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1 hour ago, weathafella said:

Opinion.   Now some anecdotal information.   I have 3 kids.  My oldest 2 did not go to college.   But they worked from an early age and are each making more $$ than I ever made-hint-my retirement income is probably higher than most people’s regular on this bb so that’s no small statement.  My youngest worked from hs, opened up a Roth with her part time job in college, started a portfolio on he own.   Boomers and every other generation teach by example.  I worked really hard for 50 years.   But each of my kids was not allowed to sit around and do nothing.  Nor did they want to.    Generational blaming is pointless.

My daughter has her own Mom and Pop online and brick and Mortar boutique making 6 figures.  My son has his own online woodcarving shop making the same my other son is an electronic engineer. My step kids are all gainfully employed making good money.  For a Boomer parent that's not bad. Its hard to paint broad brushes on any generation. I will say when I employed over 30 people the younger ones made the most excuses. But I also had some excellent young employees. 

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10 minutes ago, bch2014 said:

I haven’t really seen much of an issue with chain restaurants forcing local spots to close. Reality (absent of Covid restrictions) is that Americans eat out more than ever so everyone, both chain and mom & pop, can get a piece of the pie. 
 

I do agree that Mom and Pop grocery stores and the like are failing...But I think Wal Mart, Target, etc are misplaced villains in that fight. But whatever, I’m just a shill for big retail/CPG. The company to criticize for decimating retail in truly small/economically depressed areas is Dollar General. 

Dollar General is everywhere.  There are 2 in the small city near me, population 9500. Plus one in our town and one on the neighboring town on the other side.  4 within an 8-10 mile stretch.

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1 hour ago, weathafella said:

Here masks outdoors have stopped as I mentioned a few days ago.  I was walking the dog and had a pile of poop in a bag and a rare masked individual wanted to play with the dog-a woman in her 70s.  She was masked because she was working in the building she came out of and was checking something in her car parked on the street.   Out of courtesy I reached for my mask in my pocket but she says-no need to put on your mask-   Wow what a change!

That’s great!

Cambridge still hasn’t gotten the message 

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3 minutes ago, mreaves said:

Dollar General is everywhere.  There are 2 in the small city near me, population 9500. Plus one in our town and one on the neighboring town on the other side.  4 within an 8-10 mile stretch.

Everywhere.  Great business model, prices cheaper than Walmart and in and out. I love their Italian bread vendor here. I get coffee, cereal, milk, dog snacks, bread, butter and other medicine there. I hate Walmart and they are just down the road a couple miles. 

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50 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Last week we had people going to the mat to defend the honor of Big Pharma, this week we have people arguing it's a good thing when Wal-Mart and Texas Roadhouse push out all the small shops and restaurants from a town (more variety and lower prices!).

It's almost as if some people reflexively take the opposite position from what they actually believe just because it's me on the other side of the debate. :) 

I didn’t see anyone arguing it’s a good thing?  People seemed to acknowledge why it happens?

Its definitely a bad thing to lose local businesses.  Pretty easy to see how they can’t stay competitive too.

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15 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

My daughter has her own Mom and Pop online and brick and Mortar boutique making 6 figures.  My son has his own online woodcarving shop making the same my other son is an electronic engineer. My step kids are all gainfully employed making good money.  For a Boomer parent that's not bad. Its hard to paint broad brushes on any generation. I will say when I employed over 30 people the younger ones made the most excuses. But I also had some excellent young employees. 

That’s awesome Ginxy.  Transitioning to online and adapting to the evolving business environment. Nice work dude.

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6 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

:lol: If Phin is involved the discussion gets serious in a hurry.  Yesterday when MIA, the discussion in this thread was pages about baseball trading cards from the 1990s, lol. 

Speaking of baseball cards. My mother cleaned and organized the attic circa 1965 or so.   She threw away my baseball card collection including my fence busters Milwaukee Braves 1958 featuring Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Del Crandall, Joe Adcock.

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2 hours ago, weathafella said:

Opinion.   Now some anecdotal information.   I have 3 kids.  My oldest 2 did not go to college.   But they worked from an early age and are each making more $$ than I ever made-hint-my retirement income is probably higher than most people’s regular on this bb so that’s no small statement.  My youngest worked from hs, opened up a Roth with her part time job in college, started a portfolio on he own.   Boomers and every other generation teach by example.  I worked really hard for 50 years.   But each of my kids was not allowed to sit around and do nothing.  Nor did they want to.    Generational blaming is pointless.

In my experience, with our kids and the grandkids, 2-3-year-olds want to help, enthusiastically, just to be part of the action.  Their "help" tends to slow things down though assigning age-appropriate tasks can get around that somewhat.  Telling them to go play with their toys instead of letting them be involved is squandering a golden opportunity IMO.  Kids that get to help at age 3 are a lot more likely to be willing to help at age 13. 

My company is hiring electrician apprentices right out of high school at $15-17/hr. 2 years later when you reach the state mandated hours and get your license you will start out around $30-35/hr. Electricians with 10+ years experience are making $50-60+/hr with endless overtime available. 

This reminds me of the joke I heard years ago about a doctor getting some plumbing work done.  When he saw the bill he exclaimed, "That's more than I charge!"
"I know.  I used to be a doctor."

And seeing those electrician rates reminds me, again, that anyone choosing a forester career for the money is a fool.  With a BS and 45 years experience, most as chief forester for a half-million-acre-plus landbase, I haven't reached the starting-license electrician pay yet.  OTOH the benefits are good, I love my work and we're never in doubt about having food on the table.  We are blessed.

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50 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

:lol: If Phin is involved the discussion gets serious in a hurry.  Yesterday when MIA, the discussion in this thread was pages about baseball trading cards from the 1990s, lol. 

He’s an engineer. He can’t help himself, it’s in his blood. I’ve known a lot of them in my life and most have the same personality. 

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Just now, WhitinsvilleWX said:

He’s an engineer. He can’t help himself, it’s in his blood. I’ve known a lot of them in my life and most have the same personality. 

Ask an engineer if the glass is half full or half empty and the answer will be "The glass is twice as big as it needs to be."

Referring back to that county startups table - Cumberland County, Maine?  The richest county in the state?  Androscoggin (Dryslot) might tell a different story and Franklin even more different.

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5 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

Everywhere.  Great business model, prices cheaper than Walmart and in and out. I love their Italian bread vendor here. I get coffee, cereal, milk, dog snacks, bread, butter and other medicine there. I hate Walmart and they are just down the road a couple miles. 

And at least in this area, all the small stores that sold general merchandise  were gone before they came in. Walmart was late here too. I don’t care for Walmart with but by the time the got here, finding affordable general merchandise was difficult in a lot of small towns. Face it, I’m not buying underwear and socks from a chi-chi boutique. 

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