PSoTD

Warren Buffett understands it.

Billionaire Warren Buffett on Monday called for U.S. lawmakers to retain the estate tax, after announcing plans to leave more than $37 billion of his own fortune to charity, not his children.

"I would hate to see the estate tax gutted," Buffett said at a Manhattan news conference with the Gateses about his donation. "It's a very equitable tax," Buffett said. "It's in keeping with the idea of equality of opportunity in this country, not giving incredible head starts to certain people who were very selective about the womb from which they emerged."

Thank you Mr. Buffett.

Looking to buy a house could tell you this: the middle class housing market is shrinking. But now there is statistical evidence to back that up. Hat tip to Thoughts of an Average Woman for this post.

This sure seems like a financing solution ONLY until the first investors/bettors lose.

From LatinAmerican Post:

The Mexican government has tapped international markets to issue a special catastrophe bond to finance rescue and rebuilding in case of a disastrous earthquake, finance ministry officials said on Friday.

The $160 million bond is part of a larger $450 million insurance package over the next three years that will cost the Mexican government $26 million.

Mexico is considered more at risk for a strong earthquake than even California, and the memory of the 1985 earthquake is still vivid for many residents of Mexico City. The death toll in that disaster may have been as high as 20,000.

Despite the risks, the government has not bought insurance until now, said José Antonio González Anaya, the finance ministry official who has spent three years trying to structure the deal.

Investors who buy the bonds are essentially betting that an earthquake will not hit Mexico in the next three years.

Swiss Re, the Zurich-based reinsurance group, issued the bonds, which pay 230 basis points over the Libor benchmark interest rate.

"If there's no disaster in three years," the finance minister, Francisco Gil Diáz, said, "the investors keep the premium and the interest" and get back the bond.

But if a quake hits, the government gets the full value of the bonds, and investors lose their money.

A bit of a misnomer...

Air travel is facing a paperless future, as paper tickets are about to be consigned to the dustbin for good.

From January 1 2008, 94 percent of the world's airlines will stop issuing paper tickets, with digital "e-tickets" being the new standard, it was decided at the World Air Transport summit in Paris on Tuesday.

E-ticketing is not a novelty, the first having been issued in 1995 by Alaska Airlines. Now the goal is for almost all of the world's airlines to use e-tickets by 2008, as set down by the International Air Transport Association (Iata), representing 261 airlines - 94 percent of the world's total.

Paper tickets aren't going away - at least, paper boarding passes and paper receipts for luggage and paper itineraries. It's just that consumers have to print them out - not the airlines.

Here's something that is really amazing if you think about it while you're driving just about anywhere in this country:

How is it that we have so many restaurants in our country now?

(yes, I'm back)

It really is amazing, this Internet thing. Check out the variety of unicycles available.

A word of warning for any citizens that might consider battling T-Mobile over zoning variances in trying to prevent the construction of a tower: come very prepared. I watched T-Mobile bring in a very sharp attorney and 6 expert witnesses in an effort to get a use variance for zoning from a Central Pennsylvania township last month. There were many more residents who spoke in opposition of the variances. The expert witnesses carried the day and T-Mobile rolled their opposition with the zoning hearing board and got their variance requests approved.

A popular cell phone carrier with plans for a 152-foot tower near Route 378 is scheduled to make its case for zoning relief before council Wednesday night.

T-Mobile Northeast LLC is eyeing a 0.21-acre parcel at 2231 Koehler Drive for the project.

The company's zoning variance application asks council to reconsider how far from the property line the proposed communications tower would have to be built.

This seems to be a strategy - find commercial property that is pretty much unusable for traditional commercial property purposes, due to size or slope or access or a multitude of other reasons. Don't worry about the current zoning. Lease the commercial property and bring the property owners on board to fight the zoning. Bring in expert witnesses to show that the commercial property cannot be used for traditional purposes but can be used for the cell tower, therefore, the zoning requirement is harmful both to the leasing telecommunications company and the owner of the property.

Today's Question:

What was the last thing you bought at a Dollar Store (you know, one of those stores where everything costs $1 or less)?

It was June 1st. In Slovakia.