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Here Is What Americans Spent Their "Gas Savings" On
Last quarter, in "This Is What Americans Spent The Most Money On In Q4" we showed that according to the first estimate of Q4 GDP data, the American consumer spent a whopping $20.4 billion in nominal dollars on healthcare, which also resulted in the biggest consumption contribution to GDP in years.
Today, following the first revision of consumer spending, we learn that in the fourth quarter Americans spent even more on healthcare, pushing the total up by $1 billion more, to a whopping $21.4 Bn, or 18% of all spending on goods and services in Q4.
This upward revision on healthcare, of which Obamacare was the primary source of mandatory spending, takes places even as the bulk of the key spending line items were revised lower following the revision.
In any event, the math is clear - the next time anyone asks you what Americans spent their so-called "gas savings" on in Q4, and why retail sales in the end of 2014 (and the start of 2015) were so weak, show them this chart.
Source: BEA
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I spent mine on a quarterly commuter bus ticket.
Looks like Obamacare means starving people must pay more for healthcare.
Nothing surprising there.
What is surprising is that twinkie & beer sales are down (food & beverage) for the couch potatos.
Healthcare and education in this country, suck!
When the government forces you to buy something, how can it be anything else than legislated market share?
The government now controls both sides of the market, supply side and consumer side... They mandate products that must be purchased, then manipulate the product to meet their economic needs... Helluva thing for a "free market economy", init?
Gas will go back up. But the medical expenses will never fall.
Americans must be a sickly bunch...
Primarily between the ears.
Gotta love it. They have us spending more on healthcare and insurance, than on housing, food, durable house goods and gasoline combined.
as they have planned. any congressional 'opposition' to obamacare - regardless of which side of the aisle, is likely fake. i think this was the plan from the beginning - shift the costs to the consumer.
People are hypochondriacs for all the wrong reasons. Shots, flu, wash your hands, use hand sanitizer, but then everyone gets sick because they don't eat their veggies. People should be doing preventative care like chirocpractic and massage or accupuncture for sprains.
People are so easily taken advantage of while they live their misirable little lives. Give up your souls for money people, because then you'll get laid! Give Janet your future tax revenue. She deserves it! She's Fed Chair!
This is proof that Domestic Extremists like ZHers are dumb. I spent my savings on a brand new gold-colored iPhone 6 Plus. Because my Medicaid is freeeeeee!
That is okay. If you are over 55 then all of your Medicaid is tallied up and the State is first in line to your estate, to reclaim those expenditures after you die.
That is okay. Yer kids can depend upon Mommy Government too...
Who needs an inheritance anyway?
The state now has laws on the books to where they can steal your house if you cannot afford the Health Insurance which they are forcing you to purchase..
The State is so benovolent, right?
Freeeeeee...
There are ways around probate that are tried and true. Might I suggest:
http://passingbucks.com
Tall Tom, I'd like to come visit. How do I know when you're around?
As an aside, look at the second highest expenditure: insurance and financial services! People are getting raped by their banks!
I am Chumbawamba.
...chart porn for the massas
People are getting sick because as kids they aren't exposed enough to the environment they have to live in. If you're always protected and inside then your system doesn't get exposed (or become resilient) to the types of things that can cause illness.
When I was a kid we played in sandboxes and dirt, old barns and all sorts of places where today parents wouldn't (and probably couldn't by law) allow their children to go. Hell people can't even let their kids walk to a playground without local law enforcement or DHS stopping by and charging parents with neglect.
If you like your healthcare, you can keep your healthcare.... uh Bari... You can not only keep your healthcare, you can shove it.
I've fucking had enough. Going galt in 2 months. The last 3 people working will be paying my obamacare subsidy.
Hey! Insurers need the money! What with all the losses (both planned and unplanned) and the legitamate claims they just outright refuse to pay, there still has to be several billion left over for bonuses and political contributions you know!
They are. But what do you expect when the bread they eat is laced with Roundup?
Yes medical expenses will fall. Most of the doctors will be replaced by diagnostic software. They will come up with cheaper Nurses Assistance to replace most nurses. Expensive procedures are being and will continue to be outlawed. Go to Hong Kong or Singapore if you want them. But the Obamacare tax will only go down as it bankrupts the nation.
I spent my savings on more silver rounds. I have a ton of disposable income this year.
I miss the category "Apple gadget".
Was thinking much the same, where's the smartphone personal financial black-hole category?
Perhaps dedicated govt and corporate spying tools and propaganda vectors are exempt from reality.
"Sorry Massar! My smartphone ate the rent!"
Found it. It is accounted for under "Other Non-Durable goods". My mistake.
Speaking of other non-durables Leonard Nimoy just dropped off his perch, no more Mr Spock ... social media trekies catatonic ... hash tags everywhere ... day of tragic tweets .. almost as epic as when Michael Jackson's nose finally gave up and just fell off.
And the media is already covering up for him. The radio said, 'He embraced his role as Spock with fervor' (or some such tripe). Oh no, he diidnn't. His first Autobio.(1975) was titled 'I'm not Spock'. He only wrote 'I am Spock (1995) after the successful series of Star Trek movies guaranteed he could never shake the typecasting but, at the same time, guaranteed him lifelong royalties!
Table 3. Gross Domestic Product: Level and Change From Preceding Period—Continues
Billions of dollars 2014 Seasonally adjusted at annual rates
Line 17
2013IV 2014I 2014II 2014III 2014IV
Health care 1,956.2 1,951.7 1,979.3 2,008.9 2,031.8
YOY Change in Healthcare outlays
2013Q4 1,956.2
2014Q4 2,031.8
Increase 75.6 Billion
Gasoline and other energy goods
407.1 407.1 410.1 406.3 369.0
YOY Change in Gasoline and other energy goods outlays
2013Q4 407.1
2014Q4 369.0
Decrease (38.1) billion
YOY Net increase in costs 37.5 billion
don't forget, in true fascist fashion, they also outlaw every rational form of competition which would serve as a market regulator to the pricing scam that goes on in the medical field....and they control (via. AMA lobby influence) the supply of labor into the medical field.
I've said it here before...but if I want to hire a 20 year combat vet nurse to put a couple stitches in my elbow I should be able to do that without the guy being at risk of being arrested and fined. NO...I MUST go to an emergency room ($1,000 just for walking through the door) where -- once they open my case every nurse around start charging my insurance company all kinds of crap. it's completely absurd, for what should have been a $200/15 minutes repair.
antifasch, fee for service was always the best for those who had the ability to pay, charity is what is left for those who do not..I see charity as a noble thing and with .gov takeover we are much worse off for it.
^THIS^
Who could be against charity?
That's the marketing plan .gov uses to get those weak monded simpletons to go along with the takeover.
"we need to help the children", "cure cancer" "feed the poor" "educate our kids"..................
If you are against gov doing those things you are inhumane.
It is not charity when .gov does it.
Translation: we need to feed the cronies through forced confiscation of wealth. Otherwise our fake legitimacy becomes observable and the entire scam that we are a representative democracy might becomne apparent. Not that it mattters, we have bought up plenty of bullets to execute the malcontent "right wing extremists" that might try to enforce their "rights," but if the con becomes apparent everybody will quit working and want to be in the receiving line. Then how will that work? Now, with control over the internet, we can mange reality in such a way that the sheeple can be kept stupid and mad at the wrong people (racist and homophobes, etc.) and the harvesting can continue.
Your compassion will be used against you. As will your tolerance and mercy.
Yeah, you will see more assistant doctors (physician assistants, nurse practitioners) and assistant nurses (lvn) continue to floor in as well as , I need to look this up and link it but I think I saw a supreme court case the other day that said you don't have to be a citizen to be an M..D. here.......... so they have the open borders thing!
haha. the joke is on you all you obamacare lovers............. you are going to get your free healthcare alright............ worth every penny you are paying for it. If they would deregulate all the licensing bodies and let the good people decide who they wanted to "nurse" their wounds or what have you then you could have an internet site for healthcare votes and people could see who they wanted for their free market healthcare. This is fascist all the way now. I am still on my way to going Galt........ still on my way. And I have a lot of young people who I'm educating to do the same as well after me. The system is failing.......... it is just in slow-motion.
Yup, and there's a term for that. Fascism.
Yup, and there's a term for that. Fascism.
Obama "solved" the healthcare problem. Buy insurance or get fined.
Next he will solve the unemployment problem. Get a job or get fined.
Then, the cancer problem. Get rid of your cancer or get fined.
Wow!. Government is easy!
The "Health Industry" spent ~$550,000,000 "shaping" the ACA through "lobbying" back in 2009...and in Q4 of 2014..."Health Spending" is our greatest personal expense...GEE WHAT A FUCKEN COINCENDENCE!
One question there Ace...how much of that health spending was Medicare Supplemental Insurance?
My parents benefit massively from the Wealth Redistribution SCAM know as Medicare...but they still have to pay for the supplemental insurance and they've had some whopper increases in premiums lately...
I know you shot your load over these spending numbers and instantly ONLY FUCKEN OBAMACARE could be to blame in your RIGHTWINGNUT MIND...but I will GUARENTEE you Medicare Supplemental Insurance for the Geezers is a HUGE CHUNK of "health Spending in Q4.
And with more Geezers than ever before, and growing every day, don't expect health spending to decline any time soon.
Oh, oh, oh...any FUCKEN CHANCE that the ACA forcing the young to buy insurance helps keep the costs down for MEDICARE RECIPEINTS?
The Republican Stance:
>REPEAL OBAMACARE NOW!
>STRENGHTEN AND PROTECT MEDICARE; THE GEEZERS ARE OWED!
Where's the call to repeal MEDICARE assholes..it's costing us a TRILLION a year!
Money "redistributed" from those that work to those that don't work so the "Non Workers" can get an 80% discount on health insurance, USE THE SHIT OUT OF IT, along with cheap/free drugs and USE THE SHIT OUT OF THAT TOO!
MEDICARE IS OBAMACARE TIMES 10!
Bunch-a-fucken hypocrites!
Your stupidity made me cry........ Stop it, I'm in tears here.....
Try this one:
KEEP YOUR BIG GOVERNMENT, LIBERAL, WELFARE, WEALTH REDISTRIBUTING HANDS...OFF MY MEDICARE!...I PAID IN...I AM OWED UNLIMITED AMOUNTS OF TAXPAYER FUNDS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!
That's right.
So shut up, go to work and pay those taxes.
I'm off to my medicare pedicure.
Thanks.
Took my dad to an eye specialist...as you walk in, you walk right past an vision shop...packed with geezers...while my dad was with the doctor, I went into the vision shop out of boredom...SKY FUCKING HIGH PRICES...obviously Medicare is picking up the bill...The Greatest Generation of fucken freeloaders spending their children’s wealth on designer glasses.
fire, you walk in and everybody is on medicare, you know this how? plenty of mature adults have ability to pay for those glasses out of pocket and some do..me I got lenses implanted at out of pocket cost of $6000, so perhaps you views are slightly immature..your on ZH so there is hope, don't let your idiology get in the way of seeing facts and truth, try opening your eyes wide shut.
What I do know:
1. They were all of Medicare age.
2. My Dads doctor "recommended" he shop there.
3. The building is not a shopping mall; it's all doctors.
4. The business was "eye-doctor" owned.
5. People pay "out of pocket" only when they can't get someone else to pay.
Yeah, I "don't know" if they were all Medicare Freeloaders...but I wouldn't bet against it...would you?
The problem is government. Not older people. Wake up.
Medicare was billed, and payed $400, for an eye exam for a relative. 2 years ago.
People pay "out of pocket" only when they can't get someone else to pay.
Not true. At many times I have paid when others may have done it for me.
At other times I have done without.
Your statement is one of the TRANSFERENCE of your OWN FREELOADER MENTALITY.
You expose yourself....YOU FUCKING FREELOADER.
IMPOSTER!!!
Ah, the old "The Needs of the Many versus the needs of the Few"
OT... Ambassador SPOCK passed away today.
Of my friend I can only say this: Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… Human. Spock, you have been and always shall be my Friend. Journey well and Rest in Peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtQUePN5y40
Kirk out.
I worked in the optical business from about 1986 through the 1990's. During that period the big insurers came in and snapped up all the employer's business. Then they dictated to the providers how they would structure costs. Result: dramatically higher prices for consumers coupled with very low quality products. The cheapest shit imaginable and huge margins just to stay in business. Huge increases in overhead to administer and collect insurance payments. Again, the problem is third parties introducing cartelism into ordinary transactions between providers and consumers. In health care this started with Medicaid in the sixties. The result; again, massive increase in cost coupled with rationed care and ever-diminishing quality, plus many rent seekers and cronies guaranteed unearned returns.
Medicare doesn't pay for glasses.
Go to Costco or Walmart then.
This is a democracy.... right? Just write your congress critter and tell him to stop the whole shebang. I'm sure he cares,,, specially if he's a Repug. Those your yelling at has about as much control of this as you do..... and has already paid in a good chunk of their income.
The old people will keep on coming.
Read a thing or two about US population demographics. Lopsided.
Japan is a smaller example with the same demographic distribution lopsidedness about 10-15 years older than US.
Japan is dead in the water.
You make no sense. You rant against medicare and zero care yet you call anybody who opposes it a rightwing nut. I don't think you know what the fuck you are talking about. BTW, the repukes don't want to repeal anything. Obamacare is really Mitcare. Any pretense of repealing it is just theater for the stupid.
How can a political party vote to repeal ObamaCare a 100 times while at the same time promising to give thier political lives in defense of Medicare?
That is seriously looney!
Medicare is ObamaCare TIMES 10!
They always come back with this "paid in to Medicare" bullshit...yeah right...from 1940 to 1980 you paid in $30,000...which ENTITLES YOU TO UNLIMITED WITHDRAWLS from 1981 until your death sometime in the 2010's...or later...
True, $30K paid in, $2 million taken out. Entitlement is bullshit. Don't pay out Medicare, and let those boned take it up with assholes that made promises they can't keep. Saddling the younger, poorer generation with the extra bill cannot be justified.
How many of those people who paid in died before they got to Medicare age?
Not many
know plenty. and one of them is my mother so fuck off
I was trying to make the point that there have been plenty of people who paid the Medicare tax for years and years but died before ever reaching the age of eligibility.
Didn't mean to offend.
Vs. Obamacare recipients that payed in?.... how much again?...
FYI...Obamacare is more than just 'insuring the poor'... It's about control.
Yall should read more.
No, forcing the young to buy insurance doesn't do anything to reduce Medicare costs.
Medicare is a bigger gaping hole in the budget than Social Security, and the prescription drug benefit made it much worse. It was a blank check to prescription drug manufacturers.
OTOH, Medicare, expensive as it is, is more cost effective than private health plans.
FWIW and IMO gradually rolling down Medicare eligibility to younger/healthier people would have helped Medicare stay solvent and helped older people (50+) who are hit with higher premiums in the private market and are pushed out of the workforce partly due to that increased expense.
Soylent Green coming soon,,, don't fret. Your parents will die a pleasent death and with the savings we'll send your children to war and kill them too. Win, Win.
No one can campaign on a platform of repealing medicare because they will either get voted out of office or will not get elected.
That's the nature of politics and humans. Humans all want free shit. end of story. We will vote for the fucker who promises to give us the stuff of some other patsy.
But they can campaign on "repealing ObamaCare" while "Strengthening Medicare" and win?
Now that's seriously fucked up...
And you are shocked, why? Politicians are about creating entitlements and then enslaving you to pay for them. The trick used to be to make people believe they were paying for THEIR entitlements, but now, as society has "progressed" and it is hateful to think in such terms. Today it is incumbent for you to SACRIFICE for the benefit of others...less fortunate, formerly oppressed by you. Not just entitlement, but retribution....or even reparations.
Just bend over and get past it. Don't think of it as ass rape. Think of it more as progressive love making. You got to think outside the box of tradition values and norms.
No. They told me the "other guy" was going to pay for all that free stuff for me! It was all part of social justice and economic fairness.
I wonder what they told the other guy?
firebrander, you seem, well agitated, i will give you free med advice> put a .45 into oral cavity and pull trigger.
a part of aca i know well is care for elderly, o bum a has taken billions from nursing home funds and medicare, reduced payments to all of us healthcare workers, incr premiums and sky high co pays..
you have been punked by your idiotology..ps take a look at your pay stub you will see deductions which the elderly have paid out every year they worked for this so called hand out, much like ss payments are just free, but maybe you never worked to earn a paycheck and see all the .gov deductions of same.
So, Obama has cut welfare spending for the (often wealthy) elderly (Medicare) and you're upset about it?
So, welfare spending, wealth redistribution, is ok as long as it's for the geezers whom are owed because they paid in?
You are definately "overmedicated"...
If I "pay in" $30,000 from 1940 to 1980, does that ENTITLE me to UNLIMITED withdrawals of taxpayer money from 1981 until my death?
ALMOST NO ONE pays more into Medicare THAN THEY WITHDRAW...but that's ok, because they ARE OWED?
Now that's some serious "Idiotology".
firebrander, well if yu would just think of the worth of money 30 yrs ago and the value of time vs inflation the sums you po poo are much larger a dollar is worth 2 cents in 1930 terms..and you pay 20% of the bills .gov 80% on discounted prices..like a lab test is $110, ..gov discounts it to $10 AND you still pay the 20% 0f 110.
nothing is free in healthcare and another little secret, many elderly have good health and require less medical care than the ave joe like you thinks they get..80 -20 rule still apply.
My rant is Medicare is ObamaCare times 10....repeal them both or shut the fuck up.
fine repeal both, but what about the money paid into by say pre retirement folks, who had .gov's hand in our pockets all those years..you get it?? funny I agree give me back my SS payments and medicare etc payments and I will pay my own way. but if you make a contract with me I uphold my end and .gov should as well.
They money you "paid in" was spent before you "paid it in"...sorry, you were scammed...you are not owed a refund for your stupidity of "paying in".
Even so, I WOULD LOVE to see a politician suggest "refunding" Medicare taxes paid in return for repealing Medicare...LOL...the geezers would have him/her swinging from a lamp pole within an hour...and the mob would be packed with "anit-government", "free market", "anti-welfare" Rightwingnut geezers too...
They money you "paid in" was spent before you "paid it in"...sorry, you were scammed...you are not owed a refund for your stupidity of "paying in".
So, the government you appear to worship, which has a monopoly on violence and will gladly shoot anyone who refuses to pay the taxes it demands, has "scammed" everyone who was "stupid" for choosing not to catch a bullet in the ass?!
This is one of the dumber things I've read in a while.
Don't want to pay taxes without taking a bullet in your ass?
Stop working.
No harder than that.
You don't even have to fully stop; just work so little that you're officially "poor" and then not only will you not pay taxes, YOU'LL GET A HUGE FUCKEN REFUND courtesy EIC!
That's almost as a good a deal as Corporate America gets...GE earned ~$35 Billion in profits over a decade or so...and through the magic of "deductions"...ended up with a NET TAX REFUND of several billion...NOW THAT'S A SWEET FUCKEN DEAL!
Sure. Lets eliminate SS and medicare. Lets make all benefits means tested, meaning they are no longer entitlements but welfare. And then lets eliminate the SSI taxes, all payroll taxes designated as entitlement "prepayments" and fund the welfare checks from general tax revenues...income taxes or whatever. Just stop lying to us telling us we are paying for "insurance". If I bought a life insurance policy and I live longer than they actuarially assume I will survive, does that mean my policy is now void. Words mean something...or at least used to. But you are right, we were lied to, we were ponzied, the money, the great lock box is full of shit. We can't hold future generations responsible for our bad investment decisions. But just cut the crap. Lets just have a brief moment of honesty and clarity here. If you don't want it, then don't pay for it and don't make us pay for it. The gig is up. No more free shit that other people have to pay for, be it directly through taxation or indirectly through devaluation of our assets.
Let's just get rid of the State. It is a behemoth beast which needs be starved.
Much simpler...and more elegant.
They used it to pay for wars to keep your interest rates low and oil cheap. What most people beside Law of Physics don't understand is boomers got your cake and want to eat it to. your analysis is NON-Gaap ;)
If you paid in, then yes. You are entitled. That is how the law is. Do you really think that it is OK to pull the rug out from under them when it is too late for them to adjust to such a change? As someone approaching those years, I do not like to be at the mercy of the .gov. But, unless I have unlimited funds, what other choice is there? They took 15% of my income for 50+ years that I could have otherwise invested and funded my own insurance. Now, hell yes. They/you owe me. Get over it.
I work in a part of healthcare and had to take several exams on ACA. I cannot decide if it just incompetent or a genius plan to break the current system and then take it over.
Anyone who thinks it is just about insurance does not know much of anything about it. That is almost the least of it. It is full of mandates like buying EMR systems and establishing accountable care organizations and a hundred other things.
Here is the most important point of all of it. Given the idiot decision of SCOTUS, the government has asserted the unequivocal right to control any aspect of healthcare it wants to. The old way was to nationalize it like Castro or even Britain. The new way is to write endless rules which allows the governmnet to avoid blame while still running the show.
As a critique, understand that when stupid, self serving progressive liberals talk about the cost of private health insurance in the U.S. a big part of that is because your private insurance has subsidized the artificially low payments of government plans. Your drugs, doc visit, and even private nursing home payments are a big part of what keeps the lights on . That is why once the new internal medicine doctor gets his practice going he will stop taking new Medicare patients. He could go out of business at government rates. Plus, your local physician has huge amounts of unreimbursed work they did not have when their dads were doctors. All those prior authorizations, referrals, etc. are generally not reimbursed.
I could write several more pages of why the system is at it is, but understand that ACA with thousands of new IRS agents was not done for better or even more healthcare.
Economically, it is yet another huge wet blanket on the economy as more money now goes for the same or less healthcare on net. It is going to get very bad before it gets better.
Seems like they cut spending for Englsh, grammar and punctuation in your part of the world, too, overmedicated.
Firebrand has it mostly right, as well and you are deluded.
Private insurance has indirectly subsidized the artificially cheap payments for government programs for decades. In that nursing home you claim to know, you have money losing or maybe break even Medicaid and Medicare. The few private patients are what makes the margins.
Medicare patients get approximately $3 in benefits for evey one they put in. This is why the young pay an extra tax.
Our forefathers did not politely protest the British tyranny. They did not vote them out of office, nor did they impeach the king, march on the capitol or ask permission for their rights.
They fucking shot them.
Grimaldus
They did the petitions for awhile. When they got the royal middle finger then they took up arms.
You know, I have changed my mind about who the good guys were in the Whiskey Rebellion.
"Healthcare and education in this country, suck!"
Sickcare (healthcare) and education are also the most expensive expense for a lot of people.
Funny thing is Obama Care or any Care never stopped anyone from dying when the time comes and no one knows when that is.
The medical profession is turning out to be a legal Cartel for 'prescription' drugs, most of which are pain killers which also helps alleviate emotional pain.
There are some people who truly need someone to make life bearable physically, but not at what they are charging a nation.
If any idea is so great, why would it ever be necessary to point guns and coerce participation? Food and Beer are among the greatest ideas ever. Nobody needs to point a gun to force people to eat or drink.
Healthcare and education in this country, suck!
No worries, once Common Core kicks in......no one is going to realize it.
Hmmmm....now who to vote for? Hillary or Jeb......Jeb or Hillary?
GetZFuck outta here.
Quit trying to make jeb or hillary a reality.
No MORE BUSH NO MORE CLINTON
Dems have already declared Hillary the Primary winner.
Repubs are gearing up Jeb; complete with a bunch of his brothers "advisors".
WE ARE ROYALLY FUCKED!
We are being prepped for Clinton. Notice the rash of female Presidents in entertainment.
Does it really matter? What are the chances of a candidate who really represents the best interests of our country?
We are being prepped for Liawatha.
Just wait, it will be the true Communist Elizabeth Warren and not HillBillie.
Why are you picking on Hillary. That woman dodges sniper fire in Bosnia for us, so that we would be safe. Where is your gratitude.
Heh...heh- Jebillary.
As a retired registered nurse, I agree with you about healthcare.
Make that a double on education. We spend about $130,000 per student during the K-12 "education". That probably does not include the debt service on school construction. This is mandatory spending even for "students" for whom society receives no ROI.
And the curriculum gets worse every year.
The Texas Constitution says that public school education is supposed to be "efficient". What a joke.
High blood pressure medicine. Or maybe that's just me.
Go figure with "low" premiums and a sky high deductible where the money has to go.
No way this can keep up. Shit is going to collapse. And I say good.
Heard about that new Pew study where people are not happy with where things are going (eventhough things are getting better lol) and it said like half didn't have enough money for an "emergency" expense but over half were comfortable with their personal expenses.
Cog Dis is here again.
pods
That which cannot be sustained, won't be, period. Prepare, it's all one can do anyway.
The plan was always to break it so bad people would be begging for single-payer. "Mission Accomplished", to coin a phrase.
I like this way better....cause you can still say screw you.
Pay tribute....and you don't have to be a commie.
It may not be sustainable but it can be a long period of pain before it fails.
Obama giveth and taketh away.
GDP ... ooops ... might need a revision.
Growth in government is a tax. It's a cost
Nothing surprising?
Actually that chart looks like the Americans are doing great. Poor people don't have money other than for housing and food, which is on the lower end of the charts and health care and recreational stuff or stuff people do not 'need' at the top
I bought 3 full slabs of baby backs yesterday for 28 bucks at grocery--very meaty-roughy 1/3 the cost of not so meaty babybacks at a restaurant-a coupel of baking potatoes, fixings for salad and a 8 buck bottle of wine (vs 8 bucks a glass plus tax and tip)
while food shows up as down in chart-I have to think restaurant business is down and simple cooking at home is in, as its one of the few ways to cut spending and get a better product.
sat out on patio and BBQ dinner drinking wine--not a bad venue.
Delusion rules.
when we are broke we are depressed.
When we are depressed we suffer self esteem issues.
Self Esteem issues are best dealt with through consumption, the spending of money, as our self image is defined by what we buy and theoretically own.
Cooking at home reminds us of how poor, broke, depressed and of low self worth we are, especially if we must clean up after ourselves.
So, no. Eating out is the ONLY proper response of financial hardship.
The next step down the path of bolstering our self worth is drug addiction.
Any questions?
Yes because you are so much smarter, and better, and all that. Can I bow down and do obeisance to you?
Too bad if you're TGIF or Olive Garden. People are probably growign their own gardens until that (soon) becomes an infringement of a monsanto patent.
FreeShit Army spent their gas savings on some killer Weed
I bought new peddles for my bike....
I built me a new 15lb Cannondale bike over the winter. I can't wait for this shitty weather to pass so I can get it on the road.
damn that is light bro
Wouldn't it have been cheaper to simply lose the 15lbs yourself?
I have offered to pay friends and family good money to push a mower around my acreage and they refuse, instead choosing to pay for membership at healthclub establishments where they can exercise.
It just doesn't make sense, but then again I did it in my younger years. Of course I only joined the healthclub to meet women, which got me started with running and biking, but when injuries started to effect my ability to work, I decided work was enough exercise. Now its too much. I figure I only have so many reps left in me and I better put them to productive use. But Biking was fun. One of my clients, who is in his late sixties has been a serious biker for many years, doing long distance Colorado runs, the stuff I can't do. Recently had a bike wreck and busted up about everything. Now he is stationary only. Its fun but it can kill you.
ObamaCare was designed to escalate prices for those who funded Obama in the first place.
Bingo!
Starving people are higher risk and should pay more. If they want better rates, they should start eating...maybe some nice cake.
That's why they call it "affordable health care" 'caus some folks can still afford it. Food...not so much affordable but some folks can still afford to eat, so food is affordable.
I spent mine on clash of clans gems
obamacare too....
I spent mine on the yellow shiny stuff. Fuck the system.
Americans sure are healthy!
I would have guessed iCrap. I guarantee you that the SNAPpers & otherwise FSA didn't add to that HEALTHCARE tally.
Gucci x2 [priced] healthcare for the 1%.
Obamacare should be renamed ZEROcare for the dregs.
I'm surprised that there is no outcry from the urban mass transit folks that they did not get the same windfall as the rest of us fossil fuel consumers....
In NYC they don't have to worry about it so much since the State Gov't is in the City's pocket and the surrounding counties such as Nassau, Suffolk, West Chester...Get to pay for it and mostly don't use it. This video goes into depth on how much of a money "black hole" the MTA is for the State it shows where it is spent, how they get it and whether or not it is legal according to the State Constitution. Zerohedge could have a field day with the info. http://youtu.be/d3L46e2G3_s
I like having a 6 liter V8. I like it even more these days.
You wouldn't like so much if we told you the V motors are defective and can not last the test of time, but neither do peoples memorys so it all evens out in the end, including bank accounts.
No motor stands the test of time. All things decay and break. I expect it to last for 200k miles, which is entirely realistic.
Funny, my V8 is 16 years old and has 160k miles on it. No oil burning, no major repairs, only an alternator. It mostly is used for towing, hauling, and crappy winter weather driving with a little off road thrown in. When exactly will these defects show up? I also expect to get 200k miles out of mine.
Chevy LS truck motor? They're good motors. You should try one with a mild turbo kit on it, though. 600 HP with A/C and perfect drivability. It's amazing what you can do with modern engines and EFI compared to the old days. 600+ HP used to be race car kind of territory. Now it's a plumbing truck with a little extra scoot.
It's a 5.7 liter. I rounded up for the sale of brevity. Hemi.
That'll work, too. In the old days of the original Hemi motors they used to say "Hemis love blowers." We've discovered it applies to the modern variants just as well. Hemis love boost.
The new Rams are impressive. 19 actual mpg. Luxury car interior. It's better appointed and gets better mileage than my Acura or my BMW ever did.
Unlike most people, I actually use my truck as a truck. I'm always picking stuff up for the farm or hauling a trailer.
Just got the new ecodiesel. Getting almost 30mpg on the highway with a fully loaded 4x4 crewcab. Not as much power as the old cummins, or the hp of the srt, but one of the best quality feel ever. Very impressed.
A downvote for diesel? Diesel seems like a smart idea long term since you can't store gasoline long term.
The down votes are from some clown who feels petroleum is an evil thing.
Well, we will probably all be comparing notes on our horses and buggies if this shit holds.
My ObamaCare is so expensive, I had to eat my horse.
Rarely does the voting make much sense to me but then again I don't get a lot of upvotes either.
It's possible that we could all be nuts.
You take downvotes like a man here and wear them as a badge of honor that you are capable of thinking for yourself.
God I hope so. I keep wishing I could wake up from this nightmare and find that it never really heppened and Ronald Reagan was the President.
What I'd like to see is more diesel electric hybrid.
Even more likeable would be a diesel / electric hybrid you could have the option of running the engine part to strictly charge the battery so when you got home, you could plug the car into the house and draw your household power from the car battery.
Exactly my thoughts. Diesels are designed to run most efficiently at relatively narrow rpm ranges which should fit a generator perfectly. Something even more interesting would be turbines. I remember back in the sixties Chrysler experimented with them but they were abandoned because even though they were very efficient, plus would accept a lot of different fuels, they had really slow windup times which made auto use poor. We want responsiveness, and if you think turbo lag is bad, just wait on a gas turbine to wind up. Anyway, this slow windup would be nothing to a generator and most large utility based generators run on turbines now, either gas or steam.A little turbine running at 20,000 rpms, burning kerosine or gasoline or pretty much whatever you could find to put in it. Great for some of the alternative fuels out there that are tough to adapt to normal piston engines.
But what do I know.
I've got that same engine in an 05 Magnum...it is freaking sweet!....just changed the original plugs at 150k...theres 16 of the damn things! Thank Vishnu for Youtube! I had all the right tools so it ditnt take but 45min...saved a couple hundred dollars, even though the plugs alone cost nearly 100...that front end went to hell and i had to replace all of those struts and bushings...chore!...other than that, its been a great ride.
I have a 337HP 4.6 litre V8 w/ full 4WD (Lo+Hi) and a 6 speed automatic BMW transmission.
Bet you can't guess the make and model.
Oh, and it's an SUV. 150,000 miles so far...
Thank you everyone for talking about cars.
It's nice to change things up and not be *so* friggin' serious sometimes.
I've got a 1994 Chevy G20 van with a V-8, think it's 5.0 liters. Had to change out the sparkies last year and it runs super. The body, of course, is shot from 20 years in upstate NY winters, but I only drive about 2000 miles a year. Best vehicle I've ever owned. Bought it six years ago March for $1000. Tossed the middle row of seats last fall since they only served to take up space in my garage and got $12 at the junk yard.
The guy at the scrap yard said the vehicle would fetch $560 for scrap. I'm so far ahead on this vehicle, I just want to drive it until the fenders fall off (winter 2017). Hauls lots of stuff, great stereo system, super cassette player (don't laugh, cassettes are dirt cheap) and the back seat folds down into a bed, so it also makes it as a bug-out van.
WTF was this thread about? Who cares? Cars, trucks and vans are waaaaaaay cooler than the shit-assed economy or stawks.
NASDAQ 5000! Excelsior!
BTW: when the statist mutherfuckers rewrite the history books, Tim Cook, the "gay entrepreneur" will get all the credit for turning Apple into a behemoth. The founder, Steve Jobs, will be just an asterisk in history.
Smile...
2001 5.9 Cummins straight 6, 277.000 miles and can still pull a house off its foundation. That enough to circumnavigate the globe 10 times and its just now getting broke in. Not for sale.
Ford Exploder? My buddy blew his motor and rebuilt it using german parts and swapped out the tranny w/ a BMW. That rig screwed! It would chirp all the oversized tires going into 3rd gear... it was a manual tho.
That was nothing compared to my buddys 2013 M5 tho. Ho Lee Chit. That car could snap yer neck. He let me borrow it for a Friday night. It was an act of God that i stayed out of jail that night. "M" mode ON. :)