Smazz
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Posts posted by Smazz
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no matter which side of the debate you're on, this is pretty funny stuff.
The guys blog with the "boohoo me and my wife make $250,000 and we are hurting" is in the link within the article- -he had to take it down because of the bombardment but you know what happens once something is on the interweb????.... it never dies! :D
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/110801/advice-for-the-poor-rich?mod=bb-budgeting
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Smazz - dear god I hope you aren't serious.
honestly,
I didnt get far beyond the Rasslin' reference;D.... big fan going back in the day.
Its (was) the only good scripted thing left on cable.....gone down hill though.
But really, like Obey said - he cant win.. protects business, the workers cry. Protect workers, buisness cries. Somewhere there has to be shangrala!
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With that said - your points seem to contradict each other, This would make businesses less likely to move plants thus saving more jobs.
Thats what I thought also, the administration is openin' a can of wooop ass on the Jabronis who decide to leave! ;)
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10% unemployment and we are still in a recession?
whoda thunk it.
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Karōshi
Ahhh, did not know that!
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Thanks
everything is ok with me,
This was just something for those people, like many who I know, that just keep burning themselves out - losing sight of the fact that we are here for a short time and cant take it with you.
Sometimes a picture make you think.......
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take care and remember your priorities!
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/2881/ambulance.gif
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Rim - trading stock - last week - have held many times before
Al,
whats your current take on Rim? Ive never had it on my "investment" radar - just as a piece of interest type thing but see its trading somewhat like a "normal" company as premiums to sales and earnings etc etc but with no debt - WOW!
From the little I know I feel they have a bit of market share but this is REALLY out of my area of expertise (I dont even own a blackberry or Iphone HA)
I believe there was talk on Rimm in a thread here a while back but I think it was buried in a thread of a different subject?
Jim Balsillie has been unloading so many shares in the 80-60$ range it's quite scary. Aren't you affraid when the most knowleadgeable insider sells massively?
BeerBaron
1. I dont own any of the common
2. I will take your word for his selling shares but i havent looked into that and to make judgement youd have to ask why he is doing this. Many times when someone is as wealthy as he, he doesnt do this for personal $ under the mattress reasons. Oft times its for a charity that doesnt want to hold the shares etc. Or for other reasons. If he is offloading a good amount, knowing how public a figure he is somewhere must lay the reason no?
3. I would be more afraid of the technology aspect - its always scary to me and the main reason why I have never really been in a pure tech stock in any meaningful way. I do understand this may not be our daddys tech stock as its more a communication co.
The last time I was close to owning some tech was in the late 90s when Apple had a load of cash but were still tiny bro to MSFT - when Iphone and Ipad were mearly gleams in Jobbs eye.
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Rim - trading stock - last week - have held many times before
Al,
whats your current take on Rim? Ive never had it on my "investment" radar - just as a piece of interest type thing but see its trading somewhat like a "normal" company as premiums to sales and earnings etc etc but with no debt - WOW!
From the little I know I feel they have a bit of market share but this is REALLY out of my area of expertise (I dont even own a blackberry or Iphone HA)
I believe there was talk on Rimm in a thread here a while back but I think it was buried in a thread of a different subject?
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If Credit ratings agencies actually knew what they were doing or were on the up and up we wouldnt be in this mess we are in now. Ive stated many times before the debacle unfolded that I dont trust 'em as far i can throw em.
They are a joke.
That being said, Insurance cos are glorified leverage plays really. They borrow the policy holders $ in hopes they can make more than the interest they pay back in the form of premiums.
I thought Prems latest debt raising was a guy idea basically for the reason I stated above. When you are in this line its better to raise in good times rather than bad. He can always pay it off with little penalty.
I agree he should be getting better rates though.
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Sanjeev, You have more tolerance than I.
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!!! ;D
as per this thread - I currently do not own FFH, I last owned in the $390s. I will def own again when i get into those stages where i want to lay back for a while and let Prem and his team take care of me.
Ive owned FFH since 98/99 through hedges, bad runoffs - rumour mongerers - Spiros et all and yes, every known Hurrican known to man through the new millenium.. and I still get called a Macro Investor! ;)
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RBC has recently implemented US$ accounts for RRSP and TFSA. In my experience, it is in these areas where I was getting badly raped by my brokers. In the past, if I wanted to make a change in my RRSP to sell perhaps $20,000 of KO to buy $20,000 of PG, the broker would charge me US$10 commission to sell KO and US$10 commission to buy PG....but then they would also take the US$20,000 in proceeds from the KO sale and convert it to $CDN and screw me for about a 1% charge,
I think its closer to 1.5% each time.
I dont let them convert for me anymore but inside the RRSP account its hard to get around.
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We had a thread about this a while back, maybe in the archives/search .
Ive personally used RBC Direct and TDWaterhouse for personal accounts
TD I believe theyve changed alot since I used them last so I wont comment.
RBC, they are fairly competitive in their rates - and for me very easy to transfer funds around.
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I would like to see quantified the amount of USD spent annually for troops in Japan, Korea, Germany, etc.
Is this really necessary anymore?
I bet if the amount were published, people might start making a stink.
They will pale in comparison to troops in Iraq going forward - under the veil of "security forces".
Any troops in Europe are basically symbolic.
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fundraising by fear raising... works for the sheep or the fanatical religious.
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Government is not the solution and we do not want Canadian style socialism in the U.S.
We have something in common... I dont want US style socialism in Canada here either.
Govt decides to use taxpayers funds to go Country shopping with the pretex they are "providing safety for its citizens"
no thanks. ;)
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Compared to Buffett, Gates, and Slim we are all poor - but look behind you before you decide. This is coming from a guy who wouldn't feel rich with $2 million in the bank.
In addition if you were to ask WEB how rich he is, Im pretty confident he doesnt quantify it in dollars.
I loved his definition of success- I always use that as an example when Im talking to friends who are getting all wacky in this dog eat dog rat race world.
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A national sales tax might be a good idea. Eliminate ALL corporate and personal taxes and put in a national consumption tax instead. The more you spend the more tax you pay. Thus the "rich" spend more and pay more tax. Give a rebate of the tax on the first $20,000 (or whatever) so that the poor are not hit as hard. You can reduce a massive amount of state and federal red tape, reduce the size of the tax department (i.e. IRS) and even exports would be more competative because the tax wouldn't apply on sales outside the country.
Radical but maybe thinking outside the box is whats needed?
cheers
Zorro
Not too crazy, especially considering there would prob be something similar to the GST rebate for low earners - similar to what is currently in Canada.
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Smazz, don't forget that basketball players are different from the rest of us. He might be paying child support to 5 different women. ;D
yea,
I remember there was a basketball player, or football who had something like 10 kids from 10 different states!
WOW!!!!!!!
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I'll leave my comments off here, since no one really addressed my points (i.e. why brackets go up and up and stop at 250,000k)? So if you were to start a tax system from scratch, this is the methodolgy you would derive?
I will agree this debate is silly. But again, I am suspicious of anyone that says the government should take more of my assets. I guess its easy for you to say...
Something similar to property tax you mean? ok, sure Im in - i mean I dont think I'll be earning a $1,000,000/year any time soon and If I do, it will prob kill me anyway so :) Count me in.
Governments should not take more assets, they should use what they have more efficiently and cut back from there - start with cutting back redundant military spending.
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You guys are pulling my leg right? You are Canadian? If so, I can understand how you aren't getting it, b/c maybe things in the US are different.
Again, $250,000 is squat if you live in an area where most homes start at $300,000 (and nice homes are $700,000). Where I live in NJ, your real estate taxes average $10,000.
Dont you get tax deduction for mortgage interest expense? Damn, thats huge, and if you dont have a mortgage (paid off) thats doubly huge!
BTW, homes where I live start at $300,000 and thats if you are ok with an attached condo with no yard etc.
I think everyone would like to spend less $ as a government.
The Military is an extention of the government, that is one of the biggest spenders in the US.
FTR, I said I dont spend much time on US Taxation for Individuals. Its a non issue for me unless im going to do someones taxes over there.
Generally consumption taxes are not too different in both countries.
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btw,
I apologize if I had the US personal exemption incorrect. I am a Canadian resident so I really dont spend much time on US taxation for individuals- I extrapolated my info from global tax tables and Canada has the exemption - showed up on the tables however it did not show up on the US side I was looking at.
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The tax breaks for the rich line should make everyone sick. Here's why:
1) $250,000 isn't rich. After taxes and spending, you might save $50,000. Is somone with a net worth of $50,000 rich? GTF outa here.
I will have to disagree with you on that part. If someone is earning $250,000 and all they can "save" is $50,000, something is wrong.
Ive saved $50,000 a few years without making close to that- there are alot of opportunities for deductions and deferrals.
This is not directed at you but its funny, it kind of reminds me of the basketball player who turned down a multi-million dollar contract and the rationale he communicated to the media was "how am I supposed to feed my family on that?".
Haha, funny guys those bb players! ;D
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I try to get my head around why the powers in charge dont just give a basic personal exemption for say the first $8,000 - $10,000 similar to Canadas tax system? Sure this will only be 10% of the earning but surely it will all be spent.
The reason I say this is that this is the highest probability of money going back into the system - especially with GDP being so highly weighted in the services sector.
Do away with the crazy tax breaks on mortgages.
I havent done the number crunching on what this would look like in terms of total dollars but we all know the higher earners are a smaller proportion of society.
Reports out now 1 in 7 live below the poverty line. Lets help these people.
What do yall think?
Wouldnt this make more sence than a Tax break for the wealthy?
in General Discussion
Posted
Im not 100% sure but i think, the guy in the blog, both he AND his wife were making $250K ea.