects […]Yep, you read that right: the FFI actually has a mandate to create the sort of tax-filing experience we all dream of. (There’s a whole section on this.) On the balance, the MOU is honestly pretty taxpayer-friendly. The problem isn’t here — it’s in the fact that the US government is terrible at private-sector oversight, rendering most of these deals somewhere between one-sided and meaningless.This is why all those battles that Roger and Paul and Grover and Newt and Ralph fought in the 80s/90s mattered. They weren’t conservatives fighting against the encroachment of progressive values or the nanny-state. They were power-brokers looking to get paid by corporations keen to reduce oversight to something of a farce. (And they definitely had their allies on the left in this effort.) Now, sure, reasonable people can disagree on how much oversight the market needs. That’s why we have a democratic system that necessitates healthy compromises. Good legislation should certainly aim for balance, and so on. But what those men did was use the “government vs. markets” debate, not to shift the compromise, but to obscure what they were really doing: making sure that whatever compromises Congress reached would be toothless anyhow.The reality here is that the MOU itself is largely fine, as is the new law. The litigation risk of backing out of the non-compete, however severe, is mostly a red herring. The IRS is still free to help other competitors (like CreditKarma) enhance their free services, and there’s no reason that FFI offerings couldn’t be made to be as good or better than whatever the IRS could come up with themselves. That the current options suck isn’t about who is building the software. It’s about the IRS having no real resources to either enforce/sweeten the MOU or market the FFP.And that, in turn, is a problem with public perception. The US can easily afford to properly fund the IRS (it would actually be a net savings on a longer timeline). But elected representatives are terrified of trying, largely thanks to the efforts of the Grovers of this world — along with a little help from the media.Why Governments Suck, Part IIIt isn’t a new observation that good governance requires an informed public. This has been a maxim since the first Greek experiments with democracy. Literacy and engagement are the central pillars of any nation worth living in.So why is the press doing such a poor job informing the public in a way likely to arm them with the data and context required to engage well?Let’s start with the ProPublica piece that set off this whole dialogue:Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTaxSetting aside the misleading implications of the headline as worded, let’s look at the article’s first paragraph:Just in time for Tax Day, the for-profit tax preparation industry is about to realize one of its long-sought goals. Congressional Democrats and Republicans are moving to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system.Note those words: “permanently bar”.Remember that Stewart line from the beginning about “sensationalism, conflict, and laziness”? Keep that in mind as you parse what exactly “permanently bar” might mean. It isn’t a term of art. Congress has no power to ban anything forever. That’s not how the law works. The closest we could get is a constitutional amendment, but even those can be re-written and re-interpreted. Laws, by their nature, are transitory things.The real focus of this new legislation isn’t permanence, but difficulty. The FFI hardly expects the status quo to last another 17 years, much less indefinitely. They just expect that litigation risk (and two-branch support) will act as a speed bump on change. Their monopoly is still written in pencil, but the erasers are now just that little bit extra harder to come by, which makes their clients happy.Now, you might object that I’m being over-sensitive to the meaning of words here, and that ProPublica’s take wasn’t all that bad. And this is where we have to get a little philosophical. Some believe that every journalist’s responsibility is something to the effect of “collect some facts, avoid outright mistakes, and work with an editor to make your story marketable”. To me, this is the equivalent of requiring them to “tell the truth and nothing but the truth” while leaving out the bit about “the whole truth” as either unimportant or impractical. The story that ProPublica told was true, but it agitated more than it informed. The FFI likely read it and said “well, this will make this week suck, but the outrage isn’t well-directed to any end that represents a real obstacle to us, so, hey, whatever”.Look, good journalism is hard. I get that. And there’s certainly value to communicating key facts quickly. Not every news bulletin can wait on an exhaustive search for whatever we might consider a realist approximation of “the whole truth”. But it seems undeniable to me that the current model is broken. And this is nowhere more evident than in how primary reporting is reprocessed by secondary publishers in their quest for clickshare.Say you thought “permanently bar” was wrong but not very wrong. How do you feel about the first sentence of TechCrunch’s repackage?Thanks to pressure from tax preparation industry, Congress is getting ready to ban the IRS from ever building a free electronic tax filing system.Does TechCrunch say “ever” here if ProPublica didn’t use “permanently” first? If I was a casual reader, I’d assume that “ever” implied some real finality, like a door being shut that couldn’t be re-opened. (Where the reality here is that this particular door can be sprung with precisely the same force with which it was closed.)In the same vein, consider this follow-on by Popular Mechanics:Filing Your Taxes Could Be Way Easier, But Congress and Tax Companies Are Conniving To Make Sure It Stays TerribleConniving! Reminds me of that old saw about how one shouldn’t ascribe to malice what’s better explained by incompetence (or, in this case, inadequate resources).Anyway, as to the article itself:Tucked away in section 1102 of the bill, which relates to the IRS Free File Program that ensures fee-free filing for people under a certain income threshold, is language that subtly prevents the IRS for developing its own system by mandating that the agency continue to work with the private sector in this endeavor. In other words, the legislation locks us all into the status quo.I credit ProPublica with at least this: however narrow their perspective was, at least they did their homework. Their bias was more toward sensationalism and conflict than laziness. Popular Mechanics (and dozens of others) went for the full trifecta, in a much more brazen way.As a non-exhaustive list of problems here:While, yes, filing your taxes could be “way easier”, shifting the software burden to the IRS would be no guarantee of making this so.Section 1102 was the 3rd of 47 sections. If their goal was to hide it in the stack, the crafters did a poor job.There’s a deep confusion here between the bill and the MOU.The actual non-compete language is the opposite of subtle.This is like the game of Telephone. Most secondary publishers do near-zero research and just repackage the primary article, leaving the signal to degrade with each step.And then we have Twitter.Who says there is no common ground in politics?Democrats and Republicans in the House just unanimously passed a bill that makes it illegal for the IRS to create a system to let Americans file their taxes for free online— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 10, 2019This system already exists! It’s called the FFP. That the IRS can’t create their own competing system to the one they already manage is a much narrower issue.(Also, for the record, passing a bill by acclimation isn’t the same as passing one via a unanimous vote.)It's hard to find a clearer example of Congress sabotaging the public good than a bill -- lobbied for by TurboTax -- prohibiting the Internal Revenue Service from developing a free online system for filing your taxes.https://t.co/4HuIZc9ZKO— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) April 10, 2019Ditto to above. This system already exists, and was developed under the auspice of the IRS.Also, the linked NYT piece (from their editorial board) includes this gem: “Instead of barring the I.R.S. from making April a little less miserable, why isn’t Congress requiring the I.R.S. to create a free tax filing website?”Umm, because the IRS already mandated the creation of several such websites? The assumption that the IRS would create a better one on their own is plausible, but (really) far from certain.Two facts:1. H&R Block and the makers of TurboTax spent $6.6 million lobbying last year. They want to ban the IRS from offering its own free, simple tax filing service.2. Congress is about to pass a law doing exactly that. https://t.co/giatnNh5mD— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) April 9, 2019The IRS isn’t getting “banned” from anything. They voluntarily signed a non-compete 17 years ago, which they renewed less than six months ago. (And this is from a ProPublica editor!)The extent to which all Americans suffer an annual cost in time and money to protect the monopolies of TurboTax and H&R Block is astounding. Is there any issue where Congress is more out of step with citizen desires? https://t.co/GIRijGpS9Y— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) April 9, 2019Like, I get the desire for simpler taxes. But is $40 and 15 minutes really “suffering”? (And, again, for the lowest 70% of earners, they don’t even have to shell out the $40 if they don’t want to. Though I guess you could say that using existing FFP sites is a form of suffering, if in an excessively first-world sense.)Congress can’t muster the political will to eliminate the carried interest tax break for private equity titans, but it can get together to prevent free tax preparation for others: https://t.co/3pEfW8EPnF— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 10, 2019No free preparation! Except for 70% of you! And a handful of other special classes!Anyway, I could go on. But the point is that if the goal is to get voters to hold politicians accountable, it would certainly help if the voters knew what was happening, and why, and where the real problems are.It’s difficult to see how all the current coverage supports such a cause.More Adventures in Water-MuddyingConsider this quote (from the original ProPublica piece, but re-used in several secondary articles):“This could be a disaster. It could be the final nail in the coffin of the idea of the IRS ever being able to create its own program,” said Mandi Matlock, a tax attorney who does work for the National Consumer Law Center.This is, um, pretty hyperbolic. Is there any justification for this? Does it aid clarity? Or does it just lend to the ever-marketable dynamics of sensationalism and conflict?Also consider the irreconcilable set of quotes in ProPublica’s sequel (published after lawmakers reacted to the first one).“The IRS chief counsel confirmed to his office that the Taxpayer First Act does not bar the agency from implementing a direct-file program.”“My staff pushed back on a long-standing policy that blocks the IRS from competing with private tax preparation companies […]”“Senate Republicans fit in some bitter pills and some problematic provisions,” said [Rep Katie Hill], who supported the bill as a whole, speaking on the House floor. “One of these is a piece that came to my attention today — which the corporate tax lobby has spent years and millions of dollars to get — which would bar the IRS from creating a simple, free filing system that would compete with their own.”I find this stuff infuriating, on three levels:Those who want to get quoted have biases and motives. Readers aren’t equipped to unpack those. Journalists need to do more than just “report the controversy”. Maybe that works for an AP news bulletin where speed is of the essence. But who is doing the work of coming in after and deconstructing for the reader why each party might have said what, and how their statements relate to their bios?Far too many journalists rely on services like HARO, where the experts are unknowns who respond to a call for a quote (vs. people with whom the journalist has an established relationship based on a keen understanding of competencies and incentives and likely spin). I know personally how low the bar is to getting quoted via HARO. I was never asked once to verify my identity or defend my position. What I said was just copied-and-pasted into a piece on the strength of a one-sentence self-supplied credential and my email address.Just because a politician has a quote doesn’t mean you should print it. It’s pretty clear that most who’ve commented on this legislation so far had/have (at best) a vague sense of what it contains, much less all the MOUs and external docs referenced in the bill. This isn’t uncommon. Only so many politicians have the right staff (and even then there are just hard limits on scope and priorities). Journalists ought to push back more to ensure that they aren’t just printing “um, I don’t reaaally know, but here’s my strong opinion that I’m told will play well to my base” quotes (or at least journalists need to carefully qualify those quotes when printing them).The Path ForwardI’ve written a lot over the past year about the failures of modern journalism — especially the hot-take/rapid-response/clickshare machine. There are things we can do to fix it, including some simple adjustments that could go a long way.In the absence of those changes, corporations like Intuit and H&R Block are going to have a field day. Their lobbyists will do what they’re paid very well to do, and our selective and ever-moving outrage will do nothing to solve the underlying problems. The MOU, whether law or policy, will continue to be enforced so poorly as to be one-sided, and tax innovation will be forever three or five years away.And so on and so on we’ll go, never to actually get anywhere, until we eventually decide that enough is enough, that the current model belongs in the dustbin of history, and that the time to make these changes is now.Note #1: I’m generally a fan of ProPublica. I thought their rundown last year was excellent, which has been true of a lot of their past coverage on this issue. I can’t really account for why this one missed the mark in relative terms.Note #2: An open question for any lawyer reading: could taxpayers sue the IRS for failing to meet the requirements set out in section 4.35 of the MOU (a promise to make “consistent, good faith efforts” to market the FFP)?

If you are highly talented and driven, it shouldn’t “matter”, unless you are looking for a very tiny segment of all jobs.Some people will say those who aren’t Ivy are “sour grapes”. I’ve gotten that before. My sincere rebuttal: I was accepted to an Ivy League school for undergraduate, but didn’t go because long-term costs were excessive relative to benefits.In almost every discretionary product market, what’s considered the pinnacle of quality is at a price much higher than what it’s intrinsically worth. However, overpriced doesn’t always mean bad. If the terms are favorable to highly specific goals, then you should consider biting the bullet. After continued deliberate analysis and soul-searching, I concluded the alternative was extraordinarily more favorable.Exception: Your family is from low-income/URM family to qualify for free tuition/scholarships. For me, that wasn’t the case and it wasn’t lack of trying for scholarships - I sent more than 200 applications and got <$300 in merit scholarship money, despite a perfect score.In short, I decided on state flagship in Texas at UT Austin, because in my case, I would save almost $500,000 difference in student loans for undergraduate and medical school. If including loan interest, that would make the Ivy League a million dollar mistake for someone like me. If I imagine I was an Ivy League graduate right now, I would gladly gain $1,000,000 to be where I am right now. (Jeff Bezos calls this the “regret minimization framework”) That being said, the analysis is more nuanced than that - factors such as educational quality, location, total costs and networking matter, my thought process is later explained.My dad went to Harvard.I am currently more wealthy than my dad. He had a 40 year headstart and an Ivy League degree.Here’s my thought process:My belief was and still is: Ivy Leagues are incentivized to select more talented people that will likely become successful, but not necessarily help them become more successful beyond what was intrinsic. This doesn’t mean that “selection” is necessarily a negative attribute, it’s closest to something in between a “club good” and “private good”. Ivy League schools has similar characteristics of a “Veblen good”, especially when it is a degree where it is more difficult to evaluate skills and quality i.e. liberal arts or business degrees.I’m not going to say names don’t matter at all. That is absolutely false. Names matter because it’s a brand - in essence a marketing signal. That being said, marketing is only useful if you get a return on it, otherwise you’re engaging in a high “marketing burn rate”. This strongly depends on what you’re applying to, what you are seeking, and how much the signal matters to who you’re sending the signal to. Ivies especially are critical for certain “extremely selective” employers as signalling for social closure in “elite” labor markets. Ivy League seniors survey shows they aim for law (25%), finance/IB (17%), management consulting (12%). That’s over half the class looking to move to extremely selective prestigious job markets. The “Ivy-to-Wall-Street” pipeline is quite real. Recruiters seduce you early on with a familiar “elite selective” structured application processes and fancy offices, insulating you from the start. These “elite” labor markets are generally competitive even among Ivy League graduates, so they rarely look at any other schools.Ultimately, this boils down to economics, unless money doesn’t matter to you at all. I have always believed in avoiding competition unless absolutely necessary, because that’s where you really make the most value.Let this fundamental but often overlooked concept of economics digest - in a capitalistic environment, perfect competition is the anti-thesis of the accumulation of capital, because competition will compete away all your profits in the long run! I'm not saying people should always be motivated by money or something like that, but I think we should be a little bit more critical of perfect competition as a rationalization, and look at cost-benefit ratio for prestige brands.We should also be wary about not making a fundamental error on market sizing. A new Italian restaurant with a new recipe in an area without Italian restaurants is not devoid of competition, but is likely operating in a highly competitive market of the restaurant industry. Most customers likely don’t care if your recipe is better than your grandma’s recipe.When I was deciding which school (state flagship vs. Ivy) to attend, here is what my decision process yielded:Opportunities of Ivy relative to state flagship:Specific employers in “top-tier” law firms, financial companies and management consulting firms use Ivy as the major hiring heuristic and recruitment. Relative to state flagship, there is a significant benefit for those specific employers that make up a tiny percent of all employers. If you need the “name brand” to get into those “top tier” firms, I would suggest getting a top 10 MBA after a flagship undergraduate, paid by your employer who will write it off taxes unless you get a free ride in an Ivy League. Why pay exorbitantly more for prestige when you don’t have to? You don’t need to chase an expensive Ivy League for undergraduate to do that. In the same state, flagship schools have an excellent reputation. In other states, it likely won’t hurt your employment opportunities, because it’s still a strong reputation. My fiancé is also from a state flagship - University of Florida with a full ride - and got a 6 figure engineering job quite easily here in Texas. Outside of the tiny amount of “elite” labor markets, what matters is individual effort, smarts, and personality. My fiance out-earns 75%+ of all Ivy League graduates. I will out-earn 90%+ of Ivy League graduates, on a physician salary doing what I love. This does not take into account real earnings - when you include state taxes, size of student loans and cost of living. If we include that, my fiance will out-earn 90%+ of Ivy League grads. In fact, we can both retire at 40 - if we wanted to.Connections and alumni network are supposedly “superior”. You’ll undoubtedly make contacts that feed into the “elite job markets”, but I highly suspect that depends on the person. “Superior at X” is not the same as “superior”. Personally, the alumni network in UT has been highly valuable to me, while it didn’t really do anything notable for my dad because Ivy League students have an additional layer of selection amongst themselves. If you can’t connect with people by joining the in-group, then you’re not going to get much out of the network. You’re going to get weeded out of friendships based on what you can afford (it’s easy to tell from family background and occupation). I couldn’t afford what I saw going on in Harvard. The UT alumni network landed me multiple opportunities in entrepreneurship and helped me close software contract sales. It is also much larger. UT has 40,000+ undergrads and 500,000+ alumni. Alumni are very “prideful” about the school and it’s often called “bleeding burnt orange” - don’t take my word for it, search for it yourself - alumni always give a second look if they hear UT and classmates are much more empathetic. In addition, size does matter - UT has the most Fortune 1000 CEOs and it doesn’t pale much compared to Ivy in those types of job markets when it increases your sheer chances substantially at “the numbers game”.Resources are supposedly “superior”. This depends on a lot of variables and there’s no clear cut general answer. There is no doubt Harvard and Yale has a overall huge amount of resources, relative to state flagships. That being said, when we look at relative resources - in my case, UT has the 3rd largest endowment in the nation and is one of the three that received an AAA rating from S&P for strong and stable financing outlook, even in a recession. I had no trouble getting research opportunities or outstanding professors. This really depends on the school, department and what resources you seek. You have to do your own research.Costs of Ivy relative to state flagship:Extremely high cost of attendance. I personally save ~$60,000 a year for 8 years (B.S. + M.D.) from the difference in cost of attendance - that’s half a million in student loans, not including interest - which can balloon to ~$1,000,000 dollars in just one decade after school. The high cost does not pay off either - you generally do not get a significant earnings advantage, unless that is you get a free ride by being from a low-income family or as a underrepresented minority. In state-funded schools, the tuition is partly subsidized by the state.There is a selection bias among Ivy League graduates towards track dependency of prestigious “elite job markets” that are landlocked in highest-cost of living areas. What cities do Ivy League grads overwhelmingly stay at? New York City, NY; Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA. $100,000 in Houston, TX is easily $200,000 in those areas (see the “lifestyle trap”). My cost of living (rent+utilities+meals) is about $7,050 a year right next to campus with my private apartment. Harvard “estimates” the cost of living is $30,000 per year and can be much higher depending on the individual, and they’re more likely to keep paying that early on after graduation since their identity is intertwined with living in a certain way. Savings rates are estimated to be about 12% on average for these people. (Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: evidence from capitalized income tax data. Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman) If you want to stay in a certain area, you should consider locale-specific reputation for those specific careers. It’s 10x easier to amass professional connections with your neighbors in a community based on proximity. Most jobs are based on who you know. They already know what’s it like to work with you and can give you a convincing recommendation.Increased risk of burnout. Health > Money. Staying healthy in mind and body is much harder than making extra bucks. The cost of burnout is much higher than you think in Ivy League. Burnout costs employers $150–300 billion a year. This is not a ticket to slack off, but one must also consider the risks of overloaded expectations in a cut-throat environment. My medical school has an emphasis and culture of chillness and cooperativity. That increases productivity because we are there to help each other out, not outcompete each other by a few points with relatively obscure medical knowledge that will be forgotten after graduation. Stress is already high in medical school, why add to it with irritated attendings and cut-throat classmates if it doesn’t increase your salary substantially? On top of that, 58% of Princeton students report feeling well rested only three or fewer days per week. It is one thing to have a strong work ethic (presumably), but another to undergo sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is directly counterproductive to memory, learning and creativity. This is particularly well-documented in the literature with strong evidence, yet Princeton claims they cultivate students to be “creative” in their marketing materials. They should focus on getting their students well rested first.Talented students at non-Ivy universities can possibly get more attention from professors (depends on the culture). Personally, I would get the time of the day from the department heads in state flagships really easily. To my understanding, the best academians only conduct research, and even if they offer a course, it’s not easy to get a spot. Look at the rankings of RateMyProfessor or any other data regarding how professors treat students (US News doesn’t take this into account, and basically rooted as a popularity contest amongst college presidents), here's how all the Ivy League schools fared: 111. Princeton University 152. Columbia University 187. University of Pennsylvania 196. Brown University 213. Yale University 247. Harvard University 294. Dartmouth College 414. Cornell University. Out of ~600 schools. Abstract matters, such as credit/recognition, generally warps academia. Clearly, most schools are biased towards tweaking their numbers in terms of what increases their rankings, and tend to de-prioritize anything that doesn’t increase their rankings, such as actually getting more quality professor time at a reasonable cost. Becoming a professor is extremely competitive at good state schools, so you really aren’t missing out relative to Ivies. In fact, the honors courses always had the most outstanding faculty with no trouble enrolling, since the spots were fixed to honor students only.Don’t ask whether Ivy League matters. What you should ask is - what matters to you? There are areas with significantly higher social impact - such as research, startups, politics, grantmakers and non-profits that require highly skilled people. Work backwards - if getting into an elite bulge bracket IBD is your dream, I highly encourage you to consider top “prestigious” Ivy League schools they care most about. However, you should be assessing whether crunching mind-numbing Excel sheets for 100 hours a week as a entry level grunt is what you’d enjoy as a career. If it’s only the money you’re after, then you should still consider opinion on Wall Street: A Wall Streeter Tackles An Age-Old Debate — Do You Take Prestige Or Money?According to the article, in short: “A better decision metric would have been: F**k prestige, get money.”For those who are not just for the money which I assume is a substantial crowd - think about this - a big company teaches you how to work for a big company - generally slow, bureaucratic and frustrating. A small company or self-employment will pile more valuable responsibilities to the most talented person at a breakneck rate. That prepares you for everything and sets you up for maximum impact - no risk, no reward. To give some color - small businesses make up 99.7% of US employers. Nobody cares where you come from if you bring enormous value. Non-monetary value dictates you are missing out on the entire universe which has immensely high value by only joining the extremely narrow range of big companies. In fact, it might well be riskier, since big companies don’t do “watch jobs” anymore. It is past the time where you stay at the same company for life. Everyone is essentially disposable in a recession, unless they are the few that are “critically needed”.Ultimately, what matters is what sort of career you seek, what are the costs, how you relate to people, and what value you bring. The notion that you’ve got to do X, Y, and Z or else your life is over is clearly flawed. All I can say is that you have to follow your own dreams, think critically, and make well-informed decisions. Ask in-depth questions such as “Best how?”, “Best for whom?”, “Best at what price?”, rather than the undefined superlative of “Best?”. Rankings generally focus on the superfluous, and doesn’t always make the best personal fit.Other considerations:Contrary to what Ty Doyle says: In medicine, Ivy prestige does not increase your future salary or medical school acceptance rates. This is a common misconception. I will point to my current medical school class - only 1–2 Ivy League graduates out of 220 students. Take a look at salaries for doctors from state vs. Ivy League schools. There is no premium. In fact, the average board exam scores (which is the top determinant of your residency match and consequently, salary) for my state flagship are higher than almost all the Ivy League medical schools. Ask any doctor and he/she will agree that salaries won’t be higher. This makes it clear that the quality of curriculum, attitude of the professors, and individual drive are more important than getting the most prestigious name in medicine. To sweeten the deal, physicians salaries AND real earnings are generally significantly higher in Texas and in-state tuition is the lowest in the nation. That being said, I agree with Ty for law school - being in the top 10 matters a lot for prestigious law firms, with some rare exceptions - the bimodal distribution of salary inflates the average law graduate salaries.In response to Alex K. Chen: Don’t just base it on class size as a whole, but find out how each school breaks the class down from a whole into its smaller parts. It wasn’t commuter for me. Both private and school dorms were right next to campus. My college and medical school dorm cost me ~$400/month including utilities with my own private room, right next to school. On the contrary, it wasn’t hard to break into “friend groups” as people in Austin are quite open to new friends. This depends on the culture, rather than size. It was not hard to make friends in a “big school” as the amount of diversified choices in interest groups and classes are high. Also, my current class size is 220, but the small group PBL sessions are 6–7 people per faculty.Attention matters. Everybody has a scarce resource called time. Two of the department heads would entertain my request for meeting in one room for joint research with me by taking out time from their busy schedule and coordinate a meeting. If you had the experience of coordinating busy schedules, it’s quite messy. It’s not a matter of being “too busy”, but ultimately what their priorities are. I think students should consider schools that have more strong faculty who make students a priority, whether Ivy or not. With higher Ivy grade inflation and lackluster general undergraduate lecture quality, we should question the assumption that Ivy Leagues have generally better teacher attitudes and class/academic rigor without proper analysis. The priorities are skewed towards not adding value to students, but publishing papers in prestigious journals to maintain the brand prestige. Although this can heavily depend on the individual professor as well. The main point is you are more likely to shine if the professors prioritize cultivating talented students. These professors are going to be the network base for which you get references and contacts. Almost all of the department heads have top credentials in my medical school, so I really maximize bang for buck.Location matters. This is another factor I looked at in the process of choosing which school to attend. If your network is in the same state, it will be highly advantageous for your pursuits. Not to mention, Texas has no state income tax, strong asset protection, and favorable tort reform. With the new tax bill, real earnings are even better than before relative to high tax states such as NY, MA and CA. Texas has ~2% effective state taxes for high income earners. It’s also one of the most business and landlord friendly states out there. If you plan to obtain high leverage in real estate markets, Texas is an excellent choice for inflation protection, because asset prices stayed steady throughout 2009 when the housing bubble burst. Houston especially is a good location for my RE investment purposes because the “no zoning” allows supply to meet demand, which reduces the likelihood of a real estate asset “bubble” and increases long-term health of the city by keeping rents low for both commercial and residential.Higher education predators. On the other end of the spectrum, don’t mistake colleges that are known to be predators, you know - mostly the ones that offer an easy degree on advertisers that only see the dollars. Don’t believe the average college degree makes you richer “hype”, asymmetric outcomes are more likely to happen because there is a lot of noise and dilution. There is a clear problem with new institutions, especially specific for-profit colleges that prey on students that can’t make it anywhere else. If you are just looking for a 9–5 “white-collar” job, look carefully at the value of your degree - in particular student loan default rates and similar career profiles on LinkedIn to assess the job market. There are many more people in college these days, so attending a “diploma mill” doesn’t mean much.You don’t need the name or even college for that matter to make as much as a Ivy League graduate in an “elite” investment banking job. You make your own fate by working as smart and hard as possible. If you follow “avoid competition unless absolutely necessary”, you should be very careful how you select your college institution for a lasting, sustainable edge over a lifetime, or consider alternatives you may enjoy, such as trade schools. Focus your efforts on what matters to you and do your own research. Prestige should only be a tool, not an idol. Don’t go into Ivy just because your high school friends hype it up. Think critically beyond the hype - and assess what’s the best decision for your situation.Heck, even a “blue-collar” government janitor (How one Bay Area janitor made $276,000 last year) made much more than Ivy graduates living in cramped Manhattan apartments for the right to “slave” away on Excel sheets at Goldman Sachs and pay NYC ~13% top state taxes on top of Uncle Sam’s 37% top federal tax rates with a maximum $10,000 SALT deduction. In short, every extra $1 you make, you pay ~$0.5 in taxes if you work for GS in NYC at the highest income tax bracket, if you work for someone else.The janitor’s general manager made ~$500,000 on public salary record: 'Grace Crunican' - Transparent Public Salary Search. If you are a top 5% plumber with your own growing business and employees, you can make $1,000,000 a year (at the lower 21% corporate tax rates and effective <17% tax rate I might add!) in some geographical areas. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg recommends to consider forgo paying $60,000 tuition a year at Harvard for plumbing. If you have the talent and drive to get into Goldman Sachs (~3% acceptance rate among already “top” Ivy talent, which selects top high school talent at ~5%), there is no reason you can’t do this, if you can already make the top 0.15% of candidates. Even fewer of those candidates who are bald, white men have a shot to become the CEO. It is much better to take fate into your own hands if you have a different vision of “minimizing regret”.How are the most millionaires made in America? Look it up - it’s laundromats.