This'n'That; September 1st[Irondequoit;StateRetirement;SIRI]

"Progressives[Read:Socialists]" Are EVERYWHERE!! By comparison....Small, little Town of Irondequoit, N.Y., on the northern border of Rochester; between that city and Lake Ontario, seems to be full of 'em!!! There's now a fuss between the town board and any and all contractors who do work for the town. The town "bored" now has this really terrific Marxist idea of requiring those contractors to have an apprenticeship program in place to bid and be awarded work for the town.

• This essentially would allow ONLY UNION EMPLOYERS/CONTRACTORS to bid/be awarded work for the town.
• This will force all the "Mom'n'Pop" companies to seek work elsewhere; They'll not be allowed to bid or be awarded work in that township.
• What little, "one-horse" company can afford to establish an apprenticeship program?
• A better question is: Why would it be necessary?

The answer probably is--if the "bored" members would admit it--that it will give any unionized company preferential treatment in the bidding/award process; LESS COMPETITION!!! Some local critics of the "bored's" members say the board is purposefully holding off on any legislation until the November elections; JOB PRESERVATION!!! Guvner Dave: Time To Change State Retirement Plan [When there were "good times," [remember them??] New York's local, county and state governments just kept pissing money away and balancing their unit's budget on the backs of the population. The tax rates slowly escalated as time went on; during which time, they slowly drove out numbers of taxpayers, some larger than most. Remember Tom Golisano? The Paychex founder took over $16,000 PER DAY in tax payments to Florida, where there is no personal income tax!!!

• New York's local, county and state employees have a retirement plan which is a DEFINED BENEFIT PLAN {definition below}.
• I {and you, most probably} work for a company with a DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLAN {definition below}.
• Contributions by local governments: 2010-7.4% of total payroll; 2011-11.5% of total payroll.
• Taxpayers currently pay $2.5 Billion per year to state pension system.
• Taxpayers will pay $3.38 Billion per year to the state pension system by 2011.

Many minicipal workers pad their final 3-5 years with as much overtime as possible to increase the figures used to determine their pensions-State Troopers are notorious for doing this {Many taxpayers are unaware that by contract the troopers have several hours of overtime per month; they're paid for it-even if they don't work it!!}. "Double-Dealin' " Dave has to pretend he has a modicum of concern for the taxpayers and start union negotiations to change the system for future hires. Defined benefit pension plan A traditional defined benefit (DB) plan is a plan in which the benefit on retirement is determined by a set formula, rather than depending on investment returns. In the US, 26 U.S.C. § 414(j) specifies a defined benefit plan to be any pension plan that is not a defined contribution plan (see below) where a defined contribution plan is any plan with individual accounts. A traditional pension plan that defines a benefit for an employee upon that employee's retirement is a defined benefit plan. Traditionally, retirement plans have been administered by institutions which exist specifically for that purpose, by large businesses, or, for government workers, by the government itself. A traditional form of defined benefit plan is the final salary plan, under which the pension paid is equal to the number of years worked, multiplied by the member's salary at retirement, multiplied by a factor known as the accrual rate. The final accrued amount is available as a monthly pension or a lump sum, but usually monthly. The benefit in a defined benefit pension plan is determined by a formula that can incorporate the employee's pay, years of employment, age at retirement, and other factors. A simple example is a Dollars Times Service plan design that provides a certain amount per month based on the time an employee works for a company. For example, a plan offering $100 a month per year of service would provide $3,000 per month to a retiree with 30 years of service. While this type of plan is popular among unionized workers, Final Average Pay (FAP) remains the most common type of defined benefit plan offered in the United States. In FAP plans, the average salary over the final years of an employee's career determines the benefit amount. Defined contribution plan In a defined contribution plan, contributions are paid into an individual account for each member. The contributions are invested, for example in the stock market, and the returns on the investment (which may be positive or negative) are credited to the individual's account. On retirement, the member's account is used to provide retirement benefits, sometimes through the purchase of an annuity which then provides a regular income. Defined contribution plans have become widespread all over the world in recent years, and are now the dominant form of plan in the private sector in many countries. For example, the number of defined benefit plans in the US has been steadily declining, as more and more employers see pension contributions as a large expense avoidable by disbanding the defined benefit plan and instead offering a defined contribution plan. Money contributed can either be from employee salary deferral or from employer contributions. The portability of defined contribution pensions is legally no different from the portability of defined benefit plans. However, because of the cost of administration and ease of determining the plan sponsor's liability for defined contribution plans (you don't need to pay an actuary to calculate the lump sum equivalent that you do for defined benefit plans) in practice, defined contribution plans have become generally portable. Is Sirius/XM [SIRI] Worth Another Look? [Several years ago {'00, '01} I bought Sirius Satellite Radio for about sixty-six CENTS a share, only because XM Radio stock was in the $10-12/share range. I kept it for 3 or 4 years while it ran up to a high in the $8.50 range. I sold out at $7.70.... for a heluva profit!!! In November of last year, I bought a bunch at $0.215/share. The close on 08/31/009 was $0.6735/share!!! After reading the article below, others might be inclined to take a flyer on SIRI] As we have watched Sirius XM (SIRI) begin to shed its bashed and tarnished negative image and start to show real promise again in the metrics of the company, there are still media people out there willing to try and take a stab at some condescending commentary. It is truly amazing how perceptions are so polarizing and opposite with this company. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle, and as a shareholder I see a glass half full but there are many who see a glass half empty. What I find most annoying is the stories that come out with a negative slant are only a half hearted attempt at providing real information. Below I have several excerpts from articles which appeared this week and included Sirius XM with what I perceive to be negative connotations. Negatives that are not justifiable, just attempts to scare off the average person thinking about dabbling in Sirius stock at this point. Below are the excerpts I choose to highlight this week. The following is from a Mike Santoli article in Barron’s entitled ”Don’t Sweat the Junky Stuff.” For sure, the market won’t keep going up an average of 0.4% a day, as it has since July 13. And aside from the above-mentioned financial stocks, there has been some recent frothy speculation in lottery-ticket stocks such as Vonage (VG) and Sirius Satellite (SIRI), which should serve as a caution flag. Apparently, Mr. Santoli knows nothing about Sirius XM, and follows the Mad Money windbag of opinion known as Jim Cramer, whose comments have ranged from Sirius should not even be a stock, to Sirius stock should be given to the bond holders. That last part is kind of funny. Why would you say worthless common stock should be given to the holders of the company’s debt…..but I digress. This article uses the exact same language in fact that Jim Cramer used this past week….word for word! It’s nothing less than plagiarism of a joke television show offered as expert financial advice. Barron’s editors should take note. A pink slip is in order. This next little tidbit is from a Rick Munnariz article at Motley Fool entitled “Apple Fails Sirius XM Again.” I’m a satisfied iPhone owner. I subscribe to both Sirius and XM. Convergence — at a premium — is no slam dunk. Apple is a developer magnet, with thousands of apps shouting “pick me!” in the App Store. It’s hard to get noticed in a crowd, especially when you’re competing in a realm of fierce, no-cost rivals.” iPhone owners are paying AT&T $20 to $30 a month for unlimited data plans that give them access to free apps including Pandora, imeem, and Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL Music. Wireless isn’t the future for satellite radio. XM has offered limited programming at discounted prices for years through its XM Radio Mobile platform. It’s available through Alltel (AT), AT&T (T), and select models of Research In Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry. What no cost rivals are you speaking of Mr. Munnariz? Pandora is charging $36 dollars a year right now for their ”FREE” service to not have annoying advertising pop ups coming at subscribers. Slacker charges $3.99 a month for unlimited skipping of songs you don’t want to hear and no banner or pop up advertising. Neither sounds free to me, and neither has the content quality and variety you get with Sirius XM. IMEEM and AOL music are a stretch to even include as competition. As for wireless not being the future of Sirius XM, I’ll give you a half correct on that one..but Sirius XM is getting down to business with the internet version of their service. It has a price, but it also has much better content and variety than imeem and AOL music. There are also some terrific radios out there from Tivoli and Grace to take advantage of the premium Sirius internet stream, and a new table top wireless radio was just introduced by Sirius XM on Wednesday last week. Last but not least, my favorite comment for this past week from “Beware of Penny Stock Profits” by Anders Bylund at Motley Fool. Moreover, many of these and other penny-stock winners are still extremely speculative. Sirius may still collapse under a capital-intensive business model. I will simply counter with this, as Mr. Bylund apparently didn’t do his homework before writing Sirius XM into his article. The 2nd Quarter saw a surprise in reduction of sub losses, at a time where the economy was still horrible for the most part, and GM and Chrysler were going through Bankruptcy proceedings. Sirius XM also has managed to pay off its loans from Liberty with new offerings at significantly lower interest than Liberty was, and Sirius XM paid no penalties or fees for terminating the Liberty loans early. In addition, Cash for Clunkers has done nothing but help Sirius XM’s subscriber numbers leading into the 3rd Quarter. Synergies of the combined company are providing real cost savings, and by his own admission Mel Karmazin was cautiously optimistic based on a very good month of July numbers wise. Now add in the Sirius App for Apple (AAPL) iPhone and the iPod touch, the just revealed skydock, and the ability to pass royalty payments to subscribers, which though slightly negative, is only fair. Think about any cell phone bill and all the government fees. Shouldn’t music artists get paid for giving us enjoyment? When you put these factors together, along with the fact that Sirius XM has moved most of its debt out to at least 2013, saying Sirius may still collapse and is extremely speculative sure seems like a stretch. As Sirius XM continues to implement its strategies and cost cutting measures it is my contention that Sirius XM will survive and thrive, but what do I know, I look at the facts. Til Nex'Time....