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Yes .. We All Should Be Pissed Off At News Like This

By Steven Mufson
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — It was a hard act to follow, but Exxon Mobil managed an encore.

After ringing up the biggest annual profit in U.S. corporate history in 2005, Exxon Mobil on Thursday announced that it topped that number in 2006. Riding the wave of high crude-oil and gasoline prices, and despite depressed fourth-quarter earnings, the company reported a $39.5 billion profit, up more than 9 percent from the previous year.

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Naturally .. for the first Manitoban to make it to the Super Bowl XLI

DA BEARS

Other References

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I noticed multiple searches in my refer logs wondering about passports, so I would just like to remind everybody about a previous post made last November ..

It comes into effect Tuesday January 23, 2007

According to the Canada Post website .. the new rates effective January 15, 2007 are as follows ..

Sending In Canada

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The following Notice of Tax Treaty Developments has just been posted on the Finance Canada Site.

Tax Convention Signed Between Canada and the Republic of Korea
www.fin.gc.ca/treaties/notices/korea_1e.html

Signature de la Convention fiscale entre le Canada et la République de Corée
www.fin.gc.ca/treaties/notices/korea_1f.html

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This is interesting video that was forwarded to me in my Email .. It was quite fascinating, so I tossed it up onto my YouTube account .. It’s about the Lake Peigneur Disaster on November 21, 1980

The lake was previously an eleven foot shallow fresh-water lake until an unusual man-made incident on November 21, 1980. At that time, Diamond Crystal Salt Company operated the Jefferson Island salt mine under the lake while a Texaco oil rig was drilling down from the surface of the lake.

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CTV.ca | Manitoba tornado called worst in 70 years

Sad. Quite Sad.

We crossed the path less than 24 hours earlier, coming home from Victoria Beach, Manitoba early.

I know businesses out in the Lac du Bonnet and Pointe Du Bois area that I hope are okay and have no serious damage or casualties.

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From personal experience, I’m sure Tara Birtwhistle and Johnny Wright are quite relieved to here about this! My own 2000, 2001 and 2002 income tax returns were amended from an initial audit where I, as an independent contractor, was deemed to be an employee of a company. What this meant to the company was a whole bunch of “employer share” of payroll deductions were being requested. What this meant to ME .. was that being deemed as an employee, all of a sudden my operating business that I had operating since 1991 became non-existent - all my deductions were ignored.

Imagine if you are a store selling products and earning a gross profit after buying those products. Then you have costs to maintain your store. Ultimately, you have a net profit, pay your taxes and think you are a good citizen. Then, you get a letter in the mail saying - Your Gross Sales is your income and you should pay taxes on the GROSS …

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HART’s mind works in mysterious ways ….

I have kept a record of every Prime Rate change since January 1, 1986. I guess I’m anal that way. There are many times working on year end financial statements that I have to accrue interest on loan balances. Quite contrary to common belief .. “term loan rates” are not that common for business. Mind you, I shouldn’t say that as if I am making a fact, but rather an observation. Usually with my experience, when there are company loans that involve general security arrangements, I have noted that these loans tend to be VARIABLE in nature - in this case .. “Prime plus”. These loans would include demand operating loans, general working capital loans, etc etc. The term loans that usually have specific terms of repayment and interest rates are those usually secured by a specific asset or group of assets that has a serial number - such as automobile financing, equipment loans, etc etc. These are not always the case, just “in General” and in my humble opinion.

Anyway, sometimes you need to accrue interest or estimate what portion of a blended interest and principal loan payment is. Knowing the rate of interest is usually helpful. For instance, if there is a demand loan that is being charged “Prime plus 2.5%” and the last payment was taken out on the 5th of the month, I might accrue interest from the 6th of the month to the end of the month in the financial statements - but I need to know what Prime rate is. That’s where my recap comes into good use.

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