Doug Dahlke

Jeff I agree 100% on the debt thing. I have been telling anyone who would listen that all this great economic stuff was smoke and mirrors because it was all built on debt. The piper now wants to be paid and it's gonna hurt. The politicians are in one of two camps. Some are truly out of touch with what goes on in the real world. Remember the vast majority of these people are wealthy and don't feel our pain. The rest know what's happening and think the general public is dumb enough to believe the lie. When they know they can't get away with it any longer they change thier story. I want to see more tax cuts. We are taxed to death. This country started a revolution over a tax rate that was something like 3%. People were willing to die for it. We now pay 50% between federal, state and local taxes. Factor in the taxes you pay that are passed along in the price of goods and services and it is even higher. There is more waste and fraud in government than probably anywhere else in society. I think I can figure out how to spend my money better than the government. The average US citizen saves next to nothing. Part of that is our culture and part of it is that we get taxed on the interest of what we save. If we die and pass it to our children its taxed again. If you have a tax deferred fund like a 401K they hit you up when you start withdrawing it. Our economic policies stink. There are tough times ahead but maybe we will start paying more attention to what matters. Maybe we will wake up as a country and get some real change.

Well said. Things are what they are. It is not being negative to point out what is going on with the economy.

The facts are the facts. Fuel prices have risen considerably over the last 18 to 24 months. Anything that ships by truck has increased in price. Some people can find alternative transportation but most still have to drive to get to work etc. Yesterday on the local news they said that milk prices were up 30%, bread and eggs were well into the double digits along with beef and chicken. I mentioned the price of corn in another post. Last night on Modern Marvels they did a show about corn and it is amazing all that it goes into. The price for corn continues to rise because of increased use of it in ethanol. The US produces 40% of the world's corn and as the dollar declines in value more is being exported which further raises the price. The weak dollar also contributes to inflation because exports on other items rise as well and supply and demand means higher prices for those products. The subprime mess continues and people who bought into ARMs are seeing their monthly mortgage payments go up, in some cases way up. The last 10 years have also seen the demise of many good paying manufacturing jobs in this country. The politicians like to talk about all the new jobs that have been created but they aren't the same as the jobs that were lost. People aren't snapping their wallets shut they are looking in their wallets and finding them empty. Most pay increases are only going to be 2% to 3%. That will nowhere near keep track with current inflation. This isn't going away any time soon. Some companies will find ways to thrive or survive during these times, others won't. There are always people out there with money to spend but they are going to be fewer and harder to find/sell.

I bypass to 300 gallon feed tank.

Economists keep talking about a recession coming. I think it has been here for a few months already. Inflation is at it's worst in 26 years. Rising fuel prices affect the cost of nearly everything else in the economy. Our idiots in Congress in their push for more ethanol usage have driven up the cost of corn so the price of beef and chicken is up even more. Now that housing has tanked people can't use their home equity to keep spending. None of this is good news but I still am optimistic about the new year. People may be inclined to invest a little more in property maintenance if they know they will be in the house for awhile. Commercial work should still be good for the companies that can position themselves to get it.

Okay I guess I can't let this one go. These are just my opinions don't take offense. Chastise if you want to. Separation of church and state is a myth. Read the constitution. Nowhere is separation of church and state mentioned. There is a clause that says the state may establish no religion. That means government can't come in and say the Church of XYZ is the official church of the state and you must belong to it, pay taxes to it, etc. The founders did not want religion out of politics they wanted politics out of religion. I would love to vote for a true conservative who is also a strong Christian and really lived by what he professed as his faith. I disagree that most evangelicals want to shove our religion down people's throats. In my opinion what has been happening in this country for quite awhile now is the exact opposite. I believe this is a free country. What two or more consenting adults do behind closed doors is none of my business. I may disagree with it but I defend your right to do it. Just don't try and tell me that marriage should not be between one man and one woman. If we allow men to marry each other or women to marry how can you possibly say that its not okay for two men and one woman to be married? Maybe three women and one guy. Where does it end? Hate crime laws are rediculous. If someone is murdered the motive behind the crime is allowed to be considered at the time of sentencing. If you rob, assault, destroy property, whatever there are already laws to deal with that. Don't start telling me I can't say Merry Christmas to someone because it could be construed as hate speech. Don't tell me the Bible needs to be removed from a library because it contains hate speech. 1984 is here. I am tired of people being offended. If I wear a cross or a shirt with a religous symbol and you are not of the same faith don't tell me I can't wear my cross because you are offended. Wear whatever religious symbols of your faith you want to. It won't offend me. Its your right. Most evangelicals I think will defend peoples rights to live as they choose as long as that doesn't interfere with our freedom. That is what this country was meant to be. Sadly we have strayed far from the path.

I am a christian evangelical but someone's religion is not my litmus test for president. Many candidates claim religion but clearly demonstrate that they are liars based on their actions. I agree with Gordon that Bush's actions and his claims of faith don't always seem to line up. I am not judging the man's heart, only God can do that but I see what I see in his actions. If he could run again I would note vote for him. I have had other christians ask me about Romney's religion and if that bothers me. I tell them no. I will not vote for Romney for other reasons but if he held what I consider to be truly conservative values in his view of government then I would vote for him. I don't believe what Romney believes about God but many of the Mormons I have met lead lives that are morally sound under biblical doctrine. I won't say what I think about Bill Clinton as a person other than it is negative. I agree with Rod that under his term government grew less and we were in a better position fiscally than we are now. A lot of that had to do with the Republicans controlling the congress but eight years of Clinton with a Republican congress has been better than eight years of Bush with the same in my opinion.

An airless is not the same as an HVLP. Airless systems are high pressure with lower volume. An HVLP is high volume and low pressure. The airless is better for higher viscosity coatings like unthinned latex paint. An HVLP works best with stains and thinner type coatings. The lower pressure used in those systems also helps with the overspray issue.

So many things are tied to core parts of the economy. In my area we are experiencing all the things listed above plus we have the drought to contend with. The same principles are applying. Landscapers are hurt, pool companies, sprinkler system installs. nurseries, sod farms, pw companies, car washes, all the people that sell equipment and supplies to these companies, it goes on and on. Fuel prices are rising again and that will just make things worse.

You can also use a variable pressure wand. That gives you room to do some adjustment without changing nozzles.

If the marks only show up when the surface is wet then it is Armor All or something similar. Like Jeff said don't worry about it. I don't know anything that will take that up. If they continue to wash cars on the driveway they will just make more spots anyway.

My wife and I sponsor a child in Brazil through Compassion International. When we have money I like to donate to the Salvation Army. Almost every penny goes to someone in need. We have not donated to an animal shelter but we do have five dogs four of which are rescue dogs from the local shelter. The fifth belonged to my wife's mother and we took her when she passed away.

Nice work. How did you get the oil out?

I have no employees but still carry a WC ghost policy. It will cover temporary employees that I sometimes use.

Try this. There is a formula on the page where you can fill in the kw you want to power and it will calculate the HP. Generator horsepower calculations

Actually had a wash job yesterday. Just a driveway but it is for a PM company with lots of properties and managers. This is the fourth manager I have now done work for. I don't know what was on this drive. The PM said there had been an oil spill and whatever someone else put on the stain caused the red blotch. It was still wet when the after picture was taken. The oil shadow should have lightened up considerably when it dried.

I have some F-13. I hadn't looked at the MSDS for the concrete cleaner in awhile and thought it was sodium hydroxide based. When I saw potassium I thought the same thing, F-13. I also have some F-18 which does have SH in it. I know others here use F-18 on concrete. The less stuff I need to carry around the better.

1M general liability, 1M on my vehicle plus workers comp. One PM I work for requires 1M on every property that I may get a contract on through them. If I remember correctly that adds about $100 per year to my GL policy per property.

I started out with just hot water. That got rid of most of the red stain. After that was nearly gone I used a concrete cleaner with potassium hydroxide on the oil spots. I put down multiple applications and went over them with hot water. I really wanted to see how it looked completely dry but didn't have the time to waste.

Our trade policies stink. I am not a total protectionist but look what is going on with Chineese imports and lead poisoning. Now imported sea food is full of bad stuff. How do U.S. companies compete with off shore operations that don't have to comply with the rules operations located in the U.S. do? I was in the textile industry for 27 years and NAFTA totally destroyed the textile industry in the U.S. In my opinion the economy is in the toilet.

Wagner owns Sraytech and Titan. The Wagner name is just the lower end of the brand. I painted my first house with a homeowner use Wagner and it did fine. The latex had to be thinned and I didn't like the heavy weight of the gun but it worked. I now have a lower end Spraytech airless and it is doing fine also. Starting to get some more use out of it. Like others have said, if it works and makes the job go faster that is all that counts.

Well pressure washing may be going down the tubes here in GA so I have started looking for painting work again. Started a job today. Painting doesn't pay what I get for power washing but you do what you got to do. The job today went well. Nice customer. Bills paid this month. Gotta take it a day at a time.

Classic stuff. I always liked the Charllie Brown Christmas too. Nowadays with VCR and DVD you can see those specials anytime. Back in the day you knew you only had one chance a year to see that stuff and it just made it more special I think.

Were all the finishes you stripped off oil base? It looks like the rails are white. I have some F-18 but haven't tried it out yet. Just curious about how it might work on a latex application.

I have always voted. Voted for Bush twice and wish I had not. Not that the other options were any better. The two party system has become an exclusive club that keeps anyone that could promote some real change out of the picture. My prediction is that whoever the Democratic candidate is, they will win easily. The Republicans have completely alientated much of their base and are too stupid to realize it or too arrogant to care.