That reminds me of a man, a very fine man, that I knew (may he rest in peace). This was in the early nineties, right before I went overseas for close to a decade. Mel, at one time had been a very successful businessman. His personal expenses, in the seventies, for a few years ran over One Million US Yankee Greenback Dollars. Remember, in the seventies, a Rolls Royce could be had for around forty large, or less. He kept runnin' and gunnin' ... and then the Carter interest rates hit him. He'd take down HUGE quantities of iron, steel, and other industrial metals (copper, aluminum, etc.). He knew the cycle of those commodities pricing. When prime was 7, he was fine, making money hand over fist. When prime hit nine or ten, he was still doing fine. When prime hit the 20% mark, it buried him.

In any event, he was reduced to having nothing and I mean NOTHING. He didn't do the bankruptcy shuffle ... hiding and maintaining a stash. Down to his mansion, vacation homes, planes and cars .... ALL gone. Only thing left were some very expensive suits.

So, he owes Uncle around two million dollars. Forward the clock to 1991. He's living in a trailer house, doing odd jobs ... but he keeps getting the collection letters. They were printed on those old ballistic printers. When he'd saved up enough to go to some dive shot 'n beer dive where "everyone knows your name' .... Everyone wanted to see his latest collection letter. The standard talk was ... I never met a man that even had a million dollars, much less owed the IRS TEN million. Those penalties, and to a lesser degree interest, really run to the sky.