<HTML><HEAD></HEAD> <BODY style="BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER= -LEFT-STYLE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none">Time to read Walden again= ... David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, California <DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5p= x; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 3px solid; PADDING-TOP: 5px"> <HR> Original message From: "Susan Kline" <SKLINE@PEAK.ORG> To: pianot= ech <PIANOTECH@PTG.ORG> Received: 1/2/2006 10:45:34 AM Subject: R= e: New Year's rant Dale, you're a gentleman -- I think that your k= ids will get a reprieve from those high house prices at some point. Whe= n prices are so high that nobody can buy, even with funny-money mortgag= es, nobody will. Prices may simply collapse, gracefully or awkwardly de= pending on how much nerve today's speculators have. If everyone rushes = to the exits at the same time, it could get very messy. Interes= ting that the state managed to end up in a situation where house prices= reversed the devastations of Prop. 13 for them. Sort of like how globa= lization reversed most of the gains achieved by unions back in the 30's= . I think that part of the reason for the tangled bureaucratic = mess so many people are getting smothered in is that it is human nature= to demand the impossible. We make demands on our supporting institutio= ns which no one could fulfill. We ask doctors to cure everything withou= t disturbing our lifestyles. They unfortunately think that they must pr= etend that they are able to work miracles. Miracles are in short supply= -- so people sue. Then the lawyers have full employment, but health in= surance (which has pretended that it can pay for anything at all) start= s to fall apart. So people demand that government take a hand, for inst= ance with the seniors' drug subsidies -- and now government is so deepl= y in debt that its unfunded liabilities already taken on, to be paid to= us all in the future as our group gets older and sicker, come to sever= al hundred TRILLION dollars. No one -- NO ONE -- is ever going to see t= his money! The Fed is issuing T-bills hand over fist just to pay the in= terest on our _present_ debt, and some "helpful" foreigners are buying = them. (What saps -- if they don't, the T-bills they were foolish enough= to buy already will turn into wallpaper.) So, my thought is --= seeing that this bandwagon everybody is piling onto is about to suffer= a one-hoss-shay collapse -- better to hop off voluntarily before one g= ets trapped in the wreckage. So I "just say no" to various "benefits" w= hich I don't feel are all that big a favor. I'd much rather have a stov= e which can get warm from old dried-out apple and grape prunings, inste= ad of some future federally-funded heat-bill-assistance program 20 year= s from now. (you know, from the bankrupt gov't run by spendthrifts?) <B= R> YMMV, as they say. No blame to people who still try to depend on = the system. Who knows, it may last us out ... or not. What I want to do= , that I'm very slow at getting done, is to get more fertile soil and p= erennial food plants going in this little yard. Better than assuming th= at produce from all over the world will always be there, cheap, in the = stores, nicely picked by the helpful but poorly paid foreigners. <BR= >To sum up: I'm trying to move my resources into "real" stuff, instead = of paper promises. No tapping into home equity -- I'd rather have the r= eal house. And when I fretted over the cost of the masonry stove, I tho= ught about how little those dollars would be worth in five years if I j= ust put them into bonds or bank CD's. Very hard to inflate or charge in= terest on soapstone. <grin> Susan <BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">  <DL> <DD>  Susan= <DD>    I feel like  it's easy to relate to your fr= ustration to some extent  with all the high every things you menti= oned.     Who can't? </DD>= </DL>   With our favor= ite federal tax orgs. merry go round, greedy state taxes ridiculous reg= ulations, real estate prices etc.  It can make life very difficult= to say the least . It does require balance & budget. I still love = Calif. &the job but dislike the State of things in business unfrien= dly Calif.  No wonder you left. <DL> <DD>  & now real estate has launched a whole generation (my&nb= sp; kids) into being potentially permanent renters.  What a drag. = </DD></DL>  I realized that all over, that the Sta= te/local the gov. coffers have been raking in property tax revenues now= at twice  to 3 times the rate because of rising property prices &= amp; hence property taxes.  Yet Every one is still claiming shortf= all.  I smell somethin........   Workmans comp... what a= joke.    What I respect about your post is that you h= ave thought it thru & decided & articulated very well what work= s best for you.  Many folks never have. Your business model works = for you in your ecomomic climate.  Good for you.  I've know y= ou a long time & I bet you don't work for free any more than I do.&= nbsp; When or if we do its' for our own chosen reasons. <DL> <DD>It's good to hear from one who has been instrospective enough to de= cide what is important to them & is doing the way that just makes t= hen feel good inside.<F= ONT face="Arial, Helvetica"> <DD>   The best of things to you Susan <DD>   Dale Erwin </DD></DL> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BODY></HTML>