Friday, November 16, 2012

Big Bad Choo-Choo


The voice of people in the path of progress:

"In this case - forgive me - we don't really care what goes on statewide. We're very concerned about what's happening in our county, and what's happening in our county is very real and it's happening every day," said Anja Raudabaugh, executive director of the Madera County Farm Bureau, one of the parties to the lawsuit. "My guys can't get operating loans to plant trees next year. My guys can't get operating loans to buy equipment for expanding their operations because they're in the footprint of the alignment."


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The fix is in.  There's nothing going to stop this dumb idea from riding the state into bankruptcy.  Not that it won't go "tango uniform" regardless but this will get us there faster.  



RThe fix ead more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/16/4990620/calif-high-speed-rail-faces-crucial.html#storylink=cpy

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Dawg, it may well be the least sane California Government project ever. Crumbling levee's and roads, unsafe bridges...the list goes on. And we get HSR. Geez, not enough pork in rebuilding needed infrastructure?

Rob Dawg said...

You don't get to cut the ribbon on a repaired levee in front of the world press.

Even the $98.1b price tag has some amazing assumptions. For instance Bakersfield is presumed to be purchasing the land and building their station themselves.

Don't even get me started on the deals that will be cut to gain access to the rights of way owned by the railroads.

JP said...

This post belongs back in the tax discussion: I have some high-quality tax problems this year and next. Any of you have a CPA to recommend? We're looking for someone local to Santa Monica.

Rob Dawg said...

What field of specialty?

JP said...

Someone who has talent in retirement options, in order to minimize taxes for good years of a S corp. (or any other suggestions for helping to smooth out some of the lumpiness.) S corp is software services, (so not like RE with their 1031 exchanges).

Full time hiring is also on the horizon, so pointers to payroll/benefits/HR employer law would be a bonus in a CPA, but not the immediate need.

JP said...

Here's more of the situation: Given an S corp with $N of pass-thru income: What is the optimal ratio of salary/distributions/SEP? It's dependent on what you think the future holds for income-tax rates/capital gains rates, but even building that spreadsheet and knowing what is allowed requires lots more digging than we've done. And I can't believe we're the only ones with this problem, so somebody probably has an excel sheet already.

sm_landlord said...

JP,

I have an excellent CPA who has saved me a fortune over the years. His office is right across the border between SM and LA, due to the SM gross receipts tax.

We should discuss...

sm_landlord said...

BTW, you know about the gross receipts tax, right?

JP said...

Hi SM:
You have :mail:
And yes, we already got the gross tax receipt surprise. It's a good thing I love this place.

JP

Rob Dawg said...

Thanks for stepping in SM. I knew you had the answer from past conversations. I just didn't want to volunteer you.

Sorry also. I overslept and didn't finish today's post on CA budget lies. It is a lot of work. For some reason all the pieces aren't easy to pull together. Spending is not budget and some are by month some by calendar year others fiscal year. Almost all have end of reporting period carry overs. Then there's the total silence as to repaying the federal unemployment loan. It is also difficult to see how much of last years recurring unpaid payables was old and which is new overspending. Finally there are internal transfers. It is much worse than the $1.9b claimed and that assumes the sales tax and rich don't take the hint and change behavior.

JP said...

Hey Dawg,
sm_landlord and I ended up having coffee. I found out that he'd never met you in person, so I argued that you don't exist. He assured me about the existence of dawg, but I remain a skeptic.
Let me know if you're ever down this way, happy to buy you a coffee/beer/wine/warm milk for the aged.

Rob Dawg said...

There's a rumor that some of the guys and gals on patrick.net claim to have met me in meatspace but you'd best hedge your bets and remain agnostic as to the existence of dawg.