Not just in the US, the thresholds are even lower in other countries. And if you are too far removed a relative the rates become so exorbitant that liquidation or turning down the whole inheritance becomes their only option.
Making death a taxable event is so gross, even the Romans did not dare to do that and they were the real masters when it came to collecting taxes. In the case of Sam's Club dozens of jobs have disappeared but I do not expect body politicus to understand that.
I think one method they use in Europe is to continue it as a foundation.
All 3 GOP candidates want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. The Demos are a bit muddled. Clinton and Obama want to keep the tax cuts only for low and middle income taxpayers. That's anyone making $250,000 or less. Edwards is about the same except he uses $200,000 or less.
Giuliani and Romney would permanently repeal the estate tax. McCain and Democrats want to keep the estate tax but with a much higher exemption, thus limiting it only the the very wealthy.
There are also a variety of new tax cut proposals, none of which will fly because both parties will need to raise taxes in order to stay afloat. Mostly deduction for health insurance payments and engery conservation credits. Of course, these must be balanced by additional revenue. Clinton want the corporations to pay more taxes. Edwards and Obama want higher capital gains taxes on the rich. The Republicans claim they prefer to cut spending rather than raise taxes. Never mind that keeping the Bush tax cuts, plus permanent easing of the estate tax, lowering AMT, would cost perhaps a trillion dollars (that's Kiplinger's number, not mine). This should be interesting.
Think gift tax. You're limited to tranfering $12,000/year or you get to pay.
Naw. We're all doomed. Get used to it.
--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
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That's how it ought to be. I also had them interview with their potential co-workers so they'd feel comfortable with the new hire, and the new hire feels comfortable with them.
I'm only a tech, but once I got a job by reading a schematic aloud. "Well, that's the micro, here's the main memory, these are PROMs, here's the screen memory, and, hey, look! A state machine to make the sounds!" and that sort of thing.
The job was video game/jukebox/pinball machine repair. Oh, yeah, another thing I said in the interview was, "well, after the game is fixed, it has to be tested, right? Where else could I get paid to play video games?"
Later, he told me he had a stack of resumes about an inch thick, but picked me because I gave such an impressive interview.
I've always been a little surprised that very few engineering/software companies actually have you demonstrate your skills to them in a hands on test/design situation. Surely if you want a job as, e.g., a welder they make you put down a few beads first? If you're a carpenter or electrician they take you out to a job site and have your pound a few nails or wire up a couple of outlets?
The most I've ever been asked to do was to write out "any kind of VHDL function" on a whiteboard once. Wasn't even really a place I wanted to work for, and I suspect I lost any prospect of getting the job when I told them in
100% honesty that sooner or later I'd be going back to school to get my master's and move into a field outside of anything they did. :-)
Better than that: it was a real design problem, without a determined approach. So it wasn't a test or an interview, it was real work. One other thing I learned is that the guy wouldn't hesitate to contradict me.
I've read that those offering language translation services sometimes get scammed this way. "Could you translate this five-page document from English to Swahili -- we need to test your quality?" "Thanks, we'll let you know!"
Free, except for the plane tickets, candidate+gf, halfway across the country, plus a week's accommodations and expenses, with car, for a half day's work.
A week? Man, you guys are really generous. Then again, if you give them enough time to stroll across the Golden Gate that should seal the deal. I just wonder what you want to do with a car in S.F. Once I had to attend a board meeting there, held at a law office. Parking was underneath the building. $20. Per hour!
Oh, and it must have been a long time since the valet attendant drove a stick shift.
You can park a couple of blocks away from here for $7 a day. We're in a transition area between the dot.com SOMA and the slums of the Mission. Parking goes as 1/x, where x is the distance from the Marriott.
I drive to work, about 11 minutes. On public transit, it would be 45 minutes, except on days when it's a lot more.
It is interesting doing electronics in a big city. We're not the only ones... there are maybe 10 or so others downtown, and of course you can see Dolby from our roof. It's surprising how many people I meet that worked for Dolby at one time or another.
Do you know the address of that garage or lot? Some day I'll swing by, can't be more than 30-40 mins from the east side of the San Mateo bridge where the client is. I just never know how long the day will be. Those noisy Allegro stepper motor drivers sure will make for rather long days next month :-(
Yes, that's something we are missing here. Almost all EE's you meet around here work for Intel or had worked for HP-Roseville before HP pulled up the stakes.
Under the overpass at Duboce and Valencia. But don't do that, we have indoor parking. Give me a heads-up and I'll arrange to let you in. And you'll need directions... trust me.
They shut down Roseville? I think that's where they did the sampling scopes, or at least the heads.
Thanks, I'll call you from there if we don't have to work until midnight every day. Some days we'll have to. But I'll be there more often.
I don't know how much is left but they had massive layoffs in Carly's days and AFAIR much of the operations was moved to Texas. More biz friendly, they said.
Joel Kolstad snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com posted to sci.electronics.design:
Actually no. The unions, working with industry sets up and manages standard performance qualification testing for welders. Less so for carpenters and electricians (apprenticeship for electricians includes
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