KS credit rating downgraded (Center, Denver: subsidized, utilities, income)

[denverian]

Originally Posted by KC_Sleuth

Had the house and yard in the suburbs...didn't enjoy the maintenance. Sold it last year. Didn't want that lifestyle anymore. Don't want kids. There are plenty of people who decide they don't want families, or would like to raise them in the city.

Funny thing about KC is that people think that "moving on up" is moving to the suburbs. I grew up in a relatively wealthy household, and we lived in a bigger old home in a walkable, urban/city neighborhood up in the northeast...not in the suburbs. The trade-off is that we had to attend expensive private schools rather than city schools, but it was worth it to be in the neighborhoods we were in. I find in KC that the suburbs are mostly middle class. The real wealth lives in the $1M+ houses/condos on Ward or along Brush Creek.

Yeah, if you had the cash, you could live in a mansion and still walk to the Plaza. I could deal with that.

I just hate getting in the car for much of anything. Some people view cars as freedom. I view them as prisons. Spending 45 min. in my car in traffic to get home from work is not quality time. It's time I could have spent with my kids, or doing something active and healthy

[MoNative34]

Originally Posted by s.davis

How does he get to and from there? A car that he bought

Does he have electricity? And he pays the bill

Gas? Gas lines are rare in a place like that.

Water? Either he has a well or rural water in which he would be billed.

Electric? You need to ask twice?

Does he use gasoline at all? He buys it and pays a gas tax that fund the roads, so he's paying in, so no "subsidy".

Who comes if he calls 911? That's part of his property tax bill.

Who protects his right to own property? He does.

Who what prevents his upstream neighbor from dumping poison into the water, or burning their land and letting the fire sweep onto his property, or spraying their crops or pasture or woods with toxic chemicals tht blow onto his land? What does that have to do with subsidies?

Who can he turn to if somebody tresspasses/robs his house to redress his grievances? Again, his property tax bill, so he pays.

How did he buy it? With money/bank notes/loans? Or did he barter for it? What does that have to do with subsidies.

Does he get social security? What does location have to do with that?

etc.

I think you meant "not subsidized in any way that I acknowledge."

I think your jumping through hoops with nonsense.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by kcmo

KC would be okay to move back to someday. I'm just not ready for the slow pace of life there again and honestly I'm not sure I ever will desire that lifestyle again

I managed to escape the KC lifestyle. It just took some religious therapy and re-programming of my brain

There's one odd thing about KC that I can never decide if I'm right about. But natives seem to be whiners and complainers. And they love to complain about other people's complaining. It even comes through in the KC Star Letters to the Editor. Is that a thing? Or is it just me? Wait... am I complaining about people's complaining?

[MoNative34]

Originally Posted by denverian

There's one odd thing about KC that I can never decide if I'm right about. But natives seem to be whiners and complainers. And they love to complain about other people's complaining. It even comes through in the KC Star Letters to the Editor. Is that a thing? Or is it just me? Wait... am I complaining about people's complaining?

There are a lot of things that I like about KC, but I've noticed the same thing you have. I work in the same industry here as I did in KC with the same income bracket. I think about my coworkers there versus my coworkers here. It is like night and day. My coworkers are happier and more energetic and fun to work with. In KC, they were always griping about their fat, lazy spouse, their kids, and their bills or whatever their latest drama story was. If they weren't griping, they were talking about watched on television the night before.

I know... I know.... Someone's likely to chime in and say they've met so many great people. My point is that seeing such a major difference in personality between two different metros with the same population is pretty difficult to ignore.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

There are a lot of things that I like about KC, but I've noticed the same thing you have. I work in the same industry here as I did in KC with the same income bracket. I think about my coworkers there versus my coworkers here. It is like night and day. My coworkers are happier and more energetic and fun to work with. In KC, they were always griping about their fat, lazy spouse, their kids, and their bills or whatever their latest drama story was. If they weren't griping, they were talking about watched on television the night before.

I know... I know.... Someone's likely to chime in and say they've met so many great people. My point is that seeing such a major difference in personality between two different metros with the same population is pretty difficult to ignore.

It's almost more of a way to converse, than legitimate complaints. Odd.

Hopefully I dropped that trait along with my "Kan-City acc-cient" lol!

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by s.davis

How does he get to and from there?

Well, he didn't do a lot of to and from, because he was content to stay home and take care of his property. He always said "Oh, I can't get away...." but the truth is, he didn't want to get away. He loved where he lived. But he did have vehicles that he bought with his own money. And a tractor.

Does he have electricity?Yes. And it was there before he moved there. You have electricity too. He paid his bill.

Gas? Yes, propane tank. And he paid for the propane to fill the tank.

Water? Well water.

Electric? Didn't you ask that already? Yes, he had electricity and paid his bill.

Does he use gasoline at all? Yes. Don't you? He paid for gas. I don't recall it ever being given to him.

Who comes if he calls 911? I don't think he ever called 911. But he paid taxes, same as you. They had volunteer fire departments, and he was a volunteer.

Who protects his right to own property?

Again, he paid taxes, same as you. He has a right to own property, same as you. Don't Americans have a right to own property?

Who what prevents his upstream neighbor from dumping poison into the water, or burning their land and letting the fire sweep onto his property, or spraying their crops or pasture or woods with toxic chemicals tht blow onto his land?

His neighbors on all sides were his friends. They helped each other.

Who can he turn to if somebody tresspasses/robs his house to redress his grievances?

His neighbors. They watched out for each other. He never had any problems that he needed someone to "redress his grievances."

How did he buy it? With money/bank notes/loans? Or did he barter for it?

He paid cash with money he earned.

Does he get social security?

No, he died in 2010. He got Social Security, the same as you will. Social Security is not an entitlement. He worked and paid into social security, the same as you and I do.


I think you meant "not subsidized in any way that I acknowledge.

bull crap. He paid for electricity and gas. He bought gasoline. He paid taxes. He paid into Social Security. No one subsidized anything.

.

[SPonteKC]

Like I said..."he didn't get any subsidies that you acknowledge."

And it seems like maybe you are so brainwashed that you don't even realize what is subsidized in this country.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

I think your jumping through hoops with nonsense.

Originally Posted by luzianne

.

Tried to rep both of you and failed....many good posts preceded these, I guess.

That you even responded shows that your patience far exceeds mine. Nonsense indeed.

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

I think your jumping through hoops with nonsense.

Well, those are all things that are HEAVILY subsidized. Nonsense is willfully pretending that "buying a car" is the same as "paying for he cost of auto travel"

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

Tried to rep both of you and failed....many good posts preceded these, I guess.

That you even responded shows that your patience far exceeds mine. Nonsense indeed.

See above. Pretending that rural lifestyles are mystically "self-sufficient" and in no way benefit from/are made possible by the layers upon layers of systems that subsidize lifestyle choices in this country (and have since before its inception) is not only folly and bluster, its dangerously out of touch with the basic realities of society.