It is the day after Easter and no matter how much I said I wouldn’t dip into the Easter candy, I did. I am embarrassed and in a sugar coma, so my mind is not working correctly at this time. As a result, I am having a hard time focusing on a single issue. Just looked at the calendar, it’s tax day! Did I get my taxes done and where did this large bowl of chocolate Easter eggs come from? What do chocolate Easter eggs have to do with my taxes? Are they tax delectable? Where was I, oh, yea, I’m having a problem focusing today so I have decided to make a few comments on several unrelated issues. Translated; I got nothing, so here goes.
SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES – If something you want or need is not in stock at your store, supply chain issues are usually to blame. It is the go to excuse for not being able to get something. The other day, my wife asked me to go out and get some insecticide so she could spray her roses to stop something called an aphid. I told her that the large box store probably didn’t have what she wanted because of the supply chain issues. I then cracked open a beer and went back to watching golf. Unfortunately for me, she already checked it out online and the product was in stock. Damn those “Made in America” companies, and I was too quick in opening the beer. It will be flat by the time I get back from the store.
When my tax firm was taking too long to get my taxes finished, I was expecting to hear it was caused by the supply chain issues and the person doing my taxes was stuck on a ship off the coast of Long Beach, California.
Even though it is getting better, our supply chain is still very slow. That is why I find it puzzling that the Governor of Texas decided to create a new supply chain crisis at his border with Mexico by stopping all trucks for an unnecessary inspection before coming into the country. As a result, a large amount of produce is rotting at the border. Haven’t we suffered enough? Starting a guacamole crisis is too much, and may start rioting in the streets, especially on Taco Tuesdays.
TAX DAY – Paying taxes is the price we pay for democracy and our freedoms. Just like doing jury duty or getting drafted into the military, because your dad didn’t have the money and political influence to buy off some doctor who made up a lame excuse for some poor little rich kid who didn’t want to serve their country…but I digress. I’m not bitter…much.
One of our responsibilities as a citizen is to help foot the bill for the basics for a country. Roads, services, a military (some more than others…still bitter), safe transportation, etc. Can’t pay those bills without the people pitching in. Problem is, many people feel like they are carrying a bigger load of the cost of our country than, let’s say…rich people and large corporations. Every year we are made aware of companies and people who make billions and pay absolutely no taxes. Does that seem fair? About as fair as the Dodgers buying all the talent available in free agency.
You would think that an excuse for not paying taxes is “I don’t make enough money.” In many countries that works. Here in the good old USA, the top excuse for not paying taxes is, “I make a ton of money.” That’s it.
That excuses people like the two richest people in the world Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, without explanation. Must have taken their accountants tens of seconds to figure that one out. Making too much money also excuses a bunch of monster, very profitable corporations. Does it say on their tax form that they need the money so they can send their rich friends and celebrities into space. Would it be harsh to say we hope it’s a one way ticket? Asking for a friend. (Still bitter)
COACHELLA AND STAGECOACH FESTIVALS – It’s that time of year again where thousands of people head out to the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, to spend a weekend or two, drinking, partying, doing drugs and enjoying their favorite bands at the Coachella Festival, then followed by the Stagecoach festival.
The Coachella Festival is where the biggest acts, that are not country, perform to about a quarter of a million people. It usually generates a lot of headlines about the acts that showed, the ones that didn’t show and the bad behavior of celebrities in attendance. Its main function is to screw up traffic in a 60 mile radius. People spend the whole weekend drinking it in (I mean “drink it in” literally), then getting out on the freeways. And you wonder why traffic is such a mess.
The StageCoach Festival is the week following the two weekends of Coachella. It is like a NASCAR race without the race. A bunch of motor homes, inappropriate flags, lots of drinking and no race cars. I wonder if those in attendance are disappointed when they find out Dale Earnhardt Jr., isn’t there. Considering how much alcohol is consumed, I’m sure they don’t even notice.
PRICE OF GAS – I would try to drive out to one of these annual festivals but the cost of gas has gotten too high. I am now forced to choose between paying for my life saving medications or driving out to stand in a crowd of 250,000 drunks. I guess I could give up food, for like a month.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION – Thanks to Joe Biden, our roads are being improved and no matter where I turn, I run into orange cones and lane closures. Who cares if it’s creating high paying jobs and making our infrastructure safe, it’s making it difficult for me to get anywhere in a hurry. I know that I will appreciate it in a couple of years when a bridge I’m driving over doesn’t collapse and kill me and dozens of other people. But I’m in a hurry today.
I truly believe that someone is feeding my driving plans to CalTrans. It never fails, construction cones and lane closures pop on any freeway I take, even the ones they just reconstructed. Apparently, someone doesn’t want me to go to the Coachella Festival.
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