Is anyone spending their $600 Stimulus check on Toy Soldiers? (1 Viewer)

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agmtanks

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I sure plan to spend every cent of my check on Tanks and Soldiers. Most of it will go toward my Honour Bound Tiger which will arrive sometime later this month I hope. I placed my order a few weeks ago in anticipation of this $600 check.Who else is planning to spend part or all on figures or Armor?
 
My bribe check will go to pay down debt (homage to Milton Friedman).

Prosit!
Brad
 
First I have to see it.........I just don't have any fath left in government.

On one hand they are talking about an 18 cent a gallon tax vacation for the summer.............meanwhile they are hinting about $6 gas in our near future!

Time to nationalize the gas companies and put those profits back into America's Social Security Trust Fund!

Njja
 
Njja said:
First I have to see it.........I just don't have any fath left in government.

On one hand they are talking about an 18 cent a gallon tax vacation for the summer.............meanwhile they are hinting about $6 gas in our near future!

Time to nationalize the gas companies and put those profits back into America's Social Security Trust Fund!

Njja
Click to expand...

Oh, you'll get it, and so will folks who have no tax liability.

We pay around 69¢ a gallon in state tax alone, here in Pennsylvania. The money is supposed to pay for upkeep on the Commonwealth's roads. But in 2006 it was raised, and six months later, Fast Eddie told us we needed to raise it again, because there was no money in the road fund. But not to worry--we have casinos now, and the casino money will take care of everything. I can't wait--we're all going to get $170 homestead relief, as it is called. Oh boy!

No, I don't begrudge the oil companies any of the money they make. We hear about their profits, but the significant statistic is their profit margin. They high dollar values in profits, but a relatively low profit margin, because much of the profit goes to cover investment in upkeep. And since most of us have 401K and other retirement investments, we receive the money that is left over, in the form of dividends.

The Chinese and the Indians, among others, have increased demand for oil, as their economies grow, and that helps drive up the price. What also helps drive up the price is that we have kept supply low, by not allowing drilling in areas within the US where oil can be recovered (Alaska, Montana, Colorado, Louisiana, and off the coasts). And we haven't built a new refinery in over 20 years. The economist Robert Samuelson--if you went to high school in the US in the last 30 years, you studied from textbooks he wrote--points out in Newsweek that we have shot ourselves in the foot by not taking steps to increase supply, and so, when the supply gets tight, now we have to take it.

There isn't much the government can do, except perhaps to pass laws and ease the restrictions in place.

Sorry, on the soapbox again.

Prosit!
Brad
 
I thought I read there was an income limitation - $150K or something like that in which case you get nothing. My guess is that a lot of people who can afford this hobby are in that boat.
 
Don't kid yourself on oil company profits. I have a moderate position in Exxon about 75K. Last year Exxon earned 361 Billion in revenue, knocked that down to 171 Billion in Gross Profits.....then further reduced it to 40+ Billion in Net.
They have very little debt 9 Billion, with 34 Billion in cash.

Exxon earned $7.28 per share, and they pay us $1.40 per share.....a 1.4% yield.........CEO retired last year with a 400 million dollar deal.

Best thing for America would be to nationalize these guys before they ruin America. When gas goes up everything goes up, food, everything that moves by vehicle. The gas companies are already talking about $6 a gallon, by the next presidential election we will be looking at $10 a gallon unless they are stopped.

They couldn't care less.
 
Combat said:
I thought I read there was an income limitation - $150K or something like that in which case you get nothing. My guess is that a lot of people who can afford this hobby are in that boat.
Click to expand...

That's why I cannot accept the Newspeak term for this, and refer to it as a "rebate" or "economic stimulus check". When I first heard about the legislation back in the winter, I remember thinking to myself, "How can be called a rebate, or refund, if someone who is not liable to pay tax will get some money? Rebate and refund both mean a return of a portion of something paid." I call it a bribe. People will remember that their respective representatives voted for it, and vote him back in again. This is the "pane" in "pane et circensum"

And most economists agree that this will not have the intended effect of jumpstarting the economy. Friedman wrote a paper back during the Nixon adminstration, when he proposed something similar, and Friedman demostrated that while some people will spend the money, most will use it to reduce their outstanding debt, or put it into savings. That was borne out the last time, during Bush's first term. The economy didn't come out of the recession back then because of money disbursed to citizens. Again, a small proportion spent the money, but most paid debts. The economy heated up again because the reduction in rates (commonly known as the "Bush tax cuts") made it profitable to invest money, instead of pulling it out of the economy and into shelters. People invested, and not just Rich Uncle Moneybags (that's the iconic character in the game "Monopoly"), I invested, you invested, we all invested, directly, by giving money to stock brokers, but also indirectly, through payroll deductions into 401k plans and other retirement funds. That money went to companies that created jobs, and not just big companies-that's the media image. Investment made money available to the small businesses that make up most of the businesss. And actually, government revenues went up, too, as they did when Reagan pushed through reductions in rates, and when Kennedy pushed through reductions in capital gains. The rates were lower, but since there is more income being produced, there is actually more money collected. We have to face it--the rich aren't hurt by high tax rates, because those rates tax income, not wealth. And high tax rates don't affect people whose income is low enough that they are not liable to pay any income tax. They affect those of us in between.

The more I think about it, the more I think the fair tax is a good idea. I favor a flat tax now, but a national sales tax is not a bad idea, either. Tax consumption, not production and savings. Didn't anyone watch the Soviets and Eastern Europe, and learn anything?

Prosit!
Brad
 
I agree, gas should be regulated like any other utility. My stimulus check will be headed to the Borgata in Atlantic City, so I can stimulate myself at a blackjack table :)
 
There's good reason why our fore fathers made it part of the constitution for us to be able to keep our guns, it's starting to look like revolution may be the only way to clean house and set this country back on a path that was intended "By the People for the People", not corporations and Imperial Washington.
Ray
 
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Seems quite simple, and one of our most important rights.

Njja
 

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Okay then, can we keep this thread on track with the original question and avoid a political discussion?
Toy soldiers...yes:)
Politics...no:(

Thank you!
 
Shannon Reuss said:
Okay then, can we keep this thread on track with the original question and avoid a political discussion?
Toy soldiers...yes:)
Politics...no:(

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Shannon,
It's more Freedom and Democracy, politics is choosing between all the Rats, in this thread we're calling them all Rats!
Ray:D
 
Mostly going toward bills and upcoming house moving expenses, but my lovely bride and I will each claim a percentage for some discretionary spending, i.e. toy soldiers for me. :)

MD
 
I think Doug was right: there is not going to be much left for many of us because of high income.
 
Yes, the official line on that is that at that level of income the $600 would not encourage any further spending. Now if that were only true.:rolleyes:
In protest, I just committed to spend the stimulus that I will not receive on the new Conte plastic Spartans due in June.;)
 
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