Here's to spending on booze, women and movies

It seems to me there used to be a “Bah, humbug” award for people whose comments and/or actions exemplify those from fictional miser Ebenezer Scrooge.

If there isn’t such an award, there should be. Either way, I’d like to nominate someone for its receipt this year: Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Grassley is quoted on several points in a Dec. 2 Des Moines Register story about proposed changes to the federal estate tax enacted as part of recently passed tax reform measures. Both the House and Senate would double the exemption where the 40 percent tax kicks in, which are currently set at $5....