There ain't very many pre-1983 pennies in circulation because collectors and metal investors cull them. Those are worth nearly 3 cents each. Some call copper the poor man's silver. It will be interesting to see whether the zinc pennies will be culled as zinc goes above $1/lb. What would they make the new ones out of? plastic?

There ain't much on TV I care about except sports, weather and the occasional movie. The rest is crap.

Smart TV? for what? It's just more stuff that can break. I don't want some smart TV or cable box wigging out on me while the damn game is on.

  The desire of everyone in the US, and similar countries, to live MASSIVELY beyond their means is why America can't stop it.

So if we want to live a middle class life, we are living massively beyond our means? As opposed to what? living as neofeudal serfs?

The rich are rich because they know how to give people what they want, not because they are stealing anything.

Like hell they aren't.

Perhaps it doesn't get you "high" but it is highly addictive. It was once used to wean junkies off heroin. Nearly every user becomes an addict. And once addicted, they become tethered to a methadone clinic where they must go and jump through hoops to receive their dose.

Now comes reports that methadone kills. It'll be interesting to see whether the FDA does anything. They dragged their feet until 50,000 heart attacks and untold fatalities occurred with Vioxx. But they pulled PPA based Sudafed, which had been sold for nearly 4 decades, off the market due to the potential for strokes.

You can work in tech into your 50s but the odds are against it. Keeping your skills current is a constant battle that will eventually wear anyone down. Changing jobs gets harder. Changing careers is an undertaking. As a tech worker in my mid 50s, I see mostly younger tech workers around me. My boss prefers to hire them and has said so. And with the current labor climate, older tech workers have little job security. To those smug individuals who think their skills are so great they'll retire a tech worker, I say they have another thought coming.

Untold numbers of high paying jobs in the US disappeared as the US lost it's manufacturing base primarily because the leaders of US companies discovered they could vastly increase their profits by manufacturing their products in low wage countries.

The Apple facility only needs 50 highly specialized engineers and techs. Other than some of the admin, security, maintenance and other misc. personnel, that's pretty much all they need. It is unlikely many of the technical people will be found locally.

It is unrealistic to expect US unemployment/underemployment problems to be solved or even significantly mitigated building facilities like this. It is also unrealistic to expect all these displaced manufacturing workers to retrain to become technical workers or medical workers. Even if they did, there's only so many of those jobs to go around.

Typically they just issue new shares and dilute current shares ...

It's yet another reason stock options are frequently a soggy deal for the rank and file.

Threatening to sue has all the weight of someone threatening to beat you up over the internet.

Agreed. Actions speak louder than words. Just do it.

The quality of life is poor for many if not most of the elderly.

  Those protesters on Wall Street have a point, everyone gets hurt when the bank CEOs screw up, but those most responsible.

Herman Cain says it's the protester's faults if they don't have job. After all, this is 2011 and what the bankers did was in 2008.