Joel Gross's Blog

Romney published an Op Ed and says, “No one countenances cutting benefits for current or near retirees. But Social Security and Medicare benefits for future retirees should be means-tested — need-based, that is to say — and the starting age for entitlement payments should be linked to American life expectancy.”

This unfortunately has been the philosophy of those in power for the last 50 years… basically they want to subsidize benefits for themselves at the expense of our children and grandchildren.… read more “America Today”

We have a major scam in Washington state making ALL housing go far higher in prices. Most building projects are now required to do an “archeological survey”, which costs $10,000+ for ANY project that will touch the ground. This is basically a racist scam designed to transfer money from the rest of us to the politically powerful organized tribes.… read more “Archaelogical Survey Scam in Washington State”

EngineDIY sent me only part of the $200 engine order then wanted to charge me to send me the rest.

https://youtu.be/2J4aF0hRGhA?si=vyQNViOYRsusIgfE

Dentist:

I went to a dentist’s office I hadn’t been to before and had a bad experience. Most of my appointment was spent at the front desk confirming my insurance would work. The dental hygienist did a rushed job scraping my teeth and the dentist barely pulled open my lips to look at my teeth and said, “Everything’s fine!”… read more “Two Contrasting Experiences”

I want a simple farm shop where my farm guys and my kids and I can repair our equipment and store stuff. The nearest neighbor is well over a mile away. This is about the simplest type of building you can imagine outside of a shed or carport.

When I first started investigating this project, I was really enthusiastic about the Grant County handouts that allow people to do their own work.… read more “Grant County, WA Planning Department”

I recently had a product from a major manufacturer fail that cost around $500, and it caused around $10,000 of damages. I submitted a warranty claim to the company involved, and they refused to honor it and pay the $500. So I pressed harder and told them that under strict product liability they were liable for all of the $10,000 in damages.… read more “$10,000 Settlement After Product Failure”

Our farmers in Washington have to pay $17 per hour minimum wage, while competitors in other states pay only $7 per hour. And Mexican farmers only pay $17 per DAY. Plus Washington state farmers have to pay tons extra for all the environmental and climate and safety regulations.

We either need super steep tariffs to make sure everything is kept on an even playing field, or to abolish all of these nonsense regulations, or we will see all of our farmers go bankrupt and we won’t produce food here anymore.

The risk that artificial intelligence leads directly to the extinction of the human species is very high. Most scientists working on improving AI have pointed to a risk ranging from 10-50% that their work eventually will lead to our extinction. AI’s intelligence is increasing exponentially as we speak. Wikipedia.

Far more money is being spent on AI now than was spent on either the Manhattan Project or on the Space Race.… read more “Luddite”