A similar Truth is playing out here in the South West of England.
And it is made, accidentally, worse by the incoming second home owners and retirees who have pushed house demand and thus prices to absolutely unbelievable levels. ( they are mostly nice people who have or are still working hard to be successful and want their little piece of this truly gorgeous part of the World. )
The inadvertent result is house prices that are as expensive as Toney part of London)
On a positive note, there are actually quite a few young local young men who have chosen to learn a Trade and who are inherently hard/smart workers.
The Young Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters, Painters, Stone Masons, Roofers, Landscapers and similar are incredibly valuable to the community and they are treasured by everyone here.
But i cringe when i think of how hard it must be to get on the property ladder and raise 1 or 2 young ones on a Tradesman’s salary when compared to the Hedgie/Private Equity/ Property/Techology/ Venture Capital ( Substack Titans 😉)participants and beneficiaries who want to play and pay here.
A year and a half ago, my 95 year old father moved back to Hungary from Canada after 60 years. About 3 weeks ago he had a dizzy spell, fell down and injured his leg. He lives with his wife in a rural area and about 10 minute drive from the second largest medical campus in the country. We had the local doctor drop by to have a look at my father's leg. Some rest, prescriptions, monitor his blood pressure and pulse. A couple of days later, his pressure and pulse dropped. A call was made to the local doctor and he sent for paramedics to pick my father up for the short trip to the hospital. He spent 2 days in the ICU and 2 days in the cardiology ward where he was implanted with a pacemaker..the following day he was released and is right now in his comfy chair watching the UEFA game between Croatia & Armenia. It has been a slow recovery for him trying to regain the strength in his leg. We have a physiotherapist come in 2 or 3 times a week. My father's wife is very well connected in the community and a few phone calls to family and friends and my father was well looked after...though the ICU ward could use a brushing-up in the bedside manner department. Personally, I'm pleased with the care he received here in Hungary.... back in British Columbia the medical care is in shambles...very long wait times for at emergency wards and medical procedures in general...they continue to refuse to re-hire unjabbed workers...something all the other provinces have since rescinded the mandate...though things may have changed... I don't pay too much attention to what's going on in Trudeau's Kommunist Kanada....that is at least until my return.
For all its faults America got one thing right, waiting until 66 to take SSI allows a person to work full time, and retain 100% of their SSI payment. Exactly what I chose to do, my plan was to retire at 66 but keep working for my life long customers while taking on new customers who were not price shoppers. In 2009 we stopped all advertising choosing to be 100% referral based. Best move we ever made, my brother and I are like the old world plasterer or window maker but in HVAC.
What America got wrong is allowing the third world (China) an equal footing in the USA to sell crap knock offs while stealing the intellectual property of every manufacturer in the world. The cheap knock offs caused American manufacturers to lessen quality to the point where a well built HVAC system might if you're lucky, get past the 10 year warranty period without a major malfunction. Pre China or pre 1990 manufacturers were all about their products lasting longer than the other guys. My personal home sports a 1986 cooling system that works better than a new system and will out live me.
We act like this is all just something that has occurred in the last few years: the loss of skilled tradesmen and expertise. This has been a slow progression for the last 100 years (or more) and we let it happen. Think about it, what do the young, smart, skilled tradesmen want? He wants to start his own business and become his own boss. And professionals? They want to conduct business without being sued for everything under the sun. But WE (all of us), in our infinite wisdom, we have decided that we have to be protected. So, what do we do? Pass all sorts of licensing laws with ridiculous requirements (easily met if you’re dishonest, harder, if not impossible if you’re honest) and then require said applicant to post exorbitant bonds for 100s of 1000s of dollars. Can’t post bond or get someone to sign off your length of service, well keep working for the guy who really wanted the requirement in the first place. Not surprisingly the independent tradesman, doctor, etc., is disappearing. It is not just that. God forbid YOU would let a poor schmuck do what he wanted (i.e., let’s pass laws because we think it is morally imperative to protect others). So, if we go back and look at ourselves, how many laws have we supported with the idea of protecting someone (not us mind, just the idiot down the street). Well guess what? We get what we deserve. All of these rules and regulations protecting us for our own good, are choking us to death: Licensing, Ordinances, Bonding Requirements; what the heck let’s get big: The War on Poverty; The War on Education; The War on Drugs; The War on Terror, and the list goes on. WE, starting back right at the beginning and have voted in, and for, a government that is there to tell someone else what do, how to do it, when to do it, and where, all in the name of public safety. Personally, I think we all need to mind our own damn business, and oh yea, do away with most government organizations: like the department of Education, the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, etc., etc., etc. I doubt the average person on this comment string is really prepared for that.
Masterful summary of our issues - we need more doers and are realising that there’s more to life and our economy than academia particularly if it ends up in worthless degrees from shithole universities.
So true here too. Had an addition put on my house a couple years ago. One of the contractors pointed out that everyone you see working in the trades were older. If and when they tried to hire younger workers they either wouldn't show up or they couldn't get them off their phone.
And this is the heart of the Fermi paradox. I believe that we will destroy ourselves before we become an interstellar race, like so many others before us. At this point, it seems a better outcome than global serfdom.
Here in America, we were forced fed Obama Care, where we were allowed to keep our doctors, and save thousands of dollars, regardless of pre existing conditions...100% BS! But what elese would you expect from a democrat? Or a RINO like John McCain, who had the votes to end the insanity before it began, but went against America, as we all know.
Yes, we were all force fed a total lie, as we the middle class have come to accept, as we get fleeced...
But on this somber day, we have other truly horrific memories of past atrocities commited by evil men...lest we forget...
No worries, Bill. They'll just create more of the "learned class" for the people to have to find a creative way to employ. Meanwhile, you refer to the government apparatchiks that want every student to go into finance. I guess they need to learn how to pay for what they want, while the getting's still good.
You may call them fools, but the French call them intellectuals. Or whatever the French word for "intellectual" is.
Great reporting! It sounds just like the USA, except for the medical part. Maybe socialized medicine is not so bad after all. Of course, it wouldn't work here. No House-call doctors in the cities. May still be some in the boondocks: way back in the boondocks. We here all the horror stories of Socialized Medicine in Great Briton, Italy, EU, and Canada. You and the other expats that live in and visit all these places should check that out and see if it is true. Then give us a report on it. Maybe it just works for rich oligarchs or rich Gringos with good wine. If ya'll started now you might get in a couple of reports before the 'stuff hits the fan'.
May still be that way in poor Roman Catholic Dioceses, but I doubt if there are any more poor Roman Catholic Dioceses in the USA after all the flack Catholic Bishops and Priests have received over the recent years. The VA Medical System works well; now that VA is getting more money. But all that will stop when the 'stuff hits the fan' which is not far off. Forty years ago, one could cross the border into Canada or Mexico to see a doctor or get prescriptions or booze or gas without exorbitant taxes. Can't do that anymore even with a passport to be able to get back into us: USA. Just Saying! Florida Jimmy.
I was reminiscing, with my wife, about the 50’s and 60’s, how different things were. To me the 60’s were the best.
I raise a grandson, talented in many ways, very intelligent; he plays video games, texts, scrolls god knows what, comes up with outrageous things as absolute truth.
He never reads, peculiar; you wonder what the next generation will bring, such a lack of substance.
And I rail against it, do my best, even force read him books for an hour a day. I am losing the battle.
Salt of the Earth
Hiya Bill -
"“Oh…bon…take off your clothes,” she directed.
Slightly embarrassed, we did as bade. She inspected with a magnifying glass."
There's a great joke in there somewhere, but I'm not gonna look for it...
A similar Truth is playing out here in the South West of England.
And it is made, accidentally, worse by the incoming second home owners and retirees who have pushed house demand and thus prices to absolutely unbelievable levels. ( they are mostly nice people who have or are still working hard to be successful and want their little piece of this truly gorgeous part of the World. )
The inadvertent result is house prices that are as expensive as Toney part of London)
On a positive note, there are actually quite a few young local young men who have chosen to learn a Trade and who are inherently hard/smart workers.
The Young Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters, Painters, Stone Masons, Roofers, Landscapers and similar are incredibly valuable to the community and they are treasured by everyone here.
But i cringe when i think of how hard it must be to get on the property ladder and raise 1 or 2 young ones on a Tradesman’s salary when compared to the Hedgie/Private Equity/ Property/Techology/ Venture Capital ( Substack Titans 😉)participants and beneficiaries who want to play and pay here.
A year and a half ago, my 95 year old father moved back to Hungary from Canada after 60 years. About 3 weeks ago he had a dizzy spell, fell down and injured his leg. He lives with his wife in a rural area and about 10 minute drive from the second largest medical campus in the country. We had the local doctor drop by to have a look at my father's leg. Some rest, prescriptions, monitor his blood pressure and pulse. A couple of days later, his pressure and pulse dropped. A call was made to the local doctor and he sent for paramedics to pick my father up for the short trip to the hospital. He spent 2 days in the ICU and 2 days in the cardiology ward where he was implanted with a pacemaker..the following day he was released and is right now in his comfy chair watching the UEFA game between Croatia & Armenia. It has been a slow recovery for him trying to regain the strength in his leg. We have a physiotherapist come in 2 or 3 times a week. My father's wife is very well connected in the community and a few phone calls to family and friends and my father was well looked after...though the ICU ward could use a brushing-up in the bedside manner department. Personally, I'm pleased with the care he received here in Hungary.... back in British Columbia the medical care is in shambles...very long wait times for at emergency wards and medical procedures in general...they continue to refuse to re-hire unjabbed workers...something all the other provinces have since rescinded the mandate...though things may have changed... I don't pay too much attention to what's going on in Trudeau's Kommunist Kanada....that is at least until my return.
For all its faults America got one thing right, waiting until 66 to take SSI allows a person to work full time, and retain 100% of their SSI payment. Exactly what I chose to do, my plan was to retire at 66 but keep working for my life long customers while taking on new customers who were not price shoppers. In 2009 we stopped all advertising choosing to be 100% referral based. Best move we ever made, my brother and I are like the old world plasterer or window maker but in HVAC.
What America got wrong is allowing the third world (China) an equal footing in the USA to sell crap knock offs while stealing the intellectual property of every manufacturer in the world. The cheap knock offs caused American manufacturers to lessen quality to the point where a well built HVAC system might if you're lucky, get past the 10 year warranty period without a major malfunction. Pre China or pre 1990 manufacturers were all about their products lasting longer than the other guys. My personal home sports a 1986 cooling system that works better than a new system and will out live me.
We act like this is all just something that has occurred in the last few years: the loss of skilled tradesmen and expertise. This has been a slow progression for the last 100 years (or more) and we let it happen. Think about it, what do the young, smart, skilled tradesmen want? He wants to start his own business and become his own boss. And professionals? They want to conduct business without being sued for everything under the sun. But WE (all of us), in our infinite wisdom, we have decided that we have to be protected. So, what do we do? Pass all sorts of licensing laws with ridiculous requirements (easily met if you’re dishonest, harder, if not impossible if you’re honest) and then require said applicant to post exorbitant bonds for 100s of 1000s of dollars. Can’t post bond or get someone to sign off your length of service, well keep working for the guy who really wanted the requirement in the first place. Not surprisingly the independent tradesman, doctor, etc., is disappearing. It is not just that. God forbid YOU would let a poor schmuck do what he wanted (i.e., let’s pass laws because we think it is morally imperative to protect others). So, if we go back and look at ourselves, how many laws have we supported with the idea of protecting someone (not us mind, just the idiot down the street). Well guess what? We get what we deserve. All of these rules and regulations protecting us for our own good, are choking us to death: Licensing, Ordinances, Bonding Requirements; what the heck let’s get big: The War on Poverty; The War on Education; The War on Drugs; The War on Terror, and the list goes on. WE, starting back right at the beginning and have voted in, and for, a government that is there to tell someone else what do, how to do it, when to do it, and where, all in the name of public safety. Personally, I think we all need to mind our own damn business, and oh yea, do away with most government organizations: like the department of Education, the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, etc., etc., etc. I doubt the average person on this comment string is really prepared for that.
Masterful summary of our issues - we need more doers and are realising that there’s more to life and our economy than academia particularly if it ends up in worthless degrees from shithole universities.
So true here too. Had an addition put on my house a couple years ago. One of the contractors pointed out that everyone you see working in the trades were older. If and when they tried to hire younger workers they either wouldn't show up or they couldn't get them off their phone.
And this is the heart of the Fermi paradox. I believe that we will destroy ourselves before we become an interstellar race, like so many others before us. At this point, it seems a better outcome than global serfdom.
Here in America, we were forced fed Obama Care, where we were allowed to keep our doctors, and save thousands of dollars, regardless of pre existing conditions...100% BS! But what elese would you expect from a democrat? Or a RINO like John McCain, who had the votes to end the insanity before it began, but went against America, as we all know.
Yes, we were all force fed a total lie, as we the middle class have come to accept, as we get fleeced...
But on this somber day, we have other truly horrific memories of past atrocities commited by evil men...lest we forget...
Weak Sauce! Lol 😂 J/K I would read any Bill Bonner missive any day before reading any MOUs from the President, or as he likes to call himself, hahaha!
Meeeeeeiiiiiinnnng! You got a pretty mouth boy! 🤣🤣🤣
Chanson d’ Automne (1866)
French source: Paul Verlaine
Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l'automne
Blessent mon coeur
D'une langueur
Monotone.
Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l'heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure;
Et je m'en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m'emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.
Autumn Song
English translation © Richard Stokes
With long sobs
The violins
Of autumn
Wound my heart
With languorous
Monotony.
All choking
And pale, when
The hour sounds,
I remember
Departed days
And I weep;
And I go
Where ill winds blow,
Buffeted
To and fro,
Like a
Dead leaf.
Same thing here in Quebec, maybe worse & for longer. In 2003, a good movie was even released about that theme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seducing_Doctor_Lewis
No worries, Bill. They'll just create more of the "learned class" for the people to have to find a creative way to employ. Meanwhile, you refer to the government apparatchiks that want every student to go into finance. I guess they need to learn how to pay for what they want, while the getting's still good.
You may call them fools, but the French call them intellectuals. Or whatever the French word for "intellectual" is.
Great reporting! It sounds just like the USA, except for the medical part. Maybe socialized medicine is not so bad after all. Of course, it wouldn't work here. No House-call doctors in the cities. May still be some in the boondocks: way back in the boondocks. We here all the horror stories of Socialized Medicine in Great Briton, Italy, EU, and Canada. You and the other expats that live in and visit all these places should check that out and see if it is true. Then give us a report on it. Maybe it just works for rich oligarchs or rich Gringos with good wine. If ya'll started now you might get in a couple of reports before the 'stuff hits the fan'.
May still be that way in poor Roman Catholic Dioceses, but I doubt if there are any more poor Roman Catholic Dioceses in the USA after all the flack Catholic Bishops and Priests have received over the recent years. The VA Medical System works well; now that VA is getting more money. But all that will stop when the 'stuff hits the fan' which is not far off. Forty years ago, one could cross the border into Canada or Mexico to see a doctor or get prescriptions or booze or gas without exorbitant taxes. Can't do that anymore even with a passport to be able to get back into us: USA. Just Saying! Florida Jimmy.
Agree with that one!!!
I was reminiscing, with my wife, about the 50’s and 60’s, how different things were. To me the 60’s were the best.
I raise a grandson, talented in many ways, very intelligent; he plays video games, texts, scrolls god knows what, comes up with outrageous things as absolute truth.
He never reads, peculiar; you wonder what the next generation will bring, such a lack of substance.
And I rail against it, do my best, even force read him books for an hour a day. I am losing the battle.