The Joe Biden Presidency I :: Hallelujah!

Also higher property taxes on homes beyond the first, which could be waived if it’s being rented to a full-time tenant (rather than vacation rental or Air bnb).

We actually benefited from the current market recently, my dad’s condo in Alhambra sold for over $500k, and the buyer paid cash (my dad paid just under $100k in around 1987). The price was low enough and rents in the area high enough that investors will still bite.

Meanwhile the house we moved out of several months ago because the owner wanted to sell has sat on the market for a few months, started out at $800k and they’ve dropped to $740k as of now. It’s too much with the high interest rates for an investor or first time home buyer but isn’t nice enough for somebody who can more easily afford it (partially because they never updated much and would always replace things as cheaply as possible). If they’d sold a couple years ago it would’ve been a completely different situation.

 

We bought our 9 rm center hall colonial with 4 acres in '69 for $18k. added 20 acres 10 yrs later for $13k. Sold it 3 yrs ago.

 

You are my favorite poster! So charming and witty. Handsome too!

 

Hard to say, but I legit think workers standing up for themselves like the unions have been doing recently would help.

A culture of worshiping sharesholders and CEOs for the last 43 years hasn't exactly helped.

 

Don't be silly. Any land roby got in the 19th century was under the Homestead Act and thus he paid nothing.

 

I know the president only has a marginal impact on the economy, but to the extent Biden’s policies matter, they’re working.

 

I've heard that many people are saying that!

 

Basically there was a spike in crime during Covid. NYC is not the cess pit it was in the 1980s. But certain outlets keep purveying the myth.

Walmart moved to self checkouts. Idiots decided they didn't have to pay, or didn't have to pay for everything, or could swap bar codes. Walmart is getting rid of self checkouts.

 

Or old people, or stupid people doesn't know how a bar code works. The Walmart in our area, which is chronically understaffed, has switched mostly to self-checkout (only 2 or 3 human cashiers at any given time) and the lines can get extremely long, and you can always spot several people struggling with self-checkout for multiple reasons.

As a sign of the upcoming times, last week I spotted several employees fulfilling online orders; not sure how it works out compared with having dedicated cashiers, but I assume that they get better pay than the regular cashiers. Oddly enough, there was an old lady checking your receipt at the exit, something that they had got rid off during the last few years.

 

If only all of the stores had at least similar procedures for using their checkouts.

 

Unless someone in line has a big full cart, use the human cashier. I have no problem doing self-checkout but I guarantee that the human cashier who does the job 4-8 hours a day does it faster and better than me or more important better and faster than those in front of me in a self-checkout line.

 

UNLESS.... At our local Kroger, the pay is so shit that I think they rotate staff so frequently that half the time the cashier is worse than I am.

 

That's my policy as well, but if I have 2 or 3 things, I go to the self-checkout.

Unfortunately in many places self-service is becoming the default option, and you can see long lines everywhere, and the human clerk lines specially busy with big carts.

 

There was a piece on the John Oliver show about the dollar stores and how shitty a place to work they are... Low pay, understaffed, management that doesn't care about safety or welfare... I'd say that increasingly that's the case for a plurality of stores, and with better pay and conditions everywhere else, well... good luck trying to get a fast checkout...

 

I find that hard to believe!

 

We go on Saturday morning when the store is pretty uncrowded. 90% of the time we use self checkout so I can fill the bags in a way that makes it quicker to put up when we get home. And most of the time, even though we have a pretty full cart, there's only one or two other stations in use, so I don't feel too bad about it.

There are a couple of check out people who are faster than I am and who will know the PLU codes for the stuff we're buying, so when one of them are working on a Saturday morning, I might give them something to do.

 

As a policy I usually go to unionized grocery stores.

 

OK fine. Not any better than me?

 

They have the best prawns there!