Oh come on. Fail in what way? The costs continue to decline, and efficiencies continue to improve. My uncle powered a previously power free cottage in Ontario, Canada with one large solar cell and a few marine batteries. This was about ten years ago. That's enough to take care of he lighting, and provide power for a water heater, and a few outlets. Obviously, that's much smaller than an average home, but it scales easily.
I'm honestly happy Seattle is running this experiment so that we can have some actual data to base future decisions on instead of whining opinions from one side or another. All that said, it appears you guys didn't do such a good job studying...
I grew up in Detroit. The rich don't live in the city, they live in suburbs like one of the Grosse Pointes, Bloomfield Hills & Rochester. Detroit has been run into the ground, and is not a good example of what you're looking to find.
Let me help you, because you seem to be putting everyone who makes that much in the same bucket, and leaving a few things out. Not everyone has the same circumstances. As a couple, my wife and I earn about that much. We have a $3700+ mortgage (upper middle class neighborhood), $800 car pymts..both 2012 Chrysler products that we got the employee discount on through family), about to be paid off, We max out our 401k deposits (6%, so roughly $15k). We support two mothers, both who live on only Social Security, to the toon of roughly $30-40k/year, and that will go up once we have to put them in homes. We paid roughly $140k to put our kid through college up through a couple years ago, an just married her off last weekend...~$25k for that. I'll end up spending over $9k in medical insurance, and probably another $10k in medical bills this year (I had a near fatal fall just a few months ago). Our state taxes will be about $15k, along with personal property tax of ~$2k. We typically donate to charities, $1-2k/yr. ~$1k for LTD & AD&D & Term Life. We splurged and spent double our normal vacation budget this year because YOLO, and we're not getting any younger...~$8k on a Nat Geo tour...we squirmed at the cost.
So, yeah, we're comfortable...as someone nearing retirement after 40+ years of work should be, but rich?...far from it. I know rich people...my uncle, my dad's best friend...both were multi-millionaires years ago. You can't really lump us in with people like that.
You seem to make it very black and white, rich vs. poor, with no grey area. That's simply not the case. Your definition of rich is far south of anything used by the government, or the vast majority of people, but it may simply be relative to your spot in life. My mom and mother-in-law are, by my definition poor, both living on only Social Security, and what they can get from things like Meals on Wheels...everything else comes from my wife and I. If you live in a trailer park, nearly everyone else looks rich to you. It's not two Americas, there's a lot of space in between, but you clearly haven't experienced it.
Disclaimer: I say this, as someone who grew up with a single mom, renting homes in Detroit...I know what poor is. I lived on PB&J and Tang for a while, so tell me about it. And, after 40+ years of working my way out, I've managed to make it to the level we're discussing, though it's in the high cost area of northern VA, where the avg. household income is well over $100k, and a 2000+ sqft home is hard to find.
Agree w/parent & others that $250k is far from rich. Between my wife and I, we make about that much in the DC suburbs, and are comfortable. The avg. household income here is in the low $100ks, and a small home can run you north of $500...there are many at double that. While we're a dual income, one kid (I paid her college, and just married her off a few days ago), we still support our moms who only have social security as income...otherwise, I'd be looking to retire after 40 yrs of working so far. Everyone has different financial circumstances, and income is just one factor that shouldn't be the sole identifier of the "rich".
And it's not just kids. When you developed too much baggage in one place, you could move to a new location, job, etc., and get a fresh start. These days, someone is bound to look up your history, and as we used to joke about, it all goes on your "permanent record", only back then, it was just a joke.
Not only are the estimates crap, but the history of their estimates changes, and is completely inaccurate. They literally do not keep an accurate history of their own estimates, and seemingly randomly modify that history. I've known this for quite a while as I've kept track of their estimate of my own home.
Thanks. I didn't see another source for feedback w/o using my FB or Linkedin profiles, and I don't want my feedback to Google going to my friends there.
On my 24" monitor, I can see about five stories at a time w/o having to scroll. Ridiculous.
So, women are sleeping 25 minutes more per night, or the equivalent of 6.3 days per year. At the U.S. life expectancy of 81.6, they're sleeping about 517 days more than men over their lifetimes. With men only living 79.3 years, it almost makes up for the difference.
Nice hijack. Nobody said anything about large vs. small govt. But I'll play just because Ami knows I'm a proponent of smaller govt.
Please point to the evidence that smaller governments are easier to corrupt. Let me help you with that, and look at the chart here, and tell me the size of some of the least corrupt governments. https://www.forbes.com/sites/m...
What did you accomplish during the previous eight years? I'm sure someone will respond that it's all Congress' fault, but you could only use that excuse for the last six.
As for the "Money God", people are hurting, and after the slowest recession recovery on record, it's time to try something different, wouldn't you agree?
Let me understand your position. Indentations only matter if it's Trump and a travel ban. But the intentions of these mayors is somehow different? I guess we'll have to wait for SCOTUS to decide.
It's good but not desirable. The same way schools being forced to raise funds with bake sales is good, but not desirable.
Forced? We have some of the least cost efficient education on the planet. The school system where I live (Fairfax Co., VA) is funded by some of the highest property taxes in the nation. And yet, the waste and disregard for taxpayers money is blatant. And all the while, teachers still send home lists of supplies to coerce parents into providing what the schools could easily afford. Oh, and don't even think about not playing along if you care about your kid's grades. What a racket.
It's a pretty good stretch of the imagination to imply that a 90 day ban on countries identified by the previous administration, and containing less than half of the world's Muslims is a "Muslim ban". But understand...it's Trump, so it must be stopped.
Slashdot Mirror
We don't allow hectares inside our borders, damnit!
American fries!
Oh come on. Fail in what way? The costs continue to decline, and efficiencies continue to improve. My uncle powered a previously power free cottage in Ontario, Canada with one large solar cell and a few marine batteries. This was about ten years ago. That's enough to take care of he lighting, and provide power for a water heater, and a few outlets. Obviously, that's much smaller than an average home, but it scales easily.
Also, searching for the "hottest housing markets", Seattle isn't close to the top in any of the searches I looked at...
http://www.marketwatch.com/sto...
http://webcache.googleusercont...
You made I to #15 here...
https://www.nationalmortgagene...
I'm honestly happy Seattle is running this experiment so that we can have some actual data to base future decisions on instead of whining opinions from one side or another. All that said, it appears you guys didn't do such a good job studying...
https://fivethirtyeight.com/fe...
Can you name one that does so with other than city employees?
I grew up in Detroit. The rich don't live in the city, they live in suburbs like one of the Grosse Pointes, Bloomfield Hills & Rochester. Detroit has been run into the ground, and is not a good example of what you're looking to find.
Let me help you, because you seem to be putting everyone who makes that much in the same bucket, and leaving a few things out. Not everyone has the same circumstances. As a couple, my wife and I earn about that much. We have a $3700+ mortgage (upper middle class neighborhood), $800 car pymts..both 2012 Chrysler products that we got the employee discount on through family), about to be paid off, We max out our 401k deposits (6%, so roughly $15k). We support two mothers, both who live on only Social Security, to the toon of roughly $30-40k/year, and that will go up once we have to put them in homes. We paid roughly $140k to put our kid through college up through a couple years ago, an just married her off last weekend...~$25k for that. I'll end up spending over $9k in medical insurance, and probably another $10k in medical bills this year (I had a near fatal fall just a few months ago). Our state taxes will be about $15k, along with personal property tax of ~$2k. We typically donate to charities, $1-2k/yr. ~$1k for LTD & AD&D & Term Life. We splurged and spent double our normal vacation budget this year because YOLO, and we're not getting any younger...~$8k on a Nat Geo tour...we squirmed at the cost.
So, yeah, we're comfortable...as someone nearing retirement after 40+ years of work should be, but rich?...far from it. I know rich people...my uncle, my dad's best friend...both were multi-millionaires years ago. You can't really lump us in with people like that.
You seem to make it very black and white, rich vs. poor, with no grey area. That's simply not the case. Your definition of rich is far south of anything used by the government, or the vast majority of people, but it may simply be relative to your spot in life. My mom and mother-in-law are, by my definition poor, both living on only Social Security, and what they can get from things like Meals on Wheels...everything else comes from my wife and I. If you live in a trailer park, nearly everyone else looks rich to you. It's not two Americas, there's a lot of space in between, but you clearly haven't experienced it.
Disclaimer:
I say this, as someone who grew up with a single mom, renting homes in Detroit...I know what poor is. I lived on PB&J and Tang for a while, so tell me about it. And, after 40+ years of working my way out, I've managed to make it to the level we're discussing, though it's in the high cost area of northern VA, where the avg. household income is well over $100k, and a 2000+ sqft home is hard to find.
Agree w/parent & others that $250k is far from rich. Between my wife and I, we make about that much in the DC suburbs, and are comfortable. The avg. household income here is in the low $100ks, and a small home can run you north of $500...there are many at double that. While we're a dual income, one kid (I paid her college, and just married her off a few days ago), we still support our moms who only have social security as income...otherwise, I'd be looking to retire after 40 yrs of working so far. Everyone has different financial circumstances, and income is just one factor that shouldn't be the sole identifier of the "rich".
Maybe so, but I stopped reading Fark long ago when the boobies went away.
I hate you...I came to post the same thing. Bravo sir.
And it's not just kids. When you developed too much baggage in one place, you could move to a new location, job, etc., and get a fresh start. These days, someone is bound to look up your history, and as we used to joke about, it all goes on your "permanent record", only back then, it was just a joke.
Not only are the estimates crap, but the history of their estimates changes, and is completely inaccurate. They literally do not keep an accurate history of their own estimates, and seemingly randomly modify that history. I've known this for quite a while as I've kept track of their estimate of my own home.
Did you actually look at it? I had to turn away after spending a couple minutes reading through. Nothing buy hypercritical trash.
Thanks. I didn't see another source for feedback w/o using my FB or Linkedin profiles, and I don't want my feedback to Google going to my friends there.
On my 24" monitor, I can see about five stories at a time w/o having to scroll. Ridiculous.
So, women are sleeping 25 minutes more per night, or the equivalent of 6.3 days per year. At the U.S. life expectancy of 81.6, they're sleeping about 517 days more than men over their lifetimes. With men only living 79.3 years, it almost makes up for the difference.
Agreed.
You make a lot of assumptions about my partisanship based upon what? Trust me, I've cursed across at both sides.
Nice hijack. Nobody said anything about large vs. small govt. But I'll play just because Ami knows I'm a proponent of smaller govt.
Please point to the evidence that smaller governments are easier to corrupt. Let me help you with that, and look at the chart here, and tell me the size of some of the least corrupt governments.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/m...
Let me understand your position. Indentations only matter if it's Trump and a travel ban.
I'm amused that you think indentations matter.
I'm amused that you don't know that they do in a legal sense under some conditions.
What did you accomplish during the previous eight years? I'm sure someone will respond that it's all Congress' fault, but you could only use that excuse for the last six.
As for the "Money God", people are hurting, and after the slowest recession recovery on record, it's time to try something different, wouldn't you agree?
They're not making a concord,...
Let me understand your position. Indentations only matter if it's Trump and a travel ban. But the intentions of these mayors is somehow different? I guess we'll have to wait for SCOTUS to decide.
It's good but not desirable. The same way schools being forced to raise funds with bake sales is good, but not desirable.
Forced? We have some of the least cost efficient education on the planet. The school system where I live (Fairfax Co., VA) is funded by some of the highest property taxes in the nation. And yet, the waste and disregard for taxpayers money is blatant. And all the while, teachers still send home lists of supplies to coerce parents into providing what the schools could easily afford. Oh, and don't even think about not playing along if you care about your kid's grades. What a racket.
It's a pretty good stretch of the imagination to imply that a 90 day ban on countries identified by the previous administration, and containing less than half of the world's Muslims is a "Muslim ban". But understand...it's Trump, so it must be stopped.