Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

28firefighter

I think the idea of Crypto currency is here to stay and is something worth watching. I do believe the current iterations of it just are not ready for prime time and the finances of it are a bubble. If Bitcoin drops low enough again I'll probably jump, but for now I'm really enjoying all of the threads of people losing their minds over on Reddit.

carnaught

@jmonroe. ask the Sirius/XM cancellation dept. for their promotional rate of either of the following: $25 for 5 mos., $30 for 6 mos., or my preferred $60 for 1 yr....all of these are plus fees. If they say no, tell them to cancel. One or any of these will for sure be available after cancellation. Whatever plan you get, be sure to set a reminder on your smart phone or other device to call 2-5 days prior to re-up your promotional plan, or else you’ll be charged full or half retail price.

They are more compliant with the above than ever before, IMO.

abacomike

lawcar said:

NETFLIX: Hey, Mike, Netflix is great for original content series (House of Cards, Narcos, etc.) and for viewing great tv series from other sources (e.g., Breaking Bad and Mad Men from AMC). Good for documentaries. Bad for motion pictures: they have low level films that you never heard of (and not great "sleepers") or lower tier films. We have had it for several years and alway spend 10 minutes looking for a decent movie. But we still keep it for what I mentioned above. Regards, David

Thanks - noticed they have crumby movies.

explorerx4

@jmonroe,
In addition to the 5 for 25 deal, the renewal was at the high monthly rate, but only for 1 month, not an automatic renewal for a year, as previously.

imidazol97

carnaught said:

@jmonroe. ask the Sirius/XM cancellation dept. for their promotional rate of either of the following: $25 for 5 mos., $30 for 6 mos., or my preferred $60 for 1 yr....a

If they'd offered it, I'd have taken the $60 for 1 yr...

driver100

snakeweasel said:

jmonroe said:

snakeweasel said:

imidazol97 said:

Tax info started appearing in my box 38p0about 3.5 weeks ago. I have to wait into deep February till the last get here.
Did son's taxes on 1040EZ again. 

With the new tax law changes a lot of people will be filing 1040EZ's again. Me for one, no more itemization for me. 

That doesn't bode well for my side job. 

Do you want some tips on how to cheat so as to make up for the lost side job?

jmonroe

Oh I don't have to do that, I am sure I can get a job as a village idiot to make up for the loss of business

. 


Is there a demand for village idiots?

andres3

qbrozen said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

It's Tulipmania all over again. The idea, apparently, is to buy your bitcoins asap and then sell them to the next sucker----unless of course, you are the next sucker.

Actually the IDEA of alternative currencies is appealing, and in the USA, in the past, many states in fact had their own currency, which you would exchange as you went from state to state.

I have tried my damnedest to understand bitcoin, but to no avail. I simply can't wrap my head around a totally made up non-tangible fantasy is worth actual money. I might as well pick up a rock off the ground and declare it worth $1000. 

Yes, but if you can buy the rock for $1,000 and turn around and sell it for $10,000, who needs to understand it? As long as you can figure out what $10,000-$1,000 is, you'll be OK. Not that I'm advocating investing in things you don't understand. If I had invested in Bitcoin (I didn't); I think I would have pulled out somewhere around 1,000%. Get too greedy, and you don't win. I wonder how many investors had a target "sell price," and if so, how many stuck to it!.

driver100

Current offer:

We've missed you. Turn SiriusXM back on and let's reignite the flame.
Returning Listeners —
Enjoy your first 6 months for $30 with a Select subscription!

Special offers are available only on currently inactive radios

Offer Details: Activate a semi-annual Select subscription and pay $29.94 for your first 6 months, a savings of 68% off the current monthly rate of $15.99, plus get free activation (an additional $15 savings). Fees and taxes apply. Service will automatically renew monthly thereafter (if on credit card) or every 6 months thereafter (if on invoice), and you will be charged according to your chosen payment method at then-current rates. To cancel you must call us at 1-866-635-23491-866-635-2349.

andres3

All you people need to stop with the 5-month $25 dollar plan! Just say NO!

At least get the 6-month $30 deal, but better yet the 1-year $60 deal. I'm tired of being offered the dumb 5 month plan. It might be the same cost, but 6-months is hard enough to remember, 5-months makes no sense!

28firefighter

Looks like the Crypto market isn't the only thing tanking this week...

imidazol97

Lots of individual money went into the market in January. When individuals dive in after waiting long enough to be certain the market will climb and will never top out, that's a negative indicator. Too late in upward climb. Then computer selling hit today along with people being given margin calls. Many purchase orders set at lower prices were cancelled as buyers were scared out so selling was into shallow pool of bids..

Nice decline to shake out the individuals planning to jump on late.

carnaught

andres3 said:

All you people need to stop with the 5-month $25 dollar plan! Just say NO!

At least get the 6-month $30 deal, but better yet the 1-year $60 deal. I'm tired of being offered the dumb 5 month plan. It might be the same cost, but 6-months is hard enough to remember, 5-months makes no sense!

Again, just set your smartphone reminder. Easy-peasy, no biggy. I know we can all afford it, but worth it not to over pay

andres3

carnaught said:

andres3 said:

All you people need to stop with the 5-month $25 dollar plan! Just say NO!

At least get the 6-month $30 deal, but better yet the 1-year $60 deal. I'm tired of being offered the dumb 5 month plan. It might be the same cost, but 6-months is hard enough to remember, 5-months makes no sense!

Again, just set your smartphone reminder. Easy-peasy, no biggy. I know we can all afford it, but worth it not to over pay

After 20 years, you'll have renewed 48 times at 5 months a pop. That's a waste of about 10 minutes of time 48 times. 480 lost minutes of life.

At least at 6 months a pop, you only have to waste 400 minutes over 20 years. that's why I'm renewing at 1 year for $60 next time, or not at all.

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

imidazol97 said:

Tax info started appearing in my box 38p0about 3.5 weeks ago. I have to wait into deep February till the last get here.
Did son's taxes on 1040EZ again. 

With the new tax law changes a lot of people will be filing 1040EZ's again. Me for one, no more itemization for me. 

That doesn't bode well for my side job. 

If RB wins his election there will be an opening at his store. Do you consider yourself a genius?

abacomike

I’ve really enjoyed the Xfinity X1 cable remote.  Very impressed with the voice command activation.  I no longer have to manually search for titles, shows, programming, etc.  I’m getting spoiled, that’s for sure! 

cdnpinhead

driver100 said:

Is there a demand for village idiots?

There is, but the supply has far exceeded the demand.

tbirdmarco

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JEmkmSoJ7xo

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

snakeweasel said:

imidazol97 said:

Tax info started appearing in my box 38p0about 3.5 weeks ago. I have to wait into deep February till the last get here.
Did son's taxes on 1040EZ again. 

With the new tax law changes a lot of people will be filing 1040EZ's again. Me for one, no more itemization for me. 

That doesn't bode well for my side job. 

If RB wins his election there will be an opening at his store. Do you consider yourself a genius?


Actually I resigned from the dealer in December when I was hired as city attorney for my hometown.

explorerx4

I don't trust those voice remotes. I still use the old one and Comcast has sent us several voice remotes without our asking for one.
They are trying to mine some kind of information.

fintail

No voice remote here either. Not too paranoid about data mining (they will be sorely disappointed with what it hears around me ), but I suspect it works no better than voice commands in a car.

Regarding the market today, I'll be lucky to retire in 25 years, and as I am in the private sector and must play in the 401K/IRA casino, I will just continue to buy and hold.

ab348

andres3 said:

After 20 years, you'll have renewed 48 times at 5 months a pop. That's a waste of about 10 minutes of time 48 times. 480 lost minutes of life.

At least at 6 months a pop, you only have to waste 400 minutes over 20 years. that's why I'm renewing at 1 year for $60 next time, or not at all.

The amount of grovelling, aggravation, irritation and deception over all that time would be really damaging to the psyche. Just another reason to cut these charlatans loose.

stickguy

the new rules go in for 2018, right? Depending on if I manage to relocate this year, based on 2016, it will be about a wash for me (the new standard deduction being about what I itemized to) I think.

won't save me any time. I just use the software, enter the forms, and it spits out whatever version it wants to. Not thinking my entry time is going to be any shorter.

dino001

fintail said:

Regarding the market today, I'll be lucky to retire in 25 years, and as I am in the private sector and must play in the 401K/IRA casino, I will just continue to buy and hold.

It’s only casino when you look day by day, or even month by month. Long term, i.e. 10 years plus , it behaves in a very predictable way - good companies go up, bad ones go down and stay down, or go away. No casino, just normal evonomics.

fintail

True, but we don't have a huge history of people being dependent on this for their old age , and it isn't exactly as secure as a public sector or secure defined benefit pension plan. It's something that really started as a mainstream idea with earlier boomers, and even they are more likely to have a sweet sweet pension than those born later. There's still a bit of rolling of the dice, if anything, due to imperfect information.

Still, I should be grateful I have something socked away - a lot of people don't.

dino001 said:

It’s only casino when you look day by day, or even month by month. Long term, i.e. 10 years plus , it behaves in a very predictable way - good companies go up, bad ones go down and stay down, or go away. No casino, just normal evonomics.

venture

ab348 said:

What a shell game from a really crappy company. So glad I've left them behind. Tired of SXM's shenanigans.

Me too. I had them for many years and thought I would really miss it. I found out I don't.

abacomike

Just got my Condo insurance renewal premium for another year - up from $685 to $828.  This is all thanks to hurricane Irma.  Couple that with a a $276 increase in auto insurance rates, it getting pretty hard for many people to afford adequate coverage for their cars and homes/condos.

ab348

fintail said:

True, but we don't have a huge history of people being dependent on this for their old age , and it isn't exactly as secure as a public sector or secure defined benefit pension plan. It's something that really started as a mainstream idea with earlier boomers, and even they are more likely to have a sweet sweet pension than those born later. There's still a bit of rolling of the dice, if anything, due to imperfect information.

Still, I should be grateful I have something socked away - a lot of people don't.

But just think, if you had been a bit sharper, you could have been one of those Bitcoin billionaire kids I read about. This generation's version of the dot.com kids of 2000 who cashed out after doing nothing of value.

fintail

If I had been sharper, I also could have guessed the numbers for one of those ~500MM lottery drawings a few weeks ago

Or if I was sharper, I could make a time machine, go back to when close-in Seattle real estate was attainable for normal working class/middle class people, and win that lottery that quite a few boomers and silent generation types hit it big in around here.

I know of only one person/family who really made it via the dot com boom - an already quite affluent couple, started an an e-commerce site (with seven figures of their own money), sold it when the getting was good, and now have enough to last generations. I don't know anyone who made real money in cryptocurrency, although if the web is representative, many people have tens of thousands in it, but for some reason never want to cash out - almost like people shilling or pumping for something they actually have few hundred dollars in, and want to make out like the lucky (that's all it is) ones who got in at the start.

ab348 said:

But just think, if you had been a bit sharper, you could have been one of those Bitcoin billionaire kids I read about. This generation's version of the dot.com kids of 2000 who cashed out after doing nothing of value.

28firefighter

fintail said:

If I had been sharper, I also could have guessed the numbers for one of those ~500MM lottery drawings a few weeks ago

Or if I was sharper, I could make a time machine, go back to when close-in Seattle real estate was attainable for normal working class/middle class people, and win that lottery that quite a few boomers and silent generation types hit it big in around here.

I was at an appointment earlier this week when I overheard someone significantly older exclaiming to the person with her that she didn't understand how anyone would have trouble living on $75,000 a year in Seattle these days. She went on to explain that she NEVER made that much money and never wanted. In the same breath, she talked about how she was paying off her mortgage in April and it would free up $675/month in cash for her.

I almost lost my mind. If my housing cost was $675/month, I'd have no problems either.

fintail

Probably had a public sector job with a pension paying 85% of the top last 3 years pay with retirement at age 60, platinum healthcare, and bought a nice house in Magnolia in 1985 for 100K. There's an entire generation around here like that.

Reminds me of a friend's mother in law who chided her for not being "smart" with her money, saying if she was better managing it, she could afford to live somewhere closer to work (Bellevue). The mother in law lives in a house west of Market in Kirkland, bought brand new in 1985, for 120K. The place is now worth maybe 1.2MM.
My friend's family recently bought a place in far north Bothell (virtually Mill Creek) on a 4000 sq ft lot, for 500K. They can't relate.

28firefighter said:

I was at an appointment earlier this week when I overheard someone significantly older exclaiming to the person with her that she didn't understand how anyone would have trouble living on $75,000 a year in Seattle these days. She went on to explain that she NEVER made that much money and never wanted. In the same breath, she talked about how she was paying off her mortgage in April and it would free up $675/month in cash for her.

I almost lost my mind. If my housing cost was $675/month, I'd have no problems either.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:l.p.

jmonroe said:

imidazol97 said:

Tax info started appearing in my box 38p0about 3.5 weeks ago. I have to wait into deep February till the last get here. Did son's taxes on 1040EZ again. 

With the new tax law changes a lot of people will be filing 1040EZ's again. Me for one, no more itemization for me. 

That doesn't bode well for my side job. 

Do you want some tips on how to cheat so as to make up for the lost side job? jmonroe

Oh I don't have to do that, I am sure I can get a job as a village idiot to make up for the loss of business

. 

Is there a demand for village idiots?

Millions vote for them every year.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

All you people need to stop with the 5-month $25 dollar plan! Just say NO! At least get the 6-month $30 deal, but better yet the 1-year $60 deal. I'm tired of being offered the dumb 5 month plan. It might be the same cost, but 6-months is hard enough to remember, 5-months makes no sense!

Again, just set your smartphone reminder. Easy-peasy, no biggy. I know we can all afford it, but worth it not to over pay

After 20 years, you'll have renewed 48 times at 5 months a pop. That's a waste of about 10 minutes of time 48 times. 480 lost minutes of life. At least at 6 months a pop, you only have to waste 400 minutes over 20 years. that's why I'm renewing at 1 year for $60 next time, or not at all.

480 minutes over 20 years comes to less than 4 seconds a day. 

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

the new rules go in for 2018, right? Depending on if I manage to relocate this year, based on 2016, it will be about a wash for me (the new standard deduction being about what I itemized to) I think. won't save me any time. I just use the software, enter the forms, and it spits out whatever version it wants to. Not thinking my entry time is going to be any shorter.

Yes the new laws start for 2018. Your standard deduction will almost double but you lose your personal exemptions. Many will see their taxable income increase but the tax rates are going down so many will be getting a tax break  

ab348

fintail said:

I know of only one person/family who really made it via the dot com boom - an already quite affluent couple, started an an e-commerce site (with seven figures of their own money), sold it when the getting was good, and now have enough to last generations.

I actually know (or knew) someone who did, a fellow a few years younger than me whom I used to play golf with occasionally at the club I was a member at the time. He came up with some sort of software that allowed dial-up internet connections to work better and still let landline calls come in without dropping the online connection. Sold it to AOL for a bundle. At least he came up with something that at the time was somewhat useful. I remember reading about these guys in their early 20s who had these dot.com companies they set up which never made any money and never really had any thing viable to offer who still made big bucks when large outfits desperate to get in on the first internet boom overpaid dramatically for a box full of air and not much else.

jmonroe

Thanks guys for you input about the going rate for SiriusXM.

I just got off the phone with them and told them if I couldn't do better than the all in rate of $228.53 for the year that I received via the mail yesterday, I wanted to cancel as of next month when my subscription ran out. Low and behold Bob (he gave me his name) quoted me their promotional rate of $99.85 per year just like they always have done. When I told Bob that I heard of better rates than that he told me to hold on. I did and he came back with, "I see you have 2 cars with us and have been with us since 2009 (Genny #1). We don't want to lose a good customer like you so I can give you our best long time customer rate of $52.06 for one year all in including the normal $2.00 billing fee". Needles to say I almost fell off my chair and asked him to repeat that price. He did and it didn't change, still $52.06 for a year.

I guess all I have to do is wait for the invoice. As we have always said in here, "if you don't ask you don't get". Well, I asked but I got more than I asked for.

All I can say is, give Bob a call and tell him you want the @jmonroe price.

jmonroe

ab348

snakeweasel said:

480 minutes over 20 years comes to less than 4 seconds a day. 

But just imagine, if you think of that grovelling and lying every day for those 4 seconds, in a short time your self-esteem will disappear.

snakeweasel

ab348 said:

480 minutes over 20 years comes to less than 4 seconds a day. 

But just imagine, if you think of that grovelling and lying every day for those 4 seconds, in a short time your self-esteem will disappear.

Hey, I'm married, groveling and lying are part of my life. 

ab348

snakeweasel said:

Hey, I'm married, groveling and lying are part of my life. 

Oh, of course, how silly of me.

driver100

jmonroe said:

Thanks guys for you input about the going rate for SiriusXM.

. Needles to say I almost fell off my chair and asked him to repeat that price. He did and it didn't change, still $52.06 for a year.

I guess all I have to do is wait for the invoice. As we have always said in here, "if you don't ask you don't get". Well, I asked but I got more than I asked for.

All I can say is, give Bob a call and tell him you want the @jmonroe price.

jmonroe

I guess you owe us all a drink for the advice.

Make mine a Bud Lite.....in case you haven't heard;

Bud Light is the top-selling beer in the U.S., followed by Coors Light and Miller Lite. Budweiser no longer ranks in the top three. Topt 3 are all Lites.

driver100

I have grovelled for less than the $180 JMonroe saved for his XM.

Mr_Shiftright

qbrozen said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

It's Tulipmania all over again. The idea, apparently, is to buy your bitcoins asap and then sell them to the next sucker----unless of course, you are the next sucker.

Actually the IDEA of alternative currencies is appealing, and in the USA, in the past, many states in fact had their own currency, which you would exchange as you went from state to state.

I have tried my damnedest to understand bitcoin, but to no avail. I simply can't wrap my head around a totally made up non-tangible fantasy is worth actual money. I might as well pick up a rock off the ground and declare it worth $1000. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well the actual paper money in your wallet is the same thing--you are essentially trusting that everyone who takes your cash actually thinks it's worth what it says on the paper. You give them 5 pieces of paper, you get a new TV.

Could be gold, could be frog pelts.

Mr_Shiftright

dino001 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

It's Tulipmania all over again. The idea, apparently, is to buy your bitcoins asap and then sell them to the next sucker----unless of course, you are the next sucker.

Actually the IDEA of alternative currencies is appealing, and in the USA, in the past, many states in fact had their own currency, which you would exchange as you went from state to state.

I think it's a bit more complicated than that. Blockchain technology is real with potentially far reaching consequences into our lives, just as were railroads, radio, television, or internet. However, companies built around it are mostly a joke, fraud, or unsustainable, just as those build around the mentioned technologies when public became aware of them.

Yes there are now over 700 cryptocurrencies. The actual blockchain technology seems quite durable and sustainable, but human greed and stupidity are threats. I don't think you could very easily hack it though--that would be quite an effort and perhaps only destroy the data.

On the other hand, our current method of printing new money against spiraling debt doesn't seem like a very good idea anymore.

imidazol97

jmonroe said:

Thanks guys for you input about the going rate for SiriusXM.

I just got off the phone with them and told them if I couldn't do better than the all in rate of $228.53 for the year that I received via the mail yesterday, I wanted to cancel as of next month when my subscription ran out. Low and behold Bob (he gave me his name) quoted me their promotional rate of $99.85 per year just like they always have done. When I told Bob that I heard of better rates than that he told me to hold on. I did and he came back with, "I see you have 2 cars with us and have been with us since 2009 (Genny #1). We don't want to lose a good customer like you so I can give you our best long time customer rate of $52.06 for one year all in including the normal $2.00 billing fee". Needles to say I almost fell off my chair and asked him to repeat that price. He did and it didn't change, still $52.06 for a year.

I guess all I have to do is wait for the invoice. As we have always said in here, "if you don't ask you don't get". Well, I asked but I got more than I asked for.

All I can say is, give Bob a call and tell him you want the @jmonroe price.

jmonroe

I feel like I've been cheated. This is like when someone buys a car and then comes on Edmunds to ask if they got a good deal only to have someone else say, for real or not, that they got the same car for $3000 less.

fintail

The sign of the era:



Come to think of it, I know of someone I went to high school with who also got involved with e-commerce while a college student in the late 90s, sold out at the peak, and was able to fund his education and then some, not bad. I think he's a realtor now, so it might not have been enough to retire, but realtors around here can pretty much mint their own money too.

The couple I mentioned earlier live very subtly relative to their healthy 8 figure wealth, too. They have a couple of very nice houses (one bought for something like 230K in the early 90s, now worth 10x as much, welcome to the east side), but both drive ~10 year old MBs and a mid 00s Ford pickup.

ab348 said:

fintail said:

I actually know (or knew) someone who did, a fellow a few years younger than me whom I used to play golf with occasionally at the club I was a member at the time. He came up with some sort of software that allowed dial-up internet connections to work better and still let landline calls come in without dropping the online connection. Sold it to AOL for a bundle. At least he came up with something that at the time was somewhat useful. I remember reading about these guys in their early 20s who had these dot.com companies they set up which never made any money and never really had any thing viable to offer who still made big bucks when large outfits desperate to get in on the first internet boom overpaid dramatically for a box full of air and not much else.

nyccarguy

A few months ago, I posted here as well as in "CCBA" about my Father-In-Law's 2017 Outback. The good news is that he got the car back and it seems to have been fixed "good as new" or "good as previously undamaged 7-8 months old & 14K miles." He doesn't notice any strange rattles and is happy how they matched the color.

The bad news is that my In-Laws are POd (they have every right to be). According to the police report, the insurance company deemed the driver of the Outback 100% at fault. 2 people in the Civic they hit were taken to the hospital. They are not sure of the extent of the injuries or how much damage was caused by the other car. The dealer had the car fixed at their body shop, paid the cost for the parts and labor, but billed insurance for "the full boat." My Father-In-Law was given a loaner car (Crosstrek) when he brought the car in for service, but once they brought his car to their body shop, they started charging his insurance company $30/day for a rental car. As a result of this accident, USAA said they are going to raise my In Law's rates when their policy comes up for renewal (they will NOT tell them how much until the time comes). I hope to god that the people that were in the other car were NOT seriously hurt and they have sufficient coverage and DO NOT SUE my In-Laws (they happen to be wonderful people)

They've retained a lawyer who will try to sue the dealer for diminished value in small claims court.

Crazy though. The dealer forces you to sign a waiver when you bring your car in for service so they are not liable to any damages caused to or by YOUR car during a test drive. Then YOU are forced to provide proof of insurance in order to drive THEIR loaner car. If anything happens to THEIR loaner car in YOUR possession, it is YOUR responsibility. Seems like they are covered BOTH ways and the consumer loses out. Can a consumer walk into a dealer with a typed up "waiver" and force the dealer to sign it? The dealer can choose NOT to service your vehicle because of this, right?

dino001

Mr_Shiftright said:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well the actual paper money in your wallet is the same thing--you are essentially trusting that everyone who takes your cash actually thinks it's worth what it says on the paper. You give them 5 pieces of paper, you get a new TV.
Could be gold, could be frog pelts.

I heard a good definition of money, as something that government accepts as tender for payment of taxes (or in general any settlement of debt toward and from the government). There may be some additional conditions, but it sounds just right. So gold coins, chickens, goat, or now bitcoin could be a form of stored value (durable or not), just like money is, or they could subject of speculation about their future value, just like money is, but to settle our debt to the government, we would have to exchange them to their money (here US dollars).

dino001

jmonroe said:

Thanks guys for you input about the going rate for SiriusXM.

I just got off the phone with them and told them if I couldn't do better than the all in rate of $228.53 for the year that I received via the mail yesterday, I wanted to cancel as of next month when my subscription ran out. Low and behold Bob (he gave me his name) quoted me their promotional rate of $99.85 per year just like they always have done. When I told Bob that I heard of better rates than that he told me to hold on. I did and he came back with, "I see you have 2 cars with us and have been with us since 2009 (Genny #1). We don't want to lose a good customer like you so I can give you our best long time customer rate of $52.06 for one year all in including the normal $2.00 billing fee". Needles to say I almost fell off my chair and asked him to repeat that price. He did and it didn't change, still $52.06 for a year.

I guess all I have to do is wait for the invoice. As we have always said in here, "if you don't ask you don't get". Well, I asked but I got more than I asked for.

All I can say is, give Bob a call and tell him you want the @jmonroe price.

jmonroe

I wouldn't pay even $50 per year, as I have no interest in it. I have Sirius XM in my new 430 and I listened to it probably three or four times. I have my podcasts for the commute. The only times I may use it is some long trip to middle of nowhere. Even then I can still find alternatives.

qbrozen

Mr_Shiftright said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

It's Tulipmania all over again. The idea, apparently, is to buy your bitcoins asap and then sell them to the next sucker----unless of course, you are the next sucker. Actually the IDEA of alternative currencies is appealing, and in the USA, in the past, many states in fact had their own currency, which you would exchange as you went from state to state.

I have tried my damnedest to understand bitcoin, but to no avail. I simply can't wrap my head around a totally made up non-tangible fantasy is worth actual money. I might as well pick up a rock off the ground and declare it worth $1000. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well the actual paper money in your wallet is the same thing--you are essentially trusting that everyone who takes your cash actually thinks it's worth what it says on the paper. You give them 5 pieces of paper, you get a new TV. Could be gold, could be frog pelts.

Ah BUT the US dollar was at least created as a representation of the nation's precious metals. I know that has since stopped being the case, but at least it started as something. What did bitcoin start as other than someone just deciding it was somehow worth something?

28firefighter

No interest in Sirius XM here either. The sound quality degradation of the years is enough to stop me. I'd rather use Spotify, Pandora or HD Radio.

dino001

qbrozen said:

Ah BUT the US dollar was at least created as a representation of the nation's precious metals. I know that has since stopped being the case, but at least it started as something. What did bitcoin start as other than someone just deciding it was somehow worth something?

I think it started as a representative of a technology that secures transactions. You can almost see it as shares of a vault manufacturer, or better even shelf space in supersecure vault that can transcend borders or even laws. The tangible value of that shelf space will depend on how many people think they need it and want it. Very hard to say, but multiple thousands of dollars per unit seems crazy.