Tax Free Crap

Here in Florida it is tax free crap time! For some items anyway. You know, for hurricane preparation.

So if I buy a flashlight I do not pay sales tax. WOW! That will help me prepare for a hurricane! Not paying sales tax on a flashlight costing less than $20 is just what I need when the wind is blowing at 120 mph outside.

Here is a list of some of the crap us people in Florida can buy sales tax free.

• Flashlights and portable, self-powered light sources — $20 or less
• Portable radios, two-way radios and weather-band radios — for $50 or less
• Flexible waterproof sheeting (tarps) — $50 or less
• Gas or diesel fuel containers — $25 or less
• Batteries — $30 or less
• Non-electrical food storage coolers — $30 or less
• Portable generators — $1,000 or less
• Carbon monoxide detectors — $75 or less
• Storm shutter devices — $200 or less
• Cell phone batteries — $60 or less

If you want a complete list, you can CLICK HERE.

Now what kind of CRAP is this??? Do you know how many hurricane shutters you get for a measly $200? Cell phone batteries? So now the UNRELIABLE cell phone is a hurricane supply? I might as well send up smoke signals - at least I know that I *CAN* start a fire.

Now I think that if one were to go and buy 7 hurricane shutters for $150 each, no sales tax would be due. That helps somewhat.

But you know what would help more? Doing something about the insurance situation. Insurance companies are a gang now. The law requires us to carry insurance, but there seems to be no law that requires insurance companies to you know....pay people. All they have to do is say "you have windstorm coverage - but all I see is flood damage! We do not write flood policies! What we will do is give you a pittance to cover the windstorm damage, and you can pay for the rest! And by the way, your premiums just tripled".

And FEMA will say "Flood insurance? You live in a floodplain! We can not write you a policy!" or "you have insurance already! You do not need our flood insurance". When you tell them your insurance company will write you a windstorm policy, but not a flood policy FEMA tells you "BLAH BLAH NOT LISTENING NOT LISTENING LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA ARE YOU STILL HERE???"

And even if you can get FEMA flood insurance, they only write policies for those who do NOT live in a flood plain. So if you live in the Arizona desert overlooking a valley - you can get flood insurance. But if you live IN the valley you can buy......uhhhh.....a bunch of towels to soak up the water.

I have a radical solution to this mess. EVERYONE stops paying for insurance. A nation-wide insurance strike. No car insurance. No property insurance. The companies would break like a twig. Once the premium checks stopped flowing in, the executivesxecutivies would wet their pants and cry like little girls.

But this is not possible. If you are paying a mortgage, your lending institution WILL add a policy for you. And they will charge you on top of what the policy costs, to make a little themselves themselvs. Perfectly legal!

And if you do not pay for car insurance and you live in Florida, the state suspends your license.

The law is rigged to prevent the people from cutting off insurance companies. We have no power to fight anything. Insurance companies rule us all.

So enjoy your $70 savings on a $1,000 generator! That is all we are going to get out of this deal.

And if you live in Florida, just so you know in the time you spent reading this your policy premium just went up $50 a month. And yourdeductibledeductable went up by a couple of thousand bucks. And rain damage counts as flood damage.

So what good does your insurance do you? Not a whole lot. If you are paying a mortgage, the lender will get the bulk of your policy. You might get back some of your equity, minus the deductible. The lender looses very little if anything at all. You do not own your house until you have the deed in your hands. As long as a bank holds the deed, you are just renting.

But I still got myself a generator! What the hell. I saved $70, plus another $50. I got a Honda EU2000i generator. It is portable (weighs just under 50 pounds with a full tank of gas), it is quiet for a generator. I think it will run a small portable AC.