Toby arrives at work and starts calling out for Donna and Josh. Neither one is there yet. Josh arrives through a different door, and Toby catches sight of him. They both rush toward each other, saying, "I have to talk to you." Josh: "Me first." Toby: "Why's that?" Josh: "Because it's important." Toby agrees. Josh suddenly changes his mind and says that Toby should go ahead. Toby says that Josh should go. Josh: "I'm perfectly fine waiting. I have the patience of an adult." Heh. Toby says he has twenty seconds. They start pedeconferencing to Toby's office as Josh says it came to him in his sleep this morning, because when he got home, the paper was already there. There was a story in the business section about a company called Redstar and a $35 million retention bonus they gave to some guy named Wadkins. Josh says we all know that CEOs get bonuses that workers don't. That's for damn sure. Any workers lucky enough to get bonuses usually find that they aren't enough to buy whole islands in the Pacific Ocean. Josh says the story talked about Congress ending the deductibility of salaries over a million dollars, and that this measure excluded items deemed by the IRS to be incentive-based. Josh: "In other words, the bonuses are tax-deductible! In other words, Wadkins gets $35 million for crashing the company, and the company gets a deduction." Josh tells Toby that college costs are much better use of capital than writing off bonuses. Josh refers to Plot Device Matt Kelley, reminding viewers that he's the guy from the bar last night who's taking his daughter to colleges (for those who haven't been paying attention and don't know who Toby's new best friend is), further reminding us that Mr. Kelley wanted it to be just a little easier -- not a lot -- to pay for college. Josh makes his pitch: "Toby, every nickel spent on college tuition should be 100\% tax-deductible. Not capped, and indexed, and bracketed. Every nickel, 100\%." ["As if Americans can't deduct enough already. Hi, mortgages? Stupid Canada." -- Wing Chun] Toby smiles a wee smile and says, "That's exactly what I was going to tell you." Josh doesn't believe him. Toby insists. Josh resists. Toby shows Josh his newspaper, folded open to the news story Josh mentioned, which is circled, and has this note written in marker, in capital letters above it: "We can make college cheaper!" Is it just me, or is the Exposition Fairy phoning it in for this episode? Also: they're presenting this as if they've discovered plutonium, and frankly, it's a swell idea, but pretty obvious and sensible and long overdue and hasn't it already maybe been suggested a few hundred times? I'm not sure it takes 300 IQ points to come up with something like this. Josh says he's going to make some time with Leo. Toby says, "And figure out a way to pay for it." Josh: "Yeah." He takes off and Toby says, "Good." Josh turns at the door, holds up a fist by his chest in a kind of "right on" gesture, and leaves.













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