The presidential election has so many people wishing things will go one way or another. People get downright obnoxious with each other arguing politics. Stating your opinion, especially to people who think the opposite, in my opinion is usually just a waste of breath and also done in the spirit of riling someone up rather than actually trying to convince them to understand your point of view.
I have a facebook account that has friends and family attached to it. I have about 1/2 dozen people as my friends who I've never met. I did a search for people on facebook with the same name as I have. I just thought it would be fun to "friend" myself, or myself who isn't really me. Three of the four people with my name friended me. Of these one rarely posts anything. One of the other two posts daily. This person is from Chicago and is extremely dedicated to their political position. Their position is completely opposite of mine. The other person with the same name posts about the family, just as I do.
I post about once a month. It's either about work, because most people find it interesting, or it's about the grand kids. I never post anything that I wouldn't mind the entire world seeing, other than I don't want the entire world seeing it. I set all the privacy settings but even with that any total stranger can look at your list of friends. They can click on any of those friends and if those friends have their accounts open to strangers then those strangers can see anything you've posted to your friends site. I usually only post happy remarks. Not politics, not pissed off about work, not even anything negative about the kids, dogs, or whatever.
OK, I'm really digressing since I didn't intend to write about Facebook at all. It's just there's so much political garbage on it. On the other hand, most of the stuff is funny - as long as you don't get all huffy that 1/2 of it is about your own candidate. I'll read both sides, I'll laugh at both sides. Unfortunately, neither side is really going to fix the problems that we as a country are having.
I don't even want to talk national politics. State politics is the issue tonight. And somewhat federal. It's, all about the taxes going up. Since I work for the state I am well aware that the fake state budget is so out of whack that nobody in their right mind would ever make a budget like that for their family and call it good. It's something like the "I'm going to win the lottery and then this budget will work". No lottery, no chance of having a balanced budget. So what do they want? Instead of remembering that the amount of money available is the same amount we had 10 years ago and just cutting everything back, the state would rather pin its hopes on the election. The state just committed to spend 10% of the state budget, for the next who knows how many years, on high speed rail. I'm not sure how they are going to pay for that.
Just to balance the state budget without the rail costs is just about impossible. What is the state proposing? Adding higher taxes to the higher income brackets. This November they are proposing a new tax, but only for the people who "can afford it". The federal government plans to do the same. Renew the tax cuts for everyone except the higher income brackets, because they can afford it. There's some other new tax that's coming up on investments. I haven't paid much attention to it because I don't have those kinds of investments. But it's all about the new tax on those who can afford it. This means there are three new sets of taxes that will probably be happening.
Don't people realize that those with money can spend their money in two ways? They can buy goods and services, which provide jobs and spread money around in a capitalistic way, or they can give that same money to the government, who will spread it around - often to those who choose to live off the backs of others. Although I'm not anywhere near the income brackets that will be affected by the tax hikes I have had to cut back on some of my spending. Instead of cutting back on giveaway programs the state is cutting the pay of state workers. No problem. I used to pay someone to help with yard work. In fact, I used to hire out about $200 a month in different services. If everyone on my street did this we'd be able to support a family. I don't hire anything out anymore. I doubt many of my neighbors do either. Most of my neighbors do fit into that upper income and they are cutting back on doing anything as they just wait out the uncertainty.
Our state budget is going to be 10% over budget if they don't pass the new taxes. They are threatening to cut just about everything. At some point the state, and the federal government is going to need to take a step back and realistically determine what "the people" should be paying for and what they shouldn't. While we demand life, liberty, and the ability to pursue happiness, I'm not sure where things when so wrong that we expect our happiness to come from the government.
As I wait for November, I know that December is just around the corner. I still believe that the country is going to turn into a huge state of crazy in December. It may be blamed on the Mayan calendar or perhaps the presidential election. I'm expecting an interesting Christmas season.
I'll make sure we are well stocked with as many provisions as possible. We canned a lot but as per normal, since I am gone so much during the summer a lot of the garden died. I've done a lot of dehydrating vegetables this season. It takes up half the space as canning and is much easier to pack if I need to take something with me for the day or week. This week we picked what will probably be the last of the okra. I'm cutting it into bite-sized pieces and putting it into the dehydrator. When you are ready to use the okra you just take what you need and put it in a bowl of warm water to rehydrate, unless you just throw it straight into a soup or stew.
In the mean time, the job I really would like may be coming up sooner rather than later. I guess I may be the one thought of as crazy; to leave a good paying, permanent, enjoyable, government job for one in the semi-private sector. There's a chance I wouldn't get that job, but then I'll just stay in the one I have. Yes, November and December will be interesting. I can't wait.
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