The Toro engines are made in China. I can not comment on what the expected life span of one will be. I know a while back Toro here in the US and Canada had a massive recall on the engines due to fuel leakage and the engines catching fire.. Parts? Who knows what the parts distribution is like. But it them carrying the TORO name you can bet that a $2 air filter will have a $20 price tag. ============ A lot of companies are dumping Briggs engines. For they are not what they use to be and Briggs is trying to force anyone whom sells equipment with a Briggs engine to become a Certified and jump through a bunch of hoops before they will sell them parts. Our local Husqvarna dealer stopped selling anything with a Briggs engine last year. And the local Sears store stopped working on them. They must now pack up the equipment and ship it back to the factory for even the minute warranty work. Friend bought a Craftsman and had to have it shipped back to the factory just to replace a broken drive cable under warranty last year. It took over three weeks to get it back.

Pat, before taking on your issues, let me distill my philosphy in one sentence: the individual reigns supreme, but borders matter. Without much exposition, this means that every person has value, but even the US has limited resources, so we need to take care of ourselves first, and expect other countries to take care of thiers. And then help where we can. But in real life, there is a power struggle between groups that want power. Republicans-Democrats, China vs. US, US vs. Radical Muslims, corporations vs. government, rich vs. poor, etc.. The last one is probably more misunderstood than most people realize. I was raised in Texas, my family was laizze-faire in their outlook. I was raised middle class Baptist, and "the Lord helps those who help themselves." My mother never has understood that isn't a Bible verse, but rather a saying from I believe Benjamin Franklin. (Too lazy to look it up right now.) We had a good life. And I feel lucky because I still do. From this, I do think everybody ought to do the very best they can to support and help themselves. It matters. But the first eye opening book that I read was a paper back my dad got in 1973, maybe 76, titled, "Why SOBs succeed and Nice Guys Fail in Small Business" (perhaps slightly different from this). This book showed how the laws, even in that time, were manipulated to favor those in power. It gave an example of a boondoggle bill that was passed by congress and signed by the president that affected only ONE company. And saved them millions. Additionally, it showed how laws were passed to keep competition low in certain industries. It also pointed out how a rich person may give a million to charity, and be hailed as a great philantrophist, but still be worth $100 million more and get a tax break to boot! Rare is the rich person who really hurts his financial position for charity! The best example of this today would be Bill Gates. I think he gave some few hundred million for immunization of the poor. Maybe it was a couple of billion. Wow, how generous! In the meantime, he was just estimated to be worth $52 billion! He didn't really hurt hisself. And he never will. Anyway, before I buy hook, line, and sinker into something, I like to look at the power-money trail. What does it gain the person pushing an agenda? This is why I have a healthy mistrust of environuts, oil execs, and even doctors. I have nothing against Marshall, but he runs an organic farm. Any wonder why a lot of his posts deal with GMOs and Monsanto? Doesn't mean he can't have good information. But I temper his information with his motives, and want hard data to support his stance. Of course, that's from everybody on everything. Finally, I'm human. I have my own motives. I want cheaper gas. I want more money. I want, I want, I want, I want. But I try to temper that with caring for others. Most people do. And being human, I have limited intelligence. I get things wrong sometimes. Right now, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if their were alternative energy sources for vehicles that are not being developed and marketed because of the oil/auto industry. In 2000, Toyota made the Insight. A/C, room for 2 plus a small trunk, and 70+ miles a gallon. But sales have lagged. Even now. And the Prius and others that followed have gotten worse gas mileage, not better. Anyway, windfall profit tax has Carter written all over it. But that name works for me. Instead of taxes, how about freezing the price, or having a SIMPLE (no political boondoggle) formula that sets prices? That would benefit most people. Although, not the poorest people. I wouldn't suspend tax cuts for those who make less than $100,000.00. The truly wealthy make much more than that. I'd probably graduate the increase until you reached $160,000.00 or so. These numbers are arbitrary, but they are fairly high because of people who live in expensive areas, such as San Fran, New York, and the like. Unlike O'Reilly and most Republicans, I realize income redistribution happens. Unfortunately, it seems to be going to the wealthy too much, and not to the middle class and poor. But I want to protect jobs, and the private sector, so I don't think I'd be too radical. Just some quick thoughts...

Hi just wanted to update you NYC dwellers on my experience with Plessers in LI. I ordered an undercounter refridgerator and a DW on 11/29. I cancelled the delivery once because I wasn't ready to receive and rescheduled for Dec 27. On Dec.23 I had to leave the country (2 months)because of a death in the family. When I returned I rescheduled for Mar 1. Plessers delivery called the night before the delivery to tell me a time frame of 6-7am(never had anyone do that before, usually it's "sometime between 8-5")and called that morning to tell me a more exact time 7:15am. They were on time ! I paid for gold delivery since I'm in a walkup(2nd fl)and curbside wouldn't work. I found all of the customer service staff(Patrick, Anthony, Jessica) helpful and pleasant to deal with. Also they provide their own 10year part warranty. I'm not sure how it works with other dealers but I was very happy that I was not penalized for delaying my delivery.

"I don't call 35% taxes 'subsidizing everyone else.' Back when taxes were 50%, maybe. But since SS taxes are only paid on the first 90k or so of income, the wealthiest people aren't paying nearly their fair share." I hear this statement and I read that by, an overwhelming majority, Americans think taxing all wage income (heck even all income) provides the best fix to Social Securitys troubles. Honestly, I feel threatened and a bit ticked off. I live in an area in which the median income is $90K. Now, that may sound like a lot of money to a lot of people but our cost of living is equally high. We can move to a cheaper area but our incomes and job possibilities will also take a hit. So, moving doesnt change our lives very much. When we talk about this fix, were not talking about Nardelli, Paris, Buffet, or Bill. Not really. Were talking about some level of the middle class. Thats where the real money comes from when we talk about solutions like these. And the politicians and government budgeters know it. So, basically, the bulk of the redistribution will come from upper middle income folk to lower middle income folk. The very poor and the very rich tend to feel the least impact of such political changes. So, I feel threatened and I feel like a chump. Im solidly upper middle income. No more, no less. I paid my way through school, Ive worked hard, I save 25% of my income annually to pay for my self-funded old age and if you think thats easy, youre wrong. I pay 46% of my income in federal, state, local, and property taxes. And when, I hear that everybody wants to boost that level to 50% or higher by taxing all of my income, I feel like a chump. I wont see any compensatory level of benefit back. This year, means-testing comes to Medicare. When Im eligible and living off my hard-won savings so that I COULD stay in this high-priced area and be with my family, my premiums will be much, much higher than the premiums of those who didnt wake up and smell the coffee in time. I see my equally middle class friends and neighbors living beyond their means for the joy of owning three flat screen TVs. And I feel like a chump. I love Social Security. My grandparents didnt die in poverty because of it. Their post-Depression meager savings, a lot of family help, and Social Security gave my grandma a decent old age. Im a fan. All wage earners pay in and everybody gets something out of it. Its a win/win. So be careful when you tell us middle class saver types that we need to pony up more/ be means tested out. Americans hate welfare programs and if you turn Social Security into one, a very good anti-poverty program may very well lose the political support of people like me.