Inflation hurts in the short term... But in the semi-long term it helps anyone who has a mortgage or holds any sort of debt at a fixed interest rate. Sucks until wages catch up, but they will eventually. Nice new mortgage at a low fixed rate... That inflation going on is helping me. Moved just at the right time. Devastating to anyone who is a loaner of money though. Personally, I don't blame inflation on Trump's "tax cuts"*. It's not tax cuts that caused inflation, it's all the silly stimulus payments that everyone got. Just printing money for everyone whether they needed it or not. * Hard to call them tax cuts when the majority of people paid more taxes... It's only the rich who paid less... It is a bit of an illusion though because the lower 99% of people got to take more home with each pay cheque, but come April 15th they got fewer deductions so ended up paying more in taxes than before... A lot of people got caught out that first year, expecting the usual large tax refunds and instead ended up owing thousands that they weren't prepared to pay for. In reality it was just shifting more of the tax burden from the rich to the poor and billing it as a tax cut. We used to get about $5000 back each year on Apr 15th, mostly from Child tax credits... Since the "tax cut" we've owed a little in federal each year... But we do bring home $100 extra twice a month in the moment...
I was explaining this to the mrs (nm) yesterday. Started off talking about minimum wage. People on minimum wage get exited about getting a pay increase whilst being ignorant towards literally everything costing more as a result. But added that everything costing more adds to inflation which in the long run helps me as a home owner.
Parked up as normal today to walk the little fooker and saw in a disabled parking space a modern sporty (ish) looking Rolls Royce which was something which ranks very high on my list of stuff i thought i'd never see . On doing a search when i got home it looks like it was a Wraith please log in to view this image Motability going the whole way these days
dodn't bother looking tbh as i've given in these days as it seems like a blue badge is for the whole family to use at will . Have to say that the increasing size of cars is in my opinion leading to a rise in big cars parking in the bays as a way of making sure they dont get dinged by other car doors . Should point out i dont understand why some legitimate blue badge holders use them when there are nearer spaces they could use while people like me going round car parks trying to find an end of row space so i can get my chair out of the car .
It almost always old, but physically abled, women parked in the spots without handicapped parking stickers here. I hear Steve Jobs used to buy a new car every X days because in California you don't need to get a license plate on any car younger than X days old. So he'd just buy a new car and sell the old one every time his "free pass" ended where they could see he couldn't legally park in handicapped spots.
I saw a bloke haggling at a boot sale over an item costing a fiver. He eventually, rather grumpily, accepted he would have to pay the fiver. Later saw him get in one of those and drive off, which is probably why he owned one as every penny has to be fought over.
People who own rolls Royce's value the umbrella it comes with more than the lives of their parents. Well known pfackt.
I drive for a friend who is partially sighted and has a blue badge (I never use it if she isn't there) - it's very handy to get near shops so I don't have to walk her across badly made car parks with poor lighting. They're weird though, it gives you odd privileges which don't really seem relevant to the disability - like not having to pay on certain tolls roads. On the other hand, in some parts of the country you still have to pay full parking fees even if you have a badge and park in the designated bays, of which there is often a paucity.
You're still held responsible for safety considerations. You can be prosecuted for dangerous parking. Though there are people who abuse them, I agree.
Another thing that pisses me off is how parking bays are getting smaller and smaller as many cars are getting bigger and bigger. It's often impossible to get out of a car hemmed in by Chelsea Tractors.
If I had to guess it's because in some places Tolls are set up to try to encourage people using public transportation instead of driving themselves. I imagine using public transportation is a lot more difficult with certain conditions. This privilege might be a good thing really, I don't have a problem with it.
