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A passed inspection is required for registration renewal. Proof of insurance has to be presented at the annual inspection and I've heard many people aren't able to show proper proof. Also, this is a smog test county so it could be that some of the cars have check engine lights that are on and they aren't able to get the check engine light fixed. A check engine light is an automatic inspection fail.
Higgenbotham wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 1:00 pmA passed inspection is required for registration renewal. Proof of insurance has to be presented at the annual inspection and I've heard many people aren't able to show proper proof. Also, this is a smog test county so it could be that some of the cars have check engine lights that are on and they aren't able to get the check engine light fixed. A check engine light is an automatic inspection fail.
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2 ... -says-hhs/Eviction rates are skyrocketing in Travis County, says HHS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 BY SETH SMALLEY
Eviction rates have shot up more than 250 percent of the average in the Austin area, according to Travis County Health and Human Services.
“We have been absolutely inundated with crisis applications,” Kirsten Siegfried, HHS chief deputy, told the Travis County Commissioners Court.
Siegfried said it took HHS six months to get through applications received in just the first two weeks.
“We have been barely able to attend to routine applications, so much so that – it truly pains me to say this out loud – we only finished processing all of those applications received in the first two weeks of March last month.”
Many of the evictions are driven by rising costs, relatively stagnant incomes and the lifting of the eviction moratorium in March, but November has seen an anomalous increase, even since the moratorium was lifted. Rents for one-bedroom apartments in Austin have risen 35 percent since 2019, compared to a mere 8 percent increase in wages.
The number of county households considered “housing cost-burdened” – or households which spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities – has increased 40 percent since 2019. In Travis County, 72,000 households are categorized this way.
“Households in this category cannot afford all that they need including transportation, health care, child care, and even food,” Siegfried explained. “A household that is severely housing cost-burdened is not stable; paying that percentage of your income on rent and utilities cannot be sustained.”
https://www.google.com/search?q=number+ ... unty+texasTravis County Households 491,531 (2020)
This would mean about 15% of households in this county are in an unsustainable situation.Higgenbotham wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:34 am The number of county households considered “housing cost-burdened” – or households which spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities – has increased 40 percent since 2019. In Travis County, 72,000 households are categorized this way.
“Households in this category cannot afford all that they need including transportation, health care, child care, and even food,” Siegfried explained. “A household that is severely housing cost-burdened is not stable; paying that percentage of your income on rent and utilities cannot be sustained.”
My wife and I are going to try to go over to this subdivision in the next few days and take some photos, then take some photos in this apartment complex for comparison. If we're able to do that, I'll try to post them.Higgenbotham wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 1:06 am The Christmas Light Indicator
Tonight while I was driving through my apartment complex, which I would characterize as lower middle class, it didn't take too long to realize that something seemed off this year. As the years have gone by here, I've noticed there are fewer and fewer Christmas displays on the apartment balconies, but it was always comforting to notice at least some. Being a week before Christmas and having been reminded repeatedly today that this is the Christmas season, I realized there was not a single one in sight. Besides the security lights, which are kind of dim anyway, the whole place was pitch black as far as the eye could see. Not even a lit Christmas tree could be seen through a window. So I decided to go off my usual path. I didn't cover the whole complex of 400 some apartments, but went out of my way to see if there was anything at all. I found 3. They weren't ostentatious but nonetheless there were signs of life. I've been here 17 plus years and would estimate that this same drive 17 years ago would have netted 20 or 25 displays, some beautifully done. Last year maybe 5 to 7. The numbers seem to steadily go down as the years have passed. I've also noticed this on July 4th and New Year's Eve. As the years have gone by, there are fewer and fewer indications of anybody celebrating with firecrackers or what have you. Finally, a year or two ago, I heard nothing on one of those holidays except dead silence.
Five miles down the road, there is a subdivision that has unique and beautiful million dollar plus homes. It would be interesting to go over there and take a look. My guess would be that there are the same number and quality of Christmas light displays as there were 17 years ago.
https://reason.com/2012/02/09/warren-bu ... ootlegger/Acemoglu et al. systematically examined companies that had corporate ties to Geithner, had executives who served with him on other boards, or had other direct relationships. They found that "the quantitative effect is comparable to standard findings" in Third World countries with weak institutions and higher levels of corruption. In other words, markets react to government actions in the U.S. the same way they do in a corrupt developing country. Crony capitalism pays, and the market knows it.
Higgenbotham wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 2:54 am Anyway, this is the piece of the article I found most interesting because it quantifies how corrupt things really WERE 14 years ago. It's miles worse now.
Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:48 amHe says homelessness is not something "that the Fed has all the tools for or anything like that." Perhaps the answer to the problem of homelessness is to stop using "all the tools."Q: Hi, Chair Powell. I'm wondering, are you planning to visit the homeless encampment that's near the Fed in Washington that you drive by? Have you been invited? And if you went, what would you be looking to learn there?
MR. POWELL: You know, frankly, I -- yes, I have not had a chance to do it yet, but -- I've been very busy, but I will visit. I don't want to visit at a time of a lot of media attention because I don't want that to be part of the story, but I will -- I will go visit when it's no longer a new story. And you know, I have -- I've met with homeless people many times -- a number of times, anyway, let's say -- and I think it's always good to talk to people and hear what's going on in their lives. What you find out is they're you. They're just us. I mean, they're -- these are people who in many cases had jobs and, you know, they have lives, and they've just -- they have just found themselves in this place.
It's a -- it's a difficult problem, though, you know. There are many, many facets of it. And I'm well aware that this is not something that the Fed has all the tools for or anything like that. But I will do that when the -- when the need arises and when it's not so much, you know, in the public eye.
Q: And is there anything specifically that you would be looking to learn there?
MR. POWELL: Not really. I mean, I think I know what I'll find there. I think you -- you connect with these people, and what you -- again, what you find is they're like you. That could be you. I mean, that could be your sister. That could be, you know, your kid. You always feel that way in that sort of an encounter, and you know, it just is -- it's an important thing to engage in, I think. And I think, you know, we bring that understanding into our lives and, frankly, into our work -- the work that we do, as well.
Yes, the homeless are just us. Except for some reason they weren't able to waddle up to the window for a bailout, or maybe they didn't want to. You have to know how to do the waddle. It's the most critical and in-demand skill in America.
A question one might ponder is whether billionaire Buffett believes that the 2008 bailouts were really for the benefit of 309 million Americans.Higgenbotham wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 2:54 am This article talks about Warren Buffett's role in putting the rape of the middle class into hyperdrive. You know, the folksy guy from Omaha who said the 2008 bailouts were really for the benefit of 309 million Americans ("We did it for you!").
But it doesn't explain his role entirely because it doesn't discuss Buffett's late night phone call in September 2008 to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen where he proposed how to structure TARP and the fact that the government ran with Buffett's suggestion, which was to give money directly to the banks. That hadn't been publicly revealed yet in 2012.