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Recession - 2022 / 2023 / 2024

Here is a question... Especially for the Gulf Coast guy's.... Will your home owner's insurance cover solar systems when a hurricane blows through your area ?.... I'm not being a smart ass but I was a child when Hurricane Audrey blew through... Sheltering in an old house that was being demolished one board and one shingle at a time left a lasting memory.

Good question, I'll have to ask my insurance about that. I had to replace my carport and repair part of my house from storm damage that had caused my old carport to collapse and pull off part of the side of my house and crushed my wifes car totaling it in the process.

Laura was still a CAT 4 hurricane when it hit Fort Polk/Leesville area with peak gusts up here at 135mph. It's landfall strike was so much more powerful then Audrey but caused much less loss of life.
 
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Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Jane Fraser said on Friday that Europe was more likely than the United States to slip into a recession, as she joined other global bank CEOs this week to warn about the health of the global economy.
Fraser, head of the third-largest and most globally focused U.S. bank, recently returned from a world tour with stops in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, where she said her conversations focused on "the three Rs."
"It's rates, it's Russia and it's recession," Fraser said, speaking at an investor conference in New York.

 
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I wired my generator directly to the house panel with an interlock against the grid switch. I can run the whole house and one of the AC units easily. Just need to make sure not to allow emergency heat elements to kick in as its too much for the generator.

As far as batteries on Solar... just get a Sol-Ark with is compatible with any batteries and either get Lipo4 now and upgrade later when tech is better, or just add the batteries later. Sol-Ark will also self-isolate if the grid goes down and power the downstream/critical circuits automatically. This is what I'm moving to now basically.
 
I wired my generator directly to the house panel with an interlock against the grid switch. I can run the whole house and one of the AC units easily. Just need to make sure not to allow emergency heat elements to kick in as its too much for the generator.

As far as batteries on Solar... just get a Sol-Ark with is compatible with any batteries and either get Lipo4 now and upgrade later when tech is better, or just add the batteries later. Sol-Ark will also self-isolate if the grid goes down and power the downstream/critical circuits automatically. This is what I'm moving to now basically.
Odd question: has anyone tried to put a car alternator on a windmill to charge batteries? I See the design in books and online and I’m wondering about the efficacy.
 
Odd question: has anyone tried to put a car alternator on a windmill to charge batteries? I See the design in books and online and I’m wondering about the efficacy.
Yes they have.... Long, long ago. In fact it was , I think, a 6 volt generator off of a farm tractor.
______________
1887: The first known wind turbine used to produce electricity is built in Scotland. The wind turbine is created by Prof James Blyth of Anderson’s College, Glasgow (now known as Strathclyde University). “Blyth’s 10 m high, cloth-sailed wind turbine was installed in the garden of his holiday cottage at Marykirk in Kincardineshire and was used to charge accumulators developed by the Frenchman Camille Alphonse Faure, to power the lighting in the cottage, thus making it the first house in the world to have its electricity supplied by wind power. Blyth offered the surplus electricity to the people of Marykirk for lighting the main street, however, they turned down the offer as they thought electricity was ‘the work of the devil.’ “
 
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Thomas Nimbley, the chairman and chief executive of refiner PBF Energy, said that “Any refiner who knows anything about this business, and most of them do, is doing everything in their power to turn every drop of gasoline into a gallon of jet fuel or diesel”.

 
Hide and watch: Russia will be the only one with diesel.
 

Fuck your jobs! We want to have Mexicans do it for less!

-John Deere
 

Fuck your jobs! We want to have Mexicans do it for less!

-John Deere

I'm not saying I agree with what they are doing but the bigger companies can't find people that will work. The people that want to work get tired of overtime due to staffing issues and either quit or get fired due to attendance policies.
 
I'm not saying I agree with what they are doing but the bigger companies can't find people that will work. The people that want to work get tired of overtime due to staffing issues and either quit or get fired due to attendance policies.
They should ask themselves why people don’t want to work.

Pay more, and employees will come.

$52,000 a year before taxes is $25 an hour. That’s now lower class income.

Sure, you’ll have a roof…maybe.
You’ll drive a 4 year old car.
You’ll buy generic groceries.
You might have a nice watch.

You are working to not die.


That’s why so many millennials and Gen-z have said fuck it.

I think Ford did a smart thing this week making a lot of their employees full time. They are building a strong and LOYAL work force, which will reap dividends for them down the road.
 
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They should ask themselves why people don’t want to work.

Pay more, and employees will come.

It's not about the money, most people are content with 40 hours anymore. It's mainly the reason I mentioned and here is a good example of a local factory that claims they are family oriented. Instead of firing the few people that played the system by missing work, they implemented the attendance policy. Want to go to a funeral that isn't immediately family? That's unexcused and will be 2 points. If you are a pallbearer for you aunt or uncle, you get points unless you get a note from the funeral home. Have a sick kid and need to take them to the doctor? That's also unexcused. They say you are allowed one Saturday off a month but if there is a "hot project", which thats everything, sorry about your luck.

This was way before covid, but if people haven't figured it out after what we've seen since covid, people have found out there is more to life than working.
 
It's not about the money, most people are content with 40 hours anymore. It's mainly the reason I mentioned and here is a good example of a local factory that claims they are family oriented. Instead of firing the few people that played the system by missing work, they implemented the attendance policy. Want to go to a funeral that isn't immediately family? That's unexcused and will be 2 points. If you are a pallbearer for you aunt or uncle, you get points unless you get a note from the funeral home. Have a sick kid and need to take them to the doctor? That's also unexcused. They say you are allowed one Saturday off a month but if there is a "hot project", which thats everything, sorry about your luck.

This was way before covid, but if people haven't figured it out after what we've seen since covid, people have found out there is more to life than working.
Correct. Covid showed people there is a lot more to life than just hours worked and a salary. If business want the same “live to work” mindset of pre-Covid to come back, then they really need to open up the wallet.

The underlying theme of the fed is people make too much money, so we’ll make them broke to tame inflation.

How fucked up is that?
 
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Correct. Covid showed people there is a lot more to life than just hours worked and a salary. If business want the same “live to work” mindset of pre-Covid to come back, then they really need to open up the wallet.

The underlying them of the fed is people make to much money, so we’ll make them broke to tame inflation.

How fucked up is that?
We use, for the most part, low end help.
We have had to raise the pay scale 5 an hour to keep employees.
Most highschool kids are at 15 and one at 20 an hour.
It's either that or I work 24/7
 
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Fuck your jobs! We want to have Mexicans do it for less!

-John Deere

Fuck them for DRM, and fuck them for outsourcing jobs.

My wife still loves her ProGator, though.
 
We use, for the most part, low end help.
We have had to raise the pay scale 5 an hour to keep employees.
Most highschool kids are at 15 and one at 20 an hour.
It's either that or I work 24/7
How has that trickled down to your customers?
 
I wired my generator directly to the house panel with an interlock against the grid switch. I can run the whole house and one of the AC units easily. Just need to make sure not to allow emergency heat elements to kick in as its too much for the generator.

As far as batteries on Solar... just get a Sol-Ark with is compatible with any batteries and either get Lipo4 now and upgrade later when tech is better, or just add the batteries later. Sol-Ark will also self-isolate if the grid goes down and power the downstream/critical circuits automatically. This is what I'm moving to now basically.
I was thinking that the generator would have to pull less of a load if it was augmented by the solar. What are your thoughts on this? I'm looking for efficiency.
 
Correct. Covid showed people there is a lot more to life than just hours worked and a salary. If business want the same “live to work” mindset of pre-Covid to come back, then they really need to open up the wallet.

The underlying theme of the fed is people make too much money, so we’ll make them broke to tame inflation.

How fucked up is that?
Covid may have shown people that there is more to life than work, but wanting new cars and toys requires work. So many will have to get off their ass or do without what they want. Welcome to America.
 
Not if uncle sugar keeps giving them money.
And that is the real downfall of America the last two years. It wasn’t Covid, it was allowing the population to be lazy through the printing of money and handing it out freely. Now there is a mismatch between the notion of what it costs to own something and what it really costs. It’s really hampered our internal fortitude as individuals and as a nation.
 
I don’t believe that.

Used cars up 40%
New cars up the same if you can find them
Rent up 15%-40%
Home prices up 50%
Food up 30%
Gas up 50%
Utilities up 15%-30%
Child care sky high
Property taxes up


Wages up 15%

People have the mindset of “Why?”, when going to work costs as much as not going to work.

Fortitude doesn’t buy groceries or pay bills.
 
Covid may have shown people that there is more to life than work, but wanting new cars and toys requires work. So many will have to get off their ass or do without what they want. Welcome to America.
That’s what people have been saying since the end of enhanced unemployment benefits. Look at where we are today.

I guess young Americans want the American dream their grandparents had. You know, when you could own a house, car, afford groceries, go on a vacation, and put money in savings on one blue collar income.
 
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How has that trickled down to your customers?
things are more expensive, but it hasnt stopped the spending yet
1 gallon material went from 5 or 6, to 7 dollars. 3 g went from 8 and 10 to 12 and 15. and so on.

firewood goes up next season as well.

it all has to, EVERYTHING to do with business has gone up crazy like, and i aint doing shit for free or practice.
 
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Covid may have shown people that there is more to life than work, but wanting new cars and toys requires work. So many will have to get off their ass or do without what they want. Welcome to America.
the average dickhead american has 36k worth of revolving debt, people could use to go without for awhile
 
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That’s what people have been saying since the end of enhanced unemployment benefits. Look at where we are today.

I guess young Americans want the American dream their grandparents had. You know, when you could own a house, car, afford groceries, go on a vacation, and put money in savings on one blue collar income.
that american dream sounds great, but they need to get off their asses and go to work
 
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that american dream sounds great, but they need to get off their asses and go to work
Well, survey says that they aren’t, and it’s probably not going to change.

Either more jobs ship abroad, or companies pay more or offer more flexible work arrangements. Maybe they’ll all be replaced by robots.

It’s an interesting dynamic to watch from now. I hope the millennials and Gen-z win for the sake of future generations.
 
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I was thinking that the generator would have to pull less of a load if it was augmented by the solar. What are your thoughts on this? I'm looking for efficiency.
Depends on how you want to setup. If you want gen support with solar during grid outage, the Sol-Ark will do that.
You can configure it to pull a max of 7 KW (or whatever) from the generator if Solar isn't producing enough. You can also have batteries with priority of one over the other. The Sol-Ark will also send a start signal to the generator if it supports remote start when batteries get low.
Again, this setup is limited to critical load downstream of the generator in grid down conditions. I'm fairly sure it also won't feed battery or generator power back to house main panel even if grid is up, only Solar production. (I may be wrong on that last one, need to verify.)

Back on topic, $500 Billion in fraud on that Covid bucks welfare scam program. Biden and his friends got at least $500K.
 
I was thinking that the generator would have to pull less of a load if it was augmented by the solar. What are your thoughts on this? I'm looking for efficiency.

You can't run a generator in parallel with solar panels in the way I believe you're thinking. It's not that simple.

Typically, you'll need a battery plant (bank of batteries, which it's output is measured in Kilowatt/Hours, and that's based on your load i.e. the combination of everything you can imagine will be running in your house/shop at one time, or over the course of a day.). You can charge those batteries by photovoltaic or wind, and when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing, you have that power stored in the battery plant. If you use up that battery reserve, and don't have that sun/wind available, them that's when you fire up the generator to charge the batteries.

A good example, I have a well pump that can operate hooked directly to a couple solar panels, but its only pumping water when the sun is shining. If the clouds move in, or the sun sets, the water stops flowing.
 
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I don’t believe that.

Used cars up 40%
New cars up the same if you can find them
Rent up 15%-40%
Home prices up 50%
Food up 30%
Gas up 50%
Utilities up 15%-30%
Child care sky high
Property taxes up


Wages up 15%

People have the mindset of “Why?”, when going to work costs as much as not going to work.

Fortitude doesn’t buy groceries or pay bills.
What you say isn’t wrong. But not working isn’t a workable answer either. Don’t like your pay so you stay at home and go broke while you run up debt. Eventually those chickens come home to roost.

I understand and very much appreciate what you are saying because it is real, so is the pain it’s causing. But rolling up, quitting and not trying to earn a living is terrible for the individual and its also how we really fall into socialism. Working is how a man stays independent and a country stays viable.

If I were wanting to destroy a country I would do it through the conditions you described, and then encourage no one to work through various means. And it all starts with convincing people that working “isn’t an option”. Then they will vote for serious socialist policies because of their hunger and frustration.
 
I'm not saying I agree with what they are doing but the bigger companies can't find people that will work. The people that want to work get tired of overtime due to staffing issues and either quit or get fired due to attendance policies.
Propaganda was saying all of the illegals were coming to America to fill the jobs that the American's would not do....
Funny, I have not seen that in print lately.
The illegals came here to get the free money....
 
Well, survey says that they aren’t, and it’s probably not going to change.

Either more jobs ship abroad, or companies pay more or offer more flexible work arrangements. Maybe they’ll all be replaced by robots.

It’s an interesting dynamic to watch from now. I hope the millennials and Gen-z win for the sake of future generations.
At least around here anyway, the wages are way up. Many places start at 15 and trades are 20s. At least for around here, I think anyone who wants to work, is.
Now, to capture what I need out of that labour pool, we started paying more.

I was talking to a guy the other day about prices...he pointed at a plumbing truck and said, I don't understand how that guy can do it??? Because he drives the van, and the gas price increase and all, I said, that guy isn't seeing the price of the increases, he doesn't feel it at all, they all raised their rates, service fees and profit from retail sales.

It's the stiff that can't fix his toilet that is eating it.
we have price adjusted, the end users of product and services can't say that. They are getting killed.
 
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Correct. Covid showed people there is a lot more to life than just hours worked and a salary. If business want the same “live to work” mindset of pre-Covid to come back, then they really need to open up the wallet.

Businesses will do anything to attract talent, except paying more money, reducing mandatory hours, and/or offering flexibility.
 
Propaganda was saying all of the illegals were coming to America to fill the jobs that the American's would not do....
Funny, I have not seen that in print lately.
The illegals came here to get the free money....

Usually it's only the ones on work visas or the ones that go through the process to get a green card that are here to work.
 
Usually it's only the ones on work visas or the ones that go through the process to get a green card that are here to work.
Unfortunately the one with the Visa brings Grandparents from both sides of the family (4 people), his wife who does not work and their 6 children, numerous cousins, aunts and uncles. One Legal with 20 other's tagging along needing medical care, housing, educating, transportation and an IPhone (furnished by the US Government) so they can get an app to apply for all of the free offerings......... Then all of the government offices had to hire bi-lingual workers because these people refused to speak English. When a white boy goes to a government office he has to deal with the Latino's behind the counter and he finds himself sitting in the waiting area while the illegals stream past to the counter.

I was that white boy, more than once.
 
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Unfortunately the one with the Visa brings Grandparents from both sides of the family (4 people), his wife who does not work and their 6 children, numerous cousins, aunts and uncles. One Legal with 20 other's tagging along needing medical care, housing, educating, transportation and an IPhone (furnished by the US Government) so they can get an app to apply for all of the free offerings......... Then all of the government offices had to hire bi-lingual workers because these people refused to speak English. When a white boy goes to a government office he has to deal with the Latino's behind the counter and he finds himself sitting in the waiting area while the illegals stream past to the counter.

I was that white boy, more than once.

I didn’t know the people with visas could bring family with them.
 
Businesses will do anything to attract talent, except paying more money, reducing mandatory hours, and/or offering flexibility.
Duel income couples are not having children due to financial insecurity fears. Think on that.

Our birthdate is declining.

However, you are expected to work for 2010 wages, or you’re being unrealistic.

As I said, I hope the dynamic changes.
 
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I don’t believe that.

Used cars up 40%
New cars up the same if you can find them
Rent up 15%-40%
Home prices up 50%
Food up 30%
Gas up 50%
Utilities up 15%-30%
Child care sky high
Property taxes up


Wages up 15%

People have the mindset of “Why?”, when going to work costs as much as not going to work.

Fortitude doesn’t buy groceries or pay bills.
Especially when you feel like multiple people have their hand in the till.
 
I didn’t know the people with visas could bring family with them.
I did not say they came legally. It only takes one with the visa. But, yes that visa worker can bring family members...
Article below.
I was working at Intel's Ronler Acres campus, Hillsboro, OR. I got a first hand view of how many work Visa's Intel had "bought"... Schools started becoming over loaded with all of the family members flooding the school system....
Questions ?

 
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What ever you are smokin', sniffin' or drinkin'...... Please share it with the rest of us.
I may start a "Snake Farm".... With as much Snake Oil that is being slathered around.... Got to be a demand for it... Going watch a Youtube video on snake milkin' and oil squeezin'
In the meantime, I will play one of my favorite Ray Wylie Hubbard songs, "Snake Farm."
 
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Inflation has finally started to come for middle-income households as higher prices hit big-box stores​


“There is a tug-of-war between the consumer’s desire to buy what they want, and the need to make concessions based on the higher prices hitting their wallets,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail industry advisor for NPD


Inflation is coming for middle-class households as higher prices hit big-box stores. Will they cut back on discretionary purchases? MarketWatch

I don't know who Marshall Cohen is, but I guarantee that his paycheck is not justified by the insight demonstrated in the above statement.

I would also like to know his definition of "middle-income households", because his so-called "tug-of-war" is not a new phenomenon. Go look at the age of the vehicles parked outside any local office building or streaming from the drop-off line at a local school. Middle-class people ain't cruising around in 10-year-old Tahoes and Fusions because these are their preferred automobiles.

The real crisis is coming soon when people start to make choices about which necessities get priority. (Note that for the lower middle class, this started to happen 20 years ago so don't expect much sympathy from them.)
 
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Everyone says “Peak inflation”, like it matters. It doesn’t mean prices are going down.

BF8E67B2-FE34-4E38-AA98-D6A80CDF9F8F.jpeg
 
I don't know who Marshall Cohen is, but I guarantee that his paycheck is not justified by the insight demonstrated in the above statement.

I would also like to know his definition of "middle-income households", because his so-called "tug-of-war" is not a new phenomenon. Go look at the age of the vehicles parked outside any local office building or streaming from the drop-off line at a local school. Middle-class people ain't cruising around in 10-year-old Tahoes and Fusions because these are their preferred automobiles.

The real crisis is coming soon when people start to make choices about which necessities get priority. (Note that for the lower middle class, this started to happen 20 years ago so don't expect much sympathy from them.)
Just some numbers...
Pew's yardstick, middle income is made up of people who make between $42,000 and $126,000.
The average age of vehicles on U.S. roadways edged higher in 2021, hitting a record of 12.2 years



 
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Just some numbers...
Pew's yardstick, middle income is made up of people who make between $42,000 and $126,000.
The average age of vehicles on U.S. roadways edged higher in 2021, hitting a record of 12.2 years



Vehicles cost almost as much as 2019 house prices.

I paid $42,000 cash for my coming car, but if I had financed it for 84 months at 4.9% (That’s with an 827 credit score) and added the GAP insurance and extended warranty, it would have been close to $64K over the 7 years.

No wonder people are driving vehicles until the wheels fall off.

Even a 2 year old used car is within 5% of brand new.
 
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2 more things coming I’m waiting to see the impact of:

End of free school lunch program

Paying back student loans

I guarantee the people who have had loan payments paused since 2022 did not save that windfall added back into their budgets. As a matter of fact, I will hypothesize that they increased their frivolous spending up to that level, and probably monthly payment load on different debt (cars, ATV/UTV, credit cards, etc).
 
2 more things coming I’m waiting to see the impact of:

End of free school lunch program

Paying back student loans

I guarantee the people who have had loan payments paused since 2022 did not save that windfall added back into their budgets. As a matter of fact, I will hypothesize that they increased their frivolous spending up to that level, and probably monthly payment load on different debt (cars, ATV/UTV, credit cards, etc).
Well now, listen.... If all of those free programs covered by the "Umbrella" of school ended..... At that point the educators would be forced to teach reading, writing and arithmetic..... Geometry, Science, Biology, Grammar.... Probably would be a shortage of teacher's who actually understand and could teach those skills.
 
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2 more things coming I’m waiting to see the impact of:

End of free school lunch program

Paying back student loans

I guarantee the people who have had loan payments paused since 2022 did not save that windfall added back into their budgets. As a matter of fact, I will hypothesize that they increased their frivolous spending up to that level, and probably monthly payment load on different debt (cars, ATV/UTV, credit cards, etc).

They'll never end the free school lunch programs. Never. They're using it now as leverage to get schools to push lbwgqt+ and gender neutral bathrooms.
 
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Working hard does not help when your basic expenses are larger than your take home pay. Many who have benefited from better economic times fail to see the truth of today’s situation and call everyone who is not like themselves, lazy. Then they vote for “conservative” politicians who tell them what they want to hear while hustling us all toward economic meltdown.