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Hong Kong seems to be the place where the society came as close as possible to the real free market system, money is created by private entities, there are competing currencies, government can't dilute the value and give preferential treatment to certain corporations, banks, etc.
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You obviousely don't read the HK newspapers. The big tycoons have the system in their pocket. They can even control over a good part of their mini parliament because corporate bodies have exclusive voting right for some of these 'functional seats'. Just because some players can do what they like and and play the system doesn't make a free market. That kind of free market is like a duel between a marine with big gun and a five year old.

For businesses outside the tycoons areas of interest there is indeed a good and competetive market, though. In the labour market there is not really much competition possible for the labour force. Take it or leave it. The companies are unionised, not the people. But I guess eventually the erosion of wealth in the lower and middle classes will eventually lead to the most amazing collapse of a housing market the world will have ever witnessed.

In my opinion markets will always work and do what they are supposed to do. But it can take a long while and will be a very volatile process when it finally kicks in. We just had a *small* taste of it.

I'm quite shocked to see that map! I drove from Missouri to the Rockie Mountains NP (through Kansas), then on to Yellow Stone and back through Nebraska and had never lost signal with my prepaid T-Mobile. In the West coverage was usually provided by a roaming partner but at no extra cost.

I would have thought that AT&T should have coverage there...

I'm not saying Walmart is all bad. Only that there are better places on the planet. Of course they have many A-grade items, and they probably sell them cheaper than Hyvee. But there are items that you can't get at Walmart. Sometimes it also depends on taste. Walmart replaced most of there chocolate offerings by Hershy products. I think hershey milk chocolate bars taste like vomit (I actually do think so). Perhaps they use a touch sour cream, I don't know. I guess that is an aquired taste.

But if you really want and indicator to compare quality then look at the fresh vegetables. The worst example I remember are the green bell peppers. Outstandingly expensive and often feel like they are already rotten. But you really have to buy from teh farmers market or leave the US to get a much better quality I have to admit. The stuff at Hyvee was water sprayed at all times. That way it feels fresh even though I consider some of the stuff I bought as rotten on the shelf. But you'll only notice at home...

My point is that Walmart is probably the cheapest in the US, but for Groceries you should know that it is possible to be better. But there is no competition left in the US so it won't happen. The other supermarket play in a slightly different league. At least in the UK they have ASDA(=Walmart) and Tesco, that keeps somewhat of a balance.

Enjoy your ready dinners!

Cheaper than other US stores. Compare their prices to some other developed economies. And also the price/quality ratio. Walmart was successful in the UK, but their supermarkets skim the people even more than happens in the US. In another major EU market Walmart couldn't compete against the established competitors and gave up.

I have lived in the US for a while. For groceries I couldn't say that Walmart is cheap.

Know what you mean. I began using 'Read It Later' to outsource those tabs. It's like temporary bookmarks. Can also cache those pages for offline reading, hence it can be quite equivalent to open tabs.

In a german newsprogram the company said that it obviousely isn't really intended as an investment but rather as a cool gift. And most importantly as an advertisement for their real business of selling you larger bars via their website. In the interview they clearly stated that 250g is the minimum for a somewhat cost efficient investment.

And as someone else already stated here, a 30% markup is not unusual for tiny bars. The spot price is for the bulk metal, in the european market that would be 400oz bars, in the US 100oz. You pay for having the small bars made. And if you sell gold that isn't stored in an accredited vault you'll have to have it assayed again before you can sell it for spot price (probably molten down completely to make sure there's no fake core).

I saw an interview somewhere of an English concorde pilot and he talked about his flight with a french test pilot who told thim 'let me show you what condorde can do'. And he did a 707 style barrel roll.

Must be the coolest thing to do with a passenger plane. The only entertainment we passengers get ais the occasional semi-violent turbulence, but they never last long. Perhaps when they occasionally shuttle an empty 747 at night a crazy pilot will barrel roll the beast without anyone ever finding out :)