60+ year old thread.

Hate that! Makes a mess of the vehicles with NO real benefit.

 

Yup, and I'd have to agree. But a thousand (100 million?) people living in an area within a short distance of each other... compared to the same number of people spread out over vast distances... are needing the same infrastructure... but the infrastructure involved with the larger area is many times more expensive "per person/per acre". And yet taxes in the less densely populated area are usually less.

Is it because there are more oil wells, mines, resource focused taxable industries? It really doesn't make sense... but it's a fact that taxes in populated areas are higher than in less populated areas. Are there more police, firemen, EMTs per person in cities? You'd think there would be economies of scale. Are those administrating making many times higher salaries so they can afford to pay their taxes?

 

I think all of those are contributing factors ... but I'm no expert either ... I go off my gut and what I see.

 

I think about these kinds of things all the time. The things in life that are counter to explanation are fascinating.

One of the other popular ideas I find curious is the buy and hold strategy to invest. It makes no sense that Warren Buffet advises buy and hold as a way to get rich... and he does... when if he was doing what he advises then everyone else that follows his advice should be close to as wealthy as him.

 

It's interesting looking at social security.

Currently, at age 64.6, It would be $3100 a month.
At 66 8 months... 3700
Age 70 jumps to $4700

I've maxed my SS contributions for my last 20 years, hence the payout. My wife is collecting $1200 a month. She had 40 quarters paid in, but due to medical hadn't worked since 2005. Ironically, our 401K took multiple hits with all my wife's medical bills. Thankfully current insurance covers durable medical supplies (We just had a box of ostomy supplies arrive, one month is about $4000). Hence for Medicare, I have a lot of research to do.

If I go out on Disability, it's $3600 a month. I've talked with my Neurologist, and I qualify for disability, but I still like working and enjoy what I do.

We need to downsize out of this house (5 bedrooms, 1.5 acres, $11,000 annual tax). The goal is to sell and use proceed to buy a 3/2 1400 sq ft and have no mortgage). No debt, no mortgage, just food and medical; hence SS would cover the cost. Don't touch retirement but leave it for the kids if they need to put me into memory care (about $10,000 a month in Texas, Double that in California or NY).

Meanwhile, I'm on that drug trial. It's odd as my sense of smell has returned. This is strange, but I suddenly realized I stink, my dog needs a bath, and the kitchen trash reeks. I try not to gag when taking my wife's bathroom trash out (I double-bag it for the trash guy's safety). My daughter was 10 feet away and sliced lemon, almost too intense for me. After forty years of nose blind, this is all so odd.

I grabbed a Preston & Child Pendergast Novel and have enjoyed reading it the last two nights (about 2/3 of the way through). The storyline jumps from the present day to 1880, with multiple stories. I haven't read a novel in over four years. It was a great pastime, but reading a page without recalling and rereading those pages was frustrating. My memory was cleared the following day, and I didn't recall previous paragraphs. No problem picking up the story and continuing.

The drug is targeted towards Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Pretty fascinating, my wife jokes, "I don't think you're on the Placebo." It makes me wonder what happens when the trial runs out (It's phase III, but if approved still a few years before it is available).

Maybe I can get back to designing my autonomous lawn mower.

 

Well now I'm curious. My son has no sense of smell... just like all the male cousins on my wife's side of the family.

Did you have a sense of smell, and lost it? Do you know why?

If you lost a sense of smell, it may not be related to the male loss of smell that my relatives are experiencing, but it's an interesting idea. I feel bad for my kid. We've been places (candle aisles, fields of flowers, etc.) and he will look around and say, "Oh, I'll bet this smells good. Does it?" On the other hand, he wouldn't gag like I do when moving a dead skunk off the road.

Does the medication have a name? I'd like to keep track of it.

 

Pretty well sums it up, we "HAD" a rural area that exploded with developments around it and an influx of new businesses, the taxes also exploded.
You would think that with all the increased tax income from those businesses and 10's of thousands of new homes in those developments that taxes would go down, nope, bigger schools, more teachers, more busses, more state police, more roads, improved roads, etc., etc..
Awhile back they reassessed our town, which usually puts the property value up and lowers the mileage, then they slowly raise the mileage to the max and then reassess property value and start all over again, just saw where they are raising my taxes in the fall, I think we all know that no matter what, they will never have enough money!

 

Exactly... Don't taxes work like insurance (is supposed to) works? Spreading out costs among many people so benefits are less expensive?

 

Nope. Can't tax outside a "district", city, county, state..... so it's far more localized. Insurance "used to be" (big paintbrush here) far more local, now it's regionalized with all the data. I pay for how close Austin people have gotten, not what I used to pay for living 40 miles out "in the country".

 

Key, in my mind, is to think of per person costs within a service area. More heads cost more money. Each person requires x amount. With insurance they play the odds. Out of 10 people, only x number will require a pay out, not all 10. I know it's not that simple, but that's how it makes sense for me.

 

In the department of "well, that's not good"...

At least 10 people murdered at rally in Mexico’s Baja California (msn.com)

 

Regarding the discussion on not having a sense of smell; I've lost mine three times now over the years:

• 1980: I had a SARS type of illness and had a complete loss of smell for five months, after that it gradually returned over the next few years.
• 2020: I got COVID-19 in January of that year and once again had a loss of the smell sense for about six months, and then it returned over a period of a few more months.
• 2021: I got brutally mauled by a 150 pound dog and suffered a "Grade 3b" concussion; my sense of smell is just now beginning to return nearly two years later. It is strange the things I can and cannot smell; in the "can" category is the fermentation gasses made from my sourdough starter, in the "can't" category is when I'm sautéing garlic and/or onions (can't smell a blasted thing).

 

Can't like that Kurt. Too much going on South of the border but people still go down. RIP those killed.
Safety in numbers don't count anymore.

 

Talking of taxes, I live in an over 55 development (Old Folks Neighborhood). We are not allowed to have any children under the age of 19 living with us for more than 30 days a year. But alas we still have to pay the full school tax load which is almost 4% more than our local tax . Our township is well run and they try to keep our local tax reasonable (paid $1475 for this year and as I said in a previous post my overall taxes are just shy of $6000). And what do most of the kids learn . As new homes are built their taxes reflect the need to pay for services. How these Millenials can afford the mini-mansions, high end cars and still pay the taxes (some into the low to mid 5 figure) is beyond me. I always "live with in my means" and have no debt. We have a good police department and our Fire department is volunteer but they do a good job. Can't really complain too much though because I live in a good area.

 

A happy report (I'll spare the in-process). I am sort of embarrassed about how bad this was; but was filthy when I got it, wife's carpet cleaner steam attachment did nothing, and neither did a few wimpy efforts. It does help to use the right tools, properly.
Before and afters:

 

Looking Good Kurt.

 

So "Nope"... even though we are talking about many people... inside a district... that may include how close Austin people have gotten even though you once paid less because your district has now included people that were once 40 miles away?

I know how insurance (the idea and how it is supposed to) works, and I know people live in areas where they are taxed alike due to boundaries. But the concept of mutual benefit for combined monetary efforts works similarly regardless, or is supposed to. Why are economies of scale not found in taxation like they are in private industries?

 

I always had a great sense of smell. As a kid, I walked into the house and knew exactly what Mom was cooking for dinner and often could remark, "Out of garlic? Normally you add a dash to your dish." She had forgotten to do that!

Parkinson's was noted by the time I was 25; for years, I had phantom smells (my sense of smell went away, and my brain filled in the blanks, hence smelling roses during the middle of winter, but none in the house).

Buntanetap is the drug name. It's a double-blind study, so neither you nor your Neurologist knows if you are on a placebo or 10mg, or 20mg.

https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/news/buntanetaps-efficacy-parkinsons-trial-supports-phase-3-study/

I'm doing things I didn't think possible. Flip a BOSU ball upside down, stand on the flat side with one foot, and I can balance for 15 seconds. A year ago, I couldn't do that. Maybe I have improved with time, but all these little things are improving.

Not me, but it gives you an idea of on foot stand on the flat side of the BOSU Ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMB6ixi6DG4

My heart goes out to their families; senseless killing.

Baja 500 was a fun family event when I used to go down in the 70s/80s. I knew agua mineral (mineral water), Cerveza, por favor (beer please) Puedo ir al baño, por favor? (May I use the toilet) and learned one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!

Never an issue for tourists; killing is just crazy. Cachanillazo is the small Razor (Polaris RZR) side by side.

Cartels don't want attention, so something seems very off with shooting at vehicles. A couple were off the beaten path, a white double cab Tacoma with tinted windows. Someone tried stopping them, but they fled, and the vehicle was shot up. White Tacoma was mistaken for federal police; hence tinted windows rolled up didn't let Cartel know it was a tourist. Dangerous place and the couple involved haven't been back to Mexico since.

 

I live in the Yuma Foothills outside city limits by a mile or 2. We have many restraunts and a couple big stores and a handful of hotels to include one of the highest grossing Frys (Kroger) stores in the state with more businesses going in because of the winter snowbird influx. The city annexes the parts they want that bring in the most city tax while the actual city limit stays the same. We don't have a county sales tax. We don't have a county fire department but have Rural Metro that requires a subscription and no city services what-so-ever. With all this going on we're still limited on the amount of deputies we have though they do a great job and most live here in the Foothills so they do have a vested interest.