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TwiceHorn

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Posts posted by TwiceHorn

  1. 10 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

    The Japanese cars got better in the late 70's into the early 80's as far as looks.  Their pickups were little workhorses and I bet you can probably go to some areas as close as Mexico and still see some of those operating in the remote villages.  

    You are correct about the CAFE standards and the lack of innovation around them as  being one of many reason the US auto industry started the multi decade decline during that era.    GM was full of mindless bean counters who also pushed the thinking that America's love affair with the new Japanese cars was only temporary, hence they brought to the market some of the ugliest POS ever such as the Pontiac Aztec.     I think many of those idiots still had that mindset until 2008 when they finally had to file bankruptcy.  I still wonder at times if GM has finally figured it out because having owned one GM vehicle since 2008, it had several mechanical issues that had to be addressed before the standard bumper to bumper warranty expired.  Needless to say we washed our hands of that 2015 Yukon real quick.      Can't say the same for the two F-150's or Honda we've owned during since 2008.  Likewise for the Toyota we traded in for that above noted Yukon in 2015 as I wished we would have gone ahead and kept it for a few years more and then downsized to the Honda my wife drives now.  

     

    I should add Ford and Chrysler had their share of the same mindless bean counters.     At least Ford got a clue much earlier than the other two and was a tad more proactive  and avoided the bankruptcy mess GM had to go through.   Barely.  

    In addition to being run by bean counters, before CAFE and emission controls, American cars were moving toward large-displacement V-8s, while Japanese were mostly confined to small displacement I4s, with the odd exception.  They were far better positioned, mostly by accident (and poor foresight in Detroit), to make more satisfactory cars than Detroit under the fuel economy and emissions constraints.

  2. 51 minutes ago, Js1 said:

    In theory, the question looks fine. In practice, it will lead to undercount or a conservative Commerce Dept manipulating results once the counts come in and/or a conservative DOJ using it to roundup undocumented persons. They don’t say that second part in a poll. 

    Thing is, though, while it makes intuitive sense that unlawful immigrants won't answer a census question on citizenship or a census containing such a question, I have to question whether they respond to the census in any great numbers with or without such questions.

    Everyone that assumes this results in an undercount (compared to the usual undercount) seems to be rather speculating.  And that includes GOP strategists.

  3. 2 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

    What American car during that period was not a piece of crap?     There were probably a handful which were good cars and have value today a collectors vehicles.  Maybe some of the Trucks made during that era?   The Trans AM?    I can't think off an everyday car of the top of my head which is sought after by collectors and restoration types from the mid 70's to early 80's?  The El Camino???   

    A number of Tort Lawyers struck gold and oil during that period thanks to some of the POC's coming out of Detroit.   Also the owners of Toyota, Honda and Datsun  dealerships back then started making their cash after being ridiculed by their counterparts earlier in the decade and in 60's for buying into those small cars and trucks  Japan was sending over here.  Yea, those earlier dealers (or their families if they took over the dealerships) are happy campers now if they still have them.  Along with many of the above note Tort Lawyers and their families. 

    Those early Jap cars may have been reliable, but holy shit they were ugly and underpowered.  Most of them made the Mustang II and Vega look like pininfarina (who was committing some of its own atrocities at the time).

    Emission controls and CAFE and unwillingness to engineer around them or improve them (at first) really undid the US auto industry.  There were other factors as well, but emission controls are a central engineering problem.

  4. 9 hours ago, Grippe said:

    Yes, you can - the fact that my personal IRA was with Fidelity made it easy (in-company transfer of assets).

    As to why - for early retirement, the penalty for borrowing/withdrawing was significantly less on the 401k than the IRA.  The numbers aren't astronomical (below 7 figures) but the timing (wanting to retire before 60 which is coming up fast) helped it make sense.

    Terminate employment and over 55?

  5. Financial sophistication isn't necessary to be an executor.  For the most part it's clerical work.  Similarly, I'm not sure you need to be a financial genius to ascertain that you're being ripped off by attorneys.

    Probate isn't super mysterious.  There are things you have to do to commence probate, and deadlines to meet once commenced.  The deadlined tasks aren't difficult or opaque, they just need doing.

    Deciding if, when, or how to liquidate or deal with assets and liabilities could take some financial know-how, if it becomes necessary and if the assets are complicated, but the lawyers can probably keep anything grotesquely stupid from happening.

  6. 8 minutes ago, Grippe said:

     

    I rolled my personal IRA into my company managed Fidelity 401k

     

    First of all, didn't know you could do this.  Second, why would you?  An IRA is more flexible (beneficiary designation, investment choice, etc. etc.) than a 401k.  The only reason I can think of for doing it is that a 401k is more absolutely exempt from creditor claims than an IRA (IRAs depend on state law for exemption and are exempt in Texas).  I suppose you can borrow against a 401k and not an IRA, but yeesh.

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