Ok, last post here because yeah the constant liberal bashing is beyond tiresome. I get it, liberals have ruined everything in the country and they are horrible, cool got it. Man and you wonder why ladies rarely post on Pinside, good lord, y'all make me uncomfortable to be here I can't imagine how they feel. Now to make one more post then run from the hate:
Quoted from IdahoRealtor:
I dont know about that. High sales tax. High state income tax. High fuel costs. High utility cost. Day care and private school outrageous. Wages for contractors and all types of service people are high. Permit fees and trafic fines outrageous. Insurance costs high. Vehicle registration is a small fortune; $600 for my Silverado this year. Seems to me we get bent over on just about everything.
So this is not all directed at you, but I'll speak generally. What we did is leverage the one thing California has more of that just about any other state, sunshine. Eight years ago we got solar panels for a total cost of $0. Yup, free and they do all maintenance and repair on them free for the life of the panels. Panel breaks? They fix it free. Someone throws axes and smashes all our panels? They fix it free. They simply took our monthly average power bill over the course of a year and installed us a solar panel setup free of charge for less than what our average bill was. Net result? $0 down, instant savings from day one, and for the next 20 years after the install (12 years left) we pay that same flat monthly rate. California has long been ahead of the game on solar power and holy cow have we benefited from it. Our utility bills are nothing, I work from home and run the air conditioner all day without worry because the solar panels fuel it. Every year that goes buy that flat monthly fee we setup eight years ago looks better and better while everyone else just pays more and more. Power prices go up? Great! That means more money to us for excess power our solar panels make because the power company buys it from us (we're a registered power station). We're one of the *best* states to take advantage of this both because of the endless sunshine and because of policies here that made getting solar power simple. Other states fight stuff like this, we embraced it, now my utility bills now cheaper than anywhere else, utility bill problem solved thanks to California.
Fuel? Well turns out we have a local car company that sources local talent, sources local resources, pays local taxes, local local local called Tesla. So I got a Model 3 and let me tell you once you drive one you realize why everyone is trying kill that American company. For one it's because it's a ~$36k car is stupid cheap to operate. Fuel? Don't care, that same California sun I leveraged above also fuels my car. No fuel, no maintenance, no brake changes, no fluid changes, nothing. Being in California means a billion places to charge it although 99% of the time you just let the sun charge it at home. End result? Fuel and vehicle costs are nothing. The reason that company even happened is again because California embraced it while other states fight it, heck I think you can only legally buy them in 17 so states, utter madness. So fuel and vehicle costs are solved thanks to California.
I say all this because people seem to thing we're all millionaires. Instead we leveraged what this state in many cases uniquely offers and/or has things setup to where it's just so cheap to do them here because of state policies. No we're not rich, but thanks to the state we personally pay little for utility and cars. And that's just the top of the iceberg, I could go on and on on all kinds of other stuff where we have the advantage. Again this is not all directed at the person I replied to, it's more generally speaking. Don't believe internet vitriol, do the research and see what's what for yourself.
Ok now you can resume your liberal bashing, don't worry this liberal won't post here anymore. I'm gonna go read about Elvira 3.