Middle Class Over

It's MY party, and I'll cry if I want to.
But you don't have to invite Covid-19 to your next party.
You're the host...you can have a guest list...you can restrict access to your party.
There's no need to cry.
Let Covid mutate itself out of existence, looking for the next host.
It worked for the Spanish flu, and it WILL happen the same way with Covid.

Covid-19 has created a new normal. But there's no such thing as normal. It's just reality. 
Reality is that it's going to take at least 5 years for global herd immunity.
A new reality where we don't have to put up with crap jobs. 
A new world experiencing the Great Resignation. 
A world where inflation is up and wages lag behind. 
Where we have expectations and demands that our salaries increase.
A world when it sucks to be an employer.
A world when the middle class and working class can say Take This Job and SHOVE IT, I ain't working here no more!

What I’ve learned from sports is a life lesson. There are rules. There are systems. There are limits. There are boundaries. And we all push those boundaries. And sometimes we go over the line. And then we pay the penalty. And sometimes we don’t.

It all depends on who makes the rules. Who devised the system. And what if we could design our own system…our own rules…and not have to rely on somebody else making the rules? Well then, it’s pretty easy to play by the rules…when we’re the ones making the rules! Wouldn’t you make rules that would benefit you? Now don’t lie…of course you would! So what kind of screwed up system lets you make your own rules? Glad you asked...

What you talking about, Willis? 
Spend more? 
This Middle Class Over podcast talks a lot about saving money, not spending it! 
About ways to maintain our middle class lifestyles!

I spent 18 years in the world of e-commerce, before online ordering became a necessity. Let’s find out what secret ways I used in my online business to get you to spend more of your hard-earned cash.

So here is my prediction. You are going to get Covid-19. Hopefully you are double-vaxxed and maybe even have had a booster or two. If you are, there’s a good chance that once you get Covid your symptoms are mild and you can avoid death…or the hospital…or at least stop the spread for a while.

If you’re an anti-vaxxer, you’re still helping with herd immunity. Once you get it, you develop some immunity. That adds to the count, as you’re part of the herd. The downside is that your chances for serious illness has multiplied if you get Covid. Good luck with that.

In a global pandemic, we’ve found ourselves in a pissing contest. As Canadians, we feel superior to Americans because a higher percentage of us are double-vaxxed. And people in B.C. feel superior to people from Alberta and Saskatchewan for the same reason. Feel better about yourself?

But it doesn’t really matter what we do, until the entire world reaches herd immunity. Because this is a GLOBAL phenomenon, not a local one. Not something we can throw money at and hope it goes away. Because we’re rich.

Let’s look into worldwide herd immunity on this…episode 49…of Middle Class Over…

The Top 5 reasons that I think everybody should consider self-employment…even if it’s the smallest venture…

1.     Independence. When you work for somebody else and come up with a great idea…most of the time nobody listens. Believe me, it’s great to make your own decisions. And if things don’t work out with your current employer, at least you’ve got something to fall back on!

2.     Self-worth. When talking to people, I feel much better about myself saying that I own a business…rather than saying I work for…

3.     Tax write-offs. Vehicle expenses. Home office. Meals. There are so many things that you can write-off when you own your own show!

4.     Passion. When you have your own business, it’s easy to get passionate about your work. Not so easy when your work goes to profiting somebody else.

5.     Time. Even my tiny yard maintenance business is great…in that I set my own hours. Too hot? Too rainy? Not working today…but on nice days, a 10 hour day working outside is fantastic! My time…my choices…

First there was the heat dome, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius. Then there were the fires, with the town of Lytton burning to the ground. Then we had a windstorm, which caused 109 shipping containers to fall off of a barge and into the ocean. Now we have atmospheric rivers, with rainfall shattering records…with over 7 inches falling in three days at my house. Evacuations, floods and landslides soon followed, with major highways washed away, oil pipelines not pumping, and rail lines all screeching to a halt.

The Premier just declared a State of Emergency. Rules against hoarding and price gauging.

You can’t make this stuff up. It’s all happened in my province of British Columbia Canada in 2021. And like when the pandemic hit, it makes people do strange things.

I like the zombie apocalypse analogy much better. According to Wikipedia, “the spreading "zombie plague" swamps law enforcement organizations, the military and health care services, leading to the panicked collapse of civil society until only isolated pockets of survivors remain. Basic services such as piped water supplies and electrical power shut down, mainstream mass media cease broadcasting, and the national government collapses or goes into hiding. The survivors usually begin scavenging for food, weapons and other supplies in a world reduced to a mostly pre-industrial hostile wilderness. There is usually a 'safe-zone' where the non-infected can seek refuge and begin a new era, usually held by other survivors or the government.”

Natural resources. In Canada, we have a lot of them. We build towns around them. Mill towns. Mining towns. Fishing towns. Oil and gas towns. You can see them all over British Columbia. Towns like Mackenzie, Tumbler Ridge, Gold River, Tahsis, and Port Alice. In the 1960’s and 70’s, there was even a provincial government policy governing how these instant towns should be created and maintained. 

Millions…no check that…billions of dollars were spent in creating these towns. They were in remote areas…so roads had to be built. Schools, recreation facilities, and even hospitals had to be constructed. Water, gas, and power lines. Sewage facilities. Everything from scratch. Infrastructure that cost a HUGE amount of money.

Rape the land…rape the water…it’s apparently what we’re good at.  Boom and bust. All in pursuit of good paying, working and middle class jobs. Make hay while the sun shines…at least until the resource is depleted or the price collapses.

But nothing describes this boom and bust cycle better than the story of Kitsault. From start to finish, it took only five years.

Over the years, we’ve always had people living with us. Some were friends…others were relatives…and some complete strangers.

We used to call them boarders. Today, we call them mortgage helpers.

I now realize that I grew up in a working class family…that was living the illusion of a middle class life…because of boarders.

The key was creating the illusion. Then…and now.

Middle class reality in those days was often quite different, at least it was for me. …as I’m sure my life growing up was WAY different than most people.

It feels like therapy and my kids will be horrified, so I’m going to get into it…on this…episode 45…of Middle Class Over.

My wife Dale and I were only about 3 minutes into our hike, when she puts out her arm to stop me in my tracks. I was looking down to see where I was walking…so I responded “what the hell?” She pointed down the trail…as a black bear went lumbering across the path only 10 yards away. My heart jumped 3 feet out of my chest!

We had just spent a week on the wild West Coast of Vancouver Island B.C. We haven’t been to this area for almost 20 years…and we absolutely loved it! Our base was Ucluelet, but we also made the 40 minute trip to Tofino and Long Beach one day in the pouring rain to watch the waves crash onto the beach.

But rain or no rain…tourists are coming…especially in the summer. Hiking, surfing, kiteboarding, windsurfing, fishing, whale watching, kayaking…there’s so much to do!

According to weleavetoday.com, “don’t plan to arrive and just find a place to stay though, or you will end up sleeping in your car; everything is sold out on long weekends in the summer!”

All those resort rooms…b & b’s…hotel rooms…campgrounds…and no place for tourists to stay?

It’s one thing when tourists have to sleep in their car…but what about all those people working in the resorts…the restaurants…the construction crews fixing the highway…where do these people live for months at a time?

That’s when I learned about “bush people”…on this…episode 44…of Middle Class Over…