I'm surprised the Grand Marquis and Crown Victoria aren't on that list. They're a lot of car for the money and they run forever.
There's one problem. What's the point of being rich if all you do is hoard your money and drive a beater car? I see no problem with a wealthy man using an ordinary sedan as his daily driver, but he's got to have a nice car stored for the weekends, vacation, or special occasions, else he's just a miserable miser who's going to have his vast fortune squandered by his resentful children, wife, or mistress after he passes.
What's the point of being rich if all you do is hoard your money and drive a beater car? I see no problem with a wealthy man using an ordinary sedan as his daily driver, but he's got to have a nice car stored for the weekends, vacation, or special occasions, else he's just a miserable miser who's going to have his vast fortune squandered by his resentful children, wife, or mistress after he passes.
And now you know why some rich heirs and heiresses are such jerkwads. On the upside, they make GREAT reality-TV fodder. :shades:
On the USA content, GM has been going down hill. Losing out to the Foreign auto makers on US content. The worst part the car with the most subsidy is only 46% USA made, the Volt. Would this happen in Brazil? What kind of tariff on foreign built vehicles? We should be tacking at least 30% onto all consumer electronics coming into the USA. And 15% on vehicles and parts.
You might say GM had to in order to compete, price-wise.
Cars cost triple in Brazil, taxes used to be around 100% but to be honest I have not looked lately.
You basically have to build in Mercosul. Nissan planned to sell cars made in Mexico in Brazil but their shot just got blocked, so Brazil is still fairly protective.
25% tax prevents importation of pickups and 2 door trucks now. The fed protects the domestic cash cow, at least.
There were two rather wealthy suburbs near me growing up in the 60's. One was old rich and the other new rich. The old rich was just like you say, except it was the 60's so you saw a lot of Impala's and LTD's with a Buick or Oldsmobile mixed in. The new rich area was Cadillac, Lincoln and Mercedes.
Back in the day, Impalas and LTDs were really nice cars. Heck, if they could still build a Chevrolet as nice as a 1970 Caprice, I'd see no need for a Cadillac!
I am really more concerned about the $700 iPhone that brings very little into our economy. The Profit from the iPhone alone was more than All WalMart corporate profit last year. And it looks to be even higher this year. Most of the money is stashed in other countries. You know that Apple makes a heck of a lot more money than pipsqueak GM. They could buy GM several times and probably all three domestic auto makers with cash.
The iPhone generates more profit than GE, for example (all of GE). It generates more profit than Microsoft. It generates more profit than Google and Walmart. It generates almost as much profit as Exxon-Mobil!
The I-Phone generates that much profit and [non-permissible content removed] Steve Jobs said it couldn't be manufactured in the United States! I hope that avaricious dirtbag is burning in hell next to Roger Smith!
I still have a bit of IKEA stuff I bought when I was in my 20s. Desk made in Poland, TV cabinet made in Germany (no kidding), 2 low dressers made in Poland, not sure where the small dining table was made, and a side table that I think comes from somewhere in southeast Asia.
My Malm platform bed is going on 13 years. Hauled it to Boise from Seattle in the back of my Ohio made minivan. It's survived two moves, although one was just across town.
They were nice cars. Unfortunately, our neighborhood was lower middle class which meant lots of used cars. On the positive side, I could ride my bike around the block and see a Kaiser, Hudson, Studebaker and DeSoto. One guy had a used 58 Ford hardtop convertible. He got it because they actually weren't very popular back then because they lacked a useable trunk. As a consequence he got it cheaper than a used rag top.
To gagrice: There is no way that 70% of GM cars sold in the U.S. are built out of the U.S. A brief walk around the lot of your Chevy dealer will tell you that. Look at some window stickers.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Did you listen to the speech by the Head guy at GM. He made the statement that 70% of all GM vehicles are built outside the USA. I'm not sure the USA is GMs biggest market anymore. GM is moving more and more of their mfg out of the US. China will continue buying property and factories in the USA.
I mean, really...you think they are going to buy all those clothes in advance, cars, jewelry, jets, yachts, etc., just to beat the tax???...I truly doubt it...
I don't doubt it. Not at all. Look at rich people like Romney who go through a lot of time, trouble, and expense to make sure they "don't pay a penny more in taxes than they absolutely positively have to," or else they are not qualified to be President? LOL. :sick:
Offshore accounts, under the table money, foreign banks. I don't know too many "regular JOE's" with Swiss and Island bank accounts. If they go through that much trouble to avoid taxes (and not release tax returns beyond 2 years), what else might they be up to?
I know I try to avoid buying stuff in my city because the sales tax is an oppressive 8.5% while surrounding areas have the typical CA 7.75% sales tax.
Not to mention I love buying stuff online from other States (no sales tax whatsoever; Though Jerry Brown is trying to tax that too).
Also; on taking away deductions; that's not fair. What about people that bought a mortgage partly on the basis of that tax deduction on interest. Not fair to change the rules on me for 30 more years if my HARP 2.0 refinance goes through soon. If there wasn't a mortgage deduction, I'd of never entered the housing market most likely (and I'd be a lot richer for it!).
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
My Iphone has been reliable for the 1/2 year I've owned it (knock on wood). If the phone gives me 2 years of reliable service (and battery life); I say don't fix what ain't broke.
Chrysler had made me leery of any American built product. Hard to trust again.
Though, I do recall some DCM tower speakers I bought in the early 90's that were made in the USA I believe, and were of fairly high quality and extremely good durability.
I guess it's hit and miss with USA manufacturers.
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
One of my friends is on either his second or third iPhone. I know one of the older ones still works, but it loses its charge really fast. With his phone plan, I think it didn't cost much more to simply upgrade to a newer one, rather than get a new battery for the old one. Plus, I don't think the battery is very easy to replace, is it?
I thought about getting one, but I'd worry that I'd lose it or break it!
I love buying stuff online from other States (no sales tax whatsoever
Unless of course that company has a presence in your state. Amazon just opened an office here in MA and is now collecting sales tax on shipments to MA.
BTW - most states call it a sales and use tax requiring you to pay the tax on anything you buy outside the state. For years, MA has a line on the state return for you to put the number down. Knowingly signing your tax return without putting the number down IF you've bought out of state constitutes tax evasion.
I think Amazon is making deals with several states including CA to collect the sales tax. Seems like an accounting nightmare. Every town and county in CA has their own add-ons. Will they just say we sold X dollars in CA here is the tax money. Or will they give item, price and customer info to the states? Convenience and free shipping is my reason to use Amazon. If I can save a couple bucks and $8 dollars on gas going to the store it is a good deal. Even if I do pay the tax.
Plus, I don't think the battery is very easy to replace, is it?
I thought about getting one, but I'd worry that I'd lose it or break it!
It isn't easy to replace, but probably a worthy trade-off to save on size and weight. After you see the "non-promotional" cost of one, you won't worry about losing it or breaking it anymore (or maybe you will moreso, especially if you tend to lose extremely expensive stuff on the regular). It would be like losing or breaking one of your Chrysler products (and about the same worth too!).
There's a theory that if your someone that loses a lot of pens, the cure is to buy a $100 dollar pen, and you won't lose them anymore.
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
Knowingly signing your tax return without putting the number down IF you've bought out of state constitutes tax evasion.
Ha! I have buyer's remorse, and in order to emotionally deal with that, I forget everything I buy immediately after receiving it.
I must have forgot everything I bought that tax year. Sorry California! When California pays for a tax secretaries salary, maybe I can keep better track of those things. I'm sure my memory lapse was inadvertant. :P
Good thing I'm not running for President! Or if I do... I'll be sure to avoid buying stuff online for 2 years and release 2 years of tax returns without any potential or appearance of evasion on them.
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
>Not at all. Look at rich people like Romney who go through a lot of time, trouble, and expense to make sure they "don't pay a penny more in taxes than they absolutely positively have to," or else they are not qualified to be President?
Our host has asked us not to do bring up politics on the discussion, so I can't respond to this post in full. But it's nice to know the advertisements trying to make Romney appear not capable of making $20,000,000 and paying $2,800,000 in taxes is somehow working in some people's minds. I suspect he paid more $$$ than the opponent putting out the ads paid in taxes. Using the percentage rate in the BO ads is simply class warfare on his part. Most people don't understand the difference, apparently, between percent paid nor marginal tax rates and total dollars paid. $2.8 mill is more than I pay. :P
I buy lots of things online but not with the intent of dodging taxes. The unpaid taxes are due on your state tax return even if the seller doesn't charge you sales tax. If you don't declare the unpaid sales tax which is due, that is tax cheating, at least in the State of Ohio it is. :sick:
To add a little humor to this thead, it is too bad we can't buy cars over the internet and escape direct collection of sales taxes and not still owe them on April 15th.
"The I-Phone generates that much profit and [non-permissible content removed] Steve Jobs said it couldn't be manufactured in the United States! I hope that avaricious dirtbag is burning in hell next to Roger Smith!"
Unlike Smith, maybe Jobs was smart enough to avoid unions and their restrictive work rules from the beginnning...
And yet he was a big contributor to the Dems and doesn't Al Gore sit on Apple's board, or did? And don't unions typically support Dems?
Oops, there's that political beast again, trying to sneak its way into the forum.
Just when you try to slot someone, they surprise you.
Guess who's buying American?
"Waltham, Mass.-based A123 said it had reached a non-binding agreement with Wanxiang Group Corp., which could see the Chinese firm ultimately own 80 percent of the company."
I think Amazon is making deals with several states including CA to collect the sales tax. Seems like an accounting nightmare. Every town and county in CA has their own add-ons.
Not that hard. CA provides Amazon with a tax chart by zip code. Amazon plugs it into their system, calculates it and sends a check to the state every month. Then the state divies it up. It's all pretty automated. Here in MA, cities and towns can add a restaurant tax to meals. It's collected and paid to the state and then the state sends it to the cities and towns.
Even the states aren't so inefficient that there's some guy behind a desk with a green visor and arm bands calculating it with an old hand crank adding machine.
Looks to me like China is coming in the back door to beat the Koreans on EV batteries. Want to bet the cells are made in China then A123 assembles the batteries here. Gets around several EPA issues as well as lack of Lithium in the USA. Wasn't A123 the company that had the Prius plug-in hybrid fires?
And they also nicked the tax payers for a handsome sum of cash. The Green agenda bites US again.
A123 Systems, an electric car battery company once touted as a stimulus “success story” by former Gov. Jennifer Granhom, D-Mich., has laid off 125 employees since receiving $390 million in government subsidies — but is still handing out big pay raises to company executives.
"A123 Systems, an electric car battery company once touted as a stimulus “success story” by former Gov. Jennifer Granhom, D-Mich., has laid off 125 employees since receiving $390 million in government subsidies — but is still handing out big pay raises to company executives. "
Sounds like a typical American company to me. :shades:
Class warfare? Now that's real humor. That war was declared by Romney Hood and his peers decades ago. Look at the growing socio-economic chasm to see who has declared war on who. Putting your money in Switzerland and the Caribbean usually guarantees less than pristine ethics. Warfare, indeed. It's all bound to trickle down any day now, I swear.
My state has no income tax, don't know how online sales tax would work without the seller collecting it.
Sounds like the typical obama/axelrod campaign where they try to smear the opponent rather than talk about their record.
>so Putting your money in Switzerland and the Caribbean usually guarantees less than pristine ethics
Try some analysis other background of the other candidate and analyze where his interests have been: donors for funding for green projects, can we say "Solyndra" donors, and all the others. Don't know how many of them have money in the foreign banks.
Bad news--You can't believe every TV commercial and "facts" from the WH.
When will the "job creator" talk about his real record, then? He still won't even divulge his taxes. No details of any real economic plan. Swiss and Island banks, that's all one needs to know.
Analyze what? Please be specific. A candidate can claim to be better than the incumbent pile of crap if he isn't in fact better, but he can't fool everyone. Dare anyone analyze the donors to the elephant?
What "facts" are wrong? Explain that tax stuff, too. Trickle down hasn't and doesn't work.
Can we leave Obamaloney and RomneyHood in NeverNever Land where they belong? I come here to talk about cars. Cars are real, solid, sane, dependable, and desirable. None of those adjectives apply to either of the kindergarteners passing themselves off as Presidential candidates.
Um, no. The government builds the roads we drive on and we can talk about Interstates and on-ramps all day long without focusing on the political side of it. Ditto Ford, Chrysler and GM.
I agree, nothing GM has appeals to me in the least. OK maybe a Corvette. If you want to buy the Most American car this year it will have to be a Camry, yuck :sick: If I am going to settle for a vehicle assembled here it will be a Mercedes ML 350 Bluetec. It is now 62% US content. More content than many domestic brands.
I'm still waiting for a DCT Dodge Dart to show up to test drive, but I recently had to transport a bunch of 2U servers in boxes in my car, which reminded me how wonderful it is to own a hatchback. Which puts the Dart at a serious disadvantage versus a Ford Focus or Mazda3. Which REALLY makes me wish Ford had put in a bigger tank...
Comments
If they build 70% of the cars in other countries, but sell 75% of cars they make in other countries, that's just fine, in fact they're a net exporter.
There's one problem. What's the point of being rich if all you do is hoard your money and drive a beater car? I see no problem with a wealthy man using an ordinary sedan as his daily driver, but he's got to have a nice car stored for the weekends, vacation, or special occasions, else he's just a miserable miser who's going to have his vast fortune squandered by his resentful children, wife, or mistress after he passes.
And now you know why some rich heirs and heiresses are such jerkwads. On the upside, they make GREAT reality-TV fodder. :shades:
Cars cost triple in Brazil, taxes used to be around 100% but to be honest I have not looked lately.
You basically have to build in Mercosul. Nissan planned to sell cars made in Mexico in Brazil but their shot just got blocked, so Brazil is still fairly protective.
25% tax prevents importation of pickups and 2 door trucks now. The fed protects the domestic cash cow, at least.
Great idea but then most Americans would complain about having to pay more.
We've become a nation of Wal Mart shoppers, wanting everything for cheap but not willing to deal with the consequences of that $39 bookcase.
$25 at IKEA:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40178591/
But remember that IKEA isn't targeting the Wal Mart shopper. They want skinny jeaned, fixie riding residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn...
The iPhone generates more profit than GE, for example (all of GE). It generates more profit than Microsoft. It generates more profit than Google and Walmart. It generates almost as much profit as Exxon-Mobil!
http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-profit-2012-8
Still pining for a fixie though.
Just check the tags on the merchandise: Walmart north.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I don't doubt it. Not at all. Look at rich people like Romney who go through a lot of time, trouble, and expense to make sure they "don't pay a penny more in taxes than they absolutely positively have to," or else they are not qualified to be President? LOL. :sick:
Offshore accounts, under the table money, foreign banks. I don't know too many "regular JOE's" with Swiss and Island bank accounts. If they go through that much trouble to avoid taxes (and not release tax returns beyond 2 years), what else might they be up to?
I know I try to avoid buying stuff in my city because the sales tax is an oppressive 8.5% while surrounding areas have the typical CA 7.75% sales tax.
Not to mention I love buying stuff online from other States (no sales tax whatsoever; Though Jerry Brown is trying to tax that too).
Also; on taking away deductions; that's not fair. What about people that bought a mortgage partly on the basis of that tax deduction on interest. Not fair to change the rules on me for 30 more years if my HARP 2.0 refinance goes through soon. If there wasn't a mortgage deduction, I'd of never entered the housing market most likely (and I'd be a lot richer for it!).
Chrysler had made me leery of any American built product. Hard to trust again.
Though, I do recall some DCM tower speakers I bought in the early 90's that were made in the USA I believe, and were of fairly high quality and extremely good durability.
I guess it's hit and miss with USA manufacturers.
I thought about getting one, but I'd worry that I'd lose it or break it!
You still owe sales tax on that stuff in most states (maybe not Oregon?). It's just not collected by the vendor.
Let's try to leave the politicking to the talk shows (POTUS isn't exactly broke either you know). Thanks.
Unless of course that company has a presence in your state. Amazon just opened an office here in MA and is now collecting sales tax on shipments to MA.
BTW - most states call it a sales and use tax requiring you to pay the tax on anything you buy outside the state. For years, MA has a line on the state return for you to put the number down. Knowingly signing your tax return without putting the number down IF you've bought out of state constitutes tax evasion.
I thought about getting one, but I'd worry that I'd lose it or break it!
It isn't easy to replace, but probably a worthy trade-off to save on size and weight. After you see the "non-promotional" cost of one, you won't worry about losing it or breaking it anymore (or maybe you will moreso, especially if you tend to lose extremely expensive stuff on the regular). It would be like losing or breaking one of your Chrysler products (and about the same worth too!).
There's a theory that if your someone that loses a lot of pens, the cure is to buy a $100 dollar pen, and you won't lose them anymore.
Ha! I have buyer's remorse, and in order to emotionally deal with that, I forget everything I buy immediately after receiving it.
I must have forgot everything I bought that tax year. Sorry California! When California pays for a tax secretaries salary, maybe I can keep better track of those things. I'm sure my memory lapse was inadvertant. :P
Good thing I'm not running for President! Or if I do... I'll be sure to avoid buying stuff online for 2 years and release 2 years of tax returns without any potential or appearance of evasion on them.
Our host has asked us not to do bring up politics on the discussion, so I can't respond to this post in full. But it's nice to know the advertisements trying to make Romney appear not capable of making $20,000,000 and paying $2,800,000 in taxes is somehow working in some people's minds. I suspect he paid more $$$ than the opponent putting out the ads paid in taxes. Using the percentage rate in the BO ads is simply class warfare on his part. Most people don't understand the difference, apparently, between percent paid nor marginal tax rates and total dollars paid. $2.8 mill is more than I pay. :P
I buy lots of things online but not with the intent of dodging taxes. The unpaid taxes are due on your state tax return even if the seller doesn't charge you sales tax. If you don't declare the unpaid sales tax which is due, that is tax cheating, at least in the State of Ohio it is. :sick:
To add a little humor to this thead, it is too bad we can't buy cars over the internet and escape direct collection of sales taxes and not still owe them on April 15th.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Unlike Smith, maybe Jobs was smart enough to avoid unions and their restrictive work rules from the beginnning...
Oops, there's that political beast again, trying to sneak its way into the forum.
Just when you try to slot someone, they surprise you.
Guess who's buying American?
"Waltham, Mass.-based A123 said it had reached a non-binding agreement with Wanxiang Group Corp., which could see the Chinese firm ultimately own 80 percent of the company."
Chinese auto parts firm to invest up to $450M in A123 (Detroit News)
Not that hard. CA provides Amazon with a tax chart by zip code. Amazon plugs it into their system, calculates it and sends a check to the state every month. Then the state divies it up. It's all pretty automated. Here in MA, cities and towns can add a restaurant tax to meals. It's collected and paid to the state and then the state sends it to the cities and towns.
Even the states aren't so inefficient that there's some guy behind a desk with a green visor and arm bands calculating it with an old hand crank adding machine.
http://green.autoblog.com/2008/06/18/converted-plug-in-prius-destroyed-by-fire/
And they also nicked the tax payers for a handsome sum of cash. The Green agenda bites US again.
A123 Systems, an electric car battery company once touted as a stimulus “success story” by former Gov. Jennifer Granhom, D-Mich., has laid off 125 employees since receiving $390 million in government subsidies — but is still handing out big pay raises to company executives.
http://scaredmonkeys.com/2012/02/26/a123-systems-an-electric-car-battery-company- -another-barack-obama-green-stimulus-company-failure/
Sounds like a typical American company to me. :shades:
My state has no income tax, don't know how online sales tax would work without the seller collecting it.
Sounds like the typical obama/axelrod campaign where they try to smear the opponent rather than talk about their record.
>so Putting your money in Switzerland and the Caribbean usually guarantees less than pristine ethics
Try some analysis other background of the other candidate and analyze where his interests have been: donors for funding for green projects, can we say "Solyndra" donors, and all the others. Don't know how many of them have money in the foreign banks.
Bad news--You can't believe every TV commercial and "facts" from the WH.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Analyze what? Please be specific. A candidate can claim to be better than the incumbent pile of crap if he isn't in fact better, but he can't fool everyone. Dare anyone analyze the donors to the elephant?
What "facts" are wrong? Explain that tax stuff, too. Trickle down hasn't and doesn't work.
If that isn't related to cars I don't know what is.
As long as the gov't owns GM, talking about politics and cars is one and the same.