By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/23/business/global/bmw-chief-faces-big-test-of-hi- - s-strategy.html?pagewanted=all
But, the vast majority aren't car enthusiasts and likely wouldn't read car mags anyway. In the past, did the casually interested bother to read those either? For the most part, I've always thought either one is a rabid car nut, or just doesn't care. Not a lot of middle ground. If the enthusiast rags wrote mostly about Corollas and hybrids, the sales loss from car nuts would probably far exceed the gain from the casual. Hmm...gives an idea. A magazine or a group of them that are only about normal everyday cars that enthusiasts would consider to be too boring to bother to read about. I wonder if it would sell.
I noticed a current 3 series ad is actually touting mileage, so maybe the suits are learning about attracting a new demographic.
The highlines have also developed some dependency on the BRICs, which might not be a good strategy.
In those days, having a car meant freedom...and freedom meant the opportunity to at least have a chance of being alone with a girl. The more impressive the car, the better the chance.
Even today, when guys of our era hit middle age and realize the girls are no longer flocking after them, they rush out and buy a red convertible.
So, back then we were obsessed with cars because we were obsessed with girls. Now, with women's lib, the sexual revolution, and all that goes along with it, young men today don't care that much about cars because they have easier access to...most things.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
The iphone was available at the verizon store in N C, so the wife is bringing it home..Just paid for it, so that should show up in aapl`s earnings ....grandson still has a loss, but not for long
Highly recommended.
Len,
My wife and I are very much looking forward to seeing this movie hopefully next weekend.
One other thing is when did Reps and Dems switch sides? In Lincoln's day it seems reps were the radical liberals and dems were the conservatives. I was never one to follow party politics that far back.
I have O'Reilly's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln books on my desk in my study as my next readings and I'm more interested in the latter first. BTW - a Kennedy was involved in the making of the movie.
And, here is THE main reason why AAPL was strong on Friday. Take a look at the link below. This is VERY encouraging for AAPL. This report was not even available back on Friday so this should bode well for tomorrow.
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/25/apple-ipad-black-friday/?source=yahoo_quo- - - te
I think Lincoln by Gore Vidol (sp) was a really goood book..Have it at the farm and will report back it that isn`t the author`s name.....I look forward to the movie..
The iphone is very nice, and I am warming to it quickly....:) Tony
I was watching CNBC the past hour and I heard a very interesting interview with Gene Munster (famous analyst). He was at the Mall of America and conducted surveys at both the Microsoft and Apple stores. First of all, the traffic and the Apple Store was at least twice as large. Secondly, in the two hours that he was at Microsoft Store, not one Surface tablet was sold. When he asked people exiting the store why they did not buy a Surface, the common answer was that it was too much like a PC. They were mostly buying things like the X - Box. Meanwhile, the demand for the iPad Mini and iPhone at the Apple store was through the roof, but unfortunately, they had no iPad Minis to pick up at the store due to supply constraints. There is a two week waiting period. The iPhone 5 supply constraint is gradually improving. All this tells me that Microsoft is in trouble with their Surface tablet.
Here is a a Forbes article about the APPL stock prospects for the near and longer term:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardsaintvilus/2012/11/26/why-apple-might-regain-- - 600-this-week/?partner=yahootix
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/opinion/krugman-fighting-fiscal-phantoms.html
Then there's a very responsible column written by Warren Buffett. I actually agree with a lot of it as he also believes that the $250k "rich" bracket constantly defined by Obama needs to be raised. He suggests $500K. I like his idea of a minimum tax on the over $1mln taxable incomes but I'd allow a large deduction against that for business income and LT cap gains from the sale of businesses. Again my reasoning here is don't punish the crowd that is hiring America and taking risks to do it. I again make a major separation between a LT cap gain on the sale of a business vs the sale of stock in the stock market. One is starting or buying an enterprise with the intent of expanding and thus hiring people while the other is an individual purchase that some may almost view as gambling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/opinion/buffett-a-minimum-tax-for-the-wealthy.- - - - - - html?_r=0
One last thing on "Lincoln". What was touching in the movie from the audience I saw it with was that the audience loudly clapped during two scenes. The first was on the passing of the thirteenth amendment and the second time was after he said something very poignant and started a walk down the Whitehouse corridor with his classic tall hat on in a great almost silhouette look. I think a lot of people mistakenly thought that was going to be the last scene in the movie.
50% of my paper gain on AAPL is gone.
All my gains on GM are gone.
FB is almost back up to it's bump from 4 weeks ago.
Talking to myself:
AAPL up 10% in 2 weeks.
GM picking up some steam.
FB got a huge bump today - up almost 8% today on an upgrade to outperform. I've been dollar cost averaging weekly since August. So far so good.
That is what is keeping me on the sidelines looking more at real estate. So little logic to what happens on a day to day basis.
I am in total agreement. His commentary on this issue is totally irresponsible.
Then there's a very responsible column written by Warren Buffett. I actually agree with a lot of it as he also believes that the $250k "rich" bracket constantly defined by Obama needs to be raised. He suggests $500K.
I bet this is exactly what happens in a compromise. As I stated last week, I am very optimistic that we will have a deal done that will be sensible.
My wife and I are going to see "Lincoln" on Saturday evening if we can get tickets. We"ll find a way to do so.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that my wife and I, for the first time ever, tried the Wagyu burgers this evening. It was 24 degrees outside and we decided to cook them on an iron skillet. Yummy, yummy, yummy, we're they good! We have 6 left I think. Next time I will try the strip steaks.
I am enjoying the phone, but it is a poor substitute for a larger computer....As mentioned my wife loves her iPad, and mine is defective with the antenna...They will replace it....I`l be getting her another so Charlie, some more profit for you all Tony
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2012/11/27/apple-regains-u-s-smartphone- -lead-with-iphone-5/?mod=yahoobarrons
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-27/apple-said-to-fire-maps-manager-after-f- - laws-hurt-iphone-5-debut.html?cmpid=yhoo
I hope so Charlie. But if the Dems don't move on cuts the reps will pull the taxes right off the table. This column gives me a lot of pause on a compromise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/us/politics/politics-in-play-over-safety-net-i- n-deficit-talks.html?ref=todayspaper
And something like this will kill the upper middle class, particularly two income families.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/congressional-proposal-could- -create-bubble-in-tax-code/
Good comment there:
"The Clinton era tax rates seem to have been for the most part, substantially effective in keeping the economy healthy. I keep wondering what great disaster would befall us should the Bush tax cuts simply be left to expire. Certainly these former rates were not factoring two unfunded wars, the Wall Street-Bankers scams, and the latest lack of responsibility from the financial sectors today.
Defense cuts do seem to be greater than popular theory holds acceptable, but these reductions are not all-at-once and would be done over ten years.
The congress can at anytime restore funding, lower targeted tax rates, and generally vote for spending as they see fit. I think that until the so-called fiscal cliff is reached and we see what the acutal results will be, we cannot just Trust the Powers that are currently invested in the Status Quo.
I think it's time to allow the laws of Gravity to regain a foothold in our financial landscape, which in this case is to allow the failed tax policies of the Bush era to just die, and return to a already proven succesful model. And no, we should not allow for the Tax Bubble to have any chance of success."
Moreso the $150k + $150K crowd. If you live in the NY area that's not all that much money. By the time you pay the mortgage, state taxes, real estate tax, the new fed taxes and cover your needs you don't have much in the way of savings and basically the government is taking away your discetionary spending that would pump the economy. If you bought a house 15 years ago you can bear it a lot easier. Basically a recovery tax to 39.6% here plus state taxes and real estate taxes puts your total taxes at over 55% of income and that's without adding in sales, gas and other local taxes.
I think everyone forgets Clinton governed during the dot com era which brought unemployment rates to 4% and when that bubble burst in conjunction with 9/11 it didn't matter who was president, the US economy was headed into major problems. I'd hardly look at this economy vs the economy of the dot com era and write a statement like that in a public article. Understand it's also a NY Times article and the prejudice to liberalism there is incredible. I don't think I've read a positive comment on a republican in the Times once in the last 10 years. What they did to Romney was an absolute shame and blatantly childish. They made the National Enquirer look like all time pro reporting.
While I am not adverse to letting the Bush tax cuts end. It would cost me a few thou more per year. I don't think we have anywhere close to as robust economy as the Dot.com bubble produced. Add to the fact that states like CA are adding to the tax burden on upper middle class. Causing a job migration out of the state. I think the problem has been the tax and spend Democrats all along. Only time will tell. I hear both Belize and Costa Rica are good safe shelters. One bank in Belize is offering 5% on deposits of $50k or more...
There was past prosperity with the upper few percent paying more taxes than today. The trickle down experiment didn't work, unless people blindly look at 2005 as a real economy.
The dot com era didn't really pick up steam until what, maybe 1996 or later? I think the relative recovery from earlier malaise was underway before then.
Romney had enough issues all by himself anyway. GOP needs to find some credible voices, and now.
Maybe assessments on fleeing capital should be at a point where taking advantage of an existing system to make a fortune and then running away when the bills come do becomes unattractive...
I think Buffets thought to have everyone above a certain number to pay thirty percent, and as you say there are certain parts of the country that are vastly cheaper to live in...Most of those place also don`t have the potential to make alot of money.....
If I could do it all over again, I would give myself a better chance , and start in a expensive area
I`m with Charlie in that I am encouraged by the future, but at the same time , as you, I want to see some spending cuts , and not trivial things but some genuine cuts, not slowdowns in future things, but cuts......There are some bloated broken things out there in the name of Government..... and also in the name of Business....Just think make twenty million and pay fifteen percent, make three hundred thousand and pay thirty five plus other state taxes...Sorry it`s broken Tony
No possible way you can call the last 6 years trickle down. Most of the Stimulus went to welfare programs. Much of it went to Medicaid and Unemployment compensation. That is Trickle Up economics IMO. Most of TARP went to Wall st, insurance companies and the banks. It did not trickle anywhere. As loans are tougher now than anytime in my memory. We are not doing very well with that experiment either. The only bubbles I see now are deficit bubbles. Personal, state and Federal. Borrowing against an unknown future.
Trickle up economic claims would be stronger if any wealth gains were being made by people other than those who reap the trickle down rewards. They aren't, so...if anything, those safety net increases were there to lower the odds of any unrest.
You are obviously not familiar with our many and varied welfare programs. When A man can get disability for 10 years with a wife and 2 kids that pays him more to not look for something he can do, we have a system that rewards those that are not wanting to work. I don't consider $38k in welfare plus full medicaid some kind of trickle down. You're brainwashed by liberals.
I think Clinton enjoyed the debate with those across the aisle. Obama does not even talk to people in his own party according to his number one fan Chris Matthews. He prefers talking to other world leaders and his very close advisers. Valerie Jarrett has more influence than any of the Democrats in Congress.
Higher taxes could backfire as they did in the UK.
In the 2009-10 tax year, more than 16,000 people declared an annual income of more than £1 million to HM Revenue and Customs.
This number fell to just 6,000 after Gordon Brown introduced the new 50p top rate of income tax shortly before the last general election.
Far from raising funds, it actually cost the UK £7 billion in lost tax revenue.
“Labour now needs to admit that their policies resulted in millionaires paying less tax and come clean about whether they would reintroduce this failed policy if they were in power.”
Mr Osborne argued earlier this year that the 50p rate was deterring entrepreneurs from coming to Britain.
The Chancellor wanted to scrap the top rate altogether for those earning more than £150,000 a year – and return to the previous system of a basic and top rate of tax.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9707029/Two-thirds-of-millionaires-left- -Britain-to-avoid-50p-tax-rate.html
No governing occurred. No experience is the problem. Goals that are social engineering oriented rather than successful economy oriented is next. Unable to discuss and negotiate and make a decision without checking with his handlers. That's what happened when Boehner and he had reached potential agreement last spring or summer and He had to go check with the handlers based on the up-coming election and then turned it down. Clinton would have negotiated, make a compromise, and settled for the good of the people. Then he would have triangulated what he was doing compared to what he actually did so most people thought he was actually taking a position one way but he went another.
>The Republicans have stayed as a block, and the Democrats also.
But, again, the democrats in the senate moving NO bills that the Republicans had moved in the House was all intended to make the Republicans look ineffective, while it's the Senate who has done nothing--still waiting for a real budget from them are we? Add in a compliant media who presents everything pro-democrat rather than giving a Walter Cronkite middle-of-the-road evaluation of what's occurring in DC, and we have the Republicans being framed as the problem rather than the ineffective Prez and senate, to wit Harry Reid.
Looking at all that, I expect the prez in between campaign trips here and overseas to let the talks between some distant advisor and the Senate and House fail so that the tax rates go up and the cuts to that awful military go into effect. Then he will step up with executive orders to fix certain parts of the tax increases, lowering them back to "help the middle class" and take credit for being the good guy with those who don't actually analyze what goes on. He will have gained military spending decreases. And it won't have been his fault--rather it's the fault of those republicans in the House and the MS media will regurgitate whatever fits his bill. Is it too late to vote for Hillary?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I`m hopeful that congress and the president reach a consensus, and a reasonable balanced consensus....but it certainly is possible we go over the cliff....Tony ps I am very positive on what the future holds....
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/business/combatting-inequality-may-require-bro- - - - - - ader-tax.html?ref=business
That's exactly why the party wanted Obama over a much better leader in Hillary in 2008. She would have told them to go stuff it instead of being their puppet. Neither party wants a strong leader, just one that'll do what the behind the scenes people want. That's why we go nowhere until a crisis develops.
Small business loans are next to impossible. Without small business loans there is no trickle down whatsoever. I was only able to secure one bank to loan my company money and I've got a 1.40 coverage ratio vs the days when banks loaned at 1.05 or 1.10. Many banks require 1.50 which is incredibly high as it means you have 1.5X the cash flow you need for fixed commitments. Large businesses are cash rich - we have more corporate money by far than ever in history - and borrow unnecessarily simply because of such extraordinarily low rates.
The government's free market reforms introduced over the last two years, are designed to encourage small businesses, private farming and individual initiative, along with plans to pay state workers more. Under the new tax code the state hopes to get its share of the proceeds.
The government also envisions replacing subsidies for all with targeted welfare, meaning that the largely tax-free life under a paternalistic government is on its way out.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/49989684
And if anything, welfare isn't wealth. That gap does nothing but widen.
Barry was elected 3 weeks ago, and the markets nor the dollar have collapsed yet. Maybe the future isn't wrecked.
What about GMCR & COST?? And GOOG today?
Anyone buy before the headed up??
Because my business is nearby in NY, my family is here, my friends are here, my roots are here, it's convenient to anything you want or need, I love the year round climate and I can afford it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/business/companies-are-expected-to-increase-bu- - ybacks.html
And here goes Obama on the campaign trail - again - because that seems to be the only thing the man really wants to ever do. He never mentions a spending cut in public though. It's all about tax increases and the big bad Republicans as if he was still campaigning. The man is clueless on negotiating and his cheerleading actions are almost childish given he's the president of the country. To think we have 4 more years of him is scary to me.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/us/politics/president-obama-asks-congress-to-k- - - eep-tax-cuts-for-middle-class.html?ref=business