| Author | Message | ||
     Bluzm2 |
Another glowing report from the left side of the isle.......Get real, no facts just the usual spewing. | ||
| Awprior |
Stingaroo: HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY!!! I'll have a few brews for you tonight! Alex | ||
| Jim_witt |
Employment Situation Summary Bankruptcy filings set new calendar year record in 2003. Unemployed persons by reason for unemployment Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment.  A little humor. -SD: edited by jim_witt on April 05, 2004 | ||
| Stingaroo |
Hey Alex thanks man. Glad you made it back ok. I am not feeling too much older, I am going to probably head out here in a few for some brewskis Brian | ||
| Amazing_nobody |
Brewskis and you didn't tell me, and you are sitting right here, what the heck, what you don't have any money?, dude, its your b-day i would buy! | ||
| Jim_witt |
April 6, 2004: 7:32 AM EDT WASHINGTON: More than 60% of U.S. corporations didn't pay any federal taxes for 1996 through 2000, years when the economy boomed and corporate profits soared, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported, citing the investigative arm of Congress. The disclosures from the General Accounting Office are certain to fuel the debate over corporate tax payments in the presidential campaign. Corporate tax receipts have shrunk markedly as a share of overall federal revenue in recent years, and were particularly depressed when the economy soured. By 2003, they had fallen to just 7.4% of overall federal receipts, the lowest rate since 1983, and the second-lowest rate since 1934, federal budget officials say. The GAO analysis of Internal Revenue Service data comes as tax avoidance by both U.S. and foreign companies also is drawing increased scrutiny from the IRS and Congress. But more so than similar previous reports, the analysis suggests that dodging taxes, both legally and otherwise, has become deeply rooted in U.S. corporate culture. The analysis found that even more foreign-owned companies doing business in the U.S. -- about 70% of them -- reported that they didn't owe any U.S. federal taxes during the late 1990s. The basic federal corporate-tax rate for big corporations is 35%. But the federal tax code also offers many credits and loopholes that allow many companies to pay far less than that. Despite the rising rate of tax avoidance among corporations, collections from the federal corporate income tax rose to more than $200 billion in 2000, from $ 171 billion in 1996. But over the next three years they fell each year, reaching $131.8 billion in 2003 -- the lowest annual total since 1993. They are projected to reach $168.7 billion this year. Just goes to show that corporations only care about themselves and our tax structure caters to the rich and successful. -JW: | ||
| Jim_witt |
U.S. businesses announced 68,034 job cuts in March Here is a list of companies that are "Exporting America." These are U.S. companies either sending American jobs overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American workers. 3Com 3M A Aalfs Manufacturing Accenture Adaptec ADC Adobe Systems Advanced Energy Industries Aetna Affiliated Computer Services AFS Technologies A.G. Edwards Agere Systems Agilent Technologies AIG Alamo Rent A Car Albertson's Alcoa Fujikura Allen Systems Group Alliance Semiconductor Allstate Alpha Thought Global Altria Group Amazon.com AMD American Dawn American Express American Household American Management Systems American Standard AMETEK Amphenol Corporation Analog Devices Anchor Glass Container ANDA Networks Andrew Corporation Anheuser-Busch AOL A.O. Smith Apple Applied Materials Art Leather Manufacturing ArvinMeritor Ashland Asyst Technologies A.T. Cross Company AT&T AT&T Wireless A.T. Kearney Augusta Sportswear Automatic Data Processing Avanade Avanex Avaya Avery Dennison Axiohm Transaction Solutions B Bank of America Bank of New York Bank One Bassett Furniture Bassler Electric Company BearingPoint Bear Stearns Bechtel Becton Dickinson BellSouth Bentley Systems Berdon LLP Best Buy BISSELL Black & Decker Bose Corporation BMC Software Boeing Braden Manufacturing Bristol-Myers Squibb Brocade Bumble Bee Burle Industries Burlington House Home Fashions C Cadence Design Systems Candle Corporation Capital One Cardinal Brands Carrier Carter's Caterpillar Celestica Cendant Cerner Corporation Charles Schwab ChevronTexaco CIBER Ciena Cigna Circuit City Cisco Systems Citigroup Clorox CNA Coca-Cola Cognizant Technology Solutions Collins & Aikman Columbia House Comcast Holdings Computer Associates Computer Horizons Computer Sciences Corporation CompuServe Continental Airlines Convergys Cooper Crouse-Hinds Cooper Tire & Rubber Cooper Tools Corning Corning Cable Systems Countrywide Financial COVAD Communications Cross Creek Apparel Crown Holdings CSX Cummins Cypress Semiconductor D Dana Corporation Daniel Woodhead Daws Manufacturing Dayton Superior DeCrane Aircraft Delco Remy Dell Computer DeLong Sportswear Delphi Delta Air Lines Delta Apparel Direct TV Discover Document Sciences Corporation Donaldson Company Dow Chemical Dresser Dun & Bradstreet DuPont E Earthlink Eastman Kodak Eaton Corporation Electroglas Electronic Data Systems Electronics for Imaging Eli Lilly Elmer's Products E-Loan EMC Emerson Electric En Pointe Technologies Equifax Ernst & Young Ethan Allen Evolving Systems Expedia Extrasport ExxonMobil F Fairfield Manufacturing Fair Isaac FCI USA Fedders Corporation Federal Mogul Federated Department Stores Fellowes Fender Musical Instruments Fidelity Investments Financial Techologies International First American Title Insurance First Data First Index Flowserve Fluor FMC Corporation Ford Motor Foster Wheeler Franklin Mint Franklin Templeton Freeborders Frito Lay Fruit of the Loom G Gateway GE Capital GE Medical Systems General Electric General Motors Georgia-Pacific Gerber Childrenswear GlobespanVirata Goldman Sachs Goodrich Goodyear Tire & Rubber Greenpoint Mortgage Greenwood Mills Guardian Life Insurance Guilford Mills H Haggar Halliburton Hamilton Beach/Procter-Silex The Hartford Financial Services Group Hasbro Manufacturing Services Haworth Headstrong HealthAxis Hedstrom Helen of Troy Hershey Hewitt Associates Hewlett-Packard The Holmes Group Home Depot Honeywell HSN Hubbell Inc. Humana Hunter Sadler HyperTech Solutions I IBM iGate Corporation Illinois Tool Works IMI Cornelius IndyMac Bancorp Infogain Ingersoll-Rand Innodata Isogen Innova Solutions Intel InterMetro Industries International Paper Intuit Invacare ITT Educational Services ITT Industries J Jabil Circuit Jacobs Engineering Jacuzzi JanSport JDS Uniphase Jockey International John Deere Johns Manville Johnson Controls Johnson & Johnson JPMorgan Chase J.R. Simplot Juniper Networks Justin Brands K KANA Software Kaiser Permanente Kanbay Keane Kellogg Kellwood KEMET KEMET Electronics Kenexa Kentucky Apparel KeyCorp Kimberly-Clark KLA-Tencor Kraft Foods Kulicke and Soffa Industries Kwikset L Lands' End Lawson Software Lear Corporation Lehman Brothers Levi Strauss Lexmark International Lifescan Lillian Vernon Linksys Lionbridge Technologies Lionel Littelfuse LiveBridge LNP Engineering Plastics Lockheed Martin Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Lowe's Lucent M Magnequench Magnetek Maidenform The Manitowoc Company Manugistics Marathon Oil Maritz Marshall Fields Mattel Master Lock Maxim Integrated Products Maytag McDATA Corporation McKinsey & Company MeadWestvaco Medtronic Mellon Bank Merrill Corporation Merrill Lynch Metasolv MetLife Microsoft Midcom Inc. Milacron Moen Monsanto Morgan Stanley Motor Coach Industries International Motorola N Nabco Nabisco NACCO Industries National City Corporation National Life National Semiconductor NCR Corporation neoIT NETGEAR Network Associates Newell Rubbermaid New York Life Insurance Nike Nordstrom Northrop Grumman Northwest Airlines Nu-kote International O Office Depot Ohio Art ON Semiconductor Orbitz Oracle OshKosh B'Gosh Otis Elevator Outsource Partners International Owens Corning Oxford Automotive Oxford Industries P Pacific Precision Metals palmOne Paramount Apparel Parker-Hannifin Parsons E&C Pearson Digital Learning PeopleSoft PepsiCo Pericom Semiconductor PerkinElmer Perot Systems Pfizer Pinnacle West Capital Corporation Pitney Bowes Plaid Clothing Company Planar Systems Plexus PL Industries Polaroid Portal Software Power One Pratt & Whitney Price Pfister Primus Telecom Procter & Gamble ProQuest Providian Financial Prudential Insurance Q Quaker Oats Quark Qwest Communications R Radio Flyer Radio Shack Rainbow Technologies Rawlings Sporting Goods Raytheon Aircraft RCG Information Technology Red Kap Regence Group Rockwell Automations Rogers Rohm & Haas RR Donnelley & Sons Rugged Sportswear Russell Corporation S S1 Corporation Sabre Safeway SAIC Sallie Mae Samsonite Sanford Sanmina-SCI Sapient Sara Lee Saturn Electronics & Engineering SBC Communications Schumacher Electric Scientific Atlanta SEI Investments Seton Company Siebel Systems Sierra Atlantic Sikorsky Silicon Graphics SITEL Skyworks Solutions SMC Networks SML Labels SoftBrands Sola Optical USA Solectron Sovereign Bancorp Sprint Sprint PCS Square D Stanley Furniture Stanley Works Starkist Seafood State Farm Insurance State Street Steelcase StorageTek StrategicPoint Investment Advisors Sun Microsystems Sunrise Medical SunTrust Banks Supra Telecom Sure Fit SurePrep The Sutherland Group Sykes Enterprises Symbol Technologies Synygy T Target Tecumseh Telcordia Teleflex TeleTech Telex Communications Tellabs Tenneco Automotive Teradyne Texas Instruments Textron Thomas & Betts Thomasville Furniture Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Time Warner The Timken Company The Toro Company Tower Automotive Toys "R" Us Trans Union Travelocity Trinity Industries Triquint Semiconductor TriVision Partners Tropical Sportswear TRW Automotive Tumbleweed Communications Tyco Electronics Tyco International U Union Pacific Railroad Unisys United Airlines UnitedHealth Group Inc. United Online United Technologies USAA V Valence Technology VA Software Veritas Verizon VF Corporation Viasystems Vishay Visteon VITAL Sourcing W Wachovia Bank Warnaco Washington Group International Washington Mutual WellChoice Werner Co. West Corporation Weyerhaeuser Whirlpool White Rodgers Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company Wolverine World Wide Woodstock Wire Works WorldCom World Kitchen Wyeth X Xerox Xpitax Y Yahoo! York International Z Zenith | ||
| Bikerjim99 |
Hello all Well, I've got my first problem with my 1999 S3. Out of the blue, it won't stay running. I parked it last week after a nice ride, and now it will only run about 5 to 10 seconds, at idle. You cannot give it any throttle, or it dies immediately. Never had anything like this happen before. Checked wiring, all seems OK. Anyone have any ideas? | ||
| Blake |
Jim, You are way over the top on the issue of corporate America and outsourcing. You are not considering the big picture. Why should corporations pay tax anyway? Why not just tax individuals? Some countries do just that. Is it a wonder that corporations like to move their headquarters to such countries? The outsourcing issue is a fearmongering scheme of the democrats to scare voters. Nothing more. Do you remember what a new television cost round about 1985? I recall shopping for the absolute best deal around and paying $360 for a 19" Mitsubishi mono-aural model with no remote in 1985. Today you can buy a new stereo 27" flat-screen for that same amount, or in 1985 dollars a BUNCH less. The same is true for many big ticket consumer items... computers, cars, cameras, stereos, home theatres, tires, GASOLINE, FOOD, MOTORCYCLES.  Why do you think that is? What effect on personal affluence would that have? America does not tolerate stagnation. Mundane jobs go oversees as new high tech jobs are created. Look at our productivity compared to ANY other country in the world. We don't ahve time to waste doing the jobs that others are willing to do so much more cheaply. You didn't report how many jobs were created by some companies. Dwell on the negative and the world inevitably turns to shit. Focus on the positive, defend against the negative, and the world is your oyster. For an interesting expert commentary in opposition to your own apparent fatalistic views, please consider the following... http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/nrof_canto/canto20040406 0834.asp | ||
| Iamike |
Blake, Don't worry, I just skip past his posts and don't bother to read them (except that link to the Chernobyl thing, that was neat.) BikerJim- That sounds familiar to a problem I had with a bike once but I can't recall what the cause was. Maybe in my sleep it will come to me. I just opened up my '99 S3 with 38,000mi. on it. I was starting to leak a little oil from the rear head and wanted the fix it before summer hits. The combustion part of the gasket was fine but the sealing part around the stud had broken loose. The heads, jugs & pistons all looked real good. I just have a little evidence that the rear exhaust valve seal was also starting to go too. Those darn rear cylinders. | ||
| Dino |
I've never been able to get a handle on taxes on corporate profits. How is it profits, unless it's goes into the owners' pocket(s)? If you own a yard service, don't you only pay taxes on profits that you take from the business? Aren't revenues that are plowed back into the business as expenses (capital expenditures, advertising, maintenance, product development, etc.) deducted from the gross to get the net, taxable income which has gone into the owner's pocket? I can't see how corporate revenues should be considered taxable income unless it is paid to the owners' (read shareholders) as dividends. To tax the revenue once when earned by the company and again when paid as dividends to the shareholders would seem to be a pretty clear case of double taxation. Double taxing the revenues doesn't exactly seem like a great way to encourage people to put up capital (buy stock) to build American businesses thereby creating jobs. I'm sure as hell not rich, but I do own a very little stock in quite a few companies. Jim Witt, can you explain to me why I should be feeling really badly about this corporate tax thing? What am I missing? Dino  | ||
| Blake |
Dino, Not all corporations are publicly held. But that just means that the number of shareholders is limited. Your point remains the same. Will be interesting to hear Jim's response. I think we got him thinking on it. | ||
| Pammy |
Not only does the G'ment tax business on the amount of money they may have in the bank at the end of a fiscal year, they also look at your inventory as money in your pocket.Dead inventory or not...you have to pay. You are taxed on the estimated worth of your tangible property. And of course your "intangible" assets. Naturally you pray that you can cover the taxes after the insurance companies get thru with you. Aaaah, just a few of the joys of the business owner.... | ||
| Loki |
Hi Pammy! | ||
| Dino |
Not all corporations are publicly held. Blake, Very true. Coincidentally, I spent time in the bank today for no other purpose than to transfer money to a checking account in order to pay Calif. minimum corporation taxes for three corporations that make no profit whatsoever. All operating revenues are collected thru assessments levied against the shareholders. Well, that's not quite true...they probably made around $10 each in interest on savings accounts. Minimum corporation tax is $800/annum. | ||
| Dino |
Whew...if I counted correctly I own stock in 21 corps on the Witt bad list. Probably all the rest thru mutual funds. And our household income is likely barely middle of middle class. But I have stock in Vodaphone and they're not on the bad list. Of course that's only 'cause it's a foreign corporation. Hey, maybe they're exporting jobs to the U.S.! "Just goes to show that corporations only care about themselves and our tax structure caters to the rich and successful." Hehehe. Yep, that's me...I have a 1986 Honda Accord in the driveway. Got that baby by exploiting the huddled masses. | ||
| Jim_witt |
Damn, looks like I'm wrong either way. I'm either focusing on the negative or living in reality. Anothers opinion -JW: | ||
| Jim_witt |
Dave asked: ...... can you explain to me why I should be feeling really badly about this corporate tax thing? Nope, that would be like me trying to explain to you why the chicken crossed the road. <grin> -JW:>  | ||
| Fullpower |
Dino california is a socialist country. relocate your corporate entities to Nevada, or Texas. or one of the free states. start a petition to cede california back to mexico. they already speak the language. | ||
| Blake |
Jim, So you would rather pay $600 for a new made in the USA TV than $300 for an import? How is that good for Americans? From your CNN opinion piece...
Given the well documented and well known FACT that America is hands down by a HUGE margin THE most productive country on the face of the earth, I have trouble believing any of the above. The author makes a lot of belicose statements with absolutely no supporting evidence. Adn mostly, his assertions are simply inane and I'll show you why... Liberals love to hold up our students' comparative "low rank" in math and science testing as evidence of coming doom and gloom for America. It is terribly upsetting to think that our students are subpar, scoring near the bottom of the pack of developed countries. And to put it in such hollow terms indeed leaves that impression with many people who are then filled with consternation over their perception of our uncompetitive/inferior education system's performance. But let's disect the issue more carefully, or just plain carefully since the author of the CNN piece provided absolutely no such thoughtful/meaningful analysis, prefering instead to simply toss out the scary sounding fearmongering statement that we should "consider our low rank in the education of mathematics and the sciences." WOOOOOOOOOO! SCAAAARRRREEEEEE!!!! GLOOM AND DOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! But really is it? Nope. Here's why... If you finish last in a world class performing group, but your performance is exceptional, is your state so dire? No, the fact is that you earned a top grade, say a 95, while some earned a slightly better top grade, like a 96 or 97 or even a 98. Is there a problem? No. Could we improve? Maybe, but it is neither a crisis nor a problem if we do not. America has more nobel laureates than any other country. That trend does not appear to be subsiding. America is the most productive country on the face of the earth. That trend does not appear to be waning. America has more and better institutions of higher learning than anywhere else in the world; THAT is what attracts so much foreign INVESTMENT (tuition) to American universities and why so many foreign students are eager to persue advanced degrees from American Universities. How many prospective students exist outside America? How many inside America? DUH! We attract the very BEST minds from the entire world. We attract them because we are indeed THE world leader in innovation. The author in my opinion is wrong on all accounts. He further states...
Exported or outsourced? I'm not sure what the author means. If he means "outsourced", how the hell can we outsource medical care??? Most engineers need to be where the factory or final product is being manufactured. Most engineering jobs cannot be reliably outsourced. Architects must absolutely be on-site. The vast majority of Architects cannot be outsourced. Some industries and the countries that leads them Aircraft... America Computers... America Software/IT... America Advanced Weapons Systems... America Satellite Communications... America Space Exploration... America Medicine... America Higher Education... America Entertainment... America "Our trading problem is an externality"? From the narrow view of a solely American economy maybe. So what? From the view of a world economy?  A global economy is what we have and there is no changing it. Wishing for protectionism at this point is a futile exercise. The individual states of America used to wring there hands over the EXACT same issues. How do you think Texas got so much industry and high tech? Labor down here was WAY cheaper than in NYC, LA, or Chicago. It still is, but no so much so as it once was. Jim, Here's the simple outline of it all. If gloom and doom economics happens to America, we won't be able to afford all the imports, the economy then crashes, where then does that leave all the people in other countries who where once helping supply products and services to us? It is a global economy my friend. Don't sweat it, cause you damn sure cannot change it. Just like the high tech industry that moved to Texas long ago, the same will happen to some extent on a global scenario. Our advantage IS our superior productivity, our superior education system, and our ability to innovate. That author of the CNN (communists' news network) didn't even present a coherent argument, just a bunch of opinons and some unrelated observations. It was an externality to the serious debate about outsourcing.  | ||
| Blake |
Oh and don't think for one minute that if American companies don't take advantge of outsourcing that their foreign competition won't either. Their competition ABSOLUTELY will. Their competition will thus be able to achieve significantly higher profits. Can you say "American companies go belly up"? Cause that is the only alternative to outsourcing. From your CNN associate professor/author...
Lower costs...  higher revenue... higher profits... higher stock prices (higher value of corporations)... bonuses for mgt... the creation of wealth for a subclass that benefits from low taxes at the expense of the rest of us... HUH???  Explain that one please. Most of my retirement funds are invested in a myriad of stocks. That creation of wealth thing is so bad. We cannot have that. The dude is a communist, I guarantee it. | ||
| Blake |
Rory L. Terry is an associate professor of Finance at Fort Hays State University A real heavyweight in the world of economics that one.   | ||
| Court |
>>>So you would rather pay $600 for a new made in the USA TV Isn't that a myth like the "Union Made" t-shirt? I was of the impression that the last American made TV was a number of years ago. Court | ||
| Ara |
BikerJim99 - Don't mind them. They'll get back to motorcycles eventually. At a guess, I'd say that you have a fuel mixture problem that produces a too-rich condition. Russ | ||
| Glitch |
Coca-Cola? How can you export over seas when the business is as world wide as Coke? Sure they've laid of a lot of folk here since I've been here, but what you don't hear about is all the folk that get hired back or new folk brought in the followin quarter. As far as taxes go, to me, the solution is this. If this would get passed then you'd have over seas businesses clamering to move here. Please read all about the fair tax before crying that it's a value added tax, it's not, and it's the only solution that I can find that IMHO would really work. | ||
| Glitch |
Oh, and as far as corps not paying taxes, they never do, you do it for them when they pass it along to you in higher prices. | ||
| Phillyblast |
It's my fault Court - I'm an anti-lucky charm. I lived in Jersey when GE/RCA closed there, and then when I moved just outside Bloomington, IN RCA closed it's TV plant there. I'm pretty sure the largest employer in the City of Philadelphia is . . . The City of Philadelphia. No problem there, huh? Pammy - my brother runs his own biz - fleet towing, storage, repos - it ain't even the taxes that kill him, it's insurance, like you said. Both on his trucks and health insurance. 'nother friend of mine owns a shop, he goes without health insurance, can't afford it. He's playing with fire and he knows it, but . . . keeps talking about folding the shop and going to work for a stealership. Boy I get so mad at those darn commie liberals that want to figure out a way to have affordable health insurance so more people can start small businesses. I know that's the big hurdle I'm facing right now. I'm getting married in the fall, and when I go on the wife's bennies we'll see what happens. | ||
| Jmartz |
I an very familiar with the fact the the best trained people in the US are foreigners. While in graduate school at Georgia Tech I was one of just a handful of native Americans (and I do nor mean indians). The vast majority were Chinese and even I was marginally native as Puerto Ricans are only legally native. There is not a lot of interest amongst our young to pursue carrers in the sciences. The money is not good, the training sucks and at the end the orientals beat your ass academically anyway. | ||
| Court |
We, ladies and gentlemen, are but part of a world economy. We are a BIG part, but none the less A part. This goes back to McConnell 101 and the guns and butter optimization models. Call Microsoft to ask a question. Make your first question to the tech support person "where in India are you?". The gal I spent 4 hours on the phone with last week was in Delhi. Find me a Wall Street Clearing House that is not in Ireland. Whenver Vickie is in her London office, she always takes one day to go to Dublin. Great education, low cost of living and very productive work force. "Made in the USA" is something I am very proud of. We have developed a distribution system that is the envy of the world. Other countries, however, have also developed key components. All play a part in the big picture. I mean, who wants an "exotic sports car" made in North Dakota? Kapisch? Court | ||
| Bomber |
Blake, after subtracting your political invective (I've developed a pretty good filter for that, bts {grin}), I agree with many of your points . . . . the USA has exported not only jobs, but entire industries since the end of WW2 (it was called the Marshall Plan then), but the fact is that things have chaged a bit lately . . . it's not only "mundane" jobs that are moving off-shore today, it's also many jobs that require advanced courses of study to qualify for (as you and I have traded posts on before) . . . . whether or not this is a good thing is, at the core of it, I believe, dependant on whether you're employed, threatened by the exporting of your job, and where you stand on the nonesense that both mainstream parties are spouting . . . I used to work for 3Com (listed in Mr Witt's list, above) whcih purchased USRobnotics (of whom I was an employee) -- 3Com spent the next 5 years dismantling a company, laying off working across the board (from the kid on the shipping dock to the Senior VP of product development) in the name of "shareholder value." They had, a year or so ago (when I stoppped paying attention) cash reserves the size of which the US gubmint would envy, but basically did nothing in the US except sell stuff -- damn near everything else had moved off shore . . .. tough to argue the benefits of that with the approxiamtely 12000 people who lost their jobs (many of whom are still trying to replace those jobs three years later) the democrats are crying the end of the world -- it's an election year, for goodness sakes, what did you expect . . . . the repuiblicans continue to spout the "voodoo economics" (a republican term, if your memory is long enough) will benefit everyone . . . .. ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances . . . the end of this passion play will be a truely world economy, which is a wonderful thing (you ain't likely to bomb the folkks that supply all your bread, I'm thinkin) but a large number of folks won't be able to buy that cheap TV or send their kids to school in the mean time, cuz they'll be out of work |
