You Can't Silence Us

Spending trillions costs nothing

According to this administration, spending $3.5 trillion doesn’t cost the American people a single dollar, because it is paid for.

That is pure spin. What they are really trying to say is that the money being spent won’t increase the deficit, because the cost will be offset by increased taxation. To say that increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthy means that this trillions in spending won’t cost anything is disingenuous at best. Aren’t rich Americans still Americans?

This is what governments do: They tax and spend.

People who have read this post: 880
By Divemedic, ago

Geraldo can kiss my (edit)

Geraldo says that the Republican party is a “witch doctor mumbo jumbo cult” because they won’t just blindly do as they are told and get vaccinated.

Then this two bit hack from the 80s went on to say that anyone who has been vaccinated while still urging unvaccinated people to “fight for their freedom” are dickheads.

Let me just lay out my stance: After careful consideration of the risks and benefits as I saw them, I decided to get vaccinated. It was a personal medical choice made between me and my doctor. I felt it was best for me, so I got it. That may not be the same with everyone. Each of us has the same right to decide what medical care is best for us. Not everyone has the same medical situation, and there are no one size fits all solutions to ANY medical situation. You do you, and I will do me.

If that makes me a dickhead, so be it. Go ahead, lick the hand that feeds you.

EDITED TO ADD: and to those of you who don’t agree with my decision: I don’t care. At the end of the day, it was MY decision. The decision that I made doesn’t affect you. If you think that you can insult and force me to go along with YOUR decision, then you don’t understand freedom any more that the left. Freedom means that I can make my own decisions, and there isn’t fuck all that anyone can say about the matter.

People who have read this post: 1,061
By Divemedic, ago

Rumors

Here in the north side of Central Florida, we are experiencing shortage in frozen vegetables, along with beverages of sports drinks like Gatorade, along with canned soups being picked over. The last time I was at the store, a woman there told me that she and her husband had arrived from Pennsylvania several days before, and that area was having shortages in toilet paper and frozen vegetables. Meats were in good supply but expensive.

J KB is reporting shortages of various supplies in the Carolinas.

Things like shampoo, body wash, mouth wash, cleaning supplies, foot spray, OTC drugs, were low, especially the store brand generics.

Any other shortages in other areas of the country?

Today I went to Walmart at lunch and it took was low on a lot of non-food supplies.

People who have read this post: 1,073
By Divemedic, ago

HOA battle

I own rental property in a neighborhood that is deed restricted and covered by an HOA. Three years ago, that HOA tried to make a rules change. This is the rule that they wanted to change:

Leases – All Leases of a home shall be restricted to residential use. All leases shall be in writing and shall provide that the Association shall have the right to terminate the lease upon default by the tenant in observing any provisions of the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for [neighborhood]. A copy of any such lease shall be delivered to the Association upon request. Each lease shall contain the following provision:


The lessee hereby acknowledges that this lease is subject to the Declaration of Covenants, conditions, and Restrictions for [neighborhood], that lessee has read the same and agrees to be bound thereby, and that failure to comply with the same may result in certain remedies being applicable to lessee including, without limitation, termination of this lease without further notice, and personal liability of lessee and lessor for damages, including reasonable attorney’s fees.

I had a number of problems with this. The first is that the HOA wanted to have the power to evict my tenants, but expects me to assume all liability and expense. No fucking way. So I went to the HOA meeting and told them that not only was this illegal, but that it would expose the HOA to liability if a person they ordered to be evicted was part of a protected class and decided to sue under the Fair Housing Act. The HOA lawyer agreed. I figured I had won that round, but took that as a warning and become involved in the HOA, eventually making it onto the board.

I am on the board as the treasurer, and I represent the interests of several property owners who own rental property in the neighborhood. Collectively, we own as rental property more than a third of the properties in the neighborhood, or more than $10 million worth of rental property. The rules of the neighborhood cannot be changed unless 2/3 of the property owners vote to do so, and we have the votes to block any rule change that we choose to.

So now here we are, three years later, and apparently this rule was put in place without our knowledge. One of the landlords showed me a letter where the HOA is telling her that they want a tenant evicted within ten days because that tenant has been parking a boat in the driveway of the rental house.

This all stemmed from an argument with a petty tyrant in the HOA. Another HOA board member lives across the street from the rental property in question, and told the tenant to move the boat out of the driveway. The tenant told him to mind his own business, a screaming match ensued, and now the board member is demanding that the tenant be evicted.

I am not going to allow that to stand. I will sue if I have to, but for now I am advising the HOA to meet with an attorney before pushing this any further, because litigation can be expensive.

People who have read this post: 638
By Divemedic, ago

Remote employees

The website Payscale.com asks: “Should pay be adjusted for remote employees?” The real question isn’t whether it should, the question should be “Is pay adjusted for remote workers?” To which the answer is: “Yes, yes it is.”

This is just reality. When a business is hiring from a local pool of workers, the cost of living and tax climate of the local area dictates what amount of pay workers will be willing to accept. A person in Manhattan or Oahu, where the cost of living is high, will demand a higher salary than a person in Biloxi.

It isn’t just that, however. Labor is a product to be sold, and is thus subject to supply and demand, just like any other product. Expanding the labor pool from the local area to the entire nation increases the supply and thus the value of the labor.

One of the things that COVID and the lockdowns did to the business climate was to show businesses that expensive office space on Park Avenue in Manhattan wasn’t strictly necessary for success. Most office workers are capable of doing their jobs remotely. It won’t be long before businesses begin recruiting employees from places like Des Moines because they will soon realize that the employee pool there doesn’t need to be paid as much as the employees from Manhattan who are having to pay $3500 a month for a studio apartment after paying a quarter of their salary in state and local taxes. Places like Tulsa will soon host remote workers in the same way that India and the Philippines now host call centers.

This is why cities like Nashville and Clearwater Beach are seeing population booms as cities like Chicago and New York City see massive relocations.

The employment reality is changing.

People who have read this post: 517
By Divemedic, ago