Growing up in a rural area, I remember traveling to our county seat. (The Big City). At that time they had they had 2 drive in theaters. 3 root beer stands, A DQ, 3 indoor theaters, a roller skating rink. Two bowling alleys. A Borden’s milk delivery service, a Maplehurst milk delivery service, a bread delivery service. For you who don’t know what these were, Milk and bread were delivered directly to your door. The biggest high school in the county, with 6 grade schools. They, unlike our rural schools, even had kindergarten. They had 2 pool rooms, and about 5 drug stores. Not like your Walgreens or CVS, etc. These were small stores where they also had fountains for you to get sodas and ice cream and sit around and talk. Very popular with the tweens, and teens. Downtown had 3 hotels. Large ones. Two or three book stores. Large factories, Enough to employ a large portion of the county residents. A YMCA, a Boys Club, that had actually fees that were low enough that any boy could belong, Not like the rich kids country club they now call the BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB. Fees were like $5 , now I believe it costs about $25-$30 each. It was located where kids could walk to after school, and have fun. The leagues they had set up cost about another $5 to join. (this was just to cover the T-Shirts to separate the teams. Now it cost about $40 plus for the same events. The kids have to walk about 2-3 miles to get to the club (which is located across the street from the county jailhouse. Now the multiiple hard ware stores and lumber companies have been replaced by 1 Home Depot. No more root beer stands, no skating rink, 1 bowling alley, Which is so expensive I can no longer afford to bowl. I used to bowl 2l leagues, Tuesday, and Thursday, 1 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Saturday and Sunday were reserved for pot bowling and tourneys. Many closed Factories, and high unemployment. Thanks to Wal*Mart (our only place to shop, As they cut prices until competition run out of town. Now we pay more for items than in towns/cities where Wal*Mart has competition. Theye used to have a gas station on about every corner, they actually came out pumped your gas, checked your oil, tire pressure, and washed your windows. If needed they repaired your car, washed it, and fixed flats. Now they have lost most of the Industries. Lost all of the entertainments, they had. Closed about half of the schools. People moving out because there is no jobs to be had. The Electric Company just announced that their revenues are down because there is so many vacant houses, and the loss of industry, and business. To stay in business they will have to raise their rates. The factories, that are left are paying less because there is more demand for jobs than jobs available. The only thing there is more of is Motels, and eating establishments, (mostly fast foot). When I want a good meal I have to travel about 30 miles to eat. Oh yes. The local and only hospital has just announced there will be no more births at their facility because they could not justify the 13 employees they had. So now if you live in this area you will have to drive 30 t0 40 miles to have your baby born in a hospital. The town has so many empty buildings setting, just deteriorating. They would be better to adopt a plan like some of the surrounding communities. If the building sets vacant for over a year or two. The owner must have it removed. Portrait of a dying City/town. Yes they had a thriving town. Many small businesses. I remember they had 3 butcher shops. When Church was over although there were about 10 sit down restaurants, you usually had to stand in line to get a seat. That Is How I See It. Views: 133
Category: Government
Marathon Oil Splits
Marathon Oil has said it will split into 2 companies. The plan is to split off the oil exploration and producing arm and the marketing and refining arm. They claim this move will make them more FLEXIBLE. It appears the earned only $2.53 billion, in the third quarter last year. This is bad because it is only about 1/6 of the earnings made by marketing and refining. I could be wrong because in the report there are many conflicting figures. The way I translate this move is thus. By splitting, the exploration and producing, sectors will be able to charge the refining and marketing more money. Marketing and refining will have to up their price at the pump. Translation: We pay more at the pump. Marathon exploration and producing earns more money. Our paying more money at the pump “PUMPS” up the income for the marketing and refining arm. A WIN-WIN. For Marathon. A LOSE-LOSE, for us, the consumers. I’m not saying Marathon is the only company doing this. Marathon is merely the example I selected. That Is How I See It. Views: 126
Illinois to raise Taxes
Illinois has a state sales tax rate of 6.25%. Now Governor Pat Quinn is elated to have had his lame duck law-makers pass a new income tax law. Although I despise the two party system which gives power to people with their own money making agendas. I must state according to the report this hike was passed without one Republican vote for. I must mention the voters in all but 3 counties were against tax hikes. Retroactive to January 1, 2011, Individual taxpayers will face an 67% increase in personal income tax. Business will face a 46% rise. This according to the governor will give $250 million a year to schools. However had they passed a $.98 Cigarette tax increase, schools would have gotten $300 million a year. The money raised was originally earmarked to reduce property taxes. But in the final draft this was dropped. NO property relief. I am sure you smokers will disagree with me here, but I feel if you can afford a nonessential like cigarettes, you can surely well afford a tax on cigarettes. I classify any nonessential a luxury. I suppose the economy and unemployment rate is healthier in ILLINOIS than any other state. Why else would they even consider a non logical move like this. Seems to me more people will have to leave the state, being unable to afford the tax hike. Business can you afford to stay in ILLINOIS. I suppose the Governor knows his State better than I. If you can’t cut spending raise income. Can the individual taxpayer do that? NO. Can business do it? YES! they just raise their prices, which also generates more sales tax money for the state, an covers the tax raise. Thus the business tax raise, is passed on to consumers making their total 113% raise in income tax. Without spending cuts and only raise taxes. Will the Governor bankrupt the state. Or will the tax base be forced to leave the state/ That Is How I See It Views: 117
Term Limits for Judges
OHave you noticed a change in your Judge over the years. I have. Not only locally but all over the country. With few exceptions. Judges, after serving consecutive terms seem to gain a more god-like feeling. That is to say Judges get an all powerful feel, and I think they sometimes have drawn pretrial conclusions, and nothing will change their mind. Over a course of years they tend to form alliances with political parties, lawyers, prosecutors, and businesses, etc. Some may do this unwittingly, others know they have these relationships. Do these connections influence their decisions. YOU BET! One Judge, a woman, (I don’t know if she had issues against men or this one in particular), I heard of put a man behind bars for contempt of court. “What did he do “, you ask. He had paid his child support 6 months in advance, he worked construction and some winters there was no work. She told him he was in contempt of court because she had ordered him to pay weekly. One Judge, I know of, has been Judge for over 20 years, (how many over I’m not sure). The case I am thinking of the arresting officer testified he observed the suspect in a truck facing west, from his position 1 block east and 1 block north of the infraction, with a building in his range of view. He was able to identify the driver but did not make an arrest, as he was only to observe. When it was pointed out that it would be impossible to see the suspect from his position. The Judge replied, “You have to have the proper binoculars like the officer had”. Do any of you know where I can buy binoculars that can go out and make a couple of 90 degree turns, that is what it would take to see what the officer claimed. Alliances, Relationships, All powerful. That is what you get when Judges stay in office too long. I think 2 terms is more than enough. That Is How I See It. Views: 85
Roundabouts
I’m sure you are mostly aware of the ROUNDABOUTS, that many areas are putting in to supposedly relieve traffic on some busy roads. When the Interstate system was instituted the brain child for entering and exiting the interstate was a little thing called the clover leaf. Some states still have these accidents waiting to happen. The way it works, for those of you are unaware. The traffic entering the Interstate just happen to use the same lane as people exiting the Interstate. It is sort of hard to explain without seeing it. But try to imagine being on the Interstate and you come to your exit, and must get in an exit lane. But as you are trying to get in the exit lane you have people coming onto the Interstate using that same lane. Confusing, yes it is a miracle more people haven’t been killed. The Roundabouts are the same thing. The ones I have been on have two lanes an inner lane and an outer lane. Where you once had a 4 way stop you now have a 4 way go. If you come to one of these and are going straight you get in one of the two lanes but if you are making a…lets say a normally left turn you would most likely get in the outside lane. If you aren’t turning left but want to turn right or go straight you normally get in the inner lane. But because you have cars coming in the Roundabout from 4 different directions, you could go round several times before you are able to work yourself to the outer lane. Many times I have seen near accidents, and nearly been involved in them, on these Roundabouts. Thank heaven we don’t have any of them in our area, only when we go to the big City. I don’t see how this can help anyone. It is like a monster waiting to devour your car. I personally avoid any roads with these things in them. That means businesses located on these two roads miss any business I may have for them. Roundabouts and Clover leafs are more dangerous than people driving 10 miles over the speed limit, I’m all for banning Roundabouts in the United States. They are already changing many of the clover leafs to a safer system but look how long that has taken. That’s How I See It Views: 125
Postage Rates
This is a classic. What do you do if you own a business that is dying. Dying due to competition that is offering the same basic service for a much, much lower cost. Many of us use email to correspond with one another. We pay our bills online. We send our Christmas, Birthday cards, etc. Electronically. To stay in business we would make necessary cutbacks. That means like most business we close our less profitable outlets or manufacturing sites. We lay off people. We cut back on benefits. I don’t like any of these things, but that is what is really happening in the business world. The United States Postal Service is still a needed service, not just so much as it once was. I have not seen any of the aforementioned steps being taken. They are saying they will stop Saturday delivery. But they have not said anything about the employee’s pay being cut for the extra day off. We know that the pay scale for postal employees has always been higher than in the private sector. The Benefits better, the retirement better. Good for the employees. As long as the USPS can afford to pay all this, fine. But looking to the long term. If I own an automobile dealership, and I charge more than other dealers of like vehicles. Where would you go? Pay more at my dealership, or go across the street, and buy the lower priced vehicle. What do I do. The USPS says we’ll charge more and make up the difference. Now they don’t have to have as many customers, to maintain their profit. Meanwhile the guy across the street is selling more units at less cost per unit, but is making a larger bottom line profit, due to his increased volume. They even have unknown cost to customers. How many of you have mailed a birthday card only to find out you had insufficient postage. Why? Because the envelope is 1/16 of inch larger than allowed thus incurring a ‘SPECIAL HANDLING” charge. This means the card didn’t fit through the sorter, and someone had to actually pick it up to put in the bag. So is the answer keep raising prices. Or lower the prices and increase volume. That Is How I See It. Views: 108
Bank Fees
It wasn’t enough the common people had to bail the banks out of their pending demise. Now they want the poorest people to pay them more money, by raising fees that will injure the poor and help the rich. What are you talking about? I just read an article that stated Chase bank wants to charge you for having a checking account unless you deposit $500.00 ( or meet certain other requirements). These other requirements were not mentioned. Now I know most of you who live in high cost of living states probably make enough to cover the $500.00. However most people do not, and being able to have $500.00 to put in a checking account is a luxury. In fact these people probably don’t leave their money in a checking account long enough to justify paying anything. Yes I know the bank doesn’t make money when it goes in and back out. But the bank does make money on SAVINGS accounts, loans, etc. Most people will get their auto or home loan from the bank they have a checking or savings account. If all of these people pull their checking accounts and go somewhere else without all of these fees, where does that leave Chase. I recall a time when people knew their local banker. I remember looking for a new truck. The local banker told me to get 20% off the sticker price write a check, let him know how much and it would be in my checking account. Imagine doing that with banks today. I also recall when that same bank was sold to a larger bank. I noticed I was paying more to them to maintain my savings account than I was earning interest. When I mentioned this to a lawyer friend of mine, he checked and found the same thing. Word spread, soon there was a big rush to move saving accounts to a smaller bank. Was it any wonder the checking accounts soon moved too. Along new loans etc. But alas, the big banks bought all the small banks, and the rest is history. They control the economy. The closest thing we have now to a small local bank is Credit Unions. If worse come to worse I guess we could just put all our money in PayPal, and pay our bills that way. What is the answer. The people will have to make that choice and stand behind their choice. (FOR A CHANGE). People I get tired of being pushed around by the Haves. That Is How I See It. Views: 84
Gas Prices
Try as we might, the consumer can never figure when to buy gasoline. I play this game every week. Do I fill up Monday or wait for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or is Sunday going to give me the best price. Whatever day I pick I the price will go down the next day. But I have an SUV, a Pickup truck. a sports car, and a motorcycle. (Don’t misunderstand my truck is 23 years old, My SUV is 16, my sports car was a gift for me to fix, and occupy my time, and the motorcycle was given to me by a friend who at age 77 decided it was time to quit riding). So I buy gas on one day then go back the next with the other 3 vehicles. (I at least can save a little money on 3 out of 4 vehicles). The gas companies have conspired to raise the price of gas to $3.00 a gallon ever since they reached $2.00. They drove to get the price to $2.00 ever since they attained $1.00. They always have an excuse. We didn’t produce enough gas. Crude oil prices are up. (which I feel they control to an extent). We had an oil spill. The demand for gas is too high. The gas demand is too low. And my favorite. It’s a Holiday. Whatever other reason they can think of. It is always “NOT MY FAULT” with them. A year or two ago our government was saying “we must curb our driving habits to cut down on gas consumption. Then when they realized the loss of tax revenue from our driving less,; using less gas. They wanted to raise our gas tax if we didn’t pick up our usage. We are in a catch 22. Not all us are able to go out and buy the electric cars that government is pushing. (They really don’t look that safe to me.) For city driving they may be okay, For those of us who live in a rural area and have to drive 50 plus miles to reach a city big enough to support charging stations. Retirees? Sometime they purchase one last car as they retire, knowing they can’t afford new car payments, taxes, plate fees, and insurance on a new car. Gasoline companies your days are numbered keep raising prices and you force people to switch to electric cars, bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds. We once had steam cars and they could get us from point A to point B quite effectively. Horses worked pretty good for a long time. I could see a time when mini cities will spring up with all the things people will need can be shopped, bought and delivered to my house. The bygone (in some areas) trolley car can be revived to take people to anywhere they want within the mini city. That Is How I See It. Views: 134
Social Security Receipients to Bear More Burden
I hate repeating topics but according to an article I just read, the Federal Government has decided that The retired people should pay more of the deficit. Now People have paid into this fund for more years than they will probably be receiving benefits. As I noted before The elderly have not received and will not receive a raise now for 2 years. Not only does this affect their current costs. Believe it or not every thing has gone up in cost while the Government denies a Cost of Living. Food, Utilities, Food, Gasoline, what has not gone up. That makes them paying for the Bailout. But two years without a raise goes deeper. An example of this would be…. If you are offered a 10% raise today and a 10% raise in 6 months. Or a 20% raise in a year. Which would give you the best deal? Let’s say you are making $10 an hour now. You get a 10% raise today. You are now making $11 an hour that on a 40 hour week equals $40 extra a week. take that time 26 weeks and you have made $1040.00 during the 6 months. You get your second 10% after that 1st 6 month period. Only now instead of a $1 an hour raise you will get a $1.10 raise now you are making $12.10 and hour a raise for that year of $2.10 an hour. Say you selected the 20% raise after the year. You have lost that $1040 from the 1st 6 months, and you are only going to get a $2 raise taking you to $12 an hour. In other the no raise for 2 years is carried on forever even if you get a raise the third year because it will be based on the $10 you have been making. Therefore you are still making less. I hope you understand my analogy. Never mind the Federal Government has for years, decades actually, loaned at no interest to other government agencies who have never paid principal or interest back into the Social Security coffers. They want to raise the age for full benefits to 69. Use a less generous cost of living adjustment. (Less than a Zero adjustment used now. Does this mean the elderly will have to start paying the government a cost of living adjustment). They want to double the gasoline tax to 15 cents a gallon. Also reduce corporate income tax by 8%, and stop taxing overseas profits of U.S. based multinational corporations. I think what President Obama’s gang wants is to eliminate the elderly and/0r make them dependent upon their children. After all they are filthy rich and plan to stay that way and take care of their corporate buddies. That Is How I See It. Views: 112
CHRISTMAS
Christmas is a day we celebrate the birth of our LORD and SAVIOR. The USA was founded on the principles of Christianity. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; This alone guarantees us the right to freely express and practice our own religions. Be it Muslim, Buddhism, etc. It does not and cannot prohibit these practice anywhere. The Supreme Court misinterpreted, thank mostly to the efforts of the ACLU, or as I call them Anti Christian Lawyer Union. Because this country was founded on RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES, and our forefathers believed in them deeply. The reason our forefathers came here was for the freedom to worship GOD. Now I believe if you are not a Christian, you are against public prayer , etc. Then don’t take the Christmas Vacation. Go ahead and work. Because by taking these days off you are celebrating CHRISTMAS. Now you don’t want to be a hypocrite do you. I suggest you petition the President to establish a Buddhist Day, Muslim Day, Jewish Day Atheist Day, etc, oh wait Atheism isn’t a religion, merely a lack of it. You celebrate them I’ll celebrate Christmas. Now as we do for our family and friends, let us sing Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you you. Happy Birthday Dear Jesus Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday Jesus. Merry Christmas to all. That Is How I See It. Views: 86
