Most people that I've told this to looked at me as though they think I'm crazy. I don't know what it is about the idea of dinosaurs turning into oil that people find so appealing that they can't conceive of an alternative being true.
Christie has been working hard to effectively increase taxes on teachers, firemen, police, and other public employees, so he can afford the tax breaks previously given to the richest in the state.
I thought that I was the only one in NJ to notice that Christie has effectively cost the State budget well over $1 billion in revenue in the face of a temporarily depressed economy that was already limiting revenues while promising to revive the economy by permanently cutting compensation of government employees and cutting State support of local governments. All of the wealthiest communities are responding by raising property tax rates to continue paying local government employees. Others have no choice but to make compensation cuts and layoffs for valuable public services.
In essence he's passing the burden on to local governments and blaming marginally underfunded pension funds as a reason to cut expenses to pay for his revenue gaffs.
That's an excellent description of a number of problems in the USA's healthcare system. But I have one quibble.
Insurance is the wrong answer for something so guaranteed.
Life Insurance works even though death is guaranteed. Health insurance could be offered for better terms than 1-year renewable with no premium guarantee. This is by no means "the" answer to the healthcare system's defects, but it would help as long as there is not a single payer system set up.
medical field where people pay mostly cash for services such as ophthalmology or cosmetic surgery
Ophthalmology, with the exception of the parts (surgery and disease) covered by most medical insurance plans, is more about physics and diagnosis than medicine. I don't think that the part paid for out of pocket makes for a good comparison to the rest of the medical industry. There is a good argument for government subsidy for testing and purchases of eye glasses or contact lenses to increase the number of people who can see better and thus be more productive. As for cosmetic surgery, it is much more discretionary and unambiguous than the average medical service.
An excellent list. I might have added something about how health insurance is sold on an annual basis. When compared to life insurance it is like 1 year renewable term insurance with no guarantee about the price for the next year.
I don't see how a distributed repository of all the solutions has value. Particularly, how an individual with a small number of those solutions get money for their knowledge (assuming bitcoins are no longer used as money). I'm not familiar enough with bitcoin to know if yours is an accurate description.
I'm pointing out a potential flaw in the political structure of Ireland as it was explained to have existed several hundred years ago. You are accusing me of victim blaming and maliciously ignoring the bullying you suffered that I was not aware of. I just don't see how they are related.
I hope that you will realize that no one is an island unto themselves. I nope you are able to build a support group of caring friends that can you share with and thrive in the wealth of potential that is life.
As much as I like Alton Browns ability to explain cooking and inventive ways of simplification. He contradicts himself often, particularly when he finds a "unitasker" he likes.
You're kidding, right? Walker created a short term budget deficit and then wants praise for quashing his crisis while creating collateral damage. Wisconsin never had a long term budget issue.
When a bank lends money it is creating money instantaneously. If you have a $100 checking account in the bank and the bank lends me $50, it does so by simply creating a new account with $50 in it from which I can withdraw. At that point both you and I can with draw $150 from the bank, but I will have to pay mine back.
A central bank creates money by lending money through the purchase of government debts (and in some cases to banks directly) and destroys money by selling those debts.
As you can see in both cases the money is created through lending. However, while there is no technical limit on how much a central bank can lend a normal bank is limited by liquidity and solvency regulations. Other lenders are acting in a similar manner though they don't necessarily borrow against their portfolio of loans which is part of the money creation phenomenon.
The point is that Groupon shows a number of signs of fraud or at least concern for future revenue and profits.
The allthingsd.com link I provided indicated that the vast majority of money raised by Groupon went straight to its founders and early investors, not to expand or improve the business that hasn't been showing a profit. This is a major red flag that this company might not have a bright future, regardless of fraud. The link that gklinger provided indicated the same as well as noting that the fundamentals are not sound (negative current assets and net losses). They also question a number of issues that may be problematic as competition increases for "social coupons" business. There was another linked minyanville.com article that highlighted how the revenue recognition used by groupon makes it more difficult to understand groupon's operations and compare them to other companies (another red flag). Now there are recent reports of the founder's less than pristine business record (another red flag). Groupon is a risky investment right now. They might get their shit together and capitalize on the early mover advantage for the current investors, but the only people that are likely to see big gains (or any at this rate) are the ones that just cashed in on the recent capital raises. Though, stranger things happen with business and investment (the internet, and housing/mortgage/CDO bubbles come to mind). I fail to see where the lack of comprehension comes in.
You might not realize that a major reason why Greece Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy are having trouble getting their economy on track is because they no longer have their own currency and have committed to the Euro which is mostly controlled by Germany.
that's exactly what Paypal did when my Paypal debit card was charged fraudulently.
The difference is that paypal isn't legally required to do that for you. There is no limit for fraud liability for a paypal transaction, unless you are using your credit card to fund the transaction, in which case paypal is just another processor of credit card transactions for the merchant.
People should know that not all Banks in the USA are required to be members of the FDIC. You should look for the FDIC seal before opening an account at any bank if you want your deposits insured by the FDIC.
Banks create money because lending creates money. Banks get special permission to lend out money given to them from individuals for safe keeping and transactional purposes with on demand. There are many credit intermediaries that are not banks, they all create money as does the bond market and other leveraged securities.
You're not doing the Accounting Correctly. Person A has Assets of $100 in Cash in a checking account. Person B has Assets of $90 in Cash in a checking account. Bank has Assets of $190: $100 in Cash on hand, $90 in Loan to Person B Bank has Liabilities of $190: $100 in checking account A, $90 in checking account B.
Reserve requirements are for liquidity, capital requirements are for solvency. Capital for the bank here is unknown because we don't know how much equity was in the bank before Person A opened a checking account. The there was no change in capital here until interest on the loan and deposits are paid.
Stupid arguments over how revenue is being booked are completely irrelevant....do we really think that we are so smart that we've noticed this and not one of the investors at IPO will?
You can ask AOL investors about how the way revenue is booked matters. They were recording revenues in a way the was eventually deemed fraudulent, several times in the company's history, in different ways each time, with warnings from accounting and financial regulators issued to investors well before the fraud was discovered. Each time the fraud was confirmed and revealed to the public the stock price dropped drastically.
You might want to pick up a copy of Financial Shenanigans. The chapter on AOL's revenue reporting is assigned in the Level 2 Chartered Financial Analyst curriculum. Time Warner is feeling the brunt of the latest AOL revenue fraud now.
So yeah, the IPO investors may all be missing something. And the people that noticed either a) got early access to the IPO with a preferential price and sold to the next sucker with a hefty same day return b) underwrote the IPO for a fee with no investment risk OR c) never bought the stock of Groupon. Your kind of thinking is what the investment bankers and institutional investors depend on to help them get their $10 Million+ bonuses.
Slashdot Mirror
Most people that I've told this to looked at me as though they think I'm crazy. I don't know what it is about the idea of dinosaurs turning into oil that people find so appealing that they can't conceive of an alternative being true.
Christie has been working hard to effectively increase taxes on teachers, firemen, police, and other public employees, so he can afford the tax breaks previously given to the richest in the state.
I thought that I was the only one in NJ to notice that Christie has effectively cost the State budget well over $1 billion in revenue in the face of a temporarily depressed economy that was already limiting revenues while promising to revive the economy by permanently cutting compensation of government employees and cutting State support of local governments. All of the wealthiest communities are responding by raising property tax rates to continue paying local government employees. Others have no choice but to make compensation cuts and layoffs for valuable public services.
In essence he's passing the burden on to local governments and blaming marginally underfunded pension funds as a reason to cut expenses to pay for his revenue gaffs.
That's an excellent description of a number of problems in the USA's healthcare system. But I have one quibble.
Insurance is the wrong answer for something so guaranteed.
Life Insurance works even though death is guaranteed. Health insurance could be offered for better terms than 1-year renewable with no premium guarantee. This is by no means "the" answer to the healthcare system's defects, but it would help as long as there is not a single payer system set up.
medical field where people pay mostly cash for services such as ophthalmology or cosmetic surgery
Ophthalmology, with the exception of the parts (surgery and disease) covered by most medical insurance plans, is more about physics and diagnosis than medicine. I don't think that the part paid for out of pocket makes for a good comparison to the rest of the medical industry. There is a good argument for government subsidy for testing and purchases of eye glasses or contact lenses to increase the number of people who can see better and thus be more productive. As for cosmetic surgery, it is much more discretionary and unambiguous than the average medical service.
An excellent list. I might have added something about how health insurance is sold on an annual basis. When compared to life insurance it is like 1 year renewable term insurance with no guarantee about the price for the next year.
An excellent explanation, but no mod points available.
A 12% annually compounded after tax return over 20 years is well above average for any 20 year period in the past 100 years.
I don't see how a distributed repository of all the solutions has value. Particularly, how an individual with a small number of those solutions get money for their knowledge (assuming bitcoins are no longer used as money). I'm not familiar enough with bitcoin to know if yours is an accurate description.
I'm pointing out a potential flaw in the political structure of Ireland as it was explained to have existed several hundred years ago. You are accusing me of victim blaming and maliciously ignoring the bullying you suffered that I was not aware of. I just don't see how they are related.
I hope that you will realize that no one is an island unto themselves. I nope you are able to build a support group of caring friends that can you share with and thrive in the wealth of potential that is life.
You'll have to explain that a bit further. From my perspective, there is no intrinsic value to a string of 0's and 1's that are difficult to guess.
See my previous comment. "Fiat money" has several definitions.
I see your Wikipedia article quote and raise a quote from merriam-webster.
money (as paper currency) not convertible into coin or specie of equivalent value
and a quote from N. Gregory Mankiw as cited in your Wikipedia article.
Fiat money, such as paper dollars, is money without intrinsic value: It would be worthless if it were not used as money.
All "freemen" who owned land, all professionals, and all craftsmen, were entitled to become members of a tuath.
That sounds like it worked out great for those that were not landowners, professionals, or craftsmen.
Why limit yourself to the USA?
As much as I like Alton Browns ability to explain cooking and inventive ways of simplification. He contradicts himself often, particularly when he finds a "unitasker" he likes.
You're kidding, right? Walker created a short term budget deficit and then wants praise for quashing his crisis while creating collateral damage. Wisconsin never had a long term budget issue.
When a bank lends money it is creating money instantaneously. If you have a $100 checking account in the bank and the bank lends me $50, it does so by simply creating a new account with $50 in it from which I can withdraw. At that point both you and I can with draw $150 from the bank, but I will have to pay mine back.
A central bank creates money by lending money through the purchase of government debts (and in some cases to banks directly) and destroys money by selling those debts.
As you can see in both cases the money is created through lending. However, while there is no technical limit on how much a central bank can lend a normal bank is limited by liquidity and solvency regulations. Other lenders are acting in a similar manner though they don't necessarily borrow against their portfolio of loans which is part of the money creation phenomenon.
The point is that Groupon shows a number of signs of fraud or at least concern for future revenue and profits.
The allthingsd.com link I provided indicated that the vast majority of money raised by Groupon went straight to its founders and early investors, not to expand or improve the business that hasn't been showing a profit. This is a major red flag that this company might not have a bright future, regardless of fraud. The link that gklinger provided indicated the same as well as noting that the fundamentals are not sound (negative current assets and net losses). They also question a number of issues that may be problematic as competition increases for "social coupons" business. There was another linked minyanville.com article that highlighted how the revenue recognition used by groupon makes it more difficult to understand groupon's operations and compare them to other companies (another red flag). Now there are recent reports of the founder's less than pristine business record (another red flag). Groupon is a risky investment right now. They might get their shit together and capitalize on the early mover advantage for the current investors, but the only people that are likely to see big gains (or any at this rate) are the ones that just cashed in on the recent capital raises. Though, stranger things happen with business and investment (the internet, and housing/mortgage/CDO bubbles come to mind). I fail to see where the lack of comprehension comes in.
To live is to take risks, to posses money is to risk loosing it's value.
You should note that fire, flood, and hurricane insurance do not cover loss of currency from the insured event.
Pick your poison.
You might not realize that a major reason why Greece Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy are having trouble getting their economy on track is because they no longer have their own currency and have committed to the Euro which is mostly controlled by Germany.
that's exactly what Paypal did when my Paypal debit card was charged fraudulently.
The difference is that paypal isn't legally required to do that for you. There is no limit for fraud liability for a paypal transaction, unless you are using your credit card to fund the transaction, in which case paypal is just another processor of credit card transactions for the merchant.
People should know that not all Banks in the USA are required to be members of the FDIC. You should look for the FDIC seal before opening an account at any bank if you want your deposits insured by the FDIC.
Banks create money because lending creates money. Banks get special permission to lend out money given to them from individuals for safe keeping and transactional purposes with on demand. There are many credit intermediaries that are not banks, they all create money as does the bond market and other leveraged securities.
You're not doing the Accounting Correctly.
Person A has Assets of $100 in Cash in a checking account.
Person B has Assets of $90 in Cash in a checking account.
Bank has Assets of $190: $100 in Cash on hand, $90 in Loan to Person B
Bank has Liabilities of $190: $100 in checking account A, $90 in checking account B.
Reserve requirements are for liquidity, capital requirements are for solvency. Capital for the bank here is unknown because we don't know how much equity was in the bank before Person A opened a checking account. The there was no change in capital here until interest on the loan and deposits are paid.
Stupid arguments over how revenue is being booked are completely irrelevant. ...do we really think that we are so smart that we've noticed this and not one of the investors at IPO will?
You can ask AOL investors about how the way revenue is booked matters. They were recording revenues in a way the was eventually deemed fraudulent, several times in the company's history, in different ways each time, with warnings from accounting and financial regulators issued to investors well before the fraud was discovered. Each time the fraud was confirmed and revealed to the public the stock price dropped drastically.
You might want to pick up a copy of Financial Shenanigans. The chapter on AOL's revenue reporting is assigned in the Level 2 Chartered Financial Analyst curriculum. Time Warner is feeling the brunt of the latest AOL revenue fraud now.
So yeah, the IPO investors may all be missing something. And the people that noticed either a) got early access to the IPO with a preferential price and sold to the next sucker with a hefty same day return b) underwrote the IPO for a fee with no investment risk OR c) never bought the stock of Groupon. Your kind of thinking is what the investment bankers and institutional investors depend on to help them get their $10 Million+ bonuses.