The good old tax-and-spend Republicans

 I got in maybe 45 minutes' worth of practice last night and I say this because really, it's the only important thing I do. Years from now it's not going to matter how many things I listed on Ebay for Ken or took to the post office for Ken or how clean I kept the office here. 

I sorted out the things Ken had brought and took some stuff apart and all that, but was too tired in the end to list anything. 

I woke up today at 2, turn on the radio, and here's President Biden talking about the Republican plan to put a 30% sales tax on everything. Since they're the friends of the working class that they are. I did some quick mental math and the 3 grand or so I give to the IRS each year is a bit less than 20% of my gross income. The Republicans really want to crush the little guy into dust. 

Taxes on food, all food, not just fast food but your banana and your bag of flour, are a thing I've only see in Red states. In Hawaii, the sales tax, called a general excise tax for some reason, generally isn't charged for food items. And it's only 4% anyway. California doesn't tax things like cold foods and I believe prescriptions and things like that. I've lived in Red states (Arizona and Colorado) and not only was the sales tax higher than in California but it's applied to everything, even your banana or your bag of flour, taxed at 13% or even more. 

Lastly, it's a well-known enough economic trope that even I know it, that high sales taxes enlarge black-market economies. I'm all for a thriving black market myself, but somehow this doesn't seem like the image the Republicans want to project. At least I don't *think* so ... they seem to be about being as mustache-twirling evil as they can, so maybe this is something they want after all. 

The thing is, if I had just one dependent, or if I were 5 years older, assuming the same income as now, I'd not pay any income tax at all. That 2nd $6500 allowance or whatever they call it, would mean I pay essentially nothing. Maybe even get money back, I'm unclear, but at least it would more than cover the amount I pay out. The Republicans want to take that away - nope, 30% tax on everything! 

How many households have maybe 3 people working, earning the $17k I do a year to make a total of $51k, and now they're going to lose 1/3 of that, right off the top? Oh yes, forget about being over 65, blind, having dependents, nope, 30%! Gone! The Republican bastards aren't even being subtle. 

Last night Ken and I talked pretty seriously about when I'd leave. First, the subject of when to collect Social Security. I believe Ken waited until he was his "full retirement age" which might have been 67 for him, or maybe he waited until he's 70, because once you're 70 you "have" to take it and they can't take any of it back if you're still working. But there are a lot of arguments for taking it right away, at age 62. 

I said I've seen all of those take-it-early arguments and I think they're based on two things: First, might as well take it and stop working so damn hard and enjoy life because you don't know what's going to happen. Secondly, I believe another argument is you quit working at 62, live on the bountiful savings you've saved up, and take the Social Security money and invest it, where you theoretically get a better return on it than the Social Security Administration does. 

I said I'm of the take-it-early school, but that there are also other reasons for me to leave in 2024. The 2024 election might be a horror, and I want to stay here just long enough to vote in it, and then get out, at least as far as Hawaii. I mentioned how, in the Nazi Empire, if you were a Jew and in Poland or Lithuania, you were almost certainly screwed. But in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, a surprising amount made it through. 

I said that if I were in my 20s I'd light out for France right away, because if you're young and healthy and strong, you can go there and pick grapes for a few years or whatever, prove you're a good egg and get citizenship. But I'm far too old for that now. But at least I can get myself to a less-dangerous part of the US empire, and one that's cheaper to live in and that I'm familiar with, having gone to the local high schools and speaking the local patois and so on. This is why I don't consider places like Costa Rica, as Ken suggested. 

I need to get my papers in order and get a new passport too, because as I explained, I might not need a passport to go back to Hawaii, but better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. If things get "hot" enough in the US even extending to Hawaii, at least Hawaii puts me closer to a lot of other places. 

So, I explained to Ken, I'm both staying here as long as I can and also leaving here as soon as I can. 

I was up in time to give myself a much-needed haircut and get down to the bank, where I deposited my paycheck (My figuring is off by $3 but I probably just fat-fingered something) and went over to Whole Foods. I got some food, amazingly, and a very light beer that's 4.5% alcohol. I knew there was something I wanted to get there that I could only get there, but I could not for the life of me think of what that thing might be. I decided it was probably vitamins and got some of those. 

I went over to Walmart and got all kinds of stuff, from snack-size Ziplic bags to some "Shout" for laundry, and was amazed it only came to about $35. I got some regular ol' coffee filters like you'd use in a Mr. Coffee, as I'm trying out different filters. I can't get the Hario ones any more because I don't use Amazon any more, so I'm trying out others. I looked at Chemex filters at Whole Foods but decided $8+ for a box of 100 filters is a bit much. 

I stopped at the Amazon place and picked up a lot of bubble mailers which is good, then went to Nijiya for things. Niji's was out of eggs, though. Walmart had eggs as long as you want to buy 18 at a time, which I didn't. H Mart was wiped out the last time I was there. I forgot to look at Whole Foods. The next time I'm scheduled to be downtown is on Saturday, so I guess I'll be looking for eggs like everyone else is. 

Last night when that zombess was yelling and screaming, the wind had been really kicking up and right now it's dry and weird feeling. I think we're in a high pressure weather system. That seems to agitate the zombies, as I saw a few especially nutty ones today. 

I got back here and put things away and went to check the medical place and just found some packing stuff, but that's good to have too.