JUNKY
May 17th, 2004, 03:20 PM
A wakeboarding listserv that I subscribe to normally lays dormant because the list has mostly migrated to webforum use at www.wakebaorder.com, or wakeworld.com, but very once in a while some of us "pre-forum wakelisters" will have a conversation. Now mind you there are still a couple of thousand people on this list's distribution, so the message is correct in it's numbers. This is a response to a question about soaring gas prices. (A competition inboard ski boat usually has a pricetag in the 30-50 thousand dollar range, with a 300-350 hp V-8 powerplant that gets worse gas mileage than a Dodge Viper on test and tune nite at a dragstrip :lol: ) The topic came up cause some arseclown posted the notorious "if everyone doesn't buy gas on March 19th, we'll bring the oil companies to their knees" chain letter to the whole list.
Begin Steve's response....
I usually stay out of this stuff. I enjoy to read a lot more than I type but
unfortunately our schools do not teach people about money and taxes, and how
they directly effect every part of your life....including how much you pay
at the pump. They teach us to go out, go to school (college), and find a
good job, but they hardly touch on the reality of really making money, (IE
real estate, investing, starting a business, etc.) And unless you actually
get into a Harvard or some other major business school (who incidentally pay
their teachers what they are worth so they can keep them) you are learning
(most likely) from someone that wanted to be a teacher, not a business
owner....thus you are learning their theory of how to do something vs.
someone who actually did it and is now showing you how. Think... if you want
to be a pilot are you going to take advice on flying a plane from ANYONE
other than someone that is a pilot? The same applies to every aspect of your
life. Wakeboarding, the schools you attend, the people you hang out with,
etc.
This is a crappy response to your gas question but the reality is until the
media........ or enough people make a big deal about anything, it doesn't
(and won't) get noticed. I can guarantee you that all of us have the same
complaint(s) behind closed doors but there is so fricken much bureaucracy,
government control, and other corporate crap, it's nearly impossible to get
anything done. While I'm guessing 90%+ people reading this have tuned out by
now...the reality is that we are all busy doing our own thing and we really
don't give a rip as long as it doesn't effect us. But....it always does
effect us, it's just hidden most of the time.
I'll give you one example, (non-wakeboarding related) of how bureaucracy
works, and keep in mind, we are proud to say we do business in the great
state of California, the 5th largest economy (which really means money
trading hands) in the world. Big or small, this happens on every scale and
every department you can think of.
In the wireless industry, we do business with several government agencies.
They have budgets that roll out yearly. If they do not use their entire
budget for whatever department and for whatever reason, they could lose that
funding the next year. So here's the real world example of how that is
applies to your complaint, and hopefully this encourages some of you younger
folks to get educated on money and government and better resources to fuel
our vehicles.
Government agency xxx has only spent 100,000 of their 150,000 budget for
cell phones as of Aug 1st in any given year. Without considering. do they
really need phones...let's pretend their budget is rolled out on Sept 1 of
that same year. We will get a flood of panic calls from department heads
trying to buy anything and everything to put them at budget during that last
month, and spend that extra $50,000 (whether they need it or not) so they
don't lose their funding the next year. This isn't always exactly how it
happens, but for this example, it's good enough.
MY POINT IS THAT THIS HAPPENS IN EVERY GOVERNMENT AGENCY YOU KNOW
OF....EVERY SINGLE ONE, ESPECIALLY AT THE FEDERAL AND STATE LEVELS.
So how does that effect you? You pay with your additional taxes for all of
this to take place. In addition to government workers that make way too much
for doing squat, this is my biggest complaint with a government... it's way
too big and it forces us to pay way too much.
This makes your boats cost more because the builders have to pay more taxes,
this makes your registration and sales tax more, and yes, this directly
effects how much you pay at the pump. It effects everything you touch, think
about, or do. What can you do? Great question. I don't really don't know but
here's my best guess.
Learn about money. Not just making it, but keeping it.
***** out loud to someone who can do something about how big our government
really is. Do we really need a supervisor, supervising the supervisor who
watches the guy, who manages the guy hammering the nail? Sounds stupid but
do your research. That's 3 salaries (or at least 2) that could be ELIMINATED
if we put the right person in the right job and held them accountable for
their work. Your taxes would go down, gas would be cheaper, and heaven
forbid workers comp may even go down.
I can say that from 3 BA degrees (Marketing, Finance, and Business
Administration), that by the way are useless unless you put them to
work...here is the one parting point I can make about money. $80,000.00 in
education rolled into one sentence, and if you truly understand this, you
will find a way to create money, whether or not you have it now. And then
all the small issues such as those at the pump..... will go away.
"Interest...you are either making it or paying it." Figure that out in your
own way and you will create and keep your wealth.
Good luck getting your word out about boat gas. Keep in mind, although most
of the people on this list don't reply...they do exist and there is always
someone listening (or reading). I hate paying $75.00 to fill up my tank but
for now I don't have the time or the energy to fight with it and I just have
to deal. Maybe someone else out there will take on the crusade and make a
big enough stir to make something happen.
Steve Jones
West Coast Rider and Business Owner
Begin Steve's response....
I usually stay out of this stuff. I enjoy to read a lot more than I type but
unfortunately our schools do not teach people about money and taxes, and how
they directly effect every part of your life....including how much you pay
at the pump. They teach us to go out, go to school (college), and find a
good job, but they hardly touch on the reality of really making money, (IE
real estate, investing, starting a business, etc.) And unless you actually
get into a Harvard or some other major business school (who incidentally pay
their teachers what they are worth so they can keep them) you are learning
(most likely) from someone that wanted to be a teacher, not a business
owner....thus you are learning their theory of how to do something vs.
someone who actually did it and is now showing you how. Think... if you want
to be a pilot are you going to take advice on flying a plane from ANYONE
other than someone that is a pilot? The same applies to every aspect of your
life. Wakeboarding, the schools you attend, the people you hang out with,
etc.
This is a crappy response to your gas question but the reality is until the
media........ or enough people make a big deal about anything, it doesn't
(and won't) get noticed. I can guarantee you that all of us have the same
complaint(s) behind closed doors but there is so fricken much bureaucracy,
government control, and other corporate crap, it's nearly impossible to get
anything done. While I'm guessing 90%+ people reading this have tuned out by
now...the reality is that we are all busy doing our own thing and we really
don't give a rip as long as it doesn't effect us. But....it always does
effect us, it's just hidden most of the time.
I'll give you one example, (non-wakeboarding related) of how bureaucracy
works, and keep in mind, we are proud to say we do business in the great
state of California, the 5th largest economy (which really means money
trading hands) in the world. Big or small, this happens on every scale and
every department you can think of.
In the wireless industry, we do business with several government agencies.
They have budgets that roll out yearly. If they do not use their entire
budget for whatever department and for whatever reason, they could lose that
funding the next year. So here's the real world example of how that is
applies to your complaint, and hopefully this encourages some of you younger
folks to get educated on money and government and better resources to fuel
our vehicles.
Government agency xxx has only spent 100,000 of their 150,000 budget for
cell phones as of Aug 1st in any given year. Without considering. do they
really need phones...let's pretend their budget is rolled out on Sept 1 of
that same year. We will get a flood of panic calls from department heads
trying to buy anything and everything to put them at budget during that last
month, and spend that extra $50,000 (whether they need it or not) so they
don't lose their funding the next year. This isn't always exactly how it
happens, but for this example, it's good enough.
MY POINT IS THAT THIS HAPPENS IN EVERY GOVERNMENT AGENCY YOU KNOW
OF....EVERY SINGLE ONE, ESPECIALLY AT THE FEDERAL AND STATE LEVELS.
So how does that effect you? You pay with your additional taxes for all of
this to take place. In addition to government workers that make way too much
for doing squat, this is my biggest complaint with a government... it's way
too big and it forces us to pay way too much.
This makes your boats cost more because the builders have to pay more taxes,
this makes your registration and sales tax more, and yes, this directly
effects how much you pay at the pump. It effects everything you touch, think
about, or do. What can you do? Great question. I don't really don't know but
here's my best guess.
Learn about money. Not just making it, but keeping it.
***** out loud to someone who can do something about how big our government
really is. Do we really need a supervisor, supervising the supervisor who
watches the guy, who manages the guy hammering the nail? Sounds stupid but
do your research. That's 3 salaries (or at least 2) that could be ELIMINATED
if we put the right person in the right job and held them accountable for
their work. Your taxes would go down, gas would be cheaper, and heaven
forbid workers comp may even go down.
I can say that from 3 BA degrees (Marketing, Finance, and Business
Administration), that by the way are useless unless you put them to
work...here is the one parting point I can make about money. $80,000.00 in
education rolled into one sentence, and if you truly understand this, you
will find a way to create money, whether or not you have it now. And then
all the small issues such as those at the pump..... will go away.
"Interest...you are either making it or paying it." Figure that out in your
own way and you will create and keep your wealth.
Good luck getting your word out about boat gas. Keep in mind, although most
of the people on this list don't reply...they do exist and there is always
someone listening (or reading). I hate paying $75.00 to fill up my tank but
for now I don't have the time or the energy to fight with it and I just have
to deal. Maybe someone else out there will take on the crusade and make a
big enough stir to make something happen.
Steve Jones
West Coast Rider and Business Owner