Flying is safer than driving

"In 2020 alone, 30,250 people died while riding in passenger vehicles. Forty-five percent of these were in cars, 34% in light trucks, and 18% on motorcycles.

 
There were 614 serious injuries in the air from 2002 to 2020, an average of 32 per year. Comparatively, Americans suffered about 2.3 million injuries per year in passenger cars and trucks on highways."

https://usafacts.org/articles/is-flying-safer-than-driving/?

Per mile motorcycles are the most dangerous, however, in my opinion, no matter how you travel you are not safe with the latest DEI standards for employment --whether pilots, bus drivers, repairmen, or factory assembly workers. You don't want a diversity hire or union boss guiding your transportation. Merit and skill matter more than ethnic background.

In 2020 although there was a decrease in miles traveled due to the lockdown, there was an increase in pedestrian and bike related fatalities. Another problem our "health" experts didn't think about.

The big three for roadway fatalities:  Alcohol, speed and not wearing a seatbelt.

Two shoe salesmen

The difference between a Biden presidency and a Trump presidency:

There is a story about two shoe salesmen who were sent to a primitive island to determine business potential. The first salesman wired back, "Coming home immediately. No one here wears shoes." The second man responded, "Send a boatload of shoes immediately. The possibilities for selling shoes here are unlimited."

Trump sees possibilities, not only for our country, but for all who will put shoulder to the wheel, and take advantage of capitalism, competition and merit to lift their country out of poverty. Biden is a defeatist, sees only emptiness and hopelessness (on which he can build his power base through lies and deception.) He's an old style, old failure, socialist using a system pushed by the squad and others in Congress that has failed in Russia, China, and many Latin American countries. Even Nazi Germany was a socialist base.

I think it is Dennis Prager who reminds us that the Left destroys everything it touches. Biden has destroyed our energy independence, energy that could have been sold to countries having shortages, like Europe this winter. Biden has destroyed our supply chain, and is hoping for shortages. This puts a burden on our small businesses, plus the economy of all those countries with which the U.S. trades. 99.9% of all U.S. businesses are small businesses and employ 60.6 million people or 47.1% of the U.S. private workforce. In the US. Biden is working on destroying the morale and independent spirit of essential workers, many who have unions, in transportation, distribution, medicine, education, entertainment/sports through mandates that are not necessary. Many of these same people gave their all and their own health in the early stages of the pandemic, and now they've been tossed aside like a mouse caught in a trap.

Back to the mythical shoe salesmen. The lie the Left would tell you is that these were indigenous people living in paradise and those nasty capitalists came and spoiled it. Not so. Terrible diseases can be transmitted not only from the Left, but physically from what bare feet pick up. Even in the U.S., . .

https://www.iheart.com/content/2021-11-05-deadly-parasite-that-enters-body-through-bare-feet-is-spreading-in-america/?

The mess in the ports and everywhere else

Why was there no transportation crisis or cargo ships waiting for weeks to unload because there are no workers when Trump was in office in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic? Because his administration moved quickly and anticipated the problems that could result from questioning and accusing a behemoth like China. Because Trump was a businessman and Biden is a bureaucrat who has never worked a day in his life. Biden colluded with China, created inflation, imported illegals to take American jobs, and paid American workers to stay home to bankrupt small businesses so giants like Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Ag can destroy our capitalist economy. Prove me wrong.

He's mad at the people destroying America, and there are many

Michael Smith has a good analysis of the footsteps we're walking in.  From Facebook post.

"I've been reading and studying a number of economic collapses from history - from the crash of tulip bulbs to Venezuela - there are certain aspects, certain markers, that were easily recognizable before each of the collapses.

The US has a lot of those markers, three of of the most significant are an incautious, incestuous involvement between government and industry, a national leadership who chose to ignore the markers and an opposition party that simply stood by and did little to nothing to change direction.

The Biden administration is building upon the rotten foundation of the Obama years to create some real structural deficiencies in our economy and are building in crises for the future - and there are giant corporations who have signed on to help.

Electric car mandates are an example. The auto industry is killing the internal combustion engine at the behest of government. The fossil fuel sector is being dismantled - both at the same time when electricity generation is predicted not to be able to keep up with demand. This guarantees future shortages of electricity - and likely rolling blackouts, something more common in third world countries than in a nation that has led the world for over a century.

It's not just Biden, there are many powerful forces (foreign and domestic) that have been cheering for decades for America to fail.

The next 18 months are going to be bad, I fear.

The fall can be stealthy - you may have the same job and a paycheck, but each week that pay will buy less and less (that same theft by erosion will happen to your savings). You may be able to do most of what you used to do, but over time, more will be forbidden to you.

Look, 9/11 shut down our national transportation systems. The mortgage bubble burst and collapsed our financial systems. The reaction to Covid 19 shut down our supply chains, shut down a national economy and locked us behind closed doors. Cyber attacks and ransomware are in the news weekly for shutting down hospitals, agricultural and energy transmission businesses.

Imagine all of those happening at the same time.

I get accused of being pessimistic - and that is a fair assessment, because I am - but it isn't a violent pessimism, it is more of a resignation, a "better get ready" sort.

 
Better have enough space for a garden, better have a few critical things stocked up, better know a few basic SHTF (sh*t hits the fan) skills, better be ready to protect yourself and your family and have the equipment and supplies to do it, better transfer your investments into hard assets, better know where your loved ones are and how to communicate with them when cell phones no longer work.

I wake up every morning with a burning anger toward the people who destroyed my America and stole the good life I have had from my children and their children.

But more than that, I'm like one of those movie characters that has been shifted in time. I can see the explosion about to happen but nobody can hear me yelling at them.

My Spidey Sense is tingling, telling me there is something wrong. I can't put my finger on it, but it sure feels that something wicked this way comes.

Who determines that healthcare is too high?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American family earned $74,664 (before taxes) and spent $57,311 across various expense categories in 2016.  [not sure what is “family”—probably means household—doesn’t give number of people] 

1. Taxes 2. housing 3. transportation 4. food 5. pensions and insurance 6. Entertainment and contributions 7.  health care

Taxes are the biggest chunk. $18,900 each year, and then housing, $18,886. “Following housing costs, transportation ($9,049), food ($7,203), and pensions and personal insurance ($6,831) topped the list for the biggest ticketed items on most Americans' budgets. For the majority of people who prefer not to cook, the cost of dining out could add up big. The occasional luxury experience may not seem like a big drain on the average budget, but entertainment, cash contributions, and apparel and services accounted for nearly $7,000 (over 10 percent) of most Americans' annual expenses.”  Health care was $4,612. That said, health care increased almost 67% between 2006 and 2016, 8 years of which Obama was taking over our health insurance choices.

https://www.creditloan.com/blog/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/

Did You Know--Light Rail economics

Instead of pouring money into low return light rail, the government could simply purchase cars for the light rail riders without them, still have enough money left over to provide all the other riders with substantial credits to use for bus service or other subsidized mass transportation options. Political Calculation

Monday Memories--Bus Rules

Most of the away athletic and musical events I participated in when I was in high school involved car pooling. But somewhere along the way, the Board of Education decided we could use the school buses. So of course, a few rules were written up.

The Use of Buses for Athletic Games (1954)

1. Bus fees, 30 cents for short trips and 50 cents for long trips, will be collected before the bus leaves. There must be a minimum of 35 students in order to use a bus.

2. After signing to ride, no cancellations will be permitted later than 24 hours before departure. All students signing to ride will be liable for payment of fees, unless a cancellation is made in time.

3. Students must be ready to go at the time of departure. The bus will not wait on latecomers.

4. A faculty or adult sponsor must be on each bus, beside the driver [I think this means in addition to, not sitting with].

5. No moving about when the bus is in motion, no rowdy or boisterous behavior. Windows must not be lowered without permission and then not below the designated point. There must be no shouting or whistling to persons outside the bus, nor should arms or any part of the body be extended from bus windows.

6. Waste paper and other refuse must not be thrown on the bus floor nor from windows.

7. The driver and sponsor are to have absolute authority over students riding in the bus. If students wish the priviledge of using buses for transportation to athletic games and other school activities, cooperative and courteous conduct will be necessary at all times.

8. All students going in the bus must return to Mt. Morris in the bus.

Now compare those rules to the Renton, Washington school bus transportation handbook. Notice the difference in language. The "must" and "must not" has given way to "should" "may" and "is expected." Kinder, gentler--but far more serious problems are anticipated. Lots of "suggestive" phrases--not demanding obedience, but certainly hinting that there would be trouble (rarely specified).

Your child should appreciate the important part he/she plays in accomplishing SAFE and EFFICIENT district transportation.

Bus passengers should arrive at the bus stop no sooner or later than five minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.

students are expected to stand a safe distance from the street and avoid activities that could injure themselves or others.

Safe, respectful conduct is expected of all passengers to insure safety

Certain activities may result in immediate suspension from bus riding privileges. These include (obscene gestures, pointing a laser, smoking, doing drugs, assaulting the bus driver. . . things we couldn't have imagined)

For reasons of safety and health and in order to comply with state law and district policies, the following items are not allowed on a school bus: (list included animals, guns, knives, open containers of food, cd players, etc.)

Our list at MMHS went to the students, who were expected to comply; the Renton guidebook was for parents, who are expected to explain the rules to the kids.

How's that working out?
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Cash for Clunkers end result

According to this report from Edmunds, sales of new vehicles in September 2009 fell off a cliff, dropping 41% from August 2009 and down 23% from September 2008. This shows that the primary sales effect of the “Cash for Clunkers” program was to harvest sales that would otherwise have occurred later in the year and compress them into an earlier time period.
More details at Taxman Blog (another great Ohio blogger)

3761

Unintended consequences of emissions control

In my opinion, the most sensible gas saving regulation ever to go into effect was the 55 mph speed limit back in the 1970s. I'm sure it cut into someone's profits, but overnight it saved many lives--thousands a year--and miraculously, it seems to cut down on travel time because there were far fewer accidents holding you up on the roadways and interstates. One benefit never measured was that on the cardiovascular system of the drivers and passengers who weren't driving at 75 mph in a moving parking lot with their heart in their throats.

Now there are hearings for new regulations on emissions control of heavy trucks, which really are the life blood of this country. Virtually everything we eat, or wear or use one square of each time we go to the rest room, is shipped by truck.

Stricter emissions:

Worse mileage will mean more fuel. 1 mile less per gallon

Worse road conditions for other vehicles. Longer, heavier trucks will need to make up the added costs for everything moved by truck, tearing up our asphalt and concrete, causing more fatal accidents when we hit them.

More unsafe trucks. Current trucks will be kept in service longer because they will not be covered by the new regulations.

Hotter trucks. Engines need to burn at a higher heat with the new standards.

Reduced competition. New standards hurt independents and small truckers, and some will go out of business.

Stockpiles. Larger companies have stockpiled new trucks built before the new standards, raising costs for independents.

Add to this the cost of gasoline blends we're going to be forced to burn in our cars, and we're going to have a huge increase in food prices, hurting the poor who spend a larger percentage of their dollar on food.

I like clean air as much as the next gal, but green air costs you the green.