yadkin

Edge

My father in law worked for piedmont airlines. His job was to teach every pilot who flew a 727 exactly how the airplane worked. He also received an unsolicited offer from NASA to work on the space shuttle design team. He was literally a rocket scientist before he retired.

Unfortunately his retirement occurred about 6 months after us air took over piedmont. When us air when bankrupt and worked their way out they did away with all retirees pensions. If he retired under piedmont he would still have it but since he retired under us air he lost it and now just receives a portion of what his planned income for retirement was supposed to be.

If you think a pension is better than a 401k that YOU actually own then you have no idea of what you are talking about.

and by the way, that line about being born when technology didn't exist... that was sarcasm you moron...

you are showing yourself as a totally brain-washed sheep. 401k's are not better than pensions, that is a well-known fact. it is not in the interest of the company to pay for pensions.

and why should they? after all, you gave 45 years of your life and time that you will never get back, so someone else could get rich.

the shift and propaganda for 401k's is there for a reason.

And I have news for you.... technology changes. Your knowledge is as useless as your facts are. Today's children learn more in a week than all the "technology" you've managed to forget.

can't blame you for forgetting... it wasn't useful or applicable information anymore. I'd forget it too.

proud of yourself there aren't you buddy?

Edge,

You are off base again especially with this line:

"I wouldn't expect much more from someone who wasn't born when technology existed lol."

This ancient crone ran the seismology location fix and radio propagation work for the first Chinese H-Bomb test using an advanced IBM computer and a Gerber X-Y Plotter in 1967 before you most likely were born. He also was involved in and the subject of multiple magazine articles on computer applications, Radio Frequency data collection, document imaging, client server applications. etc. I was also featured in Global Finance Magazine on Rescuing the Client Server Concept.

As far as no pensions, most companies have done away with them and offer a matching 401K program that expects the employee to share in building the account balances. Crone worked on 401K program set up in Chicago in early 1980 for a multi-billion dollar company and wrote the computer code to process the deductions from the employee's paycheck and pass the data to the 401K custodian. So I worked on doing away with pensions and replacing it with a better solution over which the employee has more control and say so..

I have forgot more than you will ever know about technology..

and advocate, you are also uninformed and prone to shooting off your mouth without facts behind your statements.

that link you provided was utterly useless when it came to justifying the "fact" you spewed forth that Duke operates only "a few" of the sites in the US. That map does not break down who owns which toxic site. Actually, more than a few I hovered on were "Duke" sites. AND it says nothing about concentrations or size. So Duke might own just "a few" sites as you say, but that doesn't matter if they are 100x the size of the average site.

So you, as an ancient know-it-all, knocked me for shooting off my mouth? That's the kettle calling the pot black.

I wouldn't expect much more from someone who wasn't born when technology existed lol. Just because you are 100 doesn't mean you can paste a link to some site and claim to be an expert. Or if you do, at least understand what the information on the site actually MEANS and don't use it to support YOUR uninformed opinions.

Duke is exactly what I say it is. I worked for them a while. By the way, they don't want employees like you anymore, with pensions and long, stable careers. They could care less about people like you. They outsource and don't offer pensions, because these things increase their profits.

That's all that matters to them... and you are saying it's good? If you reversed 45 years of time and applied to Duke today, they'd toss your resume right into the trash can. So stop defending them and get a clue.

well oogie and advocate, you are both fools.

there is NO reason on earth why they need to make millions and millions and MILLIONS of dollars in profit.

yes, they need to make a profit. but it should be based upon other rationale besides trying to make the absolute MOST they can make every minute of every day of every year.

There is NO reason why the CEO needs to make what he does. NO good reason. If these companies wouldn't be so **** greedy then maybe the middle class would not be extinct. But that is how the system is designed, and they love to have proponents like you both saying the status quo is awesome. It makes the rich richer and gives you nothing but a meager house and paltry retirement account, while they live like rock stars and can by a new mercedes every year.

Sorry, but that is not "equal opportunity" and is getting rich off the backs of the hundreds of millions of people in this country who are scraping to get by. And yes, I have 2 degrees and have never had to resort to public assistance... until now. So people who don't see the BS and are supportive of corporate practice of being for maximum profit at the expense of their employees AND ECONOMY... then you are all very short-sighted and greedy.

Edge, do you wish to work for a company that is making losses-- which is the opposite and only alternative to profits? And if the company is making losses, how long will your employment (and paycheck) continue?

Ok, Edge.

Here is what you said:

"as for passing on costs, it's a "FOR PROFIT" company. do you really think for a second that Duke won't do whatever and anything it can to minimize whatever it pays, up to and including passing along as much of the costs to consumers (who have NO other choice for service, and NO other option) or any other agency to foot their bill? the company's ONLY goal is to be PROFITABLE and BOOST SHARE PRICES. the a-holes who run the company and sit on the board will NOT jeopardize their massive piles of cash - they won't lose much. it does NOT matter what they say they will do (they LIE, just like the politicians whom they support)."

Here is the deal, I worked for a for profit company who paid my salary for 38 years, yes they made a profit, that allows them to now pay my pension in retirement. Nothing is for free, though politicians say that there are freebes to be had. The taxpayer pays for welfare benefits for those unwilling or unable to work and we pay the politicians who approved taking money from the taxpayer to support their lifestyle much above that of the voters.. If you think that you can live on Social Security in your later years , think again it will place you below the poverty level if you depend on it alone and may not even be there at all. You need to be making a profit and stashing money away for your non-working years if you live to retire.

In all this ancient crone as you call me was in the workforce for 45 years. And never received any freebees from anyone, College degree without my parents paying a single dime and without college loans. So I appreciate the electric power from 1949 onward, and gave no thoughts as to what it was doing to the environment until recently when the Dan River Spill, opened many of our eyes to the issue. Never heard of a Coal Ash Pond until then.

Edge,

You said the following: "... why is this the only state with problems with coal ash???"

Duke is a minor contributor to the Coal Ash Waste Issue with only a few of the 1,100 sites in the U. S. to take care of.

http://content.sierraclub.o...-ash-waste

Coal Waste in America

There are no federal safeguards to protect our communities from coal ash or other water pollution caused by burning coal -- and yet there are more than 1,100 coal ash sites nationwide.

Edge, you are literate, but uninformed and prone to shooting off your mouth without facts behind your statements

There are many,many more coal ash sites in the midwest than in N.C., but per the link above they are wide spread in the U. S.. Early in the past century folks just wanted electricity and the benefits it brought to their home and work life, now we are paying the price to clean the sites up at least North Carolina and Duke are leading the pack in doing so. We are ahead of the game not behind.

Yes, the Dan River spill forced N.C. and Duke into action, but all in all it is for the best.

some ancient crone on here is talking about days when north carolina didn't have electricity until 1948. so... why is this the only state with problems with coal ash??? glad you were able to have your electricity at the cost of polluting the environment and padding the pockets of people who already had more money than most.

as for passing on costs, it's a "FOR PROFIT" company. do you really think for a second that Duke won't do whatever and anything it can to minimize whatever it pays, up to and including passing along as much of the costs to consumers (who have NO other choice for service, and NO other option) or any other agency to foot their bill? the company's ONLY goal is to be PROFITABLE and BOOST SHARE PRICES. the a-holes who run the company and sit on the board will NOT jeopardize their massive piles of cash - they won't lose much. it does NOT matter what they say they will do (they LIE, just like the politicians whom they support).

Rich always get richer, companies always pass the costs on to the customers. fact of life. they will both do whatever they can to dupe the common person and pad their perceived goodness. it's what they do, it's what they've always done. so everyone is apparently stupid, including the ones here who were insinuating they were not.

so what if Duke falls? (like it ever will). are they so necessary for the survival of mankind or something I don't know about?

Cog,

I'm not wrong on the clean up costs, the consumer will bear some of the costs as well as Duke Stockholders.

see below:

Coal ash chair: ‘Everyone will share' cleanup costs

Jacobs, who was appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory, added that "everyone will share the cost" of a cleanup.

He noted that the state employees' retirement system owns a half-million shares of Duke stock. Duke also expects to ask the state Utilities Commission for permission to pass cleanup costs, which it most recently estimated at $3.4 billion, to customers.

http://www.charlotteobserve...share.html

I am both a consumer of electricity and a Duke Stockholder, I expect that it will cost me both ways. But I'm still glad to have had electricty at my home since 1949, a small price to pay vs going without.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. Do not believe everything you read. Customers will not pay for this.. Your way in over your head.

The articles below will enlighten some folks on the issues raised by this post.

http://www.duke-energy.com/...anagement/

http://myfox8.com/2014/11/1...ina-sites/

But, the consumer who used electric power will share in the clean-up process as well as the Duke Shareholders, this will increase electric rates and reduce bottom line profits.

Good comments and concerns. The customers will not pay for the coal ash spill. It will fall on the shareholders. Some of these coal fired plants are close to 100 yrs. old. Cant go into all the details about what happened, but it is very easy to see why and what happened. Although it is something any one of us wants to see happen, I believe you have to understand toxicity's of ash. Toxicity's measurements are low for ash and if compared to a lot of household products we use is a lot lower. It does make a good story for the news.

I might add,

No refrigeration for food or milk, kept those in the milk spring for only a couple of days, kerosene lamps for light, wood for heat and cooking, hot water from the hot water bin on the cook stove, Took a bath in the huge black iron pot outside heated by a wood fire. Battery powered radio, no T. V. Used a Windless/ a bucket to get water from the well. No power tools, no hair dyers, Some of us walked 100 yards or more to carry water from the spring if we didn't have a well.

I'll gladly help pay for the coal ash clean up. Small side effect to having electricity for the past over 1/2 century.

Don't,

Your link shows that Duke Energy is a for profit corporation which means that consumers pay the bills for their service. Duke is not a charity operation. The coal ash ponds were created as a by product of providing power for their customers, who gained in having electricity for their homes and businesses, so who should foot the bill for the clean up? The clean up will also impact Dukes bottom profit line in upcoming years to a degree, what degree will be hard to pinpoint.

We didn't get electrical service in may rural areas until after 1948, i'm so thankful for those coal ash ponds that allowed us to have lights and running water after then.

By the way, Year to date stock gain over 20 percent, yearly dividend 4.5 percent for a total return of 24.5 percent. Don't I bet that you don't own any stock in Duke

Try to get even1 percent on your money at a bank????

Tillis is in and Hagan is out by the way.

The first one to blame Thom Tillis for the spill must have thought that no one would point out that Thom Tillis did not live in NC before 1995 and that he was not elected to the NC legislature until 2006. Kay Hagan began serving in the NC Senate in 1999.
So she did what about the coal ash ponds in NC?
It also needs to be said that a chemical analysis of the typical; NC soil and the same analysis of the coal ash finds very little difference between the two in the potentially harmful substances in them.

You know, advocate and "truther", it's probably best not to throw stones regarding stupidity.

Read the post again, and then tell us where anyone said that Thom Tillis was somehow responsible for the coal ash problem. This is how it is:

1. The problem was discovered.

2. Gov. McCrory and Thom Tillis played it down (look it up).

3. IMHO, Tillis (and McCrory, and Foxx, and whichever of the bunch has a say-so in the matter) will do whatever it takes to allow Duke Energy to pass the clean-up costs to consumers, instead of seeing to it that the multi-million dollar corporation does the right thing by the people of this state. If I'm wrong, I'l be sure to not send them an apology for making this assumption based on their track record.

Duke Energy can more than afford to pay for their mess, what with their International Energy and Commercial Power divisions (among others) and their miscellaneous "investments".

You don't have to believe stupid lil' ole me.

Read it for yourself.

http://www.duke-energy.com/...21801f.pdf

Oh good....maybe someone will log on to my account and pay my bill .