The Stock Market and Investing

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  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    edited December 2012
    The 2013 LS is disappointing to me also. It hardly moved the needle and looks too much like the exiting model, except for the grille, which I'm not sold on for the LS. It looks great on the GS though. From what I've read even Lexus views the 2013 as a refresh, not a next gen LS. That supposedly will happen in 2016 with much more dramatic styling and interior changes. I will look seriously at MB and maybe even Audi for my next lease in late summer and I may seriously consider a leftover S-class as I love it's styling over the ones I posted yesterday.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I think you said you have the GL? How do you like it? Would you get another one? I am too old to get in and out of the Sedans anymore. I hate driving the wife's old LS400 as it tweeks my back getting out. I prefer SUV and PU ingress and egress. I drove the GL320 CDI back in 2007 and did not care for the 7 speed downshifting each time I let off on the gas pedal. Is that characteristic of the MB 7 speed?
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    edited December 2012
    Love the GL. Rides like a lux sedan, is very comfortable, has a great stereo and handles very nicely for a truck of that size. The updated model is even better and has a better nav system. How anyone buys the MB G-class over the GL is beyond me. It'll get you more looks as it's a lot rarer but who cares about that if a $30K cheaper vehicle is better in luxury and amenities and rides so much nicer.

    Re the 7 auto gas transmission - that is not the case at all.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    edited December 2012
    I am not sure I need the GL size. So I am looking harder at the ML350 Bluetec. I am told by owners that 30+ MPG is common on the highway. I like long range cruising. 700 miles between filling suits me fine. I would assume the NAV in the GL and ML are the same. The NAV is a big disappointment with my Sequoia limited. And of course having to look for gas every 300 miles. A neighbor lady has the newer GL diesel and is very happy. She never checks her mileage.

    PS
    Someone in our village has a blinged out G that really makes me wonder about people. They are an over priced status symbol IMO. I guess because Oprah has a "G" Wagon it is fashionable.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    edited December 2012
    Well, it isn't exactly a society built on innovation. I don't know if our tax dodgers (Kennedy clan is just one) are as bad as the blood money elite of our most favored "partner", however.

    Making it a rant about this "regime" is pointless, previous war criminal regime did nothing about it, regime before that enabled it even more, and a few regimes before that opened the Pandora's Box to begin with. No politico has the guts to address the problem, as they just follow the money. The vanquished candidate who some claim was there to "save us" offered no thoughts of how to address the issue - in fact the economic plan we were supposed to see hasn't materialized yet either. Guess it was another fairytale.

    Those who know they will dodge the axe when bad times come aren't going to flee. The worst of the embezzlers are what we see here. Some of those stats are kind of no brainers, kind of like saying Seattle has more zillionaires than Spokane. Miami surprises me though, given the second world corrupt banana republic socio-economic spectrum that exists there. Maybe that repels some more sensible money. In most of those BRICy places, who you know and what you can hide trumps what you know, much moreso than here. Those places also have much more crime, poverty, corruption, etc than the areas they are compared with,too (even Chicago!) :shades:
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    G-wagen is all about the inverse relationship between good taste and wealth. I doubt it is Oprah - it's kind of a rapper/mafia thing. The GL is no doubt 10x more practical for almost half the price - also it is a virtually new design compared to the G which has a design foundation almost as old as I am.
  • anthonypanthonyp Member Posts: 1,860
    My Audi has been a good car.....No problems tip recently, and a co2 sensor failed two times, and the air sensor for the tires also....Could not turn the air sensor off due to the government rules...Those repair have cost three thousand dollars at around sixty thousand miles....
    I have been very pleased with Lexus previously, but if the price is anything like Charley said, then that is out....
    A neighbor purchased a Lexus 350 ( I think that is the model) and I thought it looked quite well made, but I also don`t particularly like the grill...Probably will grow on me
    I too am keeping the Audi another year or so...It has the most amazing paint job, sort of a gold color, that looks as though it is new....I wax it with Zano product every year, and believe me that stuff really does something I have never experienced with such an old car...

    Tony
  • anthonypanthonyp Member Posts: 1,860
    The accountant think the tax bill, including the medicare increase could possibly be around seven teen percent increase....I guess that is the number that we hope will be lower.....Strange how the congress delays this until the last moment.....Doesn`t give anyone a chance to plan very much for such an important event....:-( Tony
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    For example, we have clients who have an account here with Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) who were purchasing a home and transferring their U.S. dollars down to their account to make the purchase.

    The banks in Costa Rica unfortunately need to comply with all the new banking rule changes, due to the Patriot Act, FATCA and to CAFTA - the "free trade" agreement with the U.S.

    Thanks to Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) starting January 2013, Costa Rican banks MUST report all banking activities of US citizens directly to the IRS. They may hold the American citizens responsible for "balancing their books" but in several audits, the IRS cannot balance their own books which is a great example to set for your citizens.


    http://www.welovecostarica.com/members/3954.cfm

    You may have to register to see this website. It is up to date information on retiring and living in Costa Rica.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    Like our law enforcement community likes to say, if you've done nothing wrong, you've no reason to worry...right? :shades:

    This issue has come up in Switzerland, too. In the end, the dirty or bloody money will remain untouchable.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I just wonder how the fat cats transfer millions into banks in the Caymans or Bermuda without the IRS seeing it? Every time I make a transaction of $10k or more it is reported by the bank. I suppose they could transport suitcases full on their yachts. Speaking of which, some fat cat Russian has one of his smaller yachts parked here in San Diego.

    The mega-yacht docked near our downtown Cruise Ship Terminal has raised eyebrows. The 377-foot-long Luna boasts not one, but two, helicopter landing pads. Port officials aren’t talking, but Google yields lots of info about the super yacht’s reputed owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

    Forbes estimated the oil tycoon's wealth at $12.1 billion last March. The Luna, which has a crew of more than 40, reportedly features bulletproof windows and cinema-sized TVs in each of its bedrooms. But it's a midget when compared to Abramovich's largest yacht, the Eclipse, stretching more than 500 feet.
  • anthonypanthonyp Member Posts: 1,860
    Seems to me this stuff has been going on for centuries....The US has stringent laws that are un-enforced...They can make life very disagreeable, simply by not letting a person back in the country after half a year.....That may sound trivial, but in reality we all have a homing instinct, and are drawn to our homeland.....

    I think that if a person hasn`t done anything wrong, they are free to leave, and if they give up their citizenship they can only come back for a total of half a year..

    The Russians have a fantastic country, and they are just beginning to embrace freedom----sort of like the Barons back at the turn of the century(past century) , so the huge yachts are even bigger than what was available back then :) Tony
  • dieselonedieselone Member Posts: 5,729
    edited December 2012
    That may sound trivial, but in reality we all have a homing instinct, and are drawn to our homeland.....

    You're likely right, when the _____ hit the fan, where did Mr. McAfee run to;)
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Funny they left out Samsung?? Costco sells the Samsung tab2 both 7 & 10 inch, by the zillions.

    And the tablet data above is based on consumer sentiment when participants were presented with just those four options. Responses varied slightly when all tablet brands and models were considered.

    When I compare the iPhone 5 to the Galaxy Note 2 on Verizon, 82% would recommend the iPhone and 98% the Note 2. Only about 200 reviews on Note 2 compared to 1000 for the iPhone 5.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google Maps have found their way back to the iPhone.

    The world's most popular online mapping system returned late Wednesday with the release of the Google Maps' iPhone app. The release comes nearly three months after Apple Inc. (AAPL) replaced Google Maps as the device's built-in navigation system and inserted its own maps into the latest version of its mobile operating system.

    Apple's maps proved to be far inferior to Google's. The product's shoddiness prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to issue a rare public apology and recommend that iPhone owners consider using Google maps through a mobile Web browser or seek other alternatives until his company could fix the problems. Cook also replaced the executive in charge of Apple's mobile operating system after the company's maps became a subject of widespread ridicule.

    Among other things, Apple's maps misplaced landmarks, overlooked towns and sometimes got people horribly lost. In a particularly egregious example flagged this week, Australian police derided Apple's maps as "life-threatening" because the system was steering people looking for the city of Mildura into a sweltering, remote desert 44 miles from the desired destination.


    http://apnews.myway.com/article/20121213/DA34NKM81.html
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    edited December 2012
    Here's the deal I would do if I had to resolve this fiscal cliff standoff as an arbitrator:

    1. Whatever taxes go up by there has to be 3.5x tax revenues in spending cuts.

    2. Taxes rise to 36% on taxable income (TI) over $350K, 37% over $500K, 38.25% over $750K and 39.6% over $1mln. Deductions capped at 25% of TI for anyone over $250K and capped at $70K for anyone over $350K.

    3. Dividends and LT cap gains taxed at 17.5%

    4. Estate tax stays as is.

    5. Obama has ability to increase debt ceiling as needed within set amounts for next 12 months.

    The debt ceiling has to be married into the deal. I'd also give small business a first year credit of $25% of a new employees salary up to a salary of $150K provided the person was hired before June 30th and was on the payroll at December 31. The credit would pass to ownership on their 1040's.
  • cyclone4cyclone4 Member Posts: 2,302
    I have been using the Apple Maps a lot lately and it has been flawless. I think Apple already made a lot of improvement on its iMaps. Does the new Google map app have turn by turn voice commands? I know it says that it now has turn by turn directions, but this does not necessarily mean that it has turn by turn voice commands. The original one did not and I did not like it. If you are driving, it is dangerous to be looking onto the phone to see the directions and this is where voice command is critically important. As far as the Australian incident is concerned, I heard yesterday that this was because there was no internet connection in the area where this took place. If this is the case, then this incident is full of BS. Without internet connection, you are out of luck.
  • anthonypanthonyp Member Posts: 1,860
    Hi Len

    I just don`t know how much revenue your formula would raise, but I like the idea to cut spending in some ratio as you suggest.....I do think that if they came up with a plan that said`` the present deductions etc would stay the same`` but that any individual earning a million or so would have to pay a minimum of say twenty five percent or so..I think that would eliminate some of the abuse or at least lessen it

    It really seems to me that the entire subject is just a complicated one, and one I don`t have the ability to meaningfully understand...This posturing and uncertainty is `souring` the mood of the country at an important junction.....I suspect it is planned this way so that people make decisions they may be sorry for in a short while....Further if you were to take gains now, you will be paying the tax in a few months, and imo have a hard time to reinvest the money.....I`m still going to play it safe and not make any decision based on tax...Might be stupid...but maybe not :) Tony
  • cyclone4cyclone4 Member Posts: 2,302
    Tony,

    I am doing the same thing. I guess that makes both of us stupid...or maybe not. :)
  • circlewcirclew Member Posts: 8,666
    edited December 2012
    Might try looking at one of these in a few years. Rumored to add AWD soon, as well.

    image

    Regards,
    OW
  • circlewcirclew Member Posts: 8,666
    I would have voted for you over Romney, seriously. Why doesn't anyone see your balance?

    Regards,
    OW
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    If Apple maps were good, they would not have fired the architect and apologized to the iPhone 5 buyers. They would not now be including Google Maps on the iPhone. I understand your total obsession with all things Apple. My best buddy feels the same as you. Apple can do no wrong. Another good friend totally loved his 4s until he dropped it. He has decided to replace it with the Note 2 after playing with it at AT&T. It was not that he did not like the iPhone 5, he just likes the Note 2 more.
  • cyclone4cyclone4 Member Posts: 2,302
    edited December 2012
    If Apple maps were good, they would not have fired the architect and apologized to the iPhone 5 buyers.

    I did not say that Apple maps were good. They obviously had major issues when released. For example, it had the Des Moines Country Club in the wrong spot when I tried it a few days after I bought the iPhone 5. But now it it has its correct location. What I did say above is that Apple has already made a lot of improvements on them. Therefore, I feel like I do not need the newly released Google maps app. And, I ask again. Does this app have turn by turn voice commands? If not, I would never consider it.
  • cyclone4cyclone4 Member Posts: 2,302
    edited December 2012
    OW,

    The MB already has AWD. In fact, the S has been with AWD for at least 5 years now if I'm not mistaken. Is the car in your photo a Mercedes? Maybe that's the problem. If not, then what is it?
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 267,543
    Setting the tax rates is the easy part (though your numbers are reasonable)..

    Assuming that raises the $1.4 trillion in revenue (over 10 years) that Obama wants.... where do you find $4.9 trillion in cuts (490 billion/year)?

    I mean a billion here, a billion there.. you can find in the couch cushions... But, $490 billion per year? ;)

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  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    edited December 2012
    Is the car in your photo a Mercedes? Maybe that's the problem. If not, then what is it?

    It's a Hyundai Genesis.
  • cyclone4cyclone4 Member Posts: 2,302
    Thanks rob! I swear that it looks quite similar to the S on that view, doesn't it?
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Three months after being dropped as the default mapping app in iOS, Google Maps is back. On Wednesday evening, Google Maps for iOS 6 hit Apple’s App Store. The new app has been redesigned by Google and has, among other features, voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation and transit directions.

    http://gigaom.com/apple/now-with-turn-by-turn-navigation-google-maps-returns-to-- ios/

    Talking to my son and DIL about their move from Alaska to Indiana via San Diego, they raved about Google maps on their iPhone 4s. It found them the best hotel deals in Canada, Oregon, CA onto Indiana. Also accurate gas prices. My experience with NAVs in my Toyota Sequoia Limited has been far from good. So their experience got me to researching smartphones for our next cross country adventure.

    After owning the Kindle Fire I realized these things have lots more limitations than abilities. So before we take off for a long cross country tour I will get some device with Google maps and 4G/LTE capability on Verizon. It would be nice to have it for my extensive email correspondence as well.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    As was said, unenforced laws, probably combined with bought-off enforcers. The more money you have, the less laws apply to you. I see this proven in my own neighborhood, when I see 300K Ferraris zipping down my 30mph street at 60mph, headed for Medina.

    Abramovich is a sign of the times.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    I'd be even worse - I'd say if you renounce your citizenship for tax reasons after cashing in here via the existing system and then running away, you aren't allowed back in, and are maybe given a bullseye to wear, too.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    edited December 2012
    It's a Hyundai Equus, kind of a Lexus LS clone, to me. The greenhouse is nothing like an S-class - Equus has a window in the C-pillar behind the rear door, something no S has ever had.

    And it might be something to buy in a few years, used, as I suspect it will eventually depreciate every bit as catastrophically as a big German, and then some as it has no prestige.

    The Genesis resembles a previous generation 5-series, and is something of a bargain if you aren't a performance oriented driver.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    First S-class 4matic was model year 2003, for the W220 refresh that also brought new headlight assemblies, updated COMAND, etc.
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    edited December 2012
    Why do they have so little trouble spending that amount extra? If you can spend it easily you can cut it easily. The problem is the democrat approach to ensuring victory at the top level. Spend, give away entitlements and get that vote with a 90% renewal rate. You've got to do something to get jobs rolling and you put that investment where it's going to pay off. Incentivize small business to hire so that you neutralize their higher taxes and instead hit the tax money on the big income crowd - especially Wall street which makes money by oscillating things back and forth while creating absolutely nothing. If we can only raise taxes and not cut spending then we are going the way of California. BTW - it was Obama who said 4X:1 until his party got him in a corner and let him know that went against their political strategies.

    OW - thanks so much for the compliment.
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    I think the equus is more of an MB ripoff because of its grille.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 267,543
    Fred Smith says small business is overrated as a mover of the economy.. Here is his take, given recently...

    "Who Are the Job Creators? The reality is, it’s not small business and it’s not big businesses that are the job creators of the United States, it’s the people that invent, innovate, and invest that are the job creators of the United States…. So the left talks about government being job creators and the right talks about small business being job creators. In actual fact, whether it’s small or large, it’s investment that creates jobs, investments that is basically fueled by innovation and invention. And absent a stimulative effect on the willingness to invest in the United States of America, it is impossible to increase the United States’ growth rate and to restore it to the level seen in the first chart. It’s just that simple."
    ------------------------------------
    "What Pulls the U.S. Economy? It is big business that’s the locomotive that’s pulling the train for the United States economy, and the so-called gazelles – the Googles, the Amazons, the oil wildcatters that are fracking down in Texas and in North Dakota – it’s the people that are making the investments in capital equipment and software that provide the impetus for the entire economy. And with a tax rate of 35 percent, it is impossible for you to incent the large corporations — that now have at least $1.7 trillion of money offshore — to put their money back in the United States. "

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  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,356
    It almost seems like Obama wants to help China and Russia destroy the dollar. If they can accomplish that, they will have destroyed the U.S. without firing a shot.

    Ironically, about the only thing that might eventually save the dollar is our own vast reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas, which we currently refuse to take advantage of.

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    This is an absolute tragedy. Reports are that 27 have been killed near Danbury at an elementary school. 18 are young children as a gunman dressed in military fatigue enterred the school and went to a kindergarten class and opened fire. There's a belief it was someone the school recognized and let in as most schools have a locked door you have to be buzzed thru. But often they also just buzz you thru without checking who it is. A second gunmen in military clothing is reportedly captured. An entire kindergarten class is missing and it may have been where the shooting started. My God.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/nyregion/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elem- entary-school.html?hp&_r=0
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Update,
    His mother worked at the school and he killed her. There is a body at his parents home where he was living. Supposedly he has a child in that class. We are living in sick times for sure. Not just here. There is a report of a person hacking and slashing 22 children in a school in China today.
  • anthonypanthonyp Member Posts: 1,860
    Again went to the Apple store to buy another cord to charge the iPhone, which I like.....I also went to Best Buy for another mission, and checked out the different displays.....The Kindle Fire had an outstanding screen, and if I were in the market for that sort of thing ---for myself---I think I would get that......I now have three different Apple products, with three different power cords.....I think this ripoff will come back eventually to bite Apple..

    This was a Friday at around two pm and neither place was vary busy....Maybe that is an indicator that all the different electronic products are a bit soft....Just my observation...Apple stock is certainly acting poorly, and frankly it doesn`t make sense.....It is signaling a real slowdown in the economy imo, along with people just selling...Tony
  • cyclone4cyclone4 Member Posts: 2,302
    I am horrified by this unimaginable tragedy. One of my daughter's first reactions was "maybe we should home school the kids".

    I don't care if this offends some people at this point. Those that say guns do not kill people but that people kill people are living in another planet. This is the most gun hungry nation in the world outside of bloody dictatorships such as Syria. Things like this are almost unheard of in countries like Japan, Canada, Sweden, England, etc.

    I think that every school should first of all be locked and secondly every school should have an armed police officer at the entrance. If it means the cost for this is too high, so what! It will create more jobs.
  • michaellnomichaellno Member Posts: 4,120
    I think that every school should first of all be locked

    I believe I read somewhere that the school in CT was locked, but that the shooter was admitted anyway.

    My wife works for a school district close to our home here in Colorado. We've had our share of school shooting incidents (Columbine, first and foremost). Every school district has a safety plan in place.

    secondly every school should have an armed police officer at the entrance.

    The school district in the county I live in has an arrangement with the local sheriff's department ... an officer is present at every high school campus.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    One of my daughter's first reactions was "maybe we should home school the kids".

    That was precisely my thought at the time. My DIL plans to home school her two sons.

    On Guns, Norway has very strict laws on guns and it made it worse. The cops could not get to the guns that were locked up during their huge massacre.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    edited December 2012
    Here's an idea. We can match the corporate tax rates of our competitors. And then assume the personal tax rates of our competitors, and modify our expenditures on the military-industrial machine and the policeman of the world ideal it lobbies for, corporate welfare, propping up of pseudo-nations, corporate prisons and the law enforcement they lobby for, etc etc etc to proportionally match our competitors. I wonder if anyone would go for it then.

    And finally start giving actual punishments for financial crimes...this system is more than rigged.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    The armed officer might not be a bad idea.

    The really strict gun control ideal is too late, IMO. The cat is out of the bag. A horribly tragic day, second in a week not just exposing the runaway gun issue, but the invisible mental health system.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,525
    edited December 2012
    How are they going to do that? They can't replace it. Both nations have massive structural defects which make the problems here look like nothing. They are not stable societies. In the long term, the US still looks like the most appealing developed area, to my eyes anyway. EU is in deep and is not sustainable, Russia and China facades built on corruption, environmental abuse, and disposable labor.

    I'd also be curious about how the vanquished would handle those issues any different than the current regime.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    not just exposing the runaway gun issue, but the invisible mental health system.

    That is the problem. Poor mental health care in this country. In the mass murders over the last few years, it seems they all had a history of mental illness. Our laws protect the mentally ill, but not the potential victims. Those people under treatment should be in the data base used by the FBI for background checks, when you buy a gun. It is privileged information until they are dead with a lot of other victims.
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,356
    edited December 2012
    fin, just do some research on the world reserve currency and what China has been up to lately.

    China, Russia, and most of the rest of the world hate us because of our success and our standard of living. In their minds, our good life is at their expense. They don't care if they replace us or not...they just want to drag us down to their level. One world, all equally miserable.

    I fear that many of our politicians and leaders feel the same way. I know that seems irrational on their part, but I have no other explanation for some of their actions.

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    edited December 2012
    I believe I read somewhere that the school in CT was locked, but that the shooter was admitted anyway.

    Reports this morning are that he shot his way in, bypassed one clasroom and went to the next two and shot and killed children and teachers in those rooms. The principal heard the shots, went into the corridor and was shot and killed there.

    He reportedly had Aspberger's syndrome, which suppresses feelings of empathy and as well his mother has been reported as unsocialable and highly protective of her children. Seems like this was a dysfunctional family and the brother Ryan was trying to distance himself from it. The poor guy got drawn back in by yesterdays events. The father, who divorced years ago was a tax executive at GE and the family lived in a well off neighborhood so money was not an issue. The son may have also had a disorder that made him not feel physical pain. That report is unconirmed. The big question is why did a mother accumulate guns in a home that had a son with mental disorders. The other story circulating is that the gunman, Adam Lanza, was a hunter and had very accurate shooting. Note that only one person, a child that was hit by gunfire is still alive. Everyone else was shot and killed immediately.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    He was also part of the "GOTH" subculture into video gaming heavily during HS. The Columbine killers were also part of the same Goth culture.

    Sounds like the mother was a big part of the problem.
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