Cost of my childrens’ education will much more than $180k. Daycare is 70-80k then private school is 300k+. Public schools are in a very sad state. Children are a true luxury in this day and age.
The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
181–190 of 269 posts
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#182He misses what I consider a major issue. The price of college education is going up much faster than the cost of providing it. If you look at tuition vs what a professor is paid, one goes up much faster than the other. If you look at housing costs things don't add up either - renting an apartment seems to be a source of revenue for the schools. These are the obvious places the schools are making a ton of money - wher…
We could literally print nearly free wealth, inflation free, if we just opened up land for development. It's a win win win.
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is correct. To corroborate: my health insurance contract states I must pay $13,600 towards my medical expenses (this is AFTER premiums) per year, before they will begin paying on my behalf.
That's an extreme deductible. How much are your premiums?
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#184The biggest trick that the FED has pulled is that it convinced the world that inflation is at 2% yoy. What a disgraceful joke! Had they been real about the inflation, the interest rates on savings would've been higher. Sure, it would crash the stock market but the stock market only benefits the rich disproportionately. Not teachers, admins, nurses etc. Oh btw, has anyone noticed that 20% of the 20 trillion dollar US…
5% avg inflation
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#185Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#186He misses what I consider a major issue. The price of college education is going up much faster than the cost of providing it. If you look at tuition vs what a professor is paid, one goes up much faster than the other. If you look at housing costs things don't add up either - renting an apartment seems to be a source of revenue for the schools. These are the obvious places the schools are making a ton of money - wher…
It's an excellent point. As for housing, where does the extra wealth go? Nowhere. No one benefits when you lock up land that can't be used by anyone. Now you might argue that existing land owners benefit: but they actually don't. Because they're not moving and selling, they haven't realized any gain at all. If they sold but stay in the same area, there's no gain. And in states without the reprehensible prop 13, those…
Doesn't neighboring real estate value decline as you put more capacity on the market? You can't print real estate wealth anymore than you can print dollars without consequence. At the end of the day, all of this "value" is trying to get dibs on the output of labor today (housing prices are usually tied to incomes, with some distorted market exceptions).
The more interesting question is: can you provide these basic necessities at such a low cost that you can drastically reduce the labor output required to enjoy them? What if you only had to work three days a week to meet your basic needs? What if healthcare inflation wasn't consuming wage increases as rapidly as it is?
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are rules that are EU-wide - because they're set by an EU regulation. If you're a resident in any EU country, you get the blue card. That makes you entitled to whatever (this is depending on the country and not set by the regulation) in your country of residence and basic care of life threatening issues in the rest of EU, Czech Republic included; however if you injure yourself doing e.g. sports in other EU coun…
I'm no expert on the gritty details of the German system (who would have thought health care could be that complicated, right?) but as German resident I have some insights. Everybody who knows better, please correct me. In Germany everybody who is employed in way that pays social insurance is also health insured, you cannot opt out of it. In that system, in addition to taxes, social security and unemployment insuranc…
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does healthcare insurance pay for that in the US ? In the EU, this is considered a personal life-choice procedure and very rarely handled by insurances - like cosmetic surgery. (being the EU though, you can get it for free using public healthcare)
In which country? I don't know of any. Except for added services like a private room and stuff like that are more comfort oriented than medical.
Both the UK and Spain have also a public health sector, with Clinics, GP, ... that is accessible for free.
In the UK and Spain, very few private health insurances covers Birth or Emergency Care: for those you are supposed to go to the public service or pay cash in a private clinic.
Other countries like Belgium have health insurances that give you the kind of extra comfort you mention. But they cost something like 5 EUR a month vs the 100 EUR in Spain and the UK.
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Steve Ballmer was talking about how healthcare costs have gone up like 400% over a 30 year period but expected lifespans only increased by .6 years. We’re pahing exponentially more for relatively insignificant gains.
But where does the money go?
Re: The Bermuda Triangle of Wealth
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's an excellent point. As for housing, where does the extra wealth go? Nowhere. No one benefits when you lock up land that can't be used by anyone. Now you might argue that existing land owners benefit: but they actually don't. Because they're not moving and selling, they haven't realized any gain at all. If they sold but stay in the same area, there's no gain. And in states without the reprehensible prop 13, those…
> We could literally print nearly free wealth, inflation free, if we just opened up land for development. It's a win win win. Doesn't neighboring real estate value decline as you put more capacity on the market? You can't print real estate wealth anymore than you can print dollars without consequence. At the end of the day, all of this "value" is trying to get dibs on the output of labor today (housing prices are usu…