Super Bowl Predictions

[hornadylnl]

Oh no...I have no problem criticizing Irsay. I think the guy is a snake. I'll even leave his drug habit out of it. But honestly....can you name a business man in Indy that wouldn't have jumped on the deal he was offered? Does it make it right? Absolutely not. I was not in any way meaning Irsay is blameless. But I do think politicians should shoulder most of the blame for offering the deal in the first place. Personally...I'd have called Mayflower for them. They could have gotten a repeat customer discount.

I don't think you will find any business owners that would demand $700 million dollar facilities paid for at public expense. Look at the lynchings (figurative) that take place every time a business asks for a tax abatement? If my employer went to the city of Lafayette and demanded a new facility or we'd leave, the city would tell them to get bent.

Colts players? I dunno...they hammer out a contract that sets their salary. Can I fault them for taking all the money they can get? I personally can't. They only make what someone is willing to pay.

Who's the willing party paying the players salaries? It sure isn't me. But if I want a cheeseburger in Marion or the donut counties, I get to pay for it. If Irsay were writing Manning's check, I couldn't care less if it were $1 billion per game. But Irsay is using the force of government to take from people willing or not and giving it to Manning. And the fact that Manning can't see that is what is happening is more reason for me to lose respect for him. How is his exorbitant salary any different than AIG using bailout money to pay bonuses to their executives?

My salary comes from taxpayers (keep in mind I also pay the same taxes). Would I turn down a raise because of it? Not likely. Bob Smith works at Wal-Mart. Should he turn down a raise because it will mean the cost of Wal-Mart milk will go up 2 cents a gallon? Sam Jones works for Speedway Gas Co. Should he turn down a raise because the cost of fuel may go up a penny a gallon?

Are you willing to take a pay cut to lower taxes or to lower the costs of consumer products?

I've taken a $1 an hour pay cut plus benefit reductions in the last year. I'm off for a month and a half due to a temporary layoff. I guess if I were a union employee, I could refuse the pay and benefit reductions but what good would that do if it only hastens the demise of my employer? What good does that extra $1 do if my employer goes bankrupt and closes their door?

Do I like losing money? No. But I'd sure as hell rather have an $18 an hour job than collect unemployment at less than $10 an hour.

So yes, for the health of my company, I'm willing to take a pay cut if it helps to keep my job. In the private sector, businesses must take in more than they spend. In the government sector or pro sports, if expenses are greater than income, they just send out their minions with guns to take from others to make up the difference.

 

[public servant]

I don't think you will find any business owners that would demand $700 million dollar facilities paid for at public expense. Look at the lynchings (figurative) that take place every time a business asks for a tax abatement? If my employer went to the city of Lafayette and demanded a new facility or we'd leave, the city would tell them to get bent.

Unless you were Purdue University.

I've taken a $1 an hour pay cut plus benefit reductions in the last year. I'm off for a month and a half due to a temporary layoff. I guess if I were a union employee, I could refuse the pay and benefit reductions but what good would that do if it only hastens the demise of my employer? What good does that extra $1 do if my employer goes bankrupt and closes their door?

Do I like losing money? No. But I'd sure as hell rather have an $18 an hour job than collect unemployment at less than $10 an hour.

So yes, for the health of my company, I'm willing to take a pay cut if it helps to keep my job. In the private sector, businesses must take in more than they spend. In the government sector or pro sports, if expenses are greater than income, they just send out their minions with guns to take from others to make up the difference.

You didn't answer my question. Would you take the raise doubling your salary if it were offered?

And for the record...I'm doing my part protesting the stadium. I don't buy tickets...I can't afford them. I don't buy NFL merchandise and I buy very little fast food. It's cheaper to eat at home while watching football. I do admit that every other Sunday we buy Rally's 2 for $1 cheeseburgers and 69 cent hot dogs.

 

[hornadylnl]

Let me ask you. Because I believe you work in the private sector. Your boss comes in tomorrow and tells you he's going to double your salary by raising the cost of either the product or service your company provides. You know this cost will just be absorbed by and passed on by other companies to their customers. Would you turn down the raise?

Yes, I most certainly would turn it down. I work in a factory that produces a product. (Not saying what company). I've seen several of our competitors go bankrupt and close their doors in the last several years. Our business is very dependent on how the economy is doing. If products aren't going off the shelves, there is no need for our product and we don't make sales. Our customers order anywhere from 1 unit to thousands at a time and $50 a unit on several thousand dollar units make or break sales in our business.

What good is the promise of doubling my salary today going to do if it only means we have to close our doors tomorrow? That extra salary money has to come from somewhere and if the market won't support it, than it isn't sustainable. Do you think companies just arbitrarily throw out a price on their products to see if someone will pay it? That happens to some extent until a competitor comes along and says that he can hire employees at a much cheaper rate and reduce expenses so that he can sell the same product at a lower price. If the original company wants to stay in business, they must reduce costs or lose sales.

How the market works is pretty simple. Do you purposely go to a mom and pop shop and pay a higher price for an identical product that you can buy at Walmart? I do sometimes but it depends. Is that mom and pop shop giving me more value in the way of customer service, etc than Walmart? If everything is equal, I will go to Walmart every time. As consumers, we vote with our wallets every day. As employees, many seem to think they should be exempt from those same market forces.

 

[hornadylnl]

Unless you were Purdue University.

You didn't answer my question. Would you take the raise doubling your salary if it were offered?

And for the record...I'm doing my part protesting the stadium. I don't buy tickets...I can't afford them. I don't buy NFL merchandise and I buy very little fast food.

Sorry, I was typing the answer to my previous post before I saw your last one. I answered it in my last post and wasn't dodging it.

I'm against what Universities are doing as well. As long as they can continue to get subsidies through taxpayers and find students who are willing to pay their exorbitant tuition costs, it will continue. I've argued for years that the fix to out of control tuition costs is simple. Quit going. Every student in the nation tax one semester off and say they aren't going to pay these tuition rates so the Universities can continue to pay the professors massive salaries while someone else teaches their class. Tell them they aren't going to pay a sports fee when they don't participate. Tell them they aren't going to continue to fund these 100's of taj mahal buildings that keep popping up all over campus. If parents quit sending their kids off to college with blank checks for tuition and we quit drowning our kids in debt with student loans, there wouldn't be any means for Universities to keep raping the students and the taxpaying public.

I was driving on 421 north of Indy the other day. There was a taj mahal for a fire station built out of fancy brick and stucco. If that were a private business, you can about guarantee that it would be a pole barn with steel siding on it. When I go to a private business, I think about the cost of overhead and how it affects the cost of the products that I'm buying. I'd love to take a dump on a 24k gold toilet the next time I go to McDonalds but I don't want to pay $100 for a cheeseburger. Government and subsidized entities aren't restrained by income vs expenses like McDonalds is.

Public Servant, you and I are pretty much on the same page here. I'm just trying to back up my sentiments on here and every time someone opposes the Colts on here, they are labeled as whiners, complainers, etc. Rather than except the truth and that they are unjustly benefiting off the backs of others, they just shout people like me down.

 

[public servant]

Sorry, I was typing the answer to my previous post before I saw your last one. I answered it in my last post and wasn't dodging it.

I'm against what Universities are doing as well. As long as they can continue to get subsidies through taxpayers and find students who are willing to pay their exorbitant tuition costs, it will continue. I've argued for years that the fix to out of control tuition costs is simple. Quit going. Every student in the nation tax one semester off and say they aren't going to pay these tuition rates so the Universities can continue to pay the professors massive salaries while someone else teaches their class. Tell them they aren't going to pay a sports fee when they don't participate. Tell them they aren't going to continue to fund these 100's of taj mahal buildings that keep popping up all over campus. If parents quit sending their kids off to college with blank checks for tuition and we quit drowning our kids in debt with student loans, there wouldn't be any means for Universities to keep raping the students and the taxpaying public.

I was driving on 421 north of Indy the other day. There was a taj mahal for a fire station built out of fancy brick and stucco. If that were a private business, you can about guarantee that it would be a pole barn with steel siding on it. When I go to a private business, I think about the cost of overhead and how it affects the cost of the products that I'm buying. I'd love to take a dump on a 24k gold toilet the next time I go to McDonalds but I don't want to pay $100 for a cheeseburger. Government and subsidized entities aren't restrained by income vs expenses like McDonalds is.

Public Servant, you and I are pretty much on the same page here. I'm just trying to back up my sentiments on here and every time someone opposes the Colts on here, they are labeled as whiners, complainers, etc. Rather than except the truth and that they are unjustly benefiting off the backs of others, they just shout people like me down.

I also don't think we're that far apart in our views. Except you like the Pats.

Even the Gillettes (who built their own stadium) tried to screw the taxpayers in Foxboro by attempting to land several million in stimulus money to build a walkway to connect all the family holdings. The difference there was the local voters raised enough hell that local politicians pulled the plug on the venture.

In Indy....they just continue to roll over and take it.

 

[nawainwright]

Saints - 6, Colts - 242 DA COLTS ROTFL

 

[public servant]

Saints - 6, Colts - 242 DA COLTS ROTFL

Yards or points??

 

[hornadylnl]

I also don't think we're that far apart in our views. Except you like the Pats.

Even the Gillettes (who built their own stadium) tried to screw the taxpayers in Foxboro by attempting to land several million in stimulus money to build a walkway to connect all the family holdings. The difference there was the local voters raised enough hell that local politicians pulled the plug on the venture.

In Indy....they just continue to roll over and take it.

I guess I only became a Pats fan because they are the archrivals of Indy. Yes, I root for them but don't really care one way or the other.

Three cheers for the people who stuck the walkway in the Pats and politicians rectums and boo for those who wanted it. I'm against any subsidies of any kind. They are the plague in a free market. I have no problem with tax abatements. Believe it or not, I think the Colts corporation should pay zero in taxes, as corporations don't pay taxes. The consumers of their products pay them for them in the form of higher product cost.

I should probably quit jacking this thread.

 

[Benny]

Saints - 6, Colts - 242 DA COLTS ROTFL

C'mon man, stay on topic...

Oh wait, this thread was supposed to be about Super Bowl predictions, not politics.

 

[ABN82]

This thread has turned into a lesson: Liberal mindset vs. Capitalist mindset!!!!

Colts 27 Saints 24.

 

[Indy317]

Let me ask you. Because I believe you work in the private sector. Your boss comes in tomorrow and tells you he's going to double your salary by raising the cost of either the product or service your company provides. You know this cost will just be absorbed by and passed on by other companies to their customers. Would you turn down the raise?

Are the customers being forced, with threat of imprisonment, fines, and/or liens placed upon their property, to buy said product? If not, it is completely different. What team owners and players do are maximize their own person wealth on the backs of taxpayers. This is why NFL corporate is pro-taxpayer funded stadiums, it is why team owners are pro-taxpayer funded stadiums, and it is why the players union is pro-taxpayer funded stadiums. If you can legally take money from others and therefore keep your personal bank account the same, or even increase its value, then of course your going to be for it.

I am with hornaday when it comes to this country. I think it is so screwed up, it is hard to care what happens to it. I have stopped donating to charity, stopped eating out as much, stopped supporting local businesses, decided to never volunteer my time, etc.. I play plenty in taxes now and likely face coming tax hikes (additional regional taxes to bailout the Colts and Pacers, regional taxes for mass transit, etc.). I care about me and mine, everyone else decided it was OK to tax me more on my meal because I decided to support a local mom and pop restaurant. Well, all they did was cause me to severely cut back on the support I gave to these local business owners, as it is just getting too costly to eat out when you are facing a 9% sales tax. I could just deduct the Ir$ay tax from my tip amount, but I don't think it is right to take it out on the waitstaff. So instead of the wait staff getting a 17%-20%, instead of my customary 20%-25% tip three times a week , they get 0% from me.

My money and clothing/goods donations don't go to just some charity anymore. Charity starts in the home, and my money stays in my wallet. As far as donations of goods, I donate to Goodwill, but only because a family member works there. I don't have enough deductions to get a tax write-off for the donations. If my family member ever leaves that company, I will no longer just be giving away stuff. I don't care if I sell three bags of cloths for $10 on Craig's List, I will be making sure whatever I give/donate benefits me or one of my family members. If we need more charity, then those Colts players sitting on the bench making $250K/year league minimum, all the way to the team owners, need to be forking over another 10% of the wage. They can afford it, I can't, as my quasi-taxpayer funded jobs doesn't may me anywhere near a quarter-million dollars a year.

 

[calcot7]

Colts 34 / 'Aints 31

 

[Hookfish]

Colts 31 / Saints 17

Drew Brees is going to be running for life from Mathis and Freeney

 

[HICKMAN]

I'm gonna say 34-20

 

[JohnP82]

saints 31 colts 17

 

[MyGlockRocks19]

The Colts will win, because every time I leave a state, their teams always do.

When I moved out of Florida the first time, the Bucs won the Superbowl. The next time I left, the Devil Rays went to the World Series. And if you know anything about the Devil Rays even though they didn't win, just the fact that they GOT there is an amazing thing.

 

[SKSnut]

Colts win big(my prediction)

 

[TheLoneRaider]

35-31 SAINTS win

 

[Turn Key]

Colts 42 - Saints 30

Gonna be a great game.

I pledge allegiance 2 da Colts
and 2 da great city of Indianapolis
and 2 da Super Bowl,
4 which we will win,
1 city, B low C level,
under God,
with Mardi Gras and alcohol 4 all.


TK

 

[Bigum1969]

I predict Colts vs Saints.

I've got a sixth sense.