Phenom II purchased, on to Tax and political talk

Post by **GeneralAdmission** » 17 Apr 2009, 16:52

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

Should I expect a better price drop after the 955 comes out (should be on 4/20), or pick this one up now? I'm not in a super hurry, so waiting another week or two is OK. Anyone know how soon AMD drops prices on older chips after new releases?

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 17 Apr 2009, 17:26

AMD don't have a fantastic history of dropping their high-end chip prices when a newer one comes out. Neither does Intel for that matter. Each really only cut prices in order to stick the knife in and twist in each other. ;) If you want it, buy it. It's costing you less in USD than it would cost me in GBP - it's Â£192 here in the cheapest place I've found.

Given the exchange rate has recovered slightly (Â£1 = ~$1.50) from where it was a couple of months ago, I find that price depressing as hell. :P But that doesn't include state sales tax, does it? It's probably not quite so horrifying here, then...

Post by **GeneralAdmission** » 17 Apr 2009, 19:24

Thanks for the info, PS.

With sales tax ~9% (recently changed in my state because our politicians don't know how to live within a budget) it will be just over $200 total.

Sounds like I should nab it soon. Anyone else have an opinion?

edit
Crap. Price is back up to $214. Hooray for 2-hour sales. :evil:

Back to waiting.

Soduka · Post by **Soduka** » 18 Apr 2009, 00:09

With sales tax ~9% (recently changed in my state because our politicians don't know how to live within a budget)

WHAT!? 9%? That's outrageous! California?

Post by **GeneralAdmission** » 18 Apr 2009, 00:19

WHAT!? 9%? That's outrageous! California?

Affirmative. It varies depending on local taxes, but some places jumped to 10% or more.

The budgets of the past few years, frequently celebrated by the politicians as fiscally responsible, were anything but that.

Post by **GeneralAdmission** » 18 Apr 2009, 05:03

Cha-ching! Newegg dropped the price back to $189 and I added a -$20 off coupon code (AMD41420)!

If you want one, grab it now. The discounts disappear very fast.

Soduka · Post by **Soduka** » 18 Apr 2009, 05:22

Guess they have to do something considering they are in unnecessary debt up to their eye balls and more people are leaving California than moving in because its gotten so bad.

Were they able to issue tax returns this year? Heard some buzz a couple months back that the state is so broke they were considering issuing IOUs to residents until such time as they stopped dumping money into amazingly wasteful projects.

I doubt they've stopped the money dump truck, or even threw a wrench into the works. Wonder if they can do what New Jersey did; just fire all the state employees.

:lol:

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 18 Apr 2009, 14:29

9% sales tax? Wow, you don't know you're born, you really don't. Our "value added tax" (basically sales tax) is 15%, and was 17.5% but our Chancellor (in all his infinite wisd... stupidity) decided that a 2.5% VAT cut would persuade people to go out and spend money. Guess what? It didn't. A VAT holiday of no VAT for six months might have done it, but a few pence really doesn't make much difference.

...I'll stop this rant before it really gets going, 'cause if it does, it'll go for pages.

Soduka · Post by **Soduka** » 18 Apr 2009, 22:16

We're (New Jersey) dealing with a 7% right now, used to be 6% a few years back...and there's no sales tax on food, prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs, clothing, and foot ware.

Our 2010 fiscal budget was reduced by 4 billion, first time the budget has gotten smaller in 2 decades.. Would have been reduced more but the state opted to use some of the budget to lower property taxes so they didn't start foreclosing on everyone.

Like I said, the state is firing 7000 state employees this year to keep us afloat. We like to get into heated debates about our budget. Like how a few years back our Governor shut down the state for about a week over a disagreement about passing that year's budget. Was kinda funny...

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 19 Apr 2009, 14:02

Wow. Ours just keep spending money hand over fist, and both borrowing more and stealth taxing us more and more to 'pay' for it.

I love my country, but I wish the politicians would stop being such a greedy bunch of bastards. For supposed socialists, Labour are more concerned about lining their own pockets than working for the good of the nation.

Frag Maniac · Post by **Frag Maniac** » 20 Apr 2009, 00:56

With sales tax ~9% (recently changed in my state because our politicians don't know how to live within a budget) it will be just over $200 total.

Sounds like the state I live in, constant poverty. Seriously though, I'm in Wa state and we have 9% sales tax, probably be 10% before long. I absolutely loathe gov Gregoire, what a biatch tool that one is. Spends her whole campaign talking about how Bush put us into a deficit, all the while over-spending the "surplus" she claimed we had, and now we'll be paying it off for some time to the tune of numerous budget cuts, including school cuts she said she's never make AND taxes she claimed she would never raise.

Sorry Chrissy (you know like the dumb blond on Three's Company), you can't have it both ways. You tend to argue yourself into a corner when you claim in your first term you created this huge surplus, only to argue that the reason it's suddenly gone is because George Bush single handedly ruined our state economy in less than 4 yrs everytime someone points out that you over-spent the budget.

It would be nice if for a change hardcore liberal politicians would actually admit to their OWN mistakes. I mean sure Bush made some mistakes, but much of what he's blamed for has been brewing since well before he took office. It's always the guys that look like idiots when they make speeches and stumble with their answers that take blame for things they've not even done.

This harkens back to the train wreck disaster that Dixy Lee Ray was as governor of this state. I can only hope people will eventually wake up and see that Gregoire is every bit as big a crook if not more so. It should have been obvious by now with the casino payoffs she's taken. She should never have made it into a 2nd term, though there's some evidence of ballot count tampering.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 22 Apr 2009, 21:00

Yoiks.

...

haha... love the title change, GA. :P

Post by **Gilly** » 23 Apr 2009, 13:41

Yoiks.

...

haha... love the title change, GA. :P

VAT or Moms in sweden is 25%. I thought i was born @ the old 17.5% in england, but really... :P

on similar websites Â£1200 for 40" Samsung B6000 TV, is 18000+SEK B6050 (the european version of the same thing) despite the 11 ish SEK to the pound exchange rate :( :(

but its not all bad, it doesnt rain here much :D :D :D

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 25 Apr 2009, 18:20

but its not all bad, it doesnt rain here much :D :D :D

It ain't rained here much, either, recently.

Thank God. 8)

Sweden is a remarkably expensive place - I was over in Sweden a while back for a conference, and very nearly ran out of cash while there... :|

packerfan · Post by **packerfan** » 25 Apr 2009, 18:29

9% sales tax? Wow, you don't know you're born, you really don't. Our "value added tax" (basically sales tax) is 15%, and was 17.5% but our Chancellor (in all his infinite wisd... stupidity) decided that a 2.5% VAT cut would persuade people to go out and spend money. Guess what? It didn't. A VAT holiday of no VAT for six months might have done it, but a few pence really doesn't make much difference.

...I'll stop this rant before it really gets going, 'cause if it does, it'll go for pages.

The thing is a lot more euro countries have universal health care and other benefits by receiving stuff for free that we get gouged for here and rely on expensive insurance to pay for.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 25 Apr 2009, 19:47

The thing is a lot more euro countries have universal health care and other benefits by receiving stuff for free that we get gouged for here and rely on expensive insurance to pay for.

This is true... but a friend my family recently had his wife die in my local hospital because they hooked her up to the dialysis machine wrong. :shock: OMFG. From other horror stories I've heard on the grapevine, FUBARs of that nature are rather more common than the NHS (or the Government) would like to admit.

Post by **Gilly** » 25 Apr 2009, 22:29

[quote]The thing is a lot more euro countries have universal health care and other benefits by receiving stuff for free that we get gouged for here and rely on expensive insurance to pay for.

This is true... but a friend my family recently had his wife die in my local hospital because they hooked her up to the dialysis machine wrong. :shock: OMFG. From other horror stories I've heard on the grapevine, FUBARs of that nature are rather more common than the NHS (or the Government) would like to admit.

MRSA anyone??? :P "yeah our hospitals are safe"

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 25 Apr 2009, 22:56

MRSA anyone??? :P "yeah our hospitals are safe"

The level of MRSA was caused by bad hygiene - by bad training. The dialysis FUBAR was caused by bad training.

What does this say about the NHS?

Post by **GeneralAdmission** » 25 Apr 2009, 23:24

by receiving stuff for free

It's only free for the freeloaders who don't work/pay taxes yet suck up the benefits of a socialized (read: tax-funded) system. The honest working citizens get to pay to support those folks, whether they like it or not. Sadly, US leaders are doing everything they can to "catch up" to Europe in this sense, and it seems I'm in the minority group that thinks government should be smaller and less involved in people's lives.

I'm a former Social Services employee. I worked in the welfare department here in my state. While there were many folks with legitimate needs (such as the elderly great-aunt who voluntarily cared for her 3 great-nieces and nephews because their mother was a drug addict), the majority of recipients lived off government assistance because it was just enough to keep them going. Then there was the group that knew the welfare system so well that they could avoid benefits limits/termination idefinitely. The government isn't helping these people, it's enabling them to live irresponsible and dysfunctional lives.

One more thing...if our country actually controlled our borders and prevented illegal immigration, at least 50% of the cases I handled would have never existed.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 26 Apr 2009, 02:41

...it seems I'm in the minority group that thinks government should be smaller and less involved in people's lives.

Amen.

I am 100% behind the idea that government should be 'hands off' unless an individual approaches them for aid with a particular matter.

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