One year ago today: November 25, 2018, $2,650.
Five years ago today: November 25, 2014, blaming the wrong government.
Nine years ago today: November 25, 2010, casinos have their own version.
Random years ago today: November 25, 1981, because it was 1981.
Here’s a scene from the lake this morning, finally a day warm enough for a decent walk. The doggs almost went through my car window. I get to talk money and budget today. t got warm enough for an extended stroll with the pets around the lake, over at the dam site. They had the energy I was missing, so I stopped at the old donut shop up on Lebanon Pike. I had to catch up on the books, since the my budget-keeping goes far beyond recording costs. They don’t emphasize that when recommending a written budget, but it builds a “wealth awareness” that is effectively impossible to achieve otherwise. That’s why I know this month is the most unusual of this century so far. There have been ten days when I spent nothing.
My point is, there have been ten days this month, that I was not compelled in some way to spend actively, even if it was a parking meter. Secondarily, I do not curtail such spending nor avoid or delay any payments. Thusforth, I am surprised when, during a normal day, I am able to beat the system that is designed to hound you for every penny you have from birth to death. Today was not such a day, as I spend $2.93 on the coffee, and another $3.14 on some detergent. This brings me back to the budget, something a lot of people regard as extra work. Wrong. If you have not budget, you are likely spending around 60% more money than you really need to be.
The first six months of budgeting might seem like it is putting the brakes on spending, but that is a misuse of the process. You don’t change your spending, you just start keeping track of it. It takes those same six months to develop a feel for what things actually cost, and that often shocks people when they find out how non-linear the relationship can be. You cannot just jump in the car and go get a $5 bag of dog food, but you become aware that the total trip costs you $8. Once you catch on, you’ll see me drive the car any time without planning, because the true expense has become a habit. I never run out of money for the car, and it is not because I have a lot of money. It’s because I have a budget.
This works on every scale, including the entire economy. For instance, do you know why the banks still offer CDs and the government still wants you to buy savings bonds? It’s because they operate on counterfeit money. The money only works because people think it does, the actual paper is worthless. Woe to the nation when that becomes common knowledge and people stop accepting it. That has happened many times in history, kind of back to the barter system. But in this case, people would flock to real money, such as the gold-backed dinar created by Mohammar Khadaffi. Almost. That was one close shave for the western world.
The real reason for CDs and bonds is that the system works on printing up valueless money to pay the bills, the big items being entitlements and military. The government doesn’t have enough money from taxes, so they just print it up. The true motive for savings bonds and such is that they curb inflation by taking billions of dollars back out of circulation. Until the bonds come due, which they also just print up, but 30 years down the line. Now you know.
Scenic German countryside.
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My box lids showing the [results of] blade warp. I tried to keep the metal cool by staring each corner with a back saw. Even with a fence, the blade wanders to the left. It’s lack of experience, but I’d rather do the job proper with a table saw. I learned a lot progressing to this style of box joinery. That’s my soft-side Peavy bass case in the background. I don’t play a Peavy any more.
Have you seen the scale of that new whale fossil just found in Egypt? Massive. The question is almost how did they not find it. Trivia, did you know the first whale fossil found in that desert was way back in 1902?
The guitar player from last week has been in contact. He really does not have time to pursue the duo, so we might put one set together. It’s important we keep in touch because he’s got that rare quality of instinctively “filling in” with his strumming when he’s in a duo. He was not that aware of it until I pointed it out. Contrast that with other guitar players who tell me it is impossible. The other bonus is stage personality. With the two of us on stage, we could give lessons. I put him on the e-mail list.
We were talking politics, something to normally avoid with guitarists who tend to be a misinformed lot. The Democrats have really painted themselves in a corner with this impeachment thing. Trump has fully admitted everything he talked about and released the transcripts, so the Democrats find their time-tested tactics of making something out of nothing have no effect. They can’t even state for certain that any law has been broken. What a shameful debacle for the world to witness.
ADDENDUM
YouTube is fiddling with their system, not the wisest move in the Internet era. When you find something that works, leave it alone. Do your experimenting on a new site. It’s getting harder to find good documentaries there anyway. Just lots of mal-informed SJWs posting misleading statistics with that lady-boy accent they learn in public school. One of them goes on now 8% of the population in South Africa own 84% of the farmland. Implying the area was farmland taken away from the rightful black owners.
No mention that it was those same 8% who cleared the land, build the fences, dug the wells, and planted the drops. If you want to see what happens to farmland when it is given to the indigenous peoples, look at Zimbabwe. Oh, and by the way, any millennials reading this, in the USA, all the farmland is owned by just 1.3% of the population. Why aren’t you screaming about that?
