I made the switch to Brave this week. I had tried it last year and ended up moving back to Chrome. But now that it is using Chromium under the hood the move from Chrome to Brave is very easy. It feels like the same browser and everything functions in the way I expect it to.
I also started using Firefox recently as well. And the latest updates to it are good as well. It doesn't feel so foreign like it did in the past when I tried moving from Chrome. But, I prefer Brave for now.
My understanding is if you are able to claim the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion then you wouldn't owe any US Taxes (unless over the $103,900 for 2018), but haven't done this myself and agree that an accountant would need to be in the mix for US Citizens living overseas.
But I think it could be a good pick since its still under development. The only major tenant I've read about is Serta moving their HQ there.
The only downside I can think of is this is not in the city center, but that is on their nice to have list on the RFP.
There are three other areas I could see if Atlanta was to be considered. (There are likely more but to me these stand out).
First, the Downtown area. I think development there could get the most tax credits and their is a surprising amount of vacant or under utilized land. I don't know enough detail but I would assume that "The Gulch" area and/or "Underground Atlanta" area could be potential sites since they are both up for redevelopment currently.
Second, Midtown could be a good contender. There seems to be potential for redevelopment around North Ave and Civic Center stations. I think the Civic Center is vacant currently and could be a large enough site, but doesn't have direct access to the rail station.
Third, Sandy Springs/Dunwoody. Looking at the area around the Dunwoody Marta station specifically. I know I've seen some master plans for that area online and they could fit the bill. The new State Farms HQ there was able to get direct access to the Marta station (I think). The site where AJC is or the shopping centers with Best Buy would work. It seems that Mercedes Benz was able to get a good deal for moving to this area. There are already a lot of large companies with HQs in this area and its close to desirable areas for executives. (similar to Assembly Yards its not in the city center)
My personal pick would be for Midtown, since I think that the most desirable area and employees would like it better, but the more I think about it, I think Downtown makes more sense for what Amazon is looking for and COA would likely be willing to make a better deal for a major development there.
Well the third party sellers provide Amazon a lot of value.
They are able to have much larger inventories with much lower risk for one.
And I think maybe a bigger value is the data Amazon is collecting about these third party sellers products and businesses.
Amazon has launched many brands that they own. (Private Label) and I can guarantee they are making the decisions on these new products from data they gather from third party sellers. You likely already know about the Amazon Basics brand, but it is not the only brand that is owned by Amazon.
I don't know if they will ever remove third party sellers. Just due to the inventory benefits they get from them. And also due to competition from Alibaba (like the Aliexpress site). I think Bezos is more worried about Alibaba than Walmart at this point. Aliexpress is all third party sellers (I believe).
I really think they have a good thing going in terms of allowing for new products to be sold on a large marketplace. It's really great for entrepreneurs and startups with physical products. But, the issue of knock offs is something that needs to be addressed. Many of the knockoffs are so good (or from the same factory) you can't tell the difference. I guess if enough people cancel their memberships because of this and stop using the site maybe they will do something. But, I think for now the benefits for them are outweighing the problems.
Personally I don't buy name brand stuff on Amazon that is from third party sellers. If you look carefully you can tell if it is sold by Amazon or just being fulfilled by them (unless the third party is the brand owner). So far I haven't had any issues with items that are sold directly from Amazon. Sometimes you have to pay more for the item sold by Amazon vs a third party.
Some what unrelated. My biggest rant about Amazon right now is they are doing their own deliveries and they are always late for me. I even had one package lost. I've been shopping on Amazon for a decade I think and never had anything lost before. If I see the tracking number as an Amazon one I'm thinking well who knows if I'll get it.
The problem with the Taxes section is it doesn't account for the unintended consequences of raising taxes.
Historically when taxes are raised, revenues tend to never get close to projections. Why you might ask? Well, because an increase in taxes usually leads to less investment (startups, expanding existing business, etc). In the extreme case an increase an taxes could even lead to companies moving to other locations to shelter themselves from the added tax burden. Something we are seeing happen in the US now, because of fear of increased taxes. Many large corporations are making structural changes and moving assets out of the country.
We need to cut spending and cut taxes. Reduce, simplify, eliminate.
The Startup Visa Act and Dream Act are crap. Why do we insist on building on our broken immigration policy?
We need to make immigration simple for all immigrants. We don't need to create more laws that require an immigrant to spent $100K in legal fees to some lawyer to fill out paperwork.
I think YCombinator has proven that a startup doesn't need tons of funding to get an idea going.
The biggest problem with government is they over complicate EVERYTHING! We need simple solutions to the problems, not another stack of laws to add to the (literal) truck load that already exists.
We need one (1) page form that someone can fill out to get a visa. If someone comes from Mexico (for example), they should be able to fill out this form and get a Visa the same day. If someone flies in from Germany they too should be able to fill out this one page form and get a visa right at the airport. There is no reason why someone should have to have $100K in funding for a business, another $100K for legal fees just to get in.
I think the approach should be applied to everything government does. Simplify, Reduce, Eliminate.
Another good example is paperwork to start a business. I should be able to fill out a simple form and be able to have a business up and running (Legally) in any city/state in the US - the same day I fill out the form. I don't understand why places like New York City make these kinds of things so difficult. It takes MONTHS to get a business LEGALLY up and running in a major city like New York, but that same business can be LEGALLY up and running in 1 day in Hong Kong.
2) If you are worried about "getting girls"...maybe you should get a job at the mall, because your not going to make it as an entrepreneur.
3) It's hard...but that is what makes it so great. If becoming a successful entrepreneur was easy, then everyone would do be starting companies, but it would be pointless. The great things in life take lots of hard work (blood, sweet, tears, etc) - but when you get them you know that you earned them and that is why they are great!
Entrepreneurs have to be a step above the rest (in terms of work ethics and dedication)...meaning that we have to live by our compan(y)ies and die by our compan(y)ies - not worry about stupid stuff like getting girls...
I am interested to see how it works out.