Yeah, it is a full-scale IRS pooch-screwing of the worst kind. But Republican promise a full overhaul of the tax code -- we'll do it manana, manana is good enough for me as the old song goes. If so, I hope they address this crap.

But why didn't this editorial address the part that makes so many people so angry? Why in the hell is this "work of art" worth even $15 million. As more than one person has noted over the years, the money paid for these pieces would feed thousands of people, or could help in the eradication of aids or help find a cure for cancer. But no, with the artists dead and gone in most instances, the ones who drive up these values artificially are effectively the vultures picking at the artists' collective corpse.

An anecdote: it reminds me of an acquaintance who worked for Sotheby's for a few years. One month the stuffy Sotheby management issued a call for employees and management to make suggestions for how the company could become better neighbor and put a stamp on their corporate giving that would be an inspiration for the new century. So a group of them compiled a detailed proposal of how Sotheby could counter the public's perception of their greed. By earmarking a substantial percentage of the proceeds from these mega-artworks, and encouraging the buyers and sellers to join them and dedicate the company to finding new ways to feed the starving and far-reaching health projects.

At a meeting where the various proposals were unveiled, the proposal they had worked so hard was dismissed by one of the managers with the crisp phrase, "the very idea." And ultimately management dismissed all the creative projects from inside the company and decided to spend millions on an outside PR agency instead. And didn't even thank those who had spent hundreds of hour of their personal time, as they were conned into thinking that management really wanted a breath of fresh air.

This "art" financing business is just so, so sad and in egregious bad taste, besides.