Why wood prices are going up

[Silvan]

Dad and I just read the Popular Mechanics article talking about how the FAA is relaxing restrictions, and how many cheap airplanes are out there now... :)

It's sort of exciting, and gets the ol' daydream motor running. OTOH, he went through a flying thing back when I was in high school. He eventually lost interest because there are almost no VFR days, and the other members of the club he joined were having to ditch the plane, rent cars and drive home (then drive back for the plane) in order to avoid getting stuck for some unknowable time in BFE.

I've been looking at the sky and thinking about this since then, and he's right. Not that it really matters to me anyway. $40,000 might as well be $500 quadrillion for all the likelihood that I could come up with it.

[Andrew Barss]

: In general, I agree with most of the Republican platform - smaller : government

The federal government is larger under the Bush Jr. administration than under any administration since Johnson.

: stronger military

What do you think about the huge cuts in veteran benefits that occurred last spring?

-- Andy Barss

[Andrew Barss]

: The concept of fighting wars, even broad ones against terrorism, away from : these shores if possible, is a good one. Sure, it cost's money, lots of it, : and lives ... but a damn sight fewer of _our_ women and children are lost : that way. How soon you forget.

Give one fully documented reason to think that if we hadn't invaded Iraq, any American woman or child (or man, for that matter) would have died as a result of Iraqi actions. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is increasing evidence that any WMD were destroyed in the early

1990s. There is no evidence for the procurement of nuclear weapons-grade uranium by Hussein. Etc. Al Quaeda tried to kill Hussein, not bond with him. And so on.

Hundreds of patriotic soldiers have died in a war that was based on lies. Anyone who really cares about US safety, and the strength and morale of our troops, should be appalled. Every single soldier who died in the Iraq war, and in the phenomenally bungled postwar situation, died in vain.

-- Andy Barss

[Gfretwell]

I looked at the OPM site and another downsizing site. The US Civil service is about 2 million today. That is also about what it was during early Bush 1. It had been on a downsizing trend in the 90s but 9-11 and the TSA added 160,000 people.

[Gfretwell]

We attacked Iraq so Israel wouldn't have to.

[todd]

major snippage

Away, troll...don't come around here and go spouting off with your facts. Most people here like it better when you just say it's due to the Bush administration's lack of a national lumber policy or that probably Haliburton is controlling the price of wood pulp on the Board of Trade. We don't want to hear about exchange rates and forest fires.

todd

[clutch]

I have to drive 33 miles, up hill both ways, to get to work ;)

Wes

[Charlie Self]

Renata notes:

Lewt' not attritubte to me that which is not mine. I said that drug companies screwed the consumer. The rest of it was someone else's take.

I'd love to know, too. Kind of like why I can get my VIoxx shipped in from NZ for $132, while the same prescrip costs 3 times that here in the states, with shipping.

Charlie Self

"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft." Theodore Roosevelt

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

That's why I'm going halves. While it's still money, 20-25k is more in my ball park. I've done business dealings with the other guy before, so the partnership detail is easy. My wife and I have become accustomed to living below our means, so stuff like this is now possible.

I've taken lessons on and off for years, as has the other guy. I was previously renting aircraft @ $65-70 wet, plus about $25 for the instructor, per hour. A twenty year old aircraft doesn't depreciate very fast, so we could own it for a few years, maintain it, and still sell it for a decent price should we choose to. Owning the thing will allow both of us to build hours for much less money after soloing.

My partner used to think a plane was expensive compared to other motorized toys until he rammed one of his boat out drives into some rocks. = 8^( After that, he sat down and really did the math. Once you buy the boat, maintain it, fuel it, launch or slip it, buy SeaTow insurance, etc... It's not all that different.

Barry

[Silvan]

Agreed. $60 a freaking PILL?! For 15 cents worth of chemicals.

IME so far, the boomers aren't going anywhere until they die. I don't know anybody who has the slightest illusion of being able to retire.

The whole stock market thing didn't help either. Dad, for example, lost almost all of his retirement money to the downturn. At best, he can't retire until things pick back up, and more practically he's figuring on working until at least 10 years after his death.

[Doug Winterburn]

Well, now you do :-)

I was stung, moved to cash before the biggest hit, moved back to the market early this year and am mostly recovered from the market hit. You gotta pay attention to what's going on and act rather than simply watching and shrugging your shoulders.

-Doug

[Charlie Self]

Silvan responds:

Fits my profile, except I may have to go 15 years after death.

Charlie Self

"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft." Theodore Roosevelt

[GeeDubb]

Unfortunately, Israel would most likely have gotten their target with fewer casualties......

We missed Bin Laden and Saddam.

Gary

[GeeDubb]

Me speakith before researchith....... The employment figures were discussed on one of the network news broadcasts a few weaks back. I don't remember which one. And of course, the media is always correct in what they report .

When I get more time I'll try searching for more info.

Now to post a question elsewhere on a woodworking issue.

Gary

[Silvan]

IIRC, under the new rules you only need 20 hours anyway. :)

More to it than hours though. Dad had 100 hours, and I don't know how many solos, but he failed the flight test two or three times. He always failed before he had even gotten off the ground. He was a skillful, natural pilot, but he couldn't get the pre-flight technicalities down pat.

He had to stop flying when I wrecked Mom's car, back in high school. He never has gotten back into it, which has been the subject of much guilt for the last 15 year or so. ;)

Depends on what kind of boat you get too. Around here we have lakes, not oceans. Sea faring vessles are a whole 'nother ballgame, but even bass boats can really set you back. One of my neighbors is a 22-year-old kid with the right good ol' boy connections to luck into a primo job. He makes as much money as I do, has no wife, no kids, no house, no rent (lives with his parents) and a $40,000 bass boat.

I'd rather have an airplane.

But really, if I had $40,000 to spend, I'd want a huge ass shop chock full of big, three-phase power toys. :)

[Gfretwell]

The problem is if this war had been started by Israel it would end up being WWIII. We would certainly be backing them and that would put us squarely against a billion muslims. With us starting the war, citing 9-11 we had some small plausible deniability that it was another crusade. Don't get me wrong, I still think this whole thing was a dumb idea. Another war without an exit strategy any no clear objectives.

[CW]

[Silvan]

Probably true, but boats, planes, motorcycles, they're all three toys only for the suicidally reckless.

[Silvan]

Yeah, well, I can't even worry about it at this point. I have -$130,000 so far, and I need at least $500,000 for retirement. Yeah, right.

[Morgans]

-- Is there no way that you can keep yourself from using this newsgroup as a place to vent on politics? At least mark it with OT