billeisele

Jerry - certainly not. Was just commenting on the demand created by unchecked immigration. As some mentioned, we don't know how many are in houses, guests of existing homeowners, or many other facts. I'm aware of a few in my area and they live in rental houses. They are in construction and tree cutting, hard workers. I'm sure that's not true in all areas. I agree with Wendy on AirBnB and VRBO type companies. In my area the County is working on rules to manage short term rentals. In Charleston, Folly Beach, Isle of Palms and other surrounding areas they already did it. The problem I'm seeing (we have one 4 doors down the street) is the noise, trash and general disruption. About 1 out of 5 renters are a problem. It's on the lake and attracts fishermen, families and party groups. The owner is learning to screen them better. In my area lumber prices are back down to pre-Covid prices, other materials are up some and labor cost hasn't changed that much. I've not looked at the financial reports of large home builders, my guess is they are quite profitable. Last month I got quotes on 5 construction projects. One source is a homebuilder. Apples to apples, his quotes were 20-40% higher than the other contractors. The only significant difference is the high price guy has 1st and 2nd tier subcontractors, the others have 1st tier subs. What I don't know is their margins but suspect that's a contributing factor. The Zillow CEO made a public statement this week about his opinion of what will happen if mass deportation occurs. Lower demand and corresponding decrease in rent rates and decrease in house prices. We'll see what happens with deportation. There are many real issues to resolve on that issue.

Jerry - certainly not. Was just commenting on the demand created by unchecked immigration. As some mentioned, we don't know how many are in houses, guests of existing homeowners, or many other facts. I'm aware of a few in my area and they live in rental houses. They are in construction and tree cutting, hard workers. I'm sure that's not true in all areas. I agree with Wendy on AirBnB and VRBO type companies. In my area the County is working on rules to manage short term rentals. In Charleston, Folly Beach, Isle of Palms and other surrounding areas they already did it. The problem I'm seeing (we have one 4 doors down the street) is the noise, trash and general disruption. About 1 out of 5 renters are a problem. It's on the lake and attracts fishermen, families and party groups. The owner is learning to screen them better. In my area lumber prices are back down to pre-Covid prices, other materials are up some and labor cost hasn't changed that much. I've not looked at the financial reports of large home builders, my guess is they are quite profitable. Last month I got quotes on 5 construction projects. One source is a homebuilder. Apples to apples, his quotes were 20-40% higher than the other contractors. The only significant difference is the high price guy has 1st and 2nd tier subcontractors, the others have 1st tier subs. What I don't know is their margins but suspect that's a contributing factor. The Zillow CEO made a public statement this week about his opinion of what will happen if mass deportation occurs. Lower demand and corresponding decrease in rent rates and decrease in house prices. We'll see what happens with deportation. There are many real issues to resolve on that issue.

It's interesting that no one is connecting the dots of illegals needing a place to live decreases supply. To know if it's an issue one first has to know how many illegals there are. The last reliable number of 11 million was in 2022. In 2023 DHS reported 2 million that they interacted with. No idea on how many more weren't contacted. In SC they've noted that a large number of formally private residences are owned by housing corporations and investment groups. They buy them for rental. That takes those homes off the market for family ownership. That decreases supply. Who knows what the overall impact is.

Oh man, in SC Clyburn is an icon. Great example of why term limits are needed. He's 84 years old and won 60% in the election. He's wasted millions of fed $$ in this state and used his political power to enrich his daughter. Got her appointed to a prestigious State Board then leveraged that so-called experience to a federal job as a commissioner with the FCC. Somehow being the publisher of the family-owned newspaper made her the best candidate to be on the SC Public Service Commission. In SC those positions are appointed by a group of primarily politicians then voted on by the General Assembly. He crossed swords a few years ago with another politician over which candidate to support for the Mayor of the capital city. The former Mayor was to be Clyburn's successor but he supported a different person for Mayor so Clyburn is still there. Politics is nasty.

Analogous to Clintons statement, as reported by Time magazine, that half of Trump supporters belong in a basket of deplorables. Both are unacceptable statements.

Please stop making assumptions, you're better than that. Many of the issues/differences are known and understood. Some feel that being on a movie set means that there's no personal responsibility. With the movie-making rules, guidelines, etc. I see how one could have that conclusion. As we now know, rules don't always work, duh. I was brought up to check a firearm regardless of who gave it to me, regardless of if I had previously checked it or watched it being checked. For some that seems excessive but it ensures that there are no "accidental discharges." Seems that the movie peeps should modify their safety protocols. My issue is that Baldwin repeatedly and adamantly claimed that he didn't pull the trigger. Experts examined the gun and determined that it could not have gone off without the trigger being pulled. In his trial the attorney said in his opening statement, "Baldwin may be wrong, and that he may have pulled the trigger. He argued that would still not make him criminally negligent." The attorney also said, "He called the issue a “shiny object,” meant to distract from the key fact that the gun would have been harmless had it not been loaded with a real bullet — a grave violation of film industry safety standard." The Metz case has distinct differences. Willful, purposeful, no one handed him the gun saying it was safe, the person shot didn't die, etc. Wonder why he said, "oh s---, my gun went off." Trying for the Baldwin defense? Apparently to cryptic for some to follow. The Baldwin case disappeared due to legal technicalities, as it should have. The prosecution mishandled evidence. People don't remember details, what they remember are sound bites and summaries. What they remember is Baldwin killed someone and wasn't punished. Hopefully the Metz case will be different. My point was, and what was stated is, at the end of the day in both cases a guy pointed a gun, pulled the trigger and someone was shot. To say there are no similarities, as some have stated, is simply false.

Don't know if or how much of a difference it makes. The writer for the Post thinks it does.

If you say so. I didn't say it. Seems that the similarities are: someone pointed a gun, it went off, and someone got hurt. There will always be differences in the scenarios.

It's the Alec Baldwin defense. I didn't pull the trigger, it just went off. Crazy. This stuff won't be taken seriously if the 'special" people can get away with it.

Plenty of reasonable ideas. We should be moving in this direction. In SC there was a 17-year old arrested this week in possession of Glock switches that he purchased on-line. Not good that they are available.

Hadn't thought about it. Agree with what is said above. Looked up the award. It requires one to be a USPA member, have a C or D license and the jumps. There's no definition of how the jumps are done. She would also have the freefall time for the 12-hour award. To your question, if one only had front rides they most likely wouldn't have the qualifications for a license and wouldn't meet the award criteria. But, if one really wanted it, it seems that they could do the formation skydives and accuracy requirements. Fifty formation jumps, 10 with 4 or more people. Landing within 7' of a target on 100 jumps. I'd be OK if the award was given, it's not that big of a deal.

Another nice story. Are you following Kim Knorr and her goal to hit 1,000 jumps and get her Gold Wings? She started jumping in 1959 and won gold in 4-way at the World Championships in 1962. Stopped jumping and restarted in 2003. She's traveling the country in her van making tandem jumps. She was at our DZ earlier this year. Last I heard she was over 700 jumps. Amazing spry and energetic for 85-years old.

Other than voting for folks that don't want to expand government or subsidies I'm not sure what any individual can do that would be effective. Sure we can write our elected folks but not sure that does anything. I have no comprehensive knowledge of what all the subsidies are or how they're tangled together. Did some reading. This is a quote from a Hoover Institue paper linked below, "Uncle Sam doled out nearly $100 billion in taxpayer subsidies. These welfare payments come in every conceivable shape and size: government grants, sweetheart business deals arranged by the Commerce Department, cut-rate insurance, low-interest loans, a protective wall against foreign competition, exclusive government contracts, and a mind-boggling maze of special interest loopholes in the tax code." Welfare for the Well-Off: How Business Subsidies Fleece Taxpayers | Hoover Institution Welfare for the Well-Off: How Business Subsidies Fleece Taxpayers Using this one item as an example, "In 1997 the Forest Service spent $140 million building roads in national forests, thus subsidizing the removal of timber from federal lands by multimillion-dollar timber companies. Over the past twenty years the Forest Service has built 340,000 miles of roads--more than eight times the length of the interstate highway system--primarily for the benefit of logging companies." One has to wonder what the impact would be on products made from wood if the lumber companies had to pay for the roads. What gets cut, how much, which goes first, how does it impact the cost of finished products, etc.? There are plenty of questions to answered and it appears that there are few or no politicians willing to tackle it.

Uhhhh ... NO. Disagree with your conclusion. I'm not a fan of subsidies. I realize they're out there and many things have them. I distinctly remember that when the ethanol legislation was passed John McCain stated, "It would be the largest farm subsidy in history." As stated, some subsidies have been around for years. No doubt they couldn't be instantly unraveled but I'd be in favor of moving in that direction. Kinda like shrinking the size of government. Strategic analysis with decisive reductions. Granted, it's a huge list and would be almost impossible to untangle it.

Interesting perspective and grossly simplistic. Yes the utility earns a profit on the delivery of service. That includes much more than generation. For the local utility, YE 2023 the actual margin was less than 4%. the authorized rate of return is 9.5%. The utilities in my area have an all-inclusive rate. It includes the cost of generation, step-up transformation, transmission, step-down transformation, distribution, another step-down transformation, metering, and 24-hour call service. If each component of the service were priced individually the customer would have clarity. The utility is forced to buy the excess solar generation at the full retail rate that's inclusive of that list of services. The only component that's being avoided is generation. That's not competition it's a subsidy. OK fine, if the solar person should get a profit then set it appropriately. If the cost of generation is 3.5 cents and the solar peep earns the authorized rate of return then they would get 3.8 cents not the 13 cents that they are getting. Unfortunately for the 99% of non-solar owners the utility is not the one gifting the subsidy it's the customers. The utility collects the funds and redistributes them.