"Caravan"... What To Do?

[Hobbit]

Taxes; one thing bothering me, particularly at election time, are bonds. We seem to pass bonds, which are technically not a tax but added to our property tax bill, by an overwhelming vote. Oddly, then many people complain their property taxes went up. LOL. The thing is, a lot of the new bonds are not about building libraries or improving parks, but about doing maintenance on public building and public schools. These are things that should be paid by taxes. In the current climate no politician want to raise taxes, so they're looking for ways to get the money without calling it a tax. IMO, get rid of most taxes except what comes out of my check. I believe there will be better accountability then.

I also know plenty of friends who own small businesses doing very VERY well, regardless of everything you mention, and they complain about too. It's part of the game. Amazon paid on the way up and pay now. My friends know they're doing better off than if they went to work for the man. There's also plenty of loopholes and benefits.

A friend of mine just got on ACA, his rates went down and his coverage went up compared to the company he previously worked for. Which was not a small company. Quite the opposite of your friends experience. While I won't argue ACA is a perfect system, it is a step in the right direction. Furthermore, I never believed they can pass a bill this big and get it 100% correct. I am confused on the hate considering most of us will end up on medicaid, which costs are far exceeding inflation and the money will have to come from somewhere. Why are so many people are against their own interest? In the eighties as a single person my insurance was quite inexpensive; a small amount taken out of my check and low copay. That was it. Now, quite a bit comes out of my check, my copay is 4x. On top of that the plan is an 80/20 until you reach a total amount; add that on top of my copay. I went from $5 copay to hundred plus a visit. My biggest concern on retirement is rising medical costs.

A couple of problems with capitalism is monopolies, or duopolies and triopolies. When there's so few competitors the tendency is to work together rather than compete. Medical kind of falls into this as Dr's charge "fair and customary." There's never been real competition in the medical field. What even annoys me more it's become such a closed system there's no such thing as customer satisfaction. This is truest with specialists. There's often only a couple of these clinics in town and they know your stuck with them. They treat you bad, but what are you to do? There's nowhere to go and it takes so long just to get in.

 

[mtrycrafts]

This guy at least:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-mensch-of-malden-mills/
They used him as an example when I was in college of how to be halfway ethical.

Oh, yes, now I remember him.
That is one super person.

 

[TheWarrior]

....... oh look, a full week with no real mention of the caravan....

It's as if it was, never a real problem to begin with!

 

[highfigh]

Taxes; one thing bothering me, particularly at election time, are bonds. We seem to pass bonds, which are technically not a tax but added to our property tax bill, by an overwhelming vote. Oddly, then many people complain their property taxes went up. LOL. The thing is, a lot of the new bonds are not about building libraries or improving parks, but about doing maintenance on public building and public schools. These are things that should be paid by taxes. In the current climate no politician want to raise taxes, so they're looking for ways to get the money without calling it a tax. IMO, get rid of most taxes except what comes out of my check. I believe there will be better accountability then.

I also know plenty of friends who own small businesses doing very VERY well, regardless of everything you mention, and they complain about too. It's part of the game. Amazon paid on the way up and pay now. My friends know they're doing better off than if they went to work for the man. There's also plenty of loopholes and benefits.

A friend of mine just got on ACA, his rates went down and his coverage went up compared to the company he previously worked for. Which was not a small company. Quite the opposite of your friends experience. While I won't argue ACA is a perfect system, it is a step in the right direction. Furthermore, I never believed they can pass a bill this big and get it 100% correct. I am confused on the hate considering most of us will end up on medicaid, which costs are far exceeding inflation and the money will have to come from somewhere. Why are so many people are against their own interest? In the eighties as a single person my insurance was quite inexpensive; a small amount taken out of my check and low copay. That was it. Now, quite a bit comes out of my check, my copay is 4x. On top of that the plan is an 80/20 until you reach a total amount; add that on top of my copay. I went from $5 copay to hundred plus a visit. My biggest concern on retirement is rising medical costs.

A couple of problems with capitalism is monopolies, or duopolies and triopolies. When there's so few competitors the tendency is to work together rather than compete. Medical kind of falls into this as Dr's charge "fair and customary." There's never been real competition in the medical field. What even annoys me more it's become such a closed system there's no such thing as customer satisfaction. This is truest with specialists. There's often only a couple of these clinics in town and they know your stuck with them. They treat you bad, but what are you to do? There's nowhere to go and it takes so long just to get in.

The bonds will kill smaller communities, financially. They're allowing TIF/TIDs and those don't help the general fund until they're paid off, which often takes over 25 years. The suburb where I live had an advisory vote on the Tuesday ballot asking if we wanted to eliminate the 'Dark Store' practice of taxing large retailers (like Walgreens) as if their store is vacant, just because of the large area they cover. That costs the homeowners and small businesses a lot of tax money.

Monopolies are illegal but some, like utilities, are allowed with restrictions. Sometimes, the restrictions are only fluff, but at least there's something there to prevent unlimited rate hikes, in most places.

Medical care costs have been allowed to skyrocket and should have been limited.

Thanks, Congress.

 

[highfigh]

....... oh look, a full week with no real mention of the caravan....

It's as if it was, never a real problem to begin with!

That's the way of the news cycle.

 

[herbu]

My biggest concern on retirement is rising medical costs.

You are right to be concerned. After I retired and my employer's benefits ran out, our annual medical costs rose to over $50k/year. Because we were relatively successful and saved enough for retirement, we qualify for no govt subsidy. No catastrophic illnesses here, just what I consider normal old people issues with back and joints. $50k/year! Can you imagine? That's more than the national average annual income.

And I remember the underhanded way the Dems passed the law. I remember, "We'll have to pass it to see what's in it". I remember, "If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan". I remember, "$2500/year savings". We no longer have any control over our coverage. (Thank God we're paying for maternity coverage now.)

So to all the bleeding heart libs who will be fortunate enough to retire before Medicare age, your turn is coming. I hope you plan well.

 

[Hobbit]

The bonds will kill smaller communities, financially. .

I didn't even think of that impact. Thanks!

 

[highfigh]

I didn't even think of that impact. Thanks!

On Tuesday, the referenda voted for totaled $1.4Billion and the link shows that people favor spending more on schools than lowering property tax. I would bet that the majority of those polled don't own property- my property tax is more than half of my mortgage payment and more than half of that is for schools, mostly the Milwaukee Public School debacle, which has an approved budget for 2019 of $1.4Billion, with between 76K and 80K students. The problem is that 65% of the budget goes for wages and pensions.

Milwaukee hasn't had a Republican Mayor in 100 years.

https://wispolicyforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Taxpayer_18_8.pdf

 

[Hobbit]

On Tuesday, the referenda voted for totaled $1.4Billion and the link shows that people favor spending more on schools than lowering property tax. I would bet that the majority of those polled don't own property- my property tax is more than half of my mortgage payment and more than half of that is for schools, mostly the Milwaukee Public School debacle, which has an approved budget for 2019 of $1.4Billion, with between 76K and 80K students. The problem is that 65% of the budget goes for wages and pensions.

Milwaukee hasn't had a Republican Mayor in 100 years.

https://wispolicyforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Taxpayer_18_8.pdf

I have no problem spending more on schools and education. My point is that, at least in my state and a few other I know of, bonds aren't about brick and mortar type projects anymore. It's a matter of semantics. Bonds are being created as a scapegoat for the politicians so they don't have to say they raised taxes. In many cases in the long run this methodology costs us more. Why wait a couple of years after a school roof has been leaking to have a bond to fix it or put on a new roof? It's penny wise and dime foolish. We know the expected roof life, let's budget for it.

A couple of states really fell into this trap. One I was visiting was cutting taxes, giving crazy tax exemptions for LLC's, then running into deficits and shortfalls. No one wanted to raise "taxes." So they start looking for alternative ways to make collect money from people without calling it "tax." Likewise, I lived in a state where there was no income tax. It wasn't like they didn't find ways of getting money from me through other means not called taxes. On some of my bills, the state "fees" were higher than the bill!