Recent content by Old Microbiologist

Having left the US and its bizarre and somewhat deeply intertwined system of debt encumbrances I see things very differently now. In Europe, there is no such thing as credit scores as credit simply doesn't exist in the sense it does in the US. Thi sis an entirely US concept and I believe it was...

Italy is very nice, but is also quite expensive compared to other European countries. We decided to retire to Hungary which is equally nice and only a 5 hour drive to Italy. We are on Permanent Resident visas and have National Health Insurance ($25 a month per person) that also covers medical in...

We retired to Hungary 13 years ago and at that time had an income of roughly $2500 a month. We had no issues other than normal bureaucratic ones. The Permanent Residence visa was a lot more complicated and required a lot of paperwork on our end with translations. That must be renewed every 5...

I would argue based on these criteria the US no longer meets them either. The larger issue is the interference for political and geopolitical goals by the US which is what has compromised the status of the dollar. This "war" in Ukraine and soon in China is existential for the dollar. The...

I also build computers and am loathe to throw away stuff. Old PC's are capable of running home servers such as OpenMediaVault to stream media and at least where I live it is still "legal" to have a torrent box running. Many people also build their own routers with complete security in them using...

Our Mercedes EQS has the best GPS I have used yet and the map is a satellite photo with real-time updates on a 57-inch wide screen (only the center is a map but it is ginormous which is good for old eyes). However, I also keep Waze running on my phone as it gives real-time traffic data from...

We have a Mercedes EQS with the Magno Selenite (aka grey) which is a satin finish. It is very difficult to care for but also very beautiful. I wish I had gotten it wrapped as now I have a few scratches from a recent trip to Italy. Should I get it repainted then I will wrap it. Care is limited to...

70 me 75 wife. 100% equities (rolled over 4 IRA's into equity trading accounts plus a large single trading account all of which are used for Day Trading. We trade slower using a 3 day cycle for the IRA's and faster (minutes) for the main account, never use margin, and always keep 50% in cash to...

Actually, it is the norm in Europe with the exception of Italy which still uses toll booths. Italy is also the most expensive country in Europe to drive in but nothing like driving from DC to NYC and the seemingly never-ending tolls on I-95. The last time I drove it was over $75 (nearly 20 years...

It is a problem with funding road construction and repairs is all based on fuel taxes. I have always thought this was unfair and yet another subtle tax hidden in a price. Roads should be funded by the state out of the state budgets using the revenue (normally state income taxes). Federal roads...

I tend to look at this kind of report as an indicator that there is a subtle message in it driving the consensus towards a change in thought process. AKA PSYOP or known in the US as "influencing". I spent a part of my military career as a psychological operations officer (alternate ASI) in...

Battery Health The data from the car (or OBDII app) is a good indication. It can be finagled though by resetting the car computer. But the voltage per cell is the best but usually only available using an OBDII monitor and associated software. Some battery degradation is expected and roughly 10%...

I don't have a Tesla but I do have a Mercedes EQS with a 108kWh battery. I have studied this quite a bit and there are a lot of issues that seem not well understood. Basically, it somewhat depends on what chemistry was used in the battery. LiFePO4 batteries last the longest and are the most...

Social Security is a fatal issue for politicians. They want very badly to take it and give it to their banking benefactors but the most active voters are the retirees e.g. privatize it as they did with everything else. It is the last remaining thing not privatized. But, it is a live wire as well...

Back before receiving only pensions as our income, we did. In general, this prevents an audit as the IRS doesn't like wasting time (time=money and all time at the IRS is a cost) when it is prepared by a CPA. They like low-hanging fruit that is profitable. This is why going after the real wealthy...