Interesting thing I'm hearing here that seems to be a big difference between bills in the US and the UK, your bills seem to come due sporadically throughout the month.
Myself and most people I know..pretty much only have bills due roughly at the first and 15th of the month. I only have to pay twice a month for things. I'm currently back on a W2 gig, so I get paid on the 7th and the 22nd of the month, so, when I get paid, I know I need to pay bills.
And most of my bills also come in the mail, so I have that as a reminder, I open them and when it is 'bill day' I go through the stack of everything due that period and pay it....99% these days through my bill pay on my banks website.
Again, I prefer to be in control of my money, and it is only a couple of minutes twice a month to click each bill, set the amount and click send.
I have at least as many bills as you it seems, car, motorcycle, car/household renters insurance from one company, motorcycle insurance from another, rent, cable/internet, cell phone, 3x difference credit cards, water, electricity.....my health insurance and all comes directly out of my paycheck and is only about $80 a month for my full coverage....and a couple of other bills.
But seems the primary difference is how ya'lls bills seem to be spread throughout the month....
"Sure it was fun for a while, but the need to watch the speedo everywhere I went to keep my license wore thin. It was frustrating to have so much power on tap and never being able to use it. The only plus in traffic was that lane changing was "point and shoot"."
I have a big motorcycle for just fun cruising around town, but in a sports car (I've owned both a vette and porsche)...you use a radar detector, and even a CB on the highway, but radar detector is a must in town. I never bother looking at the speedo until it goes off. Also there is a great little app for the iPhone called "Trapster" where people can report cops live and speed and redlight traps.
I drive fast everywhere...always have. I have had performance cars that can handle the g's and stop when needed fast. If you have one, you gotta enjoy it. Every time I fire up my cars...my drive is a fun time.
"Why not just develop a design to swap out batteries through an automated crane? Pull in, the robot arm removes your empty battery and replaces it with a full one. The empty battery charges at whatever pace the 'gas' station deems necessary (maybe overnight when prices are lower) and the driver has a full charge within seconds. I'm almost certain I saw this idea put forth on/. in the past."
How's that going to help you at home? What if your car runs outta power at home after sitting for awhile, etc...?
Frankly, I don't think it should only be one or the other...how about both? You can charge from an outlet when available, and swap out at a station while on the road?
"Just because we're going to go electric doesn't mean we're going to lose our love of ridiculously huge and overpowered cars for the 20 minute commute on the freeway. "
I dunno about "huge", but I gotta say...a corvette or turbo porsche sure has a way of making even a 10 minute drive a LOT of fun.
"Oh, and what's up with paying huge interest-rates on a "credit card" when most people have a much cheaper line of credit backed by their house anyways ? "
Many people...hell, I'd dare say most people don't own their own house.
"Wow. I guess that just puts a spot light on the diversity of the U.S. Here in California, I haven't seen a grocery store, restaurant, bakery, or even convenience store that didn't take credit cards in years. Heck, even the fast food places take credit cards here."
I've seen fast food chains over recent years start taking CC's. I don't, however, eat there very often, as that there aren't that many around where I live here in New Orleans.
I'd say most of our restaurants here are local restaurants...and you do actually see quite a few, especially the OLD ones, that do not take credit cards. I guess they don't want to pay the fees. I do have to keep it straight in my head when going out to eat..which ones do and do not take 'plastic'.
These days...I often just try to mostly carry and spend cash. I take out about $200-$300 a week, and that usually lasts me most of the week. I cook most of my week day/night meals on Sundays...so, I don't go out much during the week. Not much time actually...work - gym - bed, rinse, repeat.
But Fri-Sun, I like to go out and have fun, and have a nice meal and drinks out.
"It will? I can't say I've noticed - I've always used my credit card to buy pretty much everything that's over £5 (almost every shop takes cards... and practically no shop takes cheques) and I've never landed in "heaps of debt". My credit card bill arrives at the end of the month and gets paid off by an automatic direct debit from my current account when the bill becomes due a month later.
Sure, if my bank account is empty when the direct debit goes out then my account will go overdrawn and I'll get charged, but that would happen if I was writing a guaranteed cheque too.
If you lack the discipline to only spend within your limits, you can always use a debit card instead, which will be declined at the time of the transaction if your bank account is empty.
So no, using a credit card is not "fiscally irresponsible" and won't land you "hip-deep in debt" unless you're a complete idiot."
Well, likely what the GP was referring to, was being able to easily track expenditures.
Most every checkbook I've ever seen or used also has a built in ledger, where you have balances against charges with you at all times. It is easy to see how much money you have left. Not as easy, at least in the past, to instantly see what you had in your account. Nowdays, granted, many people have smartphones that can access your bank account and see balances, but that is a pretty recent thing. And...not everyone has that type of phone with access these days...that is still a bit $$ for many people.
It is easier to get in CC-hell, since you charge, but rarely keep a running total in your head of everything you've charged over the month. I do a decent job of that, and even I get surprised from time to time at EOM of how much I may have charged.
I actually try to go more on a cash basis these days myself.
"I think you misunderstand what "Direct Debit" means in the UK. Direct Debit is basically a system where you authorise a company to withdraw money from your account each month. This is very similar to a standing order (where you instruct your bank "transfer X amount to another bank account on this day each week/month/year") except that for Direct Debits the amount to withdraw is determined by the recipient of the payment."
No, many companies have that over here in the US, especially the utilities, etc. I personally do NOT like this as that I don't like giving hardly anyone or any company direct access to my bank account.
However, many banks here are offering free bill pay from the banks website, where if the company is hooked to the 'system' (I forget the name) when I set up a bill to pay it is often transferred from the bank to the company electronically in about 1-2 days. If the bill to pay is a person or company not in their electronic system, the bank cuts them a physical check and mails it to them..free of charge.
As for automatic payments!??!
Eeek...not me. I like to see exactly what the bill is for everything, and pay the amounts out myself. Heck, what happens if you make a mistake in checking somehow...and your funds are lower than thought..and all those automatic bill payments come in and cause numerouse NSF (insufficient funds) penalties?? That can cost you serious cash since those can often be $25 - $39+ per overdraft.
"I'm afraid UK banking system is now where spanish banking system was 15 years ago... US banking system is what spanish banking system was 50 years ago... I think my parents don't remember how to write a cheque... I only had to write a cheque when I spent one year on the US."
In all of those years, did you ever spell it like we do here? Check.
"You mean if you want to give your friend $50 for something you owe him/gas money/share of the house bills etc it costs you $25 to transfer the money from your account to his? Or the same if you want to move money from one bank account to another account (held in a different bank) ?"
Well, I generally give my friend $50 in cash next time I see him if I own him $$. Or, I might sent it to him via PayPal.
And why would most normal people have more that 1 back account? I happen to have 2x accounts now, one for my business and one for personal to keep things separate and clean, but the avg person needs more than one bank account why?
"In the US, the government used to fund news stations. In that time some of the best journalism this country had ever seen was done. It set the bar for the rest of the world.
Once go government funding stopped and news source had to get their own funding, it became a race for ad dollars. Now we have Fox news."
Really?
Can you get some citations on this statement? You're trying to tell me that the old pioneers of TV news on CBS, NBC..etc...were funded by the US Federal Govt?!?!
Really...I gotta see something credible to back that up before I'd half believe it...
"Fox also decides what the news is rather than reporting it. They just happen to be attached to the Republican party rather than to the government in general."
Well, after I watch a little Fox...I try to then watch a little MSNBC to try to balance things out a bit...they're every bit as antagonistic to the right as Fox is to the left.
I mean, have you actually watched Keith Olbermann for any length of time? He spews as much vitriol as any right-winger I've ever seen on Fox...hell, he may actually get a bit more worked up than those on the right, I mean, I've seen him a few times get so riled up, I thought he was going to POP something in his brain....
"If this was even just ten years ago, I would agree with you...but at this point, the average person has a basic understanding of how to use a computer, and shouldn't be pandered to with watered down offerings that cost as much if not more than their full-fledged peers."
I have to disagree, the 'average' person out there is dumb as a rock when it comes to computers.
It comes mostly from the general public all pretty much being idiots. If you've ever had to deal with the 'general public' in a public facing position, you'll soon form this same opinion. I spend years while in school in food service (from the kitchen to busboy, server, bartender), retail sales at a large department store...etc. Trust me, do this for a few years, and your faith in the average person drops considerably. No, I don't consider myself elitist, but wow...you work out there long enough and well, I've already said it.
That said, it is a good thing to do...helps you learn people skills that have helped me out a GREAT deal in my later professional life when I got a 'real' job. Speaking in front of others..salesmanship, etc, they go a LONG way in the business and tech world.
"If they were taking full-timers and laying them off then rehiring them as contractors (with no benefits) that's clearly illegal - it's a process called "conversion".
But they are simply saying that jobs that are currently filled with a contractor will be filled with full-time "at will" employees now. Contractors are already "at will", and the contracting firm is (in theory) paid a lot extra because they can rapidly add or subtract resources as needed. You pay extra for the flexibility. Flexibility which, in this case, the state doesn't need as much.
Now the state is saying "we have people that we know we'll need for 5 years or so. We can't hire them full-time under existing State terms because we cannot eliminate their positions when we don't need them any more, but it's terribly expensive to hire them for 5 years at about triple what they actually get paid." That $128/hr contractor MIGHT be getting paid $45 an hour with benefits. Their firm takes the rest."
Well, the trouble is...with so many govt. contracts...they ONLY seem to want to work through contracting houses.
If they would go back more to allowing contracting with individuals, preferably people that are self incorporated..then the rates could go down, they'd still have the flexibility they get with contractors, and the contractors would be able to make enough to pay their own benefits, as well as enjoy the many tax write offs and benefits that come with being an indie contractor.
My biggest gripe is that it is so tough to get a contract directly on any govt project...at best, you have to sub or even sub to a sub to get into the door. A bill rate of $150+, and you can get maybe $65/$70 of that if you know someone and/or know how to negotiate.
The problem isn't so much with contract help...but the fact that we've allowed the bastardization of the contract paradigm to where now the contract is only with a big contract house...which then supplies them with W2 employees, who themselves get the worst of both worlds...contract hours/job security, and less money and more regulation (like earning vacation hours? Gimme a fucking break).
"its globalization. america has to come to terms with the age of globalization, especially after forcing many countries to come to terms with it itself."
I agree, we need to accept it is happening, and adjust our strategies to overcome it so we can remain strong and on top.
You didn't mean 'accepting it' to also mean laying down and taking, did you??
"As often as cable modems break and cable networks switch IP addresses (unless you pay extra for the static IP) I pretty much fail to see how they'll build any reliable database from the cable side of things, as far as IP addresses are concerned (which are not reliable identifiers anyways.)
I'm on my 10th IP address in two days and my THIRD cable modem in two months, just to give you an indication."
Really? Wow.
Yes, I have a static IP connection on my business acct. (only $69/mo, no caps, I can run servers, low level SLA, static IP, etc)..and I've alway bought my own cable modems, and I'm only on my 2nd EVER...and that's because the one I had before was in storage from Katrina and I needed a connection before I could dig through and find the old one. I think they are the Motorola Surfboard ones? I honestly don't think I've every had one fail that I can recall?
"What kind of music do you like? Maybe I can get you started.;)"
Well, my preference is guitar driven, blues based rock...I like classic rock ( of course, it wasn't classic when I listened to it new), like the Stones, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Clapton...etc.
I also like some metal, like OLD Metallica, some old Priest...
Southern Rock - Skynyrd, Allman Bros.
I've discovered that I do like classic and electric blues..I've discovered an old guy recently, Guitar Shorty who is fantastic ( lucked out and found him on Pandora, then he happened to come to town shortly after that), and I the likes of Buddy Guy too.
I liked some of the progressive rock of the past...YES, ELP...Pink FLoyd...
Oh...I did find one band I saw at Jazz Fest one of these past years....the Drive By Truckers...those guys were pretty good live but I've not heard any of their albums.
"Not to mention you probably already have a driver's license, and that requires a current address. Does anyone seriously believe the government doesn't know where they live?"
Not everyone...hell, I was bouncing around so much for 5 years after Katrina...I have addresses all over the place. My DL says an address from like 3+ years ago...car registration has address from 1.5 years ago...etc.
And I'm not for going down to sit at the DMV for half a day just to change the addresses...I'll do each when an expiration is about to hit and forces me to do so...
"I, on the other hand, am paying for a 6/1 business cable plan (Comcast), and according to this broadband test, I am getting anywhere between 15-20 meg down and a consistent 2.5 meg up, with 20 ms ping +/- 1ms. Makes sense to me since I have seen downloads hit 1.6 MB/sec before. I know some people get the shit end of the stick with cable but I seem to have lucked out here. I earned it after so many years spent at my old place, out in the country with nothing but dialup."
Interesting. I've got a basic Cox cable business acct. I have avg. about 9-10 meg down, and about 5-9 meg up....no caps, I can run servers, and a low level SLA for about $69/mo.
I've been pretty happy with them for some time now.
"I don't particularly care that you're not interested in doing that. It just bothers me that you're using that as the crux of a claim that artistic integrity in music is somehow dead, when it couldn't be further from the truth. It upsets me as an artist, because it's a prevailing attitude that makes getting an audience needlessly more difficult."
Well, even if I have a problem finding time to scour the internet to find the rare gems out there, younger people do have the time, and yet...I hear them saying largely the same thing I do, that there is a dearth of good music coming out these days.
Heck, I see teens and even younger running around with AC/DC and Zeppelin and Stones T-shirts on...and they're listening to them too??
I mean, I'd have expected if there were good band and great music coming out today..they'd be following them, listening to them and wearing their T-shirts.
"Don't you think it's kind of unfair to say that there's no new artists with albums worth listening to, if you're not willing to invest a little time and effort into discovering those artists?"
I guess part of it is ingrained into my having grown up finding and discovering 'new' and good music in a passive manner...the radio. That apparently just doens't happen anymore. Also, in the past...good music was popular music, and most everyone else had heard of them, so I'd often hear a new song or group from friends.
It seems weird, and I guess nearly impossible as an adult with job and responsibilities to be able to spend a great deal of time out there making your way through all the cruft out there to find the few 'gems' that I'm willing to grant you probably exist.
In my day, you didn't have to 'look' hard or spend a great deal of time finding a great group like Pink Floyd...they naturally rose to the top and were easy to discover.
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Myself and most people I know..pretty much only have bills due roughly at the first and 15th of the month. I only have to pay twice a month for things. I'm currently back on a W2 gig, so I get paid on the 7th and the 22nd of the month, so, when I get paid, I know I need to pay bills.
And most of my bills also come in the mail, so I have that as a reminder, I open them and when it is 'bill day' I go through the stack of everything due that period and pay it....99% these days through my bill pay on my banks website.
Again, I prefer to be in control of my money, and it is only a couple of minutes twice a month to click each bill, set the amount and click send.
I have at least as many bills as you it seems, car, motorcycle, car/household renters insurance from one company, motorcycle insurance from another, rent, cable/internet, cell phone, 3x difference credit cards, water, electricity.....my health insurance and all comes directly out of my paycheck and is only about $80 a month for my full coverage....and a couple of other bills.
But seems the primary difference is how ya'lls bills seem to be spread throughout the month....
I have a big motorcycle for just fun cruising around town, but in a sports car (I've owned both a vette and porsche)...you use a radar detector, and even a CB on the highway, but radar detector is a must in town. I never bother looking at the speedo until it goes off. Also there is a great little app for the iPhone called "Trapster" where people can report cops live and speed and redlight traps.
I drive fast everywhere...always have. I have had performance cars that can handle the g's and stop when needed fast. If you have one, you gotta enjoy it. Every time I fire up my cars...my drive is a fun time.
How's that going to help you at home? What if your car runs outta power at home after sitting for awhile, etc...?
Frankly, I don't think it should only be one or the other...how about both? You can charge from an outlet when available, and swap out at a station while on the road?
I dunno about "huge", but I gotta say...a corvette or turbo porsche sure has a way of making even a 10 minute drive a LOT of fun.
Many people...hell, I'd dare say most people don't own their own house.
I've seen fast food chains over recent years start taking CC's. I don't, however, eat there very often, as that there aren't that many around where I live here in New Orleans.
I'd say most of our restaurants here are local restaurants...and you do actually see quite a few, especially the OLD ones, that do not take credit cards. I guess they don't want to pay the fees. I do have to keep it straight in my head when going out to eat..which ones do and do not take 'plastic'.
These days...I often just try to mostly carry and spend cash. I take out about $200-$300 a week, and that usually lasts me most of the week. I cook most of my week day/night meals on Sundays...so, I don't go out much during the week. Not much time actually...work - gym - bed, rinse, repeat.
But Fri-Sun, I like to go out and have fun, and have a nice meal and drinks out.
Well, likely what the GP was referring to, was being able to easily track expenditures.
Most every checkbook I've ever seen or used also has a built in ledger, where you have balances against charges with you at all times. It is easy to see how much money you have left. Not as easy, at least in the past, to instantly see what you had in your account. Nowdays, granted, many people have smartphones that can access your bank account and see balances, but that is a pretty recent thing. And...not everyone has that type of phone with access these days...that is still a bit $$ for many people.
It is easier to get in CC-hell, since you charge, but rarely keep a running total in your head of everything you've charged over the month. I do a decent job of that, and even I get surprised from time to time at EOM of how much I may have charged.
I actually try to go more on a cash basis these days myself.
No, many companies have that over here in the US, especially the utilities, etc. I personally do NOT like this as that I don't like giving hardly anyone or any company direct access to my bank account.
However, many banks here are offering free bill pay from the banks website, where if the company is hooked to the 'system' (I forget the name) when I set up a bill to pay it is often transferred from the bank to the company electronically in about 1-2 days. If the bill to pay is a person or company not in their electronic system, the bank cuts them a physical check and mails it to them..free of charge.
As for automatic payments!??!
Eeek...not me. I like to see exactly what the bill is for everything, and pay the amounts out myself. Heck, what happens if you make a mistake in checking somehow...and your funds are lower than thought..and all those automatic bill payments come in and cause numerouse NSF (insufficient funds) penalties?? That can cost you serious cash since those can often be $25 - $39+ per overdraft.
In all of those years, did you ever spell it like we do here? Check.
Well, I generally give my friend $50 in cash next time I see him if I own him $$. Or, I might sent it to him via PayPal.
And why would most normal people have more that 1 back account? I happen to have 2x accounts now, one for my business and one for personal to keep things separate and clean, but the avg person needs more than one bank account why?
Once go government funding stopped and news source had to get their own funding, it became a race for ad dollars. Now we have Fox news."
Really?
Can you get some citations on this statement? You're trying to tell me that the old pioneers of TV news on CBS, NBC..etc...were funded by the US Federal Govt?!?!
Really...I gotta see something credible to back that up before I'd half believe it...
Well, after I watch a little Fox...I try to then watch a little MSNBC to try to balance things out a bit...they're every bit as antagonistic to the right as Fox is to the left.
I mean, have you actually watched Keith Olbermann for any length of time? He spews as much vitriol as any right-winger I've ever seen on Fox...hell, he may actually get a bit more worked up than those on the right, I mean, I've seen him a few times get so riled up, I thought he was going to POP something in his brain....
I have to disagree, the 'average' person out there is dumb as a rock when it comes to computers.
It comes mostly from the general public all pretty much being idiots. If you've ever had to deal with the 'general public' in a public facing position, you'll soon form this same opinion. I spend years while in school in food service (from the kitchen to busboy, server, bartender), retail sales at a large department store...etc. Trust me, do this for a few years, and your faith in the average person drops considerably. No, I don't consider myself elitist, but wow...you work out there long enough and well, I've already said it.
That said, it is a good thing to do...helps you learn people skills that have helped me out a GREAT deal in my later professional life when I got a 'real' job. Speaking in front of others..salesmanship, etc, they go a LONG way in the business and tech world.
But they are simply saying that jobs that are currently filled with a contractor will be filled with full-time "at will" employees now. Contractors are already "at will", and the contracting firm is (in theory) paid a lot extra because they can rapidly add or subtract resources as needed. You pay extra for the flexibility. Flexibility which, in this case, the state doesn't need as much.
Now the state is saying "we have people that we know we'll need for 5 years or so. We can't hire them full-time under existing State terms because we cannot eliminate their positions when we don't need them any more, but it's terribly expensive to hire them for 5 years at about triple what they actually get paid." That $128/hr contractor MIGHT be getting paid $45 an hour with benefits. Their firm takes the rest."
Well, the trouble is...with so many govt. contracts...they ONLY seem to want to work through contracting houses.
If they would go back more to allowing contracting with individuals, preferably people that are self incorporated..then the rates could go down, they'd still have the flexibility they get with contractors, and the contractors would be able to make enough to pay their own benefits, as well as enjoy the many tax write offs and benefits that come with being an indie contractor.
My biggest gripe is that it is so tough to get a contract directly on any govt project...at best, you have to sub or even sub to a sub to get into the door. A bill rate of $150+, and you can get maybe $65/$70 of that if you know someone and/or know how to negotiate.
The problem isn't so much with contract help...but the fact that we've allowed the bastardization of the contract paradigm to where now the contract is only with a big contract house...which then supplies them with W2 employees, who themselves get the worst of both worlds...contract hours/job security, and less money and more regulation (like earning vacation hours? Gimme a fucking break).
And just how difficult is it to cross with another database with Name mapped to Address?
Moving also to Dell and the like.....with RHEL on them. That's nice too!!
I agree, we need to accept it is happening, and adjust our strategies to overcome it so we can remain strong and on top.
You didn't mean 'accepting it' to also mean laying down and taking, did you??
I'm on my 10th IP address in two days and my THIRD cable modem in two months, just to give you an indication."
Really? Wow.
Yes, I have a static IP connection on my business acct. (only $69/mo, no caps, I can run servers, low level SLA, static IP, etc)..and I've alway bought my own cable modems, and I'm only on my 2nd EVER...and that's because the one I had before was in storage from Katrina and I needed a connection before I could dig through and find the old one. I think they are the Motorola Surfboard ones? I honestly don't think I've every had one fail that I can recall?
Well, my preference is guitar driven, blues based rock...I like classic rock ( of course, it wasn't classic when I listened to it new), like the Stones, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Clapton...etc.
I also like some metal, like OLD Metallica, some old Priest...
Southern Rock - Skynyrd, Allman Bros.
I've discovered that I do like classic and electric blues..I've discovered an old guy recently, Guitar Shorty who is fantastic ( lucked out and found him on Pandora, then he happened to come to town shortly after that), and I the likes of Buddy Guy too.
I liked some of the progressive rock of the past...YES, ELP...Pink FLoyd...
Oh...I did find one band I saw at Jazz Fest one of these past years....the Drive By Truckers...those guys were pretty good live but I've not heard any of their albums.
Thanks for any suggestions!!
Not everyone...hell, I was bouncing around so much for 5 years after Katrina...I have addresses all over the place. My DL says an address from like 3+ years ago...car registration has address from 1.5 years ago...etc.
And I'm not for going down to sit at the DMV for half a day just to change the addresses...I'll do each when an expiration is about to hit and forces me to do so...
Interesting. I've got a basic Cox cable business acct. I have avg. about 9-10 meg down, and about 5-9 meg up....no caps, I can run servers, and a low level SLA for about $69/mo.
I've been pretty happy with them for some time now.
I'm sure that would make for a nice little database addition to what they already have.
Sorry, not interested. I'd rather them have to make at least 'some' effort in their dragnet searches....
No...US citizen.
You do know they make some REALLY good wines right here in the States, don't you?
Well, even if I have a problem finding time to scour the internet to find the rare gems out there, younger people do have the time, and yet...I hear them saying largely the same thing I do, that there is a dearth of good music coming out these days.
Heck, I see teens and even younger running around with AC/DC and Zeppelin and Stones T-shirts on...and they're listening to them too??
I mean, I'd have expected if there were good band and great music coming out today..they'd be following them, listening to them and wearing their T-shirts.
Just my observations....
I guess part of it is ingrained into my having grown up finding and discovering 'new' and good music in a passive manner...the radio. That apparently just doens't happen anymore. Also, in the past...good music was popular music, and most everyone else had heard of them, so I'd often hear a new song or group from friends.
It seems weird, and I guess nearly impossible as an adult with job and responsibilities to be able to spend a great deal of time out there making your way through all the cruft out there to find the few 'gems' that I'm willing to grant you probably exist.
In my day, you didn't have to 'look' hard or spend a great deal of time finding a great group like Pink Floyd...they naturally rose to the top and were easy to discover.