normaldude

Even though it wouldn't affect me since I'm already over 21, I think the drinking age in this country should be lowered to 18. An 18 yr old man can be drafted into the Army, forced to fight a war on the other side of the world, and get ripped to shreds by machine guns & landmines. He returns to the US in a wheelchair, crippled for life, but the US government tells him he's not mature enough to buy a beer? I think it's absurd.

So NYC has a $3.8 billion budget deficit. We're facing cutbacks in schools, police, firehouses, transportation. And increased taxes too. Meanwhile, there's a new drastic smoking ban in NYC restaurants/bars/clubs. I don't smoke, but I think a complete ban is going too far. Here's my suggestion: NYC should offer optional "Smoking Licenses" to restaurants/bars/clubs. Similar to liquor licenses. Make it expensive, or maybe put a limit to the number of licenses that can be issued. That way, there will be some restaurants/bars/clubs that allow smoking. People who want to smoke, and people who don't mind smoke, would go there. And there will also be establishments that are smoke-free. Additionally, the yearly fees for "smoking licenses" from restaurants/bars/clubs would help chip away at our massive budget deficit. What do you think?

No one witnessed any actual stabbing. And there was no knife found. The coroner said the wound was more consistent with him falling on a broken bottle.

There was no knife found. And no one witnessed any actual stabbing. The coroner said the wound was more consistent with him falling on a broken bottle.

Sorry to hear about your father. But then what should Bloomberg cut? Money doesn't grow on trees. No matter what he cuts, there will be angry people. NYC has a serious budget crisis that needs to be solved.

Simple answer: levered beta. If you need a pre-tax WACC, just assume 0% tax rate for your WACC calculations. Thus your pretax cost of debt would essentially be the same as the after tax cost of debt (since we're using 0% tax rate). And your pretax cost of equity would be calculated using this levered beta: BL = BU * [ 1 + (1-t)*(D/E) ] and since t would be 0%, BL = BU * [ 1 + (D/E) ] [edited for simplicity]

Don't complain. NYC is the only US city where you don't need a car. That saves you at least $500-600/month in lease/parking/insurance/maintenance. I know plenty of NYC millionaires that don't even own cars. Just use 24 hr zipcar car share / car rental when they need it.