Add to that no one can count out change anymore. And (this is a true story), years and years ago I worked as a buyer in a department store where an awful lot of employees could not calculate 50% off in their heads. I had to make a chart for them.
I dunno…remember cash for clunkers? They took away all of the cars that could run forever…And now you have to pay a mint for truck with a non-carbureted engine that can survive an EMP (I have a collection of tin foil hats in many styles and colors). Those pennies may be worth a LOT someday 🤣. And yes, I’m in the market for a really old truck that won’t break the bank.
We have a 20 y.o. Toyota Tundra. It's pretty beat and is a bit rusty, but runs great. We call it Trusty Rusty. I wouldn't part with it for anything. I saw an old 1940's pickup truck the other day, it was in primo condition - was painted cream color with bright red on part of it. I love those old 1940s pick up trucks.
"Indrek, you cannot live in an environment where the government salts the roads for your own good." (A government employee in the Dept. of Transporation explained that salting roads here had the added benefit of "making" people buy new cars: "If they didn't rust out, people would never buy new.")
Agreed! We bought a home 2 yrs ago and it came with a giant oven that is computerized. I hate that thing. The cat loves to walk on the control panel, and when she does, it changes all the settings. It finally had a nervous breakdown last week and now it's stuck on "locked" mode and I can't use the oven at all. I refuse to pay huge bucks to get it fixed so I bought a table top oven that does all kinds of things including roasting my Thanksgiving turkey. Much cheaper than repairing that computer oven or buying a new one. I do NOT like A.I.
That could be! She's such a screwball, she does things in very unusual ways. I've had cats for 40 yrs but never had one as unusual as her. She gives me lots of love, though, which brings me great joy.
I hope you know it’s un lockable. Just hold it down until it beeps. It’s a safety lock. We figured out how to lock it after our cat walked over the panel as well and turned on the oven!
Yes, I tried doing that several times. The oven has its own mind and turns on the lock all by itself even without the cats - I've been there when it did that all on its own. A.I. has its own mind...
Oh dear, that’s terrible. I’m guessing ours, from 2017, is still mechanically driven, and therefore controllable. I had no idea new appliances are A.I. controlled.
Obama totally did that on purpose. Cash for clunkers, because the clunkers could be fixed easily and survive the EMP, because let's face it, it's a comin'. Seriously. I am waiting for the aliens, earthquakes or a USA west coast volcano to blow. Or for that thing in orbit to DO something. Let's get on with it already. Bring it. *mimics the cool hand gesture of Neo in The Matrix*
Yeah, "Cash for Clunkers" but ONLY if you used the money to BUY NEW. NO MONEY for buying used... Total giveaway to the Well-Heeled who were going to buy new anyway and to the Sh*t-Car industry.
I own a 2012 Camry I bought brand new. Best car ever. I’ve changed the oil every 5k miles (even though I use an excellent grade oil), change the air filters on a near timely schedule, and rotate the tires as suggested.
I’ll drive it till the doors fall off. Actually I’ll probably find a way to reattach them and keep on driving it. I’ve had extremely minimal repairs to date. No complaints whatsoever.
It gets me from point A to point B just fine. Without being tracked, alerted by buzzers, or talked to/braked by a car minion. I don’t need, nor want, all the new tech stuff.
For fun one day I went to a Toyota dealership to look at their latest offerings. I was well disappointed to learn that starting w/2025 Camry they no longer offer gas-only options IN THE US MARKET, only hybrid. However they are still an option in the Middle East & China. Go figure.
I kind of like that. But I’d have to package them in bags of 10 as finding them in my purse and counting them out is really annoying. Pay with rolls of $1.00 in pennies? It’s easy to put them in rolls.
Hoarders will now do their thing and pennies will disappear even more quickly than if Trump hadn’t made the announcement. I remember a penny shortage in the distant past; folks just dealt with it; no laminated posters; no outrage.
You never cease to amaze me with your analogies. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie. LOL. I have seen it before in the way back machine of memory but you pulled it out of the attic nonchalantly.
But seriously you are correct about the next move and the next. It is like putting a frog in the pot and turning up the heat slowly rather than directly into boiling water.
I find your humor and research so great to read in the early mornings, anytime actually, but todays was a great beginning to my day. Thank you.
Yes. Die Hard one and two ARE Christmas movies. Trading Places is a between Christmas to New Year movie. Planes Trains and Automobiles is a Thanksgiving movie. IMHO. FWIW.
"I find your humor and research so great to read in the early mornings, anytime actually, but todays was a great beginning to my day."
makes me feel the same as when somebody comments, "This is going to be a really nice day!" I'm glad somebody says it so the rest of us around them can feel good about it together.
I think what's worse than the outrage for cancelation is the fact McDonald's had to spell out the concept of rounding so specifically. That, my friends is an educational crisis. And to think, these people are vote.
50 Cent, born Curtis James Jackson III on July 6, 1975, in Queens, New York City, is an American rapper.
Kelvin Darnell Martin (July 24, 1964 – October 24, 1987), known as 50 Cent, was an American criminal from Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York, who inspired the stage name of rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.
Martin was born in the Bronx and raised there by his grandmother before moving to Brooklyn.
He earned the nickname "50 Cent" due to various stories, including his reputation for robbing anyone regardless of their money, a dice game where he won $500 from a 50-cent stake,
Well this would be an easy problem to fix. The problem is taxes. Businesses can price everything to end in 0s or 5s, but once that percentage tax is applied, all those other inconvenient numbers pop up. All the governments need to do is stop taxing us (ideally), or allow the tax to be rounded. Rounded down only.
A penny for your thoughts and a clot from your shots!
Another government created problem with a government created solution! Thanks for poisoning us and robbing all of us blindly through the invisible criminal mechanism of inflation.
If they come for your nickels, dimes, and quarters, don't let them take the pre-1965 ones that are worth a ton more than just a few cents due to the increasing prices of silver.
First they came for the pennies, then they'll come for all the physical cash! This is the time for us to use physical cash more than ever. Happy cash Friday and happy weekend everyone!
Meh, we in Canada were over this in about a week. Life w/o pennies is a nothingburger.
(trend toward CBDC noted, however).
But now we get to be distracted by this while we lose elections to progressive dem idiots who apparently continue to have success with their burn-down-the-nation policies.
If we eliminate sales tax, then the problem goes away. Prices can be even 5 cent increments. It is sales tax that causes the problem. Let's have a discussion about sales tax. When I was a kid, it was raised to a temporary value of 5% due to an emergency. Now it is rare to find a tax rate less than 10% (where I live is 7.6% which is very low). With more people, you would think the percentage could go down. In a good society you tax the things you don't want and in our capitalistic society you want people to buy things. Couldn't we survive on simply taxing greed and only greed?
It sounds good on the surface, but i's impossible to tax something without a solid definition such as 'greed'. You might say anything except things necessary for life (food, water, shelter, heat, medication, etc) would be taxable for greed, but some people take more than they need of those necessary things, so wouldn't that be greed, too? Who gets to determine precisely how much of a necessity each person can have before it crosses the line into greed? For that matter, what if the only items claimed to be necessary were cricket flour and mylar blankets? I think taxes should be voluntary; it's the only fair tax. Each person should be able to contribute however much they want toward only the things they support. Unpopular, unhelpful programs would perish and the very few good ones would fluorish. Take the power of the purse back from Congress, as the elected body has proven to be extremely irresponsible and untrustworthy.
In the past, "luxury" taxes were installed (insinuating that "those" purchases weren't actually "needful" and so "some people" were buying things that they didn't "need", something "greedy" people would do.
It only killed the "luxury" industries in the United States and drove them to other countries--if they could escape.
God Bless Rich People Who Buy Crazy Stuff They Don't "Need"--because it puts so many of us to work!
It is difficult to measure "greed," but it's easy to measure land value, and the value of other privileges granted and protected by the government. Those should be the only things taxed.
I think you are missing the point. No one should be taxed, with a few very small exceptions. If you have a home, two cars, a vacation home, all should be tax free. If you run a business and you have employees. Those employees make $100k / year and you make $200k per year. No tax. If you have that same business and the employees make $60k/year and you make $5 million per year, then you are going to pay taxes on your excess. This requires reducing government (which is not needed as much when people can make a living).
I disagree. It is not easy to "measure" land value (and I find the association of land ownership with other "privileges granted" curious). It is easy to GUESS land value. UNTIL land--or anything else--SELLS, its value remains UNKNOWN, and AFTER it sells, its value is still ONLY known for THAT moment.
The power to tax being the power to destroy, NO government should be able to TAX any PROPERTY because it means the "owner" is owning it with the government's permission.
Fair, Flat Tax. And the Vote Only for People with Skin in the Game: Tax Payers.
Many people may have a different opinion on what is 'needed' and what is 'excess', but I think we can all agree that having billions of dollars while your employees are on government support is an excess. If all we need to do is debate on where the line is, that should be easy. In fact it could be a vote of more than 50% of the population agreeing on the 'greed' line.
In corporations, the income disparity between the CEO and the janitor could be a measure. If they want to pay the janitor more so they can make more, then fine, or just pay the tax and look like an asshole.
Another part of this is trying to reduce government. Why does the percentage keep going up. Governments role should be minimal. As it is, it is becoming greed as well. Taking from the needy people it is supposed to protect.
mike, not all of us can readily agree to your definition of excess. My employees, if I had any, wouldn't be on government support, if they qualified, if government support wasn't offered. You can come up with all sorts of methods for measuring greed, but they all come down to envy. If a fellow is acquiring wealth the old-fashioned way, earning it through legal means, he's entitled to keep it and to a hearty congratulations and, if appropriate, thank-yous for taking responsibility to provide gainful employment for others--which is a hard thing to do.
You have however put your finger on the problem. In the United States of America, no man should be able to "vote" himself a benefit at the expense of a "fellow" citizen. That is government-laundered theft.
I believe that if the wealth wasn't siphoned off by people who's only 'job' is manipulating money, there would be plenty left for those that 'create value' or 'provide a service'. When I was a kid, the person working as a cashier at the grocery store could afford to buy a house, a vacation cabin, raise a family and put the kids through college on on a single parent working one job.
Now in the Seattle area, it takes two to four jobs to buy a home if they are lucky and they have to be high paying jobs. No cabin and no college.
Greed is what is creating the wage disparity.
Over population is what allows it. There is always someone willing to work for less and they are exploited for that by the money handlers.
Clearly the threshold is debatable. I was just proposing an idea.
People like to point out corporate greed, but much of our financial problems today stem from government greed and personal greed/poor choices/mismanagement of finances. If you adjust prices and wages for inflation, most prices and wages are not much different than they were in 1960, for example.
Adjusted for inflation, $50 for a full cart of groceries in 1960 would be the equivalent of a $539 cart of groceries today. A $3,700 new 1960 Ford Thunderbird would be like buying a new car today for $39,900. A $17,000 rancher house on a small lot in 1960 would be like paying $183,000 for a house today. There has been some market distortion that has resulted in housing prices outpacing inflation. Our expectations on the size, material grades, and amenities in homes has ballooned, too, affecting affordability. A rancher built in 1960 sells today for about 47% more (adjusted for inflation).
The average wage in 1960 was $108 per week, or $5,600 per year, which adjusted for inflation would be $1,160 per week or $60,300 per year. The minimum wage was $1 per hour, which would be $10.78 adjusted for inflation. Today, the average wage is $1,200 per week or $63,000 per year.
Families could live comfortably on a single income at that time, but they spent a fraction of the money on nonessential things compared to our expenditures today. Single-use and disposable items, low quality clothing that needs frequent replacement, multiple pairs of the same type of shoes, multiple handbags, beauty products and services, food delivery and fast food, and especially subscriptions to so many things like internet, cell phone, multiple streaming services; all this really takes a massive chunk out of our budgets. In 1960 families on average spent less than 3% of their income on entertainment and today it's an average of 5.3%. 4% of Americans were recreational drug users in 1960 compared to 25% today. That's a lot of money going up in smoke. That 1960 Thunderbird was easy to maintain and repair yourself. These days, people spend a lot of money on maintenance and repair of their vehicles that they either won't or can't do themselves. In 1960, the average ratio of debt to income was 55%. Today it's 83% which means a much larger chunk of our money is used to pay interest.
On the other hand, there has been an increase in government interference in markets, including business regulations that create expensive compliance hurdles, plus fees, permits, and fines for everything, as well as allowing an industry of predatory frivolous lawsuits that aim solely for settlements, which all increase the cost of doing business and divert profits from wage increases.
I would add that healthcare stands out as a required expense that sucks up as much as 25% of your income for services that make you less healthy causing other expenses. It used to be you didn't even need health care because the cost of a doctor visit or even hospital stay was reasonable.
Interest rates is another unnecessary burden on the people. The house you described is almost impossible to buy at 6 or 7% interest. The houses in my area for a typical 3 bedroom house of the 1950s sells for almost a million dollars. That is due to population density. Someone will pay it so the market will bear the unreasonable price.
Yes, but to my mind you've got the wrong end of the stick: the "outcome" end. You propose to use outcomes as a measure of unfairness and redistribute wealth accordingly--using "popular vote" as a fig leaf for seizure of private property by government.
I propose you look at the "other" end of the stick, the beginning--before there are any outcomes. Do two people have the same "opportunity" to get rich? Is one prevented by an unconstitutional infringement of a human right? If both have the same opportunity, and one does better than the other, it is to be expected in the couse of human events, and in such case no harm, no foul.
Codifying "envy" into laws will not raise the envious, it will only bankrupt the productive. I'm happy to join you in the fight to level the playing field BEFORE the fact, but not take from the more successful AFTER the fact to give to the less successful.
Good point. However two people with equal opportunity and one with more ambition, could still lead to one person dominating the other. And maybe that isn't so much of a problem as it seems...
I thought you might mean something like that. To compare the amount of work and innovation and exposure the CEO position requires to the janitor and the responsibility that entails just can’t be quantified. In multibillion dollar corporations the employees are not on government assistance. If the wages are too low, people won’t take the jobs. They’ll go elsewhere to work or start their own multibillion dollar corporation. This is how the free market works. You are talking about communism and the government choosing the winners and losers. We’ve already seen how that works in other places and other times. The results aren’t so good.
I should not have used Janitor as an example. Perhaps machinist or software engineer, both well compensated professions that do a job necessary to sell a product. Jobs that the CEO likely can't do and the CEO who makes millions needs them in order to 'take' those millions.
I happen to be a software engineer/electronics engineer that owns multiple companies. I do consulting at times for billionaires and my companies don't have any employees. I do it all. What I earn, I actually earn. Some of the CEOs I have met are idiots and don't deserve the money they take home by leveraging some very smart people who actually create the products.
We can't summarize the perfect system in this thread. My comment was intended to stimulate thought about what could be different and how people could be more equal. That doesn't mean socialism or communism (murder or suicide as anne rand said).
Things have gotten out of hand and they will soon get very bad for everyone because we are past the tipping point and many people don't realize it.
If I'm a billionaire executive and I cannot raise my pay because the janitor earns too little, then I'll lay him off and contract the work to a separate company.
Thank God you ended on the real fear of digital currency overtaking tangible dollars and coins. I kept screaming through the whole article, “but Jenna! It’s not simply an obsolete or convenience issue!”
And yes, unfortunately in our house with three men Die Hard is a Christmas movie. I have seen it exactly 32 times in the past 32 years (thanks hubs,) because it being my husband’s favorite movie soaked into the craniums of my son’s too. So much so we actually have homemade Die Hard ornaments on our tree as well. Yeah yeah yeah, I love the movie too, but the fact that I can recite every line of that movie but not Its A Wonderful Life is embarrassing.
The violence isn’t as bad as modern day, easy to squint your eyes through. There’s not much of it. A lot is left up to the imagination but what little isn’t is short lived. One man is shot in the head. Today they would show the impact of the bullet and its real time devastation up close, but back then it was quick and only the after-results of the splatter on glass is highlighted. A couple fight scenes that are somewhat brutal but again back then it was quick camera work so easier to get through. I’d say minimum age is 16, (and I’d still distract them through violent scenes , LOL,) but that’s because I feel limiting what our children witness while young is one of the most important things we can do so that we have time to discuss violence with them theoretically first and help mature their minds to be able to protect themselves from its effects. I’m sure many would say younger kids can handle it because it’s a fun movie, with great suspense. But it’s definitely mature plot lines. It’s not a “family Christmas movie” until all the family are older.
It's inflation. Being old enough to remember when candy bars had always cost 5 cents (we referred to them as nickel candy bars), using the Snicker's standard (as a kid Snickers meant more to me than gold) our money as lost more than 20 times it's value, since a nickel Snickers bar now costs a $1 plus typically.
Well, not sure if doing away with the penny will eventually result in economical collapse. But signs keep telling me to save pennies. I keep finding them everywhere all of a sudden. On the street, in parking lots. Heck, one got stuck in my shoe yesterday. So i'm keeping that mason jar full of pennies on my dresser, just in case.
I have friends that have taken the 60-day cash challenge - only using cash for 60 days so that cash as an option doesn't go away - for the control issues that you pointed out... I'm doing a hybrid version.
I use cash almost 100% of the time, except paying govt and my district taxes etc. Then I use computer transfer no card. IN fact when people tell me to use a card or my phone I tell them it doesnt have that capability. The only place I kind of have to is unmanned gas pumps, but thats like once a month
I just want pennies for squished penny machines. :)
We were on a road trip and stopped at a McDonald's (the only time I eat there). Paying in cash wasn't even an option. We had to order at a kiosk and use a card. I WANTED to pay in cash but I couldn't find an employee. So I don't think McDonald's is really all that concerned about rounding up the penny situation.
I've watched Trump for 45 yrs - he works and moves in very unusual but effective ways. If he's pushing cryptocurrency instead of gold there's a good reason for it.
I’m trying to get past the fact that there are apparently people out there who need a laminated tutorial on how to round up and down.
Add to that no one can count out change anymore. And (this is a true story), years and years ago I worked as a buyer in a department store where an awful lot of employees could not calculate 50% off in their heads. I had to make a chart for them.
🤣
They all live in NYC, apparently.
Oh, we elect one Commie, and now we're everyone's punching bag? Not fair!
Too soon🤣
🤣😁🤪
Alan, that's the thing, you only need to "elect" ONE Commie. The others will be "appointed" for you.
😂🤭
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Same! SMH
I bet if everyone unloaded their piggy banks of Pennie’s and put them back into circulation we’d be just fine in the penny department
I dunno…remember cash for clunkers? They took away all of the cars that could run forever…And now you have to pay a mint for truck with a non-carbureted engine that can survive an EMP (I have a collection of tin foil hats in many styles and colors). Those pennies may be worth a LOT someday 🤣. And yes, I’m in the market for a really old truck that won’t break the bank.
We have a 20 y.o. Toyota Tundra. It's pretty beat and is a bit rusty, but runs great. We call it Trusty Rusty. I wouldn't part with it for anything. I saw an old 1940's pickup truck the other day, it was in primo condition - was painted cream color with bright red on part of it. I love those old 1940s pick up trucks.
We have an old Ford truck we are keeping come Hell or high water!!!
I have a 2015 Tundra with 170,000 miles on it.
No rust, mechanically sound.
It will outlive me...
LOL. We've had our truck twice as long as you but only have 136,000 miles on it. It may well outlive the planet at this point.
E. Grogan, please do the right thing and save it. Send it out into space. With the Tesla.
(Waiting for American truck owners to jump in and respond to this assault on American technology... <crickets>)
Indrek, you cannot live in the northern roadsalt-o-sphere.
Ahhh, but I do...
Cottage country Ontario.
I have ice tires, and we get
100" snow every season.
Let me rephrase:
"Indrek, you cannot live in an environment where the government salts the roads for your own good." (A government employee in the Dept. of Transporation explained that salting roads here had the added benefit of "making" people buy new cars: "If they didn't rust out, people would never buy new.")
Wait. Tundras(!) are 20 years old now?
as well as a fridge, washing machine, dryer, etc, etc, etc!
Agreed! We bought a home 2 yrs ago and it came with a giant oven that is computerized. I hate that thing. The cat loves to walk on the control panel, and when she does, it changes all the settings. It finally had a nervous breakdown last week and now it's stuck on "locked" mode and I can't use the oven at all. I refuse to pay huge bucks to get it fixed so I bought a table top oven that does all kinds of things including roasting my Thanksgiving turkey. Much cheaper than repairing that computer oven or buying a new one. I do NOT like A.I.
I love everything you said, especially about the cat - I suspect she was helping you out of a messy problem! 😻
That could be! She's such a screwball, she does things in very unusual ways. I've had cats for 40 yrs but never had one as unusual as her. She gives me lots of love, though, which brings me great joy.
👍🏻😄😻
I hope you know it’s un lockable. Just hold it down until it beeps. It’s a safety lock. We figured out how to lock it after our cat walked over the panel as well and turned on the oven!
Yes, I tried doing that several times. The oven has its own mind and turns on the lock all by itself even without the cats - I've been there when it did that all on its own. A.I. has its own mind...
Oh dear, that’s terrible. I’m guessing ours, from 2017, is still mechanically driven, and therefore controllable. I had no idea new appliances are A.I. controlled.
Now our new washing machine wants to connect to the Internet!!! - madness! 🤪
Obama totally did that on purpose. Cash for clunkers, because the clunkers could be fixed easily and survive the EMP, because let's face it, it's a comin'. Seriously. I am waiting for the aliens, earthquakes or a USA west coast volcano to blow. Or for that thing in orbit to DO something. Let's get on with it already. Bring it. *mimics the cool hand gesture of Neo in The Matrix*
💯
Yeah, "Cash for Clunkers" but ONLY if you used the money to BUY NEW. NO MONEY for buying used... Total giveaway to the Well-Heeled who were going to buy new anyway and to the Sh*t-Car industry.
this. Thanks. It was the whole topic of conversation for me last night. My new car is weird!
Plus that program ran up the cost for used cars as it virtually dried up the market.
I own a 2012 Camry I bought brand new. Best car ever. I’ve changed the oil every 5k miles (even though I use an excellent grade oil), change the air filters on a near timely schedule, and rotate the tires as suggested.
I’ll drive it till the doors fall off. Actually I’ll probably find a way to reattach them and keep on driving it. I’ve had extremely minimal repairs to date. No complaints whatsoever.
It gets me from point A to point B just fine. Without being tracked, alerted by buzzers, or talked to/braked by a car minion. I don’t need, nor want, all the new tech stuff.
For fun one day I went to a Toyota dealership to look at their latest offerings. I was well disappointed to learn that starting w/2025 Camry they no longer offer gas-only options IN THE US MARKET, only hybrid. However they are still an option in the Middle East & China. Go figure.
https://open.substack.com/pub/carolcountryman/p/ode-to-the-penny?r=eyl56&utm_medium=ios
I kind of like that. But I’d have to package them in bags of 10 as finding them in my purse and counting them out is really annoying. Pay with rolls of $1.00 in pennies? It’s easy to put them in rolls.
https://open.substack.com/pub/carolcountryman/p/ode-to-the-penny?r=eyl56&utm_medium=ios
Hoarders will now do their thing and pennies will disappear even more quickly than if Trump hadn’t made the announcement. I remember a penny shortage in the distant past; folks just dealt with it; no laminated posters; no outrage.
Yes I agree totally. I have a few thousand to contribute lol.
https://open.substack.com/pub/carolcountryman/p/ode-to-the-penny?r=eyl56&utm_medium=ios
🤣
Canada ditched the pennies about 15 years ago. The world didn't collapse.
Oh. Wait..
And now murder is "health care". Coincidence?
Exactly
https://open.substack.com/pub/carolcountryman/p/ode-to-the-penny?r=eyl56&utm_medium=ios
Are you talking about abortion or MAID? 🤔😢
Yes. Mostly MAID though as we are murdering babies here and still have pennies.
🤣
🤣
https://open.substack.com/pub/carolcountryman/p/ode-to-the-penny?r=eyl56&utm_medium=ios
You never cease to amaze me with your analogies. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie. LOL. I have seen it before in the way back machine of memory but you pulled it out of the attic nonchalantly.
But seriously you are correct about the next move and the next. It is like putting a frog in the pot and turning up the heat slowly rather than directly into boiling water.
I find your humor and research so great to read in the early mornings, anytime actually, but todays was a great beginning to my day. Thank you.
Agree. Hubs and I don’t patron places that snub cash…even if we ARE using a card.
Same with us!!! 🎯
Yes. Die Hard one and two ARE Christmas movies. Trading Places is a between Christmas to New Year movie. Planes Trains and Automobiles is a Thanksgiving movie. IMHO. FWIW.
Reading this:
"I find your humor and research so great to read in the early mornings, anytime actually, but todays was a great beginning to my day."
makes me feel the same as when somebody comments, "This is going to be a really nice day!" I'm glad somebody says it so the rest of us around them can feel good about it together.
I am on the 'Die Hard is a Christmas Movie' team. loll
I think what's worse than the outrage for cancelation is the fact McDonald's had to spell out the concept of rounding so specifically. That, my friends is an educational crisis. And to think, these people are vote.
Yes, they can vote, drive cars and raise children. Which brings us to our present predicament...
Why they don't just price things to the dollar or 95 cents is beyond me... 🤔 🧐🙄
Because tax is different everywhere I suppose…
Now what will happen to the phrase?:
"I need to go spend a penny"
Are we up to a nickel now?
Dime?
Two Bits?
Fiddy?
Curtis James Jackson III, Kelvin Martin?
PPIF, I'm absolutely giving you a Like. I don't understand it. But I feel I ought to...
50 Cent, born Curtis James Jackson III on July 6, 1975, in Queens, New York City, is an American rapper.
Kelvin Darnell Martin (July 24, 1964 – October 24, 1987), known as 50 Cent, was an American criminal from Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York, who inspired the stage name of rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.
Martin was born in the Bronx and raised there by his grandmother before moving to Brooklyn.
He earned the nickname "50 Cent" due to various stories, including his reputation for robbing anyone regardless of their money, a dice game where he won $500 from a 50-cent stake,
Positively, I _knew_ I could understand it--with help. Thanks!
https://open.substack.com/pub/carolcountryman/p/ode-to-the-penny?r=eyl56&utm_medium=ios
I see now how they can mistakenly round up while voting.
Well this would be an easy problem to fix. The problem is taxes. Businesses can price everything to end in 0s or 5s, but once that percentage tax is applied, all those other inconvenient numbers pop up. All the governments need to do is stop taxing us (ideally), or allow the tax to be rounded. Rounded down only.
Mindy: Right. How about "Government" taking one for the team--every time the question of "Who should lose?" comes up: citizens or their government?
https://open.substack.com/pub/carolcountryman/p/ode-to-the-penny?r=eyl56&utm_medium=ios
I’m glad we have a huge glass water bottle full of pennies. I think if we try to lift it, the bottom will break. 🤣
We should probably start going through it looking for that rare wheat penny! 💰💰💰
A penny for your thoughts and a clot from your shots!
Another government created problem with a government created solution! Thanks for poisoning us and robbing all of us blindly through the invisible criminal mechanism of inflation.
If they come for your nickels, dimes, and quarters, don't let them take the pre-1965 ones that are worth a ton more than just a few cents due to the increasing prices of silver.
First they came for the pennies, then they'll come for all the physical cash! This is the time for us to use physical cash more than ever. Happy cash Friday and happy weekend everyone!
But at least Pelosi is retiring with the consequence however of being replaced by someone measurably worse.
It will be interesting to watch her success as an 'outside trader'.
Meh, we in Canada were over this in about a week. Life w/o pennies is a nothingburger.
(trend toward CBDC noted, however).
But now we get to be distracted by this while we lose elections to progressive dem idiots who apparently continue to have success with their burn-down-the-nation policies.
Yeah... but our penny is completely worthless 🤣🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
If we eliminate sales tax, then the problem goes away. Prices can be even 5 cent increments. It is sales tax that causes the problem. Let's have a discussion about sales tax. When I was a kid, it was raised to a temporary value of 5% due to an emergency. Now it is rare to find a tax rate less than 10% (where I live is 7.6% which is very low). With more people, you would think the percentage could go down. In a good society you tax the things you don't want and in our capitalistic society you want people to buy things. Couldn't we survive on simply taxing greed and only greed?
It sounds good on the surface, but i's impossible to tax something without a solid definition such as 'greed'. You might say anything except things necessary for life (food, water, shelter, heat, medication, etc) would be taxable for greed, but some people take more than they need of those necessary things, so wouldn't that be greed, too? Who gets to determine precisely how much of a necessity each person can have before it crosses the line into greed? For that matter, what if the only items claimed to be necessary were cricket flour and mylar blankets? I think taxes should be voluntary; it's the only fair tax. Each person should be able to contribute however much they want toward only the things they support. Unpopular, unhelpful programs would perish and the very few good ones would fluorish. Take the power of the purse back from Congress, as the elected body has proven to be extremely irresponsible and untrustworthy.
In the past, "luxury" taxes were installed (insinuating that "those" purchases weren't actually "needful" and so "some people" were buying things that they didn't "need", something "greedy" people would do.
It only killed the "luxury" industries in the United States and drove them to other countries--if they could escape.
God Bless Rich People Who Buy Crazy Stuff They Don't "Need"--because it puts so many of us to work!
Well said!
It is difficult to measure "greed," but it's easy to measure land value, and the value of other privileges granted and protected by the government. Those should be the only things taxed.
The government does not grant privileges. It can only take them away and sell them back to you as licenses or fees.
So who maintains and protects your land titles? Who protects the channels of TV and radio broadcasts? Who issues patents and copyrights?
Each of those services are paid for by the applicants. Like the post office. Not a net drain on the citizens.
OK, so instead of a tax, consider it a fee for protecting your land, innovation, or broadcast channel.
The 2nd amendment
So we all are going to have to post armed guards at our houses?
I think you are missing the point. No one should be taxed, with a few very small exceptions. If you have a home, two cars, a vacation home, all should be tax free. If you run a business and you have employees. Those employees make $100k / year and you make $200k per year. No tax. If you have that same business and the employees make $60k/year and you make $5 million per year, then you are going to pay taxes on your excess. This requires reducing government (which is not needed as much when people can make a living).
I disagree. It is not easy to "measure" land value (and I find the association of land ownership with other "privileges granted" curious). It is easy to GUESS land value. UNTIL land--or anything else--SELLS, its value remains UNKNOWN, and AFTER it sells, its value is still ONLY known for THAT moment.
The power to tax being the power to destroy, NO government should be able to TAX any PROPERTY because it means the "owner" is owning it with the government's permission.
Fair, Flat Tax. And the Vote Only for People with Skin in the Game: Tax Payers.
Our make the sticker price include the tax? Like in UK, Europe, Australia
That is called sales tax.
mike, interesting concept but define “tax greed”.
Excess.
Many people may have a different opinion on what is 'needed' and what is 'excess', but I think we can all agree that having billions of dollars while your employees are on government support is an excess. If all we need to do is debate on where the line is, that should be easy. In fact it could be a vote of more than 50% of the population agreeing on the 'greed' line.
In corporations, the income disparity between the CEO and the janitor could be a measure. If they want to pay the janitor more so they can make more, then fine, or just pay the tax and look like an asshole.
Another part of this is trying to reduce government. Why does the percentage keep going up. Governments role should be minimal. As it is, it is becoming greed as well. Taking from the needy people it is supposed to protect.
mike, not all of us can readily agree to your definition of excess. My employees, if I had any, wouldn't be on government support, if they qualified, if government support wasn't offered. You can come up with all sorts of methods for measuring greed, but they all come down to envy. If a fellow is acquiring wealth the old-fashioned way, earning it through legal means, he's entitled to keep it and to a hearty congratulations and, if appropriate, thank-yous for taking responsibility to provide gainful employment for others--which is a hard thing to do.
You have however put your finger on the problem. In the United States of America, no man should be able to "vote" himself a benefit at the expense of a "fellow" citizen. That is government-laundered theft.
I believe that if the wealth wasn't siphoned off by people who's only 'job' is manipulating money, there would be plenty left for those that 'create value' or 'provide a service'. When I was a kid, the person working as a cashier at the grocery store could afford to buy a house, a vacation cabin, raise a family and put the kids through college on on a single parent working one job.
Now in the Seattle area, it takes two to four jobs to buy a home if they are lucky and they have to be high paying jobs. No cabin and no college.
Greed is what is creating the wage disparity.
Over population is what allows it. There is always someone willing to work for less and they are exploited for that by the money handlers.
Clearly the threshold is debatable. I was just proposing an idea.
People like to point out corporate greed, but much of our financial problems today stem from government greed and personal greed/poor choices/mismanagement of finances. If you adjust prices and wages for inflation, most prices and wages are not much different than they were in 1960, for example.
Adjusted for inflation, $50 for a full cart of groceries in 1960 would be the equivalent of a $539 cart of groceries today. A $3,700 new 1960 Ford Thunderbird would be like buying a new car today for $39,900. A $17,000 rancher house on a small lot in 1960 would be like paying $183,000 for a house today. There has been some market distortion that has resulted in housing prices outpacing inflation. Our expectations on the size, material grades, and amenities in homes has ballooned, too, affecting affordability. A rancher built in 1960 sells today for about 47% more (adjusted for inflation).
The average wage in 1960 was $108 per week, or $5,600 per year, which adjusted for inflation would be $1,160 per week or $60,300 per year. The minimum wage was $1 per hour, which would be $10.78 adjusted for inflation. Today, the average wage is $1,200 per week or $63,000 per year.
Families could live comfortably on a single income at that time, but they spent a fraction of the money on nonessential things compared to our expenditures today. Single-use and disposable items, low quality clothing that needs frequent replacement, multiple pairs of the same type of shoes, multiple handbags, beauty products and services, food delivery and fast food, and especially subscriptions to so many things like internet, cell phone, multiple streaming services; all this really takes a massive chunk out of our budgets. In 1960 families on average spent less than 3% of their income on entertainment and today it's an average of 5.3%. 4% of Americans were recreational drug users in 1960 compared to 25% today. That's a lot of money going up in smoke. That 1960 Thunderbird was easy to maintain and repair yourself. These days, people spend a lot of money on maintenance and repair of their vehicles that they either won't or can't do themselves. In 1960, the average ratio of debt to income was 55%. Today it's 83% which means a much larger chunk of our money is used to pay interest.
On the other hand, there has been an increase in government interference in markets, including business regulations that create expensive compliance hurdles, plus fees, permits, and fines for everything, as well as allowing an industry of predatory frivolous lawsuits that aim solely for settlements, which all increase the cost of doing business and divert profits from wage increases.
I agree with just about everything you said.
I would add that healthcare stands out as a required expense that sucks up as much as 25% of your income for services that make you less healthy causing other expenses. It used to be you didn't even need health care because the cost of a doctor visit or even hospital stay was reasonable.
Interest rates is another unnecessary burden on the people. The house you described is almost impossible to buy at 6 or 7% interest. The houses in my area for a typical 3 bedroom house of the 1950s sells for almost a million dollars. That is due to population density. Someone will pay it so the market will bear the unreasonable price.
Yes, but to my mind you've got the wrong end of the stick: the "outcome" end. You propose to use outcomes as a measure of unfairness and redistribute wealth accordingly--using "popular vote" as a fig leaf for seizure of private property by government.
I propose you look at the "other" end of the stick, the beginning--before there are any outcomes. Do two people have the same "opportunity" to get rich? Is one prevented by an unconstitutional infringement of a human right? If both have the same opportunity, and one does better than the other, it is to be expected in the couse of human events, and in such case no harm, no foul.
Codifying "envy" into laws will not raise the envious, it will only bankrupt the productive. I'm happy to join you in the fight to level the playing field BEFORE the fact, but not take from the more successful AFTER the fact to give to the less successful.
Good point. However two people with equal opportunity and one with more ambition, could still lead to one person dominating the other. And maybe that isn't so much of a problem as it seems...
I thought you might mean something like that. To compare the amount of work and innovation and exposure the CEO position requires to the janitor and the responsibility that entails just can’t be quantified. In multibillion dollar corporations the employees are not on government assistance. If the wages are too low, people won’t take the jobs. They’ll go elsewhere to work or start their own multibillion dollar corporation. This is how the free market works. You are talking about communism and the government choosing the winners and losers. We’ve already seen how that works in other places and other times. The results aren’t so good.
I should not have used Janitor as an example. Perhaps machinist or software engineer, both well compensated professions that do a job necessary to sell a product. Jobs that the CEO likely can't do and the CEO who makes millions needs them in order to 'take' those millions.
I happen to be a software engineer/electronics engineer that owns multiple companies. I do consulting at times for billionaires and my companies don't have any employees. I do it all. What I earn, I actually earn. Some of the CEOs I have met are idiots and don't deserve the money they take home by leveraging some very smart people who actually create the products.
We can't summarize the perfect system in this thread. My comment was intended to stimulate thought about what could be different and how people could be more equal. That doesn't mean socialism or communism (murder or suicide as anne rand said).
Things have gotten out of hand and they will soon get very bad for everyone because we are past the tipping point and many people don't realize it.
If I'm a billionaire executive and I cannot raise my pay because the janitor earns too little, then I'll lay him off and contract the work to a separate company.
Thank God you ended on the real fear of digital currency overtaking tangible dollars and coins. I kept screaming through the whole article, “but Jenna! It’s not simply an obsolete or convenience issue!”
And yes, unfortunately in our house with three men Die Hard is a Christmas movie. I have seen it exactly 32 times in the past 32 years (thanks hubs,) because it being my husband’s favorite movie soaked into the craniums of my son’s too. So much so we actually have homemade Die Hard ornaments on our tree as well. Yeah yeah yeah, I love the movie too, but the fact that I can recite every line of that movie but not Its A Wonderful Life is embarrassing.
Wow, we're still watching "It's a Wonderful Life"!
🤣 so funny
Okay! I will add it into our Christmas movie rotation! How much actual violence is in it? What is your recommended minimum age for watching it?
The violence isn’t as bad as modern day, easy to squint your eyes through. There’s not much of it. A lot is left up to the imagination but what little isn’t is short lived. One man is shot in the head. Today they would show the impact of the bullet and its real time devastation up close, but back then it was quick and only the after-results of the splatter on glass is highlighted. A couple fight scenes that are somewhat brutal but again back then it was quick camera work so easier to get through. I’d say minimum age is 16, (and I’d still distract them through violent scenes , LOL,) but that’s because I feel limiting what our children witness while young is one of the most important things we can do so that we have time to discuss violence with them theoretically first and help mature their minds to be able to protect themselves from its effects. I’m sure many would say younger kids can handle it because it’s a fun movie, with great suspense. But it’s definitely mature plot lines. It’s not a “family Christmas movie” until all the family are older.
Great advice! Thank you! I have kids of different ages, so we’ll stick to the older teens and adults.😊👍🏼
It's inflation. Being old enough to remember when candy bars had always cost 5 cents (we referred to them as nickel candy bars), using the Snicker's standard (as a kid Snickers meant more to me than gold) our money as lost more than 20 times it's value, since a nickel Snickers bar now costs a $1 plus typically.
Well, not sure if doing away with the penny will eventually result in economical collapse. But signs keep telling me to save pennies. I keep finding them everywhere all of a sudden. On the street, in parking lots. Heck, one got stuck in my shoe yesterday. So i'm keeping that mason jar full of pennies on my dresser, just in case.
Just FYI because we thought pennies were made of copper?
Modern pennies (1982–present)
Composition: 97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper plating
Weight: 2.5 grams
Pennies before 1982
1962–1982: 95% copper and 5% zinc
1944–1962: 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
1943: Zinc-coated steel (due to World War II)
1864–1943: 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
1857–1864: 88% copper, 12% nickel
Pre-1857: 100% copper
1943: "Steelies!" (I thought they were 43-45, just remembering, possibly falsely, three empty spots in my coin-collector book).
I have friends that have taken the 60-day cash challenge - only using cash for 60 days so that cash as an option doesn't go away - for the control issues that you pointed out... I'm doing a hybrid version.
I use cash almost 100% of the time, except paying govt and my district taxes etc. Then I use computer transfer no card. IN fact when people tell me to use a card or my phone I tell them it doesnt have that capability. The only place I kind of have to is unmanned gas pumps, but thats like once a month
I have a friend who's been doing that for a long time too.
I just want pennies for squished penny machines. :)
We were on a road trip and stopped at a McDonald's (the only time I eat there). Paying in cash wasn't even an option. We had to order at a kiosk and use a card. I WANTED to pay in cash but I couldn't find an employee. So I don't think McDonald's is really all that concerned about rounding up the penny situation.
The solution: adopt the gold standard (again).
If the government (and Central Banks) stopped playing with funny money and causing it to lose value, we wouldn't have this problem!
That is Trump's plan, to put us back on gold standard. First he has to shut down Fed Reserve.
I don't believe it. Trump is apparently pro cryptocurrency. In the past he has definitely been pro gold though.
I've watched Trump for 45 yrs - he works and moves in very unusual but effective ways. If he's pushing cryptocurrency instead of gold there's a good reason for it.