eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

CANADA International tax questions - Tanzania, Canada US -

General News
I started working in the states last April for about 8 months with a TN visa. I was wondering if I have to pay taxes on income earned in the states to Canada as well?
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

CANADA Dual

General News
I was born in the U.S. but lived and worked all my life in Canada and still reside in Canada.
 
I now have a U.S. passport and was told to fill U.S. income tax which I have done now going back 3 years.
If I sell my principal residence in Canada, am I required to pay any tax in the U.S. or to file on my U.S. tax firm this sale?
 
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

CANADA U.S visa to work on own properties -

General News If i own properties within an american llc can i then sponsor myself as an employee of my company for a visa, thus allowing me to do work on my properties personnally?
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

CANADA US income for Canadian T-1 tax return - US Canada Canadian American Mexican Income Tax help dual citizenship

General News QUESTION:(1) Just wonder which figure in W-2 form should be used as the US (worldwide) income for filing Canadian T-1 tax return?Say, in W-2, the number in column 1 "wages, tips, other compensation" is 50,000; while the number in column 3 "social security wages" is 60,000 (seems to me the number 60,000 is made up from the number 50,000 above plus the number of 10,000 from 401K contribution).(2) Which part contributed in the US W-2 can be considered for the use of foreign tax credit in Canadian T-1 return(both Federal and provincial in Canada): Federal income withheld, social security tax withheld, state income tax,local(city) income tax? How to handle the 401K contribution?Thanks for your help.
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

Something serious and a little humor and a GET OUT and VOTE suggestion

General News Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter. The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:


1. Liberals
2. Conservatives.


Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were form.


Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.


Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.


Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.


Over the years Conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant.  Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.


Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.  Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals.  Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.


Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, Marines, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living. Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America.  They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.


Here ends today's lesson in world history: It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to piss them off.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Of course members of the he BC Provincial Liberal party are really Federal Conservatives (even the ones who think they are Federal Liberals are really the far right wing members of that party).

Which brings me to the MMP vote taking place in Ontario on Wed Oct 10, 2007.

In 1993, the popular vote was 41.24% for the Liberals

13.5% for the Bloc Quebecois

18.69% for the Reform

6.8% for the NDP and

16.04% for the Conservatives who has received 42% in trhe 1988 election and who had split apart with meany members joining the BLOC and REFORM parties.

The Liberals got 177 seats for 41.24%

The Bloc got 54 seats for 13.5%

The REFORM gor 52 seats for 18.69% and

the Conservatives got "2" seats for 16.02% of the popular vote, one of the greatest under represented situations if not the greatest in Canadian politics.

The MMP (Mixed Member Proporioal) or a STP (single transferable vote) would have changed that and been more representative. I prefer the STP but almost anything is better than the First past the Post we have now.

Think about  the 2000 US federal election in florida for a second.  If the 5% who voted  for Ralph Nader ahd had their second choice recorded for Gore or Bush, it would likely have been a fairer election with less controversy.

-------------------------------------------------

Movie Review

If you get a chance, go to see "Across the Universe" which is showing now. 

I am not a person who listens to music.  In the car I look for talk radio.  However, I was shocked by how much i loved this movie built around the Beatles and the vietnam war.

What really surprized me was that in a crowded theater that I went to with a 15, 17, and 20 year old at their invitation, there was only one other person close to my age (65).  Everyone else seemed to be under 25.

The movie is all Beatles Music but puts people and events to the JHude Lucy and Pridence.  

The central character is Jude (Hey Jude) and the show goes from the Cavern in Liverpool (where my father was born) to the halls of Princeton University and the riots in Detroit and the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Pridence (dear Prudence) comes to life as a real person.  Lucy (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - I am the Walrus- I am the Eggman) also fits the songs.

I sat there stunned at the end having just relived a few years of my life when I supported items like Cool Aid (the northern end of the draft dodger underground railroad) in Vancouver.  Mike harcourt who became the Mayor of Vancouver (I ran against him) and the Premier of BC was the lawyer for the society.  Simon DeJong who became a federal NDP member of Parliament  for Regina East) was a major palayer fdirector of the society and I believe the other major leader whose name I can not remember became the warden or deputy warden of stoney mountain penitentiary in Winnipeg.

Interestingly, Simon served as a MP with Phl Edmunston (author of New and Used car guide LEMONAID - http://www.lemonaidcars.com/ and the founder of the Automotive Protective Association ) who was the only Quebec NDP member for years.  Phil is fun because in the 60's, he was a close associate of Ralp Nader (remember the Florida election above) and involved in the writing of the book "UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED" which resulted in general Motors stopping production of the Corvair.

This, of course started as a spoof (which I did not write but was sent to me by Klondike Kate) on Liberals and Conservative Politicians and ended up with the demise of the Corvair while touching on Viet Nam, Voting Rights and the draft Dodgers of the 70's. 

It was my association with those young American men coming to Canada and the entertainers i was bringing in to my Coffee Houses starting in 1962 (George Carlin as one example) which resulted in my interest in US / Canadian tax and immigration today.

 

So this has gone out to just about everyone.  Will the approxiamately 500 readers in Ontario get out and vote pro or con MMP but do pay attention.  It will shape the way our politics go.  For those 6,000 readers in the US, pay attention to how we vote.  It will change the way you live and by that, also change the rest of the world.    

david ingram

 
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

IRS SCAM - Phishing/Vishing - e-mail and/or telephone "Phishing" for your tax information

General News The sender of this email was a partner in the FIRST COMMERCIAL ISP in Canada, Wimsey.com.
He sends along a valid warning.  It is a two part scam.  - Nothing too much or too suspicious in the first part.  The catch is in the second part.

His reference to the Kelowna Advisor was a recent Bankruptcy Case.  The TD ban tried to exempt a Nigerian Loss. A Kelowna Financial Advior with the Investors Group declared bankruptcy because he sent $80,000 off in a Nigerian email scam.  I have included the whole "StockWatch"  story at the bottom of Richard's warning --- It could happen to us.

Richard Pitt wrote:
Hi David

As you know I keep a fairly close eye on the internet for various scams
and such as part of my business. The following one caught my eye and I
thought you might be interested in passing it on to your e-mail lists.
In light of what was reported earlier this week about a financial
adviser in Kelowna being stung for over $80,000 - even professionals can
be scammed sometimes so foreknowledge is worth a lot.

The SANS Internet Storm Center is reporting the details of a scam that
involves the recipient of an e-mail purporting to come from the IRS
offering $80.00 if they will fill in a survey:
http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=3316&rss

---------------- details from scam e-mail -----------------------
From: Internal Revenue Service [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 5:23 AM
Subject: IRS Survey : $80.00 to your account - Just for your time!
Importance: High
Congratulations!
Dear Customer,
You’ve been selected to take part in our quick and easy 8 questions
survey In return we will credit 80.00 to your account - Just for your
time!
Please spare two minutes or your time and take part in our online survey
so we can improve our services.
Don’t miss this chance to change something.
To continue click on the link below:
htm://www.irs.gov/login.asp=survey
© Copyright © 2007 Internal Revenue Service U.SA
----------- end -----------

Note that the "real" e-mail uses HTML to hide the fact that what you see
as the URL (htm://www.irs.gov/login.asp=survey) is actually a completely
different computer - view the message "source" to see this if you
receive one.

The telephone call comes after the "survey" has been filled in - and the
caller then proceeds to use "social engineering" (use of some
information to get more information) to use some of the info used in the
survey to get things like the SSN and credit card/bank information "to
verify who you are and allow us to deposit the $80 into your account"

----------- telephone conversation example -------------------
“ Hello Mr I fell for-it, this is Tim from the IRS. Thank you for
filling out the survey, however you didn’t leave any details for us to
deposit the $80. If you provide me with some information now we can
arrange payment.”

“uh, ok”

“Let’s start with verifying some details, starting with your
social security number....”

.....

--------- end -------------


This is just one of the many such scams being perpetrated by the crooks
who have expanded their illegal actions on the internet to the point
where it is a multi-billion dollar business every year.

richard

-
Richard C. Pitt Pacific Data Capture
[email protected] 604-644-9265
http://richard.pacdat.net http://blog.pacdat.net
PGP Fingerprint: FCEF 167D 151B 64C4 3333 57F0 4F18 AF98 9F59 DD73

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Stockwatch URL IS:

-----------
http://www.stockwatch.com/swnet/newsit/newsit_newsit.aspx?bid=Z-C:TD-1403689&symbol=TD&news_region=C-------

Streaming Realtime Quotes  Streaming Realtime Quotes  Quick Quotes (x20)  Quick Quotes (x20)  Symbol Search  Symbol Search  Company Search  Company Search  Market Depth  Market Depth  US Options  US Options  Montreal Options  Montreal Options  Download Quotes  Download Quotes  Short History  Short History  Candeal Canadian Bond Quotes  Candeal Canadian Bond Quotes  Ticker Quick Launch  Ticker Quick Launch  Excel Webquery  Excel Webquery  Quotes Help  Quotes Help   

12 Month Chart  12 Month Chart  Advanced Chart  Advanced Chart  LIve Java Intraday Chart  LIve Java Intraday Chart  Live Java Historical Chart  Live Java Historical Chart  Charts Help  Charts Help   

News Search  News Search  SEDAR Search  SEDAR Search  SEDAR Alerts  SEDAR Alerts  News Help  News Help    Dow Jones  Dow Jones  NASDAQ  NASDAQ  S&P CME  S&P CME  TSX  TSX  TSX-V  TSX-V  Indexes Help  Indexes Help   
Portfolio 1  Portfolio 2  Portfolio 2  Portfolio 3  Portfolio 3  Portfolio 4  Portfolio 4  Portfolio 5  Portfolio 5  Portfolio 6  Portfolio 6  Portfolio 7  Portfolio 7  Portfolio 8  Portfolio 8  Portfolio 9  Portfolio 9  Portfolio 10  Portfolio 10   

View Portfolio  View Portfolio  Value Portfolio  Value Portfolio  Edit Portfolio  Edit Portfolio  View All Portfolio News  View All Portfolio News  Daily Summary  Daily Summary  Portfolio Help  Portfolio Help    Exchange Statistics  Exchange Statistics  Most Active  Most Active  Block Trades  Block Trades  Broker Trades  Broker Trades  Halts  Halts  Dividends  Dividends  Participants  Participants  Insider Trading  Insider Trading  Trade Workstation  Trade Workstation  Company Picker  Company Picker  Short Positions  Short Positions  Broker Codes  Broker Codes  Analytics Help  Analytics Help   

Mutual Fund Search  Mutual Fund Search  Targeted Holder Search  Targeted Holder Search  SEDAR Search  SEDAR Search  Mutual Funds Help  Mutual Funds Help    Forums Home  Forums Home  Forums Help  Forums Help   


Stockwatch


Mobile |  Old Site | Home | Products | Help | Contact Us | Your Account | System Status
Click here for a free 30-day trial subscription to Stockwatch


Home> News
14:32:02 EDT Sat 25 Aug 2007


Quotes | Charts | News | Indexes | Portfolio | Analytics | Mutual Funds | Forums
Enter Symbol
or Name
  US Quote News Depth User ID: Save
CA Chart Closes Password:


















Forgot password?
Trouble logging in?

Toronto-Dominion Bank (The)
Symbol TD
Shares Issued 720,407,424
Close 2007-08-21 C$ 68.43
Recent Sedar Documents








TD Bank loses Nigerian scam lawsuit

2007-08-24 14:00 ET - Street Wire

by Mike Caswell

Everyone has seen the e-mails. A con artist in Nigeria needs help moving millions of dollars out of his country. The messages, usually in broken English, spell out bizarre circumstances in which the sender has happened upon a large sum of money. An oil company was "double invoiced," a "bequest" was left in a will or a "hidden cache of gold" turned up.

The scammer promises generous commissions, usually in the millions, to any sucker who replies. This is commonly known as a Nigerian scam (although the messages often originate from countries other than Nigeria).

Who answers these dubious e-mails? Todd Merenick, a former salesman with Investors Group in Kelowna, responded to one, and it ultimately cost his bank $82,000. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.)

Mr. Merenick's misfortune was made public in a B.C. Supreme Court decision released on Tuesday, Aug. 21. The Toronto-Dominion Bank sued Mr. Merenick after he deposited a counterfeit $82,000 cheque from a Nigerian e-mail scammer.

By the time the bank realized the cheque was phony, Mr. Merenick had wired the $82,000 to an account in Hong Kong. The bank sued on the grounds that Mr. Merenick did not disclose his communications with Nigerian scammers.

As soon as he learned what happened, Mr. Merenick resigned from Investors Group, reported the situation to police and declared bankruptcy. He acknowledged that he owed the bank the full amount of the cheque.

At trial, the bank had to show that Mr. Merenick made false statements concerning the cheque or that his failure to alert the bank to the "suspicious circumstances" surrounding it amounted to fraudulent misrepresentation.

The bank ultimately lost.

The e-mail arrives

In early 2004 Mr. Merenick received an e-mail from a Dr. Chris Martins, purportedly the head of the department of clinical pharmacology at the University of Lagos. Dr. Martins explained that the university had an unused balance of $8.3-million on a $12.5-million research grant. He wanted to transfer the money out of the country on a confidential basis to pay for the researchers' retirements and needed an outsider's help.

For most people, the scam would have ended there; the e-mail would have gone to the electronic equivalent of a trash bin as fast as the recipient's finger could have clicked the mouse.

However, Mr. Merenick replied, albeit skeptically at first. He said he was "suspicious" of the transaction and that he and his supervisor were concerned its purpose was to launder money.

The communications continued. The purported Dr. Martins and then a Dr. Ahman Rehman exchanged e-mails with Mr. Merenick over many months; Mr. Merenick even talked with at least one of the con artists on the phone.

The purported Dr. Rehman "politely but persistently" asked Mr. Merenick to help him move money out of Nigeria. Without help, Dr. Rehman said he would gain nothing from his 25 years of service to the government.

Like all Nigerian scams, the con artists tried to lure Mr. Merenick with a large commission. "Please remember I have offer you 20% for any assistance which you will give to successful delivary [sic] and claearance [sic] in canada [sic]," a Dec. 5, 2004, e-mail read.

Merenick "suspicious"

The judge, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes, said there is "no doubt that Mr. Merenick knew that the chances of the proposed transaction being authentic were slim." On Jan. 17, 2005, Mr. Merenick told Dr. Rehman that "Nigeria is notorious for scams similar to the idea you are using with me and fortunately most Canadians do not fall for them but once in awhile one does and they sure lose lots of money."

Still, Mr. Merenick kept talking with the con artists. Late in the correspondence, Dr. Rehman purportedly introduced Mr. Merenick to a "Reverend" friend in Nigeria. Mr. Merenick talked to the "Reverend" on the phone and remarked that he sounded remarkably like Dr. Rehman.

Merenick falls prey

Mr. Merenick eventually agreed to assist Dr. Rehman (or "fell prey" as the judge wrote).

The scam did not entirely follow the script of a typical Nigerian scam. Normally, the victim is induced to send a relatively small amount of money to cover transaction fees.

In return, he expects to receive a percentage of the main money when it arrives. However, once the victim sends the "transaction fees" the con artist disappears and the victim never hears from him again.

In this case, Mr. Merenick received a counterfeit cheque to cover the transaction fees; Dr. Rehman told him an "investor" had agreed to cover the costs. All Mr. Merenick had to do was deposit the investor's money into his own bank account and then wire it to Hong Kong.

"As soon as you receive the check, you quickly pay it into your bank and wait for your bank to tell you the day it will clear and due for withdrawal. If your bank tells you the date the check will clear, please get back to me immediately so that I can forward to you the account where you will pay in the money to enable us settle all the bank charges here so that the US$8.3 Million be transferred into your bank account in Canada," Dr. Rehman wrote.

Mr. Merenick deposited the counterfeit cheque at a TD branch in Vernon. The next day he arranged for a wire transfer of $82,466 out of his account.

Unhappy bank

The bank contended that when Mr. Merenick deposited the cheque, he falsely told the teller that it represented retirement funds for a client. The teller consulted her manager, who looked at the cheque and reviewed Mr. Merenick's financial history with the bank. The manager also noted that Mr. Merenick worked for Investors Group.

Based on the "strength of this information" the manager cleared the cheque with no hold period. A hold, of course, would have prevented the money from being released until the cheque cleared.

By the time TD discovered that the cheque was a counterfeit, it was unable to recover the money from the Hong Kong account.

Merenick was "careless"

The judge had to decide whether Mr. Merenick's debt to the bank would survive his bankruptcy. If he deposited the counterfeit cheque under fraudulent circumstances, then he would still owe the bank the full $82,466. Otherwise, the bank would be dealt with in bankruptcy proceedings, where creditors routinely receive much less than full payment.

Judge Holmes ruled that because the bank did not prove any fraudulent misrepresentation, the debt will not survive Mr. Merenick's bankruptcy.

"Fraud is a serious allegation, and evidence to prove it must meet a high standard," she wrote.

B.C. Securities Commission records indicate that Mr. Merenick worked at Investors Group Financial Services Inc.'s Kelowna branch from June, 2004, to August, 2005. Investors Group changed its name to IGM Financial Inc. in 2004.





Reader Comments - Comments are open and unmoderated, although libelous remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Stockwatch.




Todd Merenick, a former salesman with Investors Group...

This scam is so old, so well known, I am amazed that this guy fell for it. I'll sure be on the look-out for his name when doing any due diligence - but probably won't need to, as I do very little research into what goes into the burgers at Rotten Ronnie's.

Posted by Dubious_Dan @ 2007-08-24 14:15





Those Nigerians are good, Im surprised Howe St. doesn't have a recruitment office there.

Posted by Du-Rag @ 2007-08-24 14:22





The judges ruling was correct. The bank went against their own rules for the sake of making some "fee" money. Sad for Mr Merenick, who should have known better. My question to both the bank and Merenick, is simply why not wait for cheque to clear?????? When it does or does not, proceed accordingly.

Posted by Marshall @ 2007-08-24 14:23





we all make errors and who really cares about the bank the banks have been messing with the cdn. public for generations and i recall my dad and mom loosing out farm in medicine hat so some fat banker could get fatter am glad someone beat the bank thanks ernest-----a farmer who knows what the banks are like

Posted by hope @ 2007-08-24 14:36





This is laughable to say the least. When you consider that this fellow worked as "Todd Merenick, a former salesman with Investors Group in Kelowna" but the article says later they changed their name to IGM Financial Inc., one has to wonder about the knowledge, of the people they hire, to do what was it, give other people financial advice????? Now their is a company I want to deal with and hand over my money to! Did they say he discussed it with his supervisor! Is this dumb and dumber or what? I just hope Todd wasn't the best sales guy they had, and it would be interesting to have listened to his advice from time to time. If this were not a true story, it would have to be a joke.

Posted by Eric Freeman @ 2007-08-24 15:43





Todd is such a disgrace. I think he had in on it. Anyways anyone want to buy my 10 million dollar winning lottery ticket?

Just wire $100,000 to me.. and i'll mail you the ticket. I cant claim the ticket becuase im not of legal age...

Posted by DGL @ 2007-08-24 17:16





I wonder if the guy owns CMKX too.

Posted by goLEEgo @ 2007-08-24 19:30





Warren Buffett said in effect that guys like this will lose your money. Guys who give you money advice and charge a substantial sum - whether you make money or not. None of us will ever believe Todd Merenick or anyone that is in such a position of giving investment advice could be so brain dead.

I have a friend who lost $500K to a guy he trusted here in Canada with a similar type of scenerio...investing in someone else's problem.

If someone's got a problem, make sure your money is not their solution.

Posted by Andrew C @ 2007-08-24 20:19





If the banks cannot run a proper fraud alert system within their group, how really safe is your money in their hands?

They just take, and blame the rest.

Just like the credit card fraud. That is an easy fix.

They just don't do it because of the high interest money cards.

Banks are just a legal "Money milking business."

Posted by Dave Hesler @ 2007-08-25 01:57





Just another example of human greed linking scammers, sucker and bank. It is impossible for me to believe that Todd did not know what was going on - especially if he remained 'suspicious' for such an extended time. Everything that transpired seems to have been carefully orchestrated. Though not accustomed to defending banks, I do feel that at the minimum, misrepresentation was used by Todd to clear the cheque quickly. He obviously knew the funds were suspect and as such should have informed the bank so that they could practice their due diligence. What I find truly interesting is how he thought he would survive once the cheque proved false!

Posted by Rob @ 2007-08-25 11:47
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

Hummer Tank can feed a person for a year

General News Alternate Fuels as an Investment   Jim Letourneau ( http://www.thebigpictureguy.com/ )  is a Calgary newsletter publisher on oil and gas energy for Tom Allen's Howe Street Media ( www.howestreet.com).  Jim was telling the world to buy Uranium a couple of years ago at $12.00 and it is now over $75.00, so he does not just stick to oil and gas.    I asked him about ethanol and he made the statement that you could feed a person for a year with the amount of corn it would take to make enough ethanol to fill a Hummer..  This was his follow-up to that statement.     It goes along with my look at 'on board' hydrogen generators for your car, another intersting idea you can see at ( http://www.supplementalhydrogen.net/  or http://www.speedace.info/hydro_gen_hydrogen_gas_generator.htm )
david ingram
----------------------
Jim Letourneau, P.Geol. wrote: David:

Thanks again for the fun interview at the Vancouver Cambridge House
show. I couldn't remember Lester Brown as the source of the "feed a
person for a year or fill up a Hummer" anecdote.

http://www.bigpicturespeculatorblog.com/2007/06/lester_brown_po.html

Of course maybe he made that up so I did some quick research:

How much corn is needed to make ethanol?
For every one bushel of corn, approximately 2.7 - 2.8 gallons of
ethanol is produced.

The Hummer HI has a 53 gallon tank which means that 19.27 bushels of
corn are used to fill the tank at 2.75 gallons/bushel.

Corn can weigh anywhere from 45-70+lbs/bushel. Using 56 lb/bushel
(http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/bushels.html) leads to 1079
lbs of corn being used to fill a hummer tank.

An ear of corn weighs anywhere from 5.4-9.6 oz. so if we use an 8oz
ear of corn we get 2158 ears of corn. That would give a corn eater 5.9
ears a day to live on.

There is certainly room for tinkering with these numbers but I think
the numbers make sense.

take care,

Jim

--------------------------------
david ingram replies

I looked up a couple of sites as well because of your comment and found a dozen references with different quotes, most of which seemed to think that a 25 gallon fill up would feed a person for a year.

Try http://www.enviroblog.org/2007/04/feed_the_hummer_forget_the_hun.htm

and http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/lester_brown_ethanol.php

and http://www.benking.co.uk/blog/?p=53

and this letter re the Brazil story.  The writer suggests that 10% of brazil's actual energy comes from ethanol while CNN's report suggested that 50% came from ethanol and some reports were suggesting 100%. 
 
http://robertrapier.wordpress.com/tag/brazilian-ethanol/

I have been running all our cars on MOHAWK 10% ethanol for four years now.and wonder if that is really the way to go now.

It takes 1.56 litres of ethanol for the power of 1 litre of gas and I notice that my old caddys get 5 km a litre with the ethanol blend and 6 with straight shell gas.  HMMMM?!

It is all something to think about.
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

Hydrogen generators for cars

General News Hi David,

XXXX suggested I jot you a note about a hydrogen generator I'm beginning to market in B.C. Perfect for the Caddie fleet. I've ordered one for the VW, one for xxxx's car, and one for the motorhome. A remarkable product, very timely. The website is www.supplementalhydrogen.net . Would welcome your thoughts.
-----------------------------------------------

david ingram replies:

I notice that the Supplemental site has several different sites.


I have not being following this topic very closely but notice a Canadian product with one size only at

http://www.speedace.info/hydro_gen_hydrogen_gas_generator.htm

This is a tax (and finance newsletter) - and saving 20% on gas mileabge qualifies I think.

Does anyone out there in CEN-TAPEDE land have any experience or knowledge about on board hydrogen generators for cars and trucks and motorhomes.

a 20% gas saving would be significant today.
eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

UK gov't computer system charges wrong income tax

General News

Up to five million people may be paying the wrong income tax because HM Revenue and Customs' computer systems are "no longer well suited" to handling the tax, the U.K. National Audit Office has warned.

The figure, which comes in the NAO's report on HMRC's accounts for 2006-07, is five times higher than that identified in a separate report by the public spending watchdog that was published earlier this month.

The earlier examination of income tax collection found that more than a million people were paying the wrong amount of tax because of processing errors.

Speaking as the new report was published, Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, said: "HMRC's computer systems are no longer well-suited to the efficient administration of income tax, especially where people have more than one job or change jobs frequently."

eMail Article To a Friend View Printable Version Subscribe to 'CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visa'

#389 07-09-02 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES ACCOUNTING FIRMS KPMG AND BDO SEIDMAN

General News It is tough to pick an accountant these days. Completely lost in the Arthur Anderson / Enron Scandal was the story below which has resulted in a $15,000,000 fine for Ernst and Young. Following that is the story where KPMG and BDO were being investigated for the same offence and recently 4 KPMG partenrs and the firm itself were indicted for fraud for inappropriate audits of XEROX over a seven year period. see http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-16.htm

The following indicates that the IRS is investigating over 90 professional accounting firms. OUCH!!