First it was Mary Travers ... And now it's Peter Yarrow. Joan Baez has lost her voice and Tom Paxton is frail. Phil Ochs has been dead for fifty years now. Time marches on for good or bad. It won't be long before it's just the recordings are left.
Maybe it's for the best, though, as we are seeing both the best and absolute worse of that generation in their twilight years. While lessons should be learned from the yesteryear we shouldn't hold back the inevitable changes whatever they may be. But as the last of them die off there will be a lot of emptiness in our world, and so many stories untold and lessons unlearned. But it was before my time!
Mild and sunny this morning, going to head for a ride in a bit maybe out to Voorheeesville and the Bender Mellon Farm. Not a long ride, as dad is picking me up at 11:30 for a Sunday get together with the family.
Yesterday was mild and fairly gray, ☁️ finished up another book on car buying and the auto industry, gaining further insight into the process, learning more about the FX4 Off-Road Package on Ford Trucks, and reconsidering a lot of things, like whether or not to finance. More on that later. Rode my bike down to the Norman’s Kill Preserve West and it was super icy down town there, but nice down by the Norman’s Kill. 🏞️ You can see so much more this time of years when the leaves are off the trees, though no free blackberries to eat. 🍓
Then I rode over to Hannaford, got $30 in groceries, just a few things, rode home, then out to Five Rivers 🛒 for a while mostly to see Mead’s Cows 🐮 and I don’t know, listen to more of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929 which chronicles the Great Depression. Been doing a lot of reading and thinking about personal finance, running numbers and thinking about how I can move more of my IRA and 457K into Roth accounts, so I can take advantage of tax-free growth without getting pounded even harder with taxes. ⚖️ It really sucks to get hit with a big tax bill in retirement if I need to buy something like a tractor 🚜 or a manure spreader. 💩 Paying the government a shit ton of money to sling shit.
I am very happy the bike trail is free of ice and snow 🚴 for the most part so I can ride to work at least through Wednesday with no issues, avoiding Corning’s Hill and Delmar Bypass. That should be good for getting through Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929, and the ride through the gorge is always pleasant, as is avoiding the morning busing. 🚍 Still have to take the bus home in the evening, but eventually we’ll get to Valentines Day ♥️ and have enough light to ride both ways. That puts a smile on my face, 😀 as even if I do get a big-assed SuperDuty, ain’t going to drive that thing to work and visit the gas station ⛽ every day on the way home.
I didn’t realize that most standard auto loans don’t contain a prepayment clause or fee, you can finance a small amount, maybe $1,000 or whatever the sales tax is, and within 10 days pay off the balance of loan only paying a few days interest and servicing fees. 💵 You might ask why, well it turns out dealers and manufacturers often have incentives for credit buyers that exceed the value of dealer cash, and dealers get a cut for loan origination, though they do get some of that clawed back if people pay off their loan within six months, but you can pay it off before that. Fascinating stuff. And lots of info on various fees and strageties to confirm a vehicle is on the lot, get a total out the door price, and negotiate in a way that both gets you a fair deal 🤝 and makes dealer generally willing to work with you
Still I don’t know the idea of financing something makes me cringe, 💰 I’ve never actually taken out a loan or had a subscription to anything. though I pay rent. But I guess holding a $1,000 note 📜 or whatever for two weeks before paying it off to save a bunch of money might be worth it, but I need to study the specifics of the fees and loan text to make sure it makes sense. But it’s easier to be honest with the dealer, and tell him I am interested in financing when working on the total out the door price. I am also planning to make sure I get prices from a lot of small town dealerships, as you know they all have those SuperDuty trucks but a lot of people in small towns are quite poor and can’t afford them, especially this time of year. I could see farmers buying in the fall when they sell their harvests, 🌽 but in winter, nto so much. Milk prices and soybeans are way down, I sadly don’t see many teat strippers buying themselves a new SuperDuty in Schoharie or Davenport Ford anytime soon. 😔 Unlike buying a house, one SuperDuty with the same package as another one is virtually identical, you can travel to take delivery, as it’s not like a house that has to be within reasonable commuting distance. Any Ford dealer will be more then happy to preform warranty work, because they get paid by factory.
I realize I have time, still eleven weeks until that last week of March, 🗓️ which is my target date for getting a truck before the end of Quarter 1, by then hopefully the snow will be gone and the roads free of salt. ☃️ Who knows, we do sometimes get later winter snow storms but they’re rare. Dealers are more motivated to make sales quotas by the end of quarter, but also I wouldn’t have to worry about road salt eating away at my new rig right away, or getting caught in a blizzard trying to get my new rig home. Lamolin coat that bad boy, probably professionally done next fall, and then buy my own bottle and underbody sprayer for touch ups that there after. That still gives me a few months to order a camper shell or camper for the truck, get the solar and CB radio and other equipment moved over. I was actually looking at potentially using a larger residential panel for solar, but if I don’t go that way, I do stick at least a second 100 watt panel on the cap for more power, especially if I will be powering a diesel heater next winter camping.
Honestly, it’s something to keep my mind active and busy during the long winter. 💭 People find it boring and offensive, but the whole auto dealer experience intrigues me because it really reminds me of my whole career in politics. While I’m now working over in the Data Unit, 💽 for years and years I worked directly with Assemblymembers on communications, so I know a lot on how negotiations work and don’t work. 🏛️ I know how to spin and communicate, sell ideas. Selling big trucks aren’t that much different. I’m not saying I’m going to become a used car salesman, but I do find it fascinating how persuasion works on sales floor and what is legitimate and what isn’t. 🐐 As much as I might like reading books about homesteading, this is in some ways much more practical. Like learning the ins and outs of buying land and houses, like I did a deep dive into two years ago, a lot of knowledge is transferable. I do want that off-grid cabin, but it’s not practical to build what I want in New York, and to walk away from my good paying job at this point, so damn close to the 20-year pension 1.6% to 2.0% per year of service credit would be tough. 🐽 Honestly, I want to get in 30-years, and who knows then if I buy my parents homestead what I’ll do but I still want a kind of freedom I can’t find on 5 acres in New York State. 🛢️ 🔥 🔫
How to address the Republican plan to redistrict Texas? Republicans have laid out to pack Democrats in as few of districts as possible, and crack the remaining Democratic strong holds, by splitting Democratic voters up into heavily Republican districts.
Democrats don’t help themselves by naturally being packed primarily in cities, and nowadays, inner suburbs and even outer more educated suburbs. Democrats generally are more concentrated in their location, while Republicans are spread out over the countryside and in the outer suburbs. Republican areas are physically much larger then Democratic areas, it allows them to naturally grab pieces of Democratic areas to dilute down the Democratic vote, and pack the remaining Democrats together.
It’s a problem that even the best map drawers, with the best data can’t necessarily overcome. Republicans by their location have an inherit advantage. It’s not fair but it’s how geography works. Drawing districts for partisan advantages can have an impact around the edges and make a difference in close elections, but it’s an advantage much overstated. You can put your finger on a scale but you can’t change the reading that much compared to the weight of a donkey or elephant.
Ultimately, while the redistricting in Texas and maybe Indiana may lead to Republicans picking up a seat or two – potentially giving them the majority for the remainder of Trump’s second term – it’s not necessarily that clear cut. Fingers on the scales and biasing elections make a difference but if it’s a wave year for Democrats in 2026 maybe it will not ultimately matter. Democrats may ultimately take back the house regardless of the GOP’s efforts to game the system.
I’m just skeptical about maps or election laws having much of an impact on elections or public policy except around the edges.
American politicians love to brag about how strong the US military is. How we have all the best military technologies and how we have overwhelming fire power. The only problem is that US hasn’t actually won a war since the 1940s, namely World War II. Few people are alive still that can remember a time when we actually won a war.
We lost the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War. While we don’t like call them losses, and we point out to stragetic gains to the war, at end the opponents in those wars ultimately won. It’s kind of an embarrassing thing for our country, something our leaders don’t like to point out.
The reason is pretty simple, and it obvious to any student of American history – home front advantage. People know their homeland far better then any foreign invading army, it’s a lot easier to engage in sabotage and to blow things up then it is to rebuild them. It’s really hard to control millions of people if they are not willing consenters. If a majority of a local population wants to go along with the invading army, and you have a handful of rebels to arrest, punish, shoot or kill, then that’s a reasonable objective – stable democracies do that all the time. But the key is that in stable democracies the majority of people consent to their government.
The lessons of the American Revolution should not be forgotten. Why does the US think time and time again that other countries will simply bend over when they come knocking on the door with their guns and canons? Even when local leaders acquiesce due to invaders having guns pointed at their heads, there is very little evidence that the people are willing to roll over and go along. When you have millions of people willing to engage in terrorism and sabotage or at least look the other way when their fellow citizens do such things to the invaders, then it’s an awful hard for invaders to impose their will on foreign countries.
American oil companies are rightly skeptical about investing into Venezuela. Who says that the Venezuelan people won’t just blow up foreign-run refineries or look the other way when their fellow citizens engage in sabotage? Not only do American oil companies risk losing a lot of money, they also risk losing personnel and their reputations in the process. While their may be benefit in playing a shell game, and telling President Trump their playing ball, one can’t help to be skeptical.
My dad is skeptical that dealers will give me out-the-door pricing on cars without stepping foot in dealerships. I don't know, but this video had some good suggestions on how to be clear and conscise on what you need and expect and it's part of the hours and hours of videos (and two library books) I've been reading on the automobile industry. I want to be both an informed consumer and not get hosed in the process, and end up with a truck I love that is reliable, takes me on many great adventures camping and the back country, and serves me well through my early retirement/start of the homestead.
That’s what gives me so much pause. Now I know I have time to make up my mind, take the off-ramp, as I am not buying until the end of March at the earliest.
I have made up rationalizations in my brain, reasons I’m willing to accept such things. After all, my pickup is my toy, it takes me on great adventures. I make good money in my career. I don’t drive to work and rarely around town.
