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Carrion Luggage
Carrion Luggage
 
Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.
This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.
It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.
It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."
I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.
December 9, 2025 at 8:28am December 9, 2025 at 8:28am
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I generally prefer to share the less mainstream (at least in the US) material in here, but this one from CNN angered me enough to make me save it.
Just yesterday, I was text-ranting to a friend about this very thing, not knowing that this one would come up at random the very next morning. Here is, in part, what I said (with maybe some clarifications and autocorrect decorrections):
Look, lending has so far managed to mostly cover up just how POOR most people are.
And it's worse than that.
By making something affordable [through loans], sellers adjust prices upwards faster than otherwise.
College tuition used to be pricey but not outrageous. Then student loans. Then it shot into orbit.
Cars, also faster than inflation.
I'm not judging people for going into debt. Mostly.
I'm judging the fucking system.
They want us to stop owning.
They want us to rent everything.
They want subscriptions, not sales.
We're meat for the table.
This isn't capitalism. This is feudalism. Neo-, maybe.
Not bad for an off-the-cuff text rant, I guess, but not as much thought as I usually put into these blog entries.
Hence, the article.
Stubborn inflation continues to make the cost of living unbearable for many Americans.
Is it inflation? Or is it no one wanting to pay them?
A number of inventive solutions have emerged — but with a common theme: putting consumers deeper into debt.
I don't think I have to tell you what I think of that, after the above.
This week’s 50-year mortgage proposal from the Trump administration is the latest example of the trend.
I swear to all the gods, I don't know how people survive. I don't have the best memory, I know, but I do remember seeing 60-year mortgages being offered a while back. Doesn't anyone else remember that? And by "a while back," I mean "just before the entire house of cards collapsed in 2008."
They were bad ideas then, and they're bad ideas now (there's not a lot of difference between 50 and 60).
I swear I'm not getting political, here. They're bad ideas no matter who's running the show, or pretending to.
The potential for a 50-year mortgage comes as the auto industry has been pushing seven-year car loans, which have become an increasingly popular option with the average price of a new car hitting a new record of more than $50,000.
Don't you get it? The prices will simply adjust upwards again to compensate for the increased demand.
And the explosion of buy now, pay later options online and at brick-and-mortar retailers has normalized taking on longer-term debt for purchases as small as food delivery.
Come to think of it, I haven't heard much noise about predatory payday lenders recently. Did someone finally put a band-aid on that chainsaw wound?
Case in point: While a 50-year mortgage could lower monthly payments, the amount of interest a borrower would pay over 50 years could be double what would be paid at current rates over 30 years, the traditional length of most mortgages.
Oh, but it's worse than that. Way worse. I can't be arsed to pull up an amortization calculator right now, but in very general terms, earlier mortgage payments are mostly interest, not much principal. It takes, if I recall correctly, about 20 years or so for a 30-year mortgage without pay-aheads to get to the point where one month's payment is half-interest, half-principal.
That amortization would be even less favorable with a longer-term mortgage. You could be paying for years, and not build significant equity in your house.
You're basically renting the damn thing from a bank. A bank who, if someone fat-fingers something or just loses some paperwork, can just take it right away from you.
Not to mention that I question the ability of recently-built houses to even last 50 years.
There's more at the link, but honestly, I'm too riled-up to rant any more about it today. You may be wondering why this pisses me off so much, considering that I'm retired with a fully-paid-for house and car. Well, it's simple: I don't just think of myself, and I wish other people would do the same.
Just remember: if you can't pay cash for it, you can't afford it. Yes, this includes houses, though there's usually good reason to accept debt for a house. And if you're thinking, "But, Waltz, I couldn't afford anything if I couldn't take out a loan for it," then you may be beginning to see my point here: that we're not free agents, but locked into perpetual servitude to our Overlords.
Like I said. Neo-feudalism.
EDIT:
So, after some feedback, I realized I might not have been as clear as I thought.
This still might not make things clear, but I'm going to try:
 Whether to rent or buy a home/condo depends on many factors, including personal emotional ones.
But in general, the longer you expect to stay in a place, the more sense it probably makes to get a mortgage.
BUT with a nonstandard, >30 year mortgage, you're paying more up front in interest, making it not much different from renting (though circumstances may vary).
I say "if you can't pay cash for it, you can't afford it." But there are circumstances, such as buying a house, where it's okay that you can't afford it.
Cars are kind of a gray area.
Finally, when I rant against "the system," what I mean specifically isn't standard mortgage loans, but them making it easier and easier to borrow for other things, from education right down to everyday items such as groceries and that GameBoy you've had your eye on (in other words, consumer goods that are both necessities and not-so-necessities). This can give the false impression that you can afford something, when you actually cannot.
Now, I could be *wrong* about any of these things. I'm not quite infallible. But I hope that clears up some of what I said up there. |
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