Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Interesting Times



Ancient Chinese curse? Applicable today?

Our (P)regressive Governor is embracing the crisis (coronavirus).


What is the real risk? Who knows?  Suspicious minds remember Rahl Emanuel.

There is little doubt the economic impact will disturb the status quo. What directions? Way smarter people than me are working on that.

The energy market has a more immediate impact. The county I live in is the 20th largest petroleum producer in the USA and around 75% of Colorado’s output.


The (P)regressives are attacking the industry on many fronts. They don’t seem to understand where the bulk of Colorado taxes, directly or indirectly, come from.



Please excuse listing this ad blocker leftist rag.

Colorado is unique in having the TABOR Amendment which forces the legislature to balance the budget. Simplistic explanation, read more there.


The (P)regressives hate TABOR and try to circumvent it with “fees”. Keeps the courts and lawyers busy.

What the (P)regressives fail to grasp is their Utopian schemes can’t be funded solely by raising taxes and “fees”. No energy sector tax revenue? That will collapse local and state government. While painful in the short term, there may be a long term benefit.


On a purely personal level, the good economy means fewer people in default of their mortgages and less fee only work for me contacting them on behalf of the mortgage companies.

Just how strong is the economy? In my area, and a business I know well, many small used car lots are closing, or have already closed. I suspect it is a generational issue more than economic. The principals are reaching retirement, and their children aren’t interested in the business. 60+ hour work weeks don’t appeal to them.

13 comments:

LL said...

I hope that the economy in your area stumbles for your sake.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

LL
Double edged sword. Means I need to work more! My fundamentals are covered without me having to work, thankfully. I like working, on my terms. Just accepted an all day assignment in Nebraska. This takes me past the Chimney Rock Historical site. I've wanted to visit it for along time.

drjim said...

I think it may be a generational thing, too. I knew several men in my neighborhood when I was growing up who had very successful businesses they built from scratch, and their sons weren't interested in taking it over.

Geez...one of them had a state-of-the-art machine shop, and he had really hoped his son would take the reins.

My car dealership friends were the exact opposite. The sons were involved in daily operations, and were ready, willing, and able to take over.

Unfortunately they ran Oldsmobile and Pontiac dealerships.....

Old NFO said...

Yep, milking the 'crisis du jour' for everything it's worth... And tomorrow they will wake up and wonder what happened... Good luck with that solar thing...

Well Seasoned Fool said...

You see a continuation of family in new car franchises that are usually large. I am referring to the two/three man small used car lots.

Fredd said...

Colorado is heading for a bad end, later rather than sooner. Lots of natural resources, but the younger crowd who just wants to ski/snow board/hike and bird watch are not interested in working all that hard.

And legalizing pot was not the way forward. A bad end, I predict.

Greybeard said...

I get the feeling CO is following in CA's footsteps.
Wrong analysis?

drjim said...

I didn't know very many people on that end of the scale, and the ones I did know were my age, and just getting their lots started.

Being as close to Chicago as we were, we had plenty of shady "used car" dealers. I wouldn't doubt that some of the CPD tow-aways made down to us, with their documents suitably scrubbed by a brief trip to a state with loose titling laws.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Greybeard
We have been Californicating for years, and it only gets worse. We have a population of trust funders(from all over) who don't need to work so have time and money to try and tell others how to live.

drjim
That has always been the seamy side of the car biz. Most of the people I know were tired of making tons of money for the owner and decided to be an owner. Some have done well. Others, like the man I worked for have boomed and busted numerous times.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Fredd
Your analysis is spot on. I'm working on my personal COLOEXIT.

Sisty said...

I see the State of Emergency that has been declared in Colorado as a good thing. It is used to free up resources for emergency response and quick action on the folks tasked with getting the rest of the population through such events. The last SOE in Colorado was last year during the "Bomb Cyclone Blizzard". As someone who was out in the middle of that event for several days, working to help truck drivers who were in accidents, it was reassuring to see the emergency response working at its best.

I believe that people should give up PANIC for Lent and even after that. The sky is NOT falling, folks. Take a breath.

LSP said...

So they're all wasted on pot, ban oil because climate racism and kaboom, get Kung Flu. It's like a perfect storm.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Karma?