My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 18, 2022

As a former GOP VP hopeful would say, “You betcha.”

In catching up on my Tax Foundation reading, one of their recent emails highlighted what internationally we have seen in off and onshoring is that businesses go to where they are treated best. It most often has to do with a companies lowest cost of doing business which includes the tax bite where they chose to locate.

Individuals are no different … especially with remote working arrangements, pandemic shutdowns, economic bust and boom cycles and avoiding the heavy hand of local and state government, from restricting personal freedom to taxation; it sure looks to impact interstate migration.

A glance at this 2019 state population map in a Tax Foundation article by Katherine Loughead, highlights a trend. “Americans pack up and move from one state to another.” Each year the IRS releases migration data showing movements of income taxpayers based on changes in their mailing address and data highlights what most of us instinctively know: People prefer lower taxes and less bureaucratic intrusion in their lives.

More Americans Moved to States with Lower Taxes and Sound Tax Structures

With this in mind, one observation from the 2019-2020 IRS migration data is that a strong positive relationship exists between state tax competitiveness and inbound migration. Overall, states with lower taxes and sound tax structures experienced stronger inbound migration than states with higher taxes and more burdensome structures.

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Category: Financial, Misc, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: data, government, katherine loughead, local, map, migration, population, state, tax foundation, taxes

Posted By RichC on October 17, 2022

This content is restricted.

Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: la bomba, los lobos, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, ritchie valens

Posted By RichC on October 16, 2022

It’s simple: between the Federal Reserve spewing out more than $4 trillion in cheap money over the past year, and Congress signing off on “relief” packages totaling an unprecedented $3 trillion, there is too much money chasing too few goods.

..

Inflation will only get hotter if Biden and congressional Democrats press ahead with even more grandiose spending, attempting to insert the federal government into every nook and cranny of Americans’ lives.

From The Hill (7/15/21 – @LizPeek) back in the summer of 2021

For those who are unhappy with political leadership in the United States, the midterm election couldn’t be more critical. We’ve had rising inflation since President Biden took office in January 2020 and with Democrats in full control of the House and Senate, our political leaders have driven our country to the brink of crisis in every area they touch. Spending is out of control as they shovel tax dollars into pet projects and buying of votes and even once fiscally responsible Democrats are blindly going along with the  progressives leftists in their party. Our country has overnight given up energy independence for the green agenda, gone soft on crime by attacking law enforcement and border patrol. They entice millions to illegally cross our southern border thwarting US immigration law and send billions of taxpayer dollars overseas, to their union buddies and are forgiving student debt without addressing the cost (or educational quality) of a college education.

Now it would be great to believe that just voting Republican would solve the leadership problem, but we’ve all been there and disappointed before. On the other hand, if we don’t change course right now and put someone else in charge, it is clear Democrats aren’t planning to change course … and we’re not even talking about the pitiful foreign policy under the Biden administration.

I’m doing my part and voting absentee this November … yes, a straight Republican ticket. There is not a Democrat I can trust to think independently or disagree when the party leadership is off track. I only hope that “when” the GOP take control that they stick to their “Commitment to America” agenda like Newt Gingrich did with President Clinton back in the 1990s. Let’s save America!

Category: Politics | No Comments »
Tags: absentee, america, biden, commitment, contract, democrats, election, inflation, leadership, midterms, polls, Republicans, survey, voting

Posted By RichC on October 15, 2022

Disposing of household batteries could use some clarity since not everyone knows which ones can be tossed with everyday trash and which ones should be recycled or taken to a collection site. Do you dispose of them correctly?

Batteries are broken down into two broad categories: Single-use and rechargeable. How you dispose of them is quite different.

• You can usually throw away standard alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, 9-volt and the like) that power your remote control, flashlight, and other everyday household items in the trash.
• Button cell or coin batteries — the kind you’ll find in calculators, watches, hearing aids and car key fobs — may contain silver and mercury and should not be thrown away in the trash. Bring them to a battery recycler or participating retailers that provide battery takeback services
• Lithium-ion and nickel-cadmium batteries are most commonly found in cellphones, laptops, tablets, digital cameras, power tools, and toys. These batteries should never be tossed in the trash or placed in the recycle bin. They must be taken to separate recycling or household hazardous waste collection centers.
• Small, sealed lead acid batteries are found in emergency devices, security systems, mobility scooters, and other special-use items. These also need to be taken to special disposal centers.

To find more recycling and disposal information, go to this resource page at Earth911. Select a type of battery from the left drop-down menu and enter your ZIP code. Note that stores like Staples, Home Depot, and Best Buy have battery drop-off programs.

Full article link at FoxNews.com – by Kim Komando

Category: Environment, Gadget, Misc, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: batteries, battery, disposal, Environment, foxnews.com, trash

Posted By RichC on October 14, 2022

Besides enjoying some minor league Toledo Mud Hens baseball this year with family, I have not been focused on MLB or the postseason playoffs. Being a Cleveland Indians Guardians fan, I am sort of pulling for them after they won the Wild Card series against Tampa Bay … but as always, beating the New York Yankees makes it a difficult path.

For now, I’ll just keep ignoring the evening games since the TBS network is not on my AltaFiber/CincinnatiBell Fioptics cable and Internet plan anyway. There’s probably a GOM post (Grumpy Old Man) in all the new streaming subscriptions required to watch content these days … and don’t even get me started on split NASCAR season FOX/NBC and moving races to their sports channels or USA Network, which is not on our cable subscription … GRR… or Thursday Night Football that is “only” on Amazon Prime that streams questionably even with our Prime membership. Why do I even bother anymore?

MORE: How to find USA Network | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | Watch on USA Network | Get the NBC Sports App | Watch on Peacock | FloRacing | How to watch NASCAR International

I am so glad I don’t have to explain all of this “streaming of sports” to my father or father-in-law … who didn’t have computers, smartphones or even Internet connections … and didn’t want them!  

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Category: Misc, Sports, Streaming | No Comments »
Tags: amazon prime, baseball, cleveland, fox, gom, mlb, nascar, nbc, playoffs, postseason, rant, sports, streaming, tbs, tech friday, techfriday, usa network, wahoo, world series

Posted By RichC on October 13, 2022

"Five ants rented an apartment with five other ants. Now they are tenants together."

Category: Humor, Misc | No Comments »
Tags: ants, filler post, Humor, joke, math, tenants

Posted By RichC on October 12, 2022

The sawmill has returned Katelyn and Drew’s lumber and it’s a BIG pile (very exciting!)

What Is Air-Drying?

Air-drying lumber simple means to stack lumber and expose it to the outdoors. Depending on the species of wood and desired moisture content the air-drying process could take several months to almost a year. Make sure to properly stack the wood for sufficient air circulation.

While clearing the lot before breaking ground for their new house, quite a few mature trees needed to be cut and some could be timbered. They hope to use some of the wood from their lot in their new home. The big positive for me is that there looks to be enough that I can haul some home and hopefully season to use for woodworking.

I’m not too familiar with seasoning green lumber since most everything I’ve used previously has been kiln dried. I’ve tried a couple times in the past to season without kiln drying, but it hasn’t been very successful. Perhaps a little more reading.

A leftover from our beach trip was that we finally figured out the best way to carry and keep cold a couple bottles of pop/soda to the beach … it only took us a half dozen coolers and 40 years.

Category: Archive, Misc, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: beach, building, drew, drying, house, katelyn, kiln, lumber, property, woodworking

Posted By RichC on October 11, 2022

With a lot of football watching in the evening last week while on vacation in Delray Beach, our appetite was for pizza. Normally we might have ordered it from a pizza shop, but since Target had Red Baron pizzas on sale for $3.99, we opted for their Brick Oven medium pizza. Shockingly, neither Brenda or I had ever had this brand of frozen pizza, but it quickly has become a favorite (I think we fixed 3 of them last week — one Classic crust and then our favorite the Brick Oven Pepperoni).

Another leftover photo was of the "beach pigeons" who seemed to have taken over the normal seagull nuisance … although there really were not a bother, but just hanging out pretty close to our beach drop cloth (yes, we use a lightweight paint drop cloth with our Beachbub umbrella).

Category: Food, Nature, Personal, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: beach, beachbub, brick oven, delray beach, favorite, florida, pigeon, pizza, red baron, umbrella, vacation

Posted By RichC on October 10, 2022

pic.twitter.com/zzZyRZDG38

— Jimmy Buffett (@jimmybuffett) October 6, 2022

Category: Music, Social Media, Video | No Comments »
Tags: concert, jimmy buffett, music monday, musicmonday, tour, twitter

Posted By RichC on October 9, 2022

Brenda and I have been fortunate to almost always taken an autumn trip to Florida.

Years ago it was often to visit my parents who would go to Panama City Beach or take a trip with the kids. After Katelyn and Taylor were in college, it was often to visit Brenda’s parents and then to the boat. Lately it has been to our condo in Delray Beach with Katelyn, Drew, Annalyn and Ellerie … but this year it is just the two of us as in May.

For the first time in a long time, I didn’t have any condo improvement projects on the schedule. It was nice to not have any plans besides cleaning (amazing how much is needed each time down) and going to the beach. We were fortunate to be on the east coast and not the Hurricane Ian impacted west … and to be here after the wind and rain (and tornado in Delray Beach – below) and besides a little more wind on the beach, had great weather.

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: black tip, brenda, conch, condo1718, delray beach, florida, hurricane, ian, richc, shark, shell, surfing, tornado, vacation