Setting aside Bernie Sanders, don't you think that "from each according to his rich 1%-ness, to each according to his 99%-ness" thing we've got going on might make some people a little suspicious?

While contemplating on the truth that things don't always go your way, please also contemplate this: By the time you realize you need to call the police, it's already too late.

As a lone gunman, sure.

If everyone in a neighborhood believes that the swat team is immoral, and perpetrating evil, then they go from "having him surrounded" to being surrounded.

If I had a well that was suddenly flammable, you can bet your sweet ass I'd figure out how to separate the gas from the water, and use BOTH.
Hell, I'd use the gas from the water to power the pump, and the separator. And a generator, and maybe pipe it to my stove and water heater.

When life hands you lemons...

You can't have "to each according to his need" without "From each according to his ability."

You can't have "From each according to his ability" without "we're the government, and if you don't comply, we will force you."

You can't force me without might.

But you think it is right to force me, because you have the might.

Ergo, might-makes-right. QED.

Amtrack has lost millions trying to sell junk food to Americans in a captive audience situation. Government monopoly is not a good business model.

"I have decided to step down from my position so that I can spend more time with my mistress. "

Who the hell cites an affair for resigning?

And if we could airdrop full libraries with automated librarians who could teach the children how to read and write, in a language they have never seen or heard, into remote villages in all seven continents, that would be relevant.

Hate to break it to you, but when your nominal income is down 10% or more, your real income is even less, and your expenses have gone up, you have to evaluate your cost centers AND your profit centers, to see where you can cut.

Thanks for that. Tell us more about how you refuse raises and interest income because it's the Right Thing To Do(TM).

Now consider an iPhone app that uses the camera, gyroscope, and accelerometer, and the flash, to build a 3d scan of your ear.

Then consider a 3D printer that makes a custom case for each user based on the above scan, into which the standard hearing aid parts fit into.

Then consider another app that administers a comprehensive hearing test, and dumps the resulting hearing profile into the hearing aid.

Then let people know that their hearing aid will last them an entire year!!

You're back to $400.

They're a microphone, a speaker, a circuit board, a battery, and a case. Sometimes a radio. Add in a computer program (99 cents at the App Store) and your price is maybe $30. You could replace your $30 Hearing Helper twice a year for sixteen years for a thousand dollars. Or get the Hearing Helper Deluxe for $60 for once a year.

I hear they're coming out with the iListen for $240 that will last for four years, too! It comes in colors!!!11!

As soon as the market becomes aware of his product, some nice people from the government will contact him and let him know that he is selling an UNAPPROVED Medical Device (TM) and if he doesn't stop immediately that they guys with the badges and guns will come over to his house and MAKE him stop.

Truth!

One of our biggest problems is that the government has so many rules and regulations to enforce, that they have to pick and choose and delegate. The number of laws has risen, the number of inspectors has fallen, and the SEC is watching porn instead of addressing HFT.

Take your field of expertise. Think about what the government does with it, how poorly they understand it, how worthless, counterproductive, and contradictory they are, and how badly the agents address it. Now extrapolate that to every aspect of and every level of our regulatory culture.

We are paying for the healthcare of the entire world. You think that companies would go through 100 trials each of 100 drugs to find one that works, if the one drug's profits didn't pay for the ten thousand trials?