71F and saturated this morning.
I spent the afternoon yesterday on the next step in my application to do the CPA program with out local PD. Lots of identity verification and paperwork for this program.
Woke up dreaming about prepping. In my dream, I discovered that two work colleagues were preppers, when we were all three looking for work. I think that is actually the most common disaster to strike, becoming unemployed. That and serious illness in the family. They are personal disasters, but EVERY disaster that happens to you is personal.
Don’t forget to prep for the simple stuff while prepping for the unusual… your simple preps are much more likely to be used.
n
Subbing again today. Teacher called at 7:45 and I have to be at school by 8:00. Grrrr. Anyway, she said her car died, won’t start, thinks it the alternator, tired and needs a day off, won’t be in the rest of the day. However, I notice on her screen, postit note, that she has a dental appointment today. Hmmm.
Math teacher. No one likes her, students or staff. I suspect she will not be returning next year.
Yep. Especially if the event is sudden. I got laid off at the end of 1993, December no less. It was the most depressing Christmas ever. My son was 10 years old and did not get much because we knew we could not afford the items. My wife and I each got nothing for each other. It was tough when we went to friend’s house for dinner and for my son to see what the other children received. My son was sad but he was understanding.
We knew a year in advance this was going to happen. My big mistake was not looking for another job immediately. I had hopes that the company would find another contract so hung on. The job market was not real good during that time so finding work was tough.
Even being prepared it was a difficult time. Wife and stopped all frivolous spending, no movies, limited McDonald’s trips, visited sales on food, used coupons when possible. Wife substituted as much as she could while I stayed home and looked for work and kept the house.
The outage lasted six months until I finally found a job. A lousy job, but a job. Stayed there long enough to find another job. Wife and I were down to our last $400 in savings. We would have not even had that if we had not done what we could to prepare. Savings was tough with a mortgage, two car payments, and a couple of large credit card bills, and utilities. We had no health coverage at all.
The one big lesson I learned is to become debt free. First thing was to eliminate all the credit card debt and remain that way. We still use credit cards but are paid immediately. We then eliminated the vehicle loans. Next was to pay off the mortgage. That all was accomplished about 12 years ago and we have remained debt free since then.
Being in debt is probably the biggest thing that will destroy someone that is suddenly out of work. Not having a cushion to fall back on will aggravate that problem. One can always find food from food banks, utility assistance from charitable organizations. One cannot find help for debt, especially unsecured debt.
My son is taking the same approach. He has a mortgage with 30% having been paid as a down payment. Thus the home is worth more than the loan. And at his age having a mortgage is not a bad thing and in fact is recommended by my financial adviser. Something about using someone else’s money, over my limited reasoning, and the home being an investment. Anyway, my son is fairly fiscally responsible with his lessons coming from my layoff in 1993 when he was 10. I think that miserable Christmas stuck in his mind.
66f and humid on the morning commute. Will stay in the 60’s till Friday evening when a cold front moves through to make the weekend miserable.
Reached agreement on our retirement home yesterday. The Church committee appointed a “negotiator” who was told to sell for no less than the Zillow estimate. For once, Zillow wasn’t too bad. I spent $2500 more than my target but it doesn’t break the budget and the wife LOVES the kitchen. I love the huge rooms, expanded garage, and underground bunker. I’d like to have it on a 5 acre lot in the country but backing onto a golf course isn’t so bad. (and no, we don’t golf) So now it’s all the dancing with the banks to get the best financing and tons of paperwork but the hard part is over. We plan to let our son move in there so he can remodel our rental he is living in and put it on the market. Once his wife completes her RN (about 18 months) they plan to move to Florida. That should be good timing for us to retire and move to the “new” house. We are having our company buy it as a rental and the son will “rent” it for the next 18 months.
@harold, sounds like a good plan. I’m a bit stunned that the church saw reason…
n
Socialism-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6669767/The-healthcare-crisis-caused-Maduros-regime-Deteriorating-conditions-Venezuelan-hospital.html
pretty grim for an almost mainstream media outlet.
n
Not uncommon and not a surprise. Churches have reasonable members. The church I live next to has told me they want first chance at my house when I decide to sell. Church wants to use it as a parsonage. The pastor of the church serves three churches in the area and this is the only location he serves where a suitable house is next door. It is a small church so I don’t know how they could raise the money. But strange things happen. My church, about 300 members, was able to raise $100,000.00 in six months to replace the broadcast cameras and equipment.
Unemployment can be tough. If I can count the two kids, since they are still living at home, we had 3 of 4 unemployed last fall, which was…not great financially.
OTOH I don’t understand people who don’t have some savings. I’m thinking here particular of the federal workers and the shutdown. Not only were they guaranteed to get their jobs back, they were guaranteed back pay. All the whining was pretty pathetic – for most of them, it was a paid vacation. In the absolute worst case they could have gone to the nearest bank and gotten a loan at very good rates, precisely because they were guaranteed to get their back pay.
The contractors, or anyone else indirectly dependent on the federal government – they were in a tougher situation. But still: savings – that’s why you have it.
I’m with Ray on eliminating debt, except that we do still have our mortage. Housing prices are high here – you don’t want to live in anything under half-a-million. Just as an example: here’s a house for just under half-a-million: about 930 sq-ft plus the single garage, in a not-so-great location. Thankfully, mortgage rates are very low (about 1% right now, with good credit), so that balances the high housing prices. I feel for the people who can’t get enough money together to buy a place, though, because renting is crazy expensive – more than $2k/month plus utilities for a tiny house like that example.
37º and rainy in the land by the shallowest freshwater sea. Should get into the 40s today, but will rain all day.
This is the kind of weather I simply won’t run in. It sucks.
We have a manager on a power trip. I’m going to let him continue for as long as he wants. Sooner or later he’ll trip himself up. I don’t have the temperament to do the kind of bullying required to keep him in tow. If the others can’t keep him in line, that’s their problem. (,/rant).
I called my tribal HQ (Muskogee Creek) and they have verified that our new home will be just inside the tribal boundaries. This will make us eligible for cheap Tribal car tags ($30) as well as other goodies. And we are near a new tribal hospital. The wife is not a registered Creek so she can’t go, but all my health care is covered by the tribe. Fewer things to worry about. I am a happy camper.
And Fauxcahontus is finally, once and for all, called out as a liar, by her own hand.
I wonder who tipped her off, leading to her public apology?
n
Debt is slavery. It’s a pledge of your future work, ie. your life, for money. If someone else owns the output of your life, you are a slave because they can compel you to work.
Modern slave catchers have Experion, social media, and the IRS on their side. No more tracking you across field and stream. There is no escaping it, short of becoming a pariah, or living in hiding and fear.
Avoid debt whenever possible.
n
(I make an exception for debt financing of large, real purchases, but encourage discharging that debt as quickly as possible.)
Agree with Nick on the evils of debt. With one caveat that I learned from Robert Kiyosaki. Debt that creates income is good debt. This is usually business related and should be used judiciously. I borrow to buy rental property and to expand my ATM business. But, I keep the debt load well under the projected income and always have an exit option. I have seen too many entrepreneurs load up with so much debt that a change in business conditions ensures bankruptcy. There are times when it makes sense to use other peoples money.
And Fauxcahontus is finally, once and for all, called out as a liar, by her own hand.
I wonder who tipped her off, leading to her public apology?
I wonder who tipped off The Post. And why Bezos chose now to run with the story.
The Post’s Super Bowl commercian was a last minute swap for an Amazon spot featuring photography from Bezos’ mistress.
Most financial managers do not consider a mortgage a debt as the house is generally worth more than the debt. In fact my financial adviser has indicated that me taking out a loan on my house may not be a bad idea. He says he can generally get more from the money than I would pay in interest.
I don’t like the idea. As long as I can pay the taxes I can stay in the house. Only difficulty would be utilities as many places will condemn a place if it does not have water. Thus they could throw the occupants out and take over the property.
I am to the point where I could live on SS alone. Not well, few extras, but I could get by and survive.
That is fairly common. Many people live from paycheck to paycheck and any disruption is a minor disaster. Even being a couple days late means some bills will be late being paid. People on food stamps are the same way. If there is a day’s delay in the loading of the food stamp cards these people are in very real trouble. The savings mentality is just not there.
That may be more difficult than you think. Many are up to their eyebrows in debt and are maxed out on the loans they can handle. Even a short term low interest loan by the bank would be a risk. It would be an unsecured loan and the bank regulators take a very dim view of too many such loans. Pledging against a forth coming paycheck is still not considered collateral as there are no physical assets. And there is no real guarantee these people would repay the loans as the sudden influx of cash, pending Super Bowl, and the rush to buy a new 90″ UHD TV becomes too strong.
Everyone should be able to survive for six months on their savings. No income, just savings. And not just your minimum requirements, but your current salary after taxes. Take home $5K a month, you need $5K in quick access savings, the other $25K in higher earning but more time to access within 30 days.
90% or more of the population has less than $1,000 in savings.
I’d like to have it on a 5 acre lot in the country but backing onto a golf course isn’t so bad.
We call them golf curses in Florida. You’ll want to keep an eye on that, especially if you notice that the greens are looking a little rough and maybe maintenance could be improved.
OTOH I don’t understand people who don’t have some savings.
We have a savings account with a year’s expenses stashed, rebuilt from zero post Vantucky, but maintaining savings is a sucker’s game at 0.05% interest.
The unwinding of the current mess back to just “normal” will be painful. Almost a generation has passed since interest rates were based on what the market would bear and not how much the Fed is willing to print in any given year to avoid cratering the stock market.
Put one months worth in the low paying savings account. Put the rest in a two year certificate. You can always withdraw the money from the certificate with a significant penalty. Not a big deal if you really need the money. Sometimes the penalty is only 3 months interest, a small price to pay when you need the money. Ally bank has accounts that pay 2.2%. It takes a couple of days to transfer money from the account to your bank. They have a five year certificate that pays 3.10%.
If not a bank loan, then one of the predatory services, payday, personal, or title loans.
They couldn’t use credit cards because they are already maxed.
and yes, a .gov employee, making (on average) more than equivalent private sector, and (mostly) doing a whole lot less work for the money, should have savings. They know their income, they are essentially un-fireable, and not subject to layoffs, with statutory increases in pay, and a clear advancement path. My guess is they used those conditions to load up on every dime of personal debt they could.
From long ago experience, it’s possible to take on WAY more debt than you can really afford, as long as your income stream isn’t interrupted. Once your debt payments get late, they start costing you a lot more, very quickly. Many ccard terms have a low interest rate until you are late or miss, then the rate can quickly go above 20% on your whole balance. That can make for a BIG increase in your minimum monthly payment. Have that happen on 2-5 cards in the same month and you’re F’d.
Better not to start, but if you are maxed, you really need to start paying down. Time for serious economies to reduce spending, and a need to generate extra income to pay more.
n
(anyone who is maxed, but still has cable, subscriptions, more than one phone, drinks alcohol, or smokes, isn’t serious about paying down. Those things can add up to $1000/month which is like getting a raise of $16,800 a year. That’s a part time job right there.)
Borrowing money at 23% interest for an emergency is a sucker’s bet.
You don’t buy gold, or save money as an investment. You do it as a store of wealth/life-work. You are shifting the value of your work in time. I know this is a different way for most people to think about it, but it is a life changing way to look at it once you internalize the difference.
Inflation of course is the killer with savings, hence the gold, and a great reason to abolish the Fed which states its mission as preserving 2% inflation– ie decreasing the value of your life-work by 2% every year. They are robbing us all of our lives, every day.
n
(remember the two requirements for something to be money- store of value, medium of exchange.)
You don’t buy gold, or save money as an investment.
+1
Put one months worth in the low paying savings account. Put the rest in a two year certificate. You can always withdraw the money from the certificate with a significant penalty.
I’m not worried about the interest, but we maintain the reserve level carefully to avoid having too much in there, drawing down and putting the excess to work elsewhere.
Oh NFW. Once you get started in one of those predatory lenders you are in big trouble. Even if the ccards are maxed, try to get another one. The interest rates are less and the ccard will not take your car as a title loan would.
Indeed. Even one pack a day will set you back $1800.00 a year. I know of several people on welfare that have the newest iPhone and are paying $3-400 a month for the family. Yet they get food stamps and utility assistance. They have their priorities and leaching off others is number 1.
But I like storage that at least beats inflation. My current
investmentsstorages are currently beating inflation by a slight margin. And that is OK with me.I have my funds scattered in various
investmentsstorage locations. I have enough in immediate access to last a couple of months. A large chunk that would last a year is in closer locations that would take a few days to access. The rest is tied up in long term stuff that would take more effort and higher surrender charges. If the SHTF gets that bad I would not be concerned with surrender charges, if the storage was still there. If it got that bad I would still be better off than 98% of the population.I learned that being debt free leaves one with a lot of options. Up to your eyebrows in debt generally leaves only one option.
Chap I used to work with was up to his scalp in debt. Already on SS at 62. Got calls often, several on payday, from places he owed money and debt collectors. Had filed for bankruptcy twice. Zero savings. Did not even contribute to the company 401K which matched 100% on the first 6% of the salary, basically free money. I imagine his being terminated has made him destitute. It has only been four years since he filed for bankruptcy so that is not an option. His life will be destroyed because of lack of any savings or reasonable money management.
He will lose his house, both of his cars, TV and furniture to collections. He will be living in public housing on welfare. A shame for someone that was earning $110K a year, just a wife, no kids.
“He will be living in public housing on welfare”
more likely he’ll be living in a tent under an overpass, begging for liquor money, given his life history of poor choices and no impulse control. His wife won’t likely stick around.
n
“But I like storage that at least beats inflation.”
would that be the official inflation rate that is just a made up number? Or the actual inflation rate as calculated by alternative methods like at shadowstats?
‘cuz it’s really over or around 10%
n
Situational awareness….
This an actual crime in progress,‘ the Twitter account for LAPD’s Central area posted on Tuesday, along with the video. ‘This person was so distracted with her phone she did not see the suspect run up on her.’
Something else going on here, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6674101/Hero-daughter-15-tries-save-family-FOUR-carjackers-SURVIVES-getting-shot.html
Walmart- avoid if possible – https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6674025/Terrifying-moment-knife-wielding-woman-launches-random-pepper-spray-attack-New-Jersey-Walmart.html
Also avoid the diversite’ and New Jersey.
n
I grew up in Tampa so I watched all of these people at some point.
Denis Philips seven rules for hurricane season are valid no matter where you live. Keep these handy when the first storm forms in the Atlantic in June, and the weather geeks predict a direct strike on Texas a week out.
https://www.tampabay.com/florida/2019/02/05/its-national-weatherpersons-day-here-are-tampa-bays-favorite-forecasters/
No, I don’t believe that will happen. He will just not pay his unsecured debts. He will make the house payment, have one vehicle repossessed, default on everything else. Liens against the house won’t faze him nor will defaulting on all the predatory lenders he has used. He probably gets enough in SS to pay the house payment, utilities, and not much more.
His wife is weird, as in whacko. The only good thing about their marriage was it kept two other people from screwing up their lives. She avoids people. In 15 years working at the organization, many social events, she never showed up once. Sleeps during the day and stays awake at night.
He had to rip out all the carpet and sheet rock in his house because his wife is “allergic” to just about everything. Has half a dozen air filters in his house. He has a generator that is used solely to run the air filters and nothing else. When a power outage would occur he had to run home to start the generator to run the filters.
She is a true nut case.
Her husband bought her anything she wanted without regards to money. It was difficult for us in the office to figure out on what he wasted his money. Certainly interest and late fees chewed up a chunk of money. But neither smoked or drank.
It would be the official rate. There is not much else I can do with the money. I am not going buy gold. I am not going to buy other stuff that immediately becomes used and drops in value. I am not going to hoard items in case of a SHTF scenario. What I am doing is better than getting nothing for my money storage. There are not a whole lot of viable choices.
But don’t we need MORE School Resource Officers??
And isn’t Diversity our Strength?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6673271/Shocking-moment-school-security-punch-pull-hair-female-student.html
Enable the scripts and watch the takedown… a couple of hits to the thigh, then one to the back of the head, then take control of the head by her hair. Looks like at least 4 guys on that one girl.
Principal says it’s all good, they were breaking up 3 fights.
I’m not sure how this “de-escalates” the situation. Looks more like violence ending other violence. If those other students really wanted to fight, I think that would have been the START of the escalation into a riot.
NB- the district spends $46K PER STUDENT. 2/3 are eligible for free food. for at least 4 years the school was among the lowest scoring on math and reading in Penn. Also, they seem to have been caught cheating on standardized testing….
So a sh!thole, that sucks up state tax money, and fails to educate the students.
n
@ray, wow, that is crazy. “nothing so queer as folks…” eh?
I agree that 2% is better than 0%, but it’s still losing value vs inflation. That said, I’m all for saving. I just don’t think the interest rate matters all that much in these current conditions. Access and security of the funds are more important.
I advocate for a mix of bank savings, some instruments held elsewhere, physical value (gold, silver, cash) held locally, and income generating business. In other words, diversification.
After the crash of 08 my IRA money market accounts (the ‘same as cash’ accounts) were frozen for two years while the custodian determined what to do to make clients ‘whole’ after the supposedly impossible loss. If I needed that money to live on, I’d have been desperate. While I don’t suggest p!ssing away money on fees for dozens of different accounts, having accounts spread across different institutions, and different TYPES of institutions is prudent. Bank, credit union, brokerage… they may not all get locked down at the same time.
n
I am well diversified in my portfolio. I have been gradually moving funds from higher risk holdings to smaller risk. By the time I am 70 I hope to be in zero risk to the principle amount. Gains, but not earnings and principle, would be subject to loss. Of course that is what you had in ’08 so I may pissing up a waterfall and crapping in a rotted outhouse.
It’s all a risk. Decisions are made based on what you know now and what history has taught. If the SHTF really hard I would still be better than 90% (or more) of the population. That is a good place to be in my opinion.
“VIDEO: Sour Ocasio-Cortez refuses to applaud ‘cooperation, compromise, common good’”
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/video-sour-ocasio-cortez-refuses-to-applaud-cooperation-compromise-common-good/
AOC is just mad that she has not been issued her ten slaves yet since she is now an important part of the government. Just wait until she is President in 2024, she will get retribution for not being treated according to her station in life.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
I have my investment funds in five locations. Gathering up my 1099-Rs at this time for my tax lady. (Yes, when it comes to money, I am gender non-discriminatory.)
AOC is just mad that she has not been issued her ten slaves yet since she is now an important part of the government. Just wait until she is President in 2024, she will get retribution for not being treated according to her station in life.
Ocasio-Cortez is having trouble adjusting to a environment where straight males don’t automatically defer to her out of sexual desire. A lot do, but not all; certainly not Trump.
In six years, she will be less physically attractive than she is now, which will be an even bigger shock. Wait until she’s 40.
The revelation of the sugar daddy will be a scorcher. In Florida, correlating the real estate records around her family home would be easy.
She hasn’t been fitted for her very own lizard yet.
Schumer can barely keep his lizard tongue in his mouth as he thinks of the taste of aborted babies.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/02/creepy-chuck-schumer-smirking-over-late-term-abortion-is-the-stuff-of-nightmares/
Seriously though, he looks just like that FBI guy while he was testifying… and it isn’t pretty, or a normal human response.
n
https://mobile.twitter.com/Nvr4Get91101/status/1092982276189753346/photo/1
Questionable Content: Lorentz Factors
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3933
Uh, sure.
Hmmmm…
a couple of weeks late, if true, and would be really bad news.
n
The nightmare scenario for the world would be ebola showing up in the “migrant”
communitiesslums inside the EU. It would have time to spread, any response would likely be delayed or minimized to avoid “political” issues, and once in the EU, all that free movement would facilitate its spread.Or in Minneapolis/St. Paul, or Detroit/Dearborn, or any of the other relocation dumps in the US.
n
And Pelosi is busy checking her
tax statementsBribery and Corruption statements while Trump is speaking.My “investment funds” all go into my business. That way I can have some control over them, I buy real estate and add to my string of ATMs. I also have a little in Gold & Silver but strictly for a SHTF situation. The beauty of an ATM business is the liquidity. I have about $60K in the Machines and the majority of the investment is in the cash I circulate. Cash is my inventory. If SHTF I can empty those machines and have plenty of cash. Much harder to liquidate my real estate holdings but I like owning property and if I want to increase the value of a place I can paint or add siding or such rather than hoping some corporation will increase its stock value. This isn’t for everyone but it works for me. My only stock market exposure is my 401K but I can’t touch that till I retire.
“straight males don’t automatically defer to her out of sexual desire. ”
–I guess with great age comes great wisdom, but DUDE! keep your d!ck out of crazy!
Those crazy bug eyes would keep me away even when I was younger, dumber, and **cough** ready to play… I don’t see any sex appeal there.
n
“And Fauxcahontus is finally, once and for all, called out as a liar”
Ethics are for little people, didn’t you know? I mean, in addition to being one of the elite she’s a lawyer and a politician – what did anyone expect? On a serious note, it’s really good that the Internet is now able to catch these hypocrits in the act.
@Ray: “Many are up to their eyebrows in debt and are maxed out on the loans they can handle. Even a short term low interest loan by the bank would be a risk.”
I hadn’t thought of that, you’re right. I suppose too many people are running around with maxed out credit cards, car loans, and who knows what else. Crazy, but there you are.
I remember when I met my wife, I had a credit card carrying a balance of a couple of thousand. No other debts that I recall, but even for that one: she looked at me like I was nuts. She promptly loaned me the money to pay it off, and I paid her back over the next couple of months. Neither of us has carried any short-term debt since.
Once we sell our current house – which is way oversized and far to expensive now that we closed the business – we may think about getting a rental property. Good income, and I can handle most ordinary maintenance. Dunno, it’s one of the options we’re thinking about, anyway. OTOH, I still have vivid memories of my dad trying this, and the first renters he got basically trashed the place. So…dunno…that’s a risk that’s hard to calculate…
Almost forgot, but it looks like we’re a big step farther on buying the land for the new (and much smaller) house we want to build. It’s in this town, which has a whopping population of 440.
Since we’ve been talking about debt, I was shocked to discover that the town apparently has zero debt. That’s really unusual; the federal government cannot run a deficit, but local governments can and usually do.
Anyhow, we’re going to visit the builders tomorrow, to put together the application for a building permit. We sign the contract on the land next week – finally – four months after having made the down payment.
Those crazy bug eyes would keep me away even when I was younger, dumber, and **cough** ready to play… I don’t see any sex appeal there.
She made money as a waitress, more so than any entry level job she could have landed with an undergrad degree from BU. Somebody finds Ocasio-Cortez appealing.
I never understood the appeal of Sheryl Sandberg, and look how far that former aerobics teacher (her only real job) got working the same male instincts before middle age took the biological advantage away. Iger’s ego is probably the only thing that prevented her from becoming CEO of Disney.
Miss Crazy Bug Eyes is not un-attractive. Plus there’s the whole crazy thing. Just not my type. Call me whatever you want , but Latinos, no. Northern Germany and Poland? Yes. The borders have moved around a bit… as far as I can tell my Great-Grands came from that area around 1850 to around Wisconsin. Just plain folks, no slave ownership involved. I blame genetics. 🙂
The outage lasted six months until I finally found a job. A lousy job, but a job. Stayed there long enough to find another job.
Yup, a lousy job is better than no job. Also, having a job makes you more interesting to other potential employers. Kind of a pack mentality, “oh, they like him so I will like him too” thing.
@harold, sounds like a good plan. I’m a bit stunned that the church saw reason…
The church saw MONEY in the bank.
Just as an example: here’s a house for just under half-a-million: about 930 sq-ft plus the single garage, in a not-so-great location.
https://www.comparis.ch/immobilien/marktplatz/details/show/20561455
Small. I like the fact that the floor plan is there. I wish people did that here also.
I’m with Ray on eliminating debt, except that we do still have our mortage.
We have a mortgage on our house for about 50% of the value and a mortgage on our commercial property for 1/3rd of the value. We also bought a new Toyota Highlander on New Year’s eve and put 25% down. I could have paid for it but am saving cash to buy a new house with disability access.
Took the wife and a couple of friends to see Fleetwood Mac last night. They were freaking awesome. The encore was a tribute to Tom Petty whom their new lead guitarist played with as a member of the Heartbreakers. Plus Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty had a special relationship for several decades. Four of the principals in the band are 70+ and the other two are 60 and 69.
https://www.chron.com/entertainment/music/article/Fleetwood-Mac-still-casts-a-spell-in-Houston-13593030.php
Drove the new Highlander to the concert in the Houston Toyota Center, a professional basketball arena with about 22,000 of new friends. The SUV is very automated, if you go over a lane line without signaling, it beep-beep-beep and turns the steering wheel to get you back in the middle of the lane. When following another vehicle in cruise control, it uses radar to position itself about 100 ft behind and modulates the speed accordingly. If another car darts in front of you while in cruise, it slams on the brakes to maintain that distance (right before I hit the brakes). Very smooth and natural.
For me, it’s not that. When I have to hire a helpdesk (the only position I’ve had to fill at my day job), I want someone that will work. Unemployed for more than a month tells me he’s (she’s) not willing to do anything to get the job done. I’ve been unemployed for maybe 3 days my entire life. I simply cannot stand the mentality that unemployment is okay for anything other than a cushion while I’m beating the bushes for the next job.
In my other job, I’ve only ever found 3 people good enough to do the job and willing to do it. (The fourth, my brother, is VERY good at it, but simply isn’t interested in that line of work.) My brother has never been unemployed for more than 2 days at a stretch either.
–I guess with great age comes great wisdom, but DUDE! keep your d!ck out of crazy!
Or at least don’t sleep with someone crazier than you are. 🙂
My only credit card is a “Discover it”. They just raised my limit. Fools. If the economy crashes I’m right off to the grocery store for all the supplies I think I need.
I’ve yet to pay any interest… I like watching the Cash Back feature balance grow. At 21.xx % interest, I pay in full every month. Because otherwise, big whoop, I’d be paying 20.xx % interest, at best. I use it for a tank of gas and at Wal-Mart and Tractor Supply once in a while. Plus Amazon, my ISP bill, my cell phone, and Roku…. stuff I never want to directly touch my bank account.
My Mom’s card is a “Discover More”. Same 1% cashback but her interest rate is 14%. Paid in full every month. Is her nursing home savvy enough to direct draft her bank account? Nope. They hit her Discover card. Her cashback amount is looking pretty nice. I wonder what kind of gun she wants to buy? [grin]
Both cards have a “up to” $37 late fee. Yikes.
Unemployed for more than a month tells me he’s (she’s) not willing to do anything to get the job done.
I was unemployed for the better part of four years in WA State, seven years in a professional sense in WA and Texas. I never thought that the situation would go that long.
If nothing else, I learned that my wife will never make meaningful money in medicine, and I will always need to keep a “real” job.
And that pretty graphically illustrates a potential flaw in my methods. But having dozens of resumes (hundreds the first time around), I needed some metric to trim things down. I don’t have unlimited time or resources to work with, and “has a job” or “has a reason he doesn’t have a job” are a pretty easy stick to use.
I’ve been unemployed for maybe 3 days my entire life. I simply cannot stand the mentality that unemployment is okay for anything other than a cushion while I’m beating the bushes for the next job.
Understood.
I’ve been out of a job for a couple of months at a time. Yeah, I don’t want to spend four hours a day to drive 120 miles (did that) when after the cost of gas and car I can net the same at the grocery store four miles from the house. Four hours a day in a car is a lot of time better used for cooking supper, petting the dogs, reading a book, etc.
Four hours a day plus nine at work (including lunch time) leaves eleven hours for the rest of your life.
I’ve never have filed for unemployment. After I had my feet under me, I’ve always had enough stashed away for a few months of bills and groceries. That noise you hear from here is me making a Buffalo nickle bellow.
Incidentally, the only reason I didn’t hire the guy working at McArches, who had been laid off about 2 months before, and was working his butt off to get going, is that the guy that beat him was an internal hire that beat him in every category.
I don’t have unlimited time or resources to work with, and “has a job” or “has a reason he doesn’t have a job” are a pretty easy stick to use.
Absolutely understood.
When I walked out at HEB I had almost seven weeks of vacation and a couple of weeks of “personal time” accrued. I had just hit the four weeks of vacation and had not used any of the previous year.
I blew off almost two month’s pay. Well spent money! Sure, I should have given notice. But…. going Postal isn’t really an option for me.
Why won’t the politicians demand RR train automation to prevent the engineers from texting and snoozing so that they cause wrecks. We, but not them, realize that 75 – 90% of the RR wrecks are human errors, do we not?
I’ve been unemployed for 40 years:
20 years Army
20 years working for MrsAtoz for a dollar a year (didn’t take it)
The ultimate loafer. lol.
Marry a woman with money.
I can’t relate to the being laid-off scenarios. I went to work within four weeks of BS degree handover and stayed for 45 years when I retired. Then I was OK with it because it was my choice.
I’ve been the underwater American a couple of times. Can be a grim period but I always bailed myself out, eventually. Living downtown with “free” rent as a perk of the job and no need for a car was a good way to slide by. Of course, anything “free” is worth what you pay for it. During munificent times, when I ran the company for its owner, temptations of convenience, consumerism and pent up desire sank any sensible saving. No regrets but I wouldn’t advocate my decisions as good advice.
Oh yeah, I do know why some (nobody here) get laid off. When I was a manager and we had contract reductions, I did have to select some for lay off. Fortunately for my mental situation, those that I did have to select were totally incompetents that were hired by a superior manager of mine who had been previously transferred.
OK, back to checking investments now that the market (NTSE) has closed for the day.
And that pretty graphically illustrates a potential flaw in my methods. But having dozens of resumes (hundreds the first time around), I needed some metric to trim things down. I don’t have unlimited time or resources to work with, and “has a job” or “has a reason he doesn’t have a job” are a pretty easy stick to use.
I get it. No offense taken.
Plus, I’ve discussed here before that I walked out of a job in Seattle when the management demoted me to test because they thought they could get away with it given my situation. I wasn’t *that* desperate — we ate regularly — but that was the only shot I received at making WA State work long term.
That six month stint was the longest I had. I did file for unemployment as I needed that to stay solvent. It was tough. The next time I got informed I was being laid off I already had an offer letter from a client of the company for who I was working. Myself and another lady from my company had both applied. Seems that I blew her out of the water when it came selection time.
I was on vacation when the layoff came around as did the offer letter. When I got home I immediately accepted the offer, this was on a Friday. Monday when I went into my current job I was called into the office and was told I was being laid off in 30 days and to train another person to do my job. I told them thanks, but I was quitting. Oh, and the project I was working on? Good luck because here is the office key get someone else to figure out what I was doing. I informed them I was not giving them two weeks notice as apparently I was worthless to them and they would not miss me for the two weeks. Only bridge I ever burned. It felt good.
The company eventually went bust, I think it was about two years later. So I would have been out of a job anyway and taking the job (the last job I had) was a good decision. The former company did call a couple of times to ask a question about something and I just hung up. I think they got the idea.
I did have another job from which I got terminated. Apparently my tits were not big enough for the CEO and the account manager for the software and hardware vendor were. That software vendor did a lot of stupid stuff that cost the CU money and I was not politically correct when I shoved it in their faces. Six months later the CEO that fired me got fired because of the problems with the system.
I was only out of work for a week. The CU gave me three months salary when I was shoved out the door. I was not too terribly worried about finding work and the job that I took just kind of fell into my lap.
Now I don’t have to work full time. I substitute for something to do and because I like to support the school. The money is terrible, barely above minimum wage. Lot of good kids, just a few jerks. There are a couple of classes I really enjoy. I have volunteered on several occasions to help the teacher and a couple of students.
I did have another job from which I got terminated. Apparently my tits were not big enough for the CEO and the account manager for the software and hardware vendor were.
Gabriel Iglesias AKA Fluffy “Splash Mountain”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdlep_PjAIw
“Fluffy tells the audience his hilarious story of flashing the camera with his buddy Mando on the ride in a Disney park. This is one of my favorite joke.”
Harold: Is your new home to be on the right or left side of the course, along the line of play? And how far from the tee box are you? Two hundred yards from the center of the men’s tees and on the right side is right in the line of fire. And is the hole straight or a dog-leg? As an avid golfer, there are some places that I absolutely wouldn’t want to live.
“ACTION ALERT: Pelosi Pushes Universal Background Checks on Steroids”
https://gunowners.org/alert020519/
“With H.R. 8, Pelosi and her gun-hating cronies have crafted a “Universal Background Check” bill with dozens of trap doors that could, if enforced to the letter, put millions of gun owners in prison.”
“Specifically, the bill outlaws the “transfer” of a firearm without a Brady Check. While this includes private sales, it by no means is limited to that.”
“The term “transfer” is nowhere defined, but it’s clear from the bill that handing your gun to a neighbor for as little as one second is a “transfer” unless you’re covered by one of the bill’s so-called exceptions.”
This sounds ridiculous, but then again, this is the ATF that we are talking about.
@lynn, they’ve tried the same transfer business before.
Ever vigilant
n
ebola test was negative, dodged another one….
n
“With H.R. 8, Pelosi and her gun-hating cronies have crafted a “Universal Background Check” bill with dozens of trap doors that could, if enforced to the letter, put millions of gun owners in prison.”
She’ll never bring it to the floor. Too many freshman from “red” districts, and they have to work on the pork now to keep the gains in 2020.
I still believe pork (or lack thereof) will be the undoing of the freshmen.
The freshmen will be cheaper to buy than the old pros. And the old guard will corrupt and co-opt them easily enough.
Then they get a lizard overlord and 50 years of debauchery and enriching themselves….
n
all it costs is your soul, your humanity, and your children’s innocence….
The freshmen will be cheaper to buy than the old pros. And the old guard will corrupt and co-opt them easily enough.
The constituents will want to see the pork.
If you’ve ever seen the VA complex in Temple, you’ll understand why our stiff Republican Congressman’s challenger is back opening doors on her way to work at Dell every morning.