07:51 – Well, it’s official. The city of Detroit has finally filed for bankruptcy, the largest ever municipal bankruptcy. They’re not even sure exactly how much they owe, but it must be on the close order of $20 billion. This in a city that has been hemorrhaging both population and businesses. Most of the rich and middle-class population has abandoned Detroit, a process that’s accelerated over the last decade or so, leaving only 700,000 or so residents, mostly poor and on government assistance. Detroit’s tax base is pathetic and getting worse. Large swaths of the city are row upon row of abandoned homes and businesses. Detroit is never coming back.
The reality is that Detroit’s creditors are likely to see at best a few cents on the dollar, and that’s if they’re lucky. City government employees will have their pensions slashed by 90% or more, and many vendors who trusted the city will be left holding an empty bag. The city government employee unions are screaming bloody murder, of course, but I have zero sympathy for them. Their demands played no small part in driving Detroit under. Now, no doubt, they’ll be appealing for the state and federal governments to bail out Detroit. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
Unfortunately, the problems that beset Detroit and eventually drove it under are by no means unique to Detroit. Although Detroit may be the most extreme case, there are hundreds of other local governments who have made and are still making the kinds of mistakes that ultimately killed Detroit: spending money they don’t have, assuming massive debt loads, making promises they can’t keep, allowing public employee unions to run roughshod over taxpayers’ interests, creating environments that are hostile to businesses and employers, and so forth. Detroit isn’t the first municipal bankruptcy, and it certainly won’t be the last.
09:19 – As of yesterday morning, we were down to two of the SK01 core prepared slides sets in stock. We sold both of those yesterday, but I built a new batch and as of this morning we’re back up to 30 sets in stock. But as of this morning we’re down to only 15 of the CK01A chemistry kits in stock, which this time of year means we urgently need to restock. Other than a few of the chemicals, we have everything we need to put together another batch of 60 of those, which I’ll be doing over the next several days.
Unions and Democrats are still whining about the introduction of Right to Work laws in Michigan. They’d be fools to turn back the clock.
Well, Democrats and unions are by definition fools.
Right to work laws are fine, but they don’t address the real problem, which is that employers should be free to refuse to recognize a union, and to fire and blacklist union organizers and members.
I won’t go that far. I will say that private sector unions excel at two things, negotiating themselves out of a job and negotiating their employers into bankruptcy. Public sector unions are even better at negotiating their employers into bankruptcy.
Oops, I guess I did go as far as Bob did.
And how does that differ from being fools?
allowing public employee unions to run roughshod over taxpayers’ interests,
In many cases it is the judges that have ruled that the cities must pay the outrageous benefits to city employees. A lot of the bargaining winds up in the courts because of the need for city services. The judges have almost always ruled in the workers favor. City administrations have fought against the union but were slapped by a single person, a judge.
Here in Oak Ridge several years back a local union went on strike against Boeing. About 200 workers if memory serves me right. The workers walked the picket line everyday and were seen on the side of the road that led to the facility entrance. The plant management was honest and informed the workers that the contract would not allow the increase in pay and benefits. The company would lose money. The books were open for all to see and anyone that could do the math clearly saw the company was correct.
Eventually the issue wound up in a court. The judge ruled in favor of the union workers. The next day the company shut the plant down and transferred all the work to a non-union plant in another state. 200 workers lost their jobs thanks to their union leaders with no math skills and no real sense of reality. So rather than only get a $0.50 an hour raise (they were asking for $2.00), the union workers instead got a pay cut to $0.00 an hour.
What was astounding to me was that most of the workers praised their union for standing up to the company and saying that the union prevailed. That made absolutely no sense to me. The choice was working for $22.50 an hour, working for $24.00 an hour, or working for $0.00 an hour. The union chose the last option and called it a victory.
As they have sown, they shall reap. No, not going all Biblical here; just straight facts; Merkans persist in the belief of something for nothing and the free lunch, no matter the realities staring them in the face. They’re taught this from birth and it’s reinforced all through skool. And they’ll believe this claptrap to the point that they’ll cut their own throats.
There will be other major cities in the same boat, along with legions of smaller cities and towns and probably several states, starting with Kalifornia. And yet the war continues against the working and middle classes; the end result will be comfy socialism for the rulers and their minions and rabid corporate fascism for the rest of us, dog eat dog. Real unemployment is already well over 20%, approaching 25% and inflation is actually 10% and climbing. Those percentages are likely to double and triple in the next few years. A few new restaurants opening here and there and the occasional spurt in the housing market, along with falsified data reported by the MSM, won’t change the overall trend.
10%? Maybe. I don’t think the CPI factors in the cost of firearms and ammunition. Back in 2000, a brick of 500 rounds of .22 LR was selling for maybe $7.50, and you could find it for $5 or $6 on sale. The last time I bought a brick, I think I paid $10, and that’s only a few years ago. Now, if you can find it, I’m told a brick goes for $50 or so.
The last brick I bought was $40 ($0.08/round). I generally find .22LR between $0.07 and $0.10/round. That is when I can find it at all. .22LR is scarce around me. As a result I tend to buy it (up to the store’s ration limit) whenever I see it. That raises an interesting question, What is the proper amount of ammo to have on hand? What is considered too much or hording?
For most people, I’d say anything over a hundred thousand rounds might be excessive.
A lot of the ridiculous price increase is just supply-demand, but some of it is because the price of brass (copper) has increased a lot. I’ve never understood why they don’t abandon brass for .22 LR and start using cheap aluminum. I have aluminum-case ammunition in calibers that produce much high chamber pressures than .22 LR, and aluminum should certainly be soft enough to function reliably with a standard firing pin strike on the rim.
My father had some aluminum cased 22LR, probably 30 years ago. I don’t recall that it was exceptional in any other way. Shot ok.
Saw this & thought of colin: How to exercise your border collie-
http://www.lynnspace.com/blog/?p=3575
I reckon that if people keep showing up at places where ammo is sold and just keep buying up the limit constantly, the shortage won’t end for years to come; the factories are all humping three shifts plus mandatory OT. I haven’t done so in a while, but I guess I’ll do a little tour up here in northern VT of the local gun stores and other places that sell ammo and find out how they’re doing.
Also just got word on certs they want me to get for my new gig, assuming this background check ever finishes while I’m still alive and corporeal; ITIL Foundation v3 which they will train me on; then CompTIA Security+ and MCSA Server 2008.
Whatever, but man, oh for the days again of RHEL cluster sys admin.
Hit 97 here yesterday and just went from 84 to 90 in an hour; but at least we have a strong breeze off the Lake today.
That BC pup looks an awful lot like Colin did at 4 months, prick ears, smooth coat, and all.
I’d never thought about an RC truck. I might need one of those hardened military models, though. Colin is fearless and would probably fang the hell out of it. He already fangs the vacuum cleaner if he can get to it, and yesterday he tried to attack the lawnmower viciously.
The BC pup didn’t seem to be trying to catch the RC truck. Maybe it was just curious.
@OFD “buying up the limit constantly, the shortage won’t end for years to come”
The limits are pretty low. At Walmart, if they have anything, the limit is 3 boxes of 50 rounds. Most places break up the bricks and only sell the 50s severly rationed. I’m barely buying it at the rate I shoot it. Oddly enough I’m always able to find as much .22WMR as I want (my Single Six has both .22LR and .22WRM cylinders) but that is a pricey way to learn to shoot.
The pup wasn’t trying to catch the truck, but trying to herd it. That’s how BC’s work.
I bought a box (40? since when is 40 rounds a box?) of .22LR at Academy yesterday for $2.60 plus tax. The ration is one of each caliber type. Bought three boxes of .44 special in the normal size of 50 rounds. No limits on .44 special. Also bought a 100 round box of .38 special.
Detroit is not broke. When you are truly broke you will sell anything. They’ve got Howdy-Doody mouldering in a warehouse:
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/07/19/kevyn-orr-detroit-will-not-sell-howdy-doody-during-bankruptcy/
They just do not want to pay all their pensions that they are required to. All cities in the USA will do this sooner or later. Houston has a enormous pension ball rolling forward that will hit in a year or two. 40% of future city expenditures will go for pensions. In Houston, employees can retire at 90% of pay with a COLA after 25 years. That was negotiated personally by a Houston mayor who was formerly the chief of police. Then he promptly retired and bought a three million dollar house.
For most people, I’d say anything over a hundred thousand rounds might be excessive.
+1
If we do have OFD’s meltdown and society comes crashing down, I believe that ammo will be useful as a trading medium.
A lot of the ridiculous price increase is just supply-demand, but some of it is because the price of brass (copper) has increased a lot. I’ve never understood why they don’t abandon brass for .22 LR and start using cheap aluminum. I have aluminum-case ammunition in calibers that produce much high chamber pressures than .22 LR, and aluminum should certainly be soft enough to function reliably with a standard firing pin strike on the rim.
The Speer .44 specials are steel cased:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/620298/speer-gold-dot-ammunition-44-special-200-grain-jacketed-hollow-point-box-of-20
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! I bought CCI Blazer .44 special ammo with aluminum cases, $40 for 50 rounds:
http://www.keepshooting.com/cci-blazer-44-special-ammunition.html
R.I.P. Detroit. What an opportunity to study the implosion. I would back a federal grant to study the destruction. I think all kinds of valuable information could be obtained. But, alas, we’ll just hear Michael Moore screaming from his mansion for the feds to bail out Detroit and Obummer saying “OK”.
I’m just happy that I used to shoot a lot. I’m assuming it’s like riding a bicycle, albeit harder to learn to do well. I know I wouldn’t be anywhere near as competent as I was back when I was shooting regularly, but I trust that I’ll still be more competent than the average villain, who’s probably never practiced at all.
One of the exercises we used to do is worth trying. Cooper defined it as basic competence. Get three #10 cans of tomato paste. (We used to get them at a supermarket. They were often very cheap or free if they were near or past expiration. I don’t know if that’s still true.) Get three regular 12 ounce soda cans. Set up the three #10 cans a few feet apart, with a soda can sitting in the middle of each #10 can’s lid. Back off four or five meters. On command, draw your .45 and shoot a #10 can, which launches the soda can airborne. Hit the soda can in the air. Repeat without any hesitation to nail each of the other two pairs. If you could do that and regularly hit all six cans, Cooper considered you to have basic competence. At one time, I could do that reliably with my .45 Combat Commander, and somewhat less reliably with my Ruger .357. I doubt I could do it reliably now, but Cooper’s definition of basic competence always struck me as a pretty high bar anyway. I’d say anyone who can reliably hit all three of the #10 cans rapid fire and maybe one of the airborne cans is pretty damned dangerous.
“One of the exercises we used to do is worth trying.”
This is the standard every person “required” to carry a sidearm should be held to. I wonder how often those federal Dept. of XXX pukes practice.
Lock and load one 30 round magazine. That’s all it would take to stop this nonsense:
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/07/18/long-beach-residents-warned-about-friday-bash-mob/
Not much study is needed for the Detroit Breakdown; the causes are patently obvious, as Bob has illustrated above. I believe this started out being simple greed, error and miscalculations, but has long since been seen as a crisis that can be maximized and from then on became deliberate. The country is being systematically destroyed from within, and the old republic, such as it existed, is being starved and asphyxiated. Bolsheviks pretending to be moderate and compassionate liberals have seized power and they intend to do what their forebears did in the old Soviet bloc; many Russians and eastern Euros see this happening to us and have been warning us, to no avail.
They’ve long since won the battle of minds in the media, academia and the churches and synagogues; and they’ve been hard at work destroying families and small businesses. As conditions deteriorate, we will see much more hard-ass attitudes developing accordingly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja-GVZ-jKac
From seven yahds that can test can be done but not often reliably; the cans tend to bounce in impossible directions; better than nothing but I’d recommend the training at Gunsite or Thunder Ranch or at one of Ayoob’s workshops. I plan to go to the latter at some point later this year but meanwhile tend to rely on previous years of experience in target shooting, the cop and soldier jobs, etc. It also makes a substantial difference if other people are shooting at you simultaneously; I seriously doubt, though, that many people among the goblins OR the cops will be or are as competent as someone like Bob or some of us others here.
Yeah, tell me about it. The first time I tried this, the first set went exactly as expected. The soda can shot straight up in the air, and I blew it apart when it peaked. Same thing on the second set, although the soda can did levitate at a slight angle. No biggy. I nailed that one too. Four for four. Then I nailed can #5, but the soda can’s primary vector was to the right, with just a bit of elevation. Missed that one.
After I’d done it a few times, I concluded that it’s important to (1) make sure the soda can is exactly centered on the #10 can’s lid and (2) make sure to hit the #10 dead center. Otherwise, it ruptures unpredictably and the flight of the soda can is also unpredictable.
We can’t use stuff like this at the range up the road three miles from here; no targets that splatter, etc., but I am pretty sure I can find an isolated area not too fah from here to try that scenario out again. I’ll try it with a .357 I might be able to borrow, maybe one a 4″ and one a snubby; then then if I can find a Ruger Single-Six that someone can loan me I’ll try both .22LR and .22WMR. Now….on the “repeat without any hesitation…” part; just how fast are we supposed to be? Quick-draw trick-shooting-level, or just steady? I’ll bring the wife along, too; she needs an accelerated course when we can squeeze it in between all the damn trips all over the country. She routinely runs into cops and soldiers at these things and they’re shocked that she knows so much and also that Vermont has essentially no gun laws.
I doubt the .22 RF will work. You’ll drill holes in the #10 cans without launching the soda cans. It takes a serious round to explosively rupture the #10 cans.
As to speed, faster than rapid fire. Call it six shots in maybe three seconds. The spacing between rounds should be about the same. In other words, no pause between nailing the first airborne can and nailing the second #10 can.
Incidentally, if you’re looking for something less messy, trying shooting bowling pins. We used to do that too. Set them up on a table and then knock them off. They’re surprisingly hard to knock down with anything less than a .44/.45. A .357 will often blow them off the table, but sometimes it’ll just drill a hole in them and leave them standing. One of the guys I used to shoot with knew a guy who owned a bowling alley. Apparently, pins need replaced periodically, so he always had a supply of dinged up pins.
I’m with ya on the .22’s probable non-utility in this regahd but wanna experiment with some new ammo that just came out. The .357s will also be hot loads. Oh crap, I forgot; someone loaned me a .41 Mag and I forgot to return it; I’ll bring that, too. Bowling pins just became an option, also; a local bowling alley is closing. I should swing by and see if they wanna get rid of some pins. Excellent!
In other nooz I see from various sources that an ongoing series of payback black-on-white atrocities is going on around the country but not being reported at all via MSM outlets, per usual. But the very minute some crazy-ass cracka attacks a black person it will be all over the planet. Any day now, some white guy is gonna lose it and we’ll have a field day with it in the media; nice work, race-baiters.
We used to visit my aunt (my mother’s sister) in Dearborn all through the 90’s. It’s a four hour drive from Toronto and we had friends in London (Ontario, almost exactly half way) which made nice break, going and coming. It was always a shock, coming over the Ambassador Bridge on to Michigan Avenue. There was this wwwwwide street in the middle of total urban devastation and decay. We would drive west and the whole world changed at the Detroit / Dearborn boundary. Driving back to the Ambassador Bridge we would drive through these neighbourhoods, beautiful wide boulevards and magnificent old house, large old houses that had sunk into absolute squalor and decay. A tragic reminder of what once was one of the jewels of American industry.
My wife works for the Toronto Public Library. While she belongs (must belong) to CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) her pension in through OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System). No Government is on the hook for her pension. If we can’t have right to works laws (and we never will in Ontario) then at least we can make unions responsible for their own pensions.
Temperatures have been in the 90’s all week. Nights have dropped to a cool 85. Looked at the weather radar yesterday and saw storms to the far north-east of us, moving south-east, probably heading Dave’s way. We got about five minutes of drizzle. In the morning, facing east, no wind, walls on both side of the balcony, temperature goes up to 98 in the shade. We’ve been promised a cold front and thunderstorms (or worse). Barometer’s been falling and we are starting to get a cross breeze through the suite. I live in hope.
Obummer is all over the news telling politicians not to politicize Trayvon Martin. Of course, that’s while he politicizes it to no end. Repeating his “if I had a son” “I was profiled” “most blacks have been profiled” “wouldn’t have happened to a white teen” “Trayvon couldn’t have used SYG” etc. He’s now the Race Baiter in Chief all for political points.
I just saw this headline on CNN Breaking News:
OBAMA: ‘MARTIN COULD HAVE BEEN ME’
And, I confess, the first thought that passed through my mind was, “Too bad it wasn’t.”
I think the whole quote was something like “that coulda been me 35 years ago” or whatever; what an asshole. He and the usual suspects will be pimping the deceased Trayvon for a while now, looks like, with more action from Holder’s DOJ and price on Z-Man’s head from New Black Panthers, etc., etc. They’re amoral criminal scum and we need to keep all that in mind constantly; they’re about the destruction of the country.
They are more about keeping themselves and their buddies in power and wealth than about the destruction of the country. The latter is just collateral damage.
Here we have just had Rudd –current Prime Minister from the Labour Party- do an about face on two high profile issues and almost aligned himself with the Liberals. Cunning SOB. By taking an almost right wing stance on carbon taxes and boat people asylum seekers he has minimized the slaughter Labour was going to get in the next elections and now even stands a chance of reelection.
Oh I know they’re mainly about power and wealth but I also believe they actively seek the destruction of the country, or at least its political institutions; if the economy tanks it won’t hurt them that much, not at first. These people are our enemies, plain and simple, more so, in fact, than some raghead hadji fuck in a cave over in the Suck. The hadji would leave us alone if we got out of there and quit kissing the Israelis’ asses no matter what. The people in Mordor will never leave us alone.
Some of my thoughts on Obamacare.
I’m pretty sure that Obummer’s buddy Holder will appeal that Hobby Lobby all the way to SCOTUS. Just as soon as he gets through indicting Mr. Z there in DC where he can get a jury of his peers. Holder’s peers that is.
The question is do our first amendment rights extend to our businesses? I am betting that this one has already been to SCOTUS before in some form or manner.
BTW, my answer is yes, our first amendment rights do extend to our businesses. Not just religion but also free speech.
Of course, Jeremiah Scudder is just down the road according to some. I hope that I never have to live in a theocracy. Some of my fellow Christians can be … demanding.
Nehemiah Scudder, not Jeremiah. /heinleinian-pedanticism
I’m perfectly willing to mock or bash Christians when the occasion arises, but that wasn’t the focus of my ire here. I have no idea if the (Christian, not that it matters) owners of Hobby Lobby pushed for Obamacare. If they did, they’re covered in one of the “fuck them”s in my DP post. The problem is that one kind of conviction is privileged over others, and I kind of thought that preventing that was the whole point of the establishment clause. In short, fuck the judge who allowed that excuse. Fuck everyone involved in that whole mess.
Gee, and people get on my case for not being forthright enough and saying what I really think. When is SteveF gonna pipe up what he really thinks? Tired of seeing him back off and weasel out of various issues. Maybe he’ll develop a spine after a few more gigantic thunderstorms roll through the Northeast here. One just now turned the sky yellow first and then all shades of purple and coral. Amazing, plus monsoon-level driving sheets of rain again.
Thanks for the save on that Scudder dude. I guess that I just got myself future listed for special treatment by the future supreme prophet of America.
It is my understanding that Hobby Lobby’s owners are totally anti-Obamacare. But I could be wrong again. BTW, I am seeing articles about MANY businesses now converting full-time jobs to part-time to escape Obamacare. Most of them are restaurants.
I enjoyed seeing the Michigan state judge trying to trump the Detroit bankruptcy judge. USA bankruptcy judges are all knowing and all powerful. I watched one dip into a friend’s IRA a few years ago and steal $50K in cash from it. Then my friend got to pay income taxes on it to boot. In short, bankruptcy judges laugh at state judges all day long.
WTF, OFD? You’re, what, 150 miles from me, straight line? Why is your weather so different?
… Oh. I get it. That yellow rain isn’t actually rain. It’s Obama and the rest of those Ruling Class overlords pissing all over a state which a) doesn’t have any major metro areas and b) doesn’t vote overwhelmingly Democrat/Liberal/Progressive/Communist. (Of course, those two points have a causal relationship. Without NYC and environs, New York State would not be a reliable and major source of Dem votes in the electoral college.)
As for expressing myself, what can I tell ya? I was feeling provoked. In fact… Now that I think about it, I’m entitled to kick the nads right off of anyone who criticizes me for my language. It’s all about feelings, my feelings, and my feelings are just as valid as anyone else’s, and feelings are all that matter, not any of this evidence or logic or any of that bullshit, it’s just the feelings. So fuck Obama.
Just to clarify political matters on this state; without the Burlap-Montpeculiar Corridor (Chittenden to Washington Counties) and the college towns this state would still be voting Coolidge Republican.
From the Capital Region of the Vampire State to our front door is 182 miles along the Lake Champlain valley. We usually get the same weather as the northernmost region of NY along the Canadian border, like around Massena and Chazy and suchlike. Then it blows over northern NH and into central/northern Maine and out to sea by Campobello and Saint Andrews.
For SteveF and all those here who like to “validate” their feelings, authenticate them, if you will….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf3BNRF9ICc
I’d say anyone who can reliably hit all three of the #10 cans rapid fire and maybe one of the airborne cans is pretty damned dangerous.
Anyone letting off five rounds from a .45 or .357 is pretty damned dangerous, the only question is to whom.