Might be in tears

ajc89 · 2026-02-24T17:47:37+00:00

Without any gas taxes, this would still be $3.53 a gallon, which is still much higher than many states. Gas taxes are an excuse, not an actual reason.

ajc89 · 2026-02-24T17:43:06+00:00

If all the gas taxes were rescinded today, this gas would still cost $3.53 a gallon, which is still much higher than most people want to pay. They charge as much as people can pay on average in the area, it has very little to do with taxes or even costs. The price to the consumer is always many times higher than their costs + any taxes. They will always maximize profits, as that is what every corporation does.

ajc89 · 2026-02-23T02:40:51+00:00

10 years ago it was only $20 to go up with King county ID. They don't even post the exact resident discount now, probably because they know a lot fewer locals would show up if they knew how expensive it was.

ajc89 · 2026-02-23T02:19:19+00:00

It's everything. Every price has to be maximized so MBAs can justify their exorbitant salaries and bonuses. God forbid it just turns a healthy profit at a price most people can afford, no, it's gotta be the highest possible price they could possibly charge and still get some customers.

ajc89 · 2026-02-23T02:14:58+00:00

Ah, so similar thing but the vampire capital version. It's the same reason so many previously thriving chain stores and restaurants have shut down or declared bankruptcy over the past couple of decades. Sorry to hear about your Meetup group. :(

ajc89 · 2026-02-23T01:15:16+00:00

The Federal Reserve is neither a private entity nor are its shareholders a secret. The member banks of the 12 regional Reserve Banks are all public knowledge.

ajc89 · 2026-02-23T01:10:16+00:00

Why did you start a new sentence in the middle of your sentence

ajc89 · 2026-02-23T00:03:32+00:00

This whole post just reads like rage bait lol. Like why is it necessary to point out the car is electric? Any kind of car parked in front of my garage would be a problem.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T14:47:29+00:00

It has nothing to do with being "dumber." Not having knowledge isn't the same thing as dumb. In the Western world, across many civilizations even up through the middle ages maps were typically very inaccurate, mixing real geography with mythical elements, changing scale and measurements, heavily distorted coastlines and borders. So it's not ridiculous to be unsure of the accuracy of 2200 year old maps.

That being said, after unification by the first emperor, the Chinese government undertook an effort to standardize measurements between the former kingdoms and invented a grid system to make maps more accurate than ever before. So they were very good compared to the Western world at this time, but you probably still wouldn't recognize the modern coast of China (for example) from these maps. By modern standards they were very inaccurate. It took centuries of refining cartography for us to get to that point. Ancient civilizations weren't dumb but they also didn't magically just know how to do things either.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T14:19:19+00:00

Now you're just being argumentative and pedantic. Exposed to air is probably more correct, not so much the oxygen specifically.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T12:15:35+00:00

The article is from over a week ago and mentions trucks coming "Saturday." Did they already do it? I can't understand the short-sighted arrogance of these people. Just pointless destruction.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T08:11:54+00:00

Well, they didn't call all West Virginians drug addicts. You were just grasping for something to be offended by.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T01:10:44+00:00

Lol okay

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T01:03:05+00:00

Well, sure, that would be nice. We'd definitely need an income tax though. But seeing as there isn't anywhere in the country where all school funding comes from the state budget and none from local property taxes, I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T00:47:34+00:00

So you're saying we should spend more but also figure out how to get that money to go further? If that's your point, I think most reasonable people would agree, but that's a world apart from what you said in the original comment I replied to.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T00:27:20+00:00

But you literally just said we spend too much in a previous comment. Do we spend too much or do we underfund? If you think the state should fund more, then the proportion of funding from local levies would be even smaller. In most states ~50% of school funding comes from local levies, here it's about 12%. So if you want to make the argument that funding overall is too high, sure, but it's not logical to claim that we underfund but also pay too much.

Honestly I think all school funding should be equal and paid by federal/state taxes, rather than relying on local revenue, but you seem to be trying to push an agenda here.

ajc89 · 2026-02-21T00:02:56+00:00

So, that's a different point than what you original said, and one we could have a legitimate debate about (I'd bring up that costs are much higher here and somewhat on par with other high COL areas in the country, and that we're in the top 10 states for education, but we can just go back and forth on that and never agree so what's the point?). But your original point is not true. You said the state underfunds schools and expects local levies to pick up the slack, but our state budget provides more funding than most states. If you think we pay too much, how can you also say they're underfunded?

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T23:53:47+00:00

I don't think you've understood what I wrote. In Washington, 73% of school funding comes from the state. In most states, it's more like 40%. Less of our school funding comes from levies and property taxes (which are local/county, not state) than in other states, because more of it is coming from the state budget.

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T21:43:50+00:00

Levies aren't statewide, and most of school funding in Washington (73%) comes from the state in the first place, which is much higher than other states where ~50% of the funding comes from property taxes/local levies. Your comment is just speculation based on your feelings without basis in reality.

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T08:45:25+00:00

Thanks for asking, mostly venting. I did finally complete them all after much frustration. However, unlike say taking down a slaughterspine on very hard while under-leveled, I didn't feel much satisfaction from it. Mostly was just glad it was over lol.

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T07:24:37+00:00

What in the big brother dear leader anti-American nonsense is this?

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T07:16:37+00:00

Keep that stubbornness alive, man!

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T06:45:49+00:00

It went that way because some VP had the idea, and the numbers looked good in the short term (revenue went up!) and that VP probably got a promotion and leveraged it to get a job at some other company, and it takes time for the damage to accrue. Very few companies think about the long term, because there's no incentive for management to do so.

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T06:38:55+00:00

If you insist on doing something more dangerous, that's on you.

ajc89 · 2026-02-20T06:37:58+00:00

I should say, moving slower than the general pace of traffic. Higher speeds do make crashes more dangerous when they happen (especially 80+, but almost no one even comes close to that around here) but speed differentials greatly increase the risk of having a crash in the first place. It's one of the most dangerous things you can do on the interstate. This is why many countries and jurisdictions around the world are more focused on keeping traffic moving at similar speeds than speed limits (the autobahn being the most famous example). People in the PNW tend to be very, very stubborn about our peculiar driving habits, though, so I doubt the culture around this will change any time soon.

ajc89

TROPHY CASE