Finance/Investments

Turbotax market share

Typically around tax time, there are some good deals to be found on Turbotax, but not this year. Only discounts for other software that I don’t want. Looks like Intuit isn’t even trying to compete with Taxcut. In fact, the discounted price for Turbotax Online offered to Vanguard clients was increased recently from $19.45 to Turbotax market share

Union busting

On the topic of Dole Food, this is old news, but troubling to me nonetheless. Dole essentially made this an issue of cost containment. I’ve referred to a similar incident involving Walmart years ago when meat packers attempted to organize in Canada. DOLE FOOD COMPANY ANNOUNCES RESTRUCTURING OF ITS FRESH FLOWER BUSINESS [Dole press release Union busting

Dole financials

Dole to sell portion of Oahu holdings [Honolulu Star-Bulletin]. I have found it somewhat difficult to obtain financial information on this privately-owned company. Apparently, I haven’t been looking hard enough. Bond yields are currently running around 15%. Dole Food Co. Inc. plans to sell about 2,000 acres of land on Oahu for approximately $39 million Dole financials

Bond trading spreads

Aside from the yield, this likely won’t be interesting to anyone else but me. Found my bond transaction online the other day, which was easily identified due to the lot size and the small number of trades on 8/13: 08/13/2007 11:54:42 95.310 9.810 08/13/2007 11:55:37 96.500 9.534 The first item appears to be the broker’s Bond trading spreads

Online DVD rental price war

Netflix, Blockbuster Make Users Happy, Investors Unhappy. I have enjoyed using Netflix in the past, but the decision of which subscription service to use almost always boils down to price. When Blockbuster introduced Total Access, allowing customers to exchange by-mail rentals for free in-store rentals, I’m sure a good number of Netflix customers defected. Netflix Online DVD rental price war

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MBNA is severing its relationship with Barnes & Noble. The BN reward certificate program is being replaced with WorldPoints, which offers a lousy reward structure.

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Ex-Chief of WorldCom Convicted of Fraud Charges. Naturally, Ebbers will appeal the conviction. A heavy prison sentence certainly won’t make up for the staggering losses suffered by investors, but it would go a long way towards restoring my faith in the judicial system. Mr. Ebbers, 63, was convicted of securities fraud, conspiracy and seven counts

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IRS Releases Tax Tables for New Deduction. The tables can be found in IRS publication 600. Whatever. Interestingly, the sales tax deduction was added to the tax code as part of the ridiculously named Jobs Creation Act or Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS) Act. Taxpayers in high income tax states (California, New York, etc.) won’t

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Not a huge change, but annoying nonetheless… From my latest Verizon bill: Effective September 1, 2004, a monthly recurring charge of $1.50 will be charged to all subscribers of the Verizon e-Values Long Distance Plan.