Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Book 'em, Danno

Today, in things you love to see: a notorious retail thief was convicted last week of stealing from our local Target store. This is a win for those us who follow the rules and pay for the stuff we buy. I sure hope San Francisco will continue enforcing laws and put some actual consequences to offenders. (Please do traffic violators next.) The citizenry deserves to live in a civilized society that is free of these nuisances.

I point any defeatist attitudes towards the island nation of Japan. There I can leave stuff in the backseat of our rental car, with the full expectation that the items will still be there upon returning. We - the United States - can and should also have such nice things. To say otherwise is simply tyranny of low expectations.

To the people who say Target’s insurance will make the company whole - therefore the few thievery should de-facto be tolerated: do you actively try to get into car accidents? Your auto insurance will repair your vehicle fully, am I right? That asshole in a truck not merging properly: I’m going to let him hit me. That will teach him! I am in the right!

Retail-theft is not a victimless crime. Regular, law-abiding shoppers are victims when we have to summon a staff person just to buy a tub of detergent. The workers are victims when they witness the thefts happening, and can do nothing about it (nor should they, from a safety perspective). The community can potentially be victims when the problem becomes so bad that entire stores shut down.

I don’t know about you, but I rather enjoying have a Target within walking distance.

Not so grand theft auto

A few weeks back, my father’s Toyota Corolla got stolen. Thankfully it wasn’t the strong-arm variety. The car was parked at his work when it got borrowed without permission. A vagrant waltz in through an open door and took, amongst other things, my father’s jacket. In it was unfortunately the car keys. I’m sure my father has learned his lesson of leaving any key unattended and away from him.

First order of business upon learning your car’s been stolen is to call the non-emergency police line to file a report. Then it’s a call to the insurance company so that whatever dangerous stunts the thief may pull, you’re not liable for. Then I guess you just wait to hear back from the police? Surely after a certain period (weeks?) the insurance would deem the car irretrievable, and cut you a check for the present value of the car.

That is, if the car is comprehensively insured.

Having to buy a replacement vehicle would not be the ideal outcome for us, because the car market right now remains insane. Due to the chip shortage, new and used car prices are super inflated. Even if the insurance check is large enough to cover the inflation, finding a car to buy is a challenge in it of itself. Car shopping these days is not fun at all, even if you’ve got the money. There just aren’t that many on the dealer lots to go around.

Lucky for my dad, police found the Corolla abandoned on a street some hours after the report was filed. It was then towed to an impound lot. It took about two weeks for the case to close, then we were able to go retrieve the car. No charge of any impound fees, which is nice and unexpected. The only expense out of this ordeal will be getting a new second key and recoding both at a Toyota dealership.

Time for a new microwave

Well, my microwave broke last evening. While I was making dinner too, if you count heating up a plate of roast pork as making. The microwave has been flakey for awhile, and seems like it finally gave up the ghost. I never did finish heating up that roast pork. Had to do it the old fashion way: steam. It took relatively forever compared to the minute and a half it would have taken with the microwave.

I caan’t really complain, though. This microwave is a hand-me-down that have lasted for at least a decade. Wished it would have lasted a bit longer but now a perfect excuse to get a model in my preferred finish: stainless.

I guess I am going to Target after work. Unfortunately I can’t go to my local Target, even though it’s within walking distance from home. Due to rampant retail theft in San Francisco, Target is now closing all its San Francisco locations at 6:00PM, instead of the typical 9:00PM. This isn’t so bad for the retiree who can shop during the day, but for the working professional who can’t visit a store until after work, this is a huge inconvenience.

I now how to drive to the Target in Daly City. Talk about not being very environmentally friendly!

A story as old as time: the few ruining it for the many. Hopefully the authorities are working hard to curb the retail theft. Limited store hours are a real inconvenience. Others have it worse: their local Walgreens closing down completely. A key to green, walkable living is having stores close by. Retail theft is a threat to that endeavor. Police and the district attorney’s office have got to get handle on it.

Victim of property crime

Property crime against cars in San Francisco is well-documented and infamous. It’s almost every week I see someone on twitter commenting how their car got broken into when they made the fateful decision to visit the city. Earlier this year, my friend had her own car’s window smashed while it was parked inside her apartment’s supposedly secured gated lot! Indeed, even patrolled garages aren’t immune from the plague: a few weeks ago I saw a car in our work lot with both front windows broken, which is just insult to injury: a single window wouldn’t have sufficed for the thief to steal whatever they needed to?

This crime phenomenon is precisely why I insure my car with Geico, because the company offers free glass replacement, no matter the comprehensive deductible. Somewhat ironically, in the many years since I’ve started driving, not once have I experienced my cars getting broken into, which by the virtue of writing that out I’ve just jinxed myself tremendously. I ashamed to say the damages done to my cars over the years are all my own, though the Toyota Corolla did get a brick thrown at it by local hoodlums on the second day we brought it home from the dealership, such was the state of the neighborhood back in the mid 2000s.

A few days ago, my father got off work to find someone had drilled a hole in the gas tank of his car, though curiously the big vat of collected petrol was still sitting right underneath. Either the perps were caught by police during the act (not likely in San Francisco), or they found a better offer elsewhere. Nevertheless, dad had to fill the tank with a canister with enough gas to get the Hyundai Tucson to the nearest mechanic. The fix was simple: a self-taping screw into the hole, then a bead of sealer surrounding the head. Due to the presence of gas, metal welding was out the question.

Since the Tucson is a lease, as long as it doesn’t leak, we’re going to leave the visually crude fix as is.

That’s the thing with vehicular property crime that’s so frustrating: you have to take the time to get the damaged remedied. It’s already bad enough that things were stolen out of the car; the additional hassle to make the situation whole again is salt on the wounds. I can see why some people get so fed up that they vow to never return to the city unless they absolutely have to. Whatever excitement San Francisco offers does not outweigh the potential of retuning to a parked car with an unceremonious gift left behind by miscreants.

Sooner or later, the powers at be will need to step up on enforcement, because more and more people are abandoning the city…

Don't let fear stop the great

Yesterday I talked about getting a motorcycle for commuting to and from work. As is my wont when it comes to these sort of things, I dove way deep into research. As mentioned, the positives of owning a bike is obvious: low purchasing and running cost, the ability to filter through traffic, great gas mileage, and ease of parking.

As with anything in life, there are potential negatives, too. I live in an apartment with a gated communal parking lot, so the bike will expose to the weather elements, and more worryingly, potential thieves. Any two men (or burly women) can simply pick up the bike and load it onto the back of a truck. No amount of locking device can foil this simple act of plain physics.

Naturally I agonized over this prospective deal-breaker, spending hours reading up on theft deterrents and best practices. It seems the consensus is that if you rather not worry about your bike getting stolen all the time, it's best to not buy one at all unless you've got secured parking (i.e. a garage). At one point I gave up on the idea of motorcycle ownership entirely because I'm the type of person who tend to have anxiety about these things.

But then I realized that this is all incredibly stupid: why should I let fear - and the potential actions of people I cannot control - dictate my decisions? As someone who loves cars, getting into motorcycles is a natural extension and something to experience in life. I shouldn't let the possibility of theft deter me from checking that off to my list. Practically anything we do in life carries negative potentialities so either we can stay home, be a loser and do nothing, or ignore what we can't control and get after it.

It won't be easy to not be obsessive compulsive about people stealing my bike, but I've got to learn to accept it. The best antidote is insurance: just as I do with my expensive camera gear, the bike will be insured for theft. I'd be made financially whole should some guy decides he wants my motorcycle more than me. I should let that be my peace of mind and focus instead completely on enjoying the ownership experience.

Mustn't let fear stop the great.

Why are used car sales taxed?

It’s occurred to me that California charges sales tax on used car sales, and it makes absolutely no sense. I understand if a dealership is selling the used car, but why must I pay tax even if its from a private party? Surely I don’t have to pay the State anything if I were to purchase a flat-screen television sold by some dude on Craigslist who’ve probably stole it.

Maybe we are obligated to report and pay sales taxes on those sort of purchases and it's just that nobody does it and it isn't at all enforced. We are however forced to do so for cars because each motor vehicle is required to be properly registered with the localities, ergo the government knows everything.

Well, that really sucks, because the State is essentially double (or triple) taxing a product. Hasn’t a merchandise done it’s duty to society already (in form of the sales tax) when it was first sold? I think it should be illegal for government to double-dip on this, and yes it’s mainly because I don’t want to pay. My next car will likely be used and priced into the six-figures so the tax bill - especially when registered in San Francisco - is going to be enormous.

I understand the other side of the coin: by instituting sales tax on used cars, not only does California reap the revenue benefits but it also prevents auto dealerships from titling their inventor (thus converting new cars into used) thereby lowering the out-the-door price for customers. Imagine the adverts of “pay no sales tax” plastered in front of dealer lots next to the giant inflatable figures.

Perhaps I'm in a truly small minority: people that care about taxes during car shopping. I bet the majority of consumers simply look at the sale price and regard taxes and license fees as something insignificantly tacked on afterwards. You can afford to do this in Oregon where there is no sales tax, but for me living in San Francisco the final tax bill when buying a car is nearly 10 percent of purchase price.

10 percent of $100,000 is $10,000, and that’s all going to the State on a car they’ve already taxed at least once. I consider that to be thievery in the highest contemporary order.

Taxation is theft

There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you're not paying for it, someone is.

It seems in response to and in preparation for upcoming elections, a sizable faction of the Democratic Party have been gaining traction, offshooting from the success of Senator Bernie Sanders during the 2016 primary. They're the Democratic Socialists (of America), and the group is heavily in the spotlight recently due to congress-hopeful Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseating a Democratic incumbent in New York. Some proper party-on-party friendly fire.

President Trump have swung the Republican party so much towards the right fringe that the inevitable pendulum swing back left would naturally match it in severity. This explains the rise in popularity of the DSA platform, with promises of free health care, free higher education, and a decent wage for every worker. The platform’s emotional appeal is immense, a left-leaning equivalent of border security and ridding the country of illegals for Trump’s base.

It sure sounds good on paper, doesn’t it? Who would say no to job guarantees and free college?

Right, but then the age old question becomes: how are we going to pay for it? Indeed there are no free lunches. The obvious and sole avenue to acquire the money is to tax and tax a lot, especially the super rich. Because both parties can’t seem to cut spending ever, we can only resort to take from the rich to increase revenue.

It bears repeating: taxation is theft.

Do the wealthy have a moral responsibility to give back and take care of the poor? An argument can be made for the affirmative. However, agency and decision should reside with the individual, rather than compelled by government (i.e. tax). I think Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done well to corral a hundred or so billionaires and millionaires to donate their wealth. The campus where I work at is full of buildings and wings made possible by generous donors (The Coppola family, to name one).

People say for a country as prosperous as the United States, it ought to have no issues in providing socialistic services. But think of how the United States become affluent in the first place. It certainly wasn’t socialism. It’s Capitalism, and we’d be careful to deviate from that at our peril.

Because how is Venezuela doing these days?

Currently reading: Ray Dalio's magnum opus.