<p>Cyrus parliament is putting off the vote about holding 10% of the deposit. Maybe this will be a non-issue by tomorrow.</p>
<p>Did someone said earlier we have more millionaires now than any other time? Could it be because we have more retirees now? If they don’t have pensions, they’d better have more savings.</p>
<p>My preferred station is typically the cheapest in town but I only go there when I run a particular errand near that station because I’m otherwise seldom in that part of town anymore. When gasoline prices spike, it can be pretty hard to get into the place. It gets loaded down with SUVs, pickup trucks and Minivans - basically the folks that feel the pinch when gasoline prices go up. When gasoline prices go back down, the place is a lot less busy.</p>
<p>The station that I went by yesterday is usually a little less than the majors in town (typically Exxon). It is, however, located at a highway interchange so they can generally command higher prices. There’s a huge amount of town traffic that goes by there on their way home and it’s also next to one of the few supermarkets in town and there are several fast-food places nearby.</p>
<p>A lot of people buy gasoline when they need it - they are on their way to work and they notice that they don’t have much left and they stop in at whatever they can see so the immediate need overrides the desire for lower prices. I imagine that some approach the stations with the best prices, see that they’ll have to wait five or ten minutes to get to the pump and determine that the extra 15 cents a gallon that they save isn’t worth their time. I plan trips to bunch errands together at non-peak times so that I can get good prices without inconvenience.</p>
<p>On the Cyprus thing - you never want to invite doubt about the banking system overall.</p>
<p>I think the tax is an idiotic decision. I think the net affect is a win for the US. </p>
<p>The world has a dysfunctional financial system already. How big a bailout do we have to give banks and other financial institutions? The lack of risk controls is ridiculous.
The way our economies are run can feed dictators.
I am not as gloomy as you </p>
<p>Lergnom. As long as people have the basics, I think we can avoid the fascists.
If the basics are taken away,
all hell can break loose.</p>
<p>We will get an idea tonight by watching the markets how this tax proposal is viewed. And yes, maybe the proposal will not be approved.</p>
<p>There is an Arco gas station a few miles from me. Cash only. Low prices. Usually packed. </p>
<p>I don’t want to wait in line so I don’t go there. I usually go where it is most convenient. Plus, I like to shop in the neighborhood even if it costs more. I want the neighborhood to thrive.</p>
<p>About gas price, in my neighborhood people shop for a better price. The stations with lower price is quite crowed. It is more pronounced after a price hike. I stopped tracking the price and just go to a crowded gas station.</p>
<p>Since it looks like the vote on the tax will be delayed until Monday, won’t that give people time to remove their money and, thus, cause a run on the banks?</p>
<p>Cyprus banks are closed thru Tuesday so far.</p>
<p>Igloo, I liked your link on retirement.</p>
<p>“In a separate report, the institute found that estimating the amount of retirement savings you’ll need makes a difference. Workers who did so, calculated their nest egg should be at least one $1 million.”</p>
<p>Well that is not going to happen for a vast majority of Americans.</p>
<p>I just read that depositors get shares of the bank in return for the tax on their deposits. I don’t know if that’s a good deal or not as I don’t know the structure of their banking system.</p>
<p>“To counterbalance their cash loss, depositors will receive Cypriot bank bonds. Neophytou said there are efforts to back up those bonds - which have little value now - with Cyprus’ newfound offshore gas reserves, although extraction is still several years away.”</p>
<p>BTW, I’ve seen the comment a few times that the tax isn’t really that bad. If you compare it to the tax that we have here or in the UK where the central bank pays next to nothing on deposits, you might have the situation in the US and UK as taking more from savers than the tax on those under $100K.</p>