Tariffs and sky high audio prices.

Canada's health system is actually quite admirable, and this is coming from a lifelong US citizen/resident. The health system there works quite well if you think of it as basically a huge HMO. Your description of "you have to get in line" is only applicable if you want the free version of the hip replacement. If you are willing and able to pay for it without expecting reimbursement, you can. Any Canadian who can afford it can get a new hip tomorrow in Canada, the USA, Switzerland...basically anywhere you want to go and pay for it out of your own pocket. It is a choice for most to wait for the free hip replacement. 

I love this thread. I hope we can inject enough audio in it to keep it solvent. ;-)

ghasley ...

Thank you for your well thought out post. Some real food for thought there. 

You've made a good point about Social Security not being a "right," and instead, an "entitlement." One thing that was missed was any comment about those who pay in over decades and pass on prior to retirement age and get nothing, nor do their heirs.

While I agree that many receive more than they paid in due to longevity, those who pass on early make up some of the difference. As of this date, there is no money in the Social Security trust fund. It has been "borrowed" to pay for other government expenses. Money taken (by force) from today's workers, are not put into the trust fund but are used to pay current recipients. Bernie Madoff comes to mind here.

Do you consider Social Security a retirement benefit, or is it a tax? Is it a solvent government program as promised long ago by the FDR administration, or is it a Ponzi scheme of enormous proportions? Have you ever checked out the private system being used in Chile? Here are some links:

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/chiles-social-security-lesson-us

https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/the-overwhelming-case-for-chiles-private-social-security-system/

Take care ...

Frank

Chinese will get us a free head replacement in no time. With Chinese heads. Then we will see things as they should be seen. And they know that no one is going to repay those debts, not a problem, they use money as a weapon and as a tool to absorb everything there is to absorb. So no, they are not enemies, they are a competing civilization. Imperial China is forever.

When you have entire cities where a new house costs ten years pay you are looking at an economy based upon Swiss Bank Accounts .

Back to gold for a moment.  I'm not sure that it is good from the standpoint of backing currency....or from the standpoint of owning mines. 


Getting it out of the ground and turning it into 99% pure bricks has an operating/production cost in the  $600 per oz range...now add the cost of buying the mining property, royalties and fees to the countries you operate in, reclaiming the land....and you are between $900-1000 per oz total cost.


So, if gold were not a commodity but a product that sold in the 2x cost range ...it would likely be in the $1700-2000 per oz.  For the last 10 years it has pretty much been in the $1300 range with a high of $1900 and a low of $900.