Comments

Episode-2119- Listener Feedback for 11-27-17 — 16 Comments

  1. I am totally with you on what an absurdly terrible investment even one year of college for a traditional degree is. I’m fortunate enough to have a career where my schedule is flexible enough that it’s not unreasonable for me to take a couple classes a week without interrupting too much. I figured, “Maybe I’ll actually look into getting an MBA or something from the local community college.” I can afford it, I’ve got the time, and who knows, maybe that will be useful to me some day and I’ll probably learn some skills I haven’t come across yet working in the small business world.

    The more I looked into it, the more blown away I became, as I’d need to spend quite literally years of my time and thousands of dollars of my money taking basic education classes to fulfill the requirements of the degree even though through my work history alone I’ve more than proven proficiency in those areas. As someone who has run and sold a company before, who currently works in editorial, making me waste my time and money taking a 100 level English and business classes really goes to show just how deep this whole scam goes.

    Better yet, when I expressed these concerns to the admission counselor they mentioned that I could potentially test out of the classes but would still need to replace them with something to meet credit hour requirements. After listening to me rant about how I’d love to go back to school but the value just isn’t there if I need to spend time (which honestly is more valuable to me than the money) on low-level classes she suggested I could take something like pottery instead.

    It was like being on a hidden camera TV show.

  2. Jack,

    Could it not be that lots of students are living off of some of the money/loans for college (and sometimes supplemented by food stamps/SNAP), not so much to get any degree, but taking what might be an easy course just to get the money to live on? Might this keep the enrollment a little higher than people just going to get through with college for a “education” purpose?

    • Oh yes this was EXACTLY what my short term girlfriend I mentioned was doing! I saw it fast, I’ll just do this until I get a man in my life. Oh okay, BYE! You can keep your debt I am outta here.

      At least she was over all an intelligent person, she knew what she was doing to herself long term but knew as a woman (attractive at that) and as a single mother she’d have other long term options.

      Many doing this, especially males have no way out long term, but the 19 year old mind seldom thinks about consequences at 25 for today’s actions.

  3. Jack, Thanks for bundling your previous podcasts on herbalism together on one page.  As someone who wants to try to get away from pharmaceuticals  I’d LOVE to hear more about herbalism, please do more shows  on this subject.

    Thank you Jack!

    BTW for cleaning spice/coffee grinders I’ve used plain white rice. Just toss a tablespoon or two into the grinder and whirl it around then throw out the rice powder and brush out the grinder. This works very well.

  4. Each state has such varied rules on vehicles.  I live on the Arkansas/Texas border. We have property in each state. Texas resident thus no state income tax. We bought a flat bed trailer from a friend and went to register it.  In Texas we’d have to buy tags each year and with a new rule we’d also have to get it inspected and weighed.  Around a $100.  Plus another 50-70 a year for tags (plus inspection/weighing).

    Our friend said no you register it in Arkansas, you pay property tax here, so you can register the trailer in Arkansas. I did not know we could do so.  Turned out for less than $50 we now have lifetime Arkansas tags on the trailer. We will have to have personal property on the trailer with our property taxes but it is much less than Texas tags.

  5. Anyway, another option may be to check with nearby states if you are looking for a cabin/bug out location.  There may be friendlier vehicle registration laws in that neighboring state.

  6. I seem to recall in Colorado Springs had as part of the registration fees an ‘ownership tax’ or something, which was a small percentage of the value of the car (with vehicle year and some other crap factoring in too).  I had a total beater car at the time so that part came out to only about $30-40, but regardless I still found the whole concept repugnant.

  7. Missouri is even worse on the property tax. They even charge property tax on livestock. So glad to leave that state and move back to Oklahoma.

    • In MO, yes.  They ask for all kinds of livestock.  Cattle, chickens, goats, even breeding dogs and  exotics like ostriches.  It’s small, but present.  I think it’s about $1-2 total for my 30 goats.

      They ask about farm equipment, construction equipment, airplanes, RVs…

      Would scan and send a copy if you are interested.

      • Good points on 2124.  I didn’t know other places were different, just that property tax in the NE US was ridiculous in general.  Our cows are the ones that won’t go through rusty barely hanging together hot wire.  Never realized we had so much in common.  LOL

        You are right, there are a lot of oddities as well.  Pole barns and grain bins are exempt but a building with “permanent” foundation is taxed.  Most equipment purchased for ag use is sales tax exempt.  Also ag land with ag “ag dwelling” is taxed much lower than one that is “residential”.  I think taxing animals was a way to claw back part of the difference.  It is still a far lower net tax for me.

        It also only applies to what you own LIVE Jan 1st.  So if I butcher on Dec 31st, they are off the dole.  He he he…

        I agree it insidious.  But it’s also not enough to get me off my rear end.  It’s a pin prick, that I barely notice even now that it’s been called out.  I’m better off spending a few minutes looking for income tax deductions.  Sad but true.
         

        I do fight it in other ways though.  I’m making contacts to establish forestry plantings on land that is small acreage “residential”.  Part of my sales pitch is being able to convert it to “ag use” with an “ag dwelling” and thereby reducing their property taxes.  😉

  8. For those interested, here are the 23 states (and DC) that do NOT charge property tax on cars.

    Alabama, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, North Dakota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

  9. Great conversation about college and the future of the traditional college. Not only will the businesses of the colleges be hurt, but I’ve talked with friends and family even recently that the small towns that revolve and depend so much on the continuity of the university are going to really hurt when this starts to really take hold.

  10. To the guy with the cast iron cookware on glass top induction question:

    I have used cast iron pans and pots daily for many years now on an induction stove with a glass top, and there are no problems whatsoever. Like Jack said, cast iron is possibly one of the best materials to use with induction. I have had no problems with scratches in the glass either, although I don’t keep much grit on my cooktop anyway 😉

  11. I occasionally use cast iron on my induction glass top range.

    My experience has been that the cast iron does not transfer heat very well on the induction stove. If I put a 12 inch cast iron pan on a 9 inch induction ring then only the part of the pan over the ring actually gets hot.

    As an example I was cooking bacon in the cast iron pot and the part of each bacon slice that was NOT over the induction part did not cook and the part that was cooked normally.

  12. Lived in WV most of my life. Our tag renewals were only $30 per year, per non-modified vehicle.  Lifted trucks were $40 per year. Trailers have lifetime tags.  Once a year, we’d get a form from the county that listed our personal property like cars, boats, ATVs and trailers.  We had to verify that we still owed all the property listed and add any new property that wasn’t listed. We’d mail that in and later we’d get a bill from the county for taxes due on the listed property.   When we moved to KS, we learned they charge taxes through the price of tag renewals.  Instead of paying to renew a tag and later paying the taxes, KS does it all at once.  I think I paid north of $320 for my truck tags this year.  Taxes and tags combine are actually more expensive in KS.  I agree that charging sales tax on a car you bring to the state is complete BS.