Life goes on - Summer 2021

That article is confusing debts with unfunded liabilities, I am afraid. And a closer reading explains the 800k as how much each Taxpayer would owe - if any of this actually made sense.

But, I guess this is not a new idea, here is an article from 2012, back when the scary number was supposedly only 100 trillion dollars.

If you dont want to read the whole thing, here is the part that debunks the myth:

(1) That’s not our debt. Our $16 trillion in debt and our $87 trillion in “unfunded liabilities” represent two very different ideas: real past promises and projected future promises. Real past promises are, well, very real. We have to pay back our debt. Failing to do it would be an illegal and disastrous default. Unfunded liabilities are future promises, and, since they’re not as real, we can change them whenever we want without destroying ourselves. For example, raising the taxable income ceiling and slowing the growth of benefits could reduce the Social Security gap to zero tomorrow.

And that’s if there is a Social Security “gap” to begin with. Technically, it’s not legal for Social Security to have “unfunded liabilities” since it can only pay as many benefits as it receives in earmarked taxes. Both it and Medicare hospital insurance are prohibited from spending money they haven’t collected from specific revenue dedicated to their programs (i.e.: payroll taxes). It is impossible for either to technically be “unfunded”, since they cannot legally outspend their funding.

(2) 75-year projections are scarier than they are informative. Seventy-five-year projections always sound gargantuan because, well, they’re calculated over three-quarters of a century, which is an awfully long time to count anything. But here’s the flip side: In 75 years, our economy will be massive. Growing slowly at a 2% annual average, our GDP would be $66 trillion in today’s dollars in 2087. That’s an incomprehensibly big number, too. Once you run out any number over 75 years, the mind starts to boggle. That’s good for scaring people with mind-boggling numbers, but it’s not so good for informing. When Republicans say unfunded liabilities come out to $520,000 per U.S. household, they’re taking a figure from 2087 and dividing it over a 2012 population to exaggerate. Scary, to be sure, but not very informative.

So to use your analogy, the US mortgage is 28 trillion; this we have to pay back. The other 100 trillion dollars would represent the hot tub, jet skis, vacations and various other things we promised our wives we would buy them someday :grinning:. If our incomes keep growing, then sure, maybe we will buy all the things we promised; but we are not obligated to. Anyway, I hope at least someone else finds this sort of thing as interesting as I do. Its a massively complex system we live in, and its easy to take it completely for granted.

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A few minutes left for playing at work. A ride with the little forklift to the junkpile looking for treasures.

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When I do the scrap at the Dealership I always keep my eye out for goodies to sneak away. Got two big brake drums recently.

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I really am getting to be one of those guys that does not like people around them for the reasons of neighbor complaints. I have one that just called the city on me because I walk my dogs off leash and there is a by-law that says you must leash your hounds. He’s mad at me because his pool collapsed again this year and he probably blames me for his drainage issues. I also sat in my front in a lawn chair yard and gave him the stink eye for walking back and forth across the street visiting people while we are lock down again ( that as far better than me calling the police isn’t it? ) My dogs never hurt any one but that dam virus will if he catches it and spreads it to all the folks that come and go around him lock down or not.

I can tell when its time to move out of an area…
My house was built in an unorganized township and later annexed by the city. As the community grew and more people came in the predominately Finnish and working class community has become unwelcoming of people that like back yard fires and free range dogs, yard art ( old tractors or stuff you collect to tinker with ).
When the older folks leave or retire and you do not have anything in common with the people that move in and gentrify a working class street its probably time to go.

Head to the bush and back and back roads, hope they do not follow you there…

Waiting for the by-law guy as I type this, he has video of my dogs walking at my sides down my street… ( crime of the century )

Our money is not backed by anything its just based on the faith in our economic system and the promise to lend, borrow and repay. I don’t really believe in that idea that you can conjure money out of thin air and lend it out with the intention of repayment with interest. That’s almost something for nothing but the FED and the banks and bond holders do it all the time, Whats a Bit coin?

I am reminded of Python skit about the great Mystico and Janet that Flats Built by Hypnosis. The buildings are perfectly safe as long as you are comfortable living the figment of a man’s imagination and never stop believing…
Boy I wish I could find a clip of that skit

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First dumpster fire of the season:
The wife just phoned 311 to report the neighbor for having visitors over under lock down.

Look what CoVid has done to people. reporting on each other like this is East Germany or something…

Get the popcorn ready this is going to be a long lock down and potential the whole dam summer.

Cities…
If I had my way I would move out just a few miles from where I am and the urban creap. I would build a house too far from the main road to see and I would not make a driveway or walk way… I would lay some narrow gauge track and invest in an old battery motor from the mines and some trucks and a man carrier. YA I would make it hard to walk over and see me so if you want to visit you have to arrange something and I ride the Loco down the pick you up…

It put some switches and spur lines around the house too! Maybe a remote pack on the motor so I could run it from the house. And on days like this I would set the switches and get liquored up and ride my private railway around and blow the whistle until the wife tells me to be quiet and go to bed HA HA…
This is how you would get to my ideal house in the woods.

Ya cities.

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While I’m thinking about it, if you have any problem with ticks on your dogs the best way I found to deal with them is dab a bit of tea-tree oil salve on them and wait about 15 seconds. They die that fast and can be easily taken off with tweezers without worrying about leaving the head embedded in the dogs skin… If it’s somewhere the dog can lick then wipe the area with a little alcohol. Tea-tree is bad for dogs.

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In all my years I only ever had one tick on one dog. It was right between her eyes too!

Never had ticks up here until the winters warmed up, But I will try out your remedy. I am not so sure its a good thing to have inside dogs with insecticide on them. Not good for them or me…

We never had ticks around here until maybe 5 or 6 years ago, at least not that I had to deal with. I think these are deer ticks and they are the ones that carry lime disease. I’ve never been bitten and I wander though my area about two and a half miles every morning to get the dogs something interesting to do and keep me functional. I have never used any of those poisons they sell for fleas and ticks. I’m one of those wholistic idiots.

Can’t stand urban areas. They’re building a casino in the town near me. Poor Cherokee couldn’t win the case protesting it being built. Now they’ll lose revenue in their area.

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The wife thinks the solution to all problems like this is chemical weapons. Yikes… To what your saying is not idiotic at all its good advice. I heard that dry mustard repels ticks and fleas.

I think you are right about the deer ticks moving north and I know about the Lime disease thing. There are deer around my house, one year a moose and always bears on garbage day.

We are just not getting the really hard month of deap freeze like we used to that killed off all these things. Its almost at the point now where its not worth owning a snowmobile because we only get a couple of months of decent winter anymore

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I have to travel to the snow I’m the only one in my family that rides and I still have 4 sleds :joy: ahhh life of a junk collector…

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I just have one left and its not run in a couple of years because it needs new suspension and a track. Its 30 years old, hardly worth anything…

This year you can not buy a 4 wheeler or sled or side by side anything unless its a worn out complete piece of crap. Covid again and people looking for stuff.

one of my neighbors tried to buy the old snowmachine off me but I declined to sell because its not any good as it. Unreliable and I would not want to see a guy that can;t fix anything go off someplace and get in trouble. Its not like days gone by when you went out with a crew of guys and came back together. Last couple of year lots have gotten in trouble going alone into the bush. Too many ATVs and bikes ect…

Just too many people… FULL STOP!
You can’t go anyplace now and not find a trail and yahoo on it or the garbage they leave behind. I am starting to think they should change Ontario’s Official flower the Trillium to the plastic bag stuck on a branch or maybe the overturned Tim Horton cup on the path.

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I cold not agree more. Gambling preys on people and it sucks the life out of the local economy, it does not create anything. Indian Casinos however bother me a lot less. At least the band gets the money and provided there is no crime involved I think its fine.

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Long story short, people don’t know how to fix repair and maintain anything anymore. All they know how to do is pull out the credit card for the next big purchase and brag how great it is. What happened to the toolbox of goods goes along everywhere? My log splitter has a dedicated tool box. Mounted to the trailer, spark plugs, starter rope fuel filter all the basic hand tools hydraulic oil you name it. Sleds all have mini tool kits with the same, dirt bike has the same, boat has the same. Old timers that lived through worse times don’t throw anything away they keep fixing it and the knowledge is going by the way side more and more sadly. I get ragged on all the time for my dilapidated junk, but I own it. I can fix it. And I like it!

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I still have fiber gears from a Ford Flathead V8 that grandpa kept. Don’t know why, he was a Cadillac guy! :joy:

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I don’t feel old, but I look in the mirror and see an old gray hair guy looking back at me now. I guess it sort of sneaks up on us all. Next thing I know I will be wearing my pants real high and telling stories a lot ( like I already do here see!! )
Fear of not having what you need seems to be a motivation for a lot of people like me.
Lots of things I really do not need, but I keep spare pumps and extra generators that cost me little or next to nothing to sit on. Spare hoses and cans of paint tubes of grease past their expire and all manner of crap. Most I will never ever need…

But if I do not have it I don’t feel comfortable. Maybe someone on this road is in trouble and needs a pump or generator or tool. ZIP tye… It could be anything they need…
I feel better knowing I have it and freely offer it to anyone in need. Maybe they will return that favour.

I understand hoarding. It comes from a fear that maybe you will regret that thing you got rid of. I am probably a low level hoarder myself.

In any event when I die the garbage men are going to have a field day going through the stuff my son takes to the dump.

Grandpa probably just liked the Canvas reinforced Phenolic. I love the stuff too its great easy to work with to make something from and durable. I have small pieces and sheets of it myself I use to make everything fro carburettor spacers to shims.

Becareful cutting Phenolic ( Bakelite ) some of it is reinforced with Asbestos

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He made patents for textile mill machinery so maybe it was for prototyping. Had over 70 patents and used the money to build the house and buy the land I live on. The actual money got spent over the years so I haven’t seen a real dime of it, but at least he was smart at investing his money into things his family needed. Lots of his machining tools I managed to hide from my uncles when grandma passed away, wish they didn’t take the Oxy Acetylene torch. Or his lathe. I got the metal bandsaw chopper and his die filer though!

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I need to finish processing this huge red oak. My electric splitter can’t deal with the stuff closest to the base so I guess I’ll cut cow pie disks and chunk it up with a hatchet or my maul. Was a dead standing tree and it still has tons of moisture in it.

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Anybody recognize the electric powered front end he makes this dolly out of?

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Interesting what ever it is.
I used a snowblower less the bucket to carry around batteries in a car lot. Kind of the same idea but it was gas powered with a Chrysler alternator on it. Its only function was to move that big battery and cables around the yard.

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