Tag Archives: unemployed

The Economic Barometer is Getting Weird

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The measuring stick by which most Americans measure the state of the state is whether or not they have a job. If for example, you go to bed hungry day after day, you might say to yourself "This is lousy, I wish I had a job." You wouldn’t give a hoot about the GNP, or the latest G8, G9, or International Moneychangers Fraternity news.

I recently became gainfully unemployed, and continued building my house with ferver, a little bit of money, and my kids and wife. The prospect of going back to my job was beginning to fade, and I thought that I might become just another nameless face in a sea of workless fathers. That is, until recently.

I was "on call" for my most recent job. Then I was contacted by a local man a few minutes after changing the baby’s diaper on the tailgate of our ’88 Suburban during a church service because my wife was playing the piano, and the baby began crying so I took him outside, only to find that as I was finished diapering and pulling up his little pants I was standing in a big pile of angry ants.

After I dusted most of the ants off of me, I was standing by the road and a "man of local fame" pulled up and told me that he needed me to help him with a job and that I would be "on call". Now I was "on call" for 2 jobs.

The following days (this past week) I was working on my house. Low and behold, a stranger walked up to me, talked about my house project, and asked if I was willing to do work on his new house. Not only that, he wanted me to come and consult about wind and solar energy for him because of the success of our family’s off-the-grid building project. Of course he wasn’t going to have me start right now, but I was to be "on call". Cool. Things are really picking up around here. Now I’m on standby for 3 jobs!

But wait. I was contacted by another gentleman and put "on call" for delivering mattresses. This is getting a little strange…

Oh. Even as I write this post, I’m supposed to call another guy about building a deck. I’ll be "on call".

So, to tie this all together, I guess that I’m a really lucky guy.  Never in my life have I been "on call" for so many jobs. The economy really is starting to turn around. Hang on. The phone’s ringing…

Copy of a Tax Protest Letter to Gunnison County

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This is a copy of my tax assessment protest letter to Gunnison County, Colorado.

Mr. Jerry L. Begly

….

Marble, Colorado 81623

June 1, 2009

Gunnison County Assessor

Ms. Kristy McFarland

221 N. Wisconsin Ave. Ste A

Gunnison, CO 81230

Dear Ms. McFarland:

The purpose of this letter is to formally protest our 2009 Real Property Notice of Valuation. The properties in question are Lots _ and _, Filing _, ____ __ ____, Marble, Colorado. The taxes that we paid this year were too high for the following reasons:

  1. The “SQUARE FEET LIVING AREA” is 0, not ___. The house is unfinished.

  2. The Real Estate market has dropped in most places in Western Colorado, including neighboring counties and towns like Carbondale, and Aspen.

  3. We did not add $_____ worth of materials or labor into our house in the last two years!

  4. The entire economy of the United States is in a downward spiral in case you haven’t noticed. Increasing taxes is anathema to the recovery of our family and our country. You are one of the few people who can “stand in the gap”, and have the power to make corrective decisions.

  5. We are not getting even the most basic government services for the taxes that we DO pay. Although our house is located on a county owned road, in a platted subdivision, with over 24 houses in 3 miles, we get NO road maintenance, and NO snowplowing at all. Do you have any houses at all in Gunnison county that are in the same situation? Please list even one house, in your response letter.

     

    I’ve had to walk ________ miles to get to my car by 6 am because the county doesn’t plow the snow off of the road. I’ve hauled groceries and propane, uphill in a sled, many times because of lack of county road maintenance. The ambulance, EMS, fire truck, and police can’t get to my house because of unmaintained roads. Apparently, the only government agent who can make it to my house is the TAX ASSESSOR.

  6. In addition to the lack of road maintenance, there is NO public school provided by Gunnison county within 45 minutes of my house. If my kids attended public schools in Carbondale, the commute could take as long as one and one half hours, one way, in the wintertime!

     

With taxes increasing, and NO basic government services, the term “Taxation without representation” comes to mind. Our founding fathers were more than just a little bit upset over their version of “Taxation without representation.” I especially think of this while digging my car out of a snowbank late at night during a driving snowstorm; all because my tax dollars aren’t coming back to me in even the most basic of services: public safety.

I am writing this protest letter as a husband, and father of seven children.  Presently, I am laid off my job. The welfare state, as it now stands in America, is reprehensible. Therefore, we have taken NO government assistance up to this point. But with increasing taxes, unemployment, a bad economy, and the need to feed and house my family, maybe we will need government assistance in the future.

That would mean you, your family, and friends will end up supporting us. You might be able to sleep at night now, but you’ll remember me every time you open your wallet.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Jerry Begly

P.S. Visit my blogsite at www.jerrybegly.com for more tax reform info.

(This letter has been slightly modified from the original.)