So... I go to the newest branch of Mavis Tire for my free tire rotation...
(*WHISTLING TO MYSELF*)
...and an hour and a half later I'm outta there - $200 poorer.
(*NO LONGER WHISTLING*)
Inner tie-rod end...
Outer tie-rod end...
Alignment...
Power steering flush...
(*SIGH*)
...but on the bright side - I did get my tires rotated!
Frankly, though... I gotta say... a fair enough price. They started off quoting me $274 plus tax and I got 'em down to $200 cash - tax "folded in."
16 comments:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/18/us-health-ebbola-guinea-idUSKBN0HD2JE20140918
Eight bodies, including those of three journalists, were found after an attack on a team trying to educate locals on the risks of the Ebola virus in a remote area of southeastern Guinea, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
"The eight bodies were found in the village latrine. Three of them had their throats slit," Damantang Albert Camara told Reuters by telephone in Conakry.
Authorities in the region are faced with widespread fears, misinformation and stigma among residents of the affected countries, complicating efforts to contain the highly contagious disease.
Guinea's Prime Minister Mohamed Saïd Fofana said the team that included local administrators, two medical officers, a preacher and three accompanying journalists, was attacked by a hostile stone-throwing crowd from the village when they tried to inform people about Ebola.
He said it was regrettable that the incident occurred as the international community was mobilizing to help countries struggling to contain the disease.
* "REGRETTABLE," HUH?
* THIS IS WHERE OBAMA WANTS TO SEND OUR PEOPLE... MEN AND WOMEN WHO JOINED THE U.S. VOLUNTEER MILITARY IN ORDER TO DEFEND AMERICA... NOT TO BECOME INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPERS... NOT TO BECOME MEDICAL "CAREGIVERS" TO RANDOM FOREIGNERS AT THE RISK OF THEIR LIVES AND HEALTH.
I don't trust this, William. I think he's sending our troops to die, I think Soros and Gates and some pretty specific people manufactured this to reduce populations, and I think it PROBABLY ties into these summit and "partnership" meetings and deals and SOMEBODY is clearing the way for a resource grab.
That's what I think.
I'm starting to think Ukraine was the distraction for more than just our Southern border invasion...as well as the Ferguson "protests". I suspect some prominent Americans have been committing a little genocide...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/alibaba-group-said-to-raise-21-8-billion-in-record-u-s-ipo.html
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. surged in its U.S. trading debut, after the company raised a record-breaking $21.8 billion in an initial public offering.
* WALL STREET MONEY. AMERICAN MONEY. GOING TO FINANCE A CHINESE COMPANY ULTIMATELY CONTROLLED BY THE CHINESE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT - A GOVERNMENT HOSTILE TO THE UNITED STATES... A HOSTILE COMPETITOR NATION THAT OUR OWN GOVERNMENT ADMITS HAS BEEN LAUNCHING CYBER-ATTACKS UPON US IN ADDITION TO THEIR CYBER-SPYING AND DIRECT FINANCIAL, DIPLOMATIC, AND EVEN MILITARY CHALLENGES TO US.
* AMERIKA IS A SICK, SICK, SICK COUNTRY RUN BY OLIGARCHS WHO IN EARLIER TIMES WOULD BE PAINTED TRAITORS.
Alibaba made the support of big institutional investors a priority during the IPO, in an effort to put shares in the hands of long-term investors. Half of the shares sold went to just 25 accounts, a highly concentrated group in an IPO, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified as the books are private.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
Alibaba’s ability to close a deal of this size is also owed to an almost non-stop rally in shares in the U.S. - where about $15 trillion has been added to the value of equities amid three rounds of monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve, an expanding economy and record profits.
* GEEZUS...
Yahoo, which poured about $1 billion into Alibaba nine years ago, planned to sell 121.7 million of its shares in the IPO, the filings show, raising about $8.3 billion at the offering price. That will trim its stake to 16.3% from 22.4%.
* FOLKS... THIS IS A CHINESE COMPANY... BASED IN COMMUNIST CHINA... ULTIMATELY CONTROLLED BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. NO AMERICAN (NOR OTHER FOREIGNER) HAS ANY "STAKE" IN ALIBABA THAT CAN'T BE TAKEN AWAY WITH THE STROKE OF A PEN... AT THE COMMAND OF COMMUNIST CHINA'S POLITICAL/MILITARY LEADERSHIP.
@ Michelle
Nah... China already owns most of the natural resources of Africa.
As for the people... no... the Chinese (not having nothing to do with Soros or Gates) wouldn't use disease to thin populations in Africa... they'd let nature do that.
HOWEVER...
This spread of disease... it could well be MORE than simply a by-product of Obama's open border policies; some of it COULD well be China "sending a message" to Obama that there are MANY ways to wage asymmetrical warfare.
(*NOD*)
Did I actually write "not having nothing?" Why YES... I did!
(*GUFFAW*)
Not... having... anything...
(*WINK*)
LOL! I like not having nothing, lol :)
China. Good point. We...kinda owe them a lot, right? Maybe international debts aren't being settled with money anymore. Just a thought. But good point, hadn't considered China.
http://dccrimestories.com/afghan-police-officers-disappear-visit-georgetown/
Two Afghan nationals training with the Drug Enforcement Agency disappeared while visiting Georgetown over the weekend, and authorities still do not know their whereabouts.
The two men were police officers with Afghanistan Ministry of Interior Affairs, described by law enforcement officials as the equivalent of the DEA in the United States. The group had been training at the Quantico Marine Corps Base for about a month to combat drug trafficking. They graduated Thursday and are scheduled to leave the country Friday.
DEA spokesman Rusty Payne did not return repeated calls this week for comment, but on Thursday told CBS News that the men may be headed to Buffalo, N.Y., and are being aided by a female operating an unknown rental car.
“These are two individuals who pose no threat or danger. Most likely, they are just seeking a better life in the U.S.,” Payne said.
* ISN'T THAT WHAT THE FBI SAID ABOUT THE BOSTON BOMBERS PRIOR TO THEM BOMBING THE BOSTON MARATHON...?
* GREAT SCREENING PROGRAM THE FEDS RUN, HUH?
http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/09/congress-heads-home-after-exhausting-eight-days-of-work/380442/
One vote on war and Congress is apparently all tuckered out.
* AND ON WAR... THE VOTE WAS "AYE."
House leaders...
* BOEHNER. JOHN BOEHNER. RINO. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.
...announced Thursday that they were cutting their already abbreviated fall session short...
* ...CUTTING THEIR ALREADY ABBREVIATED FALL SESSION SHORT...
...and sending lawmakers back home – and onto the campaign trail – more than a week early.
* ...MORE THAN A WEEK EARLY.
The decision came one day after the House approved both President Obama's request to arm Syrian rebels...
* WHO ARE LIKELY TO TURN THESE ARMS AGAINST AMERICA ONE DAY... OR AT LEAST AGAINST OUR ALLIES...
...and a bill that prevents a government shutdown at the end of the month.
* "PREVENTS" VIS MORE BORROWING... MORE DEFICIT SPENDING... MORE DEBT...
(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)
* BECAUSE THESE BASTARDS WON'T EVEN ATTEMPT TO BALANCE THE FEDERAL BUDGET.
* I... WANT... THEM... DEAD. (MOST. THE VAST MAJORITY. PROBABLY AT LEAST 80%.)
The House had initially been scheduled to remain in Washington on Friday and during the first week of October, but Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told members they could leave on Thursday afternoon and wouldn't be called back until after the November congressional elections.
* OBAMA COULD CALL THEM BACK! HE WON'T. NOR WILL THE MSM NOTE THAT HE CAN BUT WON'T. BUT JUST SO YOU KNOW... HE CAN!
* SEE: U.S. CONSTITUTION - ARTICLE 2; SECTION 3.
The Senate is expected to pass both measures on Thursday and leave for the campaign trail by the evening.
* BOEHNER... REID... PELOSI... MCCONNELL... THE FOUR SCUMBAGS RIDE AGAIN!
Party leaders often shorten the floor schedule ahead of elections to give their members more time to campaign, but this year's session is brief even under those standards.
Including the five-week summer recess, Congress will have been in session for a total of about eight days between the end of July and the middle of November.
* I'M CERTAINLY NOT CALLING FOR A SERIES OF TARGETED ASSASSINATIONS - THAT WOULD BE ILLEGAL - BUT THEORETICALLY...
(*SHRUG*)
* I COULD SEE SOME GOOD COMING OUT OF SUCH A SCENARIO PROPERLY EXECUTED... (GET IT?! "EXECUTED!")
* I... CRACK... MYSELF... UP...!!!
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/18/Alleged-ISIS-Photo-Controversy-Engulfs-Sen-John-McCain
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his aides swear the Syrian “rebels” he was pictured last year with weren’t ISIS members or supporters...
* MY GUESS? THEY'RE LYING.
...and the mainstream media is by and large buying the 2008 GOP presidential nominee’s story.
* MSM LOVES THE RINOs!
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has endured brutal criticism — media fact checkers, reporters, and political figures have shredded him — for questioning just who McCain posed with.
* ATTACKED. NOT SHREDDED. SHREDDED IMPLIES PAUL WAS WRONG. APPARENTLY HE WASN'T.
(*WINK*)
But a closer look at the situation tells perhaps a different story than McCain’s office or the mainstream media have pushed.
* AND BY THE WAY... YES... THERE WAS GAMBLING GOING ON AT RICK'S CAFÉ!
(*GUFFAW*)
* CUTTING OUT A HUGE PORTION OF TEXT; READ THE FULL STORY VIA THE LINK PROVIDED. THIS NEWSBITE IS THE SHORT VERSION!
“Here’s the problem,” Paul said in an interview with The Daily Beast this week. “He [McCain] did meet with ISIS, and had his picture taken, and didn’t know it was happening at the time. That really shows you the quandary of determining who are the moderates and who aren’t. If you don’t speak Arabic, and you don’t understand that some people will lie to you — I really think that we don’t have a good handle on who are the moderates and who aren’t, and I think the objective evidence is that the ones doing most of the fighting and most of the battles among the rebels in Syria are the radical Islamists.”
* DUH!
Paul has been roundly criticized for the remarks, starting with the publication he made them to. The Daily Beast’s Olivia Nuzzi wrote that Paul’s statement means he "repeated a thoroughly debunked rumor." The Washington Post’s fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave Paul “Four Pinocchios," its highest rating of dishonesty, for the statement. Kessler wrote that this story is one where he regrets "we are limited to just Four Pinocchios,” because there is “zero evidence that any of the men that McCain met with in Syria are linked to the Islamic State.”
Despite this pile-on by the media and political establishment, Paul has a serious point here, though. McCain really didn’t know who he was meeting with, and even if they were the supposedly “moderate” Free Syrian Army, who’s to know that they aren’t elements of the Free Syrian Army working alongside ISIS?
Patrick Poole, an esteemed national security reporter and expert on radical Islam for PJ Media, has reported that the Free Syrian Army’s commanders have admitted in public to working alongside ISIS. “As President Obama laid out his ‘strategy’ last night for dealing with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and as bipartisan leadership in Congress pushes to approve as much as $4 billion to arm Syrian ‘rebels,’ it should be noted that the keystone to his anti-Assad policy — the ‘vetted moderate’ Free Syrian Army (FSA) — is now admitting that they, too, are working with the Islamic State,” Poole wrote on Sept. 10.
Poole cites the Lebanese newspaper Daily Star, which quotes a Free Syrian Army brigade commander as saying he is working with the “Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s official Syrian affiliate — both U.S.-designated terrorist organizations."
* SO MUCH FOR AMERICAN MSM "FACT CHECKING."
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Specifically, the quotes Poole pulls are:
“We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in… Qalamoun,” said Bassel Idriss, the commander of an FSA-aligned rebel brigade.
“We have reached a point where we have to collaborate with anyone against unfairness and injustice,” confirmed Abu Khaled, another FSA commander who lives in Arsal.
“Let’s face it: The Nusra Front is the biggest power present right now in Qalamoun and we as FSA would collaborate on any mission they launch as long as it coincides with our values,” he added.
* OOPS...
In a lengthy floor speech on Thursday, Paul ripped the foreign policy establishment in Washington for assuming that FSA and ISIS are really distinct entities.
“According to a New York Times report, over a year ago, the CIA began training Syrian rebels in nearby Jordan, thousands of them, along with delivering arms and ammunition,” Paul said, according to a transcript of the speech provided to Breitbart News by his office. "New York Times reports also detailed the huge arms and financial transfers from Quatar to the Syrian rebels, beginning as early as 2011. No one really knows where that all ended up: Jane’s Terrorism Center noted, the transfer of Quatari arms to targeted groups has the same practical effect as shipping them to Al Nusra, a violent jihadist force. The New York Times further detailed that Sudan has provided anti-tank missiles and other arms.”
Shortly after those comments, Paul said that America can't be sure — since supposedly “vetted moderates” are working alongside ISIS — who any of them are. He added that even if some might be loyal now, they could change their allegiances in a heartbeat — saying that some officials estimate that more than half of FSA forces have defected to ISIS.
(*HEADACHE*)
“So the idea that these rebels haven’t been armed before is ludicrous on its face. It is also ludicrous to believe that we know where all of the money, arms and ammunition will end up, or who will end up benefiting from these shipments. Why? Because we don’t know for sure who the groups all are," Paul said. "Even when we think we do, loyalties shift and groups become amorphous, with alleged moderates lining up with jihadists. And finally, moderate groups have often sold their weapons or had them seized by the jihadist elements led by ISIS.”
* RAND PAUL IS A GREAT MAN. JOHN MCCAIN IS... NOT.
* AGAIN... FOLKS... READ THE FULL ARTICLE. BETTER YET... DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!
http://online.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-whelan-1411081887
Elizabeth Whelan didn't invent the phrase "junk science," but she dedicated her life to fighting its destructive effects. Since starting the American Council on Science and Health in 1978, Beth, who died at age 71 last week, worked tirelessly to help the public and policy makers understand the uses and abuse of scientific evidence.
* R.I.P. BETH WHELAN
We recall Beth visiting our offices shortly after she began ACSH to describe her plans. Our ears perked up when Beth said that one of the things she planned to take on was the Delaney Clause, a federal law that empowers the Food and Drug Administration to ban any chemical or additive that caused cancer in laboratory rats fed vast amounts of the substance.
The FDA's outrageous interpretations of the Delaney Clause — most famously its attacks on the food sweetener saccharin — was one of our favorite fights. We might have guessed that this smart, focused and forceful woman would stay the course for some 35 years. Her formal training was in epidemiology, and she took the sensible view that if the federal government wanted to ban something, it ought to have credible evidence for doing so. In 2001 the FDA finally declared saccharin safe for consumption.
* I WOULDN'T LET THEM BAN ANYTHING! THEY SHOULD BE SOLELY A RESEARCH/INFORMATIONAL AGENCY EMPOWERED TO "WARN." PERIOD.
Essentially what Beth Whelan tried to do was distinguish between science and technology that helped society, such as genetically modified foods, and things that harmed society, such as smoking tobacco. In 1986 she published her most well-known book, "Toxic Terror: The Truth About the Cancer Scare."
One of the first scientists Beth attracted to ACHS's cause was Norman Borlaug, the geneticist who developed high-yield varieties of wheat that resisted disease. Beth's purpose was to organize scientists to take a public position in defense of good science. By the time of her death, ACHS's board of supporting scientists and experts numbered nearly 350.
Beth accepted corporate contributions to keep ACHS going, and her critics of course used this as a cudgel to suggest her views were tainted. Anyone who spent 10 minutes with Elizabeth Whelan knew there was one thing no one could buy: her integrity. She and the organization she founded have produced a legacy that will last.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://online.wsj.com/articles/kim-strassel-stonewall-koskinen-1411081532?tesla=y
Nine months have passed since President Obama installed John Koskinen as IRS Commissioner, charged with unearthing the agency's targeting scandal and restoring its credibility.
It's about nine months past time to acknowledge that Mr. Koskinen is the problem, not the answer.
The 75-year-old former Fannie Mae executive...
(*SNORT*)
* WHERE'S "HE WHOSE NAME DARE NOT BE MENTIONED...?!?!"
...on Wednesday put in another superficial appearance before House investigators, spent another two hours dodging questions, jabbing at investigators, and excusing the misdeeds of the least-trusted organization in America. This from the guy brought in to clean up the mess — a man presented in confirmation as a "turnaround artist" and "reformer."
* A FORMER FANNIE MAE EXEC? (IS GOLDMAN-SACHS ON HIS RESUME AS WELL?)
The Koskinen fail is now becoming a central political focus, as Republicans and even some Democrats question his tenure. Mr. Obama had declared him someone who "knows how to lead in difficult times, whether that means ensuring new management or implementing new checks and balances."
Where are the sweeping changes?
Where's the accountability?
When the best the IRS commissioner can promise America is that "whenever we can, we follow the law" — we're in worse shape than nine months ago.
* YEP... HE SAID THAT! EXACTLY THAT!
The only thing Mr. Koskinen has seemed remotely interested in turning around is his agency's ugly story-line. He has yet to even accept his agency did anything wrong, spending a March hearing arguing that the IRS didn't engage in "targeting" and claiming the Treasury inspector general agreed. This was so misleading the Washington Post gave Mr. Koskinen "three Pinocchios, " noting the IG had testified to the exact opposite.
* WHY ONLY THREE...???
(*SNORT*)
* AH... YES... WASHINGTON POST...
Under his management, the agency has ignored and strung out congressional demands for documents and witnesses.
* AND YET NO ONE HAS BEEN JAILED AS A RESULT...
Mr. Koskinen waited months to tell Congress the IRS had "lost" the emails of Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center the probe, and arguably only did so because an outside lawsuit revealed that the email record was incomplete.
(*SMIRK*)
He testified that there were no backup tapes with Lerner emails, but we have since learned there are 760 server drives that may contain copies.
(*SNORT*)
The "reformer" has bristled at every question. He's indignant that investigators might question how the Lerner emails were lost; indignant that they'd ask why her BlackBerry was wiped after their investigation began; indignant that they'd wonder why he didn't tell them about the lost email. We're still waiting for him to show any indignation at the IRS employees who abused the law, and hid the fact.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
The charitable explanation is that Mr. Koskinen has gone native. He's shown signs from the start, when he put his focus not on reform but on getting his agency more money and improving "employee morale."
(Mr. Koskinen is currently making the congressional rounds with a plea for the authority to offer higher pay — in excess of statutory caps — to certain IRS employees, including members of the IT department that can't keep track of emails.)
The more cynical explanation is that the president chose Mr. Koskinen as someone who could be trusted to stonewall congressional questions.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
That's a fair conclusion given his lack of cooperation and the increasingly partisan language the IRS commissioner is hurling at Republicans. "There are some people who don't want a straight story," said Mr. Koskinen in July. "I'm not sure if people really want a special prosecutor," he stated, because then "you wouldn't be holding all these fun hearings every week or two."
It's also a fair conclusion given the "independent" commissioner's embrace of partisan Obama policies, including the highly controversial regulation to formalize the targeting of 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy groups. Mr. Koskinen inherited that outrageous proposal, and the obvious course for anybody looking to restore IRS integrity would have been to immediately table it. Instead, Mr. Koskinen embraced it, defended it with administration talking points, and only decided to delay it after an avalanche of criticism.
It's a fair conclusion, too, as evidence mounts that the entire administration is working toward a cover-up.
The Justice Department initially tried to quell the targeting uproar by announcing an investigation. Then we heard that leading that probe was the Civil Rights Division's Barbara Bosserman, an Obama donor. So Justice reassured Congress that its Public Integrity unit was also involved. We now know the head of Public Integrity, Jack Smith, worked with Ms. Lerner in 2010 to potentially build criminal cases against 501(c)(4) nonprofits.
(His subordinate, Richard Pilger, head of the election crimes branch, worked with her to obtain a massive database on those groups. That file landed with the FBI, implicating it in the Lerner circle.)
Justice isn't investigating; it's stonewalling.
Which gets back to what to do about Mr. Koskinen.
Republicans have largely refrained from calling for his resignation, in the belief that any replacement would be more of the same. What's become clear is that the administration is determined to squelch the IRS probe through 2016. The public is better off understanding that, and realizing, too, that Mr. Koskinen is walking point.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/388336/where-middle-class-goes-die-kevin-d-williamson
A new report being released today by the Census Bureau finds that Manhattan has the highest level of income inequality in the United States. That is not entirely surprising, though it would also not have been surprising if it had been San Francisco or another progressive fiefdom. For all the rhetoric about wicked 1-percenters and inequality, progressivism is a luxury good, and progressive-dominated enclaves are generally pretty okay places to live if you have a fair amount of money, but sort of stink if you’re in the middle or at the lower end of the earnings curve.
Because most Americans experience New York City as tourists or in television shows and movies, it is easy to forget that the hometown of Wall Street and a very large population of obnoxious celebrities is a poor city: New York City is not only poorer than the New York State average, its median household income is, in absolute dollar terms, lower than that of such dramatically less expensive areas as Austin, Texas, or Cleveland County, Okla., where the typical household income is a few thousand dollars a year more than in New York City but the typical house costs less than a third of what the typical New York City home costs — and 17% of what the average Manhattan home costs. (And it’s a house, not a two-room coop.)
Inequality per se is a relatively minor and generally misunderstood issue, inasmuch as if New York’s median household earned four times what it does now but its top–5% households earned ten times what they do, there would be more income inequality but a much higher overall standard of living for rich and middle-class alike.
What is particularly salient about the progressive governance of places such as New York City and San Francisco is not the income inequality coincident with it — which has many causes, only some of which are directly related to public policy — but the myriad ways in which misgovernment makes these cities such hostile places to live for people of relatively modest means.
As indicated above, the income figures by themselves hardly tell the story. The median household income in the city of New York is a few hundred dollars a year more than the median household income in the state of Texas, but in practical terms the average New York City household is much worse off.
The most obvious issue is the cost of housing, which for New Yorkers is about four times what it is for Texans. Housing prices are a function of supply and demand, and demand for New York City housing is relatively high, a fact that probably does not have very much to do with public policy. I have lived in New York City for some time, and I have never met anybody who says he moved here because it is so well governed.
On the other hand, supply is highly restricted, and that is a direct consequence of bad public policy, an economic reality that is obvious even to such sympathetic progressives as Matt Yglesias, who sensibly notes that limitations on the number of new housing units in places such as Washington, D.C., biases construction toward high-priced luxury homes, while hostile zoning codes in places such as San Francisco prevent markets from responding to demand and lead to “deliberately underutilized” mass-transit arteries.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
In New York City, housing prices are kept artificially high by draconian restrictions on new construction, rent control and the less aggressive “rent stabilization,” political interference with development financing, onerous union rules that drive up construction prices, byzantine regulation that imposes enormous compliance costs, and more. Even in a city in which four of the five boroughs are located on islands, there are vast tracts of underused real estate, the development of which could alleviate housing expenses for the middle class and the poor.
There is also the problem of the 13th month’s rent in New York City.
If you earn the median income of $52,223 in New York City and you live within the city limits — not just in Manhattan but in the distant Bronx and Staten Island, too — you pay the city nearly $1,800 a year in additional income tax for the privilege.
You can basically forget about owning a home — the median house price in the city is more than a half a million dollars — but renting won’t be easy, either: Applying New York landlords’ prevailing 40-times-the-rent rule, you can afford about $1,300 a month; not impossible if you’re single, but a substantial challenge for a family. But in any case, you’ll be paying a 13th month’s rent and change to the city for the privilege of residing within its boundaries.) Assuming you are single, taxes and rent would consume between 50% and 60% of your income. Move to Houston, and you’d get a $3,000-a-year discount before even accounting for the lower cost of housing.
If you are truly concerned about inequality, then that matters a great deal, because income inequality is only one kind of economic inequality, and one of the less important kinds: Wealth inequality is more significant. If the majority of your income is being consumed by taxes and rent, saving and investing becomes hard. And given progressives’ abysmal record in providing key municipal services such as effective law enforcement and decent public schools to low-income communities, there are powerful incentives to take on additional expenses by paying the premium for living in a better neighborhood or enrolling your children in private schools. When it comes time to pay for college ... you’re almost certainly better off in San Antonio or Provo than in New York or San Francisco.
Highly skilled, highly educated people are likely to do well wherever they are, and creative, dynamic, global cities such as New York are gold mines for them. But not everybody is going to be an investment banker or a tech entrepreneur. If you want to get a picture of what progressive policies look like for everybody else, try living in New York City for a year with an average New York City income — and try it with a family.
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