Barney Factor

I think that there have been a number of posts that seem to wonder about what Barny's motives are for having what is basically a boarding house or a residential resource.

If he is running a boarding house his rate for a room including food and other perks does not seem unreasonable. If people are really doubting they can always ask him if he complies with all licensing requirements and does he file a federal income tax return. If he is a for profit setting as long as he is meeting legal requirements and his boarders are happy or are not feeling ripped off I don't see what the problem is as long as he is up front and honest about it, as other such structures have to be to stay in operation.

If he is operating as a registered charity, unregistered charity or a legal non profit societry then he would have to file the appropriate papers and meet the requirements. Unregistered charities can be a grey area and cannot give tax receipts. If he is running the house as a non profit or raisng donations based on that premise then he should be accountable by producing documentation that states where the funds and such resources come from and go to.

I also don't see what is unreasonable for Barney to make a good wage for providing a service to a number of individuals who are happy to access it and derive a benefit from it. In the real world people who run such services often make 30 to 50 k per year. In addition, lack of accountability through poor reporting or mixing for profit and non profit models in unethical ways often results in serious tax or licensing problems sooner or later. No one is more prescriptive and aggressive then Uncle Sam when he does not get his cut!

If people are so concerned why not ask Barney what his structure is and give him the objective ear to listen to how he operates?. If he puts several years of his life into this endeavor, is ethical in his execution of his duties and promotes positive change in others that is not supportive of the perversions of Berg what is so bad about him deriving some benefit from it?

Although I may have doubts about his affilations with the family Barney seems willing to stand beside and support people leaving the family, that also means helping them deal with the emotional baggage that arrives with such a difficult task.