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  • Two more days to enter the Secret Santa!

    Entries must be in by midnight on November 29th. We're kicking off the 2024 Secret Santa! Exchange gifts with other monkeys - from beer and snacks, to bike gear, to custom machined holiday decorations and tools by our more talented members, there's something for everyone.

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jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,941
27,128
media blackout
We need at a minimum to get our daughter through HS. My wife & I still look for deals around our area. We bought right before the last crash in 2005. My wife can retire with full bennys in 2 years, but since we're paying for college it will be 6. Unless she's still digging her job, which she loves, may stay even longer. With the boom of the tech industry, housing prices has gone through the roof. We couldn't afford to buy our home today. Has nothing to do with dem/rep/ leadership, its all about supply & demand and being surrounded by the billion dollar tech world. That and being 45 min to SF, 45 min to Napa, 1.5 hours away from Santa Cruz beach. Where else in the world can you go surfing in the morning, drive 3 hours and be snow skiing in the afternoon. Can't beat the weather here which also gets tossed into the equation of why it costs so much to live here. Hard to beat wearing shorts & flip flops year around.
i get you, i used to live in socal. emphasis on used to. it was nice when i was right out of college, but quickly realized it wasn't the kind of place i wanted to stay long term, largely due to COL and not wanting to raise a family in such an expensive region, at least on my income.
 

Brian HCM#1

Don’t feed the troll
Sep 7, 2001
32,241
382
Bay Area, California
i get you, i used to live in socal. emphasis on used to. it was nice when i was right out of college, but quickly realized it wasn't the kind of place i wanted to stay long term, largely due to COL and not wanting to raise a family in such an expensive region, at least on my income.
The CA Bay Area has always been expensive, however I never imagined it would be this out of control. My wife scored a job right out of college in 1989 with the company she always wanted to work for, obviously she's still there today. When we bought our first house in 1997 prices were reasonable, it went out of control 2005-06 and has continued to climb to this day.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,941
27,128
media blackout
The CA Bay Area has always been expensive, however I never imagined it would be this out of control. My wife scored a job right out of college in 1989 with the company she always wanted to work for, obviously she's still there today. When we bought our first house in 1997 prices were reasonable, it went out of control 2005-06 and has continued to climb to this day.
yea, i have a few friends from college and prior jobs that are in that area and in tech. even they complain about how insane it is, they all want to leave eventually but the money is just too good in their fields.
 

Brian HCM#1

Don’t feed the troll
Sep 7, 2001
32,241
382
Bay Area, California
yea, i have a few friends from college and prior jobs that are in that area and in tech. even they complain about how insane it is, they all want to leave eventually but the money is just too good in their fields.
That's pretty much it. It's hard to just get up & leave, especially at this point in time. But hopefully when the time comes, the market will still be on an upswing and we can cash out & bail.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,941
27,128
media blackout
That's pretty much it. It's hard to just get up & leave, especially at this point in time. But hopefully when the time comes, the market will still be on an upswing and we can cash out & bail.
given your wifes tenure at her job, is there any reason they wouldn't let her work remote full time?
 

ALEXIS_DH

Tirelessly Awesome
Jan 30, 2003
6,212
837
Lima, Peru, Peru
avg top 20% income is nowhere near $230k/year. only approximately the top 4% of households make more than $200k per year. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Aggregate_income_distribution

It says $233k average for top quintle here, from the US census bureau, with a lower boundary of $130k.


Am pretty sure the median must be much lower, given the distortion from the top 1%/0.1%.
 

Brian HCM#1

Don’t feed the troll
Sep 7, 2001
32,241
382
Bay Area, California
given your wifes tenure at her job, is there any reason they wouldn't let her work remote full time?
Not really, she travels around the world, last year was Columbia, Peru, Argentina, Italy, Dominican Republic, Jamaica (off the top of my head). last week was Jacksonville, and New Orleans, next month, Ireland and was supposed to go to China in May, but that one is canceled for now.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,941
27,128
media blackout
Not really, she travels around the world, last year was Columbia, Peru, Argentina, Italy, Dominican Republic, Jamaica (off the top of my head). last week was Jacksonville, and New Orleans, next month, Ireland and was supposed to go to China in May, but that one is canceled for now.
ah. that's a lot of airline and hotel points tho.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,807
5,640
Ottawa, Canada
Where else in the world can you go surfing in the morning, drive 3 hours and be snow skiing in the afternoon.
Off the top of my head:
- Vancouver, Canada
- Most of Vancouver Island, Canada
- Biarritz, France (and most (much?) of the Basque coast
- I don't know what the surfing is like in the Mediterranean, but the "Riviera" is pretty close to the mountains.
- I'm sure there's parts of the west coast of latin america where the Andes are close to the mountains. (Valparaiso and Termas de Chillan for example?)

I'm not sure this proves anything, but you posed a question...
 

VTApe

Monkey
Feb 5, 2005
213
20
Vermont
We need at a minimum to get our daughter through HS. My wife & I still look for deals around our area. We bought right before the last crash in 2005. My wife can retire with full bennys in 2 years, but since we're paying for college it will be 6. Unless she's still digging her job, which she loves, may stay even longer. With the boom of the tech industry, housing prices has gone through the roof. We couldn't afford to buy our home today. Has nothing to do with dem/rep/ leadership, its all about supply & demand and being surrounded by the billion dollar tech world. That and being 45 min to SF, 45 min to Napa, 1.5 hours away from Santa Cruz beach. Where else in the world can you go surfing in the morning, drive 3 hours and be snow skiing in the afternoon. Can't beat the weather here which also gets tossed into the equation of why it costs so much to live here. Hard to beat wearing shorts & flip flops year around.
Totally agree, and I'd also be happy to pay a premium to live in a place with that climate. I've only visited the area once but it was spectacular. VT is like that, but to a much lesser extent. COL is high here, but no where approaching the Bay Area. My wife and I are OK with it because we want to be here, but I can totally understand locals leaving the state in search of more reasonable COL.
 

Brian HCM#1

Don’t feed the troll
Sep 7, 2001
32,241
382
Bay Area, California
Totally agree, and I'd also be happy to pay a premium to live in a place with that climate. I've only visited the area once but it was spectacular. VT is like that, but to a much lesser extent. COL is high here, but no where approaching the Bay Area. My wife and I are OK with it because we want to be here, but I can totally understand locals leaving the state in search of more reasonable COL.
People are bailing big time, but more are still coming in. Usually job transfers though in tech.
 
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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,208
10,732
AK
I by no means am against a better/more affordable healthcare system and for more affordable colleges. I'd love to see a better system out there, that every tax payer can benefit from. The point I was trying to make is here in the California Bay Area, we are completely ass raped by outrageous taxes and the cost of living. So the thought of having to pay even more on what we're already paying fucking hurts! There are states out there with no sales tax, no to very low income tax. All I'm saying is have every state pay the same percentage, or just a flat tax as the highest taxed state/area.
Living in California we're already taxed more than at least 95% of the nation. My healthcare costs went from approx $300 a month to around $900 under Obamacare. Our deductible has also skyrocketed. My wife & I choose to pay for 4 years of college for each kid (we have 2). If they can't finish in 4, the 5th year is on them. However, once done paying for them, I don't want to cover anyone else college tuition. We shouldn't be forced to pay for other kids education, especially like a liberal arts degree which is useless if you want to earn any real money and not rely on others to support them. Now, CA has the 6-7th wealthiest economy in the world, yet we have the highest gas prices in the nation, We pay over 0.47 a gallon in gas tax for what is supposed to go towards our infrastructure. I don't know if you've ever driven our roads here, but they SUCK! Nothings been done, however they just keep raising our taxes here. Last year alone I paid over $20K in property taxes, the nations average in $4-5K a year. We pay up to 12% in state income tax and yet the state is broke. Now, you want to give out free stuff, have the rest of the country pay the same percentage that we pay here in CA, then I'm good. I just want everyone to contribute the same percentage we shell out. Whats fair is fair!
Medicare for all, free college & the Green New Deal. Yes, he did talk about raising taxes, but how much? Medicare for all alone is estimated to cost $52T over the next 10 years. Where is that money going to come from? You start taxing corporations, they'll do mass layoffs to cover their costs leaving millions without jobs. I'm not denying something must be down to lower our outrageous healthcare costs. Under Obamacare our healthcare costs went up substantially and our copay went WAY up. You can only tax someone so much. Keep in mind I live in California and am already way over taxed compared to the rest of the country. If they want to raise taxes to match what we pay here in CA, fine. I just can't afford to pay more in taxes.
You won't have to pay more taxes, MEXICO will pay for healthcare and college.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,941
27,128
media blackout
I'm not denying that something needs to be done out the cost of healthcare.
one benefit of single payer is having it all go through medicare will give the medicare system better leverage for negotiating prescription drug prices.

also, do i need to reference the yale study again? and how it *conservatively* estimates that medicare for all will save nearly half a trillion annually (compared to the current system) and save nearly 70 lives a year?
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
41,909
19,232
Riding the baggage carousel.
one benefit of single payer is having it all go through medicare will give the medicare system better leverage for negotiating prescription drug prices.

also, do i need to reference the yale study again? and how it *conservatively* estimates that medicare for all will save nearly half a trillion annually (compared to the current system) and save nearly 70 lives a year?
What would be the point? He's impervious to any facts that contradict the Cult of Orange.
Mexico will pay for it.

View attachment 141324
This is why we need the rep system back. :rant:
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,060
22,089
Sleazattle
Sure its free. If someone else is paying for it, its free! Bernie says so too!
View attachment 141318


So how do you feel about your "Free" military, "Free" medicare for old people, "Free" Social Security, "Free" policing, "Free" firefighting, "Free" highways, "Free" air traffic control, "Free" judicial system, "Free" National Parks, "Free" weather service, "Free" Deficit Spending, "Free" basic education.

I say get rid of it all. If you want smart kids you should hire your own tutors. If you want immigrants mistreated at the border you should hire your own jackbooted thugs to go there and rough them up. If you want to feel powerful on a global scale you should hire your own assassins to overthrow foreign governments. If you want to feel safe in your own home you should hire your own body guards. If you want to drive somewhere you should pay private landowners for the right to travel their roads. If you want healthcare when you retire you should simply save several million dollars and pay for it your own damn self.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
67,944
14,221
In a van.... down by the river
So how do you feel about your "Free" military, "Free" medicare for old people, "Free" Social Security, "Free" policing, "Free" firefighting, "Free" highways, "Free" air traffic control, "Free" judicial system, "Free" National Parks, "Free" weather service, "Free" Deficit Spending, "Free" basic education.

I say get rid of it all. If you want smart kids you should hire your own tutors. If you want immigrants mistreated at the border you should hire your own jackbooted thugs to go there and rough them up. If you want to feel powerful on a global scale you should hire your own assassins to overthrow foreign governments. If you want to feel safe in your own home you should hire your own body guards. If you want to drive somewhere you should pay private landowners for the right to travel their roads. If you want healthcare when you retire you should simply save several million dollars and pay for it your own damn self.
Don't forget about that socialist water and sewer service that @Brian HCM#1 is mooching.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,941
27,128
media blackout
So how do you feel about your "Free" military, "Free" medicare for old people, "Free" Social Security, "Free" policing, "Free" firefighting, "Free" highways, "Free" air traffic control, "Free" judicial system, "Free" National Parks, "Free" weather service, "Free" Deficit Spending, "Free" basic education.

I say get rid of it all. If you want smart kids you should hire your own tutors. If you want immigrants mistreated at the border you should hire your own jackbooted thugs to go there and rough them up. If you want to feel powerful on a global scale you should hire your own assassins to overthrow foreign governments. If you want to feel safe in your own home you should hire your own body guards. If you want to drive somewhere you should pay private landowners for the right to travel their roads. If you want healthcare when you retire you should simply save several million dollars and pay for it your own damn self.
mega-ultra-bootstraps