Another lesson learned which I should have already known was my new diet causes mild dizziness. Indeed, I had been working right through a spell of when my “patient” died. But taking one’s mind off the world is what hobbies are for, and another reason I chose 5V as my standard. (Actually, it is 6V. The Americans don’t make a 5V battery to match all their components of that voltage. Duh.)
[Author’s note: The good news is the new display was built fast. A single three-hour setting sufficed. I didn’t bother to test each stage like before. It worked right the first time, though a little dimmer as 1.5k was the only matching set of resistors I had in the cupboard. During the build I may have uncovered a way to repair some earlier less successful models I’d. Anyway, project 42 is back on track.]
Here's the message that if you are rich, you can control the media. Taylor Swift, who still hasn’t matured enough to show up over here begging to sing for me, got an insulting t-shirt removed from the store shelves. That’s class. (And power.) Something to do with the number of boyfriends she goes through, which I understand she has to get out of her system, though she should know she’s nearing the upper limit.
So, she joins the ranks of Justin B in managing to keep bad news away from the public. Taylor, baby, I forgive you everything. But JB, getting old is gonna be living hell on you. Still, by age 18, you still did fool the most of the world. My hero was Tommy James. He did what you did, except without being an embarrassingly stupid little prick about it.
I decided not to decide concerning the doublewide for sale. I’m leery of people who can’t spell. Call it what you want, but it reflects a lack of personal responsibility to do things right. It results from a combination of poor education and not taking pen to hand often enough. So, when the office called today saying they would consider “privet” financing, I told them I’m not interested. Call back in September.
There is a peculiar consistency among the uneducated, as in they all think alike. They all think dumb things, like money won’t buy happiness, contracts have to be in writing, or don’t invest because you might die tomorrow. It is always a risk to even associate with these types, they will let you down the instant they try to think. They will come up with the obvious wrong answers for everything. And they are chock full of useless homespun advice.
Dumb people also love to spend their money on get-rich-quick schemes. You know Forex, the outfit that says they’ll sell you software that lets you cash in on foreign currency rates? They even have a teaser site where you can play with $100k in virtual money. Why don’t I try it? Because, although it works for the top 5% of players, it is a loss for all others. International money rates no longer wildly fluctuate like they did fifty years ago. Why? Because the currencies are pegged on the US dollar, not the price of gold. All countries agree to manipulate their currently to experience roughly the same degree of suffering. This smoothing effect is called “harmonization”. However, unlike Germany in the 1920s, when today’s dam bursts, the entire world will drown.
Trivia. There are 8 states where welfare pays more than an $8 per hour job. And 7 states where it pays more than a $12 per hour job, namely Hawaii, Alaska, Massachusetts, Connecticut, DC, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island. In 9 states, welfare pays more than the average salary of a school teacher. And 78% of resumes contain misleading information.
ADDENDUM
My best laid plans appear to have gone awry and I’ve been the object of some finger-wagging. My three-year gamble was that house prices would continue dropping and precious metals would rise. Both appear to have been wrong. Let’s take a closer look at this before anybody gets too far into the “I told you so” loop. First of all, even if my plan never works, at least I tried. Sure, it looks like I failed—but I could have succeeded and still could succeed. It only takes a single incident to change my fortunes.
Thus my “failure” is temporary. Those who play it safe by doing nothing? Their failure is absolutely guaranteed. The next time some jerk suggests investing isn’t a good plan, ask him (always a him) when he last balanced his checkbook. Mine is balanced after each transaction. Average household debt is something like $55,000, nearly $16,000 of it on credit cards. That means for every guy like me, there is somebody out there off talking the big talk.
I also dispute the attitude that even if they fail, the losers had a good life and lived well during the good times. Living in a new house, driving a new car is, according to that theory, an offset to bad times in the future. I don’t believe it. I lived under a debt load early in life and there is nothing pleasurable about worrying if you can make the next payment on time. A lot of people who live that way consider debt to be normal, they sincerely don’t know of any other way to live. I call it living hell.
Besides, did I really, really fail? Or is this just the next market correction? Can’t tell. But one thing is for sure. I don’t have to sell to pay the bills. My strategy is to protect all investments. It is still a house of cards out there and there is no telling what event will initiate the collapse. Mobile home prices have not continued to drop, but are remaining stable in Boca Raton at an average of $45,412. House prices average three times that, still not a bargain.
But there are enormous changes from earlier years. Prices are not going up faster than I can save money. This was a feature of the 80s and 90s. It was practically impossible to buy any house without borrowing money or living in a bad neighborhood. Thus, I rented the entire time. I didn’t buy a place that “went up in value” but nor did I lock myself into a thirty year debt cycle and wind up underwater. Like 30% of the US population did. And I got a hundred bucks says that 30% includes 100% of my detractors.
For a dose of reality, let’s look at some facts. No links, since you can do your own research on this one, but I trust StatisticBrain. There are roughly 11 million underwater homeowners and only 2.5 million houses for sale. Meaning millions are stuck. Can’t move, can’t sell, hoping they’ll live long enough to break even. Almost half of all Florida houses are underwater, and that figure would leap exponentially if banks would quit their deliberately policy of over-appraising. I know that sounds backwards but think about it. The bank wants you to keep making payments on your $250k house, so they don’t want you to know how little it is really worth.
The word on the street is that Florida housing is being fueled by South American drug money.
