What is going on?

[frank mccune]

      Hello All!

      Today I stopped in my local John Deere dealership.  I purchased a can of starting fluid and noticed that the price had increased from $4.25 to $9.04 per can.  When I asked why, I was told that the ownership had changed and everything had a dramatic increase.  I was told that the already very high labor rate had also been greatly increased!

       This is nothing more than corporate gouging! What can we do about this? For me, all I can do is voice my anger to the manager and boycott that business in the future.

       What are your thoughts about this problem.  Please do not say that there is nothing that we can do and this the way it is!

         Ps. The last time that I had my Stihl chain saw repaired at this place, the labor charge was $86.00 for 15 minutes of time! Once again, I  was told that,”That is the way it is.”  Never again!

         Frank McCune



 

[Dan Berry]

Go to home depot and buy a 3” utility hinge. 8.50. .

[Brett Buck]

This is the predicted runaway inflation resulting from massive government spending and meddling in the economy by the government during the overreaction to Wuhan Flu/"COVID-19".

Anticipating the counter-attack - Note that cost-of-living and inflation statistics are intentionally devised to ignore or understate the costs you are seeing.

    Brett

[Brent Williams]

The motor on my older craftsman belt sander gave up the ghost.  I inquired with the local electric motor repair business about repair or replacement. They told me I should just look for a new sander as their labor charges are $90 per hour alone.  Sheesh!

[Dennis Toth]

Frank,
If you are going to mix diesel fuel for sport flying (not racing) you can use other high ether starting fluids (ones with ether listed as the first ingredient) and just mix it with 25 - 30% SAE30 weight mineral oil, no kero needed (you need to use mineral oil not castor as the mineral oil calms down the ether for a smooth run).

Based on MSDS sheet data several brands that are good are: Johnsen 6752 Premium Starting Fluid 50%; ACE Starting Fluid; Kleen -Flo Kleen Start. Some others that will work but have lower ether but still ok: Prestone AS237 Starting Fluid: Gunk Liquid Fire: Penray 5315 High Ether Starting Fluid.

To get the SF out a simple mod to the spray nozzle by drilling it out to fit a small piece of metal tube which you could fit with a section of fuel tubing. In a jar mark the level of oil needed for the total fuel being mixed. Put the oil in first and shoot in the starting fluid. Could make up a jar with a lid and a couple of tubes to have a vent and fill, once the mix is at the final level, take the fuel tube from the SF and put in onto the vent then shake the mix and go fly.

Best,   DennisT

[Ken Culbertson]

This is the predicted runaway inflation resulting from massive government spending and meddling in the economy by the government during the overreaction to Wuhan Flu/"COVID-19".

Only half and yes, this started it.  The massive increases at the retail level are gouging plain and simple.  I just got a roughly 3% COLA on social security.  My weekly grocery bill which feeds me, my wife and 40 cats (don't ask) was about $175 at Walmart.
 Last week it was $410.  Last I counted that is about a 230% increase!  Only one way out of this mess that doesn't require a war is to scrap this environmental WOKE crap and go back to being greed driven capitalists.   Get the government out of our lives and the market will fix itself.  We need a president that has the balls to do things like appointing an energy secretary that has the mandate to produce energy and an education secretary with a mission to eliminate his job.  Maybe a Homeland security secretary that wants to make the homeland secure.  Heads of the FBI and CIA who's first priority is not protecting the boss.  My list goes on for days.   

The very first thing our next President should do is turn loose the energy sector and put Russia and the Arabs back in their bottles.  All we have to do to support Ukraine and Israel is stop funding Russia and Iran.  We need to go back to the Pre-Covid policies both foreign and domestic.  It doesn't have to be Trump, it just has to happen.

Ken

[David_Ruff]

      Hello All!

      Today I stopped in my local John Deere dealership.  I purchased a can of starting fluid and noticed that the price had increased from $4.25 to $9.04 per can.  When I asked why, I was told that the ownership had changed and everything had a dramatic increase.  I was told that the already very high labor rate had also been greatly increased!

       This is nothing more than corporate gouging! What can we do about this? For me, all I can do is voice my anger to the manager and boycott that business in the future.

       What are your thoughts about this problem.  Please do not say that there is nothing that we can do and this the way it is!

         Ps. The last time that I had my Stihl chain saw repaired at this place, the labor charge was $86.00 for 15 minutes of time! Once again, I  was told that,”That is the way it is.”  Never again!

         Frank McCune



 

I would find another place to deal.  They are gouging. 

[David_Ruff]

Only half and yes, this started it.  The massive increases at the retail level are gouging plain and simple.  I just got a roughly 3% COLA on social security.  My weekly grocery bill which feeds me, my wife and 40 cats (don't ask) was about $175 at Walmart.
 Last week it was $410.  Last I counted that is about a 230% increase!  Only one way out of this mess that doesn't require a war is to scrap this environmental WOKE crap and go back to being greed driven capitalists.   Get the government out of our lives and the market will fix itself.  We need a president that has the balls to do things like appointing an energy secretary that has the mandate to produce energy and an education secretary with a mission to eliminate his job.  Maybe a Homeland security secretary that wants to make the homeland secure.  Heads of the FBI and CIA who's first priority is not protecting the boss.  My list goes on for days.   

The very first thing our next President should do is turn loose the energy sector and put Russia and the Arabs back in their bottles.  All we have to do to support Ukraine and Israel is stop funding Russia and Iran.  We need to go back to the Pre-Covid policies both foreign and domestic.  It doesn't have to be Trump, it just has to happen.

Ken

When I was traveling to St. Ives, I met a man with 40 wives
And every wife had 40 cats and every cat had 40 kits
Kits, cats, man and wives
How many were going to St. Ives.
LOL.
And you are right about the bunch of clowns in DC.

[Jim Svitko]

The money printing goes back even before covid.  Our politicians have been flooding the economy with printed cash for quite some time.  The buying power of the dollar has been destroyed.  Prices rise to match the money supply, and the money supply has been increased by a few trillion dollars worth. 

Anyone who has been thru ECON 101 could see this coming.  But, for some reason, Federal Reserve idiots like Bernanke, Yellen, Powell, and others in government, thought that money printing was going to save the economy.   Trying to create wealth out of thin air never works.  And, nobody in government, from either party, has admitted that the money printing was a terrible thing to do.  Our inflation is not being caused by the supply chain, covid, or any other excuse.  It is the money printing, stupid!

Prices will come down when the next economic crash hits.  That time might be sooner than you think since the debt load is enormous.  Corporate debt, personal debt, government debt, all at record levels.  There has to be a breaking point at some time.

[RC Storick]

This song says it all.

https://youtu.be/sqSA-SY5Hro?si=fxdOIV4c0GdUjDQy

[Dan McEntee]

   This is also a result of the move to raise minimum wage to "a living wage" of 20 bucks an hour!! Every entitled idiot that thinks they are worth that even though they have NO useful skills to offer the work force other than a heartbeat and a loud mouth to complain with. I can't stand it when Grandpa Joe stands up there spouting off that he's lowered inflation by 65% or what ever BS it is that he doesn't even understand. You should NEVER expect to retire from McDonalds after flipping burgers  for 40 years!! Learn the business, move your way around the company and then get your own franchise to make the big money!! I worked 35 years part time in retail at a local hobby shop, so I think I know what good customer service is. These days, I don't get anything close to what I think I provided people with at any store I go. Things sure did change A LOT after the election in 2020 , didn't it!!! When you look at this train wreck of an administration it's very easy to wonder who in their right ever loving mind would have voted for this and it's easy to believe the election was stolen!! This has gone on too long and should have been cut short long ago. 
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Jim Svitko]

At a motorcycle shop near me, the shop rate is $140/hour.  Like many other people, my grocery bill has doubled.  My phone bill is higher.  My home and auto insurance costs more.  But, I am not bringing in any additional money to offset these rising costs.  Sure, I could go and get some part time work, but after taxes, would it be worth it?  I bet I would be working for $10/hour, or less, after taking that into account.

Now that the auto workers are making more, can anyone afford a car?  The people building the cars are making more money than the people they are trying to sell them to.  How sustainable is that system?

[Dan McEntee]

At a motorcycle shop near me, the shop rate is $140/hour.  Like many other people, my grocery bill has doubled.  My phone bill is higher.  My home and auto insurance costs more.  But, I am not bringing in any additional money to offset these rising costs.  Sure, I could go and get some part time work, but after taxes, would it be worth it?  I bet I would be working for $10/hour, or less, after taking that into account.

Now that the auto workers are making more, can anyone afford a car?  The people building the cars are making more money than the people they are trying to sell them to.  How sustainable is that system?

       It might not be so bad if half the cars built each years didn't face a recall of some kind!! Everybody needs to WAKE UP!!! We need to get people using the CORRECT bathrooms, and being responsible for their own actions!! Many heads need to roll in the upper levels of government. Term limits are needed NOW!! I don't care what the unemployment levels are, there are still WAY TOO MANY people drawing government money they do not deserve. Spending needs to be frozen and all the freebees and cushy government grants to study useless things needs to STOP!! This younger generation sure ain't gonna like what the alternatives are. If they never thought to ask their grandparents what the depression was about, they are close to getting first hand experience!
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Dave Moritz]

Dennis

So if I’m reading you correctly, a mix of 70% starting fluid and 30% SAE mineral oil would generally be workable for our little diesel motors?

Dave Mo…

[Mike Griffin]

It is very hard for me to restrain myself of what I really want to say and think we should do to get this country back but my thoughts are most likely shared by many others.  Today, a large portion of the population of this country are just ignorant or stupid or both and it really came to light with this last Presidential election but has manifested itself all over the country from the local and state levels as well.   We have corruption in just about every branch of government and especially in the justice department.  There is a two-tiered justice system in this country now and we are not in the top tier. Elections are tampered with and rigged to suit the ruling classes wishes.  When the ballot and our system of electing officials to serve the people's wishes in this republic is corrupted and manipulated to serve a certain political party, then that is cause for revolution.  The founders of this country suffered the tyranny of a ruling class and they shot them.  If something is not done and done quickly, this country as we know it will collapse and we will be thrown into anarchy and our republic as founded will be thrown into oblivion. 

[Rusty]

Not happy with prices?  Welcome to the NEW America; one that I never knew.  $13.00 for a basket ball size watermelon, $1.79 for A orange, 200% home insurance rate increase w/o any claims, most expensive dental insurance only pays for 2 evaluations a year no matter if it is periodontal, limited or emergency treatment.  VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY IS A RIP OFF.   Oh, wait until you need drugs that are in tier 3, 4 and 5.  Bend Over....

[Brett Buck]

Not happy with prices?  Welcome to the NEW America; one that I never knew.  $13.00 for a basket ball size watermelon, $1.79 for A orange, 200% home insurance rate increase w/o any claims, most expensive dental insurance only pays for 2 evaluations a year no matter if it is periodontal, limited or emergency treatment.  VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY IS A RIP OFF.   Oh, wait until you need drugs that are in tier 3, 4 and 5.  Bend Over....

    It's perfectly simple, an orgy of wasteful Keynesian spending and leftist control of the economy.

    5 years ago, it was absolutely booming, now, it isn't. What is the difference?

     Brett

[john e. holliday]

It is the administratiom that was supposedly elected to office.  I have a grand daughter that will not apply for a decent job because welfare makes up what she gets working part time.  Of course I don't know how long that is going to last since she moved out with my little princess.

[Ken Culbertson]

When I was traveling to St. Ives, I met a man with 40 wives
And every wife had 40 cats and every cat had 40 kits
Kits, cats, man and wives
How many were going to St. Ives.

The answer is that there in insufficient information .

We do not know where the man with the wives was going.  We don't know the gender of the traveler and if it was a woman, was she also a wife, perhaps even one of the 40?  Since only one man can qualify as going to St. Ives the traveler would have to be a woman if the man with the wives was also going to St. Ives.  So, if the traveler was a man the other man could not be going to St. Ives therefore the answer is "1".  However, if the traveler was a woman then the answer could be "64,002", *unless* she was also one of the wives in which case the answer would be "64,001".  Now anybody who has more than one cats knows that you can't herd them so the odds of getting 63,960 cats to St. Ives is only a theory.  We also do not know if all of the wives were with the man met on the way, only that he had them.  Since I have a wife with 40 cats is my opinion he was running away which could make the answer "2".  Then there is always the possibility that some of the wives were with him but they left the cats at home.  But, what none of them knew was the river bridge at St. Georges over the hill had washed out and nobody was getting to St. Ives which makes the answer "0".

Sorry, It's my wife's birthday today and the cats thing you posted was just too funny - Ken 

 

[David_Ruff]

Back to diesels; This guy is a legit eBay seller.  I have bought from him. He just listed this Enya NIB diesel.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196119891501