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In 2011...

F

FyrBldgGuy

Silver Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
356
Just your open thoughts about 2011. This thread has no defined theme other than what you see for the new year.

For Me... I will be leaving California to work in another state. I don't know where yet but, I am going.

The Electric Car will cause power outages due to the lack of power generating capacity.

Obama will look more like a Republican and will get his first shotgun, after all he did give up smoking.

The Residential Sprinkler Code will be set aside by a federal mandate, pending a blue ribbon panel to investigate the hazards of antifreeze.

The ICC will find a new way to communicate with code professionals. They will discover this bulletin board.

Jar will have a new avatar.

Happy New Year
 
2011 - concern. Recently there have been predictions regarding $5 a gallon gas. Predictions regarding county and city governments not meeting budget. Predictions regarding a further squashing of the middle class (I think I use to be middle class once, desparately trying to claw my way back up there). So lots of predictions, not too many of them good. Not too much of that Hope-y thingie, lots of the Change-y thingie but not the kind of change that I'd like to see.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst - 2011 in a nutshell.
 
I guess it's how you define middle class. I define it as two cars less than 10 years old that are paid off and a home with a mortgage of under $1000 a month (including taxes and insurance). I've got the first part, need to upgrade the 10 year old vehicle (with 170K miles on it) to something a little newer with a few less miles (and I'll be paying cash for that). Should be able to swing the second part by June of this next year (or so) - in the Houston area we have plenty of very nice homes that are well under $100K; just another reason I'm happy that I moved here. Now if we want to talk about the heat and humidity, well ...

As for saving for retirement ... haha - I just plan on working till I die - THAT is my retirement plan.
 
Mine would definitely have to be to stay healthy, save money, and spend more time with family. On a side note: I hear that Jar did in fact get a new avatar.
 
My headlines:

Additional Windmills constructed for power generation in the Midwest move Kansas closer to Illinois! Missouri Protests Reduction in Representative districts in the House!

Iran concedes to making a bomb. Scientists predict Iraq will be radioactive clear by 2150.

China announces discovery of more potent toxin for the manufacture of drywall.

Sarah Palin announces that she's seeking the presidential nomination as promised since nobody else is stepping forward.

(In a related story, Congress should be out of medical quarantine by end of 2012)

California announced plans to secede from the USA. President sends farewell fruit basket from Puerto Rico.
 
Jerry Brown Governor of California is moving his progressive platform forward. Based on an in depth analysis of modern technology, costs, affective work studies, etc. He has decided to remove cell phones and cars. This is based on the outcome indicating that furloughed workers do not need these devices.
 
FyrBldgGuy said:
Jerry Brown Governor of California is moving his progressive platform forward
Click to expand...
But he's failed to even address the elephant in the room, the absurd salaries, pensions, and other benefits of state employees, he is getting rid of some state employees by laying the responsibilities off on local jurisdictions. In the meantime cities are laying off whole agencies like fire and police protection by dumping it on the counties (like The City of San Carlos just did), so the state is passing the unsustainable burden down and the cities are passing it up, so it appears that the counties are going to be caught in the middle.
 
Unfortunately it seems as though those pandering to those with their hand out are running the show. It is getting to the point where there will be nowhere to run to. I wish I could leave Illinois because it is being run by idiots, but it's not in the cards yet. Plus I love Chicago, warts and all.
 
The ironic thing is that it was Governor Moonbeam, during his last stint in power, who signed into law the right for government employees to unionize, he has always been in the pocket of the unions, it was the nurses' union that got him elected this time with Gloria Alred and Meg Whitman's illegal maid. He has totally capitulated to the teachers' union not touching schools, but surprisingly has taken on the out-of-control state university system cutting them by a billion dollars, I guess the newspapers' revelations about their absurd salaries was just too much for even him. Word is that congress is going to consider allowing states to go bankrupt, maybe hastening the demise of California, Illinois, and New York, this just out today:

New York Times said:
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers. Senator John Cornyn asked this month whether Congress should consider establishing a bankruptcy procedure for states.

Unlike cities, the states are barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court. Any effort to change that status would have to clear high constitutional hurdles because the states are considered sovereign.

But proponents say some states are so burdened that the only feasible way out may be bankruptcy, giving Illinois, for example, the opportunity to do what General Motors did with the federal government’s aid.¹
Click to expand...
It looks like your are going to be losing Jimmy John's:

News Gazette said:
CHAMPAIGN – The founder of Jimmy John's said he has applied for Florida residency and may recommend that his corporate headquarters move out-of-state as a result of the Illinois tax increases enacted last week. Jimmy John Liautaud told The News-Gazette on Tuesday that he is angry about the moves, which boosted the individual income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent and the corporate income tax from 7.3 percent to 9.5 percent.

"All they do is stick it to us," he said, adding that the Legislature and governor showed "a clear lack of understanding."

"I could absorb this and adapt, but it doesn't feel good in my soul to make it happen," Liautaud said.

Liautaud also lashed out at union protesters who demonstrated against a "low-cost" contractor his company is using to build a Jimmy John's in Urbana. That restaurant will provide 30 jobs, he said.²
Click to expand...
¹ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/business/economy/21bankruptcy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

² http://www.news-gazette.com/news/business/economy/2011-01-19/jimmy-johns-founder-contemplates-moving-headquarters-out-illinois.h
 
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