Downtown Clearwater & The Pier Restaurant – There are some folks talking about a new waterfront restaurant in downtown Clearwater to be located on the remaining (east) pier section of the old downtown bridge.
Great spot for a downtown Clearwater seafood restaurant.
Hmmm, I wonder who might win this wonderful opportunity?
Surely, there is a short list of possible contenders from our local restaurant industry.
One Million Dollars – Pinellas County recently spent one million (taxpayers) dollars in a lawsuit, and settlement of $300,000, to Rick Dodge (a once top Pinellas county employee).
One million dollars of total settlement costs where two-thirds went to the lawyers!
Why couldn’t this case have been settled many months ago and saved taxpayer funds?
$600,000-$700,000 in taxpayer legal expenses to fight the Dodge case?
Ridiculous.
Publix On Indian Rocks Beach? – What an incredibly wonderful thing for the citizens who reside on or near Indian Rocks Beach – a new Publix Super Market.
Publix has a good business reputation throughout the state of Florida and, as many of us know, is a quality food mart.
The way I see it, adding a new Publix on Indian Rocks Beach seems to be a great idea. Publix runs a good business – the project would add a new tax base- it would create additional jobs – all-in-all, a reasonsable idea.
Why is this project being held up?
Changes In Medicaid - Changes in Medicaid rules may cause some elderly people to reconsider how to plan for use of a nursing home.
It is estimated that 40 percent of people over 65 could spend six months or more in a nursing home. Ten percent of that group of people could spend five years or more in a nursing home.
Many of those long-term people plan to eliminate their assets and then apply for Medicaid coverage for the cost of nursing home use.
Not a bad idea since the cost of an average semi-private nursing home room could cost $5,353 per month.
What are some planned changes in Medicaid?
If you help a grandchild pay for college, think again.
If you have a home that has sharply increased in value, think again.
If you have asset protected annuities, think again.
It is obvious that the federal government is planning to curtail how people have creatively eliminated assets in order to qualify for government Medicaid funds. If Medicaid changes its rules, then the manner in which some people could remove assets would require creative legal planning.
Bill Clinton May Get Law License Back – The five-year suspension of Bill Clinton’s law license is about to end. The suspension and fine was part of a settlement agreement Clinton made with the justice department for lying under oath about the Monica Lewinski affair. The settlement agreement with the government was made just prior to Clinton being forced to answer questions about previous statements made under oath.
No big deal, law license suspensions happen every month throughout the U.S. Such has happened to local attorneys in the Clearwater area.
Nevertheless, and perhaps the real story is Clinton’s lack of interest in getting back his law license. He is a busy man … speaking for substantial engagement fees across the world.
How much? Several hundred thousands of dollars a year.
In fact, don’t worry about the cash position of the Clintons. Reports have stated they have a joint account now worth many millions of dollars – possibly up to $25 million! Not a small sum, and growing every year with book deals and speaking engagements.
Does it matter to Bill and Hillary Clinton if he ever practices law again in Arkansas? Not really. The Clintons are wealthy people.
What about Monica Lewinski? She had her proverbial day in the sun and has moved on to what we might categorize as regular living. No speaking engagements for Monica, although she probably might earn money from book deals and speaking engagements in years to come (when she might add some interesting facts to the real story).
Exxon And ebay In The News – Exxon reported fourth quarter earnings of $10.71 billion. According to Exxon, this is a new record high in quarterly earnings for the oil giant.
Of course, with the price of oil at new highs it is not difficult to imagine oil company profits soaring to record levels. Imagine, Exxon Corp earned about $116 million a day for the last three months!
If you hold Exxon stock, you are one happy investor.
Then there is ebay Corp.
If Tiffany & Company wins a lawsuit against ebay for selling fake Tiffany goods, then ebay could be in big trouble. According to ebay, it would be difficult for management to control such selling of goods on ebay. Liability for being a part of marketing fake Tiffany goods? This lawsuit could make it interesting for folks who follow the ebay Corporation.
Fake goods on ebay? Tiffany says, yes.
Buyer beware.
Prayer – Prayer does not change God; it changes us. - Unknown Author