I have jumped into the water and I’m enjoying it very well. I used my own savings and started my own business. Every penny I make comes from what I sell. I also do all of my own support work. I plan to hire in the next year and know that I need to sell even more in order to pay above the median so I can have a true hard working team member. I will have enough on hand to pay a full two year’s salary with comparable benefits. I plan to always pay fairly. I will sacrifice and work harder so I don’t have the problem of people questioning if they are fairly compensated. And I love it when the waters get rough – makes for a more exciting ride.
In 2004, Republicans including George Bush, John McCain and some Democrats warned Congress on the policy of giving loans to people who financially were not able to pay them back.
Chris Dowd and Barney Frank blocked the investigation of of these unqualified loan practices in their commitees. They made a big deal about how sound Fannie May and Freddie Mac loan practices were. They said that this was political and Republicans were only trying to hurt poor people.
Chris Dowd, Barney Frank and Barach Obama received the most money of all in Congress from Fannie and Freddie.
This all on record but the bias of the media will not report it.
Congratulations on taking the leap. I wish you all the best. I just took exception to the comment about agents not doing the right thing by their customers. Doing what is best for the customer isn’t always the most profitable in the short run…but it is in the long run.
You obviously do not write business with AIG or you would know that they are not offering “higher” premiums. They are extremely underpriced for the majority of the business they write! They’ve been buying their business for years – and I’m sure they will continue to do so. And the claims will start rolling in, but no worries… We’re here to help them out!
ok, this is a bit off topic, but I heard it this morning on the radio and it made a lot of sense.
BAR STOOL ECONOMICS
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.”Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”
“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
Well if you really want to make this and us vs. them, you should be very happy and content, knowing that it is the arch-conservative paragons of virtue, the republican party and it’s leader GW Bush who brings our economy to it’s knees….who else is at the helm of the ship of state? Who else SHOULD be blamed for all of these wonderful eight years of prosperity? they like to place blame and take credit, now the shoes are on the other foot. I’d rather take my chances with the young, inexperienced than the old, well-traveled, in-the-know business type who ran this into the ground….
A flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada
has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased
patrols to stop the illegal immigration.
The possibility of a McCain/Palin election is prompting the exodus
among left-leaning citizens who fear they’ll soon be required to hold
down a job, hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O’Reilly.
Canadian border farmers say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of
sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing
their fields at night. I went out to milk the cows the other day, and
there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,’ said Manitoba
farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The
producer was cold, exhausted and hungry.
‘He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken.
When I gave him some fresh warm goat milk he tossed his cookies and
left. Didn’t even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?’
In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher
fences, but the liberals dug under them. So he tried installing
speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. ‘Not real
effective,’ he said. ‘The liberals still got through but many were
crying as they ran through the corn fields’
Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet
liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station
wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for
themselves. ‘A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged
conditions,’ an Ontario border patrolman said. ‘I found one carload
without a drop of drinking water and wearing sandals. ‘They did have
a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though.’
When liberals are caught, they’re sent back across the border, often
wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors
have been circulating about the McCain administration establishing
re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to shoot wolves
from airplanes, deny evolution, and actually work for a living. So
much job training is needed it is cheaper to just put them in a motel
and provide room service. At least they don’t break equipment.
In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes ingenious ways of
crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on
bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a
half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian
immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the
supposed senior-citizen passengers on Red Skelton and Rosemary
Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the ’50s. ‘If they can’t
identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get
suspicious about their age,’ an official said.
Canadian citizens have complained that these illegal immigrants are
creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan
Sarandon movies.
‘I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just
can’t support them,’ an Ottawa resident said.
‘How many lawyers, art-history and English majors does one country
need?
So many of you ‘taxpayers’ are so high and mighty on your AIG bash-wagon (via sensational media headlines and politicians making inaccurate/unchecked statments that truly rival the nat’l enquirer and TMZ) – did you ever ponder this? Think about how our congressman and senators live life daily ‘as elected by taxpayer’ civil servants. 1st class airline travel on a regular basis (if not by private jet), 1st class luncheons at the nicest establishments daily, huge house (yes, houses), nice cars, nice clothes, wasted spending bills without finding ways to cut expenses… Price that out line by line, politician by politician… THAT IS YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS AT-WORK, EVERYDAY, YEAR AFTER YEAR, for the ‘average’ politician (aka fatcat). Do you really find that acceptable while joe public is trying hard just to pay the bills every month? Of course it is not okay and we all know this taxpayer waste is going on to the nth degree, but joe public blissfully turns his/her head because the issue is SO much bigger and harder to change than AIG’s issue (why would the fatcats change what makes their job desirable and would take away those perks). AIG’s $440k business spend is not even a drop-in that political spend bucket each month. Ponder this…when did becoming an elected offical provide a level of stardom and wealth that rivals the biggest entertainers out there?? If this AIG sales practice enrages you so much, HOW CAN YOU NOT be enraged at the politicians who created this mess and are deperately trying to stay out of headlines by pointing fingers and having congressional hearings with these companies (acting like the companies are what brought america to it’s knees – pleeasssee).
Do us all a favor and become better informed before you start bashing and throwing around tax-payer waste rhetoric. AIG was, and IS, the best at insurance (their core business) in the world, and they are making a good and fair profit (93% combined ratio thru 2nd qtr). They create 2 new industry products a week! Many of you in this posting chain said it right – AIG has a line of credit with the Fed/Treasury and is NOT run by joe public, and will emerge from this short-term with the taxpayers receiving their full $85B + extortion-level interest rates and with some much-needed shedding of non-insurance assets. (Worst -case, AIG is liquidated as a company and uses their $1Trillion in Assets to pay off the taxpayer-provided line of credit). No harm. AIG is a just a big company in a capitalist environment suffering short-term liquidity in a unprecented capital/credit freeze and a derivatives issue valued at over $56Trillion globally – so let them run their business and deal with their issues internally as all the others get to do. (Trust me, $440k is a tiny check for this type of event for most mid-sized companies, and yes, they ALL do it; lucky for the others, they are not in the headlines – yet).
Sorry for the long-winded opinion. I just ask that you think about what we as taxpayers put up with everyday in politics and put this AIG $440k producer event in perspective, and then in the closet. It is a NON-ISSUE in the business world. And tax-payers ARE NOT going to foot the bill for it. Can’t say the same for the politicians paychecks. Thanks and let’s all hope the fear-mongers driving this stock crash get off the bus sooner than later.
Bullseye. as I’ve referenced, bitter and uninformed are the majority of the posters, I’ve read them all and am amazed, but keeping in mind that the media controls public perception, the way this trip was spun, an uninformed person would most likely have this attitude. $440K is nothing. Four and Five Star resorts have similarly sized groups in and out weekly on three day events and generally account for about 80% of the average week day occupancy and they are not all insurance groups, just sales incentive groups,so this is standard everyday business. The Half Moon Bay event is a very nice meeting/incentive event. I understand the cancellation of the Half Moon Bay event as a PR move but also know the biggest irony with the cancellation is AIG still being responsible for room, tax and gratuities for all room nights, projected banquet revenues, including gratuities and even though transportation costs were not included, most likely non refundable airline costs for attendees due to the cancellation AIG will pay for the event without the benefit of the good will it was intended to provided. Everybody involved looses, but in the public’s eye, the public has won because they believe that AIG was caught red handed spending the publics money six days after they got a government loan. yea they got the government money thought lets get our executives together, go to Southern California and spend $440K on ourselves at a resort. They had such a blast, they booked another executive junket up to Northern California a few weeks latter but caught this time. LOL
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Jerry,
I have jumped into the water and I’m enjoying it very well. I used my own savings and started my own business. Every penny I make comes from what I sell. I also do all of my own support work. I plan to hire in the next year and know that I need to sell even more in order to pay above the median so I can have a true hard working team member. I will have enough on hand to pay a full two year’s salary with comparable benefits. I plan to always pay fairly. I will sacrifice and work harder so I don’t have the problem of people questioning if they are fairly compensated. And I love it when the waters get rough – makes for a more exciting ride.
In 2004, Republicans including George Bush, John McCain and some Democrats warned Congress on the policy of giving loans to people who financially were not able to pay them back.
Chris Dowd and Barney Frank blocked the investigation of of these unqualified loan practices in their commitees. They made a big deal about how sound Fannie May and Freddie Mac loan practices were. They said that this was political and Republicans were only trying to hurt poor people.
Chris Dowd, Barney Frank and Barach Obama received the most money of all in Congress from Fannie and Freddie.
This all on record but the bias of the media will not report it.
Admin,
Congratulations on taking the leap. I wish you all the best. I just took exception to the comment about agents not doing the right thing by their customers. Doing what is best for the customer isn’t always the most profitable in the short run…but it is in the long run.
Jerry
You obviously do not write business with AIG or you would know that they are not offering “higher” premiums. They are extremely underpriced for the majority of the business they write! They’ve been buying their business for years – and I’m sure they will continue to do so. And the claims will start rolling in, but no worries… We’re here to help them out!
My point exactly! I didn’t think I had to spell that out. You’re not Bubba from Florence, are you? If so, How’ve you been?
ok, this is a bit off topic, but I heard it this morning on the radio and it made a lot of sense.
BAR STOOL ECONOMICS
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.”Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”
“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
Well if you really want to make this and us vs. them, you should be very happy and content, knowing that it is the arch-conservative paragons of virtue, the republican party and it’s leader GW Bush who brings our economy to it’s knees….who else is at the helm of the ship of state? Who else SHOULD be blamed for all of these wonderful eight years of prosperity? they like to place blame and take credit, now the shoes are on the other foot. I’d rather take my chances with the young, inexperienced than the old, well-traveled, in-the-know business type who ran this into the ground….
From the MANITOBA HERALD, Manitoba, Canada
A flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada
has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased
patrols to stop the illegal immigration.
The possibility of a McCain/Palin election is prompting the exodus
among left-leaning citizens who fear they’ll soon be required to hold
down a job, hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O’Reilly.
Canadian border farmers say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of
sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing
their fields at night. I went out to milk the cows the other day, and
there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,’ said Manitoba
farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The
producer was cold, exhausted and hungry.
‘He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken.
When I gave him some fresh warm goat milk he tossed his cookies and
left. Didn’t even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?’
In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher
fences, but the liberals dug under them. So he tried installing
speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. ‘Not real
effective,’ he said. ‘The liberals still got through but many were
crying as they ran through the corn fields’
Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet
liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station
wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for
themselves. ‘A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged
conditions,’ an Ontario border patrolman said. ‘I found one carload
without a drop of drinking water and wearing sandals. ‘They did have
a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though.’
When liberals are caught, they’re sent back across the border, often
wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors
have been circulating about the McCain administration establishing
re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to shoot wolves
from airplanes, deny evolution, and actually work for a living. So
much job training is needed it is cheaper to just put them in a motel
and provide room service. At least they don’t break equipment.
In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes ingenious ways of
crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on
bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a
half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian
immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the
supposed senior-citizen passengers on Red Skelton and Rosemary
Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the ’50s. ‘If they can’t
identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get
suspicious about their age,’ an official said.
Canadian citizens have complained that these illegal immigrants are
creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan
Sarandon movies.
‘I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just
can’t support them,’ an Ottawa resident said.
‘How many lawyers, art-history and English majors does one country
need?
So many of you ‘taxpayers’ are so high and mighty on your AIG bash-wagon (via sensational media headlines and politicians making inaccurate/unchecked statments that truly rival the nat’l enquirer and TMZ) – did you ever ponder this? Think about how our congressman and senators live life daily ‘as elected by taxpayer’ civil servants. 1st class airline travel on a regular basis (if not by private jet), 1st class luncheons at the nicest establishments daily, huge house (yes, houses), nice cars, nice clothes, wasted spending bills without finding ways to cut expenses… Price that out line by line, politician by politician… THAT IS YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS AT-WORK, EVERYDAY, YEAR AFTER YEAR, for the ‘average’ politician (aka fatcat). Do you really find that acceptable while joe public is trying hard just to pay the bills every month? Of course it is not okay and we all know this taxpayer waste is going on to the nth degree, but joe public blissfully turns his/her head because the issue is SO much bigger and harder to change than AIG’s issue (why would the fatcats change what makes their job desirable and would take away those perks). AIG’s $440k business spend is not even a drop-in that political spend bucket each month. Ponder this…when did becoming an elected offical provide a level of stardom and wealth that rivals the biggest entertainers out there?? If this AIG sales practice enrages you so much, HOW CAN YOU NOT be enraged at the politicians who created this mess and are deperately trying to stay out of headlines by pointing fingers and having congressional hearings with these companies (acting like the companies are what brought america to it’s knees – pleeasssee).
Do us all a favor and become better informed before you start bashing and throwing around tax-payer waste rhetoric. AIG was, and IS, the best at insurance (their core business) in the world, and they are making a good and fair profit (93% combined ratio thru 2nd qtr). They create 2 new industry products a week! Many of you in this posting chain said it right – AIG has a line of credit with the Fed/Treasury and is NOT run by joe public, and will emerge from this short-term with the taxpayers receiving their full $85B + extortion-level interest rates and with some much-needed shedding of non-insurance assets. (Worst -case, AIG is liquidated as a company and uses their $1Trillion in Assets to pay off the taxpayer-provided line of credit). No harm. AIG is a just a big company in a capitalist environment suffering short-term liquidity in a unprecented capital/credit freeze and a derivatives issue valued at over $56Trillion globally – so let them run their business and deal with their issues internally as all the others get to do. (Trust me, $440k is a tiny check for this type of event for most mid-sized companies, and yes, they ALL do it; lucky for the others, they are not in the headlines – yet).
Sorry for the long-winded opinion. I just ask that you think about what we as taxpayers put up with everyday in politics and put this AIG $440k producer event in perspective, and then in the closet. It is a NON-ISSUE in the business world. And tax-payers ARE NOT going to foot the bill for it. Can’t say the same for the politicians paychecks. Thanks and let’s all hope the fear-mongers driving this stock crash get off the bus sooner than later.
Bob,
Bullseye. as I’ve referenced, bitter and uninformed are the majority of the posters, I’ve read them all and am amazed, but keeping in mind that the media controls public perception, the way this trip was spun, an uninformed person would most likely have this attitude. $440K is nothing. Four and Five Star resorts have similarly sized groups in and out weekly on three day events and generally account for about 80% of the average week day occupancy and they are not all insurance groups, just sales incentive groups,so this is standard everyday business. The Half Moon Bay event is a very nice meeting/incentive event. I understand the cancellation of the Half Moon Bay event as a PR move but also know the biggest irony with the cancellation is AIG still being responsible for room, tax and gratuities for all room nights, projected banquet revenues, including gratuities and even though transportation costs were not included, most likely non refundable airline costs for attendees due to the cancellation AIG will pay for the event without the benefit of the good will it was intended to provided. Everybody involved looses, but in the public’s eye, the public has won because they believe that AIG was caught red handed spending the publics money six days after they got a government loan. yea they got the government money thought lets get our executives together, go to Southern California and spend $440K on ourselves at a resort. They had such a blast, they booked another executive junket up to Northern California a few weeks latter but caught this time. LOL