I may not like french fries, but I do like ice cream. ^_^
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Nathanael
Guest
I'll tell you yet another way you can have a "net worth" of a million dollars, and no access to money..
Trusts. I once knew someone who had a trust set up for them. Except, well, the money wasn't accessible for some long period, according to the terms of the trust, and the trustee wasn't interested in handing out any of the money (and quite possibly interested in stealing it, from what I could tell). Legally, this money was "hers", but she had no way to get access to any of it. This is actually a very old pattern dating back to the Victorian period and before.
There are lots and lots of ways to have money tied up in "illiquid assets" which you can't sell, can't borrow against, and basically have no access to. There are also people who supposedly have "vested money" in pension plans, but can't access it. There's all kinds of stuff like this.
Heck, on paper Amtrak has lots and lots of assets. But they aren't saleable to anyone at better than scrap prices, and banks won't even lend against most of them any more. So Amtrak is chronically short on cash.
Trusts. I once knew someone who had a trust set up for them. Except, well, the money wasn't accessible for some long period, according to the terms of the trust, and the trustee wasn't interested in handing out any of the money (and quite possibly interested in stealing it, from what I could tell). Legally, this money was "hers", but she had no way to get access to any of it. This is actually a very old pattern dating back to the Victorian period and before.
There are lots and lots of ways to have money tied up in "illiquid assets" which you can't sell, can't borrow against, and basically have no access to. There are also people who supposedly have "vested money" in pension plans, but can't access it. There's all kinds of stuff like this.
Heck, on paper Amtrak has lots and lots of assets. But they aren't saleable to anyone at better than scrap prices, and banks won't even lend against most of them any more. So Amtrak is chronically short on cash.
VentureForth
Engineer
That's a good point. Amtrak could sell ALL their rolling stock, the NEC, and fire all their employees, and it would show a huge profit.
Once.
Once.
Ryan
Court Jester
Unfortunately, that's exactly what the "Amtrak must make a profit" crowd would really love.
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A million here. A million there. Soon you're talking about real money.
leemell
Conductor
That is us exactly, and I would ask the same question, who is subsidizing our housing?
D.P. Roberts
Conductor
Does anyone else have trouble remembering which threads here went off track in which direction? I keep having to remind myself "Oh yeah, if you want to keep reading the thread about everyone's personal finances, you have to click on the "cutting through the dining car" thread. And if you want to read about Waffle House taking over the dining car operations, click on the French Toast thread..."
I was just wondering what thread in the history of AU has the most posts & how much of it was off topic.
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D.P. Roberts
Conductor
Well, you can sort the forum by Most Replies and Most Views. Aside from the pinned results, many of the more popular threads seem to have stayed fairly well on topic - mostly for their inherently inflammatory nature. So, it looks like feeding the trolls really does keep the trolls going...
Interestingly enough, the most popular thread by Views, by far, is one about parking in St. Louis. At 26,647 views, it's more than three times more popular than the next most-viewed thread.
So, I guess if you really want to start the most popular thread of all time, you should complain that Amtrak should be shut down because of all the uneducated, whining millionaire kids who don't tip enough at the St. Louis station!
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the_traveler
Engineer
I think the thread with the most posts was the "never ending toilet paper" thread. But let's flush that one down the drain.
The Davy Crockett
Engineer
I'm guessing the protocol for cutting through a diner might involve permission from Amtrak, an acetylene torch. and a good amount of time. :huh: Maybe once the heritage diners are retired one could arrange something with Amtrak as a P.R.stunt?
Ryan
Court Jester
crescent2
Conductor
Parking in St. Louis?? :unsure:
Is that one the French fry/hot tub thread?
I only discovered AU last year, but I think my favorite so far is the uneducated convicts thread. If I ever get to take another train trip, I plan to bring a crayon and try to teach them to write their names in the dining car. Iwas am a teacher, after all. (My certificate is still valid.)
Is that one the French fry/hot tub thread?
I only discovered AU last year, but I think my favorite so far is the uneducated convicts thread. If I ever get to take another train trip, I plan to bring a crayon and try to teach them to write their names in the dining car. I
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That is the one I remember the most.
I loved the uneducated convicts thread too - hilarious rant, imo.
If you want to explore the most viewed or replied to threads yourself do this:
Go to the Amtrak Rail Discussion page
In the blue bar at the top of the thread list you'll see:
recently updated
start date
most replies
most views
Click on any one of those and you can sort the thread list accordingly
Use 'custom' to filter the results, check 'remember filters' to save your filter choices
'show all' to see the oldest threads
'descending (Z-A)' to see the most replies/views first
I'd say that the "Name The Station" is the Thread with the Most Views and Responses and that 99.9% of the Responses were on Topic which is Very Unusual on AU! ^_^
I was just wondering what thread in the history of AU has the most posts & how much of it was off topic.
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