Homeless in Cheboygan

Like I said, there are lots of poor people in Cheboygan County but, as far as I know, they all have some place to stay. According to that newspaper account I read years ago, most of them are staying with friends or relatives. The Salvation Army takes some of them in, but they don't have a barracks or anything like that, so they must put them up in private homes. There are also subsidized rental units, my brother in law used to live in one before he died. After he died, I helped my other brother in law clean out his apartment and dispose of his stuff. It was nice in there, no frills, but clean and modern. We talked with a few of his neighbors, and I think all of them were pretty poor, but they looked to be healthy and well fed.

There is a lot of camping going on in the summer and deer season, but I think almost all of it is recreational. I have never heard of anybody sleeping in their cars, except for drunks that pull over on their way home from the bar because they don't feel competent to continue driving. I have been told, by people who have done it, that you need to take the keys out of the ignition and put them in your pocket when you do that because, if the cops catch you with keys in the ignition, you are legally driving drunk, even  if the engine is turned off. They won't let you sleep on a park bench or anything like that around here. Camping is only allowed in designated camp grounds and you need a permit. I believe the longest they will let you stay in one place is 30 days. There is some camping done on private property with the owner's permission, but I think there is a 30 day time limit on that too. The cops won't roust you out unless somebody files a complaint, so some campers probably stay longer than 30 days on private property. I have never seen nor heard of anything like a hobo camp around here.

The whole point of my plan to pay kids to attend school is that they will have their own money and learn how to manage it responsibly, so I don't see any point in giving it to their parents. I'm not talking about a lot of money here, maybe a dollar a day or something like that for the younger ones, with regular raises based on seniority and grades. I don't see how corruption would enter into it. If some bully steals or cons money from another kid, he would be required to pay it back double, the restitution to be taken out of his own paycheck. What I'm trying to do here is to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. I don't care how much money the kid's family has, reward and punishment should be based on what you do, not who you are. This is not welfare, it's workfare.

Of course this program would not be cheap, but neither is what thy do now, with all those counselors, truant officers, and other interventionists trying to straighten out the wayward kids. Like I said, I think it would pay for itself in the long run because we would be turning out solid citizens who would pay their taxes and, hopefully, stay out of jail.

I'm not doing anything different with my investments than I have been doing. I take a thousand dollars a month out of my IRA (stock market) and put it into my money market fund so that I don't have to sell stocks to pay large or unexpected bills. You don't want to ever have to sell stocks because, if the market is down that day, you could lose money. If you take the same amount out on the same day each month, the stock prices should average out over time. Timing the market is for the experts, and even they don't always get it right. At this time of my life, I'm not trying to gain money, I'm trying to make what I have last till I and my hypothetical wife die. If there is anything left, our daughter will get it, but we're more concerned that we don't become a burden on her while we're alive than we are about leaving her an inheritance. The market goes up and down all the time, and you can drive yourself nuts worrying about those short term oscillations, or you can focus on the long term picture. If you can live off your investment for the rest of your life and still have at least as much money as you started with, then you're doing all right.

I still find it hard to believe that Trump is for real. In my opinion, the only reason he's out there is to make it easier for Hillary to win. I will certainly not vote for him in the primary but, if he gets the Republican nomination, I will vote for him in the general election. I don't expect him to win but, if he does, it might be fun watching him make a fool of himself for four years, or however long he manages to remain president.