With gold prices back in the $1,300-$1,400/oz range it is sometimes difficult explaining to non-gold bugs why owning physical gold is still a good long term strategy. Some define buying gold as ‘an investment’, and others as ‘a hedge against inflation’. I tend to look at it as an insurance policy against hyper-inflation or just simply as sound honest money. However, when describing a strategy of accumulating money (in gold form) in some far-away vault, only to be used in some end-of-the-world scenario, it goes without saying that an image of a miserly old man replaces my likeness in the eyes of my conversation partner. Few people stuff dollar bills in their mattress any more, but hoarding of gold and silver when these were de-facto money was not unusual. Commodity money, which tends to increase in purchasing power over time, is predisposed to this ‘problem’. When you ‘love money’ so much that you hold on to too much of it or for too long a time, then you are hoarding. 

Acura has what you might call a Lincoln Problem.

If GM’s board had simply hired away the entire management team at Hyundai back in ’08 – and fired everyone at the Renaissance Center in Detroit – it would saved taxpayers a lot of money.

Minivans – traditional minivans – are becoming scarce. GM and Ford don’t even make them anymore. That leaves Chrysler (Town & County – and its lower-rent Dodge sibling, the Caravan – which is also re-sold by VW as the Routan), the Honda Odyssey, Toyota’s Sienna – and the Nissan Quest, subject of this write-up.

Cue ’80s-era Queen… another one bites the dust. 

The emergence of money and its importance in enabling trade between people has been well researched and documented in the literature of the Austrian School of economics  – Theory of Money and Credit by Ludwig von Mises and Man, Economy and State by Murray N. Rothbard being prime examples. The contribution of the Austrian greats to the understanding of money and its origin made clear exactly what money is (e.g. the most marketable commodity), the different types of media that are employed in exchange between people (e.g. commodity money, credit money, fiat money and money substitutes) and a theoretical explanation for their origin (the Regression Theorem). The Austrian School has also given arguably the most convincing analysis of the relationship between the money type in use, the manner by which it is controlled and the business cycle – emphasizing the importance of sound money. But except for a few sparse outliers, what the Austrian School has yet to do is fully recognize Bitcoin as a valid scholarly and academic topic. With this article, I hope to contribute to its recognition.

Do-it-yourself repair work can save you time and money – in addition to giving you a lot of satisfaction. But doing it wrong can end up costing you more in time and money than you would have spent farming the work out to a professional mechanic – and sour you on the idea of ever getting under the hood yourself again.

Cities across the country are experiencing more difficulty making ends meet. Consider Vallejo, CA, Detroit, MI, and Harrisburg, PA. Some people believe this difficulty is because of rising prices. Others say it is due to declining revenues. Perhaps there is another explanation — more government regulation.

The last couple of months proved a very exciting time for bitcoin and its new owners, with values increasing from $30 to $260 within a month only to come crashing down in days. It went from virtual anonymity to virtual ubiquity and back again - the only constant being that it’s virtual. The dust has now settled and the talking heads have changed topic, and bitcoin is slowly regaining strength. But does this mean we can finally, in a quiet and rational way, contemplate what this bitcoin really is and where it has room to fit into our lives? The answer to that is no, because the concept of bitcoin is so strange, unintuitive and foreign, no matter when you discuss it and with whom, it will lead to very divisive arguments. So I say now is as good a time as any to dive in and discuss it.

The Kia Rio I just spent a week driving  around is an extremely fuel-efficient little car – one of the very best in its segment, actually. And not just on paper, either. Out in the real world, in real-world driving, it lives up to its EPA billing: 30 city, 40 highway. I averaged 32.2 according to the car’s computer. But you’d never know it if you went by the gas gauge – which drops  from “F” to a quarter-down almost as quickly as the gas gauge in my ’76 Trans Am – and it gets about 12 MPG. Of course, my Trans-Am has a 21 gallon tank – so its rate of consumption is appalling. The Kia’s isn’t – but seems like it is – because it only has a 11.3 gallon tank.

The obvious often isn’t until someone makes it so.

If you’re new to bikes, you may not be hip to some of the routine checks – and adjustments – that are important to do (and keep track of).

If  “you didn’t build that” – then you might be interested in driving this: The 2013 Infiniti Q56.

I’ll probably get in trouble. After all, I write new car reviews. Advising people not to buy new cars is not what you’d probably expect. But, here’s the fulsome scurvy truth: I – and every car journalist I know – drive used. Because we know. And now, I’m gonna spill the beans, give you the Straight Dope – so that you’ll know, too. Here goes.

Function matters – but form does, too. Especially when you’ve got a choice.