Proof: No one is serious about the Green Movement

The "Greenies" is my name for the eco-nazis who want to save the earth by limiting our consumption of water, energy, food, lightbulbs and just about everything else.   They want us to watch our carbon footprint and save the Earth.  They nag us about everything and won't be happy until we all are living in a Luddite world, huddling in the dark and chained to our hovels by high gasoline prices, high energy prices and eating sticks and twigs.

Well, I have proof that they are not serious.  That they are full of shit and don't really mean any of the things they tell us.  That they don't live by their own rules and did I already mention.....full of shit.

When you check into a motel or hotel, you are gently chided ....nagged at....to save the planet by conserving, turn off the lights, set the A/C at a higher temperature.  Hang up your towels and not have your sheets changed to save the water.  Don't take a long shower.  Don't let the water run when you are brushing your teeth.   Ok.  Not a problem.  I don't change my sheets daily at home anyway and I can use the same towel more than one time.

BUT....here is the proof that they don't really mean it and it is all just eyewash.  Proof that the Green Movement is all about controlling the proletariat and nothing about actually conserving or taking care of the environment.

A few days ago, The Dumbplumber, and I checked into a hotel we like to stay at for a little R&R.  It is next to a great steak house and we can have some cocktails, walk to the restaurant, have some more cocktails and not worry about driving or getting a DUI.

Coincidentally, we were booked into the very same room that we had 3 months before.  The same room that we complained about the toilet tank leaking through the flapper all  the time.  About every 5 to 7 minutes a gallon or so of water would leak and the tank would turn on.  Wooosh.   The Dumbplumber being an actual.....wait for it.....PLUMBER, informed them at the desk of the leakage and that a $4 flapper would fix the problem.

Did they fix it....HELL NO.  Again.  Water wooshing all night long, every 5 to 7 minutes.  Dumbplumber finally got up and turned off the water supply and in the morning the tank was bone dry.  So....not only is this annoying, we got to thinking about the amount of wasted water running down the sewers.   I'm all about conserving and not wasting, but I'm not making a religion of it like the Greenies.

Here's the math. 

24 hours a day X 60 minutes =  1440 minutes
1440 minutes / 5 minutes =  288  gallons of water down the toilet in one day
288 gallons X 365 days a year = 105,120 gallons a year

105,120 gallons x 10 (at least) other leaky toilets in this hotel = 1,051,200

Over a million gallons a year in just this ONE hotel.   There are probably at least 10 other hotels losing similar amounts of water so now we have 10.5 MILLON gallons of wasted water. 

So.....Not only are they wasting enormous amounts of water, the water bills must be enormous as well and the costs are passed onto the hotel patrons. If they were really serious about the crap they lecture us about, they would have taken the Dumbplumber's advice in the first place and fixed their leaking toilets. 

When the Al Gores of the world downsize their houses, quit flying around in personal jets.  When the Michelle Obamas of the world start eating what they expect us to eat and stop flying around in huge jets at OUR expense.  Then I might consider taking their advice.   But, THEY aren't serious and we can't take them seriously either until they start acting like it.
 

Life Is A Series Of Re-Runs

Watching the Occupy everywhere movement, their fervor and the breathless coverage by the media.....It occurs to me, looking back from my lofty years (61) that life is often a series of re-runs.  Events and patterns happen over and over.

When you are young, it seems like everything that is happening to you and that you are experiencing is happening for the first time.  And for you....it is.  The first time.  The first kiss, the first time you have sex, the first shooting star, your first foray into politics.   The experiences have power and are unique because they are happening to YOU.  And as we all know, when you are young. you are the center of the universe.

The Occupy kids are full of sound and fury and mostly sincere in their efforts and feel like their actions are going to change the world.  I well remember the feeling.   Kids 40 and 50 years ago felt the same way.  Vietnam protests, marching on government buildings, civil rights....even the violence are all re-runs this time around.  Same slogans, same energy.....same.

Recessions:  the economy sucks today.  Guess what kids....it sucked pretty bad 30 to 40 years ago during the Carter era.   We thought it was the end of the economic world then.  To the adults of that time, it was just another milder re-run of the Great Depression.

Another way to put it is: as you get older suddenly your parents seem smarter.

Life is a series of re-runs.  Nothing new under the sun. Even the Romans experienced the same social ills that we are experiencing now. 

"Rome--SEPTEMBER 4, 476AD.  

Rome falls. In the centuries preceding, Rome had been overrun with illegal immigrants: Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Lombards and Vandals. They first assimilated, many working as servants, but soon came so fast they did not learn the Latin language.
 

Though militarily superior and marching on advanced road systems, the highly trained Roman Legions were strained fighting conflicts worldwide, and eventually troops had to be brought home from the frontier outposts, such as Britain.

Visigoth King Alaric, Vandal King Geiseric, Attila the Hun, and finally the barbarian King Odoacer, committed terrorist attacks, wiping out whole cities, until Rome itself was eventually sacked and looted.

Rome had been weakened by a large trade deficit, having outsourced its grain production to North Africa, and when the Vandals captured North Africa, Rome did not have the resources to retaliate.

Citizens of Rome were kept distracted with violent entertainment in the Coliseum and Circus Maximus. The Roman Emperor kept citizens appeased with welfare and free bread.

One Roman commented:"Those who live at the expense of the public funds are more numerous than those who provide them."   Tax collectors were "more terrible than the enemy."

 Rome was crippled by huge government bureaucracies and enormous public debt."

It doesn't mean that just because these same things occur over and over that we shouldn't try to make a difference.  The Civil Rights Movement certainly did make a difference.  What these repeating patterns or re-runs mean, is that we need to pay attention and learn from our mistakes.

To the OWS kids.....you really aren't the center of the universe and you are not unique. 

Been there, done that and still have the ragged tee shirt to prove it.

Jobs, Jobs, Where are the Jobs

As we known unemployment is high.  Very high. The reports say 9% or 14 million people are out of jobs.  Actually, the reports are wrong. It is worse.  The government statistics are manipulated to hide the pain.   In some counties in the North State, State of Jefferson, where I live the UI rate is pushing 20% or higher.  Demographic groups such as young adults and blacks are over 30% unemployed.

Many who were collecting unemployment, or to be more precise being paid not to work, have run out of UI benefits.

Yet, we see productivity reports which show that in the United States productivity has been rising. 

How can this be?  We are more productive, yet there are more people not working.

Well, the answer is simple.  Technology and efficiency.  Manufacturing businesses can make the products with less people.  Who needs a flotilla of secretaries or bookkeepers when you have computer programs to do the work.  Printing shops that employed skilled technicians are replaced by laser printers and desk top publishing programs.   

So where are the jobs?  Just like in the past when the majority of people in the US were employed in agriculture and farming and those industries were made more productive by mechanization, the unemployed people had to migrate to other areas and find NEW kinds of jobs.

They didn't have unemployment insurance to give them months and years of leisure time.  They didn't have the luxury of being able to sit around and whine that their old occupations were no more. They had to find new jobs in other industries.  They had to create new jobs and create new industries.  The industrial age was a time of unprecidented economic expansion and innovation.  The innovations and inventions of those times are the foundation of our society today.

So.....where are the jobs.  The NEW jobs?

First: You need to get the government out of the way so that people can be innovative and entrepreneurial.  Rules, regulations, fees, licenses, fines all set in place to supposedly protect the public are in fact the main impediment to new job creation and are meant to reduce competition by new challengers to current industry and businesses.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we have a free for all in industry or production or businesses.  Safety of food, safety on the job and product quality are important.  You want to know if you buy something to eat.....it is safe.  You want to know that if you hire a professional to do a job for you, like your Doctor.....they are competent.   If you want to have a builder repair something in your house....you would like to know that they will be able to do the job.  However, we don't need the government in the middle of EVERY transaction.

The rules and regulations need to be sane and encouraging of new businesses.   Cottage food laws in California are (hopefully) in the process of being relaxed.   If we had the restrictive rules and regulations today during the industrial revolution, just think of the food products and giant industries that would not have been developed.  General Mills, Coca Cola...the list is long.

Second:  Instead of wailing that you can't get a job in your old occupation, look for new opportunities.  What do people need?  What would the people who have money and jobs want from you?  What kinds of jobs or services cannot be outsourced to another country or be outsourced to a computer or robot?

Just a short list of services:

• Babysitting/ Nanny service
• Home maintenance and repairs
• Cleaning services
• Landscaping
• Plumbing
• Building and construction
• Auto repair/maintenance/detailing
• Computer repair
• Assistance services for the elderly or disabled

Are these glamorous jobs.  Probably not in everyone's eyes.  Do people need these services.  You bet.  Can you make a decent living and even hire other people to work for you...Heck YEAH.

Third: What kinds of things or products are in need or would be innovative that you can make or produce. What resources do you have in your area? The Cottage Food industry is one possibility.  Hand made goods. Artisanal goods.  Can you manufacture something that would be distinctive, reasonably price and use local talent?    Should you.... can you, team up with others in your area to create new industries and new products?

So instead of wailing that jobs are lost, outsourced or that you can't do what you used to do.....look upon these tough times as an opportunity.  Opportunity to create something new, to learn something new.   Sure, it might require you to sacrifice, to lower your standard of living for a while, to work long hard hours, to maybe move to another area, to get out of your comfort zone.

Society moves on and industry moves on.  To stubbornly stand in one place will just leave you behind as others do take advantage of the new opportunities and move on to new prosperity.

Don't be a loser.

Tax Time In October

Yuck!  It's tax time!!

I know it's only October, but since this is the first year filing as a corporation we have lots of things to clarify with our CPA before the end of the year.  Better get a jump on it early.

Yes.  We are eeeeevviiiil  corporate owners.   How soon will the hippies be descending upon our corporate headquarters (aka...the workshop) demanding that we provide jobs, benefits and ham sandwiches?   The first one of these useless dregs that volunteers to jump into a knee deep septic tank or crawl under a flooded crawl space with partially decomposed cats to re-plumb a leaking pipe, might get a job.  I feel pretty secure that we will continue to not have employees.

Here I thought I was done with financial planning.  Guess not.  Items to consider:

1. Are our lease agreements between us personally and the corporation legally constructed for
1. Equipment
2. Property
3. Vehicles
2. How much does the corporation owe us personally as  a share of utilities,internet and phone since these items are not physically separated  and are too expensive to separate.
3. Payroll from the corporation to us personally as W2 employees of the corporation.
1. Did we pay ourselves enough to satisfy the IRS that the wages are 'real'
2. Have we paid our payroll tax liability properly and on time.  Previously as sole proprietors we never had to worry about that: just pay the quarterlies.
4. Tax treatment of the leases.
5. Do we have the expenses in the correct catagories.  Cost of Sales, Capital Purchases, .
6. Are our depreciable items being correctly treated or should we just expense.
7. Have we adequately separated personal use items from business use items.
8. Have we structured everything to comply with the IRS rules, and California Corporate tax codes so as to minimize the taxes the corporation pays and minimize the income taxes we pay for W2 wages versus income that is treated differently (leases, reimbursement for expenses, investment income)
9. How soon will the Dumbplumber go nuts thinking about all this stuff.  Actually, that is my job.... to keep him from going ballistic and not sputter like an angry Daffy Duck.
10. Do we have enough personal liability insurance, property, vehicle.  Tax treatment of the premiums on the vehicles. 
11. What about sales tax on items sold versus items used in contracting jobs.  
12. Do I have any idea how to use my computerized accounting program or have I totally screwed it up.  Probably.  Maybe I should just go back to using a spreadsheet like in the dark ages of my bookkeeping experiences.
13. And on and on and on

Gah!!   Thank goodness we have a good CPA.

The Dumbplumber is invited, by me to stay away from this meeting.   It is WAY too early for our annual tax time arguments. 

Everything Old is New Again

UPDATE:  January 18/2015
Sue Doran has given us a link in the comments to where the pattern for the shawl shown below can be obtained.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/125740185/pdf-crochet-pattern-vintage-70s-piano?ref=market

She is our hero.  I've looked and looked and decided that my pattern must have been one  lost in a flood a few years ago and where my boxes of patterns got soaked.   Check out the link on Etsy.  We bow to Sue


Knitting has suddenly become a revived craft. Everywhere you go, you see women and young girls knitting. Scarves, fingerless gloves, hats, sweaters. Knitting has become a cool and hip thing to do.

Well, it seems that everything old is new again. We are going through a resurgence of crafting. Knitting, sewing, quilting. Just look at the magazines and see the numbers of specialty publications

I credit the economy. When times are hard, people become thrifty and resourceful. Reviewing my collection of craft magazines from the 60's through the 90's, I can see that everything old IS new again.

I learned to knit from my Grandmother back in the early 60's as a pre-teen. The Hippie culture (n which I was briefly immersed) prized homemade and handicrafts. The Carter years brought austerity, stagflation, unemployment, high costs and crafting became even more mainstream. Of course all the Grannies who learned to be thrifty during the Great Depression already had the skills. Nothing new for them however, the young generation during the Carter Recession relearned the crafts. Now.....during this current Great Recession, yet another generation is taking up the sword...I mean the knitting needles. Everything old is new yet again.

I've started scanning the clippings,craft books from my collection. Scanning some of the sketches from my own designs that I've kept forever. First of all to have better organization and access to the patterns and ideas. However, the main reason is that some of those older magazines have become fragile and are literally falling apart.

Really dated ideas that just SCREAM 60's hippie stuff.



Others are just interesting (to me anyway) because they are ideas, colors, techniques potential for other projects.



And some things are just timeless.



I'm making this one for myself now.

So....What Happens If California Goes Bankrupt?

California, like many many States, like the Federal Government and like many Citizens, is teettering on the edge of bankruptcy. Unlike the citizens who have to make some hard decisions about what to buy, what to eat, if they can keep their house, if they can keep their car..... the California Legislature refuses to cut back or scale down any of the ridiculous pipe dream projects that the brain dead liberal voters shoved through the referendem process and through the legislature.


They refuse to cut back on entitlement programs, on top heavy beaurocries, on expensive state vehicles for everyone, parties, junkets, useless building projects, redundant departments....>HUGE pension and benefit packages. Nothing. They just refuse. Head in the sand. La lalalalala.

So, my hubby (The Dumbplumber) and I were saying. So what? What if California goes bankrupt and can't pay its bills. How will this affect us. We decided...not that much.

What could happen

Cal Trans will have to lay off workers

• Instead of 6 guys leaning on shovels, there will be 3.


• They don't fix the roads here in our rural area anyway so for several years we shouldn't see many problems. Too bad for the cities.


• When it snows, we have to plow our own roads anyway and all of us have 4x4 capability.


• We might be in trouble in the winter for food delivery to the grocery stores. But, not to worry. I have the Armageddon Pantry and there are plenty of people with chickens, rabbits, cattle, sheep, goats and large gardens for seasonal vegetables and fruits.

The Highway Patrol won't have time to try to hassle people for not wearing seat belts, cracked windshields and trailer ball infractions. The donut and coffee shops might suffer...but sooooo?

The local Countie Mounties won't be able to patrol our area. Oh...wait....they don't anyway. We have one guy on duty at night for a several hundred square miles area. We are on our own now. How much worse can it get?

Maybe the welfare queens and druggies getting welfare and rent subsidies will either have to get freaking jobs or better yet....move back to East LA where they came from. The truly needy will be helped by our existing support groups of the Food Pantry, Churches and Fraternal Organizations like the Lions and Masons.
The schools may have to lay off some personnel. They will threaten us with the teachers being laid off. Notice that they never get rid of administrative people. However, since they don't teach much now anyway and most teachers are not all that educated in the first place, I think the gap can be filled in with qualified volunteers. We have a plethora of retirees who obtained their educations before the liberals dumbed down the education system.
The local DMV and County regulatory offices may have to close or be pared down. Big deal. They aren't open all the time anyway and mostly exist to make our lives a pain. Maybe now we can build that storage shed without having to pay through the nose for inspections and permits and be annoyed with stupid regulations. Like...... are there any butterflies that breed in the area that you want to build. Seriously. That is one of the studies you have to do before building.
Garbage service. Don't have any available here.
Recycling centers. You must be joking
Water. I'll use my well like everyone else does....thanks.
Fire Department: all volunteers not supported by the county, although they do get some small portion of the property tax rolls.
Cal Fire: Well, now this IS one that I would miss. If we have a forest fire we do use the California Dept of Forestry fire crews. On the other hand, since the Federal Government has seen fit to lock away much of our lands from us and instituted the 'roadless' rule, maybe we should just let the Feds take over this also. Most of our fires are lightening caused. What did the Indians do about fires before the 'white man stole his land'. Nothing. Let'em burn. Guess this is what we will have to do also.
Power. Well, one of the largest hydro facilities is right next door, so to speak, and we have people who have already volunteered to "divert the grid" if push comes to shove. Plus there are several private bio mass power plants that can be "localized" and solar arrays and some wind power farms.
Of course, California, instead of reducing costs, lowering payroll by paring back on useless and redundant positions, policing the welfare rolls and getting illegals off the system and off of our backs.....the Legislature will try to raise taxes even more driving more businesses out of the State or underground. That will be bad because some people may have to move out of State and towns will suffer through a declining population and declining amount of money circulating in the economy. Cash will be king and barter transactions will increase.
So. Go bankrupt California. Not much will change for me. Since the State of California doesn't do much for me now other than take my money .....I'm not going to miss it.