"Tis the Season to Go Broke

I love Christmas as much as anyone and I certainly hate to be The Grinch, but folks need to use a bit of self control during the Season.

Already, I am seeing people go somewhat insane with shopping fever, a condition that never ends well. Do not spend more than you can afford and try to stay away from credit. if you cannot pay cash, do not buy it,

We all would like nothing better than to give our loved ones whatever their hearts desire, but that is not possible. Those nasty old landlords, car dealers, finance companies and grocers just refuse to grant payment amnesty through the Holidays. They, Scrooge-like, want their money and, if you are honest, so do you. Most folks would not be happy if their employers stopped paying them for the Season.

Then, after New Year, come the bills. If you have used credit, you had best pay them immedieately, in full, or you begin dealing with interest, and you will never catch up, unless you grow very thrifty and disciplined. Start with those  assets and avoid insane spending and save yourself the grief..

The Christmas Season is fun and family and, for many, a deeply spiritual time You can enhit akk od these things without going broke. Junior may nit get that video gane he wants and may sulk a bit but, I'm sure he'll enjoy having a roof over his head next year.

Use your head and have a Merry Christmas..

Infrastructure

I am going to  be political for a moment. The Nation os literally, physically falling apart. Today, we are witnessing a major dam in California on the brink of collapse. All over America, dams, bridges, roads, buildings and airports are in pitiful condition.

I live in Brunswick, Ga., right on the Atlantic Ocean. This year we have had 2 tropical storms and a hurricane yet we have no emergency shelters or preparation procedures. This is not an uncommon situation.

The roads in many areas all over the Country are in sad condition. This not only makes them dangerous, it puts a lot of wear and tear, and thus expense, on your vehicle. Public buildings are often not maintained and have fallen into disgraceful and downright dangerous condition.

Bridges often have maintenance issues that have gone neglected for years. Airports and railways are not properly maintained.

When proper maintenance is not done on any structure 2 things happen. One, eventually, they break down. Two, when they finally break down, it costs a lot more to fix them than the maintenance would have cost.

Still, people refuse to vote through the tax increases needed to do the work. Yes, I said tax increases. You will not get the work done free. Congress and Trump are soon to do battle over his infrastructure bill because Republican congressmen are reluctant to spend a nickel. Local and State governments are even cheaper.

Often tax money is misspent and I hate seeing tax money wasted but, unless we do something, just traveling in America will become a dangerous procedure. Stop being penny wise and pound foolish and urge politicians at all levels to get busy and repair America.