Who else is going to fix the roads? The county and state aren't going to, they don't own it. We seal the asphalt every 5-8 years and repave every 15-20 (I've only lived her 10 years, so those are very rough guesses).

And that $50k deposit made 9 years ago? That could have been nearly $300k in 2036.

"A fool and his money..."

I don't have any particular problem with a modest (a few 10s of thousands) deposit on a ~3 year timeline that's reasonably confident. But six figures on a 100% speculative consumer good (ie not even remotely an investment)? Oof, no thanks.

Building a wall of known size takes X bricks, Y windows, etc. Contractor 1 might have more markup or estimate different hours to complete the job vs contractor 2 but the parameters of the job are relatively fixed.

The dentist is seeing the same mouth (wall) and telling you there is vastly different numbers of cavities (bricks/windows). And not off by a small margin, but orders of magnitude.

The "problem" with China is they have a massive economy built on building to a price, no matter how low the price may be. They're perfectly capable of creating high-end electronics like iPhones and disposable crap that sells for pennies on Amazon or Ali.

There doesn't seem to be the same cohesive brand-building/reputation-buidling effort that we saw with Japanese and Korean companies in the 80s-00s+. Granted, Amazon/Ali didn't exist, and the market for "$1 junk" wasn't the same. No easy answers (if it's even a thing that needs solved).

This particularly brand (BTLOS) will come up on searches similar to "good Chinese carbon wheel brands" with reviews on FB, Reddit, etc.

And the cycling industry has had Chinese brands making inroads for a decade or more. So, Winspace, BTLOS, and a few others have come to be known entities (some do sell through AliExpress, some direct from their own site). And there's a niche group of product testers on YT or similar that review these things.

I assume there are analogous items in other hobbies, but I can't speak to any specific examples/brands.

None of that is a knock against Chinese goods. I bought a set of Chinese carbon bicycle wheels last year and they're great. But, I went straight to the source and didn't take chances with AliExpress or Amazon.

Even if the House and Senate flip, majorities will be slim enough to prevent anything major. Certainly unlikely we get any impeachment trials in the Senate, though I'd love to see Hegseth get tossed out.

In the US, even with a warning, you'd get regular home fires as people hooked one of these panels into every available outlet just because they can. I wish I were joking.

https://members.modernvespa.net/brian_herwick_-_coolass/uplo...