Massdriver

wtf is this? We went from T1 and T2 to this.

I enjoyed Pillars, but I do like the idea of more concise blocks of text. It seems the developers are going that direction. I agree with you that there needs to be more innovation. It's good to know that there is a lot of effort going into crpgs going forward.

I'm just about done with GTA5 (overrated in my view) and plan on firing up Tyranny next. I heard the first act is pretty good, but it falls off in act 2.

From Obsidian, we now have Tyranny and Pillars 2 that seem to be underperforming. Shadowrun Hong Kong only sold a little over 200k copies, compared to 500k for Dragonfall on Steam. Tyranny came in below expectations: https://www.pcgamesn.com/tyranny/tyranny-sales-paradox-obsidian And now with Pillars 2 Deadfire only selling 200k copies on Steam since release, I'm starting to think that the nostalgia is over. Divinity OS 2 is the exception with 1.6 million Steam copies sold, but its style is slightly different. Any thoughts?

My brother has it. Picture quality is excellent, but it is buggy and has a crappy DVR. He has it because it has the channels he wants. YouTube tv has a fairly stable app and I like the DVR/on demand, but it is missing some critical channels like History and DIY.

I have an older Roku 3 in one room and an Apple TV 4K in the other. Either one is fine. I also have YouTube tv and like it, but it will come down to channel selection.

I don't view universal healthcare as the only way to help the poor and middle class. A negative income tax and wage subsides should be employed to help the people in question. Healthcare should be about getting everyone affordable coverage, but also should be about creating a program that is efficient and sustainable.

In summary, I want a plan that has cost controls built in so our nation is healthy and fiscally strong.

I am not advocating where to start or a poltical strategy. I am telling you what I think should be policy. As for the working middle class, I imagine that the government policy would be far better than what most working people get now. Edit: I also think you can raise some of the revenue in a progressive way.

The argument is about whatever we want it to be. I think there is an argument to be made that we should focus just on medical care and leave the rest to private companies, but I think dental care is really important too.

If you are debt free and maxing out your 401k, the next step is indeed funding your Roth IRA. Income limits can be worked around with a backdoor Roth. Tax laws don't allow you to contribute to a Roth IRA if you are over certain income limits. However, you can contribute non deductible amounts to a traditional IRA. Once your money is in your traditional IRA (once again, do not deduct this amount on your 1040), you simply do a traditional to roth ira conversion. Nearly every broker has a standard form to do it. It's fairly easy. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Backdoor_Roth_IRA If you need the money for a car, you really shouldn't be putting it into an IRA or anything that is highly volatile. I would recommend you open a savings account at a bank such as Ally (or choose another competitive bank), which has a yield of 1.75% right now, and put the amount you want to set aside for your future car payments there. I don't recommend putting all your savings into a savings account though. I think you should only put an emergency fund together and future major expenses (such as a vehicle). Otherwise, you should be investing as much as you can in equities. An equity portfolio historically doubles every ~10 years (mind you with a huge amount of volatility and this isn't a guarantee). You are right to be concerned about the macro environment and valuations; however I believe it is a mistake to just sit it out. No one (or perhaps only a very lucky few) can accurately predict or market time. I thought the market was overvalued 2 years ago and I was wrong. The best thing to do is to just hold your nose and dive in and continue buying throughout the ups and downs as years go by. The future you will thank yourself immensely for the passive income and huge next egg you build over the years. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads®_investment_philosophy https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Historical_and_expected_returns https://personal.vanguard.com/us/FundsInvQuestionnaire -risk tolerance test Invest in low cost index funds. Go anywhere from 60-80% domestic equities and 40-20% international. If you need more stability to help you sleep at night, throw a small percentage in a high interest savings account or buy a bond fund. An example of an index fund portfolio using ETFs could be as simple as: 70% VTI - U.S. equities 30% VXUS- International equities or 65% VTI 25% VXUS 10% high interest savings/ BND You can do this with low cost mutual funds, or other fund families besides Vanguard. For instance State Street Global Advisers (SPDR) through Ameritrade might look like: SPTM 70% U.S. SPDW 25% International Developed SPEM 5% Emerging Market International

Reduce it more than the dental and eye premiums would cost the government? I don't think that's the case, but if you want to provide evidence that it would go for it. I would be open to this, but I think for most here it is Bernie or bust.

It also makes everyone think about going to seek care or not. The poor can be helped with programs targeted at the poor. What other countries do matters in so far as them creating a successful healthcare program. The more expensive a single payer plan is, the harder it will be to maintain and sell to the public. The end result will not be a Bernie plan. The end result will be something more like I have proposed, and cost will enter the picture.

I think the point I have tried to convey but failed miserably at is Bernie's plan is unlike other universal systems around the world. The costs are greater. From Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/13/16296656/bernie-sanders-single-payer In the past, everyone used other developed countries as examples as to why America can do better on healthcare. I'm merely using the same evidence to show that Bernie's plan really is different than other nations and there is nothing wrong with suggesting we should slim it down at some point.

I would need to see evidence that copays and deductibles only decrease demand by pricing the poor out. My guess is they also decrease demand from the middle class and I also would guess that they would cut unnecessary healthcare visits. There are other ways to control costs, but I don't know if the U.S. has the stomach for it. The government can step in and can further control the number of physicians and their pay, prevent expensive new equipment from being bought, negotiate drug prices down, etc. Some of this may require a public healthcare delivery system to stand next to our private one, or it could just mean a lot more regulation.

A payroll tax is a form of taxation on employing people. Employers get taxed for hiring people. I saw mclumber's idea as basically a payroll tax, and yes you're right, it isn't ideal, but it is convenient and employers are already having to pay for each employee's health insurance and are trying to minimize the payroll and taxes. As for your hatred of deductibles and copays, Switzerland and Japan both use them if I'm not mistaken. Singapore also used copays and coinsurance to control demand. It should lower the price tag and make healthcare spending more efficient.

That makes sense.

It's the same sort of barrier that we face to reform or repeal occupational licenses. If you're in the club, you don't want anyone to spoil the party. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try. My guess is the effect will be more modest than people realize if zoning were reformed. It may not decrease housing prices as much as it stops them from growing so quickly.

What about companies that are providing bare bones health insurance plans? Why should they be taxed less than a company that gives employees a very nice health insurance plan plus pay 50% of dependent coverage? If you're going to do some sort of formula, I would just make it the same per employee for any employers above 150 employees. Smaller companies should get some sort of break. For simplicity, it would be easier just to throw it on the payroll tax and having reasonable copays and deductibles. I agree that medicaid and chip should be eliminated. I'm not sure about the VA. I also wouldn't care if public hospitals and clinics existed along side private ones if it helped control costs. We pay far too much for healthcare in America and it isn't all just administrative. We pay more for the same thing.

Zoning regulations need to be modified or just need to go. It's really sad.

The deficit in this case would be more than the typical increase in deficit. Deficits and debt do matter if they are large enough. If inflation kicked up, our interest payments will start to swallow the Federal budget and harm the economy. It is reasonable to be concerned about it and making sure we try to finance the government. Assuming a land value tax was taken off the table, we could pay for this with: 1) Lifting the payroll tax cap to make it more progressive and raise revenue 2) Increasing payroll taxes by increasing the % 3) Adding a VAT You would need substantial increases to make this happen. I realize the strategy is to rally behind a pure idea because it will get watered down later. I think the optimal plan is something that increases Federal spending a bit less than this proposal, results in more efficient healthcare in general, and still covers everyone. Cost controls are important and we need to get a handle on it since Medicare alone is going to swallow our budget up. Healthcare is also destroying private companies because premiums are going up 10%+ a year and it simply isn't sustainable.

On 2., it is a legitimate question and anyone that doesn't think so doesn't understand that this is several fold more than the unpaid for DoD increase.

I'm all for it, but I'm for ending what amounts to medical professionals artificially squeezing the supply of qualified people domestically as well. I favor both.

This needs to be addressed by increasing the number of medical professionals. There needs to be more mds, dos, pas, and nps. This will require a lot of coordination between state and federal government and university systems. There are tons of qualified individuals turned away from all of these schools every year.

I would be more impressed if they found half of the leave voters wanted to vote again.