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I still have all my old clients, and I still do plenty of work. It's pretty much a non-factor at the moment. I could quit work right now and I'd be OK for a few years.
I know how you feel about the illegal situation. I hear the same complaint here all the time. It doesn't really affect me yet, because glass installation is not unskilled labor.
As far as my travels, I can afford to go anywhere at any time, but i refuse to purchase a product that's overpriced because of speculation and/or disingenuousness. They can kiss my white ass. I'll sit at home until I either get bored or the price of fuel returns to sanity.
BTW, Birminghman is no longer a steel town. Steel has been replaced by a world-class medical & research community, and it's also one of the biggest banking centers in the US. I can only assume that you haven't been here in a while.
Ive been to Birmingham many of times. Its still a good hub for a trucker to find a load of pipe or steel getting them to where they need or want to go. But yeah, Birmingham Steel did close many years ago.
So your saying that you can live several years if you were to close up today and not be that badly effected. That you dont have to wake up and walk though check points. That you have the means of getting emergency help at a touch of a button. And that you have 24 hour heat/air and running water with out any restrictions other than paying the bill. Life is not that bad here in America.
You talk about the speculators driving up the prices. IS this BushCo doing this or are they companies 401k's and hedge funds buying and trading these for profit. Its day traders and money managers causing the spike in price. Its a commodity just like Corn, Milk, Steel, etc. Its sold based on the price that the market can bare. If you dont want to pay for the price dont buy it.
What if the Government got into the auto glass business? They told you what you had to sell it for and your cost to make it was up to you. How many auto glass companies would be around?
I still have all my old clients, and I still do plenty of work. It's pretty much a non-factor at the moment. I could quit work right now and I'd be OK for a few years.
I know how you feel about the illegal situation. I hear the same complaint here all the time. It doesn't really affect me yet, because glass installation is not unskilled labor.
As far as my travels, I can afford to go anywhere at any time, but i refuse to purchase a product that's overpriced because of speculation and/or disingenuousness. They can kiss my white ass. I'll sit at home until I either get bored or the price of fuel returns to sanity.
BTW, Birminghman is no longer a steel town. Steel has been replaced by a world-class medical & research community, and it's also one of the biggest banking centers in the US. I can only assume that you haven't been here in a while.
I saw this shit coming from a mjile away, and prepared for it. I was one of the people who bought a new house and went 30 year conv with 20% down, and did it on a property taht I can afford and will never lose value.
It's killed my personal life, and my business has slowed to the point that I can spend hours arguing with kids on the web, but overall I'm in good shape.
I used to ride dirtbikes all over the country, and now I have to stick around the local area because I refuse to give my money to Bush's oil company cronies. I haven't seen my Cali, OK, IL, or even TN/GA/KY friends in a few years.
I've been a responsible adult during this whole fucked-up era.
Where's my handout? I want my freebee.
Point taken.....
If you do not feel like buying from the BushCo of oils, purchase gas from Citco or other companies that does not have the BushCo hands up it ass.
I am also one of those people that lived in his means. I just closed a trucking company that I owned. I know all to well what its like buying 1000 gals of Diesel fuel a week.
My market was in construction. I moved 80 percent of all tower cranes in the tri county area. Operation cost were almost the cost we could bill. Our market is flooded by illegal workers that will driver illegally and suppress the rates in doing so. Companies look the other way as long at they are getting the product moved.
As for your business Birmingham is a thriving business in the auto glass. Its a producing city, producing ore and steel. That means tons of broken windows.
With all the extra free time that you definably have, change up marketing strategies, ad campaigns, promotions to body shops that use your service. If insurance pays for your front windshields like they do here, there is not a reason to not be making it in that business if you already have the start up in place.
As for your friends that you have not seen in some time. Airfare is still cheep if you shop right. Hotels are hurting so they have discounts. I cant speak on their behalf but maybe they got caught up in the American Dream?
But all in all your doing ok, a lot better than you know others are. Most of the others got that way because of greed or did not read the fine print. I dont blame anyone but ourselves for us getting into this situation. If you want to do something about it. Seems you have the time to start a movement. Im sure others would follow you. I know you got the time. Id even give you hats off if you made it. Not that I would agree but marketed your time and energy to something you believed in.
You and a few others have constantly head butted in political views. A 48 year old guy as you claim arguing online does not help your case. To others that cant see your view, just take you as a kook.
Id like to see your business do well. But you cant complain if your business is in the dumps when you spend hours a day fighting back and forth over all this BS when everyone themselves are the problem.
Bush is helping / serving the country fine and well. His review will improve as time goes on and ignorant people like you get it through their heads the macro issues that were affecting the country or the causes of things like oil prices, deficits, economy issues like unemployment of unskilled workers, credit crises, etc.
Ignorant, uneducated, lazy and entitlement-hungry Americans is what is fucking up the country. They also make it hard to deal with the growth of India and China. Medicare "budget" is also hurting the country as old people are expensive. Americans not saving is fucking up the country. Americans driving gas-hoggin SUVs because gas was so cheap was fucking up the country. Walmart is fucking up the country.
It would be comical if not so sad that so many ignorant liberals are blaming Bush for all that is going on. ITS BOOOOOOSHS FAULT!
Trying to decide who you want for president? McCain is as unrepublican as republican can get. Obama is a communist. What do you want? Free medicine for all? Or end of war? Do you want a guy who speaks on topics, but falls asleep during stupid-shit congress hearings? Or a guy who doesn't even show up to those congress hearings, andwhen he does, votes present, instead of Y/N? You want a guy who know military inside and out, because he remembers Alexander the Great in person? Or the guy who studders when he's corners, and speaks of change without ever changing a damn thing, and hope when he shows off he's lack of political skills by shooting basketball? Do you want a guy who's fought in wars, and remembers some of it? Or a guy who challenges to a physical fight a man as old as McCain?
Quit this shit, you two, and start a productive argument how to fix things.
I don't think anyone really believes that Obama is going to pass any kind of universal healthcare legislation. He may try to pass some sort of supplemental spending bill that will take care of the indigent, but I'm already seeing programs like that on a state level. It's a sales pitch.
Alabama has a state-sposored healthcare program for children now. I don't have the specifics, but it's a recent development.
If my president is going to spend my country into a hole, I'd rather see that money go towards making Americans happy & healthy. Blowing up brown people with my money just pisses me off.
McCain is old, and he's a major-league flip flopper. If Obama had flopped on half the issues McCain has, every rightwinger in the country would be calling for a public execution.
I don't trust McCain as far as I can throw him. If he chooses a used car saleman or some religious fanatic for a running mate, he's off my slate completely.
With all this big government bailouts, the unjust Iraq war, and the economic down turn of today.....has this affected you that badly personally and or economically?
I saw this shit coming from a mjile away, and prepared for it. I was one of the people who bought a new house and went 30 year conv with 20% down, and did it on a property taht I can afford and will never lose value.
It's killed my personal life, and my business has slowed to the point that I can spend hours arguing with kids on the web, but overall I'm in good shape.
I used to ride dirtbikes all over the country, and now I have to stick around the local area because I refuse to give my money to Bush's oil company cronies. I haven't seen my Cali, OK, IL, or even TN/GA/KY friends in a few years.
I've been a responsible adult during this whole fucked-up era.
2. rwh11385, you need to quit with Bush ass-sniffing.
You both arguing over nothing.
Clinton didn't kill OBL, but 8 months into Bush's presidency, good-ole W thought of Bin Laden family as good guys.
Osama was empowered way before Bush/Clinton era, and CIA calls it blow back.
Never during the war time, economy collapses like it over the past few years, and that has a lot to do with 2 guys like you arguing red vs. blue. Get together, realize what's right, and move on.
Trying to decide who you want for president? McCain is as unrepublican as republican can get. Obama is a communist. What do you want? Free medicine for all? Or end of war? Do you want a guy who speaks on topics, but falls asleep during stupid-shit congress hearings? Or a guy who doesn't even show up to those congress hearings, andwhen he does, votes present, instead of Y/N? You want a guy who know military inside and out, because he remembers Alexander the Great in person? Or the guy who studders when he's corners, and speaks of change without ever changing a damn thing, and hope when he shows off he's lack of political skills by shooting basketball? Do you want a guy who's fought in wars, and remembers some of it? Or a guy who challenges to a physical fight a man as old as McCain?
Quit this shit, you two, and start a productive argument how to fix things.
Why hasn't Bush turned it around? His economic policies are BRILLIANT, but they haven't had much of a positive effect, have they?
How about the bail out he signed today? I guess the old "free market" deal doesn't apply these days, does it?
He has. But it's not instant. And the global market is much more complicated than your pathetic brain can handle. Exchange rate issues, and also outsourcing, and rising prices of oil and steel because of demand globally is changing the way we must be able to see the economy.
You're a moron for expecting instant huge change. Is that what Obama friends are HOPING for? A magic wand to create jobs and make the credit cards bills paid on time?
You're actually right about something, for the first time in this thread. Bush didn't follow laissez-faire doctrine and intervened in the economy. I guess it's hard to be fully "free market" and heartless sometimes, especially with people complaining to their congressmen.
Did Bush write the bill? Yes, he threatened to veto it, but Congress produced it and besides an ego reason and to stick unmoving to doctrine, there wasn't much reason not to sign it.
Yes, an intervene, but a bunch of factors were growing to make America ass fucked in the housing market - moron lenders, moron borrowers, etc. A larger financial / credit / housing crisis will only help to shake the economy, put people out of a home, and make it hard for them to focus on their jobs.
No one unfortunately has a magic wand to make the American public in general smarter when it comes to saving, borrowing, or getting themselves educated. I wouldn't blame the President for not being able to force people to be skilled or trained in something in demand, to make better financial decisions, etc.
With all this big government bailouts, the unjust Iraq war, and the economic down turn of today.....has this affected you that badly personally and or economically?
Why hasn't Bush turned it around? His economic policies are BRILLIANT, but they haven't had much of a positive effect, have they?
How about the bail out he signed today? I guess the old "free market" deal doesn't apply these days, does it?
Bush signs housing bill to provide mortgage relief
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday signed a massive housing bill intended to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners and stabilize financial markets.
Bush signed the bill without any fanfare or signing ceremony, affixing his signature to the measure he once threatened to veto, in the Oval Office in the early morning hours. He was surrounded by top administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Housing Secretary Steve Preston.
"We look forward to put in place new authorities to improve confidence and stability in markets," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. He said that the Federal Housing Administration would begin right away to implement new policies "intended to keep more deserving American families in their homes."
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