But I had also been denied health insurance in the past based on the fact that I have asthma. Or, more accurately, I was able to by a policy but NOT one that covered that condition. So basically, "We'll sell it to you sir, but you can't use it when you actually need it." This is the one r...

This is an amazing story! Of course, I'm referring to the fact that this fisherman took possession of a high capacity death ghost gun and wasn't immediately arrested by the sheriff in California when he turned it in.

Jan Van wrote:

Reub wrote:... I am starting to lose confidence in him. ...

Really Reub, starting to lose confidence? 

Serious question. When was the last time the USA was unequivocally successful when intervening militarily?

1812?

I don't find this compelling at all. It could have been written 600 years ago describing how people who handwrite copies of books will be put out of business. Or a few hundred years ago describing how people who pick cotton would be put out of business. Or 100 years ago describing how people who sel...

I sincerely hope we get a Republican controlled Congress and keep a Democrat president. Our best possibility is when government removes government. Since that will never happen regardless of who is in charge, the second best situation is when government does nothing. Gridlock in government is good. ...

I've been checking my portfolio every day. I'm inching towards early retirement and I like seeing the total amount get bigger. Of course, as HB said, my portfolio is getting bigger because of my job and contributing new money. My portfolio goes up around 4% per month lately, from new contributions. ...

Umm how does one doctor asking a question equate to every doctor being REQUIRED to ask a question? Totally garbage comparison. It's a perfect comparison. Every year, additional reporting requirements increase for medical professionals. If you go to the emergency room for a broken leg, they will ask...

What if the doctor asks whether you own guns, and you refuse to answer, and the doctor documents "patient refuses to answer." Given the government already has or soon will have access to all electronic medical records, how hard would it be to run a query that says "show me a list of A...

moda0306 wrote: Anyone who is not an anarchist is advocating that the government hold a gun to people's heads to force their will onto them.

Anarcho-capitalists aren't real anarchists.

That's not true at all.

I wanted to get into sovereigns because of the cool factor, and because of the 1/4 ounce is smaller and easier to rebalance factor, but the spread seemed to be a lot higher. Offhand I think it was around 6% to 8% spread versus a 3% spread on regular 1 ounce coins of modern mintage.

SF's problem isn't really rent control anymore. It's the tech bubble boom causing a zillion young six-figure-salary engineers to move to SF, pushing up rents with their vastly higher purchasing power compared to most of the prior locals. What a terrible "problem"! Here's some similar &quo...

Also, one practical problem I see is the assumption that the high tax levels will eliminate the class you intend.  As pointed out in another thread, the rapidly rising real estate prices in California aren't chasing out the poor.  They're wiping out the middle class.  In my experience, that makes f...

Here's an idea for a fantasy city with low crime. You have extremely high property taxes. 10% of home value. You provide no services for those taxes. The money is either burned or used for something like local conservationalism. No welfare. No low income housing. Terribly funded public schools to th...

Any new developments are exempt from rent control in SF.  I think it's a flawed policy, but there's plenty of incentive to build new units.  Unfortunately, other policies (BMR, NIMBY) still restrict growth.  Nevertheless, construction rate is currently phenomenal. Interesting. When did that shift i...

Is anyone with any common sense going to point out that the reason for this great divide between the wealthy and the poor and the high cost of living is precisely because of government forces designed to "help" the poor, which causes a chain of events that screws the poor over in the end? ...

Any suggestions on interesting numismatic silver coins, other than "mint"/"proof" style which are not very interesting. Maybe some historical coin that's largely silver composition, and doesn't cost much more than silver content (maybe 2x silver content value)? Also, I dislike si...

Check out Craig's YouTubes. He does a bunch of reviews on camping equipment.

I only have a solo 401(k). I used to put in as much as I could. Now I contribute a bit less than what my accountant tells me I can. Because.....? Just to be on the safe side. He overdid it last time and I had to remove the excess when he revised his calculation. (I know, it sounds like he's not a v...

Is 3% VEU significant?  Not in my way of thinking.  Anything less than 5%, and maybe 10%,  is just noise.  Not trying to be mean, just saying it plainly.  :) This is done. 25/15/20/40 equities/gold/treasuries/cash, US/EU 80/20 with 5.6 years fixed income duration. Why not just put 20% of your portf...

Definitely better to buy American in this case and pay more (have to include the cost of getting the product to its point of consumption). These products are regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). Surely this is a case where government oversight is good, no...

my own observation was that I could almost always get components from China for a fifth the price of the American versions, for maybe 80 to 90% the quality. Pareto's principle in action. 80% of the quality can be had for 20% of the cost ;) I've noticed similar observations. For me, personally, in m...

There's many people who look for Made in US on goods. And who go out of their way to spend extra to find "pre-outsourced" goods or to support companies who haven't yet outsourced. For me personally, as a Libertarian, I fall under this mindset somewhat, but it's less about supporting US emp...

Interesting this should come up. Earlier this week I was searching the interwebs for another tool and found a cool web forum that discusses tools. I only spent a few minutes looking at other threads in addition to the one I wanted, but I found this one about a guy who went to multiple hardware store...

Anyone who disagrees is clearly a racist.

I support the President because I don't want to be forced to sell my NBA team.