What makes you think selling off military hardware would only cover us for a single year? 🤷 We have assets right on the coast that are worth their weight in gold. I agree it probably wouldn't last forever, but it could still shave a good chunk off those 30 years... plus, we could always look into leasing or concessions.
I figured renting it out was an option too, whatever makes sense 😉 btw, does anyone have a ballpark figure on how much military hardware actually costs these days?
Andrew Booth29 said:And there isn't exactly a wealth of profound wisdom to be found here... You have two pillars, right? By letting those from the old system die out, you’re essentially just shifting the weight—increasing the share of the second pillar while shrinking the first. It's a numbers game. Give it thirty years, and maybe you'll be fine.
If they actually reformed veteran pensions and cut those massive payouts—which applies to Congressional pensions too—we could hit that stability goal much sooner. Come to think of it, the military owns a ton of real estate; if they sold or leased some of that property, they could probably fund those veteran benefits directly.🤔
When they were rolling out the pension reforms, why didn't they just set up a system—at least for new hires—where you actually contribute to your own fund, similar to how life insurance works? It feels like right now, you’re just paying into a void without any real idea what you'll actually have waiting for you when you retire.😠
cosmicviper10 said:If you were to walk up to some guy out in rural, small-town America and tell him, "Hey, you could actually pull in an extra ten thousand dollars a year from tourism," he’d probably just look at you like you've lost your mind and say, "You're crazy!"
But, I guess, if someone actually sat down and walked him through the logistics—if they showed him exactly how to make it happen and gave him a little nudge of encouragement... well, if the government actually stepped up with a concrete, coherent plan instead of just winging it, then maybe, just maybe, he might actually listen. I honestly get this nagging feeling that anyone in this country who tries to build something legitimate from scratch immediately hits a brick wall of pure, unadulterated resistance.
Let me give you a super basic, almost cliché example to illustrate what I mean... there’s this specific stretch of highway somewhere in the States—I won't name names here—but to actually make it profitable, you'd need something like 12,000 cars passing through every single day, yet it's barely seeing 3,000. And yet, someone went ahead and built it anyway. Why? Because it’s clearly just a way to wash massive amounts of cash. Now, I hear they’re planning to extend highways all the way down toward Venice using borrowed money, too. Just imagine if that kind of staggering amount of capital was actually funneled into tourism instead. In my opinion, tourism should be the absolute backbone, or at least one of the main pillars, of this country's economy. If we invested in projects to extend the travel season or developed tourism in regions that currently have nothing, it would pay off tenfold. Seriously, man, let's build the roads and the infrastructure once we actually have people who can afford to drive on them! But no, that’s not how things work here; everything seems to be backwards. And honestly, there are a million examples just like this where the money is being thrown into the wrong holes.
I don't think we should lump these things together. Agritourism—like a family farm stay—is a completely different beast than the classic beachfront hotel scene. Telling a farmer he'll pull in massive profits from tourism is just plain dishonest.
What you actually tell them is that they'll still be working 12-hour days in the fields, plus adding a few more hours to play host to spoiled tourists, all just to find a better market for their crops. The whole point of a farm stay is the lodging and selling food they grew themselves.
As for tourism in general, building the roads wasn't the mistake. The problem is the lack of follow-through. If a road needs 12,000 cars a day to be profitable, and each car carries three people, we need the hotels to house them. But we won't build those either because of protected coastal zones, a mountain of stupid regulations, corruption, and all this green bureaucracy.
Just a heads up, with credit cards, there isn't really a "negative balance" or a way to "load money onto the card." You just spend up to the limit the bank sets for you, and then you get the bill at the end of the month.
Jesse Sanchez90 said:True, but that's just you speaking—as individuals, we aren't exactly representative samples of the whole population. On the flip side, there are plenty of people who aren't up for a trip to London every single weekend; for them, driving out to the National Park is just too exhausting.
Furthermore, when a foreign tourist visits the US, do you honestly think they're flying all this way just to go have dinner in London because nobody here offers that kind of experience?!? French tourism, for instance, is primarily built on catering to their own domestic travelers first, and then everyone else follows because the locals are the easiest group to market to and the most likely to come back. Foreigners aren't going to fly across the ocean just to indulge in urban tourism, let alone rural stuff. Even countries with much more sophisticated marketing strategies don't rely on pulling people into cities to survive; so where does that leave us? We only really figured out what "promotion" was last year! At the end of the day, the reality is that foreigners often know more about our historic landmarks and show a greater interest in finding them than we do ourselves—WTF?
Forget about London for a second; I didn't bring it up because people are traveling there or because it's an alternative to agritourism. I was talking about distance and transport links, and specifically which types of guests actually end up using rural tourism. When you mention foreigners, sure, they won't fly to London for dinner, but someone from London (and I’m just using London as a symbol here—you could substitute Munich or Rome) isn't going to travel to the Midwest for agritourism because of those same issues with distance and accessibility.
Families like yours are exactly who we should be targeting, so we really need to tailor our offerings to fit them.
Good catch. Around here, people mostly just look for ways to skin a cat or find stuff they'd normally pay way more for. $3.25 And you start seeing those earnings pretty quickly, too. $10 Regarding guests (and I’m not just talking about the Midwest, but generally speaking).
Someone already started a similar thread (whereabouts in the Midwest are you from? 🙂)but honestly, I don't think anyone here is picking up on the most critical point—who we're actually talking about attracting as guests here.
Like brisknomad6 mentioned, they’d be aiming for a long weekend crowd. That specific demographic dictates everything: the location, the menu, the marketing strategy, all of it...
So, how many people are actually interested?🤔 Personally, there's no way I'm making that trip when I can get to London faster and cheaper. 🙂 Actually, thinking about it, I could fly to a completely different continent in the same amount of time it takes to get there.😁
Edward Moore said:I’m wondering if an unemployed individual can actually get a card from a bank that works for online shopping. As far as I know, a standard debit card doesn't support 🤷 . It doesn't even have to be a credit card. Can I just walk into a bank, deposit a specific amount of cash into an account, and then spend it online? 😕
Besides those webprepaid options, you can sometimes find Visa Electron cards linked to a foreign currency account that work fine online.
If you're unemployed, you could also grab a legitimate credit card, though you'd likely need to provide a deposit as collateral.
I’m not sure if I missed the boat, but American Express is running a promotion through June 30th where they waive the initiation fee and the first year's annual fee. If you can get it for free, it’s probably worth grabbing 😉
Back when I applied for both American Express and Diners at once, I got approved for both right away. But while my limit on the American Express card was decent, the one from Diners was honestly a joke. It feels like Diners is much stricter with their credit limits, and I highly doubt a beginner could actually hit those high spending targets someone mentioned earlier.
You could always try applying for all of them at once, but my advice is to get moving on this as soon as possible.
By the way, if you manage to snag a revolving card, you’ll likely see a higher limit. If I remember correctly, an American Express starts out with at least $3833 right off the bat.
Alternatively, you could just grab two different cards, like a Mastercard + American Express 😉 . For instance, you could have an $3.75 limit on the American Express plus whatever amount you need on the Mastercard, and call it a day. ☕
Honestly, I wouldn't count on hitting that limit just yet... my mom actually has a $1000 $11 credit limit, but that takes years of building up a history. You can't exactly become a "top-tier" client overnight; it’s about more than just how much you make.
boldgardener6 said:I need that targeted $15k. I would use a VISA for absolutely essential expenses; I have plenty of experience managing my finances, and frankly, too much... Is there any room to negotiate the limit? I am a reliable client—for the last three months, my income has consistently exceeded $5k.
What exactly makes you an "excellent" client? Just having a steady paycheck for three months isn't exactly a high bar.
George White7 said:I'm circling back to my previous question. I'm curious—what specific tax are you all referring to regarding the business account?😕
I hope the mods don't mind if I copy and paste the definition of a checking account one more time:
A checking account is basically what a bank sets up for any individual, whether they're local or visiting from abroad, as long as they meet the standard requirements. Making some money. It all depends on whether you're treating it as a regular side hustle or just a one-off gig.
You can set up a checking account if you’re running your own thing—whether that’s farming, consulting, renting out property, or just doing some freelance work. Basically, if you need a dedicated spot to manage your business income or get paid for a job, it's an option. With the intention of turning a profit..
There isn’t a tax triggered by default here, but take a look at the bolded part. A bank deposit could be interpreted as realized income—since that’s what a checking account is for, after all—and they might try to collect income tax on it accordingly.
The whole setup with a checking account looks pretty perfect on paper: you get the card, hit the ATM, pay for stuff online... all for free. But honestly, just make sure you aren't dealing with a massive headache down the road because of it.
Here’s the official breakdown of what a checking account actually is and how it works:
A checking account is an account that a bank opens for domestic and foreign individuals when, according to regulations, they are earning income from ongoing or occasional business activities.
Checking accounts can be opened by individuals who earn income from agriculture, forestry, providing intellectual services, renting out real estate or personal property, or in other cases permitted by law when they need one to carry out specific independent activities or to receive payment for work or services performed with the intent of generating income.