For audiobooks, I use the Libby app through my local library system. Free.
There is also an app called Chirp, where you can download books fairly inexpensively. They also offer some freebies.
Printable View
For audiobooks, I use the Libby app through my local library system. Free.
There is also an app called Chirp, where you can download books fairly inexpensively. They also offer some freebies.
For eBooks, I just recently found Standard eBooks. Basically, Project Gutenberg books are the base, but they clean up the formatting, etc., use nice public domain for the cover, and so on. I download to iPhone browser and then open them in Apple Books. You have to go through steps to get them on a regular Kindle.
https://standardebooks.org/
Some people want their own audiobooks or don't want to wait weeks for library access.
I rarely use Amazon. Only time I've used Amazon is to buy gifts for my niece and nephews since my SIL keeps an active wishlist for them. Other than birthday and Christmas gifts, it's rare that I make purchases from that company.
Rogar: I think the goals and reasons vary a bit. I believe Target is on the list because it has given up it's DEI programs. I assume Amazon is due to the oligarch supporting DJT.
Like so many people, I've found Amazon to be an easy way to fulfill a lot of our needs. I don't have a total Amazon "addiction" though. I have only placed 2 orders with them this year, most recently on 2/22.
Not so much boycotting but definitely cutting back, due to concerns about where this economy is going.
It must have been noted by Amazon because they are now sending me notice, "have you seen this, you might want to buy this" and they never did that before.
My reason for doing it is Bezos' support of policies of taking from the working and middle class and giving to the rich in the form of tax cuts, what he calls "freedom." My understanding is that with the extension of Trump's tax cuts Bezos will save hundreds of millions of dollars a year, if not a billion, in income taxes. I think that money should go to the parts of government currently being cut, such as to medical research, education, and USAID. He is free to have any opinions he wants. I just don't want to add to his profits. Yes, for me, it's to affect sales and profits.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar
My life has been prolonged by a medical treatment that was developed by over 20 years of research at NIH that was funded by taxpayers. I hate to think of the people who will die or suffer unnecessarily because this country has stopped making medical research a priority.
Thanks for the explanations. I will continue to avoid Amazon and Bezos ownership of Whole Foods for some of the reasons EJ mentions, plus a couple. As far as Target goes, I never shop there anyway, but it seems like a number of businesses have discontinued their support of DEI issues. It could be a long list? I suppose some of these things come up in various social medias, which I tend to avoid, but it doesn't seem to be very goal oriented or well publicized.
On a side note, the extension of Trump's tax cuts would save me several thousand dollars a year on my carefully managed retirement income consisting solely from Social Security and savings.Quote:
Originally Posted by ejchase
It's a mystery to me why everyone talking about 'Tax Cuts For The Rich!' never mention the roughly 60% or so of the US population who are negatively affected by their desire to hurt them.
"Tax cuts for the rich" might seem a little overplayed in the news I get. I don't know yet how tax changes might help or hurt me yet, but I will miss some of the government services my taxes have paid for in the past. I consider tariffs an indirect form of taxation, but that is unsettled so far.
You can get an idea of how you'll be affected at the following link, I would think most people should pay particular attention to Table 1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47846
And just out of curiosity, what government services do you anticipate missing?
Ditto.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Amazon shopping is a near-essential to me.
I live in a remote place with few stores. The stores here tend to hugely overcharge, as this is a tourist destination. I can't easily drive somewhere else to shop - that takes an entire day and $75 in ferry charges and fuel, not to mention food for the journey. All goods here that are not locally produced are brought in by sea or air.
It is incredibly efficient for me to "add-to-cart/buy now" and have the goods I need delivered to my house within a few days. It is even now usually cheaper. By batching-up my orders, I try to reduce the impacts of the shipping.
My community's big complaint these days about Amazon is that they have been trying experiments with delivering here "more efficiently". This seems like a good idea, but it has resulted in:
- Causing chaos at our local Post Office, which has only a few employees, when they diverted using UPS/Fedex to using USPS. They had to put up tents in the parking lot the handle the volume, and an extra 3-4 day delay was caused simply due to the couple of USPS employees having to sort through the huge piles of parcels. The stress caused a good portion of the experienced staff to quit, making the problem worse. It impacted regular first-class mail delivery too - it quickly degraded to the point that to send a letter to my neighbor took 10-ish days for delivery. This impacted local elections, which are all by-mail, billpaying, jury notification, etc.
- This change also caused the local delivery company, which subcontracts out to UPS/Fedex, to lay off most of its staff without any warning. These employees are our friends and neighbors, and this was not received well.
- Amazon next tried to send over their own contract delivery folks from the mainland. This is an ongoing disaster. They almost got lynched when they seized part of the undersized parking/loading facilities at our ferry docks and turned them into an outdoor package sorting location. The foolish State ferry officials who approved that deal for a very small sum of money, if they visited here to see how it was going, would likely be strung up from the streetlamps, if we had streetlamps. This change to using their own trucks also caused local employees to get laid off.
Fun times.
If we can exclude reductions in Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare as very possible, but unknown, I'd probably go more global. Freedom to have clean air due to climate research at places like NOAA, the protections of health offered by HHS that apparently has can backs on numerous research programs and searches for cures for things like cancer, cutbacks in services and protections in National Parks and Forest Service, which I use routinely. Other environmental and health protections offered by the EPA. The liberty of knowing we are a world leader by withdrawal of military protections for sovereign nations subject to invasions by brutal dictatorships. Etc. I think most of this is still shaking out with unknown but risky outcomes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
To be honest, I've always considered paying taxes a reasonable but not perfect deal for the services I get back and have lived a comfortable frugal life as they are. I'd probably be willing to pay a little more if it meant a better healthcare system, cleaner air and water, up to date infrastructure. and advances in health sciences. Seems like Warren Buffett thinks the same. As does Albert King.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg5XAZWpLG0
How to you feel about the VA cutting 80,000 workers. That's the number I've seen, but whatever it is it's a lot. Do you think veterans who have served the county will miss anything. Maybe treatments for PTSD, access to VA hospitals, or help for homeless vets? I'm not sure what the cutbacks will be specifically, but probably involve many things. Or maybe 80,000 is just waste and nothing will change. Just curious.
The boycott organizers seem to totally discount how useful Amazon is for those who live in isolated places, are disabled, shut-ins, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by bae
Oh I don’t know that anyone expects people who truly rely on Amazon to boycott it. I’m sure if you asked echase here she would not want to see shut-ins go without. The boycott is aimed more at the general user in America, many of whom can reduce their use of Amazon if not eliminate it completely.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
That said, I have not reduced my use of Amazon. :)
I'm guessing that climate, overall health and cancer research will continue without any discernible degradation if staffing is cut back to 2019 levels and funding remains at 2024 levels.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar
As for my thoughts on the VA, I think that if personnel cutbacks occur at the level you've referenced, there will still be approximately 400,000 employees servicing the needs of our veterans. Using an off the top of my head calculation, that would be approximately 1 VA employee for every 40 living US military veterans.
As a veteran myself, I've never utilized any VA services other than receiving approvals for GI Bill education benefits and a VA home loan, both back in the 70's when the the VA enjoyed staffing levels less then 50% of today's headcount. It occurs to me that there is almost certainly a fair amount of bloat in every government agency, especially considering in this case that the vast majority of veterans in any given year have no contact with or services provided by the VA, which would bring that 1 in 40 number down to something along the lines of 1 VA employee for every 20 or fewer veterans receiving services during each year.
Overall, I'm thinking we veterans will be just fine.
I hope you are right. I suspect the information we will get from a lot of the new regime sources will confirm that it's all OK, if not beautiful. There will be a lot in the mainstream media saying that isn't so.
I seem to get that the VA expanded from 2019 levels was due to an expansion of benefits for burn pit victims? I've seen cutback numbers as high as 60% for the EPA. I don't think we will know all the gory details for a while. I hope we don't hang Ukraine out to dry over an oval office argument.
My last employer was a barely sub Fortune 500 company with a couple of thousand in the location where I worked. There was a shooting over a woman, a few examples of falsification of expense reports, Falsification of records, a theft ring, and various sorties of unsavory relationships. There were people with locked door offices who would some times disappear for many hours. The majority of people worked hard and long and other people got caught and fired. It seems like the way with big organizations and a general population mix. We had workforce reductions, but cutbacks were surgical rather than the DOGE effect. I don't know how different government agencies might be, but it does seem like they get bogged down in unnecessary routines..
Someone on another forum who works in the Federal division that manages physical buildings says they are slashing divisions, and emptying buildings like crazy. All I can think of is that in this environment, where commercial real estate isn’t exactly strong, what’s gonna happen to the buildings that the federal government owns? Will they become useless hulks, dragging down the blocks of the cities where they sit?
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/249....jpg?p=twitterQuote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
I have a BIL with a couple of life-threatening health conditions who receives all of his (substantial) care from the VA. I'm sure I will hear what, if any, impacts there are to his care, so I will have that bit of anecdata to share in the future. As an aside, he and SIL both voted for Trump.
I personally have already seen a very significant reduction in staffing and increased wait times at my local post office.
I live almost within shouting distance of a national historical site, which already seems to operate with pretty lean staffing. It will be interesting to see how/if they are impacted in the upcoming season. They are only open seasonally for tours and such, but the grounds are open year-round as a park.
A big issue is that the best and brightest have not usually wanted to work for the government. (I retired after31 years of service) For most of that time, I was considered crazy for doing it. During periods of financial crisis, I was no longer crazy. But it was the stability and benefits, not the salary, that kept me like golden handcuffs. No longer the case. No stability, fewer benefits, crazy management, etc. and we are back to the past and the government being a low end place to work.
this makes me incredibly sad. I worked in a large VA hospital. Veterans often had to wait months for outpatient appointments. On an inpatient unit, many of the patients had multiple medical and psychiatric problems. Agent Orange and now burn pits are incredibly harmful to multiple systems. PTSD, depression, suicide prevention all factor in to complicating veteran care. Traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, burns and wounds need extended complicated care. I met ex pow’s, men who came back to find girlfriends and wives had moved on. Vietnam vets returned to hostile citizens who snugly watched the action on TV while our soldiers slogged through muck, were shot at or shot down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
the veteran suicide rate is almost 60% higher than average citizens. The absolute last thing that should be cut is medical care. There are systems and jobs that could be redundant or not needed. But if you care at all about veterans saying cutting 80,000 workers without careful assessment would be a death sentence.
My brother would be dead if it weren't for the VA, and I'm not exaggerating. If there are inefficiencies in the VA, it's probably because of outdated systems that there is no budget to replace, not because of the workforce.
As you all know, I usually avoid the Politics thread, but I saw catherine's post mentioning the VA in the "What's New". My primary dr and healthcare is through the VA.
And now I am stepping away. Have a great day, everyone.
I see in today's paper that the VA reductions are not expected until June. There are something like 100 lawsuits over the mass firings among the various agencies. It may be months before we see the big impact? What I'm seeing is that DT is expecting the states make up any shortfalls due to DOE cutbacks or total elimination. If the market continues to tank, some may see a reduction in taxes in the form of less capital gains taxes.
Whether, as Alan says, the numbers overall will just be a throw back to 2019 levels is yet to be seen, but I consider very unlikely.
This, yes! My DH's primary care is through the VA and it has been our experience that the system works at a glacial pace and unless you are persistent you will fall through the cracks. Recently he had a vision checkup and it took 12 weeks for his glasses to arrive! Can you imagine having to wait that long for a pair of glasses under your present coverage?Quote:
Originally Posted by catherine
After we moved it took almost a year for his records to be transferred. This was after we accidentally found a PA who would take him on as a primary; the VA had no doctor s available.
This is how we say "Thank you for your 22 years of service!"
KayLR, that's terrible. I agree that we owe our men and women who served MUCH better than that. There must be a lot of regional differences in VAs. Both my FIL and BIL utilized the VA here, as did a first cousin. (WWII no active war service, other two Vietnam active duty) I gotta say, their experiences at our local VA were much better than what you experienced. They had little trouble getting appointments, services, or meds. The VA arranged dialysis services for BIL out of state when we took him traveling with us. My cousin was offered (and refused) help with housing, food, and outpatient mental health services. All three received hospice services at or through the VA here. I am grateful for them, and I'm fine with my tax dollars supporting them. I don't see cuts as being helpful, when the cutters have no idea what those cut actually DO. We need to do MORE for our vets, not less.
I think the problems and delays you, Catherine and Flowers mention have more to do with the bureaucracy associated with any government program and less with lack of resources, funding or support. It's the same as healthcare in Canada or the UK or any other socialized healthcare system.Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLR
I recall just about 6 years or so ago when Congress passed the Mission Act which helped, and actually encouraged, veterans receive timely healthcare through private physicians and hospitals, but access to the systems set up to facilitate that care seems to have disappeared around 2021. I wonder why?
Interesting reading from someone who just retired from SSA about DOGE:
Ex. J - Flick Decl..pdf (courtlistener.com)
Over the winter I was looking into sending a couple of paper i-bonds in my safety deposit box to a Treasury Direct account. When I set up the account they were saying it could take 8n to 12 weeks before the bond would show up in my account. There were cautions saying to send it registered or certified mail with receipt confirmation. That seemed like an inexcusably long to time process the paper bonds. Now, there is no way I'd send them until all the layoffs and reorganization dust settles. Who knows how long it would take.
Here's an interesting (or disturbing) first person account of a Forest Service firing.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/losing-...t-service-job/
Tybee, that is some scary reading. And people think we're "overreacting".
Just talked to my older brother who is a Vietnam vet (Green Beret). He utilizes the VA services near him for lots of things he mentioned today - grief counseling since his wife just passed, help with income taxes and medical care.
Back to the original post----are you still boycotting? I have not been on the Amazon site since Feb. 15. It feels like a cleansing. I have left my comfy house and shopped local.Quote:
Originally Posted by ejchase
I've been able to avoid Amazon since my purchase on 2/22. I recently needed to replace my percolator, and I was able to find a used one on eBay.
I have been buying books on Thriftbooks.
I used Amazon to buy and send my grandson his birthday present, though.
Just bought my son's birthday present on Etsy.