Great simplified explanation of the travails of our top-heavy society, financially and socially.....with the usual humor thrown in to make it more palatable.
By the way, stone masonry is not quite dead, at least in the USA. I worked on a summer stone masonry crew (high school and college boys with a school teacher boss on summer break) back in the 1970's. One of my colleagues actually made it his life's profession and has won acclaim for his exquisite stone work on some high-end houses over the past 45 years. Real, beautiful stone masonry work from natural stone is very time consuming, and therefore only within reach of those of considerable financial resources.
I live very near a street called "Brickyard Road," and there is a modern brickyard at the end of it churning out vast quantities of bricks on a daily basis. The city where I live has brick houses built prior to the Revolutionary War, and high-end developers continue to build with brick; however, more and more developments have become "Vinyl Villages."
One can occasionally find elegant stone-work, but close inspection sometimes reveals facia stone stuck to cement-board backing.
yes luckily there are small pockets of expertise left around the once great American empire but hard to find .. hoping they don't die out before the restructure begins ..
As a tradesman since 1980 the lack of young people wanting to enter the trades has reached a critical stage. We started out with 8 technicians, a dispatcher, and secretary. No matter how much you pay or how much leisure time is given the grass is always greener where the work is perceived as easiest. We are down to two partners, my brother had to be bribed with a 50% ownership interest, including of the business building, $16k in cash, a free reign to do as he wished. I know that sound generous but he's my brother and the decision provided me with quite a good return.
Our margins are now at the highest level in 30 years, we try our best to run most of the customers off, leaving only those who do not quibble on price.
Our competitors mostly large advertisers (seen on every bus, train, billboard) will sent a salesman dressed as a tradesman to every call and quote $10k for a $5k job. Financing available for a limited time only! We've taken to offering a 50% discount to any customer who calls for a second opinion. Simply we don't need to see the job, we can do it for half, and make a couple thousand bucks in the process.
Bill at his best when discussing true wealth building. No one better. These are the articles I pass along to the younger generation. (On the entertainment front, I like to pass along his Argentinian ranch adventures. Top-shelf entertainment, spiked with wisdom.)
Thanks for the link, Peter. EVERYONE should read "Unpacking Bitcoin's Social Contract," especially Bill. I've tried to explain it to him several times, but he still doesn't seem to get it.
I am just guessing about the demise, but I would say total lack of leadership, theft of constitutional rights, and being deaf to the wants of the people....JJ P.S Thank you
I know you're skeptical of cryptos, but the hodl bitcoin folks are the ones advocating "proof of work," as you shared here. They're the ones that understand that there's a real economy underneath all the financial funny business. For them, and for me, btc is a way around the system's control of exchange of work for an acceptable form of currency.
I would love to hear your comments on this film of a few years ago: The Company Men -- Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, others -- great cast
At the end of the day we live in a moral universe. When the morality is gone the universe collapses.
Great simplified explanation of the travails of our top-heavy society, financially and socially.....with the usual humor thrown in to make it more palatable.
By the way, stone masonry is not quite dead, at least in the USA. I worked on a summer stone masonry crew (high school and college boys with a school teacher boss on summer break) back in the 1970's. One of my colleagues actually made it his life's profession and has won acclaim for his exquisite stone work on some high-end houses over the past 45 years. Real, beautiful stone masonry work from natural stone is very time consuming, and therefore only within reach of those of considerable financial resources.
.....Ron
I live very near a street called "Brickyard Road," and there is a modern brickyard at the end of it churning out vast quantities of bricks on a daily basis. The city where I live has brick houses built prior to the Revolutionary War, and high-end developers continue to build with brick; however, more and more developments have become "Vinyl Villages."
One can occasionally find elegant stone-work, but close inspection sometimes reveals facia stone stuck to cement-board backing.
it's a 'fake' world in every imaginable way but a few pockets of REAL still exist ..
yes luckily there are small pockets of expertise left around the once great American empire but hard to find .. hoping they don't die out before the restructure begins ..
Now that BPR gave more than full value. I look forward to the next one!
As a tradesman since 1980 the lack of young people wanting to enter the trades has reached a critical stage. We started out with 8 technicians, a dispatcher, and secretary. No matter how much you pay or how much leisure time is given the grass is always greener where the work is perceived as easiest. We are down to two partners, my brother had to be bribed with a 50% ownership interest, including of the business building, $16k in cash, a free reign to do as he wished. I know that sound generous but he's my brother and the decision provided me with quite a good return.
Our margins are now at the highest level in 30 years, we try our best to run most of the customers off, leaving only those who do not quibble on price.
Our competitors mostly large advertisers (seen on every bus, train, billboard) will sent a salesman dressed as a tradesman to every call and quote $10k for a $5k job. Financing available for a limited time only! We've taken to offering a 50% discount to any customer who calls for a second opinion. Simply we don't need to see the job, we can do it for half, and make a couple thousand bucks in the process.
Bill at his best when discussing true wealth building. No one better. These are the articles I pass along to the younger generation. (On the entertainment front, I like to pass along his Argentinian ranch adventures. Top-shelf entertainment, spiked with wisdom.)
love it Bill but are there any of us left who actually remember a world like this ..?
Lookup https://uncommoncore.co/unpacking-bitcoins-social-contract/#comment-184 to remove a bit of mystery about bitcoin.
we'll all get it VERY soon when the power goes off .. just keep mining digital vapor boys !
Thanks for the link, Peter. EVERYONE should read "Unpacking Bitcoin's Social Contract," especially Bill. I've tried to explain it to him several times, but he still doesn't seem to get it.
there is NOTHING to "unpack" it's a blockchain of octal/hex digits that only mean something if there is a computer handy to identify you/it ..
I am just guessing about the demise, but I would say total lack of leadership, theft of constitutional rights, and being deaf to the wants of the people....JJ P.S Thank you
sounds like a recipe for revolution!
The Ballot box is the starting point. Then you drain the swamp
I know you're skeptical of cryptos, but the hodl bitcoin folks are the ones advocating "proof of work," as you shared here. They're the ones that understand that there's a real economy underneath all the financial funny business. For them, and for me, btc is a way around the system's control of exchange of work for an acceptable form of currency.