Amadeus Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 There are currently 5 or 6 active topics in this section about scandals, cover-ups and other negative news about the Island - enough to start a new thread, were no negative news about the Island or any stories about new scandals shall be allowed... Come on, amit all this doom and gloom, there's got to be some positive and uplifting news or stories around, so feel free to post them! Ok, I start: Unemployment on the IOM in May 2005: 1.4% (556 people) (source) Unemployment in Germany in May 2005: 11.6% (4.806.589 people) (source) Maximum Income Tax on the IOM: 18% (source) Maximum Income Tax in Germany: 42% (source) These are only two examples to make you think about all the bad news we've been hearing lately - I just think it can't be good to go on and on about all the negative news, and there-by forgetting all the good points we have on our checklist - maybe it's time to think more positive and to discuss how we can escape the Doomsday Scenario that's currently being presented on a public forum.. Some positive thoughts about the future of the Island please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girl89 Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 (it isn't really about the Isle of Man, but...) my good news is that i finished my last GCSE exam yesterday afternoon 2 months of summer YAY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockjock Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Great idea... Too much gloom around. Let me try this... IOM Temperature today 18 deg. Munich Temperature 28 deg. IOM Price of a Merc CLS £43120 Germany Price of a Merc CLS £37374 Hmmm! It sure is gloomy here!!! PS girl 89 - congratulations - enjoy your summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted June 25, 2005 Author Share Posted June 25, 2005 Great idea... Too much gloom around. Let me try this... IOM Temperature today 18 deg. Munich Temperature 28 deg. IOM Price of a Merc CLS £43120 Germany Price of a Merc CLS £37374 Hmmm! It sure is gloomy here!!! PS girl 89 - congratulations - enjoy your summer. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmm..first post, and already going against the stream - like it! Ok, I usually don't care about the weather, but for the sake of the argument: We have palm trees here, these thingies don't grow in Germany, so let's turn your argument around: Avg. Snowfall in Bavaria last winter: 3 meters (worst temperature: -30 C) Avg. Snowfall on the IOM last winter: 0.01 meters (worst temperature: 0 C) And with the Merc: yes, they're more expensive over here - you've got POUND STERLING in your pocket, Germany has the EURO and a lower average income compared to here, so in the end, it's obviously cheaper to buy a car on the continent, but looking at it while taking the average income and value of the respective currencies into account, it's pretty much the same - so it's actually a good thing: Just order your LHD Merc in Germany, drive it over, sell it and take the profit! Now, could we have some serious thoughts, please? edited to add: rockjock - I was born and raised 60km south of Munich and that's in Bavaria, just in case you were wondering... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FCMR Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Great idea... Too much gloom around. Let me try this... IOM Temperature today 18 deg. Munich Temperature 28 deg. IOM Price of a Merc CLS £43120 Germany Price of a Merc CLS £37374 Hmmm! It sure is gloomy here!!! PS girl 89 - congratulations - enjoy your summer. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmm..first post, and already going against the stream - like it! Ok, I usually don't care about the weather, but for the sake of the argument: We have palm trees here, these thingies don't grow in Germany, so let's turn your argument around: Avg. Snowfall in Bavaria last winter: 3 meters (worst temperature: -30 C) Avg. Snowfall on the IOM last winter: 0.01 meters (worst temperature: 0 C) And with the Merc: yes, they're more expensive over here - you've got POUND STERLING in your pocket, Germany has the EURO and a lower average income compared to here, so in the end, it's obviously cheaper to buy a car on the continent, but looking at it while taking the average income and value of the respective currencies into account, it's pretty much the same - so it's actually a good thing: Just order your LHD Merc in Germany, drive it over, sell it and take the profit! Now, could we have some serious thoughts, please? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> And the Isle of man is not full of turks. You cant go skying in the IOM, Palm trees do grow in Germany The pay in Germany is better or it used to be Travel is cheaper in Germany and more choice Health care in Germany is better so is the pensions Housing is cheaper And Germany can have Allan Bell if they want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 I drove from Port Erin to Douglas this morning via Peel. I drove over 'the tops' and for the whole journey didn't pass another living soul (apart from the sheep) Stopped at Cronk ny Arrey Laa and climbed as far as the dog would let me. It was wonderful. Blue skies, green hills, miles of heather and a view of east, west and south that took my breath away. It's not news - it's not even a story - it's just another view of life here that we are in danger of forgetting with all the doom and gloom around. Nice thread Amadeus. And thanks for caring enough about the place to create it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
germann Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 German beer is pure heaven. Manx beer is rancid wee wee, and that's before the Creek get their hands on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theintelligentthug Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 see if you can get any Tuborg lager, sit in the sun with a crate of the stuff and appreciate your wonderful countryside. breathe in that sea air, and just take in what you mioght so regularly take for granted - tranquility. im green with envy you buggers you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-rhymes Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 We have Power boat racing, which is nice.... I must get a wriggle on! http://www.honda.co.uk/news/marine/ I have never seen that on the Manchester Ship Canal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posters Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Good link I especially liked Officer of the Day and Event Organiser Rory Power .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-rhymes Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 I couldn't think of a better name for the job... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted June 25, 2005 Author Share Posted June 25, 2005 And the Isle of man is not full of turks.You cant go skying in the IOM, Palm trees do grow in Germany The pay in Germany is better or it used to be Travel is cheaper in Germany and more choice Health care in Germany is better so is the pensions Housing is cheaper And Germany can have Allan Bell if they want <{POST_SNAPBACK}> With all due respect, I don't think you quite caught the spirit of this thread yet or chose to ignore it - fair enough.. And the Isle of man is not full of turks. - not answering on that one, issues like that have been talked about over and over again You cant go skying in the IOM - why's that a bad thing? You can't go skiing in Hamburg or London... Palm trees do grow in Germany - never seen any in my back garden - maybe they were covered by the snow.. The pay in Germany is better or it used to be - sure, and elephants can fly - you'll be lucky if you have a job with anything like a decent salary there at the moment Travel is cheaper in Germany and more choice - I kind of agree, but only when you have pounds in your pocket - if you get paid in Euros, it's not.. Health care in Germany is better so is the pensions - I have to seriously try not to laugh here - it might have been in the past, I agree, but them times are over - health care costs have soared and the state pension system is close to collapse Housing is cheaper - No idea about that, but might well be right - the only thing I know is that our building standards are better (no disrespect to any builders..) And Germany can have Allan Bell if they want - If you think that's beneficial, ok - I'm sure we've got some space somewhere... I shouldn't even have replied to all of these points, as that's not what I had in mind with this thread. Maybe we could concentrate on the good points we still have over here and work from there? Yes, there are some serious issues going on at the moment, but you'll get them everywhere, so constantly predicting the end of the world (or Island for this matter) is not going to get you anywhere - if you want to change anything, think forward, don't run in circles, repeating all the old phrases over and over again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Finally a place to post good news! Here's a story about US investment in the IOM: Sam Wyly, B of A, and the Isle of Man This Wall Street Journal ($) article reports that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has launched an investigation in New York of Bank of America, Dallas-based investor Sam Wyly and his brother, and several other institutions in regard to lucrative tax shelters that the Wylys set up in the English tax haven, the Isle of Man. Here is a previous post on the colorful Mr. Wyly, who was also one of President Bush's biggest campaign contributors in both the 2000 and 2004 election campaigns. Although legally a possession of the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man operates as an independent country with its own financial laws, the most important of which is that a foreign government cannot enforce in the Isle of Man courts a claim for unpaid taxes against an Isle of Man entity. Thus, tax-shelter promoters often tout the Isle as a convenient tax haven just an hour's flight from London. Mr. Morgenthau's office, and now the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission, are investigating a popular stock option that B of A helped the Wylys establish to lock in gains on stock options during the bull market of the 1990's. The IRS has already determined that the transaction was widely used as a tax shelter, so this new investigation is a part of a larger IRS drive to to identify and punish firms that promoted improper tax shelters. Under the particular shelter under scrutiny here, wealthy businessmen and U.S. corporations donated options to trusts that they alleged were not under their control. The IRS contends that they retained control of the trusts and that over 40 U.S. corporations and dozens of executives used the arrangement to shelter income and avoid paying more than $700 million in taxes. The Wylys contend that they neither owned nor controlled the trusts, and that they were legitimate vehicles established for the benefit of family members and charities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted June 26, 2005 Author Share Posted June 26, 2005 Source? Although it seems you were trying to be sarcastic there, I think it didn't work - US companies bringing money here and keeping it legal enough for the IOM to take it and make a profit out of it must surely count as a good thing - we gained, the yanks lost! Loving it... It seems to me that many people are very eager to "slag off" the very place they live in and that provides them with the means to exist and lead a (hopefully) comfortable life, and I don't really get it.. If something's seriously wrong around here (and I don't dispute that this is the case here and there), then why are you going on about it on a public forum instead of actually trying to do something? Come on, tell me your solution for all the problems we have! Tell me how to make this Island "Happy Little Paradise" - I doubt you can! What you could try, is to do something outside this sacred chamber of free opinion based on html and php - start a campaign, make yourself heard on the street, bring out your own newspaper, but don't only talk about horror story after horror story - the more you talk about it, the less interesting it will be, and that's not a good thing... see if you can get any Tuborg lager -snip- <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ahh..Tuborg..that brings back memories - they used to do a Christmas Calender - the thing with 24 doors, one for each day before Christmas - well, their's was different - instead of chocolate or toys, it had a can of Tuborg behind every door! Needless to say that Christmas came pretty early that year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilDDog Posted June 26, 2005 Share Posted June 26, 2005 Needless to say that Christmas came pretty early that year smile.gif Funny you should mention Christmas, it won't be long and it'll be here. Yay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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