Politics

[Red Leg]

Trump to speak with Putin at 10:00.
He needs to quit effing around with that guy, and tell Vlad he saved a few of the MOP's for the Kremlin.

I am not so sure. We just cut off all US supplied Ukrainian air and missile defense munitions (while Russia is carrying out its largest strikes against cities of the war), all artillery munitions to include HIMARS, and all shoulder fired anti-tank munitions to include those awaiting deployment in Poland. Perhaps he is calling to see what else he can do for the little dictator in the Kremlin.

Ukraine fears increased Russian aggression after US halt of weapons supply

On Tuesday the White House said that it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine in order "to put America's interests first".

www.bbc.com

 

[Brent in Az]

I am not so sure. We just cut off all US supplied Ukrainian air and missile defense munitions (while Russia is carrying out its largest strikes against cities of the war), all artillery munitions to include HIMARS, and all shoulder fired anti-tank munitions to include those awaiting deployment in Poland. Perhaps he is calling to see what else he can do for the little dictator in the Kremlin.

Ukraine fears increased Russian aggression after US halt of weapons supply

On Tuesday the White House said that it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine in order "to put America's interests first".

www.bbc.com

The way I heard it, is that we cut off shipments of military munitions to the Ukraine, because Biden depleted the military stockpile.

 

[VertigoBE]

I would argue that adding "Ivy" to a resume certainly wont hurt anyone.. and many of the most successful people I know have found a way to do so, even though many of them didn't earn an actual degree at an Ivy..

Having Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Yale, Princeton, etc (even Harvard and Columbia) on a resume gets peoples attention.. that cannot be denied... much more so than Wichita State or the University of North Texas, etc..

Most I know that work their way to senior executive status with large firms that didn't originally attend an Ivy end up doing something similar to what @Red Leg described.. they attend some sort of executive program at one (or several) schools... that combined with their prior education and prior experience (assuming a solid track record of performance) is enough to keep them competitive with the people that attended Tier 1 and Tier 2 universities..

Im a very good example of that actually.. I hold a BS in Education from a fairly pedestrian state school.. I realized about 20 years ago that my military career ending as a company grade officer combined with a BS in Ed from an "average" university simply wasn't allowing me to compete with my peers who were all retired O5's and O6's that had graduate degrees from one of the war colleges, even though I was running circles around them with my performance... So I went back to school and picked up an MBA and followed that up with an MS in Strategic Management (both from pretty "average" schools).. which allowed me to compete and make it into the "executive" ranks in my industry.. but once again at that point I found I was hitting a glass ceiling.. Now my competition was largely O6's and higher, all with masters degrees from a variety of institutions, many with 40+ years of experience between their military and civilian careers.. while I only had about 20 years of related experience.. again, I was out performing my peers.. but that alone didn't get the interviews for the "C Suite"..

So I picked up an executive program at Cornell, and then another one at Wharton and added those to the resume.. That was enough to get the attention of the people I needed to get the attention of and make me marketable..

Since then I have picked up yet another exec program at Cornell.. and have looked hard at another at Harvard.. its no longer about promotion.. Ive reached the top of the ladder and am now the CEO of the firm that I intend on retiring from.. at this point its about networking.. the overwhelming majority of the people that attend these programs are either already sitting in a senior executive role at notable businesses, or are fast tracking to those roles..

And as most everyone understands.. at the senior level in business, it is often much more about who you know than what you know... connections are far more valuable at the top than enhanced fundamental skill sets..

That is a very impressive achievement and career! Congratulations @mdwest !

 

[steve white]

I’m not trying to lay blame on anyone who is lucky enough to receive SS, or will soon. I am laying blame entirely on the federal government. It is the politician that is motivated to keep their current title. In order to do so, they must keep the largest voting block happy.

Unfortunately, our economic system has been radically changed to one of short-term pleasure and have future generations pay for the bill, with interest.

It seems that we historically have made terrible economic choices. The New Deal, taking the dollar off of the gold standard, and most recently Obamacare. I’m sure more studied individuals have other examples, but that may be my main 3. The entitlement programs at some point have to end, or be dramatically reformed. It isn’t military spending or fiscal waste/fraud/abuse that is going to reverse the country’s annual deficit.

Politicians wouldn't have to worry about re-election if there were term limits, would they....

Comparing our SS to what Chile was doing 20 years ago when a missionary friend of mine lived there (cannot comment on what Chile is doing TODAY) the difference was the peons had better retirements than we do under SS because theirs was invested in the private sector where it was illegal to raid the funds! If SS wasn't raided all the time, would it not have increased like every other investment? If Congress had to obey the same laws governing private pension funds, would they not be criminally charged for plundering SS? You are right--government is the problem, they never run anything well, and they are the only thieves that get away with it, no charges ever filed.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

The way I heard it, is that we cut off shipments of military munitions to the Ukraine, because Biden depleted the military stockpile.

our stock piles are getting low on ammo, and the heavy stuff, so its time for the other countries to step up to the plate and help out. the Ukraine have also lost almost every M1A tank we sent them.

 

[BJH65]

I do agree that it’s possible UBI becomes normal. I’m not a fan of it. Honestly, Andrew Yang floated the idea during his campaign. I just saw his policy as a hand out to gain popularity. Perhaps he was just ahead of his time,

AI will certainly change life as we know it. My big concern is continuing to use human talent to further innovate. If everyone gets UBI, which is socialist/communist inherently, what will those motivated to work and aspire for prosperity be satisfied?

Agreed, although as AI evolves, I see UBI as more an inevitability not so much as a way for politicians to buy votes (i.e. reparations) or socialism in the purest sense. I think it’s inherent for many to want to work, create, learn, aspire to be better, to challenge themselves…I don’t see that going away whereas a certain segment will be perfectly happy doing nothing productive.

What will these folks do that do that want to be productive if/when AI eliminates their profession? I envision humans using Neuralink (in its infancy now being used to help those with ALS or paralyzed folks) as a tool to achieve greater things, perhaps a symbiotic relationship with AI or even rivaling AI although humans will always have that emotional component. Now we’re diving into science fiction but it’s really becoming reality now.

As someone whose lived half my life with no computers, no internet and no cell phones it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around this technology like AI but for sure it’s going to be configured into entitlement programs in some way.

 

[rookhawk]

I am not making light of the deficit in the least, but a bit of macro perspective is also necessary. As I noted in a post above, our current deficit as a percentage of GDP is a bit over 6%. Believe it or not that is generally in line with the rest of the G7. Should the President and Bessent be correct, and the administration's legislative and trade strategy result in a GDP explosion that lowers our deficit as a proportion of GDP to something in the five percent range or less, then no banking entity on the planet will be concerned in the least about this nation's debt load. At that point, it is merely a domestic economic asset allocation issue.

I'm not disagreeing with your point on the macro level, but I'm thinking of the perspective of the individuals in the middle class as I write this post.

Remember the Laffer <sp?> curve that attempts to model the optimal tax rate to achieve optimal revenue? I'm thinking in my head that the working middle class are approaching a point of crisis in light of a similar curve that shows a combination of taxation, inflation, interest rates, and debt combined in reaction to their labor toil.

It is very difficult for the middle class, especially so for the under-40s crowd because the costs of goods are high, the white collar jobs are scarce with stagnant wages, and any attempt to save is devalued by rampant inflation. We haven't really seen this before because even in the horrible Carter and first term Reagan years with hyper inflation, the cost of homes and autos in relation to average salaries was still "a good deal".

When we go back to the macro level of your post, it ignores the frustration of the middle class that are showing signs of cracking in many ways: a.) difficulty finding a spouse because women want men that make more, yet they rarely do today. b.) their jobs are being displaced frequently by foreign labor, c.) housing costs as proportion of income has never been higher, d.) student loan balances are crippling and perhaps they can never pay them off. e.) people are quitting the workforce and getting on the dole or disability at alarming rates, others are "soft quitting" their jobs if they can. f.) MGTOW.

I'm a personal accountability oriented person, so at the individual level I can say they all made bad choices and its their problem. On the other hand, in aggregate I think we have a serious crisis brewing where nihilism is becoming part of the middle class psyche.