Economy so bad in the USA - even bee hives get stolen!

[Busy Bee]

Bee hives?

Really?

Life is so tough in the US right now that you are thieving bee hives from each other.

"Beekeepers have always been concerned about theft"

What a country of thieves you are. Even if it's nailed down, and has just an ounce of value - it gets stolen.

This is what you get when you flush your economy down the toilet. Your quality of life goes with it.

================================== Honey Price Increases Lead to Jump In Beehive Thefts

DIXON (CBS13) ? The price of honey has jumped in the last decade, leading to a jump in beehive thefts.

That has beekeepers turning to technology to try and stop crooks from taking the hives.

Keepers like Phil Hofland hoping the latest technology will sting those thieves trying to make off with the valuable hives.

?You can come in here with a forklift and snag?I?ve seen people steal

30,000 to 50,000 in a half an hour,? he said.

Beekeepers have always been concerned about theft, and have long tried to develop ways to prevent that from happening.

But the age-old problem has a new remedy. Hofland now uses tiny GPS chips to track if one of his hives is stolen.

?If it gets moved, I get an email or a text on my phone immediately,? the Dixon beekeeper said.

Along with the chips, Hofland also brands his boxes in hopes of scaring away those who may look to swipe the hives.

?I look at it as if my boxes are marked really good and somebody else?s aren?t,? he said. ?Somebody has a choice between picking mine and somebody else?s, they are going to do that.?

[philoÂÂ]

Obviously you do not live in the US so I might was well fill you in on the true situation here.

Though your news reports mention that there are a lot of poor people here...an American is considered poor if they merely own one or two cars and have less than six TV sets.

The lowest caste of Americana are those unfortunate souls who in the summer must use room air conditioners rather than "central air".

Now don't get me wrong, I would not doubt that some people over here do have their servants steal bees from their neighbor's hives. But the poor here are mostly classified as poor from an ethical standpoint.

[RobertMacy]

Years ago, at a conference held in Europe regarding the increase in homeless population, the US representative lamented how the US poor people with no housing are now forced to live out of their cars. And another country's representative, practically stuttered while incredulously asking, "Your poor people own cars?"

[Stormin Mormon]

Where else to store the DVD and flat screen TV they watch every night?

[philoÂÂ]

But when he did not mention is that the car air-conditioners only have two settings.

[ChairMan]

It's all about perspective and we all know home boi ain't gotz any

[Home Guy]

Yes - sad isin't it?

Sad that the "american dream" of home ownership is slipping away from more and more of you.

================

Living in Your Car: No Longer Just for Bums March 02, 2012

By most standards, Jessica Spaulding has a successful life and career. The 31-year-old Californian splits her time between Long Beach, where she runs fundraising drives for public radio station KJazz 88.1, and San Diego, where she?s pursuing her master?s degree in accounting at National University. Because of her busy schedule, she decided to give up her posh apartment in Santa Monica. ?I work 50 to 60 hours a week and felt like I never saw it,? she says. These days, her housing is a little more humble. For the past five years, she?s lived in a 2007 Prius.

She realizes that public perception is that anybody living in a car must be doing so against their will, but she hopes that as upwardly mobile people such as herself increasingly go public, living in a vehicle will finally be seen ?as a viable option.?

Being homeless and a working professional are no longer mutually exclusive. A recent census by the Coalition for the Homeless reveals that among the current national homeless population, approximately 44 percent have jobs. Although the U.S. Census Bureau doesn?t keep records of the so-called vehicular homeless, there are informal estimates that up to 59.2% of homeless are living in cars or vans, the biggest percentage since the Great Depression?s ?Ford families.?

=================

American Dream Slipping as Homeownership at 18-Year Low

2013-07-30

The U.S. homeownership rate, which soared to a record high 69.2 percent in 2004, is back where it was two decades ago, before the housing bubble inflated, busted and ripped more than 7 million Americans from their homes.

==================

Americans living in cars - better than living in a cardboard box under a freeway overpass.

Until someone steals it and sells it to a scrap yard.

[nestork]

My sister sponsored a family from Ukraine to come to Canada (Winnipeg).

They were absolutely astonished that every year we have a "Rummage Day" here in Winnipeg where people can put out any rummage that's in good condition but unneeded and unwanted by the owner. They had my sister and brother-in-law driving around all day and evening collecting old computers, CRT style TV sets, lawn furniture, etc. etc. etc. To them, no one in their right mind would throw such stuff away if it still works.

In Ukraine, these people lived on the outskirts of a small city where their entire front and back yards were used to grow vegetables. They had no running water and an outhouse at the edge of their property. Their 19 year old son remembers that the most joyful day of his life was when his grandmother (who was working for my other sister as a "nanny") sent enough money back to Ukraine for his parents to buy him a bicycle.

There is truly "poor" and there is "western style poor". Poor people in the west (Europe and North America) go to food banks so that they have more money to spend on alcohol, drugs and gambling. The poor people in the west go to government agencies demanding they do something about the roaches in the government apartments they live in free of charge. The poor people in the west take taxis to go shopping for groceries and to job interviews because they know they will be reimbursed that expense by the government.

[Dean Hoffman]

Cut rest.

Stealing and such shows more about human nature than about a country's economy. One has to earn about $34,000/year to be in the top

1% richest in the world. (#24) Median household income is approaching $50,000 in the U.S. (#8) Reference: Carpe Diem site. 50 reasons we're living through the greatest period in world history.

[Home Guy]

You have to compare your income against hundreds of millions of Indian and Chinese peasants?

What exactly does that prove?

The reality which you choose to ignore is that by many measures, you are regressing.

Your wages, disposable income, personal net-worth, rate of home ownership, personal debt, even life expectancy are worse now than even a decade ago.

That you console yourselves by comparing your economic metrics with the entire world (which includes the perpetually-destitute peoples of africa, india and china) speaks volumes.

[CRNG]

On Fri, 14 Feb 2014 14:58:44 -0800, Oren wrote in

Our public service club did a food-basket handout to about 100 "needy" families this past December. Each family got about $200 worth of food and toys-for-tots but had to come to the distribution location for pick-up. I was amazed at how many showed up in less than 5 year old vehicles worth $15k or more. Several were late model SUVs worth much more.

I'm quitting that activity.

[Stormin Mormon]

Did most of them complain, and demand delivery?

[nestork]

For years I had a couple of tenants staying in one of my apartments.

They were from El Salvadore. He was a heavy equipment mechanic and she was a registered nurse. They were both making good money.

But, every year they applied for a free Christmas food hamper, which included a frozen turkey for their Christmas meal.

People from other countries just don't get the "it's only there for those who need it" philosophy. They figure if it's free, everyone else is going to ask for it, so why shouldn't they.

[Lab Lover]

I doubt is because they are immigrants, there are many narcissistic, selfish natural born people as well.

[Dean Hoffman]

Cut rest due to AIOE quotation limits.

True enough about our economy going downhill. We have the lowest percentage or eligible people working since the 1970s if I recall correctly. The point I was making is that the vast majority of us in the U.S. are still very well off. People aren't stealing to eat. It goes back to the common human conditions of greed, envy, laziness etc.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Not just from other countries. Plenty of home grown take advantage of that sort of thing.

People think it is OK to take "free" things as long as it is not their money or their families getting imposed on. People think it is OK to evade taxes because it is not like stealing, even though the rest of us must pay more. Big companies make a lot of money so it is OK to take advantage of them too. Padding insurance claims is acceptable, after all, we've paid lots of premiums.

I'm sure you have tenants that abuse utilities, appliances, whatever, because the landlord is making a lot of money from them.

[nestork]

No, actually, most people are pretty decent when it comes to reciprocating.

I've renovated my building, so my suites look much nicer than other 54 year old buildings, and yet my rents are actually lower than most of the

1960 vintage apartment blocks in my area. So tenants know they're getting a good deal and they reciprocate. They turn the lights off when they're not using the laundry room, they clean up laundry soap they spill, they tell me if there's an icy spot on the front or back steps so that I can put some salt on it, that kind of thing. Generally, what goes around comes around. If tenants feel they're getting a good deal from their landlord, they're willing to reciprocate by doing their part. Occasionally, I have to ask a male tenant to help me carry my snowblower up my basement steps, and they're always willing to do that. If they felt the landlord was screwing them as much as he could, they'd find an excuse not to help out.

It's usually the children of tenants who haven't matured and still have that "me" mentality. They'll pack the washing machine tight with clothing so as to save the $1.75 it would cost them to do a second wash load. That way they have that $1.75 their mom gave them for themselves.

[M.L.]

In the 1070s unemployment benefits were tax-free and unlimited.

[Home Guy]

That might have been true in the 1070's, maybe even the 1970's.

But the labor "participation rate", which we are talking about, is the fraction of all people who are eligible for work that are either (a) working or (b) looking for work. Looking for work includes all people collecting unemployment benefits. So the participation rate is not skewed by how lucrative or easy unemployment benefits are or have been in the past.

If you are not working, nor collecting employment benefits, but you are part of the demographic that is eligible to be working (something like being able-bodied and between the ages of 16 to 65) then you are deemed to not be participating in the labor force.

Now I don't know how they look at full-time students, or people collecting social-security disability (which is at record-high levels and growing month-to-month). Are those people also considered as eligible for participating in the labor force - but just like the people collecting unemployment insurance they (students and disabled) either want to work or are planning on working as soon as their temporary status has ended.

[Stormin Mormon]

Well, d'uh, in the 1070s, the north America was native, and there was no central government.