FWIW, every one of the five locations I've lived in do it that way. But, I don't think it's necessarily the "city" so much as the financial institution you're dealing with.
Here (Fairfax Co, VA), homes are assessed at market value, and there doesn't seem to be any such cap on increases. My home value has increased roughly 75% since we bought it in 2000, but my property tax has more than doubled. The assessors here are too lazy to actually check anything. I discovered on the that they had us listed with a finished basement, brick exterior and patio...wrong on all counts, two of which they could have seen just by driving by. This cost me a ton in taxes and wasn't discovered for a few years. Of course, they'd only reimburse me for the most recent couple. Now, they're at it again...increasing my assessment higher than many of my neighbors who's homes are worth much more than mine. Talk to me about big government...this is an example of what you get for all your extra money.
I'm mostly with you on this, but...it depends. For example, you have a lot of people who find themselves (or get themselves) in tough spots. My mother was a single mom at 19. She took a cashier job for many years until she got me through high school. She got to be "head cashier", but that's about the limit of growth opportunity unless you become store manager. That was an 18 year career, at which point, she got into real estate, and did well for herself. Point being, a lot of people don't view those positions as temporary because they don't have the skills or time/funds to obtain skills to move into a better position.
Mine will be cut in half, even as my retirement home will be more expensive. I'm going to be moving from Fairfax Co., VA's tax hell hole to a suburb of Charlotte, where the rate is less than half what I'm paying here.
Another point that needs to be made is that many localities have tax relief for seniors, and others have tax relief for long term homeowners in high cost areas. My mother-in-law no longer pays property tax on her $400k townhome here.
For those of you who find this insightful, I'd urge you to learn what it means to have equity. For simplicity, I'll use nice round numbers here. If you bought a $100k place and put down 10%, you start out with 10k equity. If the value of that home doubles to $200k, you now have $110k in equity. Yes, if you move and buy a similar how, that now costs $200k, you could roll that $110k into it with 55% equity. You could take some of it as profit. You could get a Home Equity Line of Credit and use that to pay for things like a car, or your kid's education, and still write off the interest on your taxes as part of your home loan. You could take the once per person tax exemption on the capital gain, and as you suggested, and my wife and I will be doing...sell, move to a lower cost of living area, and downsize in retirement...it's part of my personal retirement plan. So it only "means absolutely nothing" if you plan to stay in the same area/size home for the remainder of your life and never make use of those profits...which is dumb.
Fifteen years ago was more about the housing bubble than Amazon. I sold my townhouse in 2002 for $250k, only to see it be resold two years later for $500k...craziness.
"Luck" is mostly being prepared when opportunities present themselves. And, in a big way, hustling to find those opportunities. I've been "lucky" enough to be prepared when people above me were fired, or retired a couple times, to be in line to pop up into those positions. I grew up poor in Detroit, to a single mom. I went in the military because we couldn't afford college, but I waited for nearly a year to get a computer technician slot in '76 because I saw that as a opportunity with huge growth. I went to night school and got my Associate's while I was still in, and then continued to finish my CS, focusing on software because I saw the writing on the wall that hardware jobs were going away in the mid 80s. I'm not clear on what part of it was luck, or privilege, but I eventually got lead and management roles, and now at 59 I'm nearing retirement, but witnessing my company (for many years now) giving extra pay/promotions to women and "persons of color", while they lay off the older high priced folks with severance (attached to agreements not to sue) which I see as blatantly unfair, but all I can do is suck it up because I've got the pension handcuffs on. All I can say is if you're a woman or minority with any decent tech skill, and unable to do well, it's on you because there are lots of opportunities. No, not everyone will make it, no matter how hard they work. Some won't have the proper attitude, and some just won't have the brains...nothing to do with luck or privilege there.
This, this, this. Detroit was once the fastest growing city in the nation. It's been on the verge of bankruptcy for years...mostly due to corruption and mismanagement. But the downfall of "the Big Three" hurt more than anything else.
Yup, when we give countries $40-50 billion in foreign aide every year, I'm sure we're being total bullies. Please tell us who they turn to when looking for defense help? The US has 19% of the worlds immigrants...more than any other nation...people just hate coming here.
So yeah, when there's not another bully like the former Soviet Union around, it comes back to envy and resentment. Yeah, we thump our chest way too much. I've been around military overseas, and many of our young troops act as "ugly Americans", instead of respecting the local culture. We've bent over on numerous trade deals for years, much to the detriment of our own businesses...one of the few things Trump is right about.
The only reason Iran became such a big military power, with the third or fourth biggest military in the world, was because the USA previously armed them to their teeth too
Yeah, we armed Iraq against Iran and I think much of America would have been in favor of anyone who was fighting Iran after having been put through the hostage crisis of '79-80. Would you have preferred that we Khomeni be allowed to expand his power?...I don't think most would, including many Iranians (I know a couple who escaped).
Just my POV as a former airman, and a person who's been to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including the museums they have dedicated to the bombing.
Having aircrew on 24 hr alert serves multiple purposes. One is as a deterrent. I let's your adversaries know that you're prepared..."Walk softly and carry a big stick." Another purpose is to reduce the risk of those assets being a target of a first strike. If those bombers can't get off the ground quickly when missiles are launched, they become useless.
To say that "Nuclear weapons are always a bad idea" on the face of it seems obvious. Not having been alive during the time of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I don't have a strong feeling on the necessity of their use, but have heard arguments pro and con. One thing is clear. Many more soldiers would have died had these actions not been taken. Back in the 80s, I worked in Korea and was taking flying lessons. My instructor an I flew to both cities, and visited the museums there. No question, these were horrifying events. However, in my 59 years, we haven't witnessed a war on the scale of this, where it was literally our entire nation (and others) against Japan. Korea, China, the Philippines and others, all suffered under the evil that that empire was thrusting upon them. I heard horrifying stories from Koreans (including my former mother-in-law)...read up on "comfort women".
I guarantee this will have unintended consequences. Interviews will be much longer. We'll hear stories of people who BS their way through interviews to much higher positions than they're actually qualified for. It's going to be a learning process for companies. I know I've already shared this with other managers on my team...many of us hire folks in CA.
I've done numerous 3 agency reports and never seen salary info provided. And in most every credit application, they ask about household income, which can be much more than just salary.
its all about keeping you in your place. the god damned 'job creators' that we have been worshipping really don't have our needs in mind; they could not care less if we all starved and died on the...BLAH, BLAH, BLAH
If you believe this, you've never been in the position to actually hire someone, and are clearly clueless about how budgets work...come out of your echo chamber. I have a multimillion dollar program that I have about fifty people working on. A portion of that money is carved out for compensation. I have to lay out the tasks, and the amount of staffing I'll need to accomplish those tasks within the time and quality constraints necessary. I have to track individuals hours against that budget weekly...it's known as "earned value". I have to know what I can afford to pay for each of those positions, and realize that I need to leave a bit of margin. And when my team or an individual does well, one of my favorite things to do is give them achievement awards...yes cash. I have to make room for employee development...promotions...there's nothing much more fulfilling that shaking someone's hand as you let them know they've just been bumped up. But no, I'm sure I don't give a shit about folks.
I've been an engineer for 35+ years, and managing and hiring engineers for about half that time. Your opinion on the drug testing being silly is fine, but I guarantee that many people disagree, and would prefer not working next to someone who's using. Sure, it's one thing if you're doing pot at home, nobody should give a damn...other stuff, maybe not so much. As far as lying on the application, that's flat out fire able. Do you really think companies can make a logical decision to pay someone based solely on a hour or so interview? So, now the interviews will get longer, and more in depth, and you could argue that they should have been that way before, but prior salaries are a data point, and not the sole source of determining a new hire's value. You'll also end up seeing a lot more unqualified people gaming this to leapfrog to levels they're not really qualified for because they were able to hoodwink their way through an interview. The confidentiality of salary information doesn't in any way prohibit the employee from sharing it. In fact, many companies provide a service to employees to do just that when they apply for mortgages or other loans.
Probably depends upon how you categorize the "drone industry". This group says it's only going to be about $12B in 2021. That's a drop in the bucket compared to tobacco (about $770B) or guns (about $51B). Now, if you're going to include things like Predator and Global Hawk UAVs, that's a different story, and IMO hardly comparable to "drones".
Companies have been doing away with the indents. My most recent MasterCard doesn't have any, and the numbers aren't even on the front anymore. These idiots make them small enough that I have to squint to read them now.
My prediction... When the shit hits the fan, communications will be much more limited. those relatives, friends and sympathizers might not even find out about it for days, and then it's more likely that they won't even have a suspect...who's going to be doing the investigations? You won't have cctv, or gopro video. We might have to go back to sketches on the post office wall. But sure there will be cases where the culprit is obvious, and we may even end up with new versions of Hatfields & McCoys.
As a long time US Chess Fed member, and computer geek, I could have told you otherwise back in the 70s. Computer chess programs were beating most humans back then, not just with brute force programming, but with hueristics. For quite some time, it was simple to beat them in strategic games because they were mostly tactical, only being able to "see" a few moves ahead with brute force.
There's actually a lot of research available on intuition. Contrary to your definition, some of it describes people who've worked in various fields for lengthy periods, and are able to give "intuitive" responses to complex issues. This is mostly a form of pattern recognition. Patterns can however carry from one field to another.
Slashdot Mirror
FWIW, every one of the five locations I've lived in do it that way. But, I don't think it's necessarily the "city" so much as the financial institution you're dealing with.
Here (Fairfax Co, VA), homes are assessed at market value, and there doesn't seem to be any such cap on increases. My home value has increased roughly 75% since we bought it in 2000, but my property tax has more than doubled. The assessors here are too lazy to actually check anything. I discovered on the that they had us listed with a finished basement, brick exterior and patio...wrong on all counts, two of which they could have seen just by driving by. This cost me a ton in taxes and wasn't discovered for a few years. Of course, they'd only reimburse me for the most recent couple. Now, they're at it again...increasing my assessment higher than many of my neighbors who's homes are worth much more than mine. Talk to me about big government...this is an example of what you get for all your extra money.
I'm mostly with you on this, but...it depends. For example, you have a lot of people who find themselves (or get themselves) in tough spots. My mother was a single mom at 19. She took a cashier job for many years until she got me through high school. She got to be "head cashier", but that's about the limit of growth opportunity unless you become store manager. That was an 18 year career, at which point, she got into real estate, and did well for herself. Point being, a lot of people don't view those positions as temporary because they don't have the skills or time/funds to obtain skills to move into a better position.
Mine will be cut in half, even as my retirement home will be more expensive. I'm going to be moving from Fairfax Co., VA's tax hell hole to a suburb of Charlotte, where the rate is less than half what I'm paying here.
Another point that needs to be made is that many localities have tax relief for seniors, and others have tax relief for long term homeowners in high cost areas. My mother-in-law no longer pays property tax on her $400k townhome here.
For those of you who find this insightful, I'd urge you to learn what it means to have equity. For simplicity, I'll use nice round numbers here. If you bought a $100k place and put down 10%, you start out with 10k equity. If the value of that home doubles to $200k, you now have $110k in equity. Yes, if you move and buy a similar how, that now costs $200k, you could roll that $110k into it with 55% equity. You could take some of it as profit. You could get a Home Equity Line of Credit and use that to pay for things like a car, or your kid's education, and still write off the interest on your taxes as part of your home loan. You could take the once per person tax exemption on the capital gain, and as you suggested, and my wife and I will be doing...sell, move to a lower cost of living area, and downsize in retirement...it's part of my personal retirement plan. So it only "means absolutely nothing" if you plan to stay in the same area/size home for the remainder of your life and never make use of those profits...which is dumb.
Fifteen years ago was more about the housing bubble than Amazon. I sold my townhouse in 2002 for $250k, only to see it be resold two years later for $500k...craziness.
"Luck" is mostly being prepared when opportunities present themselves. And, in a big way, hustling to find those opportunities. I've been "lucky" enough to be prepared when people above me were fired, or retired a couple times, to be in line to pop up into those positions. I grew up poor in Detroit, to a single mom. I went in the military because we couldn't afford college, but I waited for nearly a year to get a computer technician slot in '76 because I saw that as a opportunity with huge growth. I went to night school and got my Associate's while I was still in, and then continued to finish my CS, focusing on software because I saw the writing on the wall that hardware jobs were going away in the mid 80s. I'm not clear on what part of it was luck, or privilege, but I eventually got lead and management roles, and now at 59 I'm nearing retirement, but witnessing my company (for many years now) giving extra pay/promotions to women and "persons of color", while they lay off the older high priced folks with severance (attached to agreements not to sue) which I see as blatantly unfair, but all I can do is suck it up because I've got the pension handcuffs on. All I can say is if you're a woman or minority with any decent tech skill, and unable to do well, it's on you because there are lots of opportunities. No, not everyone will make it, no matter how hard they work. Some won't have the proper attitude, and some just won't have the brains...nothing to do with luck or privilege there.
This, this, this. Detroit was once the fastest growing city in the nation. It's been on the verge of bankruptcy for years...mostly due to corruption and mismanagement. But the downfall of "the Big Three" hurt more than anything else.
I’d like to see the stats to back up that claim.
It's called Google. /s
Seriously, if you were bothered enough to make that silly statement, you could have looked up the answer just as quickly.
Yup, when we give countries $40-50 billion in foreign aide every year, I'm sure we're being total bullies. Please tell us who they turn to when looking for defense help? The US has 19% of the worlds immigrants...more than any other nation...people just hate coming here.
So yeah, when there's not another bully like the former Soviet Union around, it comes back to envy and resentment. Yeah, we thump our chest way too much. I've been around military overseas, and many of our young troops act as "ugly Americans", instead of respecting the local culture. We've bent over on numerous trade deals for years, much to the detriment of our own businesses...one of the few things Trump is right about.
The only reason Iran became such a big military power, with the third or fourth biggest military in the world, was because the USA previously armed them to their teeth too
Whose missile was it that Saddam used to strike the USS Stark back in '87?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Yeah, we armed Iraq against Iran and I think much of America would have been in favor of anyone who was fighting Iran after having been put through the hostage crisis of '79-80. Would you have preferred that we Khomeni be allowed to expand his power?...I don't think most would, including many Iranians (I know a couple who escaped).
Just my POV as a former airman, and a person who's been to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including the museums they have dedicated to the bombing.
Having aircrew on 24 hr alert serves multiple purposes. One is as a deterrent. I let's your adversaries know that you're prepared..."Walk softly and carry a big stick." Another purpose is to reduce the risk of those assets being a target of a first strike. If those bombers can't get off the ground quickly when missiles are launched, they become useless.
To say that "Nuclear weapons are always a bad idea" on the face of it seems obvious. Not having been alive during the time of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I don't have a strong feeling on the necessity of their use, but have heard arguments pro and con. One thing is clear. Many more soldiers would have died had these actions not been taken. Back in the 80s, I worked in Korea and was taking flying lessons. My instructor an I flew to both cities, and visited the museums there. No question, these were horrifying events. However, in my 59 years, we haven't witnessed a war on the scale of this, where it was literally our entire nation (and others) against Japan. Korea, China, the Philippines and others, all suffered under the evil that that empire was thrusting upon them. I heard horrifying stories from Koreans (including my former mother-in-law)...read up on "comfort women".
You sure about that? http://www.ic.nc.gov/ncic/page...
Oh really. Please point to said "facts". I linked to one that disagreed with your opinion. So far, that's all you've got wiseguy.
I guarantee this will have unintended consequences. Interviews will be much longer. We'll hear stories of people who BS their way through interviews to much higher positions than they're actually qualified for. It's going to be a learning process for companies. I know I've already shared this with other managers on my team...many of us hire folks in CA.
I've done numerous 3 agency reports and never seen salary info provided. And in most every credit application, they ask about household income, which can be much more than just salary.
its all about keeping you in your place. the god damned 'job creators' that we have been worshipping really don't have our needs in mind; they could not care less if we all starved and died on the...BLAH, BLAH, BLAH
If you believe this, you've never been in the position to actually hire someone, and are clearly clueless about how budgets work...come out of your echo chamber. I have a multimillion dollar program that I have about fifty people working on. A portion of that money is carved out for compensation. I have to lay out the tasks, and the amount of staffing I'll need to accomplish those tasks within the time and quality constraints necessary. I have to track individuals hours against that budget weekly...it's known as "earned value". I have to know what I can afford to pay for each of those positions, and realize that I need to leave a bit of margin. And when my team or an individual does well, one of my favorite things to do is give them achievement awards...yes cash. I have to make room for employee development...promotions...there's nothing much more fulfilling that shaking someone's hand as you let them know they've just been bumped up. But no, I'm sure I don't give a shit about folks.
I've been an engineer for 35+ years, and managing and hiring engineers for about half that time. Your opinion on the drug testing being silly is fine, but I guarantee that many people disagree, and would prefer not working next to someone who's using. Sure, it's one thing if you're doing pot at home, nobody should give a damn...other stuff, maybe not so much. As far as lying on the application, that's flat out fire able. Do you really think companies can make a logical decision to pay someone based solely on a hour or so interview? So, now the interviews will get longer, and more in depth, and you could argue that they should have been that way before, but prior salaries are a data point, and not the sole source of determining a new hire's value. You'll also end up seeing a lot more unqualified people gaming this to leapfrog to levels they're not really qualified for because they were able to hoodwink their way through an interview. The confidentiality of salary information doesn't in any way prohibit the employee from sharing it. In fact, many companies provide a service to employees to do just that when they apply for mortgages or other loans.
Probably depends upon how you categorize the "drone industry". This group says it's only going to be about $12B in 2021. That's a drop in the bucket compared to tobacco (about $770B) or guns (about $51B). Now, if you're going to include things like Predator and Global Hawk UAVs, that's a different story, and IMO hardly comparable to "drones".
http://www.businessinsider.com...
Companies have been doing away with the indents. My most recent MasterCard doesn't have any, and the numbers aren't even on the front anymore. These idiots make them small enough that I have to squint to read them now.
My prediction... When the shit hits the fan, communications will be much more limited. those relatives, friends and sympathizers might not even find out about it for days, and then it's more likely that they won't even have a suspect...who's going to be doing the investigations? You won't have cctv, or gopro video. We might have to go back to sketches on the post office wall. But sure there will be cases where the culprit is obvious, and we may even end up with new versions of Hatfields & McCoys.
Who cares about the fools who live in the city?
You might, when they flee it.
More fresh meat.
As a long time US Chess Fed member, and computer geek, I could have told you otherwise back in the 70s. Computer chess programs were beating most humans back then, not just with brute force programming, but with hueristics. For quite some time, it was simple to beat them in strategic games because they were mostly tactical, only being able to "see" a few moves ahead with brute force.
There's actually a lot of research available on intuition. Contrary to your definition, some of it describes people who've worked in various fields for lengthy periods, and are able to give "intuitive" responses to complex issues. This is mostly a form of pattern recognition. Patterns can however carry from one field to another.
https://engineering.mit.edu/en...