Thoughts on this bailout and “stimulus”?

I guess to the question of bailouts. Some people need it and others don't, same with companies. I guess it is should we/government do it? This is not just a local problem this is going on all over the world and I feel it is going to get worse before it gets better.

I think that it is needed for some but how do we say you get help but them over there don't get anything. So it is best to give it to everyone in hope that people that don't need it help people out that do around them. This is what some on here have said that they would do if and when they get anything.

I don't work here in the states but do buy quite a bit of equipment and ship it over to China to build buildings. We have paid your workers this whole winter when that country shut down and no one was allowed to work. Our two job sites are months behind and we are having a hard time getting everything shipped out of the states. We were adding onto the house but have shut that down, due to the uncertainty. I feel that we need our people once this is all said and done so don't want to let anyone go, plus it is not like they can go find something else right now. We don't need a bailout just need to be able to get to work like everyone else. If people can just stay home if they are sick and everyone just keeps there distance for a little bit we can get through this faster and all get back to work.
 
Hey man, you're kind of digging yourself a hole here. To assume you have it all figured out is merely putting your ignorance on display. Trust me man, we were all ignorant at 22 (and maybe even 32, or 33 right now lol). Answers are rarely as simple as they seem and circumstances are rarely as straightforward as you think. I already explained my personal circumstances. If my 3 y/o had to go to daycare instead of staying home with me it completely soak up our excess monthly cash flow pretty quick. And we're not minimum wage, not by a long shot.

Take a step back, realize that your life and experience represent you alone, and that most people that have been on this earth 10, 20, 30+ years longer than you may have a better understanding how it works. No one is hating on you (or at least, they shouldn't be), but a little humility will take you a long way in life.
Hey, as a 75 yr old guy I find rjthehunter's remarks pretty mature and well-considered for a 22 yr old. At twenty two all I knew was that I could look forward to an all expense paid trip to Southeast Asia, social networking through picking up the kegs & steaks at the Parkway for a steak-fry up Hyalite, working & saving for tuition and a little beer money, and desperately looking for a date once in awhile.

Not in total agreement, but very appreciative of rjthehunter's posts.
 
Me too, and proud of it. But kids around here seem unable to discern age and use it for anybody over 35-ish.

Agreed.

Technically
24-39 are millennial
GenX 40-55

Some wiggle room at the extremes
 
Hey, as a 75 yr old guy I find rjthehunter's remarks pretty mature and well-considered for a 22 yr old. At twenty two all I knew was that I could look forward to an all expense paid trip to Southeast Asia, social networking through picking up the kegs & steaks at the Parkway for a steak-fry up Hyalite, working & saving for tuition and a little beer money, and desperately looking for a date once in awhile.

Not in total agreement, but very appreciative of rjthehunter's posts.
I would agree, however at 22 (or for some 32, 42, 52) one tends to lack the life experience and humility that lends itself to either embracing or accepting different viewpoints. You can’t claim to completely understand things based upon hearing it from friends or coworkers.

I’ve packed up and moved a family for a better job, and it’s not always easy. It can be expensive as hell to move and start over when it’s all said and done, and working overtime and raising a family isn’t always the answer either.
 
As I've gotten older I've progressively spent less, saved more, and given more away. The only one that's increased my happiness is giving more away, even though it's made many things harder. I have a relatively secure job with good benefits, and my health. I have some nice stuff and some crappy stuff. Most of my excess funds by % go to health challenges that my children deal with. Getting up in arms about money serves no long term benefit. I would rather my kids see that our family prioritizes people and cares about them than have an extra $X in the bank. Color me foolish. We won't know who was right until the bell tolls, but obviously if I didn't think I was on track I wouldn't bother.

I gave away my perfectly functional 4x4 rig to a single parent neighbor a couple of months ago for $1. Despite the fact that my finances aren't quite as robust as they were then, you know how much I regret that today? NONE. He tells me about how he has it tuned up and running great, how it allows he and his son to get around in the hills together, and the next thing he's going to do to fix it up. I don't write that to say "look at me"; I write it to say there's been about nothing about anyone being happy about anything. There is a lot to be happy about, you just have to stop staring at yourself sometimes. Contrary to what most seem to think, you don't have to be naive to be content.

To be clear, of course no one is finding joy in lost wages, virus concerns, sick relatives, and death. But it's always pretty clear to see who shares knowledge to help inform, and who sees it as a venue to whine, argue, and pick to no end. This is just as true in real life as it is on the internet.

As to the currently proposed stimulus checks, I could use some new tires pretty soon. Some funds from the gov would go toward that locally. The rest would be saved for now. All the unhappy people are welcome to argue why myself and others should be unhappy about all manner of things like checks coming in the mail...good luck. :)
 
My only annoyance in this whole shebang is people being crazy and panic buying and other useless things. If everyone would just realize were all in this together regardless of your personal situation it would go a long ways. I personally dont like the bailout but I dont need it others do so if it helps them it helps me cause were in it together because were all intertwined someway or another unless you live like the unabomber.

A cool story from this morning I will share.
I live way out away from any real town. A mile down the road we have a small gas station market. People came in this morning and grabbed all the milk, bread, pasta, and some paper supplies. When they got to counter the store worker told them they could purchase one of every item they chose but not in bulk. After some resistance the people just left angry and bought nothing. 🤷‍♂️ The lesson here is those who panic and go into hysteria mode during crisis are not in this with me, you, or anyone else they are worried about themselves only. Their willing to drive out to the middle of nowhere and buy up all the supplies to satisfy their needs not thinking of me or my neighbors who are mostly elderly and need stuff to. I'm thankful to have good people like the owner of this store around me.

Be thoughtful of others it will go a long ways.
 
Add to that: Mos temployers aren't paying overtime. They're working their staff up to 35 hours a week and not scheduling more in an effort to avoid paying full-time benefits. So if you have to work 80 hours a week to afford living where you do, then you're like looking at three jobs to just get those hours. Most jobs that you'd pick up in the after 5 pm slot won't pay higher than $14. The traditional safety net of overtime, paid benefits, pensions, etc have been eliminated in favor of a rigid ideology of less regulation. This has helped create a massive imbalance in wealth distribution, and led us to a space where working three jobs isn't the exception anymore, yet not quite the rule.

Our system has been altered from where it was in the 1950's - 1970's to favor management over employees. I can see why millenials & younger generatons would think socialism is a better path. They've never known capitalism at it's finest and most egalitarian.
I think your almost there Ben but not quite. There isn't less regulation but more...The end result is the small business owner gets crushed and cant keep up while big business gets efficiencies. The big get bigger while the small struggle to even get started.

I am in the convenience store business and can promise you that an entrepreneur with a solid location and good work ethic would quit a development project to build a site before they ever received a building permit. In our neck of the woods you need to spend $20,000 for a traffic study before the state highway folks will even talk to you. Once you get thru that just the local permitting, architects, engineers, building codes, storm water plan, soil conservation, LEED lighting, etc etc etc. The little guy is pushed aside and only the big boys can play anymore. Maybe capitalism has consumed itself?
 
I would agree, however at 22 (or for some 32, 42, 52) one tends to lack the life experience and humility that lends itself to either embracing or accepting different viewpoints. You can’t claim to completely understand things based upon hearing it from friends or coworkers.

I’ve packed up and moved a family for a better job, and it’s not always easy. It can be expensive as hell to move and start over when it’s all said and done, and working overtime and raising a family isn’t always the answer either.
I never claimed to completely understand. I'll be the first to admit I don't know everything 😎
 
Once you get thru that just the local permitting, architects, engineers, building codes, storm water plan, soil conservation, LEED lighting, etc etc etc. The little guy is pushed aside and only the big boys can play anymore. Maybe capitalism has consumed itself?

I don't think government permitting, building codes, etc falls under the ideology of capitalism.

I think all of those things have merit, but capitalism at its core is an exchange of services/money between individuals and businesses.

The government is the regulating body that ensures that fair trades can be made.

It is a better option than anarco-capitalism in my opinion, but still if you are going to lay blame for those things you have to point it in the right direction.
 
As I've gotten older I've progressively spent less, saved more, and given more away. The only one that's increased my happiness is giving more away, even though it's made many things harder. I have a relatively secure job with good benefits, and my health. I have some nice stuff and some crappy stuff. Most of my excess funds by % go to health challenges that my children deal with. Getting up in arms about money serves no long term benefit. I would rather my kids see that our family prioritizes people and cares about them than have an extra $X in the bank. Color me foolish. We won't know who was right until the bell tolls, but obviously if I didn't think I was on track I wouldn't bother.

I gave away my perfectly functional 4x4 rig to a single parent neighbor a couple of months ago for $1. Despite the fact that my finances aren't quite as robust as they were then, you know how much I regret that today? NONE. He tells me about how he has it tuned up and running great, how it allows he and his son to get around in the hills together, and the next thing he's going to do to fix it up. I don't write that to say "look at me"; I write it to say there's been about nothing about anyone being happy about anything. There is a lot to be happy about, you just have to stop staring at yourself sometimes. Contrary to what most seem to think, you don't have to be naive to be content.

To be clear, of course no one is finding joy in lost wages, virus concerns, sick relatives, and death. But it's always pretty clear to see who shares knowledge to help inform, and who sees it as a venue to whine, argue, and pick to no end. This is just as true in real life as it is on the internet.

As to the currently proposed stimulus checks, I could use some new tires pretty soon. Some funds from the gov would go toward that locally. The rest would be saved for now. All the unhappy people are welcome to argue why myself and others should be unhappy about all manner of things like checks coming in the mail...good luck. :)

We need more of this.

“Lord, help me light a candle rather than curse the darkness”
 
Pretty much the same here. Thing is there giving out loans to people with very little down. That's recipe for disaster imo. The people that just bought our house put like 5% down on a 400k house. The thought of there payment makes me cringe with taxes they had to be well over 3k a month if that's not asking for trouble I dont know what is.

I bought my house with 0% down. My payment was about $1900 a month. My interest rate was 3.25%, so I put my money into stocks and got an annual return of about 12%.

After about 10 years, my mortgage is almost all paid off. Although I also added extra payments, but still. Putting 0 down can work to your benefit if you make your money work for you.
 
The government is the regulating body that ensures that fair trades can be made.
Yes through requiring permits and ensuring adherence to codes. You want to buy a house where the builder was "winging it". That still happens.
I would argue that we are already mostly Socialist. The bailouts and checks that were the topic of this thread are just supporting evidence. Not saying I love the idea, but I'm not moving to another country anytime soon.
 
I bought my house with 0% down. My payment was about $1900 a month. My interest rate was 3.25%, so I put my money into stocks and got an annual return of about 12%.

After about 10 years, my mortgage is almost all paid off. Although I also added extra payments, but still. Putting 0 down can work to your benefit if you make your money work for you.
Sounds like I need to take a lesson.......
 
I bought my house with 0% down. My payment was about $1900 a month. My interest rate was 3.25%, so I put my money into stocks and got an annual return of about 12%.

After about 10 years, my mortgage is almost all paid off. Although I also added extra payments, but still. Putting 0 down can work to your benefit if you make your money work for you.
I'm not saying there isn't exceptions. I'm glad that worked well for you. It's just that I think loose lending is no good. We have a guy at work who has his wages garnished every week for a vehichle, yet he bought a new house this last fall. I dont understand that. I was more referring to these situations than I was yours.
 
I would argue that we are already mostly Socialist.

As traditionally used, socialism required government owned means of production. In the last few years this has morphed into a squishy, "be like Denmark" sentiment. We are definitely highly regulated and we dance with "chrony-capitalism" at times, but we are not at all socialist in the traditional sense of the word. There is a big leap from a regulated capitalism that prioritizes a social safety net to full on socialism. Given the catastrophic outcomes of just about every attempt at socialism I think we should not confuse the two.
 
Last edited:
I think your almost there Ben but not quite. There isn't less regulation but more...The end result is the small business owner gets crushed and cant keep up while big business gets efficiencies. The big get bigger while the small struggle to even get started.

I am in the convenience store business and can promise you that an entrepreneur with a solid location and good work ethic would quit a development project to build a site before they ever received a building permit. In our neck of the woods you need to spend $20,000 for a traffic study before the state highway folks will even talk to you. Once you get thru that just the local permitting, architects, engineers, building codes, storm water plan, soil conservation, LEED lighting, etc etc etc. The little guy is pushed aside and only the big boys can play anymore. Maybe capitalism has consumed itself?

That's a great point, and one that I wasn't considering. I was focused mainly on the regulatory side of labor and tax law that favors large corporations over small businesses & employees. When Amazon can negotiate a tax abeyance and even essentially get away with paying no taxes, while small businesses are drowned out by costs & taxes, we're upside down. The tax burden has shifted substantially at the local, state & federal level to small businesses and individuals. That's not right.

Heck, I'd be happy going back to Ike's tax structure personally, but would settle for the first major raking of the taxpayer that Reagan gave us.
 
Back
Top