[Myriad]

I guess that’s the good thing about a Toyota, you can usually find parts for them.
But that brings up a good point, if you have a EV for 15-20 years, that’s at least 1 battery replacement. Which isn’t a problem if (and that’s the issue…) there’s someone that will do it and a reasonable battery pack of the same type.
Makes me think of my 9 year old fridge where the motherboard crapped out. Had to buy one on the grey market/refurb because Samsung doesn’t make the parts anymore.

[Myriad]

Too bad the CA CVRP doesn’t have enough funds for regular income, only low income.
https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng

I was planning on getting a new car next year, after my current one reaches 200k. Though, I like paying only $200/year for my insurance and not worrying about the dings and scratches…

The edison credit – is that SCE only? SDG&E has the EVCC.

[Myriad]

https://blogs.wsj.com/dailyshot/2018/07/20/the-daily-shot-china-retaliates-against-the-u-s-via-the-currency-market/

Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, and The MSCI EM Currency Index all declined in line with USD/CNY.
I read this blog daily. It’s got some good information, nice charts, but the data is a little noisy.

[Myriad]

[quote=FlyerInHi]I agree but it’s not in our interest to cut off China either. Too late for that. We are now interdependent.

Devaluation will cause capital flight, but also new FDI. I have a Chinese friend who is investing/parking money in US apartments. He got $1/2 million out recently. But the money will flow back especially from Thailand, Malaysia, whatever, if the currency weakens. [/quote]

Actually it won’t flow back, because typically SE Asian currencies follow each other in devaluation. Still somewhat theoretical at this point.

I don’t know about that interdependence. If this goes on another 5 years, US-China trade will probably be 10% of where it is today. And that allows for a strategic segregation of economy, technology, etc.

Let’s say US wanted to really stop European trade with China, e.g. could add aviation parts as export restricted to China -> Airbus couldn’t sell aircraft to China or even engines.

[Myriad]

Assuming that China has sufficient capital to build Belt & Road, which is not entirely clear. If we are in a total economic war with China, they will not have sufficient access to US $ to pay for investments. In fact, capital will flee China if they devalue their currency.
That’s not even counting if US decides to cut China out of the US banking system.
Their existing investments have been mixed because in their haste, there is a lot of waste and corruption. For every $1 spent probably somewhere around $.40 is wasted or “lost”.

But Africa is the next round of the Cold War, just like in the previous Cold War.

Just in, Trump adds an addition 5% tariff on all Chinese goods.

[Myriad]

[quote=FlyerInHi]Haha. Japan is done with. They are so desperate that they have national security exports controls against Korea.
Japan was insular and stingy. They should have had they own Belt and Road to spread wealth and development. Japan still uses fax machines and paper vouchers. They are becoming irrelevant. I read the Economist and made the mistake of investing in Sony and Docomo many years ago. Ha! (The Japanese like to say Ha!)
[/quote]
Japan has lots of issues. But with South Korea, they actually have an upper hand as all the semiconductor manufacturing in SK rely on Japanese exports. Japan is a lot less dependent on SK. But what this actually shows is a complete lack of leadership from the US.

Japan actually has larger investments in SE Asia than China’s Belt and Road. “Collectively, Japan owned $1.667 trillion in foreign assets in the third quarter of 2018, while China owned $1.542 trillion in the second quarter. And has been outpacing China since 2016
“https://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-silent-belt-and-road-is-beating-chinas-11555923604

The China-US Cold War is happening: economic ties, technology, military are all heading that way. There will be at least two systems (legal/technology)/spheres of influence. The Europeans will be the losers in 20 years. Welfare costs, regulation, aging population, behind on technology etc. Russia included in that too – What we see today is the last gasp of Russia’s influence. Seriously? Nuclear powered cruise missiles that spew radiation as they fly around?

[Myriad]

The deterioration in HK wouldn’t have happened if the HK government wasn’t clueless and incompetent. Could have made some minor concessions back in June and it would have been over for now (at least 5-10 years).

[Myriad]

Still waiting on aliens to blow up both countries so I don’t have to think about the stupidity of both governments.

[Myriad]

[quote=temeculaguy]I notice a lot of the comments mention “I” as far as one’s wishes go. I pay the premiums because I am not going to tell my wife’s adult children that her alzheimers was too much so I decided to have her put down. I lost sleep for a month because I put a 14 year old terminally ill dog down, don’t ask me to do that to a person. We can all be brae about ourselves, but if you have a spouse, it changes the decisions making process.[/quote]

I guess if you’ve never had a conversation with your parents, that’s what will happen. I’m 39 and my mom and I already agree that she would not prefer to have to sit in hospice until she dies. What’s the point of staying alive if there’s no quality of life.
I haven’t done the calculation on insurance yet, but I wonder if it’s just better to self-insure. The problem I see is whether the LTC premiums will keep rising after you get a policy and how easy it will be to get actual payments 40 years from now.

[Myriad]

[quote=Hobie]Now you have a bunch of folks needing expensive end of life care and no way to pay for it, what is government to do. Answer: Physical assisted suicide. [/quote]

If they really want to sell it, the government could offer an offset. Instead of spending $200k on Medicare, people that go for euthanasia, would get $50k in cash. Then people can go enjoy the $50k, and not spend a year in/out of hospital/hospice care.

I wonder what’s the % of people that just die before LTC really kicks in. The insurance companies have to factor that in too.
Sometimes I joke that if I can’t eat solid food or have to become a vegan, that seems like a good time to go.

[Myriad]

The general info out that is that LTC insurance is really expensive now and only provided by a few providers (since they vastly underestimated the costs a decade ago).
Is there some quantifiable data on the costs now at various ages?

[Myriad]

[quote=FlyerInHi]For Taiwan, I think that once Jared Kushner solves the Middle East, he will turn to finding a permanent solution to Taiwan.[/quote]

LOLOL, thanks for the comedy.
At least we know who the Communist/autocratic sympathizers are on this forum.

[Myriad]

[quote=FlyerInHi]To me the HK extradition law is a distinction without a difference. It’s political.

…
The Chinese legislature in Beijing can legally do whatever it wants to HK.[/quote]

Technically that’s not true per the HK Basic Law.
https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/
Article 8, 11, and 18 address this
Article 18 “The laws in force in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be this Law, the laws previously in force in Hong Kong as provided for in Article 8 of this Law, and the laws enacted by the legislature of the Region.
National laws shall not be applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region except for those listed in Annex III to this Law. The laws listed therein shall be applied locally by way of promulgation or legislation by the Region.”

China can do what they want because they have an economic stranglehold on the city and government.

One Country Two Systems is dead, and with it, the so called peaceful reunification with Taiwan. If there is any reunification it will be because it was forced too.

[Myriad]

what’s interesting is that Terry Gou, Foxconn founder, is running for Taiwan president under the KMT party.
He basically said the One Country Two Systems has failed and if elected would allow more HK people to emigrate to Taiwan. Yet is running for the pro China KMT party.

If China forces HK to pass the extradition law, it’s hard to see how Taiwan would not vote for a pro-independence candidate.

https://thediplomat.com/2019/06/hong-kong-protests-the-view-from-taiwan/

[Myriad]

[quote] there is a luxury complex already in Mira Mesa.

Casa Mira View

engineers tend to be stingy. they are saving for home ownership[/quote]

LOL, that place. non-luxury rentals for luxury prices. Also, mostly forgot about transit when they built that place.
Probably the biggest hindrance to creating density in CA is that most people with families want SFH. Most people aren’t ready to accept living with kids in a small condo. Then there’s the whole school/school district preferences.

[Author]

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