Free Republic

My, how snarky.

I put forth an example of how government mandated wage increases is contributing to economic upheaval and your mocking response is to just pay it.

Are you sure you are on the right forum?

Easy to say, hard to do.

We have a job available that is basically folding and boxing t-shirts. The individual does have to call the customer and let them know their order is ready for pick up. Monkey work.

We used to pay $8 an hour to high schoolers or college kids looking for part time work. We now have to pay $10.50 an hour, which it really isn't worth. Worse, other youth friendly jobs (national franchises) are offering $13 to $15 an hour to start. Funny thing, those employers have become really picky and many kids put in their applications, only to find some middle aged person has taken the job. The problem is that the kids really think $15 an hour is now what they deserve.

Increasing wages to a minimum of $15 an hour would increase our payroll by about 20%, or about 3% of our gross revenues. With a net profit of about 10%, that 3% is painful, so we raise our prices.

The problem is, everyone in our supply chain is doing the same thing, because they all have the same problem. We recalculated our prices taking into consideration the announced price increases. If we just increase to cover costs and keep the same profit in dollars, we need to increase our prices by about 12%. If we want to keep the same profit percentage, the increase in our prices will have to be nearly 20%.

Multiply this by all companies, and all suppliers, and combine it with the dropping value of the dollar due to excessive Federal spending, and you have a cataclysmic disaster that will "reset" our economy.

Fasten your seatbelts...

I have had three interactions with aggressive LEOs in my life. Never once did it occur to me that they were acting like a$$wipes because of my race. They were just being jerks.

I will say that if all of this new “sensitivity” leads to LEOs being more courteous and less aggressive, it isn’t all bad.

You touched on the likely answer a bit, but dismissed it.

After spending far too much time trying to separate the grain from the chaff, I am coming to the conclusion that there is more of an interdimensional aspect to this than one of physical 3 and 4 dimensional travel.

It explains much. A small craft would not have to travel interstellar distances. Things apparently appearing and disappearing could be phasing into and out of our dimension.

I am not saying it is so, but it is more credible to me than traveling 1000 light years to get here.

A restaurateur friend of mine says this is happening everywhere. Supposedly high end restaurants everywhere are feeding the rich and famous clandestinely.

What goes up will come crashing down.

Financial Rule of Thumb, when everyone is doing one thing, do the opposite.

The best play, if you can, is to sell, rent as cheap as you can for 6 to 12 months, and then buy.

It will be about a 25% correction, if my guess is right.

Seriously stupid on multiple levels.

For the landlord it means no income. Unless there is a corresponding waiving of his mortgage payments and/or taxes, the landlord could lose the property.

For the renter it means coming up with a huge chunk of change all at once or immediate eviction. I have read that landlords can start the eviction clock so that if they do not get that payment when the waiver ends, they can evict pretty much immediately.

Neither of these is a good situation, but both are caused by massive government overreaction to a “plague” with a +99% survival rate.

I know two guys that did the mail order bride thing.

One corresponded with, and eventually married, a PYT from Thailand. They have been married for almost 15 years. She is dedicated to him and grateful for her husband and life in America.

The other met a Russian girl in an online chat room about 4 years ago. They would “talk” via Skype just about every night. Eventually, he agreed to fly her to America so they could meet. She was...ahem...sexually aggressive. He was in love. He hired an immigration attorney and tens of thousands of dollars later, she was legal and they were married. Long story short, she got bored. She joined a gym and soon achieved the reputation of the best rides in town. He was clueless. One of her bangs was wealthy and he performed legal magic that got her out of her marriage with a good chunk of my friend’s change. My friend is heartbroken and almost $500K poorer than when he started.

Let the buyer beware.

My informational chart of the day.

With the exception of New Mexico, states that have been more restricted and shut down have WORSE cases than those who do not.

https://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/?chart=states-normalized&highlight=New%20Mexico&show=highlight-only&y=both&scale=linear&data=cases-daily-7&data-source=jhu&xaxis=right-4wk&extra=Florida%2CTexas%2CLouisiana%2CIowa%2CNebraska%2CKentucky%2CMichigan%2CNew%20Jersey%2CConnecticut%2CArizona%2CNew%20York%2CMassachusetts&extraData=&extraDataScale=#states-normalized

This is what happens when you take sides.

True Christians, while understanding we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, also fully understand that one must repent of your sin, ask God for forgiveness, and attempt to “sin no more”.

Homosexuals want their proclivity and actions to no longer be called “sin”.

The church welcomes all sinners, but those who insist on continuing to sin and those who try to convince the church that their acts are not sinful are in direct opposition to the Word of God and are to be cast out.

If all sin is equal, how would you react to a thief who wants to be a part of the church, who brags about his theft, and who tries to convince the church that theft is not a sin?

No, you are not. The most of the kids who attended Westminster Academy had parents that attended Coral Ridge Presbyterian. I don't know about you, but I personally had little say in what high school I attended. These kids were in the same boat. Many were there because their parents wanted them there.

This was a private high school. The kids had little say where they went to school back in the day.

For all of you saying “my church wasn’t like that”, I grew up in Fort Lauderdale under the shadow of Dr. D. James Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.

I did not attend, but my Boy Scout Troop met there and I dated girls that attended the affiliated Westminster Academy.

It was pretty much as described. The seniors at the high school had to have a Senior Banquet because a prom meant dancing and that was not allowed. No drinking. No rock music. Movies were frowned upon, if not outright forbidden. Sunday worship, Wednesday night Bible study, and a weekly prayer group were mandatory. If you didn’t tithe you got a visit from an Elder who wanted to know why.

The author of the piece clumsily compared such a church to the modern woke movement. The error is that few churches that he described still exist, but the looney left is ascendant. The church, at the time described, had little real influence in the government and could not impose the restrictions they placed on their members onto society at large. It is the woke movement’s desire to do just that...impose their rules on society as a whole. They used “separation of church and state” to keep fundamentalist Christians from imposing their will. We do not have that tool, however applicable it may be.

If they had them, do you really think they would let us have them?

A people used to liberty blessed with high technology is very hard to control.

We almost didn't get the internet.

That made me chuckle.

As someone who shouldn't have once told me...

"You like science fiction, right? Take what you think we might have, add 100 years, and you are getting close."

They are trying to do this in New Mexico. The way the bill is written, all government employees AND people who serve as volunteers on government boards would have qualified immunity removed.

So I voluntarily serve on a Public Improvement Board. No compensation. The bill would allow citizens to sue me personally for any trumped up reason. The bill protects those who bring suit - they cannot be held responsible for legal fees even if the case is dismissed or they lose. I would be responsible for my own legal defense.

For instance...there is a tree that is interfering with the utilities it is planted on and it needs to be removed. The resident that lives next door to this public area has their yard shaded by the tree. The tree is removed and the resident files suit that we removed the tree because they are black (or gay, or Jewish, or whatever). They name all of the board members as plaintiffs. We now have to hire lawyers to protect ourselves. We have been told such a defense would cost between $20K and $30K.

Sometimes qualified immunity is a good thing.

It has occurred to me that the state of our nation is like a marriage where one spouse refuses to forgive the other.

The left has decided that our past sins outweigh any good. There have been many apologies for many wrongs - often accompanied by measures to address current inequities. This has led to a grievance culture where complaining about the past leads to power in the present. It is a virtue to bitch and moan.

This, if not addressed, will be the downfall of the Republic.

I had a similar experience. I thought I hated mayonnaise.

When I was a teenager I was invited by my girlfriend to the "Senior Banquet" at her Christian school. The school would not allow them to dance, so this was their substitute for prom. I asked what clothing was appropriate and was told "nice" clothes. I wore a suit.

I was the only attendee in a suit. Everyone was in jeans and polo shirts. Awkward! To add discomfort, the "banquet" was 6 foot subs from a local place called La Spadas. All of the sandwiches had mayo on them.

Not wanting to look even more out of place than I already was, I took a slice and a tentative bite. The clouds parted...the angels sang...and a beam of light from heaven shown on me and my sandwich. This was not mayonnaise...this was wonderful! I tossed my tie and jacket into a corner, relaxed and had a great time.

The next day I shared with my mom that I now liked mayonnaise. She was making sandwiches for lunch and put "mayo" on my sandwich. I took a bite and almost ralphed. This was NOT mayonnaise! Mom held up her jar of Miracle Whip and said "Yes, it is!"

Mayonnaise = Good.

Miracle Whip = Nasty crap.