Yeah, I feel like that’s a large factor. The problem is, apparently the general public has completely lost the ability to distinguish fact from opinion. So, the loud idiots spewing forth uneducated or uninformed opinions are eaten up by the public because that particular bullshit fits their worldview.

I know... I do love me some George Carlin. However, to be pedantic, IQ is not a Gaussian distribution and has a slight right skew. So, really, imagine the average person, and realize slightly more than half are stupider than that.

Here’s a question I grapple with, though. By all accounts, humans in general should be smarter on average than at most any other time in human history. We have compulsory education. We have higher education. We have better access to food and medicine, etc.

You mean, it’s taxes, constitutionally collected from citizens by virtue of Congress’ plenary authority under Art. 1, Sec. 8 of the Constitution?

Actually, the larger the city, the cheaper the prices as they tend to have some element of competition.

I completely agree with you. As a tax attorney married to a physician, we will never hurt for money. I am happy to pay into social security, even if I never get it. I don’t need it. Literally, social security, when we reach our peak (and for professionals that can be around retirement age), social security will make…

Yeah, except you’re wrong, because an overwhelming amount of those people would end up asking for government help. So, as common with Republicans and Libertarians, privatize profits but socialize losses.

Are you able to predict the future? Because even a portfolio that is balanced between stocks, bonds, foreign investments and the like will take a substantial hit (and a much longer recovery) if we have another 2008.

They worked a couple extra years and then retired after things got better.

I’m not sure you understand the concept of a “guaranteed return.” That alone is pretty damn valuable.

Way to ignore what I said. So... are you willing to just go off into the sunset (presumably to either live off the land or kill yourself) when your investments crash? Because, if you’re going to be selfish, so am I. So, no tax dollars for you if you fall flat on your face.

As a person who hits the cap, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous there’s a cap. Either remove the cap entirely or put a net asset limit on those who can receive social security.

Yeah... the problem with that is, when your investments don’t pan out or the market tanks or whatever the case may be, you’ll have your hand out looking to the government provide you welfare.

The only side effect I got from drinking regularly was weight gain.

In reading the comments, this just occurred to me: The AHCA may be a boon to blue states.

Yes, but on the upside, you can’t be denied benefits because you had a pre-existing condition, there are no lifetime or annual caps, children can stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26 and all the other benefits that go along with the ACA.

My point is, it’s silly to say “I think opiates are not safe, I’m going to drink alcohol instead.” That’s basically replacing one drug with the other, except that the first drug is prescribed and regulated by the doctor and can be traced to determine if there are interactions. Whereas, if you self-medicate, then…

So... getting addicted to alcohol is better?

In fact, it is. You can have a placebo effect that makes you feel either that a fake drug worked, or that a real drug didn’t. It’s called the “Nocebo effect.”

I have pressure urticaria that is well controlled by Zyrtec, but without my allergy medication, drinking alcohol or opiates (prescribed for kidney stones a while back) really set it off to the point where I’ll just start itching for no reason and then I scratch the itch, then I get a welt that’s even more itchy.