[Alberta's Child]

It does chap me that Uncle has his hands out when you do have a profit from capital gain but ignores you when you have a loss.

Uncle Sam doesn't ignore you when you have a loss -- you can deduct those losses on your income tax return.

[meenie]

Somewhere there is a disconnect. Being able to deduct a loss when you have a loss. What income do you deduct from? Oh, I see, you can offset the loss fron other income. Then you have a loss from that income. This is similar to the problems that Enron has. Losses and gains should be totaled from the same income string.

Is Uncle making devious and fraudulent accountants of us in order to comply with the IRS? Put yourself in the chair of some company exec that is trying to save as much tax as possible and still comply with accounting procedures and you can see the problems that arise.