Random Thoughts.....

R Q said:
Yep, I know of a guy who owned a company and his helper got a DWI on Thursday and bonded out and left for a week and then came back as a different guy with different ID. I also used to do work for a lawyer who's main business was getting illegals, legal. He had 13 paralegals. He was known as an ace for getting them the proper ID and work documents.
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Jose today, Hose B tomorrow
 
Never thought of using exhaust to flex pvc. Wish I had seen this before running my feed line to my barn. Had a dog leg that gave me hell. Couldn't get heat spread around enough with a heat gun to keep it from kinking.

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awheelterd said:
Never thought of using exhaust to flex pvc. Wish I had seen this before running my feed line to my barn. Had a dog leg that gave me hell. Couldn't get heat spread around enough with a heat gun to keep it from kinking.

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Dooder does some neat stuff, all around craftsman. A lot of his early videos was a lot of carpentry and has evolved into farming and metal work.

He had a spell of bad luck or health or all of the above and had few clips venting to the world audience. I've always thought that was cringe and bugged the crap out of me. I can over look those because the fella has some pretty darn efficient, effective, and accurate tricks of the trade.
 
awheelterd said:
Never thought of using exhaust to flex pvc. Wish I had seen this before running my feed line to my barn. Had a dog leg that gave me hell. Couldn't get heat spread around enough with a heat gun to keep it from kinking.

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2.7M views · 41K reactions | Old-school trick: how to make your own custom conduit sweep—no fancy tools needed! #Farmer #farmlife #Conduit #DIY #hack | Tick Creek Ranch

Old-school trick: how to make your own custom conduit sweep—no fancy tools needed! #Farmer #farmlife #Conduit #DIY #hack
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Do you even hot box?
Or blanket?

Ive also done some impressive bends with a heat gun.

Or there is the aussie cold bender, but Ive never used one...
 
Ron said:
Do you even hot box?
Or blanket?

Ive also done some impressive bends with a heat gun.

Or there is the aussie cold bender, but Ive never used one...
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I normally pay the man for this type of work in real life. But being cheap and at home I did it myself with my 7yr old apprentice. 🤣
 
awheelterd said:
I normally pay the man for this type of work in real life. But being cheap and at home I did it myself with my 7yr old apprentice. 🤣
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Ive jumped the shark there.

I needed to get power to my detached shop and had spent 6 months not getting around to it.
2 weeks ago a grader got behind and a site wasnt ready for my underground crew. You can imagine the faces of my HOA neighborhood when my gnarliest group pulled up in the old 5.9 Cummins and rolled the trencher out. I caught some shit for it from my guys, but Ive got heat in the shop now so who gives a shit. I told them they make the same whomever they work for :D
 
awheelterd said:
Never thought of using exhaust to flex pvc. Wish I had seen this before running my feed line to my barn. Had a dog leg that gave me hell. Couldn't get heat spread around enough with a heat gun to keep it from kinking.

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2.7M views · 41K reactions | Old-school trick: how to make your own custom conduit sweep—no fancy tools needed! #Farmer #farmlife #Conduit #DIY #hack | Tick Creek Ranch

Old-school trick: how to make your own custom conduit sweep—no fancy tools needed! #Farmer #farmlife #Conduit #DIY #hack
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I like how the still shot is of the long legged chick that is in no other part of the video. they know their audience,
 
awheelterd said:
Never thought of using exhaust to flex pvc. Wish I had seen this before running my feed line to my barn. Had a dog leg that gave me hell. Couldn't get heat spread around enough with a heat gun to keep it from kinking.

www.facebook.com

2.7M views · 41K reactions | Old-school trick: how to make your own custom conduit sweep—no fancy tools needed! #Farmer #farmlife #Conduit #DIY #hack | Tick Creek Ranch

Old-school trick: how to make your own custom conduit sweep—no fancy tools needed! #Farmer #farmlife #Conduit #DIY #hack
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I mean.. you know a guy..or maybe 3 here that likely have a few of these to do it properlike
 
awheelterd said:
Bruh, you think I even knew those things existed? Im no electrician, just a tight wad that knows enough to be dangerous 🤣 @Ron said hot box and my.mind went back to college....
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FYI...I've got 4 or 5 proper boxes like Troy referenced....but for an occasional needer or DIY guy - these paired with a $15 HF heeat gun do a surprisingly good job for under $100.

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This is where people suck for using AI. As if we didn’t have enough misinformation and gullible fucks out there. Now we can put realistic photos with it as well. Now you don’t even have to pay protestors to stir up shit. The ability to embellish made up events is going to be a major downfall.

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benXJ said:
But for real.....why should we pay federal taxes this month?
.
Our biggest federal expenditures are not being paid out.....so what we paying for?
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Completely incorrect.
Your biggest federal expedentures are interest on the federal debt, social security/Medicare, and contracting for the Dept of Defense -by a wide margin. And all are still being, or will be paid.

Plus even the things not occuring now will still be paid for later (by law they have to) so no money is being saved.
 
So why all the hoopla about not having funds for this and that while all the money is still flowing in? Are you telling me it's all theater? Why did they mellon moron think he needed to give $130 million? Where is all the money being held? Do we need all the tens of thousands of bureaucracy leeches if the government is 'shutdown' but 95% of the budget is still humming along?! Debt payments to who? Don't we just print money and basically borrow against ourselves 'in the future ' and via inflation? What other country is sitting by the mailbox waiting for that check from the USA to come in? The national debt is all smoke and mirrors distraction/political football.
We gonna 'service the debt' before paying soldiers and air traffic control? It's all theater.

why should any of us pay fed taxes this month? or last month?
 
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RatLabGuy said:
Completely incorrect.
Your biggest federal expedentures are interest on the federal debt, social security/Medicare, and contracting for the Dept of Defense -by a wide margin. And all are still being, or will be paid.

Plus even the things not occuring now will still be paid for later (by law they have to) so no money is being saved.
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You are assuming the government will reopen, whereas I am hoping they will not.
 
benXJ said:
So why all the hoopla about not having funds for this and that while all the money is still flowing in? Are you telling me it's all theater? Why did they mellon moron think he needed to give $130 million? Where is all the money being held? Do we need all the tens of thousands of bureaucracy leeches if the government is 'shutdown' but 95% of the budget is still humming along?! Debt payments to who? Don't we just print money and basically borrow against ourselves 'in the future ' and via inflation? What other country is sitting by the mailbox waiting for that check from the USA to come in? The national debt is all smoke and mirrors distraction/political football.
We gonna 'service the debt' before paying soldiers and air traffic control? It's all theater.

why should any of us pay fed taxes this month? or last month?
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This isn't the right thread to take the time to explain (1) how the Fed budget breaks down and (2) how funding it works. I suggest you take some time to research this and learn if you want to bitch about it publicly.

The most important parts though are that:
- The stoppage is on what is called "discretionary" spending, neaning things that Congress has to vote and pass a bill that we continue to incur expenses on because they are, to some extent, optional. Thats only part of the total budget. Interest on debt... we have to pay. Social Secuirity etc - we have to pay - and is funded via the payments people are making into it via payroll taxes, and is already set into motion and will just go indefinitely unless a law stops it.
Contracts (which is by far the largest part of gov spending - only 4% of the total budget is salaries) are already obligated to be paid w/ money from FY25 and that money is already committed to pay them, even if it isn't technically "gone" yet the commitement is made so we can't un-spend it.

- Its not a question of what money we "have". We already run on a massive deficit (we spend more money than we bring in), and in reality, the cash flow of the gov isn't consistent and even over the year. Although most wage-earning people pay throuout the year, the Gov gets more money between Jan and April than the rest of the year (tax time) from all the folks that owe money, and on top of that, people pay quarterly (every 3 months)... so the cash flow of the Gov ebs and flows anyway... but this is less relevant than the issue at hand is that we don't currently have the legal authorization to SPEND the money (the discretionary part of it anyway) right now. That is what the budget bill does - it provides the legal authority for agencies to spend $$ on X or Y or Z. Without that law passing, they can't spend what is coming in (the discretionary part anyway, the other htings mentioned above still get paid). So that means that $$ is just piling up.

- But... once the authorization DOES come (much to @jeepinmatt and @awheelterd 's chagrin), then it will just be back-dated to spend it how it would have been to begin with. So all of the people that are working right now and not being paid (because they are demed essential) and even all of the others who are furloughed - thanks to a bipartison law passed in 2019, under this same administration - will also be paid. Think of it like just putting all of those salary bills on credit - the cost will still come and have to be paid. No money is being saved by being shutdown whatsoever EXCEPT for contract support activities that help with daily activities that aren't happening (like a program that stops bc Feds aren't there and some contractors cannot work on it wo them, or even just beuilding cleaning staff and such). Overall this is a pretty tiny amount though and pails in comparison to the waste of paying Fed employees to do nothing while on furlough, and the total additional direct cost is in the area of several $Billions. Not to mention decreased local and national revenue lost from people not traveling, holding back their $$ etc.

The point of all of the above is that we (your gov) are not only still burning cash.... your cash... its actually going to cost more in the long run, not less.

Now is it FAIR? Heck no.

Now to go back and address a few of your random questions...
- yes its theater, but in a different way than you are implying
- That $130m donation is so that troops can get paid NOW instead of waiting and getting back-pay later (like all other Feds will) so its easier to pay their bills. BUT that is just theater also bc $130m won't pay 1/2 of 1 single bi-weekly round of paychecks. Its peanuts and not solving any problem except political theater that also puts us in Mob-boss style debt with a billionaire.
- The US Treasury holds the money. Thats literally its job.
- re: "95% still humming along" - The vast majority of actual work in the government is contracted (hence only 4% is Salaries). Things haven't fallen apart yet because (1) a lot of people are working unpaid and (2) there's a short period where that contracted work is stil lrunning unsupervised (e.g. contracts already going and paid, and the people know what to do). But if it continues, those contracts start to fall apart and die. for instance all of the contract engineers on my team are funded until January. If we don't push money to them soon, they run out of money, the project ends and they get fired, I could be returning to have no team. I had a conversation w/ their lead on my way out the door, but I know problems and issues are arising that they need direction on that I'm not there to give.
The timetable for that kind of thing varies everywhere, but the point is things don't just stop immediately, its a slow and random attrition.
- National debt - how do you think we're able to run a deficit? The gov sells bonds, treasury bills, notes, etc. People (and entities... businesses... China...) buy them as an investment. The national prime rate you hear so much about is related to what the gov pays in interest.
- No we don't just "print money" (as a general rule... it does kind of happen but for other reasons) that would cause rediculous inflation.
- See above - most of the debt is held by the public, but China and other countries have been purchasing a lot of it. Wait wait isn't that a problem... yes, yes it is.

Instead of asking "why am I paying taxes this month" you should be asking, "why is the House of Representatives getting paid when they have been on recess of 6 weeks and will continue to be out indefinitely?" IMO ALL of Congress should be not getting paid but at least the Senators can say they are "working"....
 
I appreciate the time of all that response.

The cash flow into the fed coffers is consistent, us pleebs (the 99%) pay in every paycheck and biz owners pay in every quarter. That's most of all fed tax payers. The over compensated fed employees can figure out a way to budget that.

For sure the representative salaries are gross and I hate every single one of them.

So can I pay 4% less this month? That's a start!

But yea. Theater. Just want others to say it.
 
benXJ said:
So can I pay 4% less this month? That's a start!
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Sure, if you'll pay 4% more next quarter once they back-pay all those people.

The amount of money the gov is spending hasn't decreased. You can pay now or pay later, it has to be paid one way or the other.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Sure, if you'll pay 4% more next quarter once they back-pay all those people.

The amount of money the gov is spending hasn't decreased. You can pay now or pay later, it has to be paid one way or the other.
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But they keep telling me that they aren't paying cause the money isn't there. But they are still actually spending? You telling me that Mr. Mellon doesn't understand this?

Where is all the money going? Just a giant savings account? They are taking a big chunk from me and yet aren't paying?

I want them to not pay and we don't pay taxes.
 
benXJ said:
But they keep telling me that they aren't paying cause the money isn't there.
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No, this is totally incorrect. Nobody is saying the money isn't there - or if they are, that is a lie. I don't know who "they" are.
What "they" are (or should be) saying is that they can't spend money. Which, practically speaking, is the same thing as it not being there, but its technically different.
benXJ said:
But they are still actually spending? You telling me that Mr. Mellon doesn't understand this?
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yes. Still spending and acruing debt. And yes I'd wager Mr. Mellon doesn't understand it at all.
benXJ said:
Where is all the money going? Just a giant savings account? They are taking a big chunk from me and yet aren't paying?

I want them to not pay and we don't pay taxes.
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... but yes, the money coming in from taxes, tetc is going into the US Treasury. Which is a very oversimplified way is the country's biggest savings account.

The money isn't being spent today. A debt is being acrued and that money that isn't being paid out today will be paid out later.

You can't make them not pay at all. Thats illegal. They have to pay eventually. And when they do, all of the tax money that was paid in in the meantime will be used to pay it out. It all balances out in the end.
 
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