MacGyver

They’re not coming back. We can be nostalgic for the past - but the economic opportunities of the future are going to look a lot different than those of the past. The biggest opportunities will either be hyper-local where distribution doesnt work at scale or they’ll be global.

Chrysler wouldn’t have made it out of the recession hadn’t it been for Fiat agreeing to purchase them.

What kind a lubricant are you using? And how much? Your guns seem to be running into these issues pretty regularly of late.

Probably at least the budget of the Marine Corps. Between that and the F-35 that got ditched last week, we’re into 10 figures.

Some of them were built using the newer codes. A lot of the forgotten coast has a lot of old construction - without the tie ins and back filled block. That stuff is gone.

The problem right now is getting there. Miles of I-10 and 98 are still closed to remove debris. Talking to colleagues and friends on the ground, it’s hard to even get to the affected area - and these are folks with air assets and boats There is going to be a time to help. Unfortunately that day isn’t going to be today.

He’ll be lucky to get half of that in this market unless he finds a sucker he’s willing to take advantage of.

Mexico Beach is going to need more than thoughts and prayers. This is pretty much a total loss event:

When it comes to the other, there’s often more assumption than reality. The boring regularity of the financial markets are rarely good for outrage.

The gates of hell are in Panama City somewhere.

Luckily Walton and Bay counties strengthened their building codes a lot after Erin and Opal in 1995. This was a solid hit - but by all reports it sure looks like it could have been a lot worse. Now east of there in the Big Bend area of the state where I've got some family - it's likely that you may see a lot of loss.

Y’all are conservatives. I thought this is what you wanted? Free markets and all that? While I don’t play one on TV or TGO, I am generally fiscally conservative, so here goes... You *should* bear some of the risk every time a hurricane comes through if you’re going to live there. In a free market, insurance reflects actual risk models. Hence your $8600/year homeowners policy with no flood coverage. In south Florida, the models are close to 100% that you’ll have a water incursion or flood event at least once in a 30 year mortgage. Water damage is really expensive to fix. If you’re a free market conservative, then you shouldn’t get too upset about paying premiums that actually reflect your area’s risk. The problem is of course that since 1968 when the NFIP was started, we’ve had a bunch of hurricanes where insurers have gone bankrupt in affected areas. That means no one gets reimbursed. Come forward 50 years, and the taxpayer subsidized version is the only option. There aren’t any private insurers in the space - because they can’t collect enough premium to address the risk. Some of us would love to see some sanity introduced into coastal planning through insurance that actually reflects risk. But, like so many other things in the empire, we’re probably too far gone for that.

It's a hard conversation that we need to have - but the private market has basically gotten out of the hurricane insurance business. While many homeowners policies will cover wind damage as a named peril (with some exceptions), I'm not aware of any that will cover flood damage resulting from a hurricane at this point. This the National Flood Insurance Program - federally backed. It would drastically change the coastline if you had to pay market rates for insurance in flood zones. You'd of course immediately lose any sense of affordability. The thought process is that this would affect home prices and as such the economies in coastal areas. It's a hard conversation - but I'm in favor of the government being less involved in picking winners and losers in any market. I don't get to make the rules, though.

And people wonder why subscriptions are down. If I want to read USA Today, I'll stay in a cheap hotel. Local reporting matters. And it costs money. I hope the Gannett's of the world all choke on the junk they're rebroadcasting from UP and Reuters.

The average credit union in the US is about $60M in managed assets. You could probably put together some type of tower with several participating - but no one wants to take that chance. The politics are going to get in the way of underwriting. Forget what you think about RKBA stuff - it's a more a matter of the stability needed for investment. No manufacturers are really doing much investment right now because they don't know what's coming down the pike politically. You'd probably be better off seeking some type of VC or private equity money.

Yep. And if you want real service - an independent bank or credit union is your best bet. They're really the only ones playing with their own money.

I generally just fly with a larger suitcase sized Pelican 1600 series when I'm taking guns. It's about as non-tactical of a color as you can get(yellow). I've never had a problem - or much concern. Make sure you've got appropriate insurance and don't worry much more about it.

It was a short little book. The average reader would have come out with time to spare if they had opted for just reading the book instead of subjecting themselves to seeing the movie.

I would argue that We Were Soldiers is probably the best movie about Vietnam that's ever been made.

Hey @willis68, some of our members might be looking for something a little lower priced this holiday season. Think you might carry some stuff by this maker:

You could cure him of wanting that GP-100 at the same time.

No, despite my sunny disposition, it has unfortunately affected my worldview for some years now

People really suck.

They’re looking for cheap 7.62x39 just like everyone else...

I think we’re probably all better off with less drama in our lives.