I agree with you wingnut. I think the unions are 99% of the problem. Sure people deserve to be paid a fair wage but when a non-educated union worker is pulling down six figure incomes for cleaning toilets something is wrong. It all comes back to greed again. Everyone these days, from the individual to the corporate level, looks at making the big kill. They don't look at it anymore as working x amount of years and saving, etc. And who blames them when you see your life savings go up in smoke on the worldcoms and enrons. Too much living for today and nobody thinking about the consequences of tomorrow. Gone are the days when you saved and made a modest percentage on your investments. Everybody wants to double their money every year now. Alot of problems with the way things are for sure.
I think our govt. is the biggest culprits. This land deal of mine is a perfect example. I'm probably going to sell this 250 acres for a huge profit. It's not something I wanted to do but something they are basically forcing me to do to get a higher tax base and put up a housing. No I don't have to but I'm sure as heck not going to pay the taxes every year just to make a point. Instead of cutting back and making do with what they have the govt., on all levels, just keeps expanding and looking for new places to get the money from, ie more taxes. And forget changing it when it costs millions anymore to run a campaign. The average Joe's like us are never going to be able to be in office and make the common sense decisions. Too many people on the gravy train for sure.
I'm not a pessimist for sure. I work hard and try to change things as much as I can. But it doesn't take much looking to see the writing on the wall. Just to show you what I'm talking about the following is an email that I got. I enquired about a ranch out in Idaho in anticipation of this other land selling. To avoid more taxes I'm going to have to re-invest it. Here's what the realtor wrote me back when I asked him about how the place cash flowed.
Dr. Richard Leavitt,
The owner of the ranch has never told me what he earns off of the property. As I have been in ranch sales over the years, most
ranch properties don't cash flow but offer a life style and other attractions for the buyers. The seller farms approximately 200 acres
in hay and pasture. There is water for 183 acres from a private ditch. It's located 2-3 miles from the mountains. The seller has raised 200 mother cows, calves with some outside pasture leased.
Sincerely,
Fred Glemser
----- Original Message -----
From: Dr. Richard Leavitt
To: glemser
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 6:07 AM
Subject: Re: 1080 acre ranch
Hello,
What I would really like to know are the specifics on the land. What was farmed, what were the yields, how many acres can be farmed, crp possibilities, how many cattle it supports, income from the ranch, etc. How close to the mountains? What I really want to see is how the place cash flows.
Thanks,
Richard
Pretty sad to me that even the realtor trying to sell the place is basically saying it's not going to make any money you're just buying the place for fun. That says to me we're overcharging for this place as it's not going to make any money.