I live in Austin. Please don't move here. We have enough damn people and like our quality of life.
Besides, Dell just laid off another 3000 people. Nobody is hiring and nobody is quitting their jobs. Because of all you Californicators moving out here and outbidding all the locals when buying property ("Sure, I'll raise my bid $20,000-30,000") because of the excessive equity in your California home, the local taxing district has raised property values the maximum they can. And guess what? There is no maximum rate! (unless if you've declared Homestead and then it's 10%) So my $175,000 2500sqft home has gone up 10%/yr for the last 5 yrs due to the strong economy to now be worth $257,000! My annual property taxes are now $5200...and I'm not even being taxed at the maximum rate!
AMD has laid off, IBM has laid off, Dell has laid off, Applied Materials has laid off, even the state agencies have been asked by the governor to find a way to trim 10% from the annual budget.
So, once again, please stay away. We have enough homeless people begging for handouts on the street corners.
Get off your damned high-horse. It's lawyers like you that piss the rest of the general population off, or haven't you noticed. Yes, you may be knowledgeable in the law, but that doesn't mean you have any common sense. If the law is wrong then the law is wrong and the jury has the right, NAY, THE GOD-GIVEN DUTY, to correct where the law went wrong.
If a jury of my peers, SELECTED AND APPROVED by the judge, defense, and prosecutor, all say that I am innocent, then that means exactly what it states. Just because the prosecutor and judge didn't get the conviction they were looking for doesn't mean it was a mis-carriage of justice. The defense was looking for people who believed I was innocent while the prosecutor was screening for people who would convict me. If they were otherwise, they would pull in the first 12 people off the street. It seems to me that it wasn't the case that the prosecutor picked the wrong people for the jury, the prosecutor had his face shoved in the law showing how stupid it is but doesn't recognize it. Reminds me of the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". In this case, "You can shove the lawyers nose into the law by declaring innocence, but he'll refuse to recognize the stupidity of the law".
I'll be laughing my ass off the day you get taken to court and convicted because the law said that you HAVE to be convicted because you did the crime, regardless of whether the law is good or bad.
The really sad part is, you'll still say I'm wrong because "I'm a lawyer and you're not" and still refuse to recognize your buttheadedness because you are too deeply immersed into the law, unable to stand outside of it, like the rest of us non-lawyers, who can see the stupidity in the law.
Get off your high-horse. It's lawyers like you that piss the rest of the general population off, or haven't you noticed. Yes, you may be knowledgeable in the law, but that doesn't mean you have a lick of common sense. If the law is wrong then the law is wrong and the jury has the right, NAY, THE DUTY, to correct where the law went wrong.
If a jury of my peers, SELECTED AND APPROVED by the judge, defense, and prosecutor, all say that I am innocent, then that means exactly what it says. Just because the prosecutor and judge didn't get the conviction they were looking for doesn't mean it was a mis-carriage of justice. The defense was looking for people who believed I was innocent while the prosecutor was screening for people who would convict me. It seems to me that it wasn't the case that the prosecutor picked the wrong people for the jury, the prosecutor had his face shoved in the law showing how stupid it is but doesn't recognize it. Reminds me of the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". In this case, "You can shove the lawyers nose into the law by declaring innocence, but he'll refuse to recognize the stupidity of the law".
I'll be laughing my ass off the day you get taken to court and convicted because the law said that you HAVE to be convicted because you did the crime, regardless of whether the law is good or bad.
The really sad part is, you'll still say I'm wrong because "I'm a lawyer and you're not" and still refuse to recognize your buttheadedness because you are too deeply immersed into the law, unable to stand outside of it, like the rest of us non-lawyers, who can see the stupidity in the law.
I submitted this/. article and in it I specifically asked what it was that we could do to let our displeasure be known either to the corporations or to the politicians. About 1 hour ago I set my browser to view all postings from -1 on up in Nested format. After scrolling down and reading thru most of the postings, this is what I have found:
1) nobody answered the initial question of what to do to fix the problem (talk to the politicians or the corporations) 2) all most people did was bitch or point fingers back and forth
I saw things mentioned here that would be good ideas, such as:
1) the one from Australia requiring people to goto the polling place (even just to dump the polls in the trash un-answered) 2) requiring ALL contributions to be listed, no anonymous donors at all
However, there was nothing said about calling up your Congressperson and letting them know that you are not happy about the state of affairs in respect to fund raising.
Did you know that all the money in a congressperson's fund-raising campaign is allowed to revert to them when they retire? That can be millions of dollars! Hell, now you know why they ARE professional politicians! (Why can't that money be diverted into paying off the national debt or sent to Social Security?)
Did you know that corporations are considered people for legal purposes? However, a corporation may be punished but who punishes those behind the green curtain who saying what to do? They never get punished. (Sure, punish M$ but let Bill Gates get off scott-free!)
couldn't if I wanted to you know. I do believe our neighborhood covenant restrictions prevent any sort of non-domesticated animal from being housed in or near the property. (not that that prevents the backyard neighbor from feeding the goddamn raccoons who then come over and swim in our swimming pool so they can wash up afterwards. I'd like to kick his mother#$%^%^#@$ ass)
there were a few other issues that demanded a move. but as for Netledger, we don't pay for it since he gets a special deal him being a licensed re-seller and all. and before you say anything else, Yes, I have seen my monthly CPA bills. they aren't more than they were before. one of the other problems was that QB data files were getting a bit too unwieldy to carry around or send via the Internet since we both work on the data files from different aspects. that and keeping them properly updated since we had to constantly work with them while he needed them for a few days each time. Netledger made a whole lot more sense, even if the interface can be a PITA to deal with
We had the same thing happen a few years ago to us. We were using it at the start of the new year wrapping up previous years finance stuff, a message came up saying that since they didn't want us to get in trouble, they were going to disable the tax tables in 30 days time so we couldn't use them. We would have to purchase new tax table info from Intuit, EVEN IF THE DAMN TAX TABLES HADN'T CHANGED!
No tax tables makes Quickbooks about as useless as tits on a boar hog. Our CPA switched us over to Netledger at Netledger.com
If I use my debit card for 5 things in 1 day, and the last one causes it to go negative they charge you a 30 dollar fee for each of those.
well, duh! a debit card is exactly that. it pulls money immediately from your account. either write a check or use a credit card if you want the purchase to float on borrowed funds.
I second this. I've been a member of my credit union for over 25 years. When I complain, my credit union listens and they listen close. I currently audit credit unions as a living and have found that my credit union is not unique in that perspective. Credit unions are owned by the people who deposit their hard-earned money there. And believe me when I tell you that when a member has a valid complaint and lets the board of directors know about it as well as my state regulatory agency that regulates credit unions, shit does indeed roll downhill when there is wrongdoing. We have the power to yank a c.u.'s board and/or president and put a conservator in place to do right by the members, and though rare, it has happened.
getting back to the original post of banks and their info sharing rules, though: there are very strict laws about who they may share data with and who they may not. your best bet is to contact your state regulatory agency for banking and find out if they are regulated at the state level or the federal level. then talk to the appropriate person at that agency about the rules this bank is trying to force down your throat. if it turns out that yes indeed they can stick it to you, then do the following. 1) make an appointment with the bank president 2) 20 minutes prior to the appointment, remove all deposits and close your account 3) during the appointment, let the bank president know your displeasure and tell him to stick it up his ass with his policies
not true about collection agencies charging up-front. they usually negotiate for about 50% of the amount due that they can collect
Re:Your dressed casually to the first day of work?
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Cool Work Shirts?
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in other words, you'd rather dazzle them with your clothes than your intellect?
well, I guess that's one way to bullshit them about you not knowing how to do your job. you remind me of the Monty Python skits where the old men put handkerchiefs on their heads and become retarded. but then again, you work in D.C.. what else COULD we expect?
Although not referring specifically to the Mallinson case, he added it may be necessary to "weed out" employees who did not live up to Microsoft's code of behaviour.
damn straight! they let themselves get caught red-handed. c'mon, they have a reputation for underhanded tactics that every M$ empoyee is required to strive for or face StevieB, the dancing monkey, for not being scummy enough and letting yourself get caught.
same features that are the most annoying, unnecessary and browser incompatible
Oooooohhhh! you mean like using Frontpage or Word or even just using any M$ product that fucks up the code and makes it a nightmare to edit (except Notepad)?:)
There are many downsides to the public sector. Pay is often not very good. Your office is often a petri dish for government social engineering...which also breeds the worst kind of office politics.
Added to which, to be frank, from my experience you will end up working with the most mediocore people the market can bear. Sorry, but many government offices are staffed by the otherwise unemployable. Do you really want to work with these people??
the first half of your statement about pay and office politics is true. though my agency is trying to fix the pay issue...
however, the second half of your statement about working with the most mediocre people is false. while I won't dispute that there are a lot of morons out there, your blanket statement is totally inaccurate. at the agency I work for, we regulate credit unions. in order to be an entry-level Financial Examiner, you have to have at least a bachelors in Accounting/Finance/Economics. they then train you, on the job and thru regular classes at NCUA, to perform financial exams of credit unions. Financial Examiners learn how to spot fraud and overall manage financial institutions. as a matter of fact, most FI's leave the job due to excessive travel and below industry standard pay. where do they go? the majority go directly to working for a credit union itself. you can see how well-trained examiners leaving public sector can then responsibly manage a business like a credit union?
before you whitewash us next time, be sure to qualify your statements with some facts.
and just so you know, I am not a Financial Examiner, I am an I.T. Examiner. I examine the computer systems at credit unions to make sure they are safe and sound and all that implies according to best IT practices and government regulations. and yes, I DO have a Bachelors in Computer Science (working towards my Masters), as well as an MCSE, and I perform security audits using nessus, nmap, satan, ethereal, and tcpdump, among others. and, No, I am not entry-level having already worked in the private sector for a few years already having earned my lumps doing tech support/network & sys admin for different places.
that stat was quoted on the news last night and you aren't even thinking about what you just repeated and posted here.
"one out of every 32 adults in the United States was behind bars or on probation or parole. This is ridiculous, and a far greater incarceration rate than most any other first world country."
the problem with that statement is that you equate probation and parole with incarceration. those numbers don't even make sense if you do the simple math on who really is locked up, I think you will find the number swings MUCH lower.
Our country still is the free-est. We don't require passports or national id's, police actually have to have reasonable cause to pull you over and can be brought to task over misbehavior, we can say anything we want in this country without fear of censure (within reason) since the courts uphold our right to free speech. in short, I have lived in Europe in England, Germany, Yugoslavia, and Italy. and when you compare the freedoms over there to the freedoms over here, there is no comparison.
Now, that is NOT to say that the USA is still a lot better off than those countries. There are advantages to being in some of those countries. For example, in Germany I don't have to worry about religious proslytizers bothering me. They also have an extremely decent retirement plan for the older folk. I doubt something like that would work over here due to the greed of our local tit-suckers, excuse me, politicians, like Dumbya.
I think if you were to spend any significant amount of time in America, you would see the differences. I have lived in different parts of this country. From Maine to Florida to Iowa to New Mexico. Each part of the country is extremely different. My personal view on how government should be is pretty much reflected by the NorthEast (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire). People still actually have town hall meetings there, government pretty much does what people tell them to do ("you're not annexing my property") and by-and-large leaves them alone. Texas? sheeet, forget it. they may talk big about the "rugged, individualistic spirit" here in Texas, but it's more like "this is what we decided to do and if you don't like it, tough sh*t".
So, as you can see, things are different here. Dumbass Dubya is NOT representative of the majority of Americans.
actually, as a state I.T. employee myself, I would hope that you WOULD tell me about something like this if it happened to me. the problem is is that this guy probably showed the vulnerability to a court clerk who is NOT an I.T. person. an I.T. person would be grateful. all others would prosecute so they are anal-retentive and stupid beyond belief. I can make this comment with reasonable accuracy as I work in Texas state government. You have to remember that in Texas, commissioners of state agency's are hired by the board of such agency who are appointed (political favors) by...... the governor. I've been lucky in that the agencies I've worked for are citizen-oriented in philosophy and words/deeds. however, most commissioners of said agencies are usually political ass-kissers. a lot of them float around from agency to agency over the course of 20-40 years.
my Dell laptops are used constantly and have really had no issues with them.
-my first one was a p1333 XPi Latitude. nice solid machine that never gave me a bit of trouble. had it for 3 yrs then sold it to my dad who has had it since then for another 3 yrs. it's still running with no problems
-my second was a Latitude CPi model with a P333 cpu. that one had issues with the LCD screen and cable running thru the hinges. when I finally returned it for warranty work 2 weeks before expiration, somehow they lost it.....in the receiving dock. Dell's answer? sent me a completely refurbished CPi Latitude P666 with win2k, 128MB ram, a 10gb hard drive, and a new carry bag. all within 1 week. they didn't even bother saying "Why don't we wait and see if it shows up?"
-my 3rd model is a 15" LCD Latitude C810 that I currently use for work since I travel a lot and use it for pen-testing and other things. again, no issues with this system.
I've used docking stations for all of these, and again, have never had issues.
when they asked me what kind of laptop I wanted for my job, I spec'd a Dell Latitude and said 'none other'. the only thing I wish now is that the laptops came with the old optical mouse track ball like my XPi P133 did. not too fond of glidepads because as you start typing, and then your thumb brushes the glidepad, it moves the cursor to the mouse pointer focus point. happens at least 2 twice a day.
now, Compaq laptops on the other hand......those have been nothing but trouble for all the employees at my agency that use those. flaky 120MB floppy drives, keyboard going out, batteries not holding a charge, the list goes on. not even suitable for being a boat anchor.
yo jackass! why should I (my business) pay unemployment insurance in order to support people that either can't get a job or won't get a job?
in reality, who should be paying this tax to support unemployed people? should it be coming from federal income taxes? or should it be dinked from the sales of goods? the way the system is setup, if there are any claims against me from a former employee, then I have to pay a higher rate, unless I can prove I fired the employee for cause.
Want an example? I had an employee we finally caught stealing stuff and selling it to customers on the side. I docked it from her paycheck and then fired her. I had PROOF! My dispute of her claim was denied and she was given benefits because I was not allowed to dock it from her paycheck (state law) even though I fired her for cause. How's that for getting screwed by the system?
Unemployment is a tax, I'll show you right where it says that on my forms I have to fill out monthly for the state of Texas.
cost of inventory - $5700 (add 75% markup) cost of shipping - $400 sales tax collected - $825 (on $10,000 in sales)
Total = $14,755
Now, if I was to kick the employee out (but I have 2 stores) and work myself, that would earn me a salary of @ $9.5/hr. All that work just to make $9.5/hr! But I'm worth more, so I triple my salary ($4500/mth), make appropriate adjustments in unemployment, social security, and increased inventory, and the number I come up with in minimum sales is now..... @ $22,000!
As you can see, these are extremely simplified figures. In reality, the numbers get closer to $30,000/mth in sales just to be able to pull off something like this.
Which is why I will say it again. Do not run retail, have people pay you for what you know. That way you don't have any inventory, pay rent, collect sales tax, property insurance and all the other necessary crap for doing business in retail.
I could make more money by raising prices, but then my customers will just go elsewhere.
the problem is, do you want your competitors to know what your plans are for increasing business, what product you want to sell, etc? you draw a fine line here.
if I was to get together with other mom/pop stores in our area for our product and let's agree to keep all our prices within a certain range, and at a minimum level so customers can't play us off against each other, that could be considered criminal conduct a.k.a. 'racketeering'. but then again, how do we small guys compete against mega-stores?
well, I had typed in a long reply then when I hit Submit, it blew up on me with an Expired Session. So let me summarize my reply to your post:
You don't know jack about retail.
If you think I mark-up product 1000%, it's obvious you don't know sh*t. MY average markup on an item is between 70-80%, depending on what it is selling for in the local competition stores. The big retail chains may be making money on those x% off sales but then again, what do you expect when THEY can get it for cheaper than me?
if you own/run a retail business, this is what you will pay for:
-employee/customer theft -inventory -shipping to get the inventory to you from the manufacturer -rent -property taxes (because rental space is that tight and the landlords can squeeze) -franchise tax (to the city) -property tax on property the business owns (to the city) and needs in order to conduct business -electric and water utilities -salaries -unemployment to the state unemployment commission to support all those people on welfare w/o jobs -social security taxes -your accountant to keep the books -insurance for the building (landlord required) -the rent going up every year a certain percentage since it is assumed your business will grow -dealing with asshole customers (like you) who think we are ripping them off with 1000% mark-up
so until you've had a retail business, I would suggest you go back to your business classes at WIU, tell the professors they don't know jack about business models, and then start your own business and go thru the daily bullshit that we go thru...
you've obviously never worked or owned a retail store.
my wife and I own and run a childrens retail/consignment store where we sell clothing, shoes, cribs, dressers, rockers, toys, Lil Tikes, Step 2, etc. we treat our customers right, sell them the product they want, put it together for them, and even do deliveries at reasonable cost (no profit).
Our policy clearly states that we do not take returns due to the nature of our business. We have had customers buy a Step 2 playhouse, tell us "It's for my 4 yr old's birthday this weekend!", and then try to bring it back on Monday because "little Cindy didn't like it". yeah right! you bought the playhouse for the kids at the birthday party to play in! you forget that we run a business and hear every excuse in the book. kids love those things and I've never seen one hate them yet.
or how about this one I've heard from other mom/pop retailers in their fields? Suzy came in and bought a $500 prom dress. she brought it back a week later, AFTER THE PROM, and said "My boyfriend dumped me the night before so I couldn't go. See? The tags are still on it."
Really? Then how do you explain the armpit sweatstains and (obviously) beer smell on the dress? Consumers try to buy those needleguns that retailers use to price tag their items with so they can re-attach price tags.
Do you really believe we just fell off the turnip truck? those bigger corps like Toys 'R Us and Babies 'R Us lie to and cheat their customers. we actually sell product at MSRP (manufacturers suggested retail price).
sorry, we're not Toys 'R Us and are not financially sound enough to accept returns based on your lies. you want to exchange it for something else of similar value, not a problem! otherwise, no refunds unless it is clearly damaged. (which they never are!)
we deal straight with our customers, and by virtue of our no-returns policy, we force the dis-honest ones to be straight with us. if there is a real problem, we take care of it. I've had customers tell me after a whole ordeal they were not completely satisfied but they understood that I had done what I could to remedy the situation. Now THAT'S customer service!
you want some baby/children goods at a good price? come visit us at www.carousel-kids.com (yes, I know the design really sucks) or shoot me an email at carousel_kids@hotmail.com . I can't promise you will save money, I can't even promise you will get a better deal here rather than elsewhere. I can promise that you won't get screwed around. I'll let you know upfront with no b.s.
For those interested, we are located in Austin, TX, USA. Got any questions? send them to me!
check YOUR sources first. Mastercard and Visa may cover that but a LOT of financial institutions issue cards of their own that are not affiliated with V/MC. and some regions/states do not allow for limitations on losses.
Slashdot Mirror
I live in Austin. Please don't move here. We have enough damn people and like our quality of life.
Besides, Dell just laid off another 3000 people. Nobody is hiring and nobody is quitting their jobs. Because of all you Californicators moving out here and outbidding all the locals when buying property ("Sure, I'll raise my bid $20,000-30,000") because of the excessive equity in your California home, the local taxing district has raised property values the maximum they can. And guess what? There is no maximum rate! (unless if you've declared Homestead and then it's 10%) So my $175,000 2500sqft home has gone up 10%/yr for the last 5 yrs due to the strong economy to now be worth $257,000! My annual property taxes are now $5200...and I'm not even being taxed at the maximum rate!
AMD has laid off, IBM has laid off, Dell has laid off, Applied Materials has laid off, even the state agencies have been asked by the governor to find a way to trim 10% from the annual budget.
So, once again, please stay away. We have enough homeless people begging for handouts on the street corners.
MacAndrew,
Get off your damned high-horse. It's lawyers like you that piss the rest of the general population off, or haven't you noticed. Yes, you may be knowledgeable in the law, but that doesn't mean you have any common sense. If the law is wrong then the law is wrong and the jury has the right, NAY, THE GOD-GIVEN DUTY, to correct where the law went wrong.
If a jury of my peers, SELECTED AND APPROVED by the judge, defense, and prosecutor, all say that I am innocent, then that means exactly what it states. Just because the prosecutor and judge didn't get the conviction they were looking for doesn't mean it was a mis-carriage of justice. The defense was looking for people who believed I was innocent while the prosecutor was screening for people who would convict me. If they were otherwise, they would pull in the first 12 people off the street. It seems to me that it wasn't the case that the prosecutor picked the wrong people for the jury, the prosecutor had his face shoved in the law showing how stupid it is but doesn't recognize it. Reminds me of the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". In this case, "You can shove the lawyers nose into the law by declaring innocence, but he'll refuse to recognize the stupidity of the law".
I'll be laughing my ass off the day you get taken to court and convicted because the law said that you HAVE to be convicted because you did the crime, regardless of whether the law is good or bad.
The really sad part is, you'll still say I'm wrong because "I'm a lawyer and you're not" and still refuse to recognize your buttheadedness because you are too deeply immersed into the law, unable to stand outside of it, like the rest of us non-lawyers, who can see the stupidity in the law.
MacAndrew,
Get off your high-horse. It's lawyers like you that piss the rest of the general population off, or haven't you noticed. Yes, you may be knowledgeable in the law, but that doesn't mean you have a lick of common sense. If the law is wrong then the law is wrong and the jury has the right, NAY, THE DUTY, to correct where the law went wrong.
If a jury of my peers, SELECTED AND APPROVED by the judge, defense, and prosecutor, all say that I am innocent, then that means exactly what it says. Just because the prosecutor and judge didn't get the conviction they were looking for doesn't mean it was a mis-carriage of justice. The defense was looking for people who believed I was innocent while the prosecutor was screening for people who would convict me. It seems to me that it wasn't the case that the prosecutor picked the wrong people for the jury, the prosecutor had his face shoved in the law showing how stupid it is but doesn't recognize it. Reminds me of the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". In this case, "You can shove the lawyers nose into the law by declaring innocence, but he'll refuse to recognize the stupidity of the law".
I'll be laughing my ass off the day you get taken to court and convicted because the law said that you HAVE to be convicted because you did the crime, regardless of whether the law is good or bad.
The really sad part is, you'll still say I'm wrong because "I'm a lawyer and you're not" and still refuse to recognize your buttheadedness because you are too deeply immersed into the law, unable to stand outside of it, like the rest of us non-lawyers, who can see the stupidity in the law.
I submitted this /. article and in it I specifically asked what it was that we could do to let our displeasure be known either to the corporations or to the politicians. About 1 hour ago I set my browser to view all postings from -1 on up in Nested format. After scrolling down and reading thru most of the postings, this is what I have found:
1) nobody answered the initial question of what to do to fix the problem (talk to the politicians or the corporations)
2) all most people did was bitch or point fingers back and forth
I saw things mentioned here that would be good ideas, such as:
1) the one from Australia requiring people to goto the polling place (even just to dump the polls in the trash un-answered)
2) requiring ALL contributions to be listed, no anonymous donors at all
However, there was nothing said about calling up your Congressperson and letting them know that you are not happy about the state of affairs in respect to fund raising.
Did you know that all the money in a congressperson's fund-raising campaign is allowed to revert to them when they retire? That can be millions of dollars! Hell, now you know why they ARE professional politicians! (Why can't that money be diverted into paying off the national debt or sent to Social Security?)
Did you know that corporations are considered people for legal purposes? However, a corporation may be punished but who punishes those behind the green curtain who saying what to do? They never get punished. (Sure, punish M$ but let Bill Gates get off scott-free!)
couldn't if I wanted to you know. I do believe our neighborhood covenant restrictions prevent any sort of non-domesticated animal from being housed in or near the property. (not that that prevents the backyard neighbor from feeding the goddamn raccoons who then come over and swim in our swimming pool so they can wash up afterwards. I'd like to kick his mother#$%^%^#@$ ass)
there were a few other issues that demanded a move. but as for Netledger, we don't pay for it since he gets a special deal him being a licensed re-seller and all. and before you say anything else, Yes, I have seen my monthly CPA bills. they aren't more than they were before. one of the other problems was that QB data files were getting a bit too unwieldy to carry around or send via the Internet since we both work on the data files from different aspects. that and keeping them properly updated since we had to constantly work with them while he needed them for a few days each time. Netledger made a whole lot more sense, even if the interface can be a PITA to deal with
this needs modding down since obviously it's been repudiated
We had the same thing happen a few years ago to us. We were using it at the start of the new year wrapping up previous years finance stuff, a message came up saying that since they didn't want us to get in trouble, they were going to disable the tax tables in 30 days time so we couldn't use them. We would have to purchase new tax table info from Intuit, EVEN IF THE DAMN TAX TABLES HADN'T CHANGED!
No tax tables makes Quickbooks about as useless as tits on a boar hog. Our CPA switched us over to Netledger at Netledger.com
If I use my debit card for 5 things in 1 day, and the last one causes it to go negative they charge you a 30 dollar fee for each of those.
well, duh! a debit card is exactly that. it pulls money immediately from your account. either write a check or use a credit card if you want the purchase to float on borrowed funds.
I second this. I've been a member of my credit union for over 25 years. When I complain, my credit union listens and they listen close. I currently audit credit unions as a living and have found that my credit union is not unique in that perspective. Credit unions are owned by the people who deposit their hard-earned money there. And believe me when I tell you that when a member has a valid complaint and lets the board of directors know about it as well as my state regulatory agency that regulates credit unions, shit does indeed roll downhill when there is wrongdoing. We have the power to yank a c.u.'s board and/or president and put a conservator in place to do right by the members, and though rare, it has happened.
getting back to the original post of banks and their info sharing rules, though:
there are very strict laws about who they may share data with and who they may not. your best bet is to contact your state regulatory agency for banking and find out if they are regulated at the state level or the federal level. then talk to the appropriate person at that agency about the rules this bank is trying to force down your throat.
if it turns out that yes indeed they can stick it to you, then do the following.
1) make an appointment with the bank president
2) 20 minutes prior to the appointment, remove all deposits and close your account
3) during the appointment, let the bank president know your displeasure and tell him to stick it up his ass with his policies
not true about collection agencies charging up-front. they usually negotiate for about 50% of the amount due that they can collect
in other words, you'd rather dazzle them with your clothes than your intellect?
well, I guess that's one way to bullshit them about you not knowing how to do your job. you remind me of the Monty Python skits where the old men put handkerchiefs on their heads and become retarded. but then again, you work in D.C.. what else COULD we expect?
Although not referring specifically to the Mallinson case, he added it may be necessary to "weed out" employees who did not live up to Microsoft's code of behaviour.
damn straight! they let themselves get caught red-handed. c'mon, they have a reputation for underhanded tactics that every M$ empoyee is required to strive for or face StevieB, the dancing monkey, for not being scummy enough and letting yourself get caught.
same features that are the most annoying, unnecessary and browser incompatible
:)
Oooooohhhh! you mean like using Frontpage or Word or even just using any M$ product that fucks up the code and makes it a nightmare to edit (except Notepad)?
There are many downsides to the public sector. Pay is often not very good. Your office is often a petri dish for government social engineering...which also breeds the worst kind of office politics.
Added to which, to be frank, from my experience you will end up working with the most mediocore people the market can bear. Sorry, but many government offices are staffed by the otherwise unemployable. Do you really want to work with these people??
the first half of your statement about pay and office politics is true. though my agency is trying to fix the pay issue...
however, the second half of your statement about working with the most mediocre people is false. while I won't dispute that there are a lot of morons out there, your blanket statement is totally inaccurate. at the agency I work for, we regulate credit unions. in order to be an entry-level Financial Examiner, you have to have at least a bachelors in Accounting/Finance/Economics. they then train you, on the job and thru regular classes at NCUA, to perform financial exams of credit unions. Financial Examiners learn how to spot fraud and overall manage financial institutions. as a matter of fact, most FI's leave the job due to excessive travel and below industry standard pay. where do they go? the majority go directly to working for a credit union itself. you can see how well-trained examiners leaving public sector can then responsibly manage a business like a credit union?
before you whitewash us next time, be sure to qualify your statements with some facts.
and just so you know, I am not a Financial Examiner, I am an I.T. Examiner. I examine the computer systems at credit unions to make sure they are safe and sound and all that implies according to best IT practices and government regulations. and yes, I DO have a Bachelors in Computer Science (working towards my Masters), as well as an MCSE, and I perform security audits using nessus, nmap, satan, ethereal, and tcpdump, among others. and, No, I am not entry-level having already worked in the private sector for a few years already having earned my lumps doing tech support/network & sys admin for different places.
by which you are implying that since Billy G and Ballmerboy aren't dead yet, that Winblows is not a "modern day system"? :)
that stat was quoted on the news last night and you aren't even thinking about what you just repeated and posted here.
"one out of every 32 adults in the United States was behind bars or on probation or parole. This is ridiculous, and a far greater incarceration rate than most any other first world country."
the problem with that statement is that you equate probation and parole with incarceration. those numbers don't even make sense if you do the simple math on who really is locked up, I think you will find the number swings MUCH lower.
Our country still is the free-est. We don't require passports or national id's, police actually have to have reasonable cause to pull you over and can be brought to task over misbehavior, we can say anything we want in this country without fear of censure (within reason) since the courts uphold our right to free speech. in short, I have lived in Europe in England, Germany, Yugoslavia, and Italy. and when you compare the freedoms over there to the freedoms over here, there is no comparison.
Now, that is NOT to say that the USA is still a lot better off than those countries. There are advantages to being in some of those countries. For example, in Germany I don't have to worry about religious proslytizers bothering me. They also have an extremely decent retirement plan for the older folk. I doubt something like that would work over here due to the greed of our local tit-suckers, excuse me, politicians, like Dumbya.
I think if you were to spend any significant amount of time in America, you would see the differences. I have lived in different parts of this country. From Maine to Florida to Iowa to New Mexico. Each part of the country is extremely different. My personal view on how government should be is pretty much reflected by the NorthEast (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire). People still actually have town hall meetings there, government pretty much does what people tell them to do ("you're not annexing my property") and by-and-large leaves them alone. Texas? sheeet, forget it. they may talk big about the "rugged, individualistic spirit" here in Texas, but it's more like "this is what we decided to do and if you don't like it, tough sh*t".
So, as you can see, things are different here. Dumbass Dubya is NOT representative of the majority of Americans.
actually, as a state I.T. employee myself, I would hope that you WOULD tell me about something like this if it happened to me. the problem is is that this guy probably showed the vulnerability to a court clerk who is NOT an I.T. person. an I.T. person would be grateful. all others would prosecute so they are anal-retentive and stupid beyond belief. I can make this comment with reasonable accuracy as I work in Texas state government. You have to remember that in Texas, commissioners of state agency's are hired by the board of such agency who are appointed (political favors) by ...... the governor. I've been lucky in that the agencies I've worked for are citizen-oriented in philosophy and words/deeds. however, most commissioners of said agencies are usually political ass-kissers. a lot of them float around from agency to agency over the course of 20-40 years.
my Dell laptops are used constantly and have really had no issues with them.
-my first one was a p1333 XPi Latitude. nice solid machine that never gave me a bit of trouble. had it for 3 yrs then sold it to my dad who has had it since then for another 3 yrs. it's still running with no problems
-my second was a Latitude CPi model with a P333 cpu. that one had issues with the LCD screen and cable running thru the hinges. when I finally returned it for warranty work 2 weeks before expiration, somehow they lost it.....in the receiving dock.
Dell's answer? sent me a completely refurbished CPi Latitude P666 with win2k, 128MB ram, a 10gb hard drive, and a new carry bag. all within 1 week. they didn't even bother saying "Why don't we wait and see if it shows up?"
-my 3rd model is a 15" LCD Latitude C810 that I currently use for work since I travel a lot and use it for pen-testing and other things. again, no issues with this system.
I've used docking stations for all of these, and again, have never had issues.
when they asked me what kind of laptop I wanted for my job, I spec'd a Dell Latitude and said 'none other'. the only thing I wish now is that the laptops came with the old optical mouse track ball like my XPi P133 did. not too fond of glidepads because as you start typing, and then your thumb brushes the glidepad, it moves the cursor to the mouse pointer focus point. happens at least 2 twice a day.
now, Compaq laptops on the other hand......those have been nothing but trouble for all the employees at my agency that use those. flaky 120MB floppy drives, keyboard going out, batteries not holding a charge, the list goes on.
not even suitable for being a boat anchor.
yo jackass! why should I (my business) pay unemployment insurance in order to support people that either can't get a job or won't get a job?
in reality, who should be paying this tax to support unemployed people? should it be coming from federal income taxes? or should it be dinked from the sales of goods? the way the system is setup, if there are any claims against me from a former employee, then I have to pay a higher rate, unless I can prove I fired the employee for cause.
Want an example? I had an employee we finally caught stealing stuff and selling it to customers on the side. I docked it from her paycheck and then fired her. I had PROOF! My dispute of her claim was denied and she was given benefits because I was not allowed to dock it from her paycheck (state law) even though I fired her for cause. How's that for getting screwed by the system?
Unemployment is a tax, I'll show you right where it says that on my forms I have to fill out monthly for the state of Texas.
they may sell for several times what they cost, but have you figured in the cost of doing business?
example:
I need to make $15,000/mth in gross sales just to break even.
electricity- $250
rent (3500) - $4700
employees - $1500
unemployment - $400
social security taxes - $800
insurance - $180
Total so far = $7830
cost of inventory - $5700 (add 75% markup)
cost of shipping - $400
sales tax collected - $825 (on $10,000 in sales)
Total = $14,755
Now, if I was to kick the employee out (but I have 2 stores) and work myself, that would earn me a salary of @ $9.5/hr. All that work just to make $9.5/hr!
But I'm worth more, so I triple my salary ($4500/mth), make appropriate adjustments in unemployment, social security, and increased inventory, and the number I come up with in minimum sales is now..... @ $22,000!
As you can see, these are extremely simplified figures. In reality, the numbers get closer to $30,000/mth in sales just to be able to pull off something like this.
Which is why I will say it again. Do not run retail, have people pay you for what you know. That way you don't have any inventory, pay rent, collect sales tax, property insurance and all the other necessary crap for doing business in retail.
I could make more money by raising prices, but then my customers will just go elsewhere.
the problem is, do you want your competitors to know what your plans are for increasing business, what product you want to sell, etc? you draw a fine line here.
if I was to get together with other mom/pop stores in our area for our product and let's agree to keep all our prices within a certain range, and at a minimum level so customers can't play us off against each other, that could be considered criminal conduct a.k.a. 'racketeering'. but then again, how do we small guys compete against mega-stores?
it's a tough go for a lot of small mom/pop's
well, I had typed in a long reply then when I hit Submit, it blew up on me with an Expired Session. So let me summarize my reply to your post:
You don't know jack about retail.
If you think I mark-up product 1000%, it's obvious you don't know sh*t. MY average markup on an item is between 70-80%, depending on what it is selling for in the local competition stores. The big retail chains may be making money on those x% off sales but then again, what do you expect when THEY can get it for cheaper than me?
if you own/run a retail business, this is what you will pay for:
-employee/customer theft
-inventory
-shipping to get the inventory to you from the manufacturer
-rent
-property taxes (because rental space is that tight and the landlords can squeeze)
-franchise tax (to the city)
-property tax on property the business owns (to the city) and needs in order to conduct business
-electric and water utilities
-salaries
-unemployment to the state unemployment commission to support all those people on welfare w/o jobs
-social security taxes
-your accountant to keep the books
-insurance for the building (landlord required)
-the rent going up every year a certain percentage since it is assumed your business will grow
-dealing with asshole customers (like you) who think we are ripping them off with 1000% mark-up
so until you've had a retail business, I would suggest you go back to your business classes at WIU, tell the professors they don't know jack about business models, and then start your own business and go thru the daily bullshit that we go thru...
maybe you will actually learn something....
you've obviously never worked or owned a retail store.
my wife and I own and run a childrens retail/consignment store where we sell clothing, shoes, cribs, dressers, rockers, toys, Lil Tikes, Step 2, etc. we treat our customers right, sell them the product they want, put it together for them, and even do deliveries at reasonable cost (no profit).
Our policy clearly states that we do not take returns due to the nature of our business. We have had customers buy a Step 2 playhouse, tell us "It's for my 4 yr old's birthday this weekend!", and then try to bring it back on Monday because "little Cindy didn't like it". yeah right! you bought the playhouse for the kids at the birthday party to play in! you forget that we run a business and hear every excuse in the book. kids love those things and I've never seen one hate them yet.
or how about this one I've heard from other mom/pop retailers in their fields? Suzy came in and bought a $500 prom dress. she brought it back a week later, AFTER THE PROM, and said "My boyfriend dumped me the night before so I couldn't go. See? The tags are still on it."
Really? Then how do you explain the armpit sweatstains and (obviously) beer smell on the dress? Consumers try to buy those needleguns that retailers use to price tag their items with so they can re-attach price tags.
Do you really believe we just fell off the turnip truck? those bigger corps like Toys 'R Us and Babies 'R Us lie to and cheat their customers. we actually sell product at MSRP (manufacturers suggested retail price).
sorry, we're not Toys 'R Us and are not financially sound enough to accept returns based on your lies. you want to exchange it for something else of similar value, not a problem! otherwise, no refunds unless it is clearly damaged. (which they never are!)
we deal straight with our customers, and by virtue of our no-returns policy, we force the dis-honest ones to be straight with us. if there is a real problem, we take care of it. I've had customers tell me after a whole ordeal they were not completely satisfied but they understood that I had done what I could to remedy the situation. Now THAT'S customer service!
you want some baby/children goods at a good price? come visit us at www.carousel-kids.com (yes, I know the design really sucks) or shoot me an email at carousel_kids@hotmail.com . I can't promise you will save money, I can't even promise you will get a better deal here rather than elsewhere. I can promise that you won't get screwed around. I'll let you know upfront with no b.s.
For those interested, we are located in Austin, TX, USA. Got any questions? send them to me!
check YOUR sources first. Mastercard and Visa may cover that but a LOT of financial institutions issue cards of their own that are not affiliated with V/MC. and some regions/states do not allow for limitations on losses.