bonzo_dog

I understand that Trump avoided a huge tax bill from debt forgiveness by a "partnership equity-for-debt swap". But why did that work? And why, as the New York Times said, would it not have mattered if the equity was worthless? If it was a swap, with whom? I would expect it to be with the creditors. But I would think that if you owed $40 million to someone and gave them $30 million worth of stock in exchange, you'd still have $10 million of debt forgiveness to pay taxes on -- or if the stock was worthless, $40 million; why wasn't that true?

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/donald-trump-...

I have been checking out a product by IRobot (the company that makes the Roomba vacuum cleaner) called the "Looj 330". Every vendor I have found online that sells the product -- Amazon, Home Depot, etc. -- is selling it for the exact same price, which is also the price that the manufacturer charges in its own store. I find this very unusual. Could the manufacturer be requiring vendors to sell at that price? Isn't that illegal? If so, can anything be done about it from an individual consumer standpoint?

I am looking at buying stuff for my company's "Toys for Tots" program, and a basketball is on the "preferred list" of gifts for teenage boys.

I have a renter staying in my house which I am also living in -- not really my idea, it was more like he asked because he didn't have anywhere else to stay, and I have him here not without reluctance. (He asked for a cut-rate rent rate in exchange for labor, which he is sometimes slow to do.)

Now the incident in question. Usually he parks his car in front of the house, but one day when I came home and he needed to get his car out of my driveway he put it in my (2-car) garage instead. However, he parked so close to the center that when I parked my car in it I barely could get my door open enough to get out (even though I was parked as close to the far end as I could). I pointed this out to him, but he declined to move his car. I then tried to get to my house door by walking between the cars, but my body brushed up against his side mirror. That is not a problem with my car, but apparently it was rather flimsily attached to his car and my brushing against it was enough to detach it from the car body. At that time he said OK it was his fault for how he parked, but now apparently he has changed his mind and is asking me to pay for repair as well as my car insurance information. Do I have to pay? Should I? Is there any reason to give him my auto insurance information (I wouldn't think so since I was a pedestrian here)? Would you think it wrong if I were to ask him to move out because of this?

The 2012 race is currently in progress. PETA has campaigned to end this competition.

I tried checking room rates there for the 11th and 12th, Wednesday and Thursday, and was shocked to find that there was virtually nothing available. I had never thought midweek to be a problem there except Christmas week. When I last visited two years ago in February, I was able to get a $40 per night rate (including resort fee) at the Tuscany Suites. Next week seems to be much more available also. Is this situation because:

1) there is some special event this week,

2) midweek hotel room discounts are much harder to get nowadays,

3) next Monday is a holiday (but I wouldn't expect this much effect this far in advance, especially since one place's rates actually went down on Friday compared to Thursday),

4) some other reason?

I went to a medical center for a screening procedure, which the insurance policy stipulated as being covered in full. Based on the answers I gave to the physician after coming into the office (just before they performed the procedure), the center re-classified the procedure as "diagnostic" and now I am getting bills for $425 which they said that the insurance company won't cover. I wasn't told about any re-classification until after receiving the bill. Is that legal/acceptable for them to do?

I keep reading that recommendations and stickers from oil-change places to change your oil every 3 months or 3000 miles are mainly just a tactic to sell you more oil changes, and that you don't need to change it that often. But if my vehicle owner's manual says to change oil every 3000 miles, do I need to change it every 3000 miles?

I got a confirmation email this afternoon from Priceline for a rental car reservation made for several weeks in the future. Problem: I never made such a reservation. Calling Priceline (using a phone number I got from their web site, not the email) indicated that somebody did make the reservation indicated in the email, using my name and email address but not my credit card or phone number. This was surely malicious, but how likely is it an attempt at fraud?

P.S. Priceline washed their hands of the matter, saying that there was nothing that the reservation could not be changed or cancelled and that was that, no matter what the circumstances.

I am currently living with someone who has a habit of giving unsolicited advice, especially about job-hunting. (I am currently unemployed.) Yes, she means well but it really gets annoying sometimes. Often it comes across like an interrogation. What's the best way to deal with it?

These are poor people (often homeless) whose bodies aren't claimed by anyone when they die.

Recently, the county I live in had a collective funeral ceremony for all of these people who had died in the past year. Out of 205, 167 were male -- that's over 80%. Why would it be such a high proportion of men?

e.g. walkways, driveways, decks. Especially from uneven surfaces like cobblestone walkways. This is not paint that was intentionally put on these surfaces but rather was spilled or tracked or in one case apparently failed to stay on where it was painted and fell to the ground overnight.

Do you wish it did?

Like in California (home of prop. 19)?

I'm in WA. I switched from the Democrat (Murray) to the Republican (Rossi) for Senate -- but it had nothing to do with Obama. I'd actually pretty much decided this several years ago after reading that Sen. Murray was a big proponent of earmarks -- something I strongly oppose. And I actually switched my vote in the House from the Republican to the Democrat.

I voted "no" on one of the ballot initiatives here (to repeal a recently-enacted sales tax extension on candy and soda) after reading that the "yes" side had hugely outspent the "no" side (thanks to a lot of money from the candy and soda companies). I'll be damned if anyone thinks that my vote can be bought!

Or in other words, if you had a copy of Quickbooks 2010 software but a Quickbooks 2009 book, how useful would the book be likely to be?

If so, why?

Please don't answer this if you've always been a Republican or voted Republican in the 2008 election. Then you wouldn't be switching, would you?

For example, if you call a company to talk to them about a posted job opening, only to be told that it's been filled. Or calliing a bank, store, etc. to request something and getting turned down. Or calling about an item you want to buy from them and being told that it's already been sold. Could you just say "good-bye" instead?

I've read that a non-compete clause (where you sign a statement saying that you won't go to work for a competitor) is invalidated if the company lays you off. Recently I came across a variation, where a company talked with me about providing tax training needed to work for them (including use of their proprietary tax preparation software). The rep said that if I underwent the training I'd have to sign a non-compete clause saying that I wouldn't go work for any other company that prepares taxes (which would include any accounting firm) for two years, even though the company would only be providing work to me for three months out of the year. Is such a clause enforceable under these circumstances?

It features the backup singers going au-oo, shoop-ee-doo, shoop-ee-doo, shoop-ee-doop-ee-doop-ee-doo

then the lead singer sings gong gong gong gong-g-g-gong-gong gong