patrick.net

gsr says

It is zero in Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland along with a few other places. Unemployment hardly exists in those countries

It's really easy to have low unemployment when you use foreigners to do most of the work and boot them out of the country when they lose their jobs.

A lot of cars have something like this. Should be easy enough to disable if you own a factory service manual (which you should already own for every car that you have).

bob2356 says

It's really easy to have low unemployment when you use foreigners to do most of the work

Hmm, did you think it through? Cheap foreigners lower unemployment rate?
How does that make unemployment low? Don't we mostly hear the opposite argument on this forum?

Since I sold my modern car in 2012, whenever I go out of town I rent a car for the trip. About a year ago I went to the Enterprise office at the local Ford dealership and was put in a Focus for my trip to Dallas. Immediately I started driving and a ringing came from the dash and a note on the dashboard "Please Observe All Speed Limits, Drive Safely". When I entered Hill County on I-35 where the speed limit is now 75, I increased the speed and another came: "Vehicle is Approaching Maximum Speed", and stayed on until I returned to 65 in Ellis County. When I returned the car I asked what was going on and the lady said oh all the Fords are set not to go above 80, which to me would be very dangerous in an emergency. I wish I'd known that so I could have tested it. She said the computer (I guess the GPS) knows the speed limit everywhere and it will remind you when you go above it. Needless to say, I've avoided Fords since then.

I'm good with this, but is there a way he could have allowed our veterans to pass through his digestive tract unharmed, so as to visit war memorials throughout Manhattan?

I believe blocking veteran access to war memorials to be the highest of crimes. There are several WWII and Vietnam War memorials through Manhattan. Veteran access to these sites should remain unimpeded 24x7x365.

Call it Crazy says

I love these stories..... Boycott Ford... but let Google, Facebook, your cell carrier, etc. track everything you do with your phone... Hilarious...

Robert Samuelson made the same point in his column yesterday:

"People do not open Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram accounts because they wish to shroud their lives in secrecy. They do not use online dating services or post videos on YouTube because they cherish their anonymity. The Internet is a vehicle for self-promotion, personal advertising and the pursuit of celebrity."

"If Americans think their privacy is dangerously diminished, there are remedies. They can turn off their PCs, toss their smartphones and smash their tablets. Somehow, this seems unlikely, even though another Pew survey finds that '86 percent of adult Internet users have taken steps . . . to avoid surveillance by other people or organizations.'"

HydroCabron is Kochel 271 says

There are several WWII and Vietnam War memorials through Manhattan. Veteran access to these sites should remain unimpeded 24x7x365.

I concur, and would add Grant's Tomb to the access list. Due to the continuing mystery about who is actually buried there, all veterans should have a right to inspect and see for themselves at any time. You never know when terrorists or illegal aliens might try to bury themselves in Grant's Tomb.

bgamall4 says

I think this effort to disarm Americans may have more to do with the shooting down of drones than anything. Anyone have thoughts about this?

Fuck, Gary, have it ever occurred to you that people don't hunt birds with rifles? It's true, they don't. Do you know why? Because it's impossible.
Do you know what they use? Shotguns. Do you know the effective distance of a shotgun shot when hunting birds? It's fucking 30 yards. 40 is a stretch. What kind of drones are you expecting to fly by you closer than 40 yards?

PS. What's your profession? Did you go to a college and what was your major? Is there any subject area in which you have at least basic educated knowledge?

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

He would have had the state transportation department lift him with a crane and lay him gut down on the Fort Lee exit ramp facing the city, so he could eat the cars of evil, uncooperative Democratic voters whose scum-sucking mayor defied him.

This is exactly what he did, but it's not being reported because of massive coverup and rep/con/tea media bias. His cockeyed right arm is a dead giveaway though.

BFD, buy a car without built-in GPS. They become obsolete much faster than the car itself anyway. The unit in my 05 Toyota feels like something from completely different era, even though it has a touch screen. And it doesn't know about a street I drive every day to work. And they want $120 for the map update. Fuck them very much.

SFace says

The system has too much money with brutally nowhere to go and for basic property in coveted area (and you are competing for the same 5% of the housing stock in the SFBA) , no one is selling or even close to selling. (housingtracker) Not only are there too much money, you'll have a permanent low transactions due to the majority locking interest rate sub 3.5%. Worst, there is no new homes for sale, especially SFH as an alternative. Household income for the top 20% are rising and wealth is exploding, those will not change anytime soon.

You are competing for the same 5-10% of the housing stock so stop thinking in terms of median.

You hit the nail on the head for the situation in SFBA.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

If Cristie Was a Real GOP Governor Bad Ass . . .

What are you talking about? Just look at Christie take down the Mighty Morphine Power Rangers after Boehner gets his ass kicked.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/8g3TUg2Jp0Q

If he is responsible for the gridlock it's clearly manslaughter.

Strategist says

If he is responsible for the gridlock it's clearly manslaughter.

If the lady was black, it's also clearly a civil rights violation. And the fact that he didn't eat her face means that he killed for pleasure, not out of hunger.

Straw Man says

If the lady was black, it's also clearly a civil rights violation. And the fact that he didn't eat her face means that he killed for pleasure, not out of hunger.

an "eat crime"?

Sorry, but murder doesn't rise to the level of closing off war memorials.

Another note about housing in places like Bakersfield / Fresno is the huge amount of new construction going on. It's in full swing now. In Bakersfield you have DR Horton, Lennar, Castle & Cooke, KB Home, Meritage, McMillin, Lenox,etc. and more than a dozen local tract and custom home builders! Most are late to the game, paying a premium for undeveloped land, and in turn most are not selling homes. The MLS does not reflect new homes with exception to a few builders that are starting to list them. Tons of inventory available.......Spring will be interesting, I will keep everybody posted. I think prices will continue to slide abit.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Right. Closing off war memorials is exactly like shooting every single veteran who ever lived.

As far as my vote is concerned, I think Christie has a path to redemption here: He is the presidential candidate most likely to eat Congress.

With Obama, you have to hope for some cannibalistic Kenyan tribal orgy involving roasting pits on the National Mall, and the pitchforking of mass quantities of congressmeat into the gaping maw of The Oprah.

I think Christie would pop them in raw, like peanuts: munch, munch, munch.

If he eats Congress - alive! - I don't care how many veterans Christie physically blocks from war memorials.

bgamall4 says

This is why I have said there has to be a wealth tax.

There is a wealth tax:

Basics of the Net Investment Income Tax
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Net-Investment-Income-Tax-FAQs

8. What is included in Net Investment Income?

In general, investment income includes, but is not limited to: interest, dividends, capital gains, rental and royalty income, non-qualified annuities, income from businesses involved in trading of financial instruments or commodities and businesses that are passive activities to the taxpayer (within the meaning of section 469). To calculate your Net Investment Income, your investment income is reduced by certain expenses properly allocable to the income (see #13 below).

What you meant to say was that he found a couple fall guys, right?

John Bailo says

There is a wealth tax:

Basics of the Net Investment Income Tax

Uh--the title is Net Investment INCOME Tax. I think it's pretty clearly an INCOME tax, not a wealth tax.

She was 91. If it ain't this, the death panel would have gotten her soon enough so no charges should be filed and savings from not having to pay her social security anymore should be invested in an index fund.

The cover-up is what gets you. Explain it away and go on with life, but now this makes it a major controversy and goes from 15 min to a much longer time.

Fired? They should be arrested!

Dan8267 says

Fired? They should be arrested!

That's next.

Dan8267 says

Fired?

On a charcoal grill, drizzled in vegetable oil because he thinks it's not fattening.

The question is.....is his political career and possible run for the presidency over?
Can he survive this?

Strategist says

The question is.....is his political career and possible run for the presidency over?
Can he survive this?

His bigger worry should be whether he can survive his BMI.

But I don't get the local politics -why block the bridge?? Was it some important day for the dem guy? Or was it just -you don't support me I block the roads to your town ?? I am trying to understand the rationale.

Obama is directly responsible for the actions of an IRS investigator 8 levels below him.

Therefore, Christie has no responsibility for his direct reports.

It's only fair.

At the worst, it's unlicensed euthanasia.

The Krispy Kreme Kervorkian Kroaker scandal.

I saw interviews of traffic-jam victims. The fake crying was obvious.

lostand confused says

But I don't get the local politics -why block the bridge?? Was it some important day for the dem guy? Or was it just -you don't support me I block the roads to your town ?? I am trying to understand the rationale.

A couple of idiots got carried away with the power they had. Christie May not have been in on it. If he was he is finished.

Yanni Zionists are high-fiving each other over this fraudulent bridge closure. A real feat of Jew-Jitsu by the Rothschilds on this one.

This finally gets the Zionists some power in our political system!

As an aside, when was the last time we had a fat fuck president?
So long ago, electing christie would have the same effect of electing the first black/women president.
I say, harness the lard!

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Check this the fuck out, fat fuck fans:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2536283/Paramedics-delayed-reaching-91-year-old-later-died-hospital-traffic-caused-Christies-Bridge-gate.html

As an aside to an aside, how does a fat fuck governer wipe his ass when he has fat fuck trex stumps for arms?
I need video to supplement my imagination.

I already have my line ready for when Christie gets his ass handed to him in his presidential bid:

Is it wrong that I'm smiling?

John Bailo says

bgamall4 says

This is why I have said there has to be a wealth tax.

There is a wealth tax:

I'd add property tax as a wealth tax too.

I hear what you all are saying.

No, it does not assess the value of an asset and tax a percent of that.

But, as has been made clear in many discussions, that is eminently hard -- estimating the value of assets. However, what is not hard is to account for the income derived from those assets which are tracked in hard dollars.

What the NIIT does do is tax "passive income" or the income that results from assets. This includes income from rental properties.

The reason that it is a type of wealth tax, is it taxing the asset not directly, but the benefit that the owner derives from the asset. Ultimately if the owner cannot maintain or keep up the costs of the asset, and is deprived of enough of the income, he has to give it up.

Thus the NIIT is an indirect form of wealth tax (and the reason for much of the opposition to Obamacare since it is funded by the NIIT).

I have proposed that those states seeking more revenue add a SIIT -- or state version of the NIIT. Since people have to already track NIIT income, there would be little additional paperwork.

tr6 says

Again, way to ignore my argument. If you invested in a fund today, you will get 4.7% for 7 years as long as there are no defaults.

Bond funds are a little tricky compared to bonds. Yes, if you buy the bond, and it doesn't default, when it matures in 7 years you'll get your principal and it would have paid 4.7% per year.

But, a bond fund doesn't mature (with some exceptions). They sell bonds and buy new ones to stay at 7 years. So, you could buy a bond fund share for $100, at 4.7% yield. If the yield in 7 years is 7.4%, then the bond fund share price would decline. Maybe the 4.7% per year makes up for the decline, maybe not, depending on the new yield.

There are some defined-maturity bond funds like BSCE, BSCF, etc. These are ETFs that buy a collection of bonds, then the ETF itself liquidates in a set year. For example, one of these will liquidate in 2014. This has the diversification advantage of a fund, and the no-loss-of-principal-excepting-default of buying a bond and holding to maturity.