Money, money, money

[Smitty]

CielOnTap the post your had about the drug people tapping into oil to petrol lines is NEWS to me I must admt.

It does bring to mind in Africa even with patrols out continually trying to stop natives from punching a hole in a petrol line as they all swarm there to get contained of petrol, but so often someone is smoking & suddenly all 'ell breaks loose.

Still this post of yours was more then an eye opener to me.
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Also the bit about the foreign coins that are sometimes used for American or Cdn coins had me taking note. Fortunately I purchase most of my products not by cash money from my wallet, but from my Debit Card or possibly if larger the Visa. Once home I will record the above in my normal three leaf book regarding my money & basically my Interest to what it has gone down so much for such a reason & also on the not used blank page on the left is what I have purchased in Visa & so the Visa debit sheet will show up so I can check & be prepared to have it handled at the bank to also a debt on my Interest along with the daily buying with the debit card.

So coins being somewhat different are not likely to fall into change at a shop & or course I do not travel out of Canada either.

[CielOnTap]

Here's an example of corporate welfare on taxpayer money in Bridgeton:

This tax bailout came over the objection of officials in St. Louis County. A state-mandated TIF Commission recently voted 6-6 on the TIF plan--with all six St. Louis County appointees on the commission voting against the bailout. A tie vote rejected the TIF. The city was able to overturn the TIF Commission with a supermajority vote of its members.

The Mayor of Bridgeton, Conrad Bowers, warned that if Wal-Mart and Kroenke were not given what they asked for -- Wal-Mart would leave Bridgeton entirely, dragging with it a million dollars in tax revenue from its "old" store just minutes down the road. "We got the best deal for the city we could get," the Mayor told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

But it is Kroenke who got the best deal. Kroenke inherited a fortune in Wal-Mart stock when he married the daughter of Sam Walton's deceased brother Bud. Kroenke's wife, Ann Walton Kroenke is one of the richest women in America, with an inheritance valued at $2.6 billion. Kroenke owns the Denver Nuggets basketball team, hockey's Colorado Avalanche, is part owner of the St. Louis Rams and the English soccer team Arsenal. He was the 117th richest American, with an estimated worth of $2.7 billion in 2009. He could have built a new Bridgeton Wal-Mart without one penny of Tax Increment Financing, but the money was there for the taking.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-norman/another-billionaire-bailo_b_640518.html

Would new entrepreneurs have had a chance at taxpayer money for starting up new firms? What about a researcher who develops a new process that can improve something useful for society?

[CielOnTap]

Canadian Tire backed off of charging eco fees until the government of Ontario and Stewardship Ontario figure out how the program fees will work out for the retailers to charge. At least one store chain challenged the program, probably irked by the first week of press on the eco fee charged on a Toronto customer's bill at a CT store.

[CielOnTap]

World record for Canadian chartered banknote
By IAN ROBERTSON, QMI Agency

Last Updated: July 24, 2010 12:45pm
Talk about inflation. A century-old $5 bill recently sold in Toronto for $150,000 -- at triple the pre-sale estimate.

It set a world record for a Canadian chartered banknote, said Bret Evans, managing editor of St. Catharines-based Canadian Coin News.

The unique fiver from the long-defunct, short-lived Bank of Vancouver was hammered down at a public auction held in conjunction with the Torex coin show in late June.http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/07/24/14814911.html

[alohasand]

Germany's super-rich urged to follow US billionaires' lead
Published: 6 Aug 10 08:44 CET

Following the pledge by 40 American billionaires to give away at least half their wealth to humanitarian causes, centre-left politicians suggested Friday that Germany’s super-rich might consider doing the same.

Politicians from the centre-left Social Democrats and environmentalist Greens have pointed to the announcement spearheaded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett as an example Germany's financial elite could follow.

Green chairwoman Claudia Roth described the gesture as setting a “good example.” “Those who can afford it, should do it,” she told the Passauer Neue Presse. SPD deputy parliamentary leader Joachim Poß described the US announcement as a “good idea.” http://www.thelocal.de/money/20100806-28985.html

Could anyone tell us what the tax laws are like in Germany? Is there a national law on charitable giving?

[CielOnTap]

Chicago leads nation in sales tax
By Mary Ellen Podmolik | Posted today at 3:29 p.m.

It’s another dubious honor for Chicago.

Just as Illinois touts its first sales-tax holiday, a new report highlights Chicago as having the highest retail sales tax in the nation, at 9.75 percent once county, mass transit and city taxes are added to the statewide 6.25 percent sales tax. Chicago just edged out Los Angeles, which has a 9.5 percent sales tax rate.In its annual survey, information services company CCH Inc. said consumer taxes for retail items, gas and cigarettes continued to climb in many states.

The company found that five states – California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska and North Dakota — raised their tax on gasoline and another five — Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Mexico and North Carolina — boosted their sales tax.
http://chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/08/chicago-leads-nation-in-sales-tax.html

[CielOnTap]

Man files $38-quadrillion lawsuit

By QMI Agency
It's a roundabout tale, but what it amounts to is a Utah man is suing a group of would-be property owners for $38 quadrillion.

Considering there is only about $24 trillion in circulation around the entire world at any given time, that could prove a difficult number to collect.

Nevertheless, John Theodore Andersen alleges he's owed approximately $64,000 in unpaid consulting work he claims to have performed on a mining property in Utah.http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/08/24/15123006.html

Not often that one reads of such numbers outside of government. The lien does make property transfer an issue, so the man is not letting his unpaid work get transferred to owner #3 (potentially). The original property owner needed to have faced the bill at the outset.

[CielOnTap]

Blockbuster tells Hollywood studios it's preparing for mid-September bankruptcy
August 26, 2010 | 3:56 pm
After dominating the home video rental business for more than a decade and struggling to survive in recent years against upstarts Netflix and Redbox, Blockbuster Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy next month, according to people who have been briefed on the matter.

Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a “pre-planned” bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks.

Blockbuster is hoping to use its time in Chapter 11 to restructure a crippling debt load of nearly $1 billion and escape leases on 500 or more of it 3,425 stores in the U.S. Maintaining the support of Hollywood's film studios during the process will be critical so that Blockbuster can continue to rely upon an uninterrupted supply of new DVDs. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/08/blockbuster-tells-hollywood-studios-its-preparing-for-midseptember-bankruptcy.html

Renting movies was a way to avoid the glut of some not so great choices at the theatres. Even movie theatres are not quite the same anymore-they are small art one or supersized multiplexes. Drive-in theatres are a small group.

Blockbuster's planned business move marks a chapter in personal entertainment options and how they are offered.

[CielOnTap]

Rebate on the way for phone customers
Published On Tue Aug 31 2010
Emily Mathieu
Business Reporter
Canadians who live in urban centres can expect rebates of up to $90 from their phone company — although it could take six months.

The rebates follow a lengthy and hotly contested debate over how to distribute more than $300 million from a special fund orchestrated by Canada’s telecommunications regulator.

On Tuesday the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) directed Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Telus and MTS Allstream to rebate $310.8 million of a $770 million set aside in deferral funds for their urban home telephone customers.

That rebate will range from $25 to $90 per subscriber and will be available to customers in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia sometime in the next six months.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/855144--rebate-on-the-way-for-phone-customers#article

I thought that fund would lead to active infrastructure building in northern and remote communities. Funny how the source of the fund creation now has a say in how the money is used. But 10 years?

By the way, a 3-year monthly fee of 30 cents to expand a local calling area across several communities will end in November. Will that 30 cents show up in the monthly basic service charge or not?

The rebate should go to all customers of record during the 10 year period who have had most of their service through Bell. Come on, six months for a refund? If credit lenders are tight with a corporation's financing, then who is benefitting from the interest income generated by the fund fees? Corporate executives should forego any pay perks this year and no, it should not be collected in a following year. PR, people, matters with customers served not-so-well.