impulse

I've already exceeded the limits of my medical schooling. But perhaps they should have told you to seek treatment if you noticed any unusual symptoms. Awfulizing again, the swelling may have gone down when the clot broke free. And now it's looking for another place to lodge. I'd sure hate to wait 5 minutes too long to get a genuine medical opinion, and have a stroke... Hopefully, it's nothing. Or a case of the new Covid, which seems to be pretty mild. But with doctors so cheap in Thailand, is it worth the risk? BTW, the reason I go to "clot" so quick is that my brother, who had a heart transplant, gets bulging veins and swelling in his legs pretty regularly. He goes in and they treat the clots. It's probably happened to him a dozen times in the 4 years since his transplant. Apparently, not a big deal, but they do want to treat them.

I gave up fighting with gas powered weed eaters on my postage stamp sized lot and went to plug-in electric. Couldn't be happier with the performance. And I never get blisters pulling the starter cord after it's sat for a month or 3. As long as you can reach your entire yard with the extension cord, I highly recommend the plug-in type. I tried my brother's battery operated weed-eater and it doesn't have near the umph of my plug in model. Probably okay though, if you need more reach beyond a cord.

I'm gonna awfulize here a little. (Okay, a lot) It's possible the swollen calf was a blood clot, and your other symptoms are serious. But don't listen to me. Get to a doctor.

Higher end tents tend to use aluminum alloy for their poles.

Yup. Same thing happened with those 2 guys at that company. In public, and in front of the corporate bigwigs, they supported him. Or they would have been gone... Behind his back, they couldn't wait to get rid of him. As it turned out, they both got canned a few months after the outsider.

No, the Republicans had both the House and the Senate. https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Congress_elections,_2016 Trump didn't propose anything because he had nothing. Oh, caught me. I should have said "unfriendly Congress" Years ago, I worked for a company that had 2 warring factions, each led by a VP that desperately wanted to be president. When the company president moved on, corporate hired an outsider to come in to replace him. That's the only time I ever saw those two guys and their factions cooperate, was to sabotage him and get rid of the new guy. Which took them about 2 years. That's the sense I got when Trump was in the White House. Most Repubs wanted him out of their career paths almost as much as most Dems wanted him off the Earth...

Not sure why the reclassification to Cat 5 (if it happened) is an issue. The fine and prison time seem the same for both, according to driveout's lawyerly link.

You've proposed a flat tax against all income. I'm contending that's not as simple as it seems. The very first thing you have to do is define "income". You could define it as the difference between your net worth last year vs your net worth this year. (Not that I'd recommend that method). Or you could define it to include unrealized capital gains (your brokerage account has that exact number every day). But either of those methods would be very hard to audit. Edit: And any political party proposing either would lose $$$ millions in donations... And that's why we'll never have a fair tax system.

Capital gains are only taxed when you cash in those stocks. Capital gains on real estate are only taxed when the property is sold. It's quite possible to become a billionaire without ever having a dime of taxable income. So I ask again, How would you define income?

I'm not a fan of either party. But the Dems' gifts to their donors written into the so called "Inflation Reduction Act" are just as egregious as anything Trump did for the rich. And even Biden himself conceded they named that bill wrong.

How do you define (and calculate, and audit) income? Easy enough for a family with just paychecks. Much harder for the rich who can amass a huge amount of wealth by capital gains, without having a dime of "income".

Follow the link that KhunLA included above for a lot more information than you'll get in a new stand alone thread. The topic's been nicely discussed over a period of a few years with updates for new brands and new developments. Excellent reviews of real E-MC's available in Thailand.

Democrat Congress. Couldn't possibly give him a win. But that's a problem on both sides of the aisle. Besides, when did they have time, energy or political capital to do anything but impeach him?

Were the Canuck and UK health care systems always so messed up, or is that a recent phenomena?

Nothing Are they transferable? I thought I read somewhere that they used to be transferable and could be sold on if someone changed their plans. But my brain leaks every night when I sleep.

It still remains to be seen whether the prices will go down much, if at all. I'm still recalling the disappointment most people felt after the promise of Obamacare, and the increase in insurance costs. Last year of my participation, I was paying $1,200 a month for a policy with a $7,000 deductible. Meaning I had to incur $21,400 in expenses before Obamacare paid a dime. I wasn't impressed with that "Affordable Care". And you still didn't answer the question. How much of any discount will be passed on to the patients in the form of reduced out of pocket costs?

Great point about the 20% turnover per year. I'm actually favorable toward the program, admitting that it's not for everyone. Maybe not even for most expats. Since I landed in Thailand in 2011, I've seen a lot of trepidation on the part of expats toward the Elite program, and a lot of changes in fee structures and offerings. But I can't think of anyone who's claimed that they haven't delivered in terms of long term stay. My concern is that they're letting the anomalies from the last 3 years get to their heads, and may be in for a rude awakening when there's no more Russkies and Ukes fleeing a warzone, and the neighbors to the north (where I sit typing this) get past their economic troubles. Of course, either of those may take years to resolve... That's why it would be interesting to see how many of those 35K new members are from those countries. And if I had a wishlist, I'd forgo all the fru-fru for a cheaper program. I don't need a ride to the airport, or expedited clearance, or... or... Just permission to stay without leaving for visa reasons. Being in the 65+ age bracket, I'd probably go with a retirement visa (if they keep those available when I'm ready to decide) But I'd recommend the Elite Visa (or whatever they call it now) to anyone under 50 yo and not married to a local. Partly because I think running a coffee shop under an investment visa would cost a lot more than the Elite Visa, given the coffee shops every 50'. And don't even get me started on the cost of marrying a local if things go south.

Just out of curiosity, you guys taking insulin... How many use the brands specified on the OP linked HHS press release? Fiasp; Fiasp FlexTouch; Fiasp PenFill; NovoLog; NovoLog FlexPen; NovoLog PenFill Another question I have is whether the discounts will accrue to the patients in the form of lower copays, and how much will just be sucked up by the Medicare machine?

Just out of curiosity, under that business model how would they continue providing services once they hit their 20,000 (for example, or even 60,000) target and no longer have new money rolling in? I'd like to think they reserve enough money from each member's one time fees to fund the services they reasonably anticipate. But I suspect those reserve accounts become pretty tempting. As I've often heard from our accountants, "revenue growth hides a ton of sins" What happens when there's no revenue, let alone growth? I perfectly understand trying to dial in the pricing to maximize profits. But not the idea that they want to reach a membership goal and have no interest in getting bigger. Unless, of course, they move to a subscription model that has regular fees. They are always going to need fresh money rolling in.

Whack-A-Mole. Beach Edition.

So, shouldn't someone who's been trying to expose the malfeasance be venerated as a patriot?

No, he answered the question on the eve of a midterm. Not at all the same thing. "We have interfered (in U.S. elections), we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do."

You mean the safest election in US history? The election that people are going to jail for even contesting the results? The one where simply looking into shenanigans is cause to impeach and prosecute your opponent? You can't have it both ways...

More likely to drive up immigration (and tourist) numbers for local countries that are friendlier to longer stays. At some point, it's even cheaper to just fly out once a month for a couple of days. What's 12 months x 5 years x $200 for a long weekend in, say, Vietnam? Or Cambodia, or... or... I get $12,000. Cheaper than the TE, and you get an escape once a month.

Not to worry. Those millions and millions of illegals are going to drive up the wages when they get their work permits. And stifle demand for gub'ment subsidized healthcare. Isn't that the way it works?