Kings Island and Mason go to war over admission and parking taxes

rollergator said:
That being said, we certainly could have directed the bailouts and stimulus money a little better.

You think? ;) :)

Taxpayers lose $61B on AIG, auto bailouts

The Treasury Department is acknowledging for the first time that it lost $61 billion on two key programs designed to stabilize the economy after the largest financial crisis in decades.

...meanwhile the TARP, as unpopular as it is, is starting to look like the smartest of the bailout programs, as the money dumped into it is actually being repaid, with some interest. After all, it's just the Federal government getting into the payday lending business on a really large scale. Handled properly (which it looks like is not going to happen) the Federal government actually comes out ahead on that one. Probably not enough to offset the losses in the less successful bailout programs, though.

As for who owns our debt...I would much prefer our debt to be held by organizations for whom our financial health is in their best interest (such as the Chinese) than by organizations that couldn't care less (like certain Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

rollergator said:
That being said, we certainly could have directed the bailouts and stimulus money a little better.

Keep in mind - and I think far too many people ignore this fact - that, as of the end of September, less than 20% of the stimulus money had been dispersed. The bulk of the money won't find its way down the channels until 2011-12. And that's by design.

rollergator said:
..........US manufacturers had basically abandoned the idea of building cars "people" wanted in favor of building cars CEOs wanted. I'd have ended up giving them money...AFTER they'd showed a commitment to looking forward to electric, flex-fuel, 40mpg cars, etc.

Amen, which is why companies like Toyota, Honda and VAG are doing exceptionally well right now. Meanwhile, as they dragged their feet on the Volt, other companies like Toyota and Nissan are releasing (or getting ready to realease) electric vehicles with far better performance.

Lord Gonchar said:

rollergator said:
That being said, we certainly could have directed the bailouts and stimulus money a little better.

You think? ;) :)

Is that supposed to be sarcasm or something? ;)

...and people say it's hard to read between the lines of forum posts... LOL!

P.S. Yes, much of the money has yeet to be distributed, but among the funds dumped into the auto and banking industries, etc....well, read Gonch's link for starters.

BoddaH1994 said:
Undoubtedly, the supporters of the tax on the council will muster up as many people as they can to speak in favor of it so yeah -- we'll be back Feb 8th.

Ryan

Just wanted to point out that February 8th is just around the corner...making this story entirely relevant again.

The park is doing a Tax Vote Tailgate Party
(that page has some interesting info on it)

I think I find the last factoid an interesting thing for the park to point out.

That is an interesting fact, and you kind of wonder why that is...

Personally, I think that if the tax is enacted, the park should stick it to the city by adjusting their admission rates a bit and switching to "free" parking. I don't think they've *sold* any parking permits yet for the 2010 season (aren't those usually given away as part of the gold pass upgrade until Spring?) so it wouldn't be too difficult to implement. They would already have to adjust admission rates to account for the tax anyway, since ticket prices are usually advertised "tax included"...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.