[John Larkin]

This will get the leftists weenies all in a twist and screw up their
image of me...

The ONLY charity that I give money to is the St. Mary's Food Bank
Alliance... food and shelter for the homeless, and a Catholic
organization to boot ;-)

...Jim Thompson

We give about $20K a year to various charities, mostly foreign, like
Doctors Without Borders and some organizations that run schools for
girls in Africa. Locally, we support one of the few homeless
organizations that gets actual results, the MS society, and a few
minor local things.

Catholic organizations do seem to be unusually efficient.

I'm being bugged to endow a scholarship at Tulane's new
science/engineering department, which would allow me to aim it at
potential circuit designers!

John

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:41:57 -0700, Jim Thompson
[snip]

This will get the leftists weenies all in a twist and screw up their
image of me...

The ONLY charity that I give money to is the St. Mary's Food Bank
Alliance... food and shelter for the homeless, and a Catholic
organization to boot ;-)

...Jim Thompson

We give about $20K a year to various charities, mostly foreign, like
Doctors Without Borders and some organizations that run schools for
girls in Africa. Locally, we support one of the few homeless
organizations that gets actual results, the MS society, and a few
minor local things.

Catholic organizations do seem to be unusually efficient.

Isn't that amazing! They also seem to run hospitals rather well.

I'm being bugged to endow a scholarship at Tulane's new
science/engineering department, which would allow me to aim it at
potential circuit designers!

John

I'm not at the endowment level, but I contribute to an MIT scholarship
for a "married student in electrical engineering"... knowing full-well
the economic struggles of such a student ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[James Arthur]

Even now in many counties, parents have lots of kids to ensure they get taken
care of when they're old. Is that immoral ?

Graham

Certainly not. I think it's wonderful for kids to take care of their
parents in old age, but note that this obligation is taken on
willingly, out of love for one's parents.

Compelling kids working today to pay for my retirement, by contrast,
is another matter.

Best,
James Arthur

 

[John Larkin]

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:41:57 -0700, Jim Thompson
[snip]

This will get the leftists weenies all in a twist and screw up their
image of me...

The ONLY charity that I give money to is the St. Mary's Food Bank
Alliance... food and shelter for the homeless, and a Catholic
organization to boot ;-)

...Jim Thompson

We give about $20K a year to various charities, mostly foreign, like
Doctors Without Borders and some organizations that run schools for
girls in Africa. Locally, we support one of the few homeless
organizations that gets actual results, the MS society, and a few
minor local things.

Catholic organizations do seem to be unusually efficient.

Isn't that amazing! They also seem to run hospitals rather well.

I'm being bugged to endow a scholarship at Tulane's new
science/engineering department, which would allow me to aim it at
potential circuit designers!

John

I'm not at the endowment level, but I contribute to an MIT scholarship
for a "married student in electrical engineering"... knowing full-well
the economic struggles of such a student ;-)

...Jim Thompson

The minimum endowed scholarship takes $20K. 5% of that goes to a
student, only $1K per year at first, and the rest is invested with any
excess return dumped back into the fund. One can of course add more
any time. The giver is allowed to make stipulations as to what sort of
student he's prefer to get the bucks, but that's usually just a
preference, not a hard rule. I might also wind up with summer interns
and even employees some day, which would be worth it from a pure
pragmatic view.

John

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:45:09 -0700, Jim Thompson
[snip]

I'm not at the endowment level, but I contribute to an MIT scholarship
for a "married student in electrical engineering"... knowing full-well
the economic struggles of such a student ;-)

...Jim Thompson

The minimum endowed scholarship takes $20K. 5% of that goes to a
student, only $1K per year at first, and the rest is invested with any
excess return dumped back into the fund. One can of course add more
any time. The giver is allowed to make stipulations as to what sort of
student he's prefer to get the bucks, but that's usually just a
preference, not a hard rule. I might also wind up with summer interns
and even employees some day, which would be worth it from a pure
pragmatic view.

John

I'm certainly not a pure pragmatist either.

Why do you think I was teaching a technician course in '63-'64... I
couldn't find a good one to hire

...Jim Thompson

 

[James Arthur]

Then you haven't been around any reasonably sized city. There are
food pantries, soup kitchen. and other non profit groups to help the
homeless, and others get enough food to stay alive. Most of these are
run by churches in that area. I know of at least three church run food
charities in my town, alone. There is another group called "Share" that
buys the basics in bulk, and if you are a member and in decent health,
you have to volunteer at their warehouse to break down the skids of food
into individual packages. Another group, "Veterans and family services"
is a non profit that helps Veterans and their families when they fall
through the cracks, and can't get help from the VA. I support that
group, being a disabled Veteran, myself.

I sympathize, and applaud such groups. The question, though, was
whether employed people are getting squeezed: lower wages, etc. From
their consumption, from their material wealth, and the statistics, I
don't see such signs, not in the "middle" or "working" classes.

Best,
James Arthur

 

[John Larkin]

I don't understand limitless power lust. I'd rather make things.

That's why we're engineers: we want to make things.

Best,
James Arthur

~~~~~~~~~
P.S. OTOH, I spent today designing a switcher ... and I did double its
output just because I could (and it was useful) ... so, I guess I must
have some power lust, but not limitless--that could cause a fire.

For now I'm happy with 1/2 kW, and it's strictly limited. --ja

Topology?

John

 

[John Larkin]

I personally think that forcing young people to pay for other people's
parents' retirements is immoral.

They are repaying society for the education, science, health, culture,
peace, and infrastructure they benefitted from but didn't contribute
to. After a lifetime of contributing, they too can retire in less than
abject poverty. The modern economy also encourages and benefits from
worker mobility, which decouples kids from their parents. It's a
reasonable deal, unless you run out of young people to play the game.

Curious: hedonistic middle-agers, who have enjoyed free love without
responsibility, are not leaving behind enough kids to pay for their
old age.

I'm not sure of the current state of savings and debt--I haven't done
the work recently, and the most popularly cited stats for these are
completely invented and bear little resemblance to the true state.
'Savings' rate, for example, is based on _estimated_ income minus
_estimated expenses_, and does not include home equity--the typical
household's greatest asset. Is beer an expense, or an asset?

Depends on whether you account for it before of after it's drunk.

I do notice that people in general have two and three of things we
could barely afford one of 20 years ago (TVs, cars, music systems),
are eating out, and see no evidence of bread lines, or people eating
less meat because it's too dear (as we once did).

When I was a kid in New Orleans, we had to eat shrimp because meat was
too expensive.

John

 

[John Larkin]

Then you haven't been around any reasonably sized city. There are
food pantries, soup kitchen. and other non profit groups to help the
homeless, and others get enough food to stay alive. Most of these are
run by churches in that area. I know of at least three church run food
charities in my town, alone. There is another group called "Share" that
buys the basics in bulk, and if you are a member and in decent health,
you have to volunteer at their warehouse to break down the skids of food
into individual packages. Another group, "Veterans and family services"
is a non profit that helps Veterans and their families when they fall
through the cracks, and can't get help from the VA. I support that
group, being a disabled Veteran, myself.

For every truly needy person, there are roughly four lazy bums who
take advantage of the situation, not to mention the well-paid captains
of the Poverty Industry.

When they have food giveaways in Oakland, leather and fur-clad people
pull up in BMWs to get their free blocks of cheese.

Most of the "homeless" here are youngish white males. I've never seen
a Chinese panhandler in a town that's 30% Chinese.

John


John

 

[Joel Kolstad]

When I was a kid in New Orleans, we had to eat shrimp because meat was
too expensive.

Hmm... and here I would have thought that shrimp would actually be more
expensive than, e.g., chicken.

Not that I'm going to switch to be a vegetarian any time soon, but raising
chickens does make it quite obvious just how much more energy it takes to put
meat on the table rather than vegetables!

Compared to, e.g., 50 years ago, I suspect that food is now a much lower
percentage of peoples' incomes, whereas housing is *much* higher. Cars are
also higher, whereas stuff like TVs and stereos is much less.

 

[Eeyore]

Certainly not. I think it's wonderful for kids to take care of their
parents in old age, but note that this obligation is taken on
willingly, out of love for one's parents.

Are you suggesting all kids love their parents ? And if some didn't, would it be
fait that their parents suffered as a result ?

Compelling kids working today to pay for my retirement, by contrast,
is another matter.

It boils down to the same thing.

Graham

 

[James Arthur]

Are you suggesting all kids love their parents ?
No.

And if some didn't, would it be fair that their parents suffered as a result ?

Yes!! That's feedback--incentive for parents to raise good kids!

Besides, it's a false question--parents should save enough for their
own futures. That was the norm here a few decades ago, but now the
majority, banking blindly on Social Security, feel free to waste their
$$ on nonsense. They trust their retirements to the government, even
though they don't understand it. It's an act of faith. The fallacy
being that Social Security isn't a bank and there isn't anything in
it: it's a pay-as-you-go program.

It boils down to the same thing.

Graham

I don't see how, but I am mulling John's point--that it's repayment
for education & other benefits reaped.

Cheers,
James Arthur

 

[John Larkin]

Hmm... and here I would have thought that shrimp would actually be more
expensive than, e.g., chicken.

Fresh shrimp could be bought for 19 cents a pound, off pickup trucks
parked along the side of the road. That was before they refrigerated
them and loaded them onto 747 freighters bound for New York.

My wife grew up along the coast of Massachusetts, where they had to
eat lobster when funds were short.

Not that I'm going to switch to be a vegetarian any time soon, but raising
chickens does make it quite obvious just how much more energy it takes to put
meat on the table rather than vegetables!

Compared to, e.g., 50 years ago, I suspect that food is now a much lower
percentage of peoples' incomes, whereas housing is *much* higher. Cars are
also higher, whereas stuff like TVs and stereos is much less.

Yes, food is absurdly cheap in the USA. A hour's work at minimum wage
will buy 30+ pounds of potatoes, or five cheeseburgers.

John

 

[James Arthur]

Topology?

I'd love to say--it's fun--but alas, cannot.

Regretfully,
James Arthur

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

For every truly needy person, there are roughly four lazy bums who
take advantage of the situation, not to mention the well-paid captains
of the Poverty Industry.

When they have food giveaways in Oakland, leather and fur-clad people
pull up in BMWs to get their free blocks of cheese.

Most of the "homeless" here are youngish white males. I've never seen
a Chinese panhandler in a town that's 30% Chinese.

The groups around here make sure of the need. They have to see your
monthly bills, and your income before you can get help. They also share
information to keep people from using more than one food pantry at a
time. One of the largest charities is run by the Blessed Trinity
Catholic Church. They operate a thrift store called 'Brother's Keeper',
and have their food pantry in the same building. I see mostly elderly,
and homeless minorities going there when I make my pickups of donated
computer hardware. The only reason that they accept the equipment is
for my project. One of their volunteers heard about the project, and
made the arrangements. Over half of the equipment I get comes from
them, or their two schools.

My church also requires ID and records to prove need.

The Veterans food bank is handled by the local "Vets helping Vets"
office, outside the VA's jurisdiction. They gave me some food, and $20
for gasoline while I was waiting for my VA medical card. The day I got
my first disability check, I gave the money back.

I haven't had any dealings with the 'Share' group, but I have heard
that they also check for real need.

All of these programs are run by volunteers, except for the manager
of the thrift store.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

This will get the leftists weenies all in a twist and screw up their
image of me...

Screw'em.


The ONLY charity that I give money to is the St. Mary's Food Bank
Alliance... food and shelter for the homeless, and a Catholic
organization to boot ;-)

SO? You give it to a group that doesn't have a high overhead, and
squeezes every penny. I KNEW that there was some reason why I liked
you. ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Hmm... and here I would have thought that shrimp would actually be more
expensive than, e.g., chicken.

Not that I'm going to switch to be a vegetarian any time soon, but raising
chickens does make it quite obvious just how much more energy it takes to put
meat on the table rather than vegetables!

Compared to, e.g., 50 years ago, I suspect that food is now a much lower
percentage of peoples' incomes, whereas housing is *much* higher. Cars are
also higher, whereas stuff like TVs and stereos is much less.

20 years ago you could find a decent used car for $50. Now, junkers
are over $1000.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:59:56 -0700, John Larkin

[snip]

When I was a kid in New Orleans, we had to eat shrimp because meat was
too expensive.

John

Lobster was originally only fed to prisoners ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Bob Myers]

20 years ago you could find a decent used car for $50. Now, junkers
are over $1000.

TWENTY years ago? Mike, are you suffering from the same
problem I have - that what you're thinking of as "just 20 years
ago" is more like 30 or 40? I can't imagine what sort of
"decent used car" you would've found for fifty bucks in
1987, which, believe it er don't, IS now a full twenty years
ago!

Bob M.

 

[John Larkin]

20 years ago you could find a decent used car for $50. Now, junkers
are over $1000.

Anything that's less than 20 years old, and sctually runs, has an
engine control unit, a catalytic converter, a bunch of sensors, and
likely air bags that are worth $1000 in scrap value.

Besides, a year's insurance will cost a lot more.

John