So.......what COMPANIES do you dislike?

[Aaron N]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

Wasn’t half of trumps whole platform how musk was going to take an axe to everything?

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Wasn’t half of trumps whole platform how musk was going to take an axe to everything?

I don't know that Musk was specifically named early.on, but drastic cuts to a boosted system.of government spending was always part of Trump's agenda for a second term. This has been a long.time coming, and yes, it's likely to be painful to a lot of people until things settle out.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Speaking of ice cream up above...I remember the Schwans truck coming by with the best ice cream ever. The route drivers were the best. If you caught them at a stop they would sell you an ice cream bar for the change in your pocket.

The founder, Marvin Schwan died one day about 30 years ago and the whole darn company went to hell. Family and estate issues killed them. Used to be a great place to work and the best customer service in the world. Now it sucks completely..... I don't even know if they do anything anymore and I live 10 miles from their HQ.

Another example of a business owner without a solid perpetuation plan. Marvin Schwan was #51 on the Forbes 500 list when he died. Great guy but didn't have a plan. It cost his employees, workers and family a lot of pain. He did a lot of good while he was alive but the company died when he did.

 

[deaner20]

Wells Fargo

 

[thriller]

That’s EXACTLY why I refuse to read articles about Spam.

If you know and don’t care why does it matter

 

[CarsonG]

Levi
They throw tons of money at anti gun legislation.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Levi
They throw tons of money at anti gun legislation.

I heard that Levi has gone nuts. Carhart isn't the same clothing company they use to be either. I wear Wranglers.

As for stores. Cabela's went to hell the day they got bought out. Too bad. Sportsman's Warehouse was good, then went broke a while ago and I guess some stores are back. Scheel's seems to be a good alternative, a bit yuppy for me. In the upper mid west Runnings is a good Farm & Ranch store with an outdoor section.

I only buy firearms, ammunition and reloading supplies from my local gun shop. I pay cash so credit card companies don't know what I'm doing.

 

[Russ16]

I heard that Levi has gone nuts. Carhart isn't the same clothing company they use to be either. I wear Wranglers.

As for stores. Cabela's went to hell the day they got bought out. Too bad. Sportsman's Warehouse was good, then went broke a while ago and I guess some stores are back. Scheel's seems to be a good alternative, a bit yuppy for me. In the upper mid west Runnings is a good Farm & Ranch store with an outdoor section.

I only buy firearms, ammunition and reloading supplies from my local gun shop. I pay cash so credit card companies don't know what I'm doing.

I wish I had a local gunshop. Nought like that anywhere near me.

Cabelas actually went to hell when they went public long before they were bought out.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

I understand the stress you are going through. My family is not exempt. My wife is a retired DOD employee. Our son-in-law is a current DOD employee, and our daughter is a NOAA employee. If one or both of them lose their jobs due to a massive reorganization we will.all have to deal with it. My wife and I all be having to make up any difference between what they bring in and their home loan, insurance, food, car payments, etc. We will do this because they are the parents of our grandchildren, and it's what families do.

Yes this will likely be painful for many but we must recognize that it is something that !just be done.

 

[jpr9954]

US Postal Service. Their delivery estimates are a joke.

 

[RedTag]

Christensen Arms....Rifles very notorious for poor accuracy and Customer Service Sucks...
Hornady for wrong velocities on factory ammo..... by a lot! No support for 375 Ruger reloading.

I see way more Christensen rifles for sale used than new. It’s bizarre.
Hornady superformance ammunition is the most erratic temperature sensitive ammo I’ve ever used. It’s useless.

 

[mdwest]

I love my two Christensen rifles… both are freaking laser beam accurate and super comfortable to shoot…

I hope people keep selling them off so I can pick a few more up on the cheap

 

[RedTag]

I must acknowledge that I’ve never owned any Christensen rifle. The bolt and trigger configurations not being to my liking, for starters. I can only say that I’ve seen them up for sale in the local classified ads at least 5 to 1 over those I’ve seen new in the shelf in any local shops. This tells me that the guys buying them are probably ordering online and letting them go in relatively short time. I wouldn’t sell an accurate rifle unless I was in extreme financial distress. I don’t doubt that some Christensen rifles are great, as some credible sources report, but I likewise don’t doubt that many are duds based on my aforementioned observations.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Cabelas was infamous for ripping product ideas off and muscling the small business owner out. Long before BassPro bought them.

Here is the scheme. A guy builds a widget and his dream is to get it on a shelf in Cabelas to hit the big time. They tell him they will give it a try for a short period. For zero or a minuscule margin for the owner. He is so excited to get his widget into Cabelas. Knowing that all it needs is exposure to make him a fortune.

So it does well and Cabelas says ok great we want to make a deal and we want it made in China to help with the margins. Next thing he knows Cabelas slaps the Cabelas logo on the exact product and tells the owner he can except a paltry margin or they will happily sell the Cabelas version without him. They basically just stole his idea and product. Made over seas and without a patent or trademark they are screwed.

Cabelas is famous for slapping their logo on many entrepreneurs products.

 

[JG26Irish_2]

Winchester - the iconic maker of the Model 52 "King of the 22's", and the Pre-64 Model 70. As a kid in the 60's the Pre-64 was already history by the time I learned to shoot. I heard the experienced hunters speaking in hushed tones about the model 70 but at that time, I did not understand or appreciate the difference. As a kid, the best 22 ammo I could get was either Winchester or Reminton and both were pretty good. Today, I frankly refuse to buy anything from them because most of it is "Crap". I do own four fine model 52's.

Ruger - for supporting "Reasonable" gun control. The constitution is clear. The rights of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. This was not to protect the rights of hunters or even mainly for the right to protect one's home and family. It was to protect all of us from rogue government officials who would usurp power and attempt to steal our liberty. Plus the quality of many Ruger products has gone down hill IMO. I do own two of their pistols but no more.

Federal - This ammo company is actually one of the best in the USA and I do and will continue to buy and use many of their products. But... In the 1990's that created their fine Ultra-Match line of 22lr match ammo. The ones with the dimple on the base. It ruled in match shooting. Then a few years later they just quit. WTF??? It was like the Russian Olymp ammo but I do not know who copied who and do not care. Why should competition shooters in the USA be compelled to buy only European ammo to be competitive? It sucks. Federal - bring back the fine Ultra line of rinfire ammo. Please. I love your other products.

 

[ActionBob]

I don't know that Musk was specifically named early.on, but drastic cuts to a boosted system.of government spending was always part of Trump's agenda for a second term. This has been a long.time coming, and yes, it's likely to be painful to a lot of people until things settle out.

I'm not sure of exactly how the polling worked out. But to my perception it seemed the Trump got a huge boost and really became unstoppable with 4 things that hit home with voters. 1. The debate where Biden vegetated. 2. The Democrats whole process of replacing Biden without a Primary, and the choice they offered. 3. The assassination attempt. 4. Announcement that Musk would volunteer to lead this whole DOGE effort.

There was clearly a mandate by the voters to do this and to seriously slash the Federal Government.

Any Federal Employees who did not see this coming are simply not paying attention. Didn't Trump offer a very generous buyout plan early on to all Federal Employees who voluntarily left?

 

[JimP]

One problem with the federal government was that once you get hired you had a job for life, and a damm good job with great benefits. Then the government just kept getting larger. Instead of consolidating two groups into one they would create a new third one.

But where Trump is, I never thought that you could run the government like a business. Getting rid of the waste and unproductive areas. But he is trying to revamp the whole thing. I don't agree with some of the things and processes he is putting into place but he's got at least 2 years to show progress.

 

[Hogpatrol]

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I wish I had a local gunshop. Nought like that anywhere near me.

Cabelas actually went to hell when they went public long before they were bought out.

Cabelas just got too big for their britches. Grew too fast vertically AND horizontally. They lost me when they got in the business of buying up Montana working ranches and carving them up into 150 acre useless "hunter paradise ranchettes." That was long before BassPro cleaned up the mess.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Maidenform. They don't seem to make anything that fits me. Their camo selection is very limited.