Rice & Beans

MMMmmmm Rice & Beans, when done right is a great meal, and usually goes over ok here and there are always left overs (making good food stretch). Food is not what I am here to write about, but it is what brought me to this topic today. Kinda. It started from a post on Google+ from someone in my circles. Cara Schulz originally posted this, and a friend of mine re-shared it today which was the first time I read it. Cara touched on something that I have had thoughts on for several years now. The economy stinks, it really stinks right now. Being unemployed makes it just that much harder. People have told me to go apply anywhere and everywhere. Why? Here is an example: I applied at certain world wide known fast food chain that is the but of many menial job jokes. They never called me back even when advertising that they are hiring. I have been turned down from a major retail chain as a cashier because I am "over qualified." So I am too qualified to earn a paycheck?
Damn.. did it again, off on a tangent.

What I propose is something like as follows.

As conditions for qualifying to run for any elected office of governor or higher, they should have to do this for a year.
First, be stripped of their legal and/or business degrees (seems to me that most have one of these), move into a rental house or apartment, have little to no money in a bank account (by little, I mean under $100), no credit cards, no wait, yes, give them 2, both maxed out. A cell phone bill a month or 2 past due, 1 modest, high mileage car that does not fit the entire family. Now, they will start off with their utilities on, electric and internet. No land line phone, instead, Magic Jack (because there are some local gov't agencies that can NOT call to these numbers). They will need to get oil, for their heat AND hot water, propane/gas for their cooking stove. I will be nice and let them be on well water, and have a septic system, so there is no water bill or sewer bill.
 Their challenge, make it 365 days after this start with out going homeless or losing a MAJOR utility. Also they are starting off unemployed.
Here is what they will find. Being broke sucks. EVERYTHING costs. want to go to a job interview? find money for gas to get there. Need a copy of your resume to give? Well guess what, your printer is broken, now you need to go to the library to print it, .10/page. Stamps cost to send back an application. Your assistance that you thought you could get to help get you by until there is employment? Sorry, the assistance is broke too, there is none.
Once they get a job, (if they get one) it might be 40 miles away and because they have no real experience in anything that is hiring, they have a $14/hr job, but hey, its employment right? Its great, they think they have won until they realize that what they take home is much less than that and all benefits/assistance is based on GROSS wages, not NET, but they now make TOO MUCH to get most assistance that is still out there. Dont forget the kids, which means that they will BOTH have to work, and opposite shifts, because day care is too expensive and they need to schedule it so that they can still do it with only the one vehicle. Until it breaks. There is no public transportation, because where they live is too far outside of a metropolitan area that uses it. Remember the job that was 40 miles away? 

How many presidents, have lived like this as an adult? How many congressmen, senators, state reps or governors have lived a life living on rice & beans because they have $20 left to feed a family of 6 for a week?

Having them read about it does nothing, they will not see the reality of it. Joe the Plumber means nothing to them except publicity, because they have not lived like Joe the Plumber.

Just think what would change and how fast it would change if everyone from state rep up to the president had to do this?

They talk about creating jobs, but for who? Where? What kind of jobs? Employment is only one piece of the puzzle, what needs to be fixed is everything else too. No one sees this unless they see it from the inside. Chances are, if you have enough income to run for one of these offices, this life is alien to you.
We need to turn this around, have them see it for what it really is for any real change to happen.
"They should be forced to feed their family on $20 bucks and ask a stranger how to cook some freaking beans..."

Maybe it would not take all of them, maybe just a few of the RIGHT ones. Maybe. Just maybe.

Now to go have a bowl of home made fried rice, I need to find some way to use it all.

New Junk

Let's see.. where to begin with this. First, a warning, this is a RANT! I am blatantly complaining here. Second, I will be speaking in generalizations, I KNOW that what I am complaining about is not absolute and not the case EVERY time, just in my experience, so please dont tell me I am wrong just because you have had a different experience. Ok, disclaimer done. On with the rant.

Age, price, and mileage mean NOTHING to the quality and reliability of a used (no, not "pre-owned" that is just a marketing way of saying USED) car. Weather you buy it "certified" from a USED car dealer, or private party paying cash, makes NO difference. I have bought a $300 23 year old (at that time) car with 150+ thousand miles on it, and sold it with over 175K on it still running great with only routine maintenance. I re-built a few things on it out of choice.

 I have had a slew of under $2000 vehicles that were pretty good and we got our monies worth out of them. I personally have had several under $500 that I drove into the ground. Most recently we (my wife) had purchased a 2004 vehicle for roughly $14,000 with 110,000 miles on it. From day one there were things wrong with it. The heated seats did not work, the dealership delayed getting it to us because there was some sort of glitch getting it inspected. Leak in the sun roof, strange noises (coming from under the car, no where near the engine like neither one of us have heard before and the dealership service department says its "normal"), oil leaks, and we have even had to replace the transmission. When we bought it, part of the deal was new tires, this was done, but there was something they missed. Several months later, we had a side-wall about to let go on one of the new tires, come to find out the dealership never replaced (or even checked) the tire pressure monitor inside the wheel. This needed to be replaced, and the "extended warranty" they sold us did not cover it. Turns out they are supposed to be replaced when tires are. Now, there is a leak in a valve stem and we MIGHT have to replace another tire pressure monitor ($90). Now there is something, somewhere draining the battery when not driven for 2 days, almost to the point of having to jump start it (and the battery is new). We have had this beauty for just a year now. It is junk. Plain and simple. New, plastic, over engineered, junk that gets 1980's big car fuel economy.

TANGENT

Let me just say that the D.O.T. (in my opinion) is totally run by the auto manufacturers. Why they mandate that ALL vehicles come with some things is beyond me. The 3rd (center) brake light, I can almost understand, but not totally, and now this stupid TPMS thing. Some useless gadget put on an expensive vehicle as a "safety feature" (how does this make the car safer?) and now everyone has to have something that adds to the cost of a vehicle, costs about $360 to replace all 4 (which is recommended to do when replacing tires). Thanks D.O.T. you have made my travels SO much safer.

So my latest purchase, $1600, 19 years old 180-some odd thousand miles on it and the biggest repair was a $30 timing belt (that I was able to do myself) and i still get nearly 50% better MPG than the newer expensive one.  I have had this just about as long as my wife's POS.

I have to say, she didnt really choose to buy this particular car, its not what she wanted or even likes, I will just leave it at that. Her car was bought so that she could have "dependable, safe transportation" for her self and the kids. Something that is newer, "so it will not have to be repaired all the time" like an "older," "cheaper," car would have to be. hmmm...

This is why I have always hated that argument, that price/age of a vehicle = dependability and minimal repairs. OLD does NOT = broken, unreliable, costly to fix, or anything else of such derogatory terms used towards "older" vehicles.  So far, in my life time of owning MANY vehicles newer/more expensive does not guarantee good value.

This also depends on the vehicle itself, our particular 4 wheeled mechanism of hatred, has stopped being made after only a few years, and I can see why.

If given a choice between an 19 year old with over 100K miles for under $2000, or a newer 7 year old car I would happily NOT go in debt and buy the much more reliable and safe, economical car.

There is also the "green" factor; people are so concerned about re-using and re-cycling, well, why not do that with cars? If more people just put 10% of the cost of a *NEW* car into an older car, there would be less cars made, right? Here is another little secret, many old cars got good (even by today's standard) fuel economy, and even BETTER than most SUV's that are on the road right now. There was more steel on them and less plastic, steel is easier to recycle and in a very real way, greener than most new materials in cars now. So for get the new hybrids that they still have not figured out how to safely make GOOD batteries for (or how to dispose of them), for get the shiny new cars that get about the same mpg as that old "clunker" in your drive way that needs about $1000 in repairs because we know that $1000 is more expensive than financing a $38,000 car, right?