344 Comments

But when I replace my 2006 Honda Civic with an EV, I want a small one. Small hatchback or wagon. I absolutely do not ever want a SUV.

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My university can't hire and keep staff. The private college my wife works at is hardly any better (and in fact, they offered me a job at a salary they claim is a raise, but it's not).

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Us, either. In our case, it's b/c the other UC campuses pay more than we do and are offering fully remote positions. And due to ageism and job security concerns, I'm staying put, even though I'm getting screwed with my pay and about to be priced out of rental prices in my town (I'm already paying $2350/month, and houses *start* at like $700K in my town).

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Holy smokes, that's expensive rent. I have a lot of sympathy for people who are looking for housing. It's impossible right now.

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And you slurp it up and spit it out and eat it again, just like a dog with its own vomit.

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Rooting thru my comments.

Does this mean we're pals?

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Just in time for the GOP to diarrhea all over it defaulting the US!

What a shithole nation.

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It ain't the nation; it's conservatism. And it's worldwide.

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I got a dozen at the local fruit stand for $3 yesterday. But they are jumbo eggs. A WHILE ago they used to be $2, then went up to $5+ during egg gouging days, so $3 seems pretty good. I'm sure they went up from $2 long before COVID.

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This is bad news for Joe Biden

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Not even conservatism any longer, the Republicans are accurately described as reactionary fascists.

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My favorite 4th of July slogan, posted in a liquor store:

If you want to see the Fourth, don't drink a Fifth on the Third.

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"Democrats in disarray over low unemployment and slowdown in inflation which means they must support McCarthy's death spiral debt ceiling proposals to get votes from the rural Pennsylvania blue collar voters interviewed at the Popeyes in Scranton." NY Times.

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My last job was one I actually like--USPS (rural carrier). I started as a sub at $10+/hr (no bennies) in '89, became a regular in '94, and retired in '14, making $25+/hr. Because I began my career relatively late, I needed only twenty years as a regular to retire, and I left a few days after my 63rd b/d--debt free, with a 4 year old set of wheels, all the creature comforts I required, in my dream house on four acres. The pension was adequate, and I had enough in my Thrift Savings (the Fed equivalent of a 401K) to live on until I could collect full social security (well worth the wait).

I didn't tell anyone in the office or on the route I was leaving until my final two weeks of delivering (spending the last 3+ months on sick/vacation leave so I'd wouldn't miss a full check). One older customer, a very nice gent who worked into his early seventies before retiring, scoffed at the news, saying I was going to be buried in my vehicle (a fitting interment, given that I always called LLV's mausoleums on wheels). He asked what would I possibly do without my job. I dead-panned my reply with a straight face, "Everything else." It took a few moments for the bulb to light up, and when it did, he said in all seriousness, "I wish I had thought of that".

Now I get to complain that the only two things I don't like about retirement are, it took to damn long, and I'm old. Other than that, life is good.

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Curiously enough, my lithium stocks are all in the tank. I wouldn't buy an EV, especially a Bolt, if you paid me. (My brother did, paid a premium for a used one 'cause you couldn't get new ones, which was presently followed by a letter saying: DO NOT PARK IN GARAGE.)

I still think dumb people will buy lithium cars, and I will cheerfully sell them the lithium, which will make me richer, but -- ugh! -- ixnay on the self-igniting cars-ay.

(The real economic problem is that there is waaay too much capital looking for employment. You can still get financing for anything, no matter how stupid. It's like 1999 and 2007 copulated and birthed a monster.)

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BIDEN LABOR SHORTAGE!!!11!! Too many jobs and not enough people to fill them.

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