CMStPnPNow the Supreme Court might have reversed the ruling after the fact. Local court was correct, Supreme Court ruling was based on instructions to the Jury and since the firm was long gone they did not want to retry the case to submit it back to Supreme Court scruitiny.
You seem to devalue/distort the Supreme Court ruling, perhaps in your zeal to attack accounting firms, especially those who "go rouge" (sic!) and with lipstick? [from Wiki] "On May 31, 2005, in Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously reversed Andersen's conviction because of serious errors in the trial judge's jury instructions.The Supreme Court held that the instructions were too vague to allow a jury to find that obstruction of justice had occurred. The court found that the instructions were worded in such a way that Andersen could have been convicted without any proof that the firm knew it had broken the law or that there had been a link to any official proceeding that prohibited the destruction of documents. The opinion, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, also expressed skepticism of the government's concept of "corrupt persuasion"—persuading someone to engage in an act with an improper purpose without knowing that the act is unlawful."
PJS1The large accounting firms have thousands of employees. On occasion a few of them go rogue.
On second thought........deleted. Filed under hopelessly naive about big business.
CMStPnP Note the below. SEC is already aware and I didn't think it was a huge secret but apparently it is on this website. In fact if you check Deloitte has packed it's bags at more than one firm after frauds were discovered...... http://www.visiontimes.com/2013/01/31/muddy-waters-reveals-chinese-companies-fraud.html The latest catch, I really like how frank this company is with their analysis....he-he-he. Yes, they are short sellers and are not doing this for purely altruistic reasons alone. This is a NASDAQ listing but some have been found on NYSE. http://www.muddywatersresearch.com/research/cifs/mw-is-short-china-internet-financial-services/
Note the below. SEC is already aware and I didn't think it was a huge secret but apparently it is on this website. In fact if you check Deloitte has packed it's bags at more than one firm after frauds were discovered......
http://www.visiontimes.com/2013/01/31/muddy-waters-reveals-chinese-companies-fraud.html
The latest catch, I really like how frank this company is with their analysis....he-he-he. Yes, they are short sellers and are not doing this for purely altruistic reasons alone. This is a NASDAQ listing but some have been found on NYSE.
http://www.muddywatersresearch.com/research/cifs/mw-is-short-china-internet-financial-services/
Muddy Waters (Carson Block) has done some good exposés of financial fraud. However, Block also owns Muddy Waters Capital, a hedge fund. That raises posibilities of conflicts of interest.
CMStPnP SEC is already aware .......
Rio Grande Valley, CFI,CFII
charlie hebdoMost of this comment/opinion does not appear to be grounded in reality.
If it helps any, I do not invest in marajuana stocks. :)
Deggesty BaltACD charlie hebdo CMStPnP Things in China happen because the Communist Party wants them to happen there isn't any real supply or demand there. So there is probably not a concept of profit and loss either and nobody is even tracking that as this is a state owned monopolistic enterprise with no competition. Most of this comment/opinion does not appear to be grounded in reality. While I can't say that the comments are grounded in reality or not - there have been videos (videos could have been doctored) of multiple Chinese 'cities' that have been built and only lack one thing - people to occupy them. Don't know how you can build a entire city without people to occupy it and have it 'turn a profit. Perhaps these are Potemkin cities? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village Highlight it and do a right click.
BaltACD charlie hebdo CMStPnP Things in China happen because the Communist Party wants them to happen there isn't any real supply or demand there. So there is probably not a concept of profit and loss either and nobody is even tracking that as this is a state owned monopolistic enterprise with no competition. Most of this comment/opinion does not appear to be grounded in reality. While I can't say that the comments are grounded in reality or not - there have been videos (videos could have been doctored) of multiple Chinese 'cities' that have been built and only lack one thing - people to occupy them. Don't know how you can build a entire city without people to occupy it and have it 'turn a profit.
charlie hebdo CMStPnP Things in China happen because the Communist Party wants them to happen there isn't any real supply or demand there. So there is probably not a concept of profit and loss either and nobody is even tracking that as this is a state owned monopolistic enterprise with no competition. Most of this comment/opinion does not appear to be grounded in reality.
CMStPnP Things in China happen because the Communist Party wants them to happen there isn't any real supply or demand there. So there is probably not a concept of profit and loss either and nobody is even tracking that as this is a state owned monopolistic enterprise with no competition.
Most of this comment/opinion does not appear to be grounded in reality.
While I can't say that the comments are grounded in reality or not - there have been videos (videos could have been doctored) of multiple Chinese 'cities' that have been built and only lack one thing - people to occupy them. Don't know how you can build a entire city without people to occupy it and have it 'turn a profit.
Perhaps these are Potemkin cities?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village
Highlight it and do a right click.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Johnny
I think more likely a "tale of two cities". Remembering the U.S. built, hi-tech machine tooling requiring temperature-controlled environment being installed on bare-ground Chinese factory floor.
CMStPnPThings in China happen because the Communist Party wants them to happen there isn't any real supply or demand there. So there is probably not a concept of profit and loss either and nobody is even tracking that as this is a state owned monopolistic enterprise with no competition.
Overmod Or the experts give up posting, or quit in despair, or delete their postings, or get so frustrated they get banned or permanently moderated...
Or the experts give up posting, or quit in despair, or delete their postings, or get so frustrated they get banned or permanently moderated...
PJS1 CRC is owned by China Railway Group. Its businesses include construction of railways, port facilities, highways, airports, as well as financing, engineering, etc. servcies. The company's financials are audited by Pricewaterhouse Coopers Hong Kong practice.
CRC is owned by China Railway Group. Its businesses include construction of railways, port facilities, highways, airports, as well as financing, engineering, etc. servcies.
The company's financials are audited by Pricewaterhouse Coopers Hong Kong practice.
Thank you for the informative response, PJS1. I am glad to know that we have forum members like you who really understand how things work in China and HKSAR. Some folks probably don't know how hard the Hong Kong SAR Government has been working to consolidating the international finance center status of the city. Note that the Heritage Foundation ranked Hong Kong as the world’s freest economy for the 24th consecutive year and the reason of why Alibaba abandons $60bn Hong Kong listing.
By the way, the Hong Kong HSR which linking the massive network of China just opened a few months ago (finally), the trainset in the following video is designed for 48 mins run from Hong Kong to Guangzhou by HK's MTR corporation who are joint venture or directly running the Stockholm Metro, Stockholm-Gothenburg Intercity Express Service (MTR Express), Stockholms pendeltåg, South Western Railway, Sydney Metro North West , London Elizabeth Line etc.
Not as luxury as the trains going to Beijing and Shanghai, but still have "Parlor-car" style seats in both Business class and 2nd class. Meanwhile, another 2000km long, Beijing to Shenzhen (A larger city next to Hong Kong) HSR has been under construction for a while.
https://topick.hket.com/article/2166941/
Long distance travel on China's HSR Business Class, a modern parlor/sleeper.
https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/car/266x6pr.html
First Class
Source:eastday.com
Dining Car
Source: on.cc
Second Class
Source:Wiki
CR400AF, CR400BF etc. The newest model. Around 107 sets have been put into revenue service. Design top speed is 249 mph, the operation speed is 217mph. No big deal...
Jones 3D Modeling Club https://www.youtube.com/Jones3DModelingClub
charlie hebdoWith a forum containing members who claim knowledge of everything or dismiss that which they don't understand with foolish shibboleths, the opinions of actual experts get lost in the garbage.
PJS1 BaltACD The old adage - Figures Lie, Liars figure! YMMV! If you believe the financial data in CRC's Annual Report is incorrect, why don't you point out with specifics why they are incorrect. If you can verify that PWC has not performed its audit of CRC professionally, you can lodge a report with the Public Accounting Oversight Board. If an independent investigation substantiates your allegations, PWC will be disciplined by the board. Disciplinary actions usually result in a substantial fine, but in the extreme a firm can lose its license to practice public accounting. An American accounting firm is subject to oversight of the Public Accounting Oversight Board irrespective of where it practices.
BaltACD The old adage - Figures Lie, Liars figure! YMMV!
If you believe the financial data in CRC's Annual Report is incorrect, why don't you point out with specifics why they are incorrect.
If you can verify that PWC has not performed its audit of CRC professionally, you can lodge a report with the Public Accounting Oversight Board. If an independent investigation substantiates your allegations, PWC will be disciplined by the board.
Disciplinary actions usually result in a substantial fine, but in the extreme a firm can lose its license to practice public accounting. An American accounting firm is subject to oversight of the Public Accounting Oversight Board irrespective of where it practices.
With a forum containing members who claim knowledge of everything or dismiss that which they don't understand with foolish shibboleths, the opinions of actual experts get lost in the garbage.
Disciplinary actions usually result in a substantial fine, but in the extreme a firm can lose its license to practice public accounting.
An American accounting firm is subject to oversight of the Public Accounting Oversight Board irrespective of where it practices.
The old adage - Figures Lie, Liars figure! YMMV!
PJS1CPA’s tend to specialize in select areas of accounting. A CPA that works for a large corporation, unless he is in the tax department, probably does not know anymore about the U.S. tax code than an H&R Block functionary. Unless a local CPA is involved directly in auditing a Chinese firm, which is unlikely, he or she would not be in a position to opine on the veracity of Chinese accounting and auditing methodologies.
Untrue, a good portion of CPA's are trained across multiple areas now. Additionally, they attend yearly meetings as part of retaining their certification and some of those meetings cover standards in other countries as well as safety of financial reporting from other countries.
PJS1PWC is unlikely to squander its international reputation to curry favor with the Chinese or Hong Kong governments. Because of its world-wide footprint, it does not need to do so.
Kind of like Arthur Andersen and Enron...huh? PWC will squander anything if it means money and they could really care less about their global reputation because the part of the firm outside of China can always divorce itself from the Hong Kong operation and say it was all a local problem. You don't remember that happening with the German subsidiaries of American Firms in Hitlers Germany....do you?
Your going to find the Senior Managers at the Hong Kong PWC Branch have been approved in some way or another by China. That in itself is a major conflict of interest and breach of the publics trust if they are auditing Chinese public Corporations. However, you will also find they are not hired to audit unless the Senior management is in good favor with the Chinese government.
Bottom line and personally, I don't care if you believe it or not. The cautionary note was more a public service. :)
CMStPnPIf you disagree with me ask a local CPA about reliabliity of China's business stats .........
Without trying to get into the politics of budgeting, are you actually saying we have a choice where our money gets spent?
The money spent on Amtrak is a rounding error. You don't like money spent on Amtrak, I'd get thrown off the forum if I listed all the places and ways money gets spent that I don't like. A lot of the stuff I object to doesn't benefit the people of this country and does little if anything to improve the lot of others.
At least Amtrak provides a service to (some) of the people of this country. I don't particularly mind that it sucks up my tax money - at least I can feel what I'm forced to contribute goes someplace where I don't mind it getting spent.
PJS1In 2017 China Railway Corporation (CRC), which is a state-owned high speed railroad operator, report a net profit of 1.8 billion yuan or $283 million. In 2016 CRC had a loss of $169 million. The Chinese Government covers the CRC's losses. Approximately 55 percent of the company's revenues come from passenger transportation; the remainder comes from freight. Although the 2017 Annual Report does not report segment results, at least as far as I can determine in a quick read, it appears that in 2017 passenger operations were profitable. China Railway Corporation is a subsidiary of China Railway Group. Its activities extend behond railway operations to include engineering, construction of railways, port facilities, highways, etc, financing, etc. The company is a joint stock company. Its financials are audited by Pricewaterhouse Coopers Hong Kong practice.
You can't rely on that for two reasons. Though I understand a lot of people still believe that Hong Kong is independent, auditors there....not so much. Chinese auditor and Chinese state company. If China was a democracy or the auditor was based overseas I would trust it more.
According to China it does not have a housing issue even though 47 million apartments are vacant and they are still building more apartment houses.
If you disagree with me ask a local CPA about reliabliity of China's business stats or if you have more time look at some of the many Youtube videos that investigate Chinese business. Where they have found business assets on NYSE listed Chinese companies significantly misstated. Even if they are listed on the NYSE you cannot trust their financials.........which previously I thought was a gold standard myself.
Delta offers discount deals for their upper tier frequent flyers. My wife is Diamond Medallion.
Backshop .....paying for CLEAR.
Depends on how many times a year one travels by air. The cost is $179 per year. I fly an average of three or four times a year; it would not be worth it for me.
BaltACD I wonder how much profit China is getting from their passenger rail network? Or do they view their passenger rail network as a SERVICE necessary for their population?
China Railway Corporation (CRC) operates passenger and freight trains, including China's high speed passenger trains. In 2017 it reported a net profit of 1.8 billion yuan or $283 million. In 2016 CRC had a net loss of $169 million.
In 2017 55 percent of the company's revenues came from passenger operations; the remainder were from freight.
CRC is owned by China Railway Group (CRG). Its businesses include construction of railways, port facilities, highways, airports, as well as financing, engineering, etc. servcies.
DeggestyNot all Pullman porters were as alert as they should have been.
This is true but I think if you cost adjust what Amtrak is paying now and look back the Pullman attendants had far less in the area of compensation and relied much more on tips. Additionally, their living conditions were not always equal to the passengers they had to attend to......as they are now. Pullman attendants rooms were tiny and stripped of most amenitites. Thats if they had a room.
As to sleeping car attendants, it is true that a Superliner attendant has a greater resposibility than a Pullamn porter had, what with the greater number of berths. But--today's attendants do not have to wrestle with a real mattress for a lower berth, nor bring ladders for uppers. If you are spending more than one night in a room, you use the same sheets each night. The attendants are to place clean sheets on the pads if you get off before the end of the run, and before the end of their runs. It used to be that the attendant would unfold the blankets and place them on the berth; now I have to do that, figuring out which is the long way for the balnkets.
Not all Pullman porters were as alert as they should have been. Fifty years ago, I rode from New Orleans to Kansas City on the KCS. About lunch time, we stopped at a place (I do not remember just which one). Having eaten lunch, I was back in my roomette. When we stopped, I went out to the vestibule and opened the upper part of door--and saw a lady looking up as though she wanted to board. The porter in charge was in the diner lounge, getting his lunch. I asked the lady if she had Pullman accommodations, and she said that she did. Thereupon, I boarded her, following the proper procedure, and put her into a roomette. When the porter came bak up, I told what I had done--and he said nothing. Perhaps the KCS conductor had spoken to him about his dereliction of duty? I later thought that I should have asked the conductor if he had spoken to the porter.
PJS1 BaltACD But he fully overlooks the zoo and worse that airports have become since 9/11, and that is in the best of times - throw in a little weather, virtually anywhere in the country and flights start getting delayed or cancelled. Zoo on steroids. On a somewhat more serious note, if you travel more than a couple of times a year by commercial air, sign-up for TSA-Pre. I did a couple of years ago. As a result, I wiz through most airports, including the big city airports, with little fuss and muss. I try to avoid Friday afternoons and Monday mornings, but even then TSA-Pre makes the process easier.
BaltACD But he fully overlooks the zoo and worse that airports have become since 9/11, and that is in the best of times - throw in a little weather, virtually anywhere in the country and flights start getting delayed or cancelled. Zoo on steroids.
On a somewhat more serious note, if you travel more than a couple of times a year by commercial air, sign-up for TSA-Pre. I did a couple of years ago. As a result, I wiz through most airports, including the big city airports, with little fuss and muss.
I try to avoid Friday afternoons and Monday mornings, but even then TSA-Pre makes the process easier.
As to parlor car service, VIA's VIA 1 service was comfortable travel, even though the seats did not revolve as the seats in USA parlor cars did. My wife and I made use of thiis service on several trains between 1997 and 2008, riding at one time or another on all the lines of the Quebec-Windsor Corridor.. There was some choice in the meals and alcoholic beverages were provided for the mid-day and evening meals,
I understand that VIA 1 is now considered to be Business Class.
BaltACDI wonder how much profit China is getting from their passenger rail network? Or do they view their passenger rail network as a SERVICE necessary for their population?
Things in China happen because the Communist Party wants them to happen there isn't any real supply or demand there. So there is probably not a concept of profit and loss either and nobody is even tracking that as this is a state owned monopolistic enterprise with no competition.
I think their HSR system is way overbuilt and that level of construction would never happen in a Democratic country where people had a voice in where money was spent.
daveklepperAnother question that can be asked: For those dissatisfied with current Amtrak service and food, how much more would you be willing to pay for hospitality-industry-level service, equal to that in a good hotel? This would be a total package, including boading of course.
Dave check this out. Economy Sleeper from Dallas to Chicago RT is $550 if you buy it before yield management kicks in. I've paid as much as $750 for the same accomodation on the same route RT, the latter being a late ticket purchase the same month as the Holiday took place. Thats it......just $200 difference, on an airline the price difference would be substantially different and not a mere $200. So I am kind of curious is if that is the most Amtrak can hope for given their market or they are selling out of Sleeper Space too early and their yield management algorithums are set too low.
Anyways back to answer your question, I would be willing to pay 30-40% more for good food service on the train or to add to my ticket for excellent food. I would throw in an additional 10-15% more on top of that if they could get their sleeping car, cafe and coach attendents to be a lot more social and forthcomming. The initial meet and greet is nice but I never see the attendent after that except shortly before the train pulls into it's destination.
It's not that they are too busy, I have seen them sitting on their arse in their own compartment for extended periods of time waiting for someone to push the porter call button or else I spot them sitting in the non-passenger part of the cafe car eating and chatting with other crew members (why they can't carry their meals back to their compartment and increase their availability time says something about how they view the passenger and their jobs).
The Sleeping Car attendents are being paid to be highly available while the passengers are awake but good luck with finding one that actually is on a Superliner anywhere. Now they are somewhat busy making up all the beds in a Superliner but it takes a normal Hotel Housekeeping employee not more than 15 min to make up a full size hotel room after some has slept a night (former hotel night manager, also timed them at the Westin recently).......that is a huge amount of time to allow for a Superliner bedroom or Economy room which is smaller and everything is within arms reach. Now do the math and presume they make all the bedrooms up each night (which they don't about 30-40% of the passengers do it themselves if not more). Where are the Sleeping Car attendents spending the rest of their time? I know there used to be an Auto-Train sleeping car attendent on here and he will probably get upset reading this but it is what it is. Most Amtrak employees are there for the paycheck and their customer service if you get any at all ends at the very minimal that Amtrak requires.....and usually you have to wait in a long queue for that.
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