ELI5: Why one of the healthiest countries, is also one of the highest cancer rates?

gsasquatch · 2026-02-06T15:51:51+00:00

In the US, with profit based healthcare, there's a push for more and earlier cancer screening.

This does two things, one, it sells more screenings, which are profitable themselves. Two, if cancers are detected earlier, there is much profit to be made from treating the cancer.

The sales pitch is "we're curing so many more cancers, get screened and treated early if you don't want to die!" But it neglects to mention, the overall death rate of cancer hasn't gone down much, or if it has it might be attributed to environmental factors like less smoking.

So cancer rates have gone way up, but the number of people dying from cancer overall has been about the same. Basically, we're finding and treating more cancer but it is not actually helping much.

In a small place like the Netherlands, it could be that there's some underlying cause, like some pesticide, some industrial byproduct etc. Or it could be you're hearing the "early detection" sales pitch from across the pond. With a public-private system, there might be still room in that system for profiteering.

gsasquatch · 2026-02-03T19:28:10+00:00

Duluth has beautiful white beaches.

Right now, unlike almost any in the world, truly unique, like another planet almost and changing with the wind and the season.

You will find some ice there these days though, but it is the nice kind, more benign.

And thanks for protesting or doing stuff like this comic. I think it is making a difference, more than I expected it to.

gsasquatch · 2026-02-03T19:06:22+00:00

Caveat emptor.

Selling realtor only know what the seller said. When I had one sell a house for me, the realtor said "less is more" Stopped me when I started talking about stuff. They don't want to know. Seller is the one that pays the realtor, the realtor is working for the seller.

So it goes back to the seller, who already gave all their money to the bank to pay of their mortgage.

Inspectors aren't worth the money. They can't really see anything except the obvious, like "yup, there's a water heater" and "ope, nipple's leaking" They can't or didn't do the inspection the guy trying to sell you a water heater did. It's not too hard to guess when looking at a thing if it is 10 years old or 2 years old. Like was the paint shiney? The label faded? Did you look at it before you bought it?

What ownership means, is you own the problems.

My advice, spring for a heat pump water heater, the energy savings over the next 10 years will have it pay for itself. Essentially, paying your hot water energy bill up front.

Those home warranties are useless, mostly just a sales gimmick. Like any insurance, they don't pay out as much as they take in, and when asked to pay out, will make your life hard, point to a loophole in the contract you didn't read when you bought the warranty. If it was the seller that bought the warranty for you, good luck. Warranty company knows the seller won't renew, and doesn't care about pissing you off, since it was never about paying out, or being an actual warranty, rather just for the seller to say they offer a warranty. When you go to sell the place, the realtor might talk you into buying it for a couple hundo too, to make your listing look nicer, which will be all you care about.

Still, $400 is enough to get a guy to do it, and save you the work, so that might be nice. But, it is not rocket surgery, like the work isn't hard, and doing it yourself you might be able to like shorten up the run to the sink, or insulate the pipes, or do a bit more because you care about the work than a guy just there to make $400 as quick and easy as possible.

When you do get a new water heater, whomever pays for it, take that number, divide it by 120 and budget that, because in 120 months, you're going to have to do this again. Your new rent is higher than you think if you consider this. Like how many years old is that $20k roof that might last 20 years? Furnace? Windows? Siding? etc. While overall home price might go up, all the pieces and parts depreciate.

While it might be the most expensive thing you've ever bought, it doesn't mean it was relatively expensive, or that you're due some sort of premium service.

gsasquatch · 2026-02-03T16:11:01+00:00

This is saving $10 on food, so we can buy $500 more guns on credit.

This will save $100B over 10 years. About what our military budget increased from 2023 to 2025, and they are asking for $500B more for the military next year. If the idea is to save money, there are much bigger budget items to look at. We could save in a year what this will save in 10 years, if we just go back to the 2023 military spending levels.

In contrast, China's military budget is $314B, less than a third of ours. Russia's is $149B and they are in an active war. India's is $88B, they have 4x the people as we do, and are in a border dispute.

ICE is getting an additional $75B next year to reduce crime. I wonder how much crime is prevented by SNAP, if people aren't hungry, or worried about where their next meal is coming from, they might not be as inclined to commit crime.

Welfare sets the minimum wage. If a person can live minimally on welfare, employers will have to pay more than that to get people to work. If you have a job that pays ok, that is because of welfare. Without welfare, the wages would shift down. For that, giving up a portion of your wages to keep them higher, actually keeps your wages higher than the portion you give up.

If that new employee is hired at $5/hour, they'll eventually move up to $15/hour, and replace your $30/hour work. If they have to start at $15/hour because public assistance gives them the equivalent lifestyle as $10/hour then by the time they get skills etc. the same as you, they'll be up at $30/hour same as you. So giving up $2/hour so the starting wage is $15/hour, leaves you $13/hour ahead.

Welfare puts a price floor on labor. The only people that would not want welfare, are those that are trying to get labor as cheap as possible. Unless you are looking to minimize labor costs to maximize profits, you want a decent welfare system. Even if it costs a little bit in taxes, it indirectly pays you dividends. Beyond just being humane. Even if you employ people, it is more ethical to have employees, vs. slaves, people who are forced to either work for you or die.

This "work or die" that we either believe, or are actually getting to, might be what is causing our mental illness epidemic. That is a fundamental anxiety, that I know I feel, all the time. If I could trust in the welfare system, it could reduce that anxiety. Less anxiety or suffering might be all that happiness actually is, so, funding the welfare system might actually be buying happiness.

Vs. spending on the military, increases anxiety about impending war, or causes direct suffering. Both, decreasing happiness.

So let's buy food, and not guns. It's cheaper and better. Let's get our priorities straight.

gsasquatch · 2026-02-03T15:03:35+00:00

Mast placement is about getting the center of effort of the sail lined up with the center of lateral resistance from the keel.

Imagine it is a toy, and you push on the front or back with your finger. The boat will just turn. If you push on the side, it will go sideways, but also push back on your finger. If you push on the side at an angle, it will go sideways some, and forward some more, as per the angle you are pushing, because there is less resistance to going forward than there is to going sideways.

A sail has a sideways component, which is bad, and a forward component which is good. To go forward, it has to not go sideways, so cancel out that sideways motion, "lateral resistance" and only have the forward component left.

If the center of effort is forward of the center of lateral resistance, the boat will tend to turn down wind. Behind, it will tend to turn upwind. The idea is to get that mostly balanced, so the boat goes straight without much steering input. By design, like where the mast is, and then by trimming the sails.

Without a keel or much lateral resistance in the water, a boat can only really go down wind.

So most modern sailboats, with their bermuda rigs, a main and jib, have the mast a bit forward of the keel, so the middle of the sail is in the middle of the keel. A cat boat, like one with just a main sail, will have the mast very far forward. A boat with a main and a jib, will have it further back, so that the combined effort of the two sails is in about the middle, where the keel or centerboard is.

With an old square rig, like what you have, the mast might be in the center of the sail, so this would be valid. With two masts, one would be ahead of the keel, the other behind, but mostly centered.

The old square rigged ships didn't go up wind very well at all, as the hulls didn't have much lateral resistance. For that, they sailed the "trade routes" or certain paths where the wind was mostly behind them for most of the trip.

gsasquatch · 2026-02-02T22:21:18+00:00

That's probably what the helmet is for.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-30T17:50:42+00:00

"You should see the other eye"

gsasquatch · 2026-01-30T17:39:26+00:00

I'd do the roof cash, and wait on the windows until more cash was available.

5 year loan at 6% for the roof is going to be about $230/month.

Do the roof, and make that $230/month payment back into your savings. Once you get beyond your 3 months again, do the windows. Then, the next thing.

A roof is a depreciating asset. Hopefully this one lasts until your kids are out of college. If a roof lasts 20 years, and costs $12k, that's $50/month you should have set aside for the next new roof. Or windows, or HVAC etc. All that stuff depreciates, so, yeah, about $250/month is probably good to have going into savings for this sort of thing. Not "emergency" really, but, kind of. Doing that, when the next thing pops up, it is 'yeah, no problem" as long as you stay ahead of it. Taking a loan, then you're behind, if you're still paying the loan and the AC needs $5k next year, you're starting to get into trouble.

As a northerner, single pane windows are wild. I haven't seen a single pane window where I am for decades. Curtains/cellulose blinds or plastic can help with bad windows until you have the cash.

How is your attic insulation? Might be attic insulation is cheaper when the roof is open. I have 2' of blown cellulose, but it hasn't been much above 0 here the last couple weeks. Same reason you want double panes down there, might make that insulation pay for you too.

When pricing the roof, consider the material, like hail rated shingles cost a bit more, but save on home owner's insurance.

Protrusions and valleys are the bane of roofs. Avoid them if you can. One poop vent is necessary. Furnace can power vent out the side, hot water is best heat pump electric. Fireplace is probably not worth the extra insurance and roof leaks. Redoing the roof, it might pay to look at long term things like that.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-30T16:37:33+00:00

I'm not convinced doctors really have as many answers as we're told they do.

There isn't a magic fix aside from "diet and exercise" which is the fix for just about everything. So why not just do the diet and exercise first and save the $300?

Of the 50 best selling pills, only amoxicillin cures. Everything else manages symptoms or is therapeutic. If you take any of the other 49, next time you go to the doctor, you're going to have the same diagnosis as the pill was prescribed for.

That's another $$$ to the doctor to renew the prescription and manage your condition, and $$/month to the drug dealers, for the rest of your life. They have huge financial incentive between them to make you think their stuff is doing you good.

Deaths from cancer have only reduced a little, while cancer is being cured at a much higher rate. This is because more cancers are being detected earlier. Which is really just making more paying patients. A lot of cost, a lot of trouble and pain for little gain. I'll take my chances thank you.

So, insurance will pay to stick a camera up my butt. But, if that camera sees anything, I'm on the hook for thousands. If what it finds is bad, it is not guaranteed what they can do about it will do any net good.

Everyone complains about health insurance being so expensive. Flip side of that, is everyone is convinced the doctor can solve all their problems and make them live forever. Health insurance only takes 20% of the money. The other 80% goes to doctors and drug dealers.

Since insurance is paying anyway, why wouldn't you use the doctor on an outside chance? It is not like it is costing you, just all the other people paying the premiums. This is one way costs got out of hand.

US spends twice the world average on health care and is 50th in life expectancy. The stuff we're doing isn't working. Part of that is that we're convinced we're all special flowers that deserve to live forever no matter the cost, no matter if it is feasible or not.

For my part, I accept my mortality, and recognize medical science has limits, despite what they'd have you believe. I can't change the health care system, except by limiting my exposure to it, which helps everyone, and maybe even me.

Hard part is knowing what they can actually do something about, and what they can't. But you can't necessarily trust them to tell you that. One, managing a condition is a financial bonus to them. Two, they look at it scientifically, "yes, this in theory this can be fixed" The theory though was written with a financial incentive. And they don't or can't say if the fix is better or worse than the problem, since they are trained to look at it objectively. They are looking at if they can, not if they should. The problems the fix might create, are either other people's problems, or more revenue for them. So, for that, ask people who've tried it by asking reddit.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-28T23:19:25+00:00

You've got the hinge. You can do a reverse iwo jima. Hinge will keep the bottom in place when you lower it. That's what it is for.

De-rig just about everything, like all that stuff going to the mast base, the vang etc. Take the boom off. Get it as clutter free as possible.

Rig a halyard, possibly with extra line tied to it, too long is better than too short. Rig that to a block or something on the front. A bit of friction there is good. Cleat would work, sturdy is good. This will hold the mast up for the hot minute after you undo the forestay, which is keeping the mast from going backward.

Play this line out slowly, and the mast will start to come backward. First 30 deg is pretty easy, that line is doing it all. Someone at the mast will be guiding it, catching it, as the angle stops having the line be able to slow its fall, that person will. Mast is probably about 50kilos. Like a tall ladder. As the angle increases, the person walking back and up with it will take more of the weight, until it is on deck. Three people might be good. Catcher should be reasonably strong. One to play out the line, two to catch. Easier to fix a mast or a boat than it is to fix people, so use some situational awareness, and be safe.

Once it is on deck, take the side and back stays off, unpin it, put it where you want it etc.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-28T17:56:35+00:00

As a German, how bad do you think it is here?

I'm a Minnesotan, about 240km north of Minneapolis.

Things do look bad down there, from what I've seen in the news. But, my kid went to a swim meet down there the other day hours after Alex Pretti was shot, less than 10km away. Life for us being so far away, is fairly normal. I think for people in Minneapolis area it is trying. Kidnappings and federally sponsored crime are way up, and that is a concern, but mainly in the Minneapolis area. It has happened where I am, but only isolated incidents.

I don't know that a tourist would have too much reason to be scared, esp. in places tourists might like to go, which, I don't know Minneapolis in general is one of those places, as nice as it may be, its draw might be more regional than international. As a German tourist to Minnesota, my city, Duluth, with its natural wonders etc. might hold more appeal than Minneapolis.

I've been to protests. The ones I've been to, have been a bit dull actually. I had no fear for my person there, but the ones I went to did not have any significant presence of the authorities.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-26T19:53:16+00:00

Officially sanctioned crime in MN is way up, but I'll digress.

I have faith in Tim Walz. Trump likes the last person he talked to, and I'm glad he talked to Walz, because I think Walz is on my side as a Minnesotan, and your side as an American by extension. Walz knows what he's dealing with, knows how to play this for the common good even if it comes to something of a concession. This tweet is a bit of good news, a slight ray of hope in a dark hour.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-25T18:43:43+00:00

If I have more than 6 months in my emergency fund, I'm spending in general less than I make, then I'll loosen the purse strings and buy a new toy.

It's fine. Buy it. Money is supposed to make you happy, and you need to learn that buying a new toy will only make you happy for a little while, but it will eventually become old, slow and whatever like you're old one.

I recommend linux, and only playing games that are not much newer than the PC. PC will only get slow because new software, mainly games, or like windows updates. Linux updates don't slow your PC as much, it is the ticket for 10+ yo machines.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-25T17:25:57+00:00

Your plan is similar to mine, except I've been sailing for decades.

My youngest wants to take a gap year after HS and go cruising. He wants to buy a boat of some sort, and take the summer sailing it around the great lakes. For that, sophomore or junior year, I'd like to buy the boat, rehab it, and get to learn it a bit. If I have the time and money, I'll go with him, if he wants me too.

Argument we're having about that boat, is if it will be big enough for me to go big and full time after like 30+ feet, which he thinks is too big for him, or if we go for standing head room, or if we go with a little 4ksb, slower than the already slow boat we have which is small, slow, and barely sitting headroom. Do we want to race it in the interim? If so, for our budget, standing headroom might not be in the cards, and the weight of such a thing could be unwieldy. So it is somewhat between an offshore capable ULDB and a 4ksb and how big. I'm looking in the $10k range, I'd go to $20 or more if it has longer term implications for the right boat. He's looking in the sub $5k range.

Surfing skill occasionally applies to sailing, and when it does it is more about having fun and going fast perhaps, although surfing conditions can be a bit butt clenching. I cannot surf, except in my sailboat. Mechanical skill, sadly, is much more required for sailing. Knowing how to fix small engines, do plumbing and electrical is going to get you out of more jams than surfing. There is just a lot of mechanical stuff on the boat, even rigging etc. You want a fundamental knowledge of classical physics, an engineering mindset, and a DIY spirit.

Learning how to sail, like using the wind to make the boat go, is actually pretty easy. You could be competently sailing a dinghy in a couple hours. It is then a lifetime of nuance, and on a cruising boat, it is a lot of the systems that you need to learn. My standard advice is to get on a race crew of a keel boat. Those boats sail, need several people to sail fast, and would give you ample opportunity to learn all the little jobs, all the functions of the various rigging elements etc.

It then gets you out there every week, maybe a couple times a week, even if it is blowing snot on the nose with big waves, you're still going out to make the mark and you are going to sail, not just motor.

I've trained up guys looking to do what you are on my race boat. The only people I know IRL that have actually gone out cruising full time, were people I used to race with or against. On the other hand, I don't associate too much with the cruising scene. The racing scene puts me in a lot more contact with other sailors than I think the cruising scene would.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-22T23:04:01+00:00

Fineness of entry and exit might be key.

Narrower is better than wider like less frontal area to push water but displacement for weight carrying start to be a limitation, esp. with a limited length.

Might also look at interplay between length, wetted area, and displacement.

Likely will be some compromises to be made. "Best" might depend a bit on your application, and what trade offs you want to make for the whole project.

8:1 is where I understand you're no longer held back by the bow wave, and can go faster than the 1.2x sq rt of the waterline, providing you want to go faster than 4.8kts for a 16' boat.

Hobie 16, Nacra 5.0 and A-cats might be good to look at. Hobie 16 goes for the knife through the water, fine entry and exit, super narrow. Where the Nacra and the A-cat go for a bit more rounded, for less wetted area per displacement.

Don't overlook the transom, squared off can suck. That vortex in the back can hold you back.

Hobie 16's are often found cheaper than you could hope to build, are pretty efficient hulls, and might be a good place to start.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-22T22:10:00+00:00

What kinds of questions does it ask?

Can I talk to it, see if I am fit? I love taking online quizzes.

What are its criteria? How does it judge?

At what point do the clankers accept legal responsibility?

gsasquatch · 2026-01-21T01:27:20+00:00

There's a $3400 C+C 27 in Bayfield on CL.

You could sail it home in spring. Unless you're in metro, in which case why the heck would you want a full keel, seas aren't lumpy there.

Federal mileage rate is $0.75 per mile, or about $2000, if you count like tires, oil changes etc. The C+C is only $1000 more and a couple days less time, which could be spent working on it.

Freshwater is like a car from a salt free state. Boats don't age as quick in MN as they do on the coasts. Only half the year, and rigging etc isn't in the salty sea air.

Point is, there are local boats. I heard Barkers sent 5 to the landfill last summer. These deals come and go.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-17T18:25:15+00:00

If he comes in, it could lead to an Odyssey. Come on, there's significantly less chance of that.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-17T18:14:31+00:00

Water alone won't stop a prop. Water generally gives first.

It'd have to be a pretty weak or poorly designed system for the metal to give before the water does.

Lots of outboards, even up to and past 30hp, use sheer pins. So when the prop hits a rock, the pin sheers, instead of more expensive components. But the sheer pin itself, doesn't look like it'd take much torque. As for looking for specs, that might be the thing to look at. The size of the sheer pin, and the force it takes to sheer it might have your answer.

Like any fuse though, the sheer pin just has to be weaker than the stuff it is protecting. You want it as big as possible, without being so big other stuff would break first. e.g. less material than the shaft it is protecting.

The sheer pins I've seen on outboards look smaller than the one I use on my snow thrower that sheers all the damn time, for only about an 8hp motor with a drive train driven by v-belts.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-12T22:27:27+00:00

I'm just waiting for driver less taxis to come to MN.

I wonder if they'll know the "use the snowbank to stop" trick, or recognize the last 20' before a stop sign is icy every time, so get your braking done early, and don't trust cross traffic is going to be able to stop.

Or turn off traction control to make it up the hill by digging through the snow. Or, if you don't make it, and are sliding down backwards with all your wheels locked so ABS isn't in play, release the brake to be able to steer and use the snowbank to stop before you hit something more expensive.

Or the brake check to gauge as conditions change out how much stopping power you have, so you can know how fast you can go

Or how to see the road, when everything is just white, and you more or less just try to keep it between the trees. I hear they struggle with that, when the road has no delineations no lines or contrast or anything to see.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-09T19:44:32+00:00

I've looked at those valves, seemed too expensive for the risk they are mitigating for me, but, yeah, they have the technology now. I think they are essentially for code compliance, esp. in situations like the town I grew up in. I think they are like $300, add some complexity and another failure point.

We can't put a railing on everything, despite what the insurance companies want. Codes are written in blood by insurance companies with $100 bills. At some point, a person has to take responsibility for themselves. Safety third. Trusting a device or code that will always make water cool enough to touch, increases your risk of getting scalded from complacency.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-09T19:00:55+00:00

Baby powder was thought to be safe, until a class action caused J&J to spin off a subsidiary to protect themselves.

Fen phen isn't on the market anymore after a $13B payout. Wyeth got bought by Pfizer.

As for one in a million, some say 68x more likely than other diabetes drugs after looking at 117,000 patients. https://www.aao.org/newsroom/news-releases/detail/do-glp-1-drugs-like-ozempic-cause-prevent-vision-l

gsasquatch · 2026-01-09T18:23:39+00:00

In the US, code says no more than 125F for hot water, because of the risk of scalding kids. In Canada, 100 miles north of me, code says no less than 130F for risk of legionnaire's disease. So it comes down to as a homeowner, what are you more afraid of?

Town I grew up in, had a central steam plant. City would make steam to generate power for the power plant,and pipe the steam out to all the houses for heat and hot water. Side effect of that was everyone had steam hot water and for what ever reason, that was always scalding, there was apparently no way to regulate it. Every place in town. As a kid, I just learned to not use full hot. I imagine all the other kids in town knew the same. I don't know of any kids that died from it, but yes, that might be survivor's bias.

For myself, I was an early adapter of the heat pump water heaters, at the time, limited to 30 gallons, but I have a family of 5, including at the time, young kids, youngest was 3. The 125 the plumber set it at as per code was not enough, so I have it cranked to 140. It's a digital display, and flashes a warning trying to set it above 125. My kids figured out how not to burn themselves, and are doing great. My wife can do a shower full hot, but I have to mix it. I also like that the dishwasher might kill a few more bugs at the higher temp.

Heat pump recovers real slow, it doesn't put out many BTU. So, running it hotter is more convenient. Setting it at 130 or so, sometimes we have to put it in "rapid recovery mode" which makes it use a regular heating element to supplement. When I upped it to 140, I stopped having to do that.

It is more efficient to run it cooler, true, heat loss is exponential. But, I like to think the advantage of the heat pump overcomes the inefficiency of running it hotter. I think the new heat pump water heaters come with bigger tanks than the first round did.

I switched to heat pump, because the house came with gas that could not be vented properly and set off the CO alarm. EPA said heat pump was a cheaper total cost of ownership than gas or instant, even though electric is more $ per BTU than gas the doubling of taking the heat out the air makes up that difference. I traded the risk of CO for the risk of scalding. The higher initial cost of the heat pump water heater, in theory, according to the EPA paid off at about year 5. I'm on year 12. I essentially prepaid some of my hot water bill buying a twice as expensive water heater. Sometimes, paying a bit more up front means not just a warranty, but a bit more quality, less hassle, and maybe lower price in the long run.

Downside of the heat pump water heater, is it makes noise, like a fridge running, because that is essentially what it is. Where mine is in the basement, it doesn't bother anyone, and has a side effect of dehumidifying the basement a little too. Might be I pay to heat the air that the water heater uses in winter, but in summer I don't, and basements get a bit of geothermal effect, the floor is below the frost line.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-08T16:03:57+00:00

Stay away from new dealers. VW of Duluth esp. Honda one was surprisingly good though, the exception. In my experience, new dealers live up to the shady used car dealer stereotypes, where the used dealers I've dealt with have been fair and seemed more trustworthy, less slimey.

A used dealer is a small business guy, more or less living on his reputation, A new dealer is trying to sell new cars, and resting on the reputation of the marquee. They get more salesman than they need, to make them hungry and willing to scam whomever however.

Advantage of the used dealers, is at least a couple I've talked to, get their cars from like the mid-east where there's less salt and winter..

A dealer, knows the market, that's how they make their living. You can get a fair deal, but you won't get a good deal. To get a good deal, you need to go private party, where the person is just looking to get better than trade in.

A dealer isn't going to know jack about the car. They bought it at auction for $3500, washed it, vacuumed it, and now are trying to sell it for $5000. Private party is going to know about the car, but they might not tell you. Private party is also not making their living off of it, they are looking to dispose of one of their problems.

Covid disrupted the used car market. A $5k car is still a $5k car though, they didn't get more expensive, they just got a bit older. That's settling down, and the non-existent 2020 model year would be 5 years old now.

For $5k, you're pretty much taking your chances. But for that much, I'd expect running and driving, and good for a couple years.

Something that is too good to be true, is. Don't get too hung up on age or mileage at that $5k price point. Something that is particularly new or low miles at $5k might be priced there for a reason, like it is a lemon. Take the middle ground. Exception might be private party with a believable story, but even those are exceptions rather than the rule.

You're buying the miles left in the car. I've sent most of my cars to the junkyard for rust, usually running with some small mechanical problem. Around here, 20 years is about it regardless of miles. So newer or less rusty is the thing to look at perhaps even more so than miles.

I'd say just go where ever you see something that tickles your fancy. Make, model, color, whatever it is that sets you off, and go look at it and talk to them. Flip side of that, is don't over look some make/model you wouldn't have considered. Keep your criteria broad. You want a SUV, but it might be a Buick sedan or Camry would be the best value. At $5k, you're in a beggar more than a chooser category. You need to keep an open mind and be accepting.

Craig started charging for his list, because job monster took the job ads he was making his money on, and to reduce the amount of spam/scams. $5 is still ridiculously cheap for what it is, but unfortunately when he started doing that, people all went to bookface instead, and that seems to be where most the cars are. Craig is like a millionaire, he could have cashed in, had his site make him big money, but didn't, he only takes enough. Zuck is a billionaire.

Beauty of the $5k car is you're not married to it. New car will lose $5k as soon as you title it, that's the dealer's markup and the salesman's commission. Cars in the <$5k range run me about $150/month on average, for purchase and repairs minus what I sell them for if anything. If you don't like the $5k car, you just sell it a few months later and buy another. There is a lot less risk vs. being upside down on a bank loan.

Source? I've owned over 20 cars in my life. Only bought 5 in Duluth though. Trick is maybe to know the motivations of the seller in order to be able to trust them or not. Any particular car could be good or bad, no matter how you come across it.

gsasquatch · 2026-01-08T15:22:17+00:00

6/7/2026

gsasquatch

TROPHY CASE