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Here Comes The Next Crisis "Nobody Saw Coming"
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
When borrowing become prohibitive (or impossible) and raising taxes no longer generates more revenues, state and local governments will have to cut expenditures.
Strangely enough, every easily foreseeable financial crisis is presented in the mainstream media as one that "nobody saw coming." No doubt the crisis visible in these three charts will also fall into the "nobody saw it coming" category.
Take a look at this chart of state and local government debt. As we noted yesterday, nominal GDP rose about 77% since 2000. So state and local debt rose at double the rate of GDP. That is the definition of an unsustainable trend.

As noted earlier in the week, state and local taxes have soared 75%. While this would be no big deal if wages and salaries had risen by 75% in the same time frame, but earnings have barely kept pace with inflation (38% since 2000).
So state and local taxes have risen at a rate twice that of wages/salaries. State and local governments can keep raising taxes, but where's the money going to come from?

State and local government expenditures have risen faster than inflation or GDP.

Here is the context that matters: household income. This is median real income, i.e. adjusted for inflation.

Wages and salaries are barely keeping up with inflation, real household incomes are down 8.5% since 2000 and state and local government taxes and spending are rising at twice the rate of inflation--where does this lead to?
1. The bond market may choke if state and local governments try to "borrow our way to prosperity" as they did in the 2000s.
2. If state and local taxes keep soaring while wages stagnate and household income declines, households will have less cash to spend on consumption.
3. Declining consumer spending = recession.
4. In recessions, sales and income taxes decline as households spending drops. This will crimp state and local tax revenues.
5. This sets up an unvirtuous cycle: state and local governments will have to raise taxes to maintain their trend of higher spending. Higher taxes reduce household spending, which reduces income and sales tax revenues. In response, state and local governments raise taxes again. This further suppresses disposable income and consumption. In other words, raising taxes offers diminishing returns.
At some point, local government revenues will decline despite tax increases and the bond market will raise the premium on local government debt in response to the rising risks.
When borrowing become prohibitive (or impossible) and raising taxes no longer generates more revenues, state and local governments will have to cut expenditures. Given their many contractual obligations, these cuts will slice very quickly into sinews and bone.
If this doesn't strike you a crisis, please check back in a few years. It is easily foreseeable, but very inconvenient. As a result, it too will be a crisis that "nobody saw coming."
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Just like fucking relationships and marriage . Fuck Yeah Amerika
When this next shit explodes, I am going to lose so many facebook friends gloating about their stupidity while picking up their assets on the cheap.
I once bought a car from a couple that had a argument with each other while they where talking about devorce while my wife and I where there on a visit. And he was yelling that he would sell everything they had for next to nothing.
I got the car so damn cheap is wasn't even funny :)
When I quickly drove home to get the cash, my wife was yelling at me how in the hell I could do that because it where her friends :) I didn't really care, I needed to hurry before he changed his mind!
I guess I told this story about 5000 times already as my biggest achievement :)
I was so damn proud of myself :)
Wages and salaries are barely keeping up with inflation, real household incomes are down 8.5% since 2000 and state and local government taxes and spending are rising at twice the rate of inflation--where does this lead to?
It leads to getting a fucking summons for anything and everything imaginable, and lots of things you cant imagine. it leads to accelerated pillaging of the poor and middle classes who are simply trying to make their own way in life, so that the cops can keep their pensions fully funded...until they're not. It leads to an ever-increasing mass of pissed off and alienated people, eventually reaching a critical mass that actually does something about it...and when they find the political means is closed to them, it leads to revolution.
In other words, study history.
Local gov't needs to get back to basics and they would be fine. Roads, basic utilities and schools/Libraries. All other social program BS that is completely ineffective needs to be cut. But that would mean job cuts for the politically active people and that will not happen.
Call me a conspiracy theorist but I firmly believe they are going to raise rates specifically to cause a crisis so they can step in with new policies such as banning cash and introducing negative rates.
You're a conspiracy theorist.
Regards,
Cooter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloward%E2%80%93Piven_strategy
Anyone else thinking that more and more people will go Galt? Anyone thinking the barter economy will thrive? And that more and more deals will be done in cash, so long as it is legal?
I'm stocking up on ammo and junk silver myself. We have almost everything else in place...
What would be the advantages of going "Galt"?
What are the benefits of taking your ball and going home?
"No size restrictions and screw the limit!"
(the Far Side)
Classic.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/53/4a/8d/534a8d71890f7703dcd78...
Thanks for that senor!
Governments would rather sit in a wet mud puddle slicing their own wrists with broken glass than have to cut taxes.
It's full retard to martial law from here *anything* to maintain control even if they have to go full Kim Jung Un on the US population they will do it.
Just remember under martial law the food supply will crater when farmers join the 'fuk it' crowd. They will come around your place with the machine gun goon squad to steal your shit and food because Furher De Obama has dictacted it. Hide your keep alives in lots of underground places out in the field.
Left unsaid in this article is "what are the states/municipalities spending all that (borrowed) money on?"
I'll give you a hint where most of it is going. It rhymes with pensions and benefits.
And its only going to get worse with every passing year from this point forward.
Pensions and benefits
=
McMansions & classic 'Vettes
"Pensions and benefits."
Exactly. They "can't afford" to pave roads becasue they are "out of money" because they are paying gubmint retirees millions of dollars (over time) to not work starting at the age of 38 and higher. Tax payers are paying three people's full salaries (two retired, one "working") to do one job that most people don't want performed. Just pave/repair the roads. Leave the rest alone. I don't want a tens of millions of dollars county, illegal alien, "soccer-plex."
The first three charts are very instructive, particularly chart 1 for state and local govt debt. Gradual glide slopes up from 1950 to 1980. Then it all starts to go vertical. Anyone remember who Reagan named as SecTreas in 1981? And do you remember what position that individual held immediately prior to taking that job? Hint - he was considered by many to hold the power behid the throne. Do you think it's just a coincidence that the "financialization" of American government at all levels started right about then? I don't.
To bad most "farms" now are agri-business. Corporations are part of the problem.
"What are the benefits of taking your ball and going home?"
You're home and you have a ball.
Relax; those charts don’t look nearly as scary if the Y axis is put on a logarithmic scale. Those damn linear scales are the problem. Until it goes hyperbolic on a log scale I am going to assume the ruling elite have everything under control.
ha ha, assume.
One thing this article leaves out is that what will be happening to the FEDERAL GOVT while all the rest of that is going on? Their tax reciepts will plummet as well, bringing back the trillion plus deficit again. That will really put a hurting on the average person too, since that will be yet another entity other than their local/state govt lookig for an extra pound or two of flesh.
I was under the impression that we still had the trillion dollar deficits and the government was lying to us about it.
Tens of thousands of small business owners ARE going partially Galt. I stopped innovating, stopped hiring, no longer work 75-hour weeks trying to expand and improve. Instead, I am coasting. I go fishing more, spend more time with my family, and enjoy life outside of business more.
Why? Because why work my azz off only to have half of the fruits of my labor confisicated and re-distributed to those who did not earn it? I'm done. And so are thousands of other people.
This is a large part of the reason this economy IS NOT going to improve.
W.M. Thank you for your very reasonable answer to my question.
If enough businesses operated outside of the government's f'ed up system,
the gv't would become irrelevant.
I just realized that I may have gone Galt without knowing that is what I was doing.
What a revelation!
Yep. It is a variation on the long capital strike that made FDR's Depression "Great" Today it does not look worthwhile to bust your butt beyond a certain point. The "inactivity rate" has skyrocketed and so has part time work and various forms of loafing while on the job. Unexpectedly.
Who would have thought internet blogging would have been a major contributor
to the motion of going Galt?
I'm right there with you. Walked off the plantation a year ago and never felt more liberated. I realized that at an 80k job you are effectively only taking home around 50k. Then I did the math and realized that I can survive on 20k a year if I just cut out a few things like dating, cellphone, eating out, etc. The more you work, the more they take. What's the goddamn point of working so hard in this day and age? I am turning 40 in a few months and plan to spent the next 40 years of my life on myself, not chained to fucking desk.
Good for you! What's the best option? Probably to "make" a career not "take" one, as I heard someone say a few months ago. I think people are finding a lot of creative options outside of the kiss-ass corporate committees and all the other hairy bullshit, and it's really liberating.
So? Even the "haves" have realized that it just doesn't pay? Imagine that!
I am envious. I make 102k and I bring home zero. Yup zero. ALL of my money goes to taxes and medical insurance for our family. We live off of my husbands income. I don't fret too much about getting raises.
People can't understand why holding a gold coin in my hand makes me get tears in my eyes.
Miffed
I feel you, my situation is conducive to me being able to make the choice of saying "fuck this" and going my own way. I am single, have no kids, and zero debt. During the last three years of fulltime employment, all I did was squirrel away silver and save as much of each paycheck as possible, so I am now in a position to be able to coast for awhile and figure out what my next move is. In the past, I survived for a year playing online poker professionally. It wasn't glamourous, but I was able to squeeze out a living. A return to that arena is now inevitable, there is no way I am going back to the corporate meat grinder and listening to everyone in the office jerk each other off over their college degrees and overblown "accomplishments"
I am happy you have freedom. I have given mine up which sometimes makes me sad. I have a man that loves me dearly, some land, water, garden, chickens and turkeys and good kids. So, every morning at 6AM my husband hugs and kisses me goodbye before I drive to my job. I know he appreciates what I do and I know my life with him is my true life. Nothing is free. I think I would look at it very differently if I were in an unhappy marriage.
Just know I appreciate what you have and the cost to attain it. This is a true accomplishment. You have my admiration and I wish you well.
Miffed
You lucked out finding a good man and creating a great life together. Most of my friends who have married have not been as fortunate, 90% of my buddies that married out of high school have been through a divorce or two. Over the years I have been through hell with women, and I think much of it has to do with the city I grew up in... Los Angeles. The den of hedonism and narcissism, I have to get the hell out of here before I completely lose my mind. I considered moving to Austin Texas but after visiting I realized it is just a microcosm of everything I am trying to get away from. I need to be somewhere that is more in between, not as hectic as LA but not so slow that I would easily get bored. Hmmmm
You have a dilemma. I have sat in coffee shops and listened to the conversations of women. Dear God the shallow idiocy! I should take a flask into Starbucks. I admit if you're looking for just a bang and move on, it's out there but for anything more meaningful? Yikes! What people have told me about on line dating makes me aghast as well. My plan is move to a nunnery in a far off land if I am widowed. Maybe zh should start a sister site where people could meet but that would violate the basic tenet of anonymity. The sex ratio may be a bit off too.
If you do find the One, you may be surprised you won't be as bored living in a slower town and need more distractions. Ok, I admit. That's a big IF.
Miffed;-)
In my opinion, social media has ruined the natural social dynamic between men and women. It has given rise to off the charts narcissism, rabid hypergamy, and force fed this new wave of social justice PC culture down everyones throats. The west is on the road to ruin, I have taken my ball and gone home. It's the only rational option at this point.
I agree. After listening to such vapid idiot women complain about the most ludicrous things, I came to realize they didn't even have the understanding of the logistics of having that coffee in their cups let alone the dire straits this country is in. When men lose the natural protectiveness they have towards women and say sayonara sweet cakes you're on you own now, they will be in deep deep shit. I see no need to warn them as they would just look at me and laugh. There is no point I see in playing.
The destruction is purposeful, disastrous and absolute, incrementally applied for many years. The chances of your survival is good if disaster does strike. Theirs, not so much. I pray some day I see the world return to sanity before I die. I have little influence to change anything.
Miffed
Wow. Living in CA has to be some of the problem. You also have more than a .3 acre lot, I suspect.
That is horrendous, disheartening. You should be feeling like a big shot girl, (I am impressed), not just hanging on for dear life. And there is pressure to stay at the job because of the health insurance, I get that one.
I earn a lot less than you, have a partner who earns similar, too, and I save every month. I am debt free (no mortgage) so that helps a lot. I don't have a state income tax. My state has a very low cost of living index as well, some of the reason I chose to live here. (CA is beautiful though, my husband wanted to live there at one point). City and county property tax, sales tax, and my health insurance are all still pretty good (though health insurance premiums went up a big chunk this year, as did the deductable).
I have never had it this good ever in my life. The only kind of "more" I really want is more savings, more self sufficiency, and more "off" of all the grids. No bling, no designer clothes, no fancy car.
I think you have a lot of what I want, if I remember your posts correctly, so I don't "pity" you. I am sorry to hear the situation is as you describe. CA clearly IS a bubble.
I do realize how fortunate I am. Really, there is no pity. Our mortgage is $1000/mo for a 2700 sq ft house with a 1500 ft basement on 10 acres. The only reason is it is 45 miles from my job in San Diego and it exists on a difficult dirt road sometimes impassable in a bad winter. It is a beautiful place but no mall shopping narcissistic woman would consider living here. Most men who visit love it but their wives look sick and can't wait to leave. What on earth do you do here? Where is the nail salon? Sigh.
I do realize if my husband were to die I could live on my income as long as I sell,move closer and live simply. This place is way too much for me by myself but it would kill me to leave my quiet home in the country. I pray I am not asked to face this. I see things as you do. The self centered people I meet everyday in San Diego is happily left behind at the end of my day.
I do cringe when people say $350k is a shit load of money. A financial planner reviewing our situation told us a family of four living in San Diego is at subsistence level at 150k a year. No savings is possible. He found 15k to eliminate with the goal of 30 more a year though he wasn't sure how we could do it. We keep to his budget which means no extras or entertainments.
I guess there are a lot of people in cali we need to support. Makes me so happy.
Miffed
10 acres. Yeah baby! You live in your bugout location. That matters a lot. I can walk to work, you can't. I have no "bug out" location. Mine is a big gamble, I am planning on the long emergency vs. sudden collapse.
You sound like you are getting a lot for your grand a month. Again, I am impressed. But then again, with such a reasonable mortgage, that shows all the more how much you are being screwed on tax and insurance. I will remain impressed with you, and be pissed at the bloodsucking MIC tics. They coerce the taxes, take your cistern water when they want it, fail to replace it or give you cash for it, mismanage the water situation so badly that they are running out (gosh, if only you had your cistern water), damn it, you have everyright to feel pissed off and bent out of shape. You are doing it all right and they keep taking. Except you won't get the money back on your investment, I almost want you to sue them for that cistern of water.
And you are fortunate. A good man is hard to find. And a hard man... oh well... ;-) Best wishes.
...is certainly good to find! ;-)
Yes, our place is a bug out location for 2 families. They both bring additive skills to our own. A massive earth quake is my worry. Several ZHers have shown me what to do if faced with a 35 mile walk home ( assuming I can cut across the Indian res). One of the reasons I do try and stay in shape. But there are always things you can never plan for. This is why I try to appreciate the moment I have now.
Miffed;-)
This conversation is giving me goosebumps, if only all women were like this...
The best property my wife and I ever own was in Durango Colorado. I never should have sold it, now she wants to live in a Condo, God help me...
My husband and I fell in love with Pagosa Springs and Durango ( my husband is a train buff and actually became a certified brakeman). This is exactly the type of place we were looking for. Unfortunately my husband cannot fully telecommute and flying to his job at least once a month would be difficult there. Nowhere else had we found anything remotely as good.
This is one of the worst disappointments of my life. Believe me, I do understand your frustration, anger and sadness. If your wife coerced you into doing this....well, I am venturing into troubling territory and will back away for the good of all.
Miffed
Might I suggest that is an improvement for the "economy". The economy is now working for you. The other way around the "economy" works for the legalized theft by .gov. There is no reason to pursue a particular number or growth number of the "economy" unless you are one of the beneficiaries skimming a percent off the top. If you are the generator of the economy whatever makes your life better should be the goal, not some monetary number to be skimmed by others.
When you organize your life to your fulfillment you will pay no attention to the big number and whether or not it is growing. When you blow hot air into a balloon the balloon merely swells, it does not grow. There is no more balloon material than there was when you started. It just gives the illusion of being bigger. Which eventually leads to a pop.
Bravo! You are one hundred percent right! I´ve been doing myself that since 2011
Repeal FATCA et al.
Ban fabric softener.
Quit pretending that your massive work week will bring you anything but fucking disaster.
Quit feeling guilty about wanting to do something other than working FOR MONEY while you're alive.
FUCK!! WAKE THE FUCK UP!
A-Men brother, never been so stress free in my life.
Great stuff, dude.
In my case, I run a small business and a couple of clickbait sites, and at 30 my goal is to get to a place where I never need to work more than 40 hours a week by 40, 30 hours by 50, etc. Once you get the basics covered, the rest is just for show, and I've come to realize that the 'show' is just a hamster (you) in a generator wheel. You run, they benefit. And the treat is always just an inch above your head.
Anyway, IMO this is the end game. I look forward to the day that more and more people stop and think about what their taxes are really going to, decide it's not worth it, work less, and thereby be taxed less.
Anyone thinking the barter economy will thrive?...
Probably not in the near future, but it should and could.
What I find amusing is how the financial industry is more than willing to claim a basket of currencies as a viable means of determining value over many disparate regions, societies and systems but were a method of barter valuing actual goods and / or services were to crop up outside of any approved currency it’s declared illegitimate and must be eliminated.
Wealth is subservient to power and true power is found in recognizing ones freedom to trade directly with another without the need or requirement to report the transaction to any other “person”.
I’m looking forward to a database utilizing the power and value of autonomy in transacting one’s business as our, (the USA), historic coinage laws originally guaranteed. I’d base its legitimacy on its status as a voluntary system. The system we as individuals currently answer to has morphed into an involuntary and abusive one by design suitable only for dismantling.
The requirement to report transactions should be applied only to those who receive their compensation from the public treasury and no one else. We have the cart before the horse. And yes, the government has the right to collect tariffs from non-citizens, or dual citizens for that matter.
Our (s)elcted officials for the most part have no idea why their positions were established in the first place, yet alone figured out what they’re supposed to be doing now that they’re there. Here’s a clue, the instructions are called “The Constitution”, and it works best when you follow the instructions. Idiots.
Jmo.
Problem is, some asshole will think of a way to create a paper barter market, and manipulate the exchange rates of certain
goods for others while pretending this system reflects actual trading values. Sound familiar?
Decentralization and self-sufficiency is the only answer. It always has been and it always will be.
THE ONLY WAY TO THE KEEP PARASITES FROM FEASTING ON THE MONEY PILE, IS NOT TO HAVE A MONEY PILE LAYING AROUND. Changing the name of money or trying to create some governmental "overseer" will always end in failure.
The more Independence, the less need there is for money and the less power it has. Barter is acceptable, but barter leads to money, and money leads to banking, and banking leads to printing, and printing leads to our current situation and all its horrors. It's a slippery slope.
Hey Boxed,
"Anyone thinking the barter economy will thrive?..."
YouRe damned right. When TPTB decides that cash is not longer needed in the system you will see the number of economic slaves running away from the plantation skyrocket. I think banning cash will blow up in their faces.
I told the slave masters to shove it way back in '99. In the immortal words of George Strait: "I ain't rich, but Lord, I'm free".
I'm popping popcorn even as we speak.
;-D
@sum
They have been going galt for a while. need to look at the rate of change on that.
Tyler has been on that
Captain, you sayin' that gubmit would like do somethin' to hurt us? Eeek.
I second that. and as an added bonus the chosen click can buy distressed assets at firesale prices with their free money.
" Call me a conspiracy theorist but I firmly believe they are going to raise rates specifically to cause a crisis so they can step in with new policies such as banning cash and introducing negative rates. "
You're only paranoid until everyone else finally realizes you and they weren't paranoid enough.
I've been thinking about that check mate move, cashless. Anything like garage sales, Kijiji, Buy and Sell, coin shops, coin/stamp collectors selling. How would you sell a 400 oz bar of gold? Not saying I gots one of them there bars or nothin, just askin. Will the bank buy it? I guess if you have a receipt so you'll pay the capital gains tax, otherwise no receipt no sale.
Will they do a credit/debit transfer electronically between parties, deducting the taxes as the transfer occurs? Will barter come to life once again? Capital gains? Forms in the mail?
Methinks you are on to something. The only way our current level of Governent spending is sustainable is with zero interest rates forever. And it would only get worse as there are ever more moochers with there hands out, legal or illegal. Negative rates on bank accounts would make the Sheeple think that zero interest on Government bonds is a fuking birthday present. In a negative interest rate environment, they would gladly lap up that slop.
The that debt chart actually shows the rise of Reaganomics -and the effect on budgets -
the Debt Bomb IS the Plan as then these wealthy parasites (and Not You or me) can buy up all the real assets for a dime on the dollar....
or you can take that chart back to where the debt was basically ZERO and you have Nixon taking the USA off the gold standard -
Reagan and Nixon - the 2 presidents that SCREWED us with this debt bomb....
of course every admin has done their best to steal everything not nailed down since then - but hey whose counting?
So, same as it ever was then? preditor/prey...
gee, thanks for that "insight"...
no kidding, he's still thinking that the President is in control... just a political fucktard.
bite me asswipe -
at least I brought ONE FACT - actually 2! to my comment - as for you Not a single fact as usual -
Loser -
Don't be such a douchebag woody. What did you expect to happen no that there is no rule of law in America's "just-us" system. Fuck, just ask Joh Corzine. Stating the fucking obvious...
again, so fucking what? Anyone can do that.
Moral hazard is a real motherfucker... Duh.
Woodyg, you are absolutely correct.
Nixon and Reagan REALLY accelerated the Fascist Dictatorship of the Wholly Owned Banker States of America.
EVERY President since 1907 ( See Panic of 1907 ) has moved towards this goal. But Nixon and Reagan handed the Bankers the country on a silver platter.
Yes....yes....Johnson and Clinton and Obama with all their social programs have also directly led to the decline of America. But they were also bankers whores. But Nixon and Reagan.....WHOO-BOY !!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907
and YOUR comment brought what to the table?
oh yea - jackshit -
as for stating the obvious.... go ahead and try it - and add in a FACT
We all know the "facts" asshat, the world needs solutions now.
Here are some;
sound money
mark to market
accountability
What do you have fucknut?
I have access to a rather large chipper-shredder, if that will help.
All of those "solutions" won't do squat in the face of a continual pursuit of growth on a finite planet. ALL of our existing systemxs are based on growth. None of what Woody and others put forth are THE cause; rather, they're all symptoms.
To an extent all the things that you mention WILL happen, though they won't come by way of some "orderly" execution, and certainly, though they will surely try, by any "centraliized" body.
"The chief cause of problems is solutions." -- Eric Sevareid
Again, back to my orginal post ...
same as it ever was!!!!!
evovle or die!!!
Dyslexics Untie!
You said fucknut.
I'm buying more ammo this weekend. Nothing is going to get fixed until the dust settles anyway. At that point we'll learn personal values, and the value of goods in very discreet, one at a time encounters. Personally, I am hoarding high end booze. I'm hoping it will be a conversation starter.
That's what I have, and I'm no fucknut.
I love this blog.
Bingo, humanity will (once again) re-learn the real meaning of "value" etc.
Once the culling is done, there will be room for true price discovery, for a little while anyway.
the pendulum swings and "life" goes on.
evolve or die, personally, I would not want it any other way...
Fight club! Bitch slaps all around!
<now please return to friday drinking>
The federal debt wasn't "basically zero."
06/30/1969 353,720,253,841.41http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm
Hey, Woody: You conveniently missed the guys who lit the match to this whole debt bomb debacle: Wilson (Fed enabler), FDR (Social Security, Great Society) and LBJ (War on Poverty, Guns and Butter).
Then again, if you're a Woody Guthrie fan, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
just looking at the charts PROVIDED by the author!
christ sakes..... Tax the wealthy scumbags who bribe the politician making our system FASCISM......
but hey I'll argue YOU have the preformed ideas....
look at the dates of the charts.....
It leads to Atlas Shrugging.
Actually, Atlas is shrugging his ass off right now trying to get this flea ridden planet off his shoulders...
;-D
Tell me again why I pay to the school district and I have no kids but I pay for stupid people that have kids they cannot aford and live in a rental and do not get a say in the running of the school because I have no kids that attend said school , thats just great.
Are you under the illusion that life should be fair? Good gawd man, wake the fuck up- they don't give two shits about whether or not the money they seize from you is justified. They can do it- so they do.
the fact/truth is that is is much, much worse as "they" can simply print/create the "money" from nothing and eventually push everyone into debt slavery...
And who paid for your education?
Because you love kids, and you love your fellow man?
What do I win?
You do have many choices. Here's a couple.... Vote with your feet and move to an unincorporated area w/ no schools. Get elected to the school board or at least attend the meetings and voice your opinion about the matter. Vote to keep school spending and other social programs that impact the schools and the money they consume, in check. Vote to keep zoning in check to reduce the number of multi-family dwellings in your district (although, you're probably living in one). Do anything you can to help raise the property value of all homes in your district - this will reduce the number of non-tax paying individuals living in your district who end up projecting the financial burden of the district on to you.
You've been fooled again---school isn't about kids and education its about baby sitting and property values---git a clue and stop with the education band wagon---fuck property values (aka prices) --thats for RE speculators and not for living humans. Why do I give a sit about the price of my property? Cause of gov't and banks and debt????? Or some fucking Chinese thief?? I want my property price to go to zero---cause I own it and I ain't selling.
The public school system should be closed. It does nothing but prevent/discourage young people from learning, spread idiocy, misdirect young intellects into fruitless and pointless paths, and keep them imprisoned. Left to their own devices and not chained to a chair, many of these kids would spend their childhood, teens, and young adult years learning dozens of productive skills.
Duh - "it takes a village" silly!
that would throw millions out of work, all the do nothing jack off .govs.
Froze, schools are social programs too, and completely ineffective.
That way of thinking, that we can get government right, is what started us down this path in the first place. Letting the govt have a little piece grows naturally to what we are dealing with today. You can’t say, ‘well we known better now, we won’t let that happen again. We can restrain power of the government.’ That’s impossible.
It’s better to do what many have said here, and just remove yourself from the system. PMs and bitcoin, tor and encryption
Not really a need for libraries anymore, or schools if come down to it...
Most libraries are about computer resources these days. Kids could be educated online, maybe by homeschooling with various curriculums. Get rid of the baby-sitter/teachers and degreed book sorters. Neighborhood community centers to take place of "trained professional" money pits. Supervised and loosely moderated environment for children unable to do schoolwork at home. Internet pavillion for those who need wifi access.
Local govt could GIVE a $300 wallyworld/HP windows computer to each student and taxpaying household, probably for half the money. Why should it cost $10k per student for "education" at no child left behind levels? Have a cop shop sub-station housed behind the community center to keep order until kids learn the old school ways are gone and they are responsible for their learning...
Why not eliminate paid and pensioned local government jobs? Volunteers could staff most offices. You pay your property taxes, which are already way lower, with a couple weeks time at a govt job.
Would not be hard to reinvigorate America; just delete all FedGov except Tarrif Collection and Border Enforcement along w/few other Constitutional Duties and get All Parasites off the gravy train.
Dat wood werk gud in da hood.
Local gov't needs to get back to basics and they would be fine. Roads, basic utilities and schools/Libraries.
Actually, schools and libraries are not in that set. Individuals can obtain their own education and reading materials without government. Getting a right-of-way for a road or a pipe line is a different issue.
All governments need to be involved in only those issues the next higher level cannot handle ... the individual being at the top and the Federal government at the bottom.
The Federal government should have almost "nothing" to do.
Forget about the libraries. Almost all books are available on the Internet, mostly for free.
A lot of education could be done thru the Internet also.
This is hands down the best reason to not own a house. My shit will fit in my truck (with a camper shell)!
Regards,
Cooter
Just did a test run last weekend. All MY shit still fits in my truck, but the wife's porciline figurines and kitchen appliances sure don't...
Read you there 5x5 pal!
That fucking TJMaxx Polish pottery is some monstrously heavy shit! A guy cant hardly lift a coffee cup!
The fucking beanie babies make a nice mattress though,...I'm going all Occams Razor...got my gear down to a machete, a couple plastic bags and a bic lighter..retirement gear.
Funny ya'll see it this way. When I got divorced, he took most of the stuff. It was all the electronics gear and other goofla he bought, running up debt that I had to pay for. I have no need of it. I liked how clean and uncluttered my house was when he left. Even with all his debt, I still started paying it down and not digging in worse THE DAY HE LEFT. I bought a small TV at the time with a 13 inch screen and a little antenna. I also had a radio. I was criticized by other people for being so austere, but I am debt free now.
This stuff runs both ways, it ain't about gender. Often times there is a spender coupled with a saver.
Bingo! My current wife is a rabid saver ... I get reminded constantly that I spend too much on stuff like beer (we log all our receipts annually and write off sales tax). However she has yet to point out I spend too much buying her flowers. :-)
Regards,
Cooter
Dude how are you able to write off sales tax? Do tell.
You get one "sales/income tax write off" with the IRS. This can be sales tax (muni or state) or income tax (state). There may be others on the list, but you get the idea.
If you live in a state without an income tax, you can chose one of the others. Since most folks live in states with an income tax, they don't keep records and just use that number and don't realize there are actually other options. Depending on your circumstances, I suppose it is possible that one of the other options might prove more advantageous (especially if you are eating savings instead of making income).
We stuff every reciept in a bag and about once a month it goes into Excel. This is when I am reminded how much I spend on beer. At the end of the year, we have a ziploc full of paper and a total.
Regards,
Cooter
lol at some point is it worth the deduction if you have to endure that from the better half
...he took most of the stuff....I liked how clean and uncluttered my house was
Yes, OMG yes...monks, for example, are allowed very few "possessions", as they come to own us, rather than vice-versa, and distract from more important things in life. Life as pursuit of "stuff" renders life completely pointless, and only serves to enrich the stuff-peddlers and money-creators. Besides, you miss everything by focusing on the 'stuff'. My family asks me what I want for birthday, xmas, etc, and I tell them "please don't get me 'stuff', I don't need anymore stuff, I have too much stuff, get me some dark chocolate...".
I love throwing stuff away; it is liberating.
I love throwing it away, putting it away, but also giving it away, putting it into recycle. I love knowing someone else is getting use out of it, love it. I dispise waste, have no patience for it.
My hubby is not the same way! I have areas of the house that are "his" so that I can keep his clutter comparmentalized, other wise we would need separate domiciles. I think opposites attract because each brings something to the table the other benefits from. They think you and I are tight asses. You and I would like to be hassle free. But we get so hassle free, maybe we are not as much fun and need them. Interesting dynamics.
Again, yes. If I am not careful my world begins to shrink, and my circle of friends gets small, and that is not good either. But I do love my man cave.
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This will help to explain it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
Don't let your wife hear you talking about her "porcine figure".
I bought property that just happened to come with a house. Future clearly indicates that road maintenance ain't going to be what it has been; and, running around in the midst of a Mad Max scenario doesn't feel like safety; besides, "travel" is about getting somewhere, where is the "where?" and, again, you're going to pass through teritorries controlled by new "tax collectors." I can travel around 800 miles on a tank of fuel and carry enough "boating material" to assist in any quest to "escape" (though what that will be is impossible to forecast in other than vague terms).
It's all piracy from here on. The local drug lords and gangs will step in and start collecting as soon as the whitey taxman retires and heads for Florida.
Yep - the good ole USA tarred and feathered them(see hbo john adams)
the french invented a nifty new toy to sue on them (guiilotine)
the ruskies lined them up against the wall and shot them -
and the Allied Forces at the end of WW2 hung them from the nearest petro lamp post -
and fdr thru nixon taxed them at least at 70% -
the chocie is theirs - and i BET they take door 2, 3 or 4
http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/ILDUCE/Mussolini.htm
And yet, here we are!
People continue to improperly define THE problem. Solutions to the wrong problems continue to be applied: sure, it might give short-term relief, but, again, here we are...
not sure i particularly like that story.
you effectively took advantage of a heated moment. granted, you didn't cause the crisis, but you certainly didn't help out either.
business transactions are fair game, and if you have to cut off your competitors arms in the process, then so be it. but marriage is not a business proposition - unless you marry a whore.
I used to feel that way too ... but as I get older I realize that most people (even some with BS, MS, or PhDs) are just fucking stupid.
If JC ever comes back to earth, it will have to be as an teacher who can wave his hand and bestow gumption and an understanding of arithmetic upon the masses, otherwise it is wash/rinse/repeat.
Regards,
Cooter
but but math is hard...
Fuck em...
same as it ever was..
LoP
I understand Second Order Perturbation Theory as it applies to Diels-Alder reactions. Hasn't really helped me much in life. And it's a conversation killer most days.
I have to waffle some on this, but given that the single most common reason that most people do anything is because they are stupid, perhaps it's not so terribly wrong to be the beneficiary occasionally.
but marriage is not a business proposition....
I'm generalizing, but I'd have to say that the vast -VAST- majority of women look at it as exactly that: A business proposition ... which is exactly why we see cultural approval of hypergamy ("trading up" in marriage) and 75%+ of divorces being instigated by women.
Fucking bingo!!!!
Historically, up until just recent times, most marriages were in fact a business proposition. And, of course, what is old will be new again.
MGTOW is the only antidote
There are a lot of factors here. One is that women have a great more opportunity to "trade up"--financially, at least--in marriage than men. When men trade up it's for a younger, hotter model, but a male seeking to trade up will need quite a lot of money. Since money is harder to come by than youth and good looks, there are far fewer men in a postion to trade up than women.
Another factor is that it kind of appears to me that the guys with the most "woman troubles" (of many kinds) are the older, establish and financially secure. The reason they have these troubles, it seems to me, is because they are 40-years-old and up, and they are seeking unions with women in their 20s--thus ensuring that the motivation of the young hot females to marry them is money. And also ensuring that the gentlemen's surprise when they realize they have married a woman who is immature, probably inexperienced and unskilled at homemaking (or often anything else), possibly a poor candidate for motherhood, and most likely on the grasping side. In other words, the wealthy old guy demographic is (unbeknownst to themselves) seeking to adopt rather than marry.
Among the not-wealthy, women's "trading up" usually consists of discarding the alcoholic drug-user layabout skirt-chaser (and sometimes abuser) in favor of someone who is employed and doesn't have to be bailed out once a month.
I think it's reasonable and normal for women to seek men who can offer a reasonable level of security, since the objective of marriage is presumably to produce and provide for a family.
Very thoughtful and true.
Such a 19th century view.
Your biggest prideful achievement? Do you work for the Squid perchance?
If he did he would have ugly stories of robbing folks on welfare, or living in third world countries, and stuff.
That's true, they only screw muppets and not their friends.
Sudden Debt,
Tell her you were doing your part as a memeber of the men's movement. I will give you the short verstion. According to the men's movement, men have given women their balls (In the book Iron John, they are under his mother's pillow) and what a man needs to do is get back his balls in order to attain his true adult masculinity (this will have him living in line with his own values rather than living to impress others to get validation [ie. his balls]).
All you were doing was rushing to get your money so that you could help your brother attain his full mature masculinity. You knew if you did not act fast, the moment would slip away, the man would not have asserted himself, and he would have slipped back into people pleasing and other childish ways again.
See? You were doing a good deed, buying that car on the cheap! It was the least you could do to help.
You insufferable opportunistic swine.
I bought a commercial building much the same way for pennies on the dollar... hehe.
Divorce can make normally rational people do some pretty stupid stuff if there's a chance it might hurt the spouse.
Facebook is for losers and you see tons of married and so called fake relationship folks using it . Culture is so fucked up.
Not if you use it to piss of the assholes and "Low Information Voters" who think the world revolves around them and their importance!
Doing exactly this is one of my fav. things to do.
Its gonna be excellent. After the collapse comes and everyone is losing everything, I'm gonna post pics "Hey guys, just bought my first house, paid cash." "Hey guys, just bought my first Porsche. Paid cash. No debt is a great thing."
Soft trololololing will be excellent.
Man, I love your thinking up until the government decides to tax all sales involving precious metals. I don't think we are gonna be that lucky- I'd like to believe in the fairy tale, but time and time again these fuckers find a way to screw us over- I'm sure they'll be on top of it next time too.
You may find this interesting to mull over. I was flabbergasted when it was first told to me. I stopped a traders shop to purchase a nice sum of silver. In the discussion I learned that if you buy less than $1000 of silver you have to pay sales tax on it (.0825). If you buy more than $1000 at a time there is no sales tax. Talk about screwing the little folks. This is in the state of Texas.
Interesting. I buy mine all on line and I don't pay sales tax or shipping. My uncle has to pay sales tax in Wyoming so I buy for him here and bring it to him.
I can't wait to start bootlegging smokes and gas.
OPSEC. In my world, they don't need to know what I have, or they will be coming by asking for some, or even asserting their right to have it.
Bragging about what I got has no appeal for me, particularly given the dangers...
"After the collapse comes and everyone is losing everything, I'm gonna post pics"
Doesn't sound like you've given much actual thought to what "collapse" will be about.
While I certainly would like to be able to resoundingly say "I told you so," I'm going to ensure that I don't resort to gloating or flaunting. Presenting oneself as a target is NOT smart.
Not if you use it to piss of the assholes and"Low Information Voters" who think the world revolves around them and their impotance!
there fixed it for ya...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCM7rMIqxmk
it is easy to understand, we all have to destroy the Talmudic-Bankster-System!
A good counter argument: http://fofoa.blogspot.ca/2015/06/silver-dollar.html
;)
My dad was visiting over the weekend...
He was parroting the drop in the price of gold as a sign the economy is getting better.
My response...OK.
Proper response----
Dad, that is bullshit, you are a bright but ignorant sheep. Here read this stuff and let's talk again. If you still believe that tripe, you will be compartmentalized fromthe IGNORANT column to the STUPID column, and don't expect me to subsidize your stupidity when you are totally fucked. A hint to the wise is sufficient.
Really? That's what you call proper?
Speaking of proper........
Are you being critical of his method in some way? It seems that you are but you don't state the problems or any better methods. It usually shows that you are helpful, and intelligent when you provide support or a better method... or even if you stated the issues you have with the "proper" or "improper" method used... just saying.
I've made every attempt to convince him otherwise. Every article or link I've sent him is "too negative". He worked for a healthcare org for 45 years and retired with a 7 figure lump sum and healthcare for life. As long as he's not affected by what's going on, everything is fine.
In his world, Obamacare is the best thing that ever happened to this country. He doesn't care what happens to individuals, small business or jobs for that matter...he's not affected.
He's on his own. I've lost interest in educating anyone. If they don't undertstand what's happening and the trajectory of our economy, they're part of the herd.
My "OK" response to him is the easiest way to placate myself without losing it.
I got rid of all of my socialist friends. Fuck em.
I don't even bother engaging NPR or Fox bots.
Yeah? Well we are sooooo happy you and your shallow name-calling are finally gone. Got tired of your smarmy holier-than-thou BS long time back.