Our attitude toward money

[Sutol]

Talking renewable energy, there is a wier on the river that flows through our town, it was built in the nineteenth century to hold back the river so as up river would not be tidal and barges could operate on the river and canals that run off it.

Millions of gallons of water flow over the wier every day but no one will even consider using the power of the water to generate electicity.

No grants available or help of any kind but if you want to stick an inefficient wind turbine up then hey presto...instant planning permission etc.

Its all corrupt, political etc.:confused2:

 

[Gizmo2]

What changes our attitude about money to a greater extent, getting older, or having more disposable income?

Yesterday morning I was thinking about the Christmas week of 1972, when I was earning about $3.45 per hour, and I had just won $30 in the office check pool. I was so excited about having the extra cash just before the holiday...:laughing:

And yesterday, I drove to my credit union, put my card into the ATM, and the machine spat out twenty $20 bills for me. Back in 1972, that same $400 would have been THREE WEEKS of work before taxes. And my balance left in my account was more than I earned in an entire year back in 1972.

Was I excited about getting $400...no, getting that $30 so many years ago was a much bigger deal.

Go figure !!

That is a very good, interesting question. I need to think about that for a short time. Again, cool question.

 

[jinman]

When I was in my mid-30s, I found some money beside the road. I was driving along and saw bills blowing in the wind between the pavement and a barbed wire fence. I stopped and started collecting money. I found about $17 in $1 bills and enough change to bring the total to something like $19.75. I also found a beer glass laying in the grass with the silver close by. It was somebody's tip jar. I suspect they stopped on the side of the road and the tip jar rolled out of the seat and onto the ground.

Of course, I kept the money, but I always felt bad about somebody losing their tip jar. I'm sure it was someone who really needed that money much more than me since I had a very good job and was driving a new truck. It wasn't that much money, but I always wished I could have found that person and returned their cash.

 

[cdaigle430]

I wonder if "drilling" is the answer, because where are we going to refine it at? Nobody wants a refinery in their backyard, much like a nuclear power plant, and a lot of the existing refineries seem to be getting old from the chatter I hear.
Where is the oil we are currently pumping out of Alaska going? Rumor I heard was it was heading for Japan, who pays more for it than we do, so the oil companies sell it to them. What needs to happen is the oil here needs to stay here, first and foremost, to fuel future generations till it runs out. If we start using OUR oil, then the other suppliers are just going to change customers, which is what is currently causing our price increase. China is burning more and more fuel, demanding more and more, so the price goes up with the increase in demand. Allowing the producers to control how much they pump as a group limits overall production, thereby keeping the price down. Why should they pump more and force the price down, when they can make the same money off less? Probably learned that trick from the diamond mine owners, lol.
We can drill and pump our own, but they will just limit how much they pump, keeping the price up till we use up our supply, then they have us in a position of just what they want.
Being able to control the supply will always keep the price up. The only way to drop the price over the long haul if the supply is limited, is to decrease the demand to a point where the supply can't live on what people are willing to pay, then they increase the supply, which kicks the price down even more. Only realistic way to do that, in the big scheme of things is to find an alternate fuel source. If we could burn water as fuel, their oil would be worthless and they would be poor buying our wheat in a hurry. If wheat suppliers joined together and put a 500 % increase on all exported wheat, from all wheat producing countries, the non producing countries would get hungry or pay the price. We could reduce the supply because the farmers could live off the income of less bushels sold, but our good nature keeps us from doing that. In reality that is what the oil countries are doing to us.
Rant off....
David from jax

The US already refines more than any other country to date with the exception of China. Unfortunately alot of what we refine goes elsewhere. The US has not created a new refinery since 1976 and we lost half of the ones that existed to date-although the ones still producing today have been expanded. The main reason why we dont have any new refinerys is because of state and federal regulation for one, EPA, and the costs of new permits are so high its easier to merge or pay other countries to do the refining.

 

[JDgreen227]

When I was in my mid-30s, I found some money beside the road. I was driving along and saw bills blowing in the wind between the pavement and a barbed wire fence. I stopped and started collecting money. I found about $17 in $1 bills and enough change to bring the total to something like $19.75. I also found a beer glass laying in the grass with the silver close by. It was somebody's tip jar. I suspect they stopped on the side of the road and the tip jar rolled out of the seat and onto the ground.

Of course, I kept the money, but I always felt bad about somebody losing their tip jar. I'm sure it was someone who really needed that money much more than me since I had a very good job and was driving a new truck. It wasn't that much money, but I always wished I could have found that person and returned their cash.

Had forgotten what I found here on my property about 6 years ago until you shared your story. Was walking along one of my mowed ATV trails in early spring, about 700 feet from our house, and right in the middle of the trail was a nearly new deluxe Leatherman tool in a pouch. Couldn't beleive my eyes. Well, when I got back to the house I began trying to remember the various ATV riders, snowmobilers, deer hunters, etc. that had been on my property in the past year that I knew, and began contacting them. Finally managed to track ownership to the son of one of my neighbor's friends, made me feel good to return it as the tool had been a gift from his dad.

 

[Gizmo2]

What changes our attitude about money to a greater extent, getting older, or having more disposable income?

That is a very good, interesting question. I need to think about that for a short time. Again, cool question.

Ok, for me it has to be, getting older. The older I get the less I need or want thus having more disposable money.

 

[KYDan]

This is an interesting thread and I can remember while driving through Texas in 1971 going from San Angelo to Big Springs that I bought premium Shell for 17.9 cents per gallon during a local price war of sorts! That was a good price for gasoline then. To get a feel for what a dollar is actually worth I look at how much it cost to buy a troy ounce of gold when we had silver certificates (I think this changed in the 1960's you could take your certificates to the government and exchange them for silver dollars for a period of time.) I was in the Air Force then and money was tight for me. Also, I was able to attend college after my stint was up in the service (November 1973) on the G. I. Bill and I was finishing my college education while working full-time at Sears and scraping by with a wife and child. But the Bill money covered all my college expenses at a land grant college. Look at what an education costs now! I guess it's all relative. I have been reading and excellent book about our government and economy entitled, Republic, Lost by Lawrence Lessig. I highly recommend it as it explains what has happened to our government and economic system in lay terms. As a side note while I was TDY at Kadena AFB, Okinawa I bought Marlboro cigarettes at the BX for $2.15 per carton (1972-73).

 

[jonyyuma]

Well Gas was 18.9 cents a gallon in Texas, when i was a teen. Reading the WSJ, it said==Brazil and a couple other south american countrys were successful in buying our SURPLUS--Gasoilne and diesel..fuel for the last few months??..The highest bidder, thus it keeps our prices higher, just like Ethanol production boosted food prices...and corn prices. No relief in sight?Now a threat to shipping lanes by Iran picked up 15 cents a gallon overnight?

 

[KYDan]

According to the experts we, the American public, have changed our driving habits thereby using less fuel and even though crude prices are hovering around $100+ per barrel the prices have been lower than they should be due to lack of demand. Of course it would help if our government would discontinue requiring corn-based, subsidised ethanol be added to our gasoline! Also, diesel prices are artificially inflated due to "enviromental penalties" levied on dirty diesel fuel. However, ULSD is actually cleaner than ethanol degraded gasoline. Aside from the issues with water bonding to alcohol it also has less energy than gasoline. Some research indicates that 15% ethanol in gasoline lowers the energy in the fuel by 40%. It doesn't take a physicist to understand that equates to more fuel for less work. It is also interesting to note that a lot of big farms are owned by the energy companies. Pretty scary stuff.

 

[JDgreen227]

Ok, for me it has to be, getting older. The older I get the less I need or want thus having more disposable money.

For me, the older I get, the more stuff I HAVE so the less I want and need. Back in 1990, when I purchased my first cordless drill, a B&D 9.6 volt, had you told me that someday I would have a half dozen better, more powerful drills, I would have thought you were nuts. I am old enough that I have more s--- than I know what to do with or have the room for, which is why I don't spend much now on material items.