Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

stickguy said:

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
What part of Canada are to talking about protecting?

Depends on where they attack from.

Won't be from the North.

Shortest distance from Russia is probably from the North.....they are already claiming some land around the Arctic.
You may want to help us out if they come from the North.

driver100

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
If not protected from someone to the south, who else is going to do it?

You are about all we got. We have a pre-owned sub that is about 40 years old they just added to the fleet...this sub was written off years ago. Our air farce hasn't been updated for decades.
All we got is you guys who won't want someone else... taking us over.

explorerx4

@driver100,
Don't worry, we've got Ice Station Zebra...oh, wait.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

driver100 said:

Speaking of medicine.....was looking for something to watch on Netflix or Prime and came up with episode #1 of Dr House on Prime. It was great, good story, lots of humor, very clever lines, good characters. I wasn't into series when it was on regular TV....really enjoying it now.

keep watching. it's good for a while but gets weird. I don't remember which season.

I get that feeling....that it will jump the shark one day and go downhill. It seems they run out of ideas and then go weird...hate when that happens. Wasn't Howie Mandell in this series? I imagine he could go off the rails eventually.

I thought he already did.

jmonroe

andres3

driver100 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

Not sure this will copy right. I took out other numbers...most important, fatalities per 100000 by state. I thought Florida would be high...it is pretty high but there are some that are worse.



Posted December 2018.

Data subsections:
Fatal crash totals Deaths by road user Crash types Alcohol involvement Restraint use Rural versus urban
Fatal crash totals
There were 34,247 fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2017 in which 37,133 deaths occurred. This resulted in 11.4 deaths per 100,000 people and 1.16 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. The fatality rate per 100,000 people ranged from 4.5 in the District of Columbia to 23.1 in Mississippi. The death rate per 100 million miles traveled ranged from 0.58 in Massachusetts to 1.80 in South Carolina. 1

Population, fatal motor vehicle crashes, motor vehicle crash deaths and motor vehicle crash death rates per state, 2017
State Population Vehicle miles traveled (millions) Fatal crashes Deaths Deaths per 100,000 population Deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled
Population, fatal motor vehicle crashes, motor vehicle crash deaths and motor vehicle crash death rates per state, 2017
State Population Deaths per 100,000 population
Alabama 4,874,747 ....................................19.4
Alaska 739,795 .....................................10.7
Arizona 7,016,270 ..............................14.3
Arkansas 3,004,279 ............................16.4
California 39,536,653 .........................9.1
Colorado 5,607,154 ............................11.6
Connecticut 3,588,184 ....................7.7
Delaware 961,939 10,242 ..........................12.4
District of Columbia 693,972 ............4.5
Florida 20,984,400 ....... 14.8
Georgia 10,429,379 ...........................14.8
Hawaii 1,427,538 ....................................7.5
Idaho 1,716,943 ...........................14.2
Illinois 12,802,023 ...........................8.6
Indiana 6,666,818 .....................................13.7
Iowa 3,145,711 ..................................10.5
Kansas 2,913,123 ...................................15.8
Kentucky 4,454,189 ........................17.6
Louisiana 4,684,333 ...........................16.2
Maine 1,335,907 ...............................12.9
Maryland 6,052,177 ..................9.1
Massachusetts 6,859,819 ...................5.1
Michigan 9,962,311 ...............................10.3
Minnesota 5,576,606 ......................6.4
Mississippi 2,984,100 ................23.1
Missouri 6,113,532 ......................15.2
Montana 1,050,493 .....................17.7
Nebraska 1,920,076 ........................11.9
Nevada 2,998,039 .....................10.3
New Hampshire 1,342,795 ........7.6
New Jersey 9,005,644 ................ 6.9
New Mexico 2,088,070 ................ 18.2
New York 19,849,399 ................ 5.0
North Carolina 10,273,419 ......... 13.7
North Dakota 755,393 ..............................15.2
Ohio 11,658,609 ........................ 10.1
Oklahoma 3,930,864......................... 16.7
Oregon 4,142,776 ..................................10.5
Pennsylvania 12,805,537 .................... 8.9
Rhode Island 1,059,639 ..................... 7.8
South Carolina 5,024,369........... 19.7
South Dakota 869,666 .....................14.8 .
Tennessee 6,715,984 ................. 15.5
Texas 28,304,596 ......................13.1
Utah 3,101,833 ....................................8.8
Vermont 623,657 ......................................11.1
Virginia 8,470,020 ............................... 9.9
Washington 7,405,743 .....................7.6
West Virginia 1,815,857 .....................16.7
Wisconsin 5,795,483 .....................10.6
Wyoming 579,315 ..........................21.2
U.S. total 325,719,178 .................11.4
.
I.
FULL CHART U.S.A.


Canada is 5.26, Germany 3.54.
World Chart

NY is the safest listed but when you consider about 60% of the population lives in NYC where nobody owns a car, not as safe as you’d think.

Even if they do have a car, they can't drive fast enough to kill too many people.

I think any data regarding motor vehicle collisions or fatalities not equalized for miles driven is skewed and potentially inaccurate.

You can die in an accident at 1 MPH if you are a pedestrian getting your head crushed.

Mr_Shiftright

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

driver100 said:

Speaking of medicine.....was looking for something to watch on Netflix or Prime and came up with episode #1 of Dr House on Prime. It was great, good story, lots of humor, very clever lines, good characters. I wasn't into series when it was on regular TV....really enjoying it now.

It's intelligent.

Yeh, that is usually the kiss of death for most programs.

I don't mind that. These days when someone calls me an "elitist", I say "thank you!".

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

RE: Auto fatalities. Now isn't this interesting: The states with the highest speed limits are consistently among the states with the highest death rates. But not consistently enough to actually prove anything. Could be a case of correlation rather than causation?

Also, I'm not sure what the hell's going on in South Carolina and Alabama, but it can't be good.

It looked like TX, and particularly Utah was very low and they have high speed limits. I wouldn't even look at the data that isn't based on "per mile driven or traveled."

Mr_Shiftright

andres3 said:

suydam said:

California charges a yearly surcharge to EV owners to help pay for road maintenance. So do several other states.
I’m all for bicycles if they get more cars off the road. I’m too old to be riding one next to moving traffic (as opposed to a peaceful bike trail) but yay tomthise that do. Just come to a full stop at intersections like you’re supposed to.

Is the EV surcharge a flat fee, or based on some crazy MSRP or "value" calculation? May I ask what the fee is?

It's both! There's an initial $100 flat fee when you first register the EV, and then a yearly charge based on MSRP. So $25 bucks for a clapped out used Leaf and $175 for that $60K + Tesla.

However, keep in mind that California's gasoline prices are the highest in the nation, so even with that yearly fee, that's no more than the equivalent to a couple tankfuls of gas to the EV owner.

andres3

ab348 said:

I know that up here the universities in this province are all sorta-private but they get +/- 50% of their funding from the province. But they have their own management, aren't subject to the same policies about spending, hiring, etc as the government. Kind of the best of both worlds from their POV. They have tuition in the $3000-10000 range depending on program. The biggest one here is one I know a bit about and they are extremely top-heavy with very expensive management that often doesn't seem to do very much managing. And let's not forget the number of 6-figure salaried faculty who seldom teach. The place was paying their President about a half-million a year, and then included in his contract full salary/benefit continuation for a number of years following his resignation. Sweet deal, especially when he then went and got a senior position in govt for a few years shortly after leaving there.

Insurance company skimming in the medical system is likely true, but you haven't seen wasteful spending like govt wasteful spending. It is really a whole new level of waste. And when the govt hospitals are the only game in town you get zero worries about customer/patient satisfaction or service. They just don't have to care since there is no alternative.

You must have not heard about the AIG vacation trips and parties during their bailout, complete with enormous bonuses for proven failures that worked at the company. Makes the Secret Service prostitution story seem like a bargain in comparison.

oldfarmer50

Question: are the DOC fees in CT limited by law or do they vary by dealer? What’s the average? My source says no limit and average between $3-5 hundred but it’s from 2011.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Yesterday I was filling up as the gas station. Heard an engine rev then metallic clank and silence.
Didn't think too much of it, but when I was leaving, I saw a 2005+ Acura TL with the flashers on sitting across the road like it was trying to enter the street.
There was nobody around the car, otherwise I would have helped them push it out of the road.

Busted a U joint I bet.

henryn

Isn't Acura FWD? In which case it would be CV, or Constant Velocity joint.

Yeah, yeah, I know, nitpicking.

imidazol97

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
If not protected from someone to the south, who else is going to do it?

You are about all we got. We have a pre-owned sub that is about 40 years old they just added to the fleet...this sub was written off years ago. Our air farce hasn't been updated for decades.
All we got is you guys who won't want someone else... taking us over.

Sounds like you're not been putting enough money into defense.

Too much going into the healthcare system?

imidazol97

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

Yesterday I was filling up as the gas station. Heard an engine rev then metallic clank and silence.
Didn't think too much of it, but when I was leaving, I saw a 2005+ Acura TL with the flashers on sitting across the road like it was trying to enter the street.
There was nobody around the car, otherwise I would have helped them push it out of the road.

Busted a U joint I bet.

Don't Hondas have transmission problems? Tranny locked up?

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
I would say that in CT $399 is kind of low. $499 more likely.
Been looking at some vehicles, mostly online.
One dealer who has some things I'm interested in, has a $395 doc fee plus a $195 product specialist fee.
That's a new one for me.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
I would say that in CT $399 is kind of low. $499 more likely.
Been looking at some vehicles, mostly online.
One dealer who has some things I'm interested in, has a $395 doc fee plus a $195 product specialist fee.
That's a new one for me.

You're not going to sell too many cars if you're not creative in this new millennium. You don't think buyers are going to fall for DOC fees forever, do you?

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
I would say that in CT $399 is kind of low. $499 more likely.
Been looking at some vehicles, mostly online.
One dealer who has some things I'm interested in, has a $395 doc fee plus a $195 product specialist fee.
That's a new one for me.

So a possible $700 bump? That’s cruel but good to know.

cdnpinhead

jmonroe1 said:

You don't think buyers are going to fall for DOC fees forever, do you?

P. T. Barnum absolutely thought so, and I'm inclined to agree.

roadburner

Speaking of the government; my office now has 3 cases that the Feds initiated with a great burst of enthusiasm and then-when the cases weren't as great as they first appeared-they dumped them on us.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
If not protected from someone to the south, who else is going to do it?

You are about all we got. We have a pre-owned sub that is about 40 years old they just added to the fleet...this sub was written off years ago. Our air farce hasn't been updated for decades.
All we got is you guys who won't want someone else... taking us over.

Sounds like you're not been putting enough money into defense.

Too much going into the healthcare system?

As long as you guys protect us...I would rather see it go into healthcare.

andres3

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
If not protected from someone to the south, who else is going to do it?

You are about all we got. We have a pre-owned sub that is about 40 years old they just added to the fleet...this sub was written off years ago. Our air farce hasn't been updated for decades.
All we got is you guys who won't want someone else... taking us over.

Sounds like you're not been putting enough money into defense.

Too much going into the healthcare system?

As long as you guys protect us...I would rather see it go into healthcare.

Protect you from who? I find invasions implausible on the Continent of America.

driver100

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
I would say that in CT $399 is kind of low. $499 more likely.
Been looking at some vehicles, mostly online.
One dealer who has some things I'm interested in, has a $395 doc fee plus a $195 product specialist fee.
That's a new one for me.

Product Specialist Fee..........how do they come up with this stuff?
They used to be called salesmen. New title.....and now you have to pay them.
You couldn't make this up even if you tried.

fintail

Exactly. Defense by association - if my neighbor improves his house and mine gains value from it, I don't owe him anything. And maybe on another level, less desire to put one's nose into the affairs of others and either beg for enemy attacks or stir up needless wars. So much bad foreign policy out there that really just serves as a profit generator for connected industries.

driver100 said:

As long as you guys protect us...I would rather see it go into healthcare.

imidazol97

jmonroe1 said:

You're not going to sell too many cars if you're not creative in this new millennium. You don't think buyers are going to fall for DOC fees forever, do you? jmonroe

They've fallen for them in far too many cases this long; why not keep falling for the Doc fees.

In a country where many of the people can't even compute their own taxes, when they are fairly simple, on the 1040EZ, and pay hundreds of dollars to businesses to do their taxes and then pay them a fee to file electronically and then pay them a fee to set up a LOAN to get their refund, if any, early, why would they figure out Doc Fees? This has been a few years back, but I have no reason to believe things have changed.

One advertisement running locally promises $200 off your tax prep fees if you switch from one of the "big box" tax offices to their brand.

A friend of ours went to work for a tax office of the national franchise type and at the occasional ;unch get togethers of retirees she was telling how the fee schedules and the scams worked. I sat there with my jaw dropped.

fintail

But they need to "attract and retain talent" - LOLOLOL. The arrogance of the FIRE industries knows no bounds.

andres3 said:

You must have not heard about the AIG vacation trips and parties during their bailout, complete with enormous bonuses for proven failures that worked at the company. Makes the Secret Service prostitution story seem like a bargain in comparison.

fintail

I've seen that many times here, the paranoids who shouldn't be driving at all will panic when the ramp runs out, and retreat back into their shell.

I haven't seen too many brake checkers - try that with me, and I'll call you in as a suspected drunk, and put your car on Youtube with the make model and year in the title, along with the plate number.

andres3 said:

The worst braking violation comes from someone merging onto an empty highway or freeway, and yet, brake lights at the end of the merging lanes.

Then there is the brake-checker, deliberately trying to cause a collision.

qbrozen

andres3 said:

@driver100, If not protected from someone to the south, who else is going to do it?

You are about all we got. We have a pre-owned sub that is about 40 years old they just added to the fleet...this sub was written off years ago. Our air farce hasn't been updated for decades. All we got is you guys who won't want someone else... taking us over.

Sounds like you're not been putting enough money into defense. Too much going into the healthcare system?

As long as you guys protect us...I would rather see it go into healthcare.

Protect you from who? I find invasions implausible on the Continent of America.

Oh come on. You never saw either of the Red Dawn movies? 

qbrozen

jmonroe1 said:

Speaking of medicine.....was looking for something to watch on Netflix or Prime and came up with episode #1 of Dr House on Prime. It was great, good story, lots of humor, very clever lines, good characters. I wasn't into series when it was on regular TV....really enjoying it now.

keep watching. it's good for a while but gets weird. I don't remember which season.

I get that feeling....that it will jump the shark one day and go downhill. It seems they run out of ideas and then go weird...hate when that happens. Wasn't Howie Mandell in this series? I imagine he could go off the rails eventually.

Howie was in St Elsewhere in the ‘80s. 

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
If not protected from someone to the south, who else is going to do it?

You are about all we got. We have a pre-owned sub that is about 40 years old they just added to the fleet...this sub was written off years ago. Our air farce hasn't been updated for decades.
All we got is you guys who won't want someone else... taking us over.

Reminds me of the Red Green show where they find a missile and are deciding what to do. One guy suggests calling the Canadian Air Force. Red Green replied that they couldn't, it was after 5 and the guy went home.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

I think any data regarding motor vehicle collisions or fatalities not equalized for miles driven is skewed and potentially inaccurate.

You can die in an accident at 1 MPH if you are a pedestrian getting your head crushed.

Going by miles driven can be skewed and inaccurate too. Increasing speed does increase risk of a fatal accident, simple physics should tell you that. In say Washington D.C. the vast majority of driving is done at slow speeds resulting in less severe accidents which results in less severe injuries which results in less fatalities. However in say Montana where more miles are driven at higher speeds the opposite would be true.

driver100

qbrozen said:

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

driver100 said:

Speaking of medicine.....was looking for something to watch on Netflix or Prime and came up with episode #1 of Dr House on Prime. It was great, good story, lots of humor, very clever lines, good characters. I wasn't into series when it was on regular TV....really enjoying it now.

keep watching. it's good for a while but gets weird. I don't remember which season.

I get that feeling....that it will jump the shark one day and go downhill. It seems they run out of ideas and then go weird...hate when that happens. Wasn't Howie Mandell in this series? I imagine he could go off the rails eventually.

Howie was in St Elsewhere in the ‘80s. 


Thanks, I won't keep watching for him on House.

stickguy

I liked St. Elsewhere. Well done show with some excellent characters, and cast. Premiered the same time as ER, just never became as popular.

driver100

I heard an advertisement on TV the other day. They have tax preparers on site, bring in your tax papers, whatever refund you get they will double it and apply it to a new vehicle that you buy.

Could be risky for them. Your refund is for $7000....you can apply $14000 discount to a new Camry...but our price for that Camry just went from $25000 to $40,000. Actually, I believe the small print gave a limit.

driver100

stickguy said:

I liked St. Elsewhere. Well done show with some excellent characters, and cast. Premiered the same time as ER, just never became as popular.

I'll try that when we reach the jump the shark point in House.

In case someone doesn't know the phrase, Jump the Shark;
When a television series or movie reach a point at which far-fetched events are included merely for the sake of novelty, indicative of a decline in quality.
It got it's name from this scene:


the phrase derives from a scene in a Season 5 episode of the 1970s sitcom Happy Days in which the character Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water-skis.[2][3][4] This gimmick strayed absurdly outside the original storyline of the sitcom

stickguy

a classic.

abacomike

driver100 said:

I heard an advertisement on TV the other day. They have tax preparers on site, bring in your tax papers, whatever refund you get they will double it and apply it to a new vehicle that you buy. Could be risky for them. Your refund is for $7000....you can apply $14000 discount to a new Camry...but our price for that Camry just went from $25000 to $40,000. Actually, I believe the small print gave a limit.

I was going to have HR Block do my taxes this year - they wanted $195 for the Standard Deduction EZ filing.  So my best friend got his Turbo Tax software and offered to do my taxes for me.  So I sat down with him and in 20 minutes, it was filed.

BTW, my tax refund was deposited into my account this morning.  10 business days was all it took to get the refund.  Truly amazing turn-around time.

abacomike

I have been looking for a pair of “walking” shoes for about a month now.  I have tried dozens of walking shoes on trying to get a comfortable fit with my orthotics inserted within the shoe.  I don’t want sneakers because I also wear my walking shoes when I go out for dinner or to a friend’s house.

I finally decided that I am going to have to shell out $140-$170 for a decent shoe.  So I went into the New Balance store at the mall and found a pair of brown walking shoes that seemed comfortable enough.  The shoe was a 12-2E (12 wide).They wanted $139.95 plus tax.  

My walking buddies suggested I go to a local Boca Raton sporting goods shop to see if they carry the brand.  So I went there 10 days ago and they did carry the brand but had to special order them in the size and color.  They asked me to pay in advance since it was a special order  $99.95!

I bring this up because many times I avoid local retailers due to their limited variety of merchandise.  But this is an example of great pricing (saved $40+ including tax) by going to a locally owned shop.  They were helpful and caring and did everything right to earn my business. 

snakeweasel

cdnpinhead said:

jmonroe1 said:

You don't think buyers are going to fall for DOC fees forever, do you?

P. T. Barnum absolutely thought so, and I'm inclined to agree.

I am inclined to agree. I would wager if they added $250 to the price labeled as "just because we can" many people wouldn't blink at it.

bwia

Now that's a real hybrid. A cardinal that appears to be half male and half female roosts in a backyard in Erie, Pa. Its left side is the taupe shade of female cardinals; its right, the signature scarlet of males.
Researchers believe that the cardinal is a rare bilateral gynandromorph, half male and half female. (NYT)

cdnpinhead

blank

jmonroe1

bwia said:

Now that's a real hybrid. A cardinal that appears to be half male and half female roosts in a backyard in Erie, Pa. Its left side is the taupe shade of female cardinals; its right, the signature scarlet of males.
Researchers believe that the cardinal is a rare bilateral gynandromorph, half male and half female. (NYT)

I saw that on TV last week.

Whoever said mother nature doesn't have a sense of humor is wrong or maybe they said, cruel. I can't remember now since I wasn't there.

jmonroe

houdini2

driver100 said:

fintail said:

Weirdly enough, Canada has higher life expectancy (by 3 years), and exponentially smaller risk of losing everything you worked for due to a tragic medical diagnosis - all while spending less per capita. No system is perfect and no doubt there are issues there, but I don't personally know any Canadians (or anyone else in the developed world) demanding an American style system. I wonder why that is.

ab348 said:

Fin, the health care system here is run by govt, not just paid for by them, which makes a huge difference in how it performs. You have all of the problems of a massive bureaucracy and the resultant lack of flexibility, productivity and accountability that goes with that. Plus there is never enough money to keep up with the tech or even to maintain facilities properly, while closing some outdated facilities in locations that have been left behind by the population is tantamount to unthinkable.

You may not face medical bankruptcy here, but you may well die or have quality of life severely limited before that could happen anyway because of lack of proper and timely treatment. There is no free lunch.

I removed the parties so it wouldn't be political.

The vast majority of Americans, 70 percent, now support Medicare-for-all, otherwise known as single-payer health care, according to a new Reuters survey. That includes 85 percent of --------- and 52 percent of --------. Only 20 percent of Americans say they outright oppose the idea.

Of course they do. Everybody likes to get something that someone else has to pay for. That is the way they see it, unfortunately it wouldn't turn our that way. That same 70% would also support a "free new car" every couple of years, but that doesn't mean it's possible. They would also support raising taxes on everyone who made over $300,000. a year because they wouldn't have to pay, someone else would. No matter how you dress it up or disguise it, socialism always fails.

abacomike

cdnpinhead said:

blank

Blank?  Thoughts, ideas, know-how?  I draw a blank frequently in my later years! Welcome to the club! 

dino001

abacomike said:

I have been looking for a pair of “walking” shoes for about a month now.  I have tried dozens of walking shoes on trying to get a comfortable fit with my orthotics inserted within the shoe.  I don’t want sneakers because I also wear my walking shoes when I go out for dinner or to a friend’s house.

I finally decided that I am going to have to shell out $140-$170 for a decent shoe.  So I went into the New Balance store at the mall and found a pair of brown walking shoes that seemed comfortable enough.  The shoe was a 12-2E (12 wide).They wanted $139.95 plus tax.  

My walking buddies suggested I go to a local Boca Raton sporting goods shop to see if they carry the brand.  So I went there 10 days ago and they did carry the brand but had to special order them in the size and color.  They asked me to pay in advance since it was a special order  $99.95!

I bring this up because many times I avoid local retailers due to their limited variety of merchandise.  But this is an example of great pricing (saved $40+ including tax) by going to a locally owned shop.  They were helpful and caring and did everything right to earn my business. 

You get much better prices for New Balance shoes in literally any place other than their brand store, which is kind of typical for factory-branded stores. I remember walking into a New Balance store in Tampa and thinking "I didn't know NB shoes can even be that expensive". For reasons hard to comprehend for me, those stores tend to charge highest prices for same merchandise available in department stores or on the Internet. The only benefit of such stores I can think of is availability of some models. BTW, this is also my preferred brand for same reason, i.e. availability of wide shoe models. For years Nike and many others had made shoes mostly for Japanese geishas, or aimed to "correct" anybody's big foot. I think they got better now.

henryn

houdini2 said:

Of course they do. Everybody likes to get something that someone else has to pay for. That is the way they see it, unfortunately it wouldn't turn our that way. That same 70% would also support a "free new car" every couple of years, but that doesn't mean it's possible. They would also support raising taxes on everyone who made over $300,000. a year because they wouldn't have to pay, someone else would. No matter how you dress it up or disguise it, socialism always fails.

Really? Seems to be working pretty well in Norway and Sweden.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-rankings

suydam

I doubt Nike tailored their shoes to that market, as they’re one of the largest retailers of gym shoes on the planet, including supplying shoes to many college basketball teams! I like New Balance, but for regular shoes Eco (expensive, but they last forever), does accommodate orthotics and is very comfortable. Lately for gym shoes both of us have been buying Brooks.

graphicguy

henryn said:

Isn't Acura FWD? In which case it would be CV, or Constant Velocity joint.

Yeah, yeah, I know, nitpicking.

‘05s were FWD only. I’m betting a CV joint, too. 14-15 years old....that’s well over the life span of any CV joint. Saying at least 200K miles, and it finally broke down? Pretty good car.

I actually had one. Liked it, a lot. Like my new one a lot better, but again, that’s 15 years of further development.

houdini2

houdini2 said:

driver100 said:

fintail said:

Weirdly enough, Canada has higher life expectancy (by 3 years), and exponentially smaller risk of losing everything you worked for due to a tragic medical diagnosis - all while spending less per capita. No system is perfect and no doubt there are issues there, but I don't personally know any Canadians (or anyone else in the developed world) demanding an American style system. I wonder why that is.

ab348 said:

Fin, the health care system here is run by govt, not just paid for by them, which makes a huge difference in how it performs. You have all of the problems of a massive bureaucracy and the resultant lack of flexibility, productivity and accountability that goes with that. Plus there is never enough money to keep up with the tech or even to maintain facilities properly, while closing some outdated facilities in locations that have been left behind by the population is tantamount to unthinkable.

You may not face medical bankruptcy here, but you may well die or have quality of life severely limited before that could happen anyway because of lack of proper and timely treatment. There is no free lunch.

I removed the parties so it wouldn't be political.

The vast majority of Americans, 70 percent, now support Medicare-for-all, otherwise known as single-payer health care, according to a new Reuters survey. That includes 85 percent of --------- and 52 percent of --------. Only 20 percent of Americans say they outright oppose the idea.

Of course they do. Everybody likes to get something that someone else has to pay for. That is the way they see it, unfortunately it wouldn't turn our that way. That same 70% would also support a "free new car" every couple of years, but that doesn't mean it's possible.

henryn said:

houdini2 said:

Of course they do. Everybody likes to get something that someone else has to pay for. That is the way they see it, unfortunately it wouldn't turn our that way. That same 70% would also support a "free new car" every couple of years, but that doesn't mean it's possible. They would also support raising taxes on everyone who made over $300,000. a year because they wouldn't have to pay, someone else would. No matter how you dress it up or disguise it, socialism always fails.

Really? Seems to be working pretty well in Norway and Sweden.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-rankings

Well, "they" rank Canada #1, and Canada is pretty close and available, but I sure don't see many people clamoring to move there from the U.S. Maybe those rankings depend on who is doing the ranking, who you ask, what your critera is, and what your agenda is.

snakeweasel

imidazol97 said:

A friend of ours went to work for a tax office of the national franchise type and at the occasional ;unch get togethers of retirees she was telling how the fee schedules and the scams worked. I sat there with my jaw dropped.

Tax preparation is normally charged per form, how much they charge per for is determined by the owner of the tax prep place. Many of the chain locations do charge very high fees, when I see them I am shocked. Our fees are pretty much the lowest and the owner is under pressure from corporate to i crease fees.

That being said you have to remember that a tax office typically has 3 months of income but 12 months of rent, utilities and other expenses. To be fair if we charged $100 per return we would not be in business next year.

snakeweasel

fintail said:

I've seen that many times here, the paranoids who shouldn't be driving at all will panic when the ramp runs out, and retreat back into their shell.

I haven't seen too many brake checkers - try that with me, and I'll call you in as a suspected drunk, and put your car on Youtube with the make model and year in the title, along with the plate number.

Wow, they would be seen by a handful of people that not only wont care but will forget all about it halfway through the next YouTube video. That will teach them.