One year ago today: March 19, 2019, magazines, now $25
Five years ago today: February 19, 2015, the new car syndrome
Nine years ago today: March 19, 2011, rare picture of me.
Random years ago today: March 19, 2007, Trump condos.
I arrived to clear out my bank account and found the doors locked. That’s my bank, instead of extending hours in a crisis, lock the doors. By appointment only. To be fair, they did send an e-mail but still. I’ll keep making the trip until the balance is just over the minimum for free everything. The system is shaking everything out. Had to show ID to pay my utility bill. Could not get an estimate on the car repair unless I opened an account, you guessed it, which requires ID. The good news is I found a replacement tail-light just ten miles down the road. Actually, I could get the whole quarter panel for $200 if I knew how to cut it and install it. Oh, and Boost won’t transfer my phone over unless I show ID, nor will they activate a new phone on Virgin. The cheapest Boost line is twice the cost per month.
Thus, I took the tire off and had a look myself. The tail light bracket is intact and held in place by two screws. Once that is repaired, the car is legal. The damage, however is too conspicuous for a small town. The shops I checked and on-line all think in terms of repair. I don’t want it repaired, I only want it to look repaired. Don’t hand me that safety crap, I’ve done it before and it works fine. For crying out loud, it is just metal and paint. Like the Golden Gate bridge.
Now, I can’t get cash out of my own bank because they also want current ID, which I cannot even attempt to get until April 19 thanks to this COVID-19 scare. I don’t want a bank having my out of state ID as a basis, so here’s how I tested the system. I promised you this, so ready?
I go into the bank and say I’d like to update my ID, but, I say to the clerk, don’t enter the ZIP till last. I explain I’ve made “mistakes” on that before. So we got through the screen menus until the last field is the ZIP. Okay, I says, but let me get my mail from the car because I need to be certain. Walk back in, but my wife took the mail out of the car. Please cancel the entry screen and I’ll come back with the correct code. I wait a day, go into a different branch and ask to confirm my statements are going to the right address.
Ah, still my old information. Nothing accomplished? Not really, I know quite a hell of a lot. I see the data entry is active screen, or whatever they call it these days. Thus, even though all but one of the fields was blank, when the clerk cancelled the session, all the text fields cleared. There is no copy of the new info unless she hits the enter key with all the required fields. I know exactly what information they will ask for. I know what phone number to give them. Yep, quite a lot, actually. There is, you’ve guessed, more to this than I’m saying, but you get the idea. Fight fire with fire.
Abandoned German equipment, 1945.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Ah, did somebody say I could get ripped off? Nope, they have to give me a signed bill of sale before they can get it transferred to their name. If I didn’t mention, old Jimmy from next door developed a big interest in the vehicle, it seems, just because I did. Actually, I hope he buys it in a way. His way of doing things is out of date. It works, but playing by the book can get you snagged into some pretty bad ways even if you do everything right. If he tries to go on-line to read the directions, well, let’s watch and see.
ADDENDUM
[Author’s note: there is a paragraph missing here that connected the following to today’s blog. Sorry, so get what you can from it. Could be a repeat for all I know. Tell you what, I’ll throw in antoher pic of the car. See where I’m pointing? I’m planning to enlarge that hole to fit a big metal bar, which I think will reach in far enough to pop a lot of the fender panels back into shape.]
Who warned you about this two years ago, c’mon, say it. Not that I support Trump. It’s hard not to these days, but the fact is, I support others less. Trump has changed the political landscape in two major ways (this is my opinion). First, he’s shown the normally fragmented taxpayer class what kind of power they have it they act in unison against liberals. Liberals who had so much invested in keeping them at bay for the purpose. Liberals who took over vast segments of the government to use as their plaything. Second, I don’t think the people that elected him and who are going to re-elect him will ever again accept another president that doesn’t keep promises. There will never be any more liars like Bush, or Clinton, or Obama in our time.
And his plan does have that element. For example, he would put a 97% tax on the 400 wealthiest Americans. As he puts it, take them from super rich down to just ordinary rich. And I agree in one limited sense. I have no problem with the rich making tons of money from their own hard work and entrepreneurial genius. But they crossed the line. They began to dabble in politics, influencing politicians to enact favorable tax laws, changing the business infrastructure of America to function on unskilled labor, and have placed massive barriers on allowing others to become rich as well. That makes them fair game.
The danger is the shifting definition of rich. Under extreme liberalism, I would be considered rich on a number of counts. There would be no provision for the fact that I worked for what I have, I would be judged on ownership only. Most Americans believe $250,000 income per year is the entry level to middle class, that fast disappearing segment of American society.
Sanders also has some genuinely needed views on corporations. One is eliminating stock buybacks, where a runaway successful business has the cash to buy back ownership from the shareholders. And that 45% of a company’s board of directors be employee elected. I’ll say it again, I have no problem with these concepts because they go after people who have abused power. But I question two things. First, such regulations would be handing a lot of power over to somebody and such power is rarely well-regulated. Next, once they’ve milked the corporations and the rich, who’s next? Never forget these people are dyed-in-the-wool left-leaning liberals and eventually will come for you. Yes, you.
This next passage is a repeated article, because it generated a lot of hits:
My regular patrons will recognize the day or two missing means I'm likely on the road or something is going on. Since Monday (the 16th) you may have to wait for the special features (Yesteryear, pic of the day, Last Laff). This has been a rough stretch. The tornado, the plague, then a hillbilly falls asleep at the wheel and hits my car at the little town of Cagle, TN. You can look back a few days and see at least some pictures of the incident.
Also, I arrived to a ghost town. The governor shut down what looks like places of assembly. But if you look closely, it is largely the small businesses that still operate largely on a cash-flow basis. Somebody out there is determined to cause a recession, likely to point fingers at Trump. That's liberal logic. If the virus is contained, it was the Democrats coming to the rescue. If it gets out, Trump didn't "do enough".
Don't worry, the American public is aware the people who fanned this panic are the same gang that just failed at the impeachment hoax. What intrigues me is that this shut-down is so slick and organized compared to what the Democrat party seems capable of. They've repeatedly shown themselves to be bumbling idiots.
At street level, most of the cash is already gone. People are reduced to living on credit cards, which will work until the next bill arrives. What's scary is those who have these cards don't appear to have curbed their spending. Today, I am taking all my cash out of the banks except a token $100. So should you.
