swamprat

Thoughts are with you, rm.

...UK has never hired a UK guy for the basketball position ...

Really. Somebody go tell Joe B. Hall he's a Florida guy.

 

BTW. This change is a non-issue, and Travis is probably better off losing the game on his schedule.

It is the feature meat in a BLT and I love BLTs.

"23,000 Days" - The Moody Blues

Not really. Its just a publicity stunt. I'm not sure why anyone would want to go to Cuba for medical treatment.

The attempt to compare Cuban medical availability to the US is nothing more than providing Fidel with a propaganda opportunity. As a Cuban friend of mine said, after hearing about this, "Is Michael Moore bringing all of the sheets, soap, and food required for patients? I hope so, because those things are not provided by the State Hospital."

Oh, buy the way, get a fairly large external drive (at least as big as the hard drive in your computer) with what ever you get and back up your hard drive at least once a week. It will add a couple of hundred to the cost, but it will save you major headaches in the future.

I've got nothing against Dells, but I got a new Toshiba Satellite P105-S6147 late last year and I love it. Especially because it has a full keyboard. I've always used Toshiba. This is my 4th one (my first Satellite had a Pentium 133 in it). None have let me down, yet and all, but the first one, are still in use. I still have the first one, which still powers up and I can surf the web with it, albeit slowly.

 

As far as what you should pay, it depends on what you are using it for. Believe me, I couldn't do what I do with a $700 laptop.

Free advice: Come up with better examples. What are the chances of an AMERICAN carmaker raising their prices $10k and actually selling that car? None. Hell, they're barely able to get a few percentage points above cost. What are the chances of a $150k home selling for $250k? None. Why? There's no market for that product at that price. Simple economics.

 

Secondly, why does the level of profit in one particular industry compared to something non-related have any impact? What's the point?

 

Lastly, we as a country like to complain about the gas prices but we do nothing about it. We don't change our driving habits. We don't change the types of cars we drive. That tells me that $3/gallon is still doable. We may not like it but we're still willing to pay for it rather than change our habits.

 

So, we can either continue to live with it or do something about it. Complaining/whining yet not doing anything differently is simply noise.

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

I would like to return to the Pandora's Box argument. I am not troubled by the seeking out of registered sex offenders. What I am troubled by is the 1) COMPELLED disclosure 2) from a private entity 3) of information as of yet UNKNOWN to the government 4) for purposes that do not appear to be clear.

I've been afraid of this since the Patriot Act was passed. This is just the beginning.

This sounds a lot more like price gouging than economics to me. Call it what it is.

The price gouging laws, in states that have them, protect against sudden price increases brought on by an emergency situation. It is not against the law to raise prices during driving (a.k.a. vacation) season.

Actually, the government does regulate other natural resources companies, like the gas and electric company nationwide. Water and sewage rates are also regulated, as are landline phone rates.

Because those utilities use public easements. That's why cell phone rates and satellite TV is not regulated.

For that matter, many local governments regulate hotel room rates to prevent price gouging during special events. Like say, the government could do during driving season.

I know of no law on the books of any city or state that prevents hotels from raising rates for a special event other than an emergency situation.

Based on your logic why was gas ever "edged back down"? Why not leave prices where they were and then start the next raise this Spring?

 

The answer is of course simple. It was purely political. Prices dropped dramatically as we approached the mid-term elections in hopes of keeping some republicans in office. Didn't work out, and prices will stay too high for the next two years unless the Dems in office choose to get vocal about changing it. I'm not holding my breath.

I disagree to a certain extent. From a sound business standpoint (in a Free Market economy) you raise prices during high demand times to what the market will bare (not what the government will allow). In this case, that is generally summer time when vacations take place. When the air gets cold, people tend to drive less and the demand reduces. A good businessman would reduce his price at this time in hopes of increasing volume and reducing inventory. Businesses have to pay taxes on unsold inventory. Besides, gasoline does have a shelf life.

 

Having said that, I cannot completely disagree with your second paragraph. Politicians are what they are, Democrat or Republican. I just did my quarterly check-up on both of my vehicles to insure maximum MPG efficiency and I plan on replacing both with more efficient models when I can afford to do so. That's how I'm dealing with it.

I remember living in Jacksonville and I lived/worked at the Beach and there were some REALLY bad fires on the westside of town. Basically the Westside was a good hour drive from the beach in decent traffic.

 

The smoke was so bad it covered the beaches area in a mist, everyone was being advised to stay inside, etc. I just remember getting off work at 7am, walking outside and it was just AWFUL. Made sure to get home and stay out of that. Just horrible.

The problem here is that we are more than 200 miles from the fires.

What your asking goes against the American free market system does it not? In a true "free market" there is very minimal government intervention. Directly and indirectly oil prices are driven by demand.....and last I checked I haven't seen the faintest waver in the demand for gasoline(with our fascination with fuel sucking SUVs and trucks). Supply or lack thereof (scarcity) also plays a significant role in determining price. Oil is a nonrenewable resource, and it would only make sense that the more we use, the more valuable the remaining oil would then become. Honestly, we've been sitting on top of the world in this regard for some time. The gas prices abroad in Europe and elsewhere have been well over 4 and even 5 dollars a gallon for some time now. The good news is that necessity is the mother of invention and innovation........at some point we will find sustainable alternatives.

I agree, but I don't think it's that complicated. They raised the price last year until we cried OUCH, kept it there during the driving season (summer), then edged it back down. When it was observed that the demand did not decrease, but in fact increased, they decided to go beyond last year. Simple economics.

BoondockSaint's been lucky this week. No smoke from the fires like last week.

I'm eating dinner at Dan Marino's restaurant tomorrow night, anyone ever been there before?

Nope. Please tell us what it's like. I've wanted to try it.

I bought gas for 2.00 in January and now it is 3.00. If anything else went up 50% the government would be on them and make them make a change. The cost of gas is starting to affect the cost of other items as well.

Give me an example where that has happened, because I can't think of one that did not violate an existing law.

Have a good one, big guy.

No worries, what about golf?

I don't get out too often (2 years ago was the last time), but 9 Eagles is really nice. West Chase is OK, but the greens tend to be rough. Silver Dollar is a working mans golf course and the way I play, it suits me well. I've never played Country Way, but I've never heard anything good about it. Those are all close to me.

 

The only one I know about on the St. Pete side of the Bay is East Bay where my father-in-law used to play. He liked it. They've been advertising a new public course on Steve Dumic's radio show on 620 AM (3-7 pm), but the name escapes me right now. Go to Edwin Watts, they'll have better recommendations.

Someone was telling me about them earlier, I'll definitely look into that. Do you know of any good fishing charters?

Sorry, I'm afraid I'm not much of a fisherman.

Try to catch the Tampa Yankees at Legends Field. In fact, if you really like baseball, the Dunedin Blue Jays and Clearwater Threshers single A minor league teams are close by.

Marlins

I just arrived in Florida today.:banana:

Exactly where are you?

Working Pizza Hut put me through college. I started in Corbin, worked at the one in Williamsburg and helped open ones in Mt. Sterling and Morehead.

Cool Change - The Little River Band

I'm down in your area right now swamprat, any suggestions for things to do while I'm here?

Depends on what you want to do. Respond in the All nighter's thread.

Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel