Poll: What do you do for a living?

2seaoat wrote:Yes, I remember that photo from the PNJ. What subject were you teaching when you did the professor thing?

It was 1976 and I had applications in at 25 colleges and junior colleges, but I was a white male......not the best time to apply in post secondary academia as mistakes of the past were going to be corrected.....so an economics, international relations, political science, and business instructor who was a white male was not going to have much luck finding a good position. I had written my thesis on Latin American economic integration and the role of trade associations in bringing economy of scales to the Chilean, Bolivian, and Colombian economies......I was living in Mexico and getting my ducks lined up for my doctoral program, when I had opportunities in business and changed my career path. I have had a full life and simply have no regrets. The guy upstairs guided me wisely from academia, and I am a firm believer in providence. I look forward to where it leads next, but I still enjoy what I studied so many years ago.

2seaoat wrote:Free trade is a tremendous wealth builder for the world. Fair trade is the goal. When you do not have fair trade, the economic dislocations can be artificial and manipulated by special interests and who can buy off protection for their sector. Tariffs and attention to currency details are the solution.

In America at a time we promoted free trade, our internal tax policies did not support our industry, nor did we give incentives to retain our industry. The Germans have shown that with high labor costs than America, they could retain their industry and expand manufacturing. It did not happen by accident. It took tax policy, training, and coordinated diligence in trade agreements and EU policies. The EU opened markets for Germany and they prospered because there internal policies were consistent.

In America we had the real estate industry exert too much influence over our tax code as American wealth was rewarded piling trillions into unproductive real estate investments while Americans were given a false sense of prosperity as our world comparative advantage in manufacturing was seriously harmed. NAFTA never was the problem.....it was the failure to match domestic tax policy with a trade policy, and to insulate our tax policies from counter productive special interests. Free Trade really works when it is fair......but what America is facing today is a rigged game.

2seaoat wrote:PKR thinks that when I talk about government guidance it is socialism, and in fact in Germany it is socialism by all accounts, but in the absence of a governmental policy which is in sync with private industry as dictated by the tax code, you have economic chaos.....which is bad enough, but you can have those special interest groups attacking and sacking an economy in the midst of Chaos.....and then argue that any government attempt to put Americans first is socialism......pure insanity, and hard to have an intelligent conversation when dogma and platitudes deny common sense solutions. Trade Associations and economic laws are complex and often counter intuitive. The Sarah Palins of this world have been given the stage to spew nonsense, while Mitch Daniels quietly and competently runs the state of Indiana with real economic knowledge, we have somebody like Mitt Romney who has leveraged the chaos to his advantage, and now is the figurehead for those who promote trade chaos.....despite the false words he says.

VectorMan wrote:

It can be hard work for sure. Especially if you pull a flat bed trailer and the load has to be strapped down and/or tarped. I did NOT pull a flat bed.

I've been to places and seen things I would never have had I not drove a big truck. I drove from southern Minnesota to International Falls, MN in the middle of their worst snow storm in 50 years. I would nave have done that if I wasn't trying to make a delivery. It was white knuckle driving even going just 10 mph on the interstate.

I also got a load of $40,000.00 worth of pennies from the US Mint in Philadelphia. I pulled up to this massive door, about 3 feet thick. Talked with someone on the intercom and they opened the door. I pulled into the inspection area and these two guys came out with mirrors on poles looking all under the truck and trailer, while the big door closed behind me. After they finished their inspection there was another massive door to go through and move below street level before I could "blind side" back the trailer into the dock.

TEOTWAWKI wrote:
I remember that place I could walk there in a few minutes. I only ate there once. The place I am remembering was a bit of a drive and looked like a hunting lodge. Sat off the road up on a bit of a hill. They also had a great steak. I took pictures but I think the ex got all of them. It was a two story building.

Burlando is a major road in Kernville. and winds back up too the left as you enter the town.

Here's a song I sang and used pictures from out there to assemble a video.

Ghost_Rider1 wrote:

riceme wrote:
Never had a job I didn't love.

It's not a job if you don't love it, it then becomes a chore. You know the old saying, "Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life."

2seaoat wrote:PKR thinks that when I talk about government guidance it is socialism, and in fact in Germany it is socialism by all accounts, but in the absence of a governmental policy which is in sync with private industry as dictated by the tax code, you have economic chaos.....which is bad enough, but you can have those special interest groups attacking and sacking an economy in the midst of Chaos.....and then argue that any government attempt to put Americans first is socialism......pure insanity, and hard to have an intelligent conversation when dogma and platitudes deny common sense solutions. Trade Associations and economic laws are complex and often counter intuitive. The Sarah Palins of this world have been given the stage to spew nonsense, while Mitch Daniels quietly and competently runs the state of Indiana with real economic knowledge, we have somebody like Mitt Romney who has leveraged the chaos to his advantage, and now is the figurehead for those who promote trade chaos.....despite the false words he says.

TEOTWAWKI wrote:
Well thank you..I always enjoyed Bobby Darins tunes...All I got is a mike plugged into a laptop as my recording studio so I can't help a lot of the distortion and noise..but I still like remembering those guys..you know what they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

It was beautiful country alright..far more than I could absorb ....everywhere I looked was a new and beautiful work of art....Also I was surprised at how cheap it was to live in Kernville..My apartment was only 500 a month...I saved a bundle...

TEOTWAWKI wrote:Well I was thinking i was too old to be venturing into places I am not familiar with but someone posted a story about a guy 74 that just died rappelling down a drop of only 30 feet. Seems his fellow hiker/climber couldn't get him loose and he just hung there and died...well I am substantially younger than him so who knows maybe I will do the Colorado river someday..I definitely never even thought about doing the Kern river..That thing kills everyone !

hallmarkgrad wrote:Rolling one in. All ways an exciting time. Another guy and I usually operated the winch..........Retired now

hallmarkgrad wrote:Long line Fishing boat for Alaska..

When the partners in Alaskan Leader Fisheries in Seattle decided to add a third freezer-longliner to their fleet, they thought about purchasing an older boat and refitting it. After considering the inventory within the relatively small fishery, however, the group opted to build a new boat.
“One of the earmarks of the freezer-longliner sector is that a lot of the boats — I would say 60 percent of the vessels—are 45 to 50 years or older,” says Nick Delaney, Alaskan Leader’s president.
“They are still operating probably ten vessels that were built for World War II service, and there are actually a couple of boats built in the 1930s. They’re really way past any attempts of making suitable in terms of safety or technology.”
With the decision to build a brand-new boat, Alaskan Leader collaborated with Jensen Maritime Consultants of Seattle to design the 124-foot Bering Leader. After choosing Patti Shipyard, of Pensacola, Fla., as the builder, the group flew Frank Patti Jr., the shipyard’s president and Ashley Stone, the yard’s naval architect, to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to inspect its two other longliners.
Patti Shipyard specializes in one-off vessels but had never built a longliner. “So we learned a lot. Nowhere near everything, but more than we knew before we left,” says Stone, who directed the construction of the new boat, the Bering Leader.
The boat was designed and built with a single-minded emphasis on operational efficiency. “The days of the big buffalo hunt are kind of over and now it’s more like, ‘What do you have in the bank account at the end of the year?’” says Delaney.
To enhance the Bering Leader’s bottom line, the group installed a Mustad Autoline system and a single engine with the prop in a nozzle, instead of the twin-screw open wheels that power its other two boats.