Halloween Has Grown From A Holiday Into A Season, And Domainers Should Take Notice

October 26, 2008 · Filed Under Trends · 2 Comments 

PumpkinHorror is in.  I mean, it’s never really been out.  But it’s definitely in, now.  And when I say horror, I mean generally dark themes; not just movies.  This includes goth, video games and biggest of them all: Halloween.

Every kid loves Halloween.  But historically once they reach the age where they no longer go out, people come to realize it’s a rather insignificant holiday.  Sure, there are always adults who go to costume parties and whatnot, but in the past Halloween was always “behind” other holidays like Thanksgiving and Independence Day.

I say that’s no longer the case.  And I say that Halloween is easily now the second most popular holiday in America after Christmas.

There are several reasons for this:

  1. It’s not really tied to a religion. Sure, the name comes from “All Hallows Evening” referring to the fact that it immediately precedes All Saints Day.  But the actual act of starting a bonfire to end the harvest and to placate the dead was more of a superstition of the Celts.  The point is that it’s not religious, making it more welcoming for people of all religions.  People have also begun to move on from the thought that it’s directly tied to Hell or evil.  Well, most have.Trenddomaining.com Bonfire
  2. The loss of popularity of other holidays. It has been heavily taught in American schools that our Thanksgiving stems from the interaction between the pilgrims and Native Americans.  And since it’s now common knowledge what was REALLY done to the Native Americans, this holiday has lost great popularity and respect.  Easter is nothing more than a footnote now-a-days.  I recall Independence Day being big when I was growing up.  Not anymore; all people care about is getting the day off of work.  Same goes for Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  I’m not saying that to be rude, I just think the growing cynicism towards America among its citizens is hurting these holidays. No one ever really cared about Columbus Day, but they care even less now that it’s common knowledge that he wasn’t the first and he certainly wasn’t friendly to Native Americans.  Check out this Google Trends report that compares Halloween to four other holidays.
  3. The success of horror video games. The Silent Hill and Resident Evil series have been quite successful; even moving on to the silver screen.  In the past few years, some hugely popular horror games came out to critical praise and mainstream success, such as Bioshock, Dead Space, Condemned, Manhunt, Doom 3, The Suffering, the Fatal Frame games and FEAR.
  4. The success of horror movies. Cheap horror movies have been around forever, but you must admit that you’ve noticed more and more of them in the past decade or so.  They are inexpensive and easy to make.  They can post decent returns while always having that slight chance of a super hit, like The Blair Witch Project or Saw.  Blair Witch costed $35k to make and grossed over $240m worldwide.  It is the most successful independent film of all time (if you exclude Star Wars, which some consider independent) and has the highest ratio of box office sales to production cost in American film history.  Saw was made for $1.2m and grossed $102m worldwide, while spawning successful sequels every year for four years and counting.  This genre is in.Boba Fett
  5. Generation X and Y grew up loving Halloween. Now they are the primary consumers.  And for almost the same reason why the 80’s are big again, Halloween is following these people into their adulthood.  For a brief time you can be Boba Fett, Indiana Jones, Batman or Mario and almost nobody will laugh at you.  Almost.
  6. Halloween is practically synonymous with autumn/fall now. People have always put up decorations, but it seems year after year they go up earlier, much like how people do for Christmas.  It’s as if Halloween has become it’s own season.  I’m sure this is in part due to haunted attractions opening up earlier and earlier in order to milk the trend.
  7. It’s gone heavily commercial. Consumers love their decorations, and only Christmas can trump Halloween in that department.  When you go into big box stores, their Halloween sections are almost as big as their Christmas sections.  Hell, Halloween stores even pop up just for the season.  Do you see Easter stores open in May?  How about 4th of July stores in June? Ok, well, other than fireworks.  Surely, there are Thanksgiving stores in early November! No!

So, hopefully I made my point that Halloween is big.  Now let’s move onto why you, as a domainer, should care.

I may be wrong, but I think many domainers shy away from seasonal domains and sites due to their very nature: they’re seasonal.  In general, just about everything has popularity spikes at certain times each year.  But not many things moreso than a holiday.  I think the general thought is why build a site if people will only view it one or two months out of the year?

I think, for Halloween at least, there are so many different ways monetize that it makes it worth your while, such as:

  • Costume catalog.  You can list affiliate links to places where people can purchase costumes, or you can offer up ideas on how people can make their own.  This would make a wonderful forum where people can swap ideas and help each other.
  • Haunted Attractions.  Haunted houses and the like are still popular to this day.  Back in my day, we relied on the radio to report locations or the major newspaper would insert a flyer with a listing.  These days, it’s much easier to go online and search for what’s going on near you.  That’s where you can come in and offer a directory.
  • Decorations.  Like the costume catalog, you can post affiliate links where people can buy, and then offer how-to’s so people can create their own.  Halloween is a very creative holiday and people love to get into it.
  • Advertising.  Haunted attractions and Halloween stores advertise like mad.  They advertise everywhere: TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, the internet.  They only have a month of business and need to make sure they stand out in a crowded field.  And if you have a popular local website, they will absolutely advertise with you.

A Halloween site can be successful whether it’s national or local, so it can cater to what you prefer.  But I personally believe you will have a better chance at success with a local site in a large metro area.  If you went local, you should be able to find a great domain name fairly easily, and you will have a much better chance at selling local advertising on a local site.

I think Halloween will get more and more popular every year.  Now is the time to build a site.  The sooner the better.  Build a community and gain trust as quickly as possible so that advertisers will come.

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A Domainers Long Hard Look At Bail Outs Part 2: $700 Billion And Loads Of Green Pork

October 18, 2008 · Filed Under Trends · 1 Comment 

green porkSo you’ve heard about this economic bail out that passed recently.  I’m sure you are wondering what this will affect as far as real world trends are concerned, and how can you pad your portfolio with that knowledge.  You’ve come to the right place.

I read the actual bill.  Yes, all 451 pages of it.  You can download it here.  Only about 112 pages are actual bailout, the rest are tax breaks, broker rules and energy improvements.  I tell ya, it was boring as hell.  But I learned a lot about what was added that didn’t make the news (basically everyone that voted “no” got some pork).  On top of it, after three hours of writing this post, my Wordpress timed out and never saved, so I had to start all over.  Not fun.  In fact, it’s awfully defeating.  Then came the $250b nationalization of the top eight banks.  This explains why it took a while since Part 1 of my bail out post.

Side note: I find it hilarious that the Republicans are the ones who nationalized our banking system…

So, the banks weren’t given much of a choice.  Paulson wanted them to buy into it to ensure there is money in the market, and to show other banks that there is money in the market.  A couple banks, like Wells Fargo, turned it down saying that they simply didn’t need it.  However, Paulson talked them into it in under two hours, saying this is a one time only deal.

giftThe U.S. is not the first to face something like this recently.  Sweden had a very similar crisis in the early 1990’s.  Sweden’s economy tanked after financial deregulation and a (commercial, not residential) real estate bubble burst at the end of the 80’s, ending with all seven major banks collapsing in the early 90’s.  Their bail out package wasn’t too dissimilar from ours; mainly they made people accountable.  They didn’t just bail everyone out… they fixed the problem that caused it too.  And theirs was set on buying stocks in their banks.  Our bail out wasn’t… well, not until this week.

Sweden spent the equivalent of $11b USD, which is about $18b USD in today’s money.  That is 4% of their GDP.  4% of the U.S.’s GDP? $541b.  Pretty darn close, uh, relatively speaking.  So, in Sweden, the interest rates tanked 500% in one night, unemployment quadrupled in less than two years and in 1992 they did the bail out.  The government ended up with huge amounts of stocks and assets from the bailout, to which they later sold at a monstrous profit.Kashkari

Norway and Finland also went through something similar.

So what do you know about a guy named Neel Kashkari?  I’m guessing not so much.  Well, it’s a name you will hear a lot of in the future as he has been chosen to spend the $700b.  He is just 35 years old and is seven years from earning his degrees.  He was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs.

No pressure or anything.

Note: This isn’t the entire bill.  I only included things I thought worth reading a bout.

For those who just want to know how this applies to domaining, I highlighted that text in red so you can skip around the boring stuff.

Division A: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (page 2)

  • Sec 101.  Purchases of troubled assets. Establishes the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).  This allows the government to purchase (and resell) troubled assets from financial institutions, with rules determined by the Secretary of Treasury (SoT).  This program will be laid out in full by Nov 14th (45 days after bill is signed).  The assets must be sold at or below cost; institutions will not be able to profit from them.  The key to this is c(3) which reads: designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Federal Government, and such institutions shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this act as financial agents of the Federal Government as may be required. This will scare the hell out of people.  If anything can get abused, this will be. I think a lot of people will jump ship from their bank if the government takes on troubled assets or purchases their stocks.  Credit unions may grow in popularity.  An info site that lists banks and credit unions and how much, if any, the government got involved with them would be popular.  I think people will want to keep their money away from those “government controlled” banks as much as possible.
  • Sec 102.  Insurance of troubled assets. This says that if (IF!?) TARP is established, then the next step would be to establish a program that will guarantee assets that originated prior to March 14th, 2008 to institutions that request it.  This includes principal and interest, but can not exceed 100%.  This must be laid out in full by December 26th, 2008.  The SoT can set premiums, differentiating based on risk, that the institutions will have to pay.  Fees collected from this will be deposited into the new Troubled Assets Insurance Financing Fund (TAIFF) where they can be reinvested as seen fit by the SoT.
  • Sec 103.  Considerations. The SoT must keep the interest of the taxpayers as his/her top priority, including maximizing returns and helping families keep their homes.  It states that institutions can participate without discrimination of size, geography, form of organization, or the size/type/number of assets it has eligible for purchase.  It ensures stability to counties and cities that have suffered increased costs/losses due to the market turmoil.  It plans to protect retirement plans by purchasing their troubled assets.
  • Sec 104.  Financial Stability Oversight Board. Established to review the authority of these programs and the SoT.  Will also be able to make recommendations to the SoT and report any fraud that may become involved.
  • Sec 106.  Rights; Management, Sale of Troubled Assets; Revenues and Sale Proceeds. Basically says that the SoT manages all the acquired assets and can do whatever he/she sees fit with them.  Profits go towards paying off our national debt.
  • Sec 107.   Contracting Procedures. Allows the SoT to waive some provisions if it’s in the taxpayers best interest… or his…  Also says that special attention will be paid to include minority- and woman-owned businesses.  However, this is the case in just about every tax law.
  • Sec 109.  Foreclosure Mitigation Efforts. The SoT must implement a plan to mitigate acquired foreclosures.
  • Sec 110.  Assistance to Homeowners. The SoT may alter acquired residential mortgage loans and mortgages on rental properties in various ways including reduction of interest rates and loan principal.  A site that goes into detail on what you need to do to convince the government to reduce your rates would be a hit.
  • Sec 111.  Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance. If an institution participates in this and sell troubled assets to the government, their senior executives compensation will be capped for as long as those assets are still with the government.  This includes the recovery of previous compensation, including gifts, based on previous statements of earnings that are later found to be inaccurate.  Notice they didn’t use “lied” or “intentionally misleading or false.”  This will end the “golden parachute” that executives receive upon leaving.  They define senior executive as one of the top five paid executives of a public company.
  • Sec 113.  Minimizing of Long-term costs and Maximization of Benefits for Taxpayers. The SoT can acquire (and sell) troubled assets through various means, including direct purchases, auctions and reverse auctions.  It also says that if an institution participates, the SoT will receive nonvoting stock (or voting stock, but will not be able to exercise a vote) or preferred stock of that institution.  The SoT may then sell, exercise or surrender these.  These must contain anti-dillusion provisions in case of stock splits, mergers, etc.  However, the SoT has the ability to make exceptions as he/she sees fit.
  • Sec 115.  Graduation Authorization to Purchase. This act is limited to $250b outstanding at any given time.  This can be raised by the President of the U.S. to $350b and, 15 days later, can be raised to $700b.  Don’t be surprised if it gets raised higher than $700b.
  • Sec 119.  Judicial Review and Related Matters. This says that institutions can not issue injunctions (unless there is a violation of the constitution) on the SoT, but can file for a temporary restraining order.  However, once they participate in one of the programs, the institutions forfeit those rights.
  • Sec 120.  Termination of Authority. This actually all ends December 31st, 2009.  It can be extended another year by the SoT requesting so.
  • Sec 121.  Special Inspector General for the Troubles Asset Relief Program. Establishes a new position appointed by the President with consent of the Senate.  He/she conducts and supervises audits of the SoT and the acquisition of assets.  Just another person/group to make sure the SoT does the job.
  • Sec 122.  Increase in Statutory Limit on Public Debt. Increases our debt ceiling to $11,315,000,000,000.  We have a ceiling?  What happens when we hit it?
  • Sec 124.  Hope for Homeowners Amendments. Increases eligibility for the Hope for Homeowners program.   A site that goes into detail on what you need to do to take advantage of this would do well..
  • Sec 125.  Congressional Oversight Panel. New panel that will regularly review the financial markets.  Yet another person/group to make sure the SoT does the job.
  • Sec 134.  Recoupment. If, in five years, there is a shortfall, the President must propose legislature to recoup those losses.
  • Sec 136.  Temporary Increase in Deposit and Share Insurance Coverage. This has received a large amount of press.  The FDIC will now insure up to $250k, up from $100k, of your deposited money.  What they’re not telling you is that this ends on December 31st, 2009.  Though, if this crisis continues it may get extended next year.
  • Sec 302.  Special Rules for Tax Treatment of Executive Compensation of Employers Participating in the Troubled assets Relief Program. This applies to 1) companies whose assets exceed $300m and sell one or more of their troubled assets to the government and 2) execs whose pay exceeds $500k.

Enter green pork.

Division B: Energy Improvement and Extension Act (page 113)

  • Sec 101.  Renewable Energy Credit. Wind and refined coal facilities received a one year credit extension to January 1st, 2010.  “Certain other” facilities received a two year extension to January 1st, 2011.
  • Sec 102.  Production Credit for Electricity Produced from Marine Renewables. Adds marine and hydrokinetic energy to list of forms of energy eligible for credit (excluding dams).  The facility receiving the credit must produce at least 150 kilowatts.
  • Sec 103.  Energy Credit. Solar energy property gets an eight year extension of credit until January 1st, 2017.  Fuel cell property gets a 200% increase of credit, and an eight year extension until December 31st, 2016.  Microturbine property gets an eight year extension of credit until December 31st, 2016.  A nice big break for solar and fuel cell.  Some believe fuel cells are the future of the auto industry.
  • Sec 104.  Energy Credit for Small Wind Property. They define “small” as a wind turbine which has a capacity of no more than 100 kilowatts and is capped at $4000, such as this one.  Like many other earmarks in this bill, this has potential to be an info/affiliate site.  That is, if you can find an affiliate.
  • Sec 105.  Energy Credit for Geothermal Heat Pump Systems. Geothermal systems are added to the list of forms of energy eligible for credits.  Lots of people are waiting for geothermal heat pumps to explode in popularity.  They can reduce your energy bill by 30%-40% and the energy is 70% renewable, making it very clean… relatively speaking
  • Sec 106.  Credit for Residential Energy Efficient Property. This gets extended eight years until December 31st, 2016.  Residential wind property will receive $500 for each half kilowatt, capped at $4000; or $1667 for each half kilowatt, capped at $13333, in cases of joint occupancy.  Geothermal property will receive up to $2000; or up to $6667 in cases of joint occupancy.
  • Sec 107.  New Clean Renewable Energy Bonds. These bonds are capped nationally at $800m, with availability split into thirds to public power providers, governmental bodies and projects of cooperative electric companies.
  • Sec 108.  Credit for Steel Industry Fuel. Credit for Big Oil.
  • Sec 111.  Expansion and Modification of Advanced Coal Project Investment Credit. Credit is expanded from $1.3b to $2.55b.
  • Sec 112.  Expansion and Modification of Coal Gasification Investment Credit. Another break for Big Oil.
  • Sec 114.  Special Rules for Refund of the Coal Excise Tax to Certain Coal Producers and Exporters. This gives a tax refund to coal exporters who behave, in short.
  • Sec 115.  Tax Credit for Carbon Dioxide Sequestration. Tax credit for Big Oil if they dispose of their carbon emissions properly.
  • Sec 117.  Carbon Audit of the Tax Code. The National Academy of Sciences will review the tax code and identify tax provisions that have the largest effects on carbon emissions.  They will be given $1.5m to do so and must file the report within two years.
  • Sec 201.  Inclusion of Cellulosic Biofuel in Bonus Depreciation for Biomass Ethanol Plant Property. Cellulosic Biofuel gets added to the list of eligible biomass.
  • Sec 202.  Credits for Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel. Extended one year to December 31st, 2009.  The rate of credit was also doubled.  This is a big boost for biomass and ethanol.
  • Sec 203.  Clarification that Credits for Fuel are Designed to Provide an Incentive for United States Production. If a U.S. based company produces oil outside of the U.S., and then sells it outside the U.S., they will not be eligible for credits.
  • Sec 204.  Extension and Modification of Alternative Fuel Credit. Extended one year until December 31st, 2009.  Adds compressed and liquified biomass gas as eligible fuels.
  • Sec 205.  Credit for New Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles. Tax credit will be $2,500 plus $417 for each kilowatt hour of battery capacity in excess of four.  This is capped at $7,500 for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) less than 10,000 pounds (think regular Chevy and Ford trucks and smaller).  For vehicles 10,000 to 14,000 pounds (think Chevy 3500 or Ford F-350) the cap is $10,000.  For vehicles 14,000 to 26,000 pounds (think moving and delivery trucks) the cap is $12,500.  For vehicles more than 26,000 pounds (think AT-AT) the cap is $15,000.  These numbers get smaller once 250,000 of these vehicles get on the road and ultimately ends on or before December 31st, 2014.  Property used outside the U.S. does not qualify.  Obviously this will greatly benefit this auto niche.  An info/affiliate site could be worth doing.
  • Sec 206.  Exclusion from Heavy Truck Tax for Idling Reduction Units and Advanced Insulation. Benefits truckers that use alternative units to run a/c, heat or electricity during idle (such as when the driver is sleeping in the truck), which will be less strain on the engine thus causing less emissions.  This is a big winner: energy self-sufficient units to assist semi trucks.  This could be a great affiliate site if you can find the affiliate programs.  I’m sure truckers are looking for any possible way to offset the costs of fuel, and a site with info on how to receive the tax breaks with affiliate sales should be a winner.
  • Sec 207.  Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit. Extended one year until December 31st, 2010.  Added “electricity” as an eligible fuel source.  The original bill provided a popular tax break for stations that dispensed E85 fuel, a fuel used in flex-fuel vehicles (FFV).  FFV’s may continue to (very slowly) gain in popularity, but there are currently only 1,500 such stations in the U.S.  Compare that to 176,000 world-wide. Still, this could help the popularity of electric vehicles if they have stations to charge up at.
  • Sec 209.  Extension and Modification of Election to Expense Certain Refineries. Adds fuel derived from shale and tar sands as eligible.  The original bill is a tax break for Big Oil for them to upgrade or build new refineries.  Some believe the refining of shale and tar sand emit far too much Co2; more than petrol.  This will not be popular among environmentalists.
  • Sec 211.  Transportation Fringe Benefit to Bicycle Commuters. Tax break for those that ride their bikes to work, and to employers who compensate employees for doing it.  Includes new purchases, repairs and storage.  Amounts to about $20 a month.  Is it worth claiming? heh…
  • Sec 301.  Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds. Bonds available for conservation projects such as green community programs, renewable energy, research facilities, development, auto batteries, mass commuting and public education, among many others.
  • Sec 302.  Credit for Nonbusiness Energy Property. Adds residential biomass fuel stoves as eligible for credit.  “Pellet fuel” may become a popular keyword if biomass fuel stoves catch on.  I doubt they will.
  • Sec 303.  Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Deduction. Extended five years to December 31st, 2013.  This provides a deduction for commercial buildings who install energy efficient lighting the year they install it.  Energy efficient commercial lighting should do well for years to come.  This could make an excellent affiliate site.
  • Sec 304.  New Energy Efficient Home Credit. Extended one year to December 31st, 2009.  Widely considered useless because of the constant threat of expiring before anyone can claim the tax credit.  After all, the length of time it takes to plan, fund and build a home can exceed one year.   If they were to extend it, say, 5 to 10 years, it would become popular.
  • Sec 305.  Modifications of Energy Efficient Appliance Credit for Appliances Produced After 2007. I won’t go into specific numbers because there are so many, but this gives credit for energy efficient dishwashers, clothes washers and refrigerators.  Sure, energy efficient appliances will likely rise in popularity for time to come.  But would an affiliate site for something people would rather buy at a brick and mortar store do well?
  • Sec 307.  Qualified Green Building and Sustainable Design Projects. Extended three years to September 30th, 2012.  Otherwise known as “green bonds,” these provide funding to finance environmentally friendly development while replacing “brown fields.”
  • Sec 403.  Broker Reporting of Customer’s Basis in Securities Transactions. A huge section with a ton of new laws to help keep brokers honest. My head hurt after reading this bastard.
  • Sec 404.  0.2 Percent FUTA Surtax. Extended one year to “through 2009.”  This has been around since 1976, so it’s nothing new.
  • Sec 405.  Increase and Extension of Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund Tax. Raises the rate from 5 cents a barrel to 8 cents a barrel, and up to 9 cents a barrel beginning in 2017.  Of course, this gets passed on to you when you fill up.

So, plenty of stuff here to further fuel the alternative energy trends.  Just about everything got a little boost here, including wind, solar, biodiesel, geothermal, hydrokinetic, cellulosic biofuel, electric vehicles and general alternative energy for residences.  Sure, this had nothing to do with the bailout, but it’s still something the public has been wanting needing.

I think wind, solar and electric vehicles were the big winners though.

Enter other pork…

Division C: Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008 (page 261)

  • Sec 201.  Deduction for State and Local Sales Taxes. Extended two years to January 1st, 2010.  The original bill gives those who live in states without income taxes a deduction for their state sales taxes.  And an R&D credit, which is popular in the business community. It was used by 10 million people last year.
  • Sec 202.  Deduction of Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 203.  Deduction for Certain Expenses of Elementary and Secondary School Teachers. Extended two years to 2009.
  • Sec 204.  Additional Standard Deduction for Real Property Taxes for Nonitemizers. Extended one year to tax year 2009.
  • Sec 205.  Tax-free Distributions from Individual Retirement Plans for Charitable Purposes. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.  The original bill permits tax free charitable contributions from an IRA of up to $100,000 per taxpayer.
  • Sec 301.  Extension and Modification of Research Credit. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009. Simply a tax cut for companies that do big R&D.  Past companies that received the credit include Harley Davidson, Microsoft and Boeing.
  • Sec 302.  New Markets Tax Credit. Extended two years to 2009.  The original bill gives a credit to investors who invest in underserved areas.
  • Sec 305.  Extension of 15-year Straight-line Cost Recovery for Qualified Leasehold Improvements and Qualified Restaurant Improvements; 15-year Straight-line Cost Recovery for Certain Improvements to Retail space. Extension of leasehold and restaurant improvements gets extended to January 1st, 2010.  However, “new construction” was added to the list of eligible improvements.  Also, retail establishments are added.  For retail, improvements not eligible: enlargement of building, elevators, escalators, and various structural frameworks.
  • Sec 310.  Extension of Mine Rescue Team Training Credit. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 311.  Extension of Election of Expense Advanced Mine Safety Equipment. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 314.  Indian Employment Credit. They mean Native American.  This was extended two years to December 31st, 2009.flag
  • Sec 315.  Accelerated Depreciation for Business Property on Indian Reservations. Again, they obviously mean Native American. This also was extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 316.  Railroad Track Maintenance. Extended two years to January 1st, 2010.
  • Sec 317.  Seven-year Cost Recovery Period for Motorsports Racing Track Facility. For real?  This was extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 318.  Expensing of Environmental Remediation Costs. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.  Environmentalists will love this one.  This was a popular bill that helped in cleaning up “brown fields”
  • Sec 319.  Extension of Work Opportunity Tax Credit for Hurricane Katrina Employers. Extended two years to apply to four years following the disaster.
  • Sec 320.  Extension of Increased Rehabilitation Credit for Structures in the Gulf Opportunity Zone. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 321.  Enhanced Deduction for Qualified Computer Contributions. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.  Original bill is a credit for companies that donate computer technology and equipment to charities.
  • Sec 322.  Tax Incentives for Investment in the District of Columbia. Extended two years to tax year 2009.  Extends the Zero Percent Capital Gains Rate two years to tax year 2010.  First-time Homebuyer Credit extended two years to tax year 2010.  I don’t get this, why is DC so damn special?
  • Sec 323.  Enhanced Charitable Deductions for Contributions of Food Inventory. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 324.  Extension of Enhanced Charitable Deductions for Contributions of Book Inventory. Extended two years to December 31st, 2009.
  • Sec 401.  Permanent Authority for Undercover Operations. This strikes paragraph 6 of the law, which states that the law ends on January 1st, 2008.  No termination date was given, which makes this permanent!
  • Sec 402.  Permanent Authority for Disclosure of Information Relating to Terrorist Activities. This strikes clauses that terminated laws (that were terminated last year!) where your personal info (IRS, etc) can be disclosed to authorities if you are a suspected terrorist.  It does not give a new termination date, which makes this permanent.
  • Sec 501.  $8,500 Income Threshold Used to Calculate Refundable Portion of Child Tax Credit. Originally, it was $10,000.  But it’s reduced for tax year 2008.
  • Sec 502.  Provisions Related to Film and Television Productions. Gives tax breaks to U.S film companies when they film inside the U.S.  California pork!  
  • Sec 503.  Exemption from Excise Tax for Certain Wooden Arrows Designed for use by Children. Yea, you just read that.  It actually goes on to explain, in detail, arrow shafts and if they use all natural wood and how big the diameter is.  It’s crazy.
  • Sec 503.  Income Averaging for Amounts Received in Connection with the Exxon Valdez Litigation. If you received a settlement due to the spill, the money is now to be treated as engaged in fishing business.   For real.  Remember, someone was pissed off enough to force things like this into the bill.

Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (page 310)

  • Sec 512.  Mental Health Parity. Applies to group health plans with more than 50 workers.  This basically says that if your annual limit for regular health benefits is $1m, your plan can’t set the limit on mental health at a lower amount such as $100k.  There is a loophole that allows them to charge larger co-payments, and limit the quantity of visits though.  Still, this means more people will receive mental health and substance abuse treatment.  Both of these niches are rich in keywords.

Other Provisions

  • Sec 601.  Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-determination Program. A complete rewrite of a law that was aimed to restore stability to annual payments to states and counties for rural public schools, roads, etc.
  • Sec 602.  Transfer to Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund.

Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008 (page 394)

  • Sec 702.  Temporary Tax Relief for Areas Damaged by 2008 Midwestern Severe Storms, Tornados, and Flooding. Applies to Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin.  It basically says that they will receive the same relief that Katrina victims received.  In fact, it literally takes the Katrina emergency act and replaces “Katrina blah blah” with “Midwestern blah blah.”
  • Sec 704.  Temporary Tax-Exempt Bond Financing and Low-income Housing Tax Relief for Areas Damaged by Hurricane Ike. Almost does the same thing as Sec 702; it takes “Katrina blah blah” and replaces it with “Ike blah blah.”

The rest of the section goes into great detail on changes made to disaster relief.  Lots of changes.Bailout

That’s it.  Thanks for taking the time to check this out; hope it is of assistance to you.  Even though there isn’t anything groundbreaking or huge in this, it does give great strength to the overall alternative energy trends.

A final obligatory note: remember, I am Joe Domainer, not Joe Lawyer, Joe the Plumber or even David Hasselhoff.  Everything here is my interpretation and could very well be wrong due to me not knowing a damn thing about reading laws.  Read it and use your own judgement, or better yet, if it greatly concerns you, a lawyers judgement.

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A Domainers Long Hard Look At Bail Outs Part 1: The Auto Industry

October 5, 2008 · Filed Under Auto, Domaining, Trends · Comment 

TrendDomaining.com carThe auto industry is hurting: it’s down 20% from this time last year.  In case you don’t know how auto dealerships work, here it is: dealerships don’t own the new cars on their lot.  Who can afford having 100, 200 or 300 new cars at ~$25k a pop?  In order to get around this problem, they simply take out a loan for every new car they get shipped to them.  They then pay one or two payments before selling the car outright.  They pay off the loan and the difference is their profit (plus accessories and anything else they upsold you, otherwise known as gravy; their real money maker).

This is a common business model for companies that have high priced inventories, such as industrial/commercial copy machines.

So if no one is lending, then who will the auto dealerships get money from to put cars on their lot?  When you combine an already slow economy; inventories that are truck/SUV heavy; and the lack of lenders, auto dealerships are getting hit hard.

In the past year alone, over 500 GM, Ford and Chrysler dealers have closed shop in the U.S.  They are dropping like flies and it’s not just the small dealers: giants like Bill Heard are waving the white flag.TrendDomaining.com Michigan

This leads up to a secret: the auto industry got their own bail out.  It was rarely in the news until Congress passed it and Bush signed it into law.  Even then, it was a footnote in a period where a $700 billion bail out was being ironed out, a presidential debate was happening, huge companies were being bought, a stock market crash and constant hype for the VP debate. It was genius of them to ask for it, really, as $25 billion is chump change when compared to $700 billion.  Not to mention our top three auto states, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, have struggling economies and are battleground states this fall.  They were all but guaranteed on getting this loan.

In 1979, Congress bailed out Chrysler to the tune of $1.2b.  This bill is $25b (the most allowed under law), and the auto industry will be pressing for $25b more.  Each of the big three will receive about $5b, with the rest going to suppliers. This is different than the $700b bail out in that this is a straight up loan at a cheap 4% or 5% (they are paying 10% to 15% now) rate that they have to begin paying off in 2013.

TrendDomaining.com loopholeOne of the problems is that the “strings” attached are not really strings at all.  This money must go to retooling and updating plants and assembly lines and develop advanced fuel efficient technology.  The loophole is that the auto makers already spend billions on this.  They can now apply the bail out money to these departments and simply shift the existing money elsewhere.  That makes this “string” completely pointless.

Another “string” is that there is language in the bill that says the money can only be used on factories that have been in operation for more than 20 years, leaving out foreign manufacturers that only started building in the past ten.  That makes this a Big 3 Bailout.

Whether you agree with this bail out or not is moot.  It happened, and only time will tell whether it worked or not.  The point is that $25 billion has just been inserted into the Michigan economy and auto industry.

What kind of trends can you expect from the Auto Bail Out?

Dealerships will surely keep dropping due to the struggling economy while failing to get out of the truck/SUV markets in a timely fashion.  This will reinforce an existing trend of buying your car on the internet with sites like AutoBuyTel and CarsDirect. I bought my first new car with AutoByTel in 1998 and I can personally say that buying your car on the internet is a breeze.  If these online companies keep getting bigger, they may begin to offer kickbacks for referrals.  That would be a welcomed addition to a niche considered to be one of the three biggest investments you will make in your life (education, and home are the others).

This will speed up their research and production of fuel efficient vehicles, reinforcing that huge trend.

TrendDomaining.com plane

Another trend the $25 billion auto bail out will start is the actual act of asking for a bail out.  The airline industry must be raising an eyebrow to this bill and I’m sure they are piecing together their request as I write this. Who else?  Brick and mortar retailers? The rail industry? Manufacturing? Shipping? Construction? Health care? Social Security?

How about actual states in our union?  If your state is having a hard time paying its law enforcement, hospitals or teachers, why not ask for a bail out?  They will ask.  And if they ask, they will receive. Why? How can you say no to paying a teacher, or an officer, or nurse?  You can’t. They will guilt trip everyone into saying yes.

The new hot keyword, Bail Out, could be here to stay for a good while.

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