Don’t know anything about this from personal experience, but I thought I heard a report a while back about a fairly large number of hikers in the UK injured or killed by cows. So I’m guessing, not as dangerous as crocodiles but still best to be careful.

Up to a max. So paying a little in the foreign country will not invalidate ALL taxes owed in the US. You might still owe some. Just FYI.

Maybe because he has expressed his admiration for Putin on more than one occasion, has sworn to pull all support for NATO, which was founded to defend against a Russian threat, around the time of the election the Russians hacked email accounts of prominent Democrats thus helping Trump’s campaign efforts, or because Trump chose to believe Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agency in the matter of Russian influence in the 2016 election, Trump’s national security advisor was forced to resign after he had inappropriate contact with Russia to discuss sanctions then lied about it, and because there is a boatload of circumstantial evidence, like relations his family has had with people close to Russia. Maybe for those reasons or it could be people are just really unfair to poor Mr. Trump.

Yeah, but we have Sarah Palin there to take care of it for us.

Did you mean "… For people who earn 100k, and are living at their means, it WOULDN’T be a big jump…? "

Does this mean 12% of the population is about to fall out of windows?

I wasn’t actually replying to you, at least not intentionally. However I do see what might be considered a flaw. I can see some part time jobs only paying say $15k a year. In your scenario the employer would only have to pay those workers $3k a year. This would be great for the employer, cheap labor and it would be easy to kick someone to the curb because he only has to cough up say $4k a year to attract a new employee. It sounds like this would reduce his social security outlay too, unless your suggesting employers have to pay a base SS tax on $1k a month?

I own a house. I don’t think $12k is going to keep me from starving or more importantly, I’m no more likely to walk out on a job once I reach a certain income because it just isn’t enough. It may work if your flipping burgers.

Not sure I really understand that. So I’m working and making a decent wage, say $100k/yr. Now for some reason I can easily tell my employer to take a hike because $12k of it is guaranteed? How does this suddenly make $110k jobs available to switch to?

You look great and I love the way your mother/SO/wife/grandma/neighbor/brother dresses you.

Well, personally, I have foot problems, so walking barefoot is painful. So I wear flip flops around the house.

Why thank you fellow hinge-eater.

Regrettably, I’m gluten free, so neither… although the screws might help hold the gluten free bread together. So I’m going for WITH door hinge.

OK, perhaps I was exaggerating a bit. Perhaps it’s more like 10 to 12, but the point still remains that you have to occupy the rest of that time and it’s best if you have a good friend to do that with.

Opinions vary, but it’s my opinion out of all the things two people need to be compatible, friendship is by far the most important. At best sex only lasts, what eight to ten hours, the rest of the time you need a friend. When you are younger, you may be doing it all over the house but when you’re older things typically slow down or there may be times when someone is injured, tired, stuck at work, whatever. In those times understanding, compassion, commiseration and cooperation are important. If your partner is your best friend, you’re never lonely and you can share things. It’s so much harder when you have very little in common with your partner.

Guess I’m rambling now, but this is how I see it.

Good luck to you.

Do a quick calculation of what you can afford to buy with a billion dollars. Actually, I’ll do it for you. At, just 6% per year, a billion dollars generates 60 million dollars each year. The numbers are absolutely staggering. Virtually nothing is too expensive for the wealthy. Which is why billionaires generously volunteer to pay more in taxes and provide excellent benefits to those who work so hard for them. /s.

In a nut shell, I had an older but better built bike at work I used to get around campus. Someone borrowed it and did not bring it back. Eventually it was found in a work area where it was destroyed by a steal beam they dropped on it. The construction supervisor gave me $100 to buy a new one, so I went to Walmart. It appeared that they were all built the same. I noticed the warning sticker on the bikes were identical between makes leading me to believe they were just the same cheap bikes with different brands. So I bought the one that did not have coaster brakes. I hate coaster brakes. I still have it and use it as a spare bike. It’s trash, despite being the most expensive bike I’ve ever bought. My current bike was given to me by a friend who was not using it. She said it was a $400 bike. Anyway, I digress, but that’s why I bought such a cheap bike. The circumstances were just right. Don’t want an expensive one just sitting outside at work. Plus I could use a company truck to go get it during lunch, instead of shopping around for a better used one.

To be fair, the OP did say “some brands” not ALL bikes. Also, I have one of those Walmart bikes and I pity the foo who owns one. On my very first ride, my pants tore the chain guard off. Pretty sure it was there to protect my pants. Then when I came to a stop, the seat exploded. Springs, nuts, bolts and washers went flying. I had to gather them up again and try to piece it back together to keep the seat usable. It’s ridiculously heavy too. If you can’t afford a nice new bike, I recommend buying a decent used one at a garage sale or something. I don’t agree that they will serve the vast majority of people just fine.

It’s probably a combination of many factors already mentioned. If like to add to it the idea that our food supply has changed.

Agreed. I freely admit that I like the content on youtube and have even come to rely on it in many cases. But I can’t help but think that it will be fine one day (for me) due to limitless corporate greed.