Sad to hear about the SS United States. Use some recovered taxpayer money that was going to illegal-alien-funneling NGOs to fix her up!
I recently went down the rabbit hole of the USS Sachem which is currently decaying in the woods near Cincinnati. Quite a colorful history, but the most amazing part is where a guy bought the derelict ship in the mid 80s, swapped on "a Murray & Thregurtha Z-drive propulsion unit installed on the rear deck with a reused General Motors bulldozer engine to power it" then tried to move the thing closer to home on the Ohio River near Cincinnati. "He set up a lawn chair on the upper deck as the helm and a broomstick tied to the propulsion unit controls below, and was able to operate and steer the Sachem at a maximum speed of 8 knots, and at no more than 2 knots against the current"
So it was like one of those clickbait "first start in 30 years will it run and drive 700 miles home" except it's a huge old boat that needed to make it 2600 miles.
Great story on the Sachem. The Z-drive looks like a giant outboard. I bet that cruise was real adventure. Too bad it was all for nothing and the poor ship is too far gone now.
But you all now the saying about ships being a hole in the water, in which you throw money.
'Ignoring the courts would be a considerable change in how the presidency works. Vance has suggested they may do it.'
I can recall other administrations being awfully defiant of the courts, especially when it comes to gun control and abortion. If and when Vance gets his wish, we should revisit this.
'Jack - what are your thoughts on Elon being in a position of power while simultaneously being a high-profile government contractor such as SpaceX, and the rumored order for armored Tesla cyber trucks?'
As I understand it, there's nothing rumored about it, the order actually happened, and it was placed under the Biden Administration, but I could easily be 100% wrong about all of it.
Prima facie, the whole thing is sketchy. However, there's historical precedent, much of it bad -- how distant was Bob McNamara from Ford, *really*, during his time in an Administration?
Elon is an odd dude, and I'm not one of those people who thinks he walks on water. That being said, ethically it's no worse than Pelosi somehow never making a bad stock trade -- hell it might be MORE ethical than the way much of Congress trades. And I think he genuinely wants to help fix America. In reality he can't do that much and I think the federal government will survive a minor shakeup.
Look at it this way: it's just an accident of birth that's kept HIM from being President.
Trump I do understand people liking to a degree. He’s charismatic and funny.
An Elon presidential bid may result in the most embarrassing campaign-by-meme the world has ever seen. Can you IMAGINE an old autist stammering out references to Grover House while talking about the nation’s infrastructure?
He would deservedly get a shoe thrown at him every step of the way just for being so lame.
Does he have Dubya's reflexes to dodge them, though? :D
As Elon is not a native-born citizen, he's not eligible to be elected President. He can certainly buy a President, though. The estimates of his spending this last election cycle are about 4x what the Soros PAC spent. ($68 million by Soros, $280 million by Musk.)
Many presidents have defied the courts over the years. I mean, Jackson taunted them. Biden openly defied them on rental forbearance and farming loans. They had to circumvent the courts for student loan forgiveness.
My own rebuttal when it comes to Elon's own conflict of interest is simple: any Auditor paid by the executive will inherently have a conflict of interest. Who audits the auditors? Arguably an executive audit could be sourced from Congress, but that would require an act of Congress.
"...thoughts on Elon being in a position of power...
One thing about Trump that I think most people agree on is that he's extremely opinionated on just about everything. So if anyone has Trump's ear, it's because Trump likes what he's hearing.
A Pheasant Hunt analogy: Trump's the guy with the shotgun; Elon's just the guy beating the bushes to flush the birds into the air.
As a distant relative of all the barbarians who sacked Rome, I feel confident in saying that we've already let plenty of outsiders into America. Immigration both legal and illegal is at unheard-of levels.
'What I can't really see is going back to "business as usual" with normal bi-partisan democracy on some normal, civil level.'
AHA! Finally, my theoretically knowledge of American history enables me to argue effectively with you!
Sir, what we have now ain't HALF of what we used to have in this country. We had open fraud in elections. We had brokered transactions of power. We had people killing each other in the street, up to and including the level of Vice President. We had entire towns crushed by private armies, we had cities burn.
What you think of as "the American way" of life and politics is a LUXURY. It's something we made up from about 1935 forwards. It's a by-product of there being enough pork available for the "bi-partisans" to steal it together -- go look up a picture of "Tip O'Neill" for an example of that class.
The American system was built to withstand shocks, violence, and disagreement far greater than anything we have now. My God -- don't forget THE BONUS ARMY! Veterans trampled underfoot during a peaceful protest by "heroes" like Patton, under the command of "Dugout Doug" MacArthur!
Yeah, we used to get DOWN in this country. It could happen again. It might NEED to happen again. If it does, then I regret to inform the Europeans that they will be on their own while Mom and Dad sort it out.
Well, we are definitely a nation of *european* immigrants, or at least we were until about 1990.
A lot of people read the Emma Lazarus poem and think it represents the official position of the United States; it does not, any more than does a Henry Miller novel. Maybe less so.
I say this without any intended arrogance or hubris; I don’t see there is a real fight in this country. One side openly fantasizes about the purge and preps for it; the other side makes angry tweets and blog posts. We’re literally gearing up for a rural vs urban conflict, and I give the urbans 72 hours. And that might be generous. My only fear is looking hillbilly enough to escape the suburbs, but I figure I basically look the part anyways. Throw on a blaze orange hoodie and I should fit right in; gotta tell the girls to leave their Lululemon at home and rub some dirt on their ‘trendy’ Carhartt beanies.
It's a hard thing, killing someone in cold or merely warm blood.
At the risk of being cynical, let me say that my experience in this nation's houses of correction leads me to believe that 95% of men are total cowards who would rather blow a goat than engage in real sustained violence against other human beings.
The average lifted-Silverado dude with his ***III*** stickers will drop his rifle and run when he hears the crack of gunfire in his direction. Most of them will drive to the local collection points to turn in both guns AND trucks the minute someone threatens to turn off their Netflix or their corn syrup or both.
If the war comes, it will be PTSD servicemen from rural areas against the Uruk-hai from California and NYC, and the winner will be whoever figures out how to make nerve gas first.
Perhaps. Almost every single hillbilly I know is a vet. But realistically, I don’t know who would be shooting at them.
And on the subject of surrendering weapons, we’re currently under a “register or surrender” AWB in IL, and the favorite topic amongst my fellow gun nuts here is how many unregistered weapons were all holding onto. Registration has hovered between 2-10% depending on who’s estimate you would like to believe.
I don’t have a lot of interest in more scary black rifles because I end up with safe queens, but I do want an AR-10 (safe because it’s 5 less ARs!).
I have most of the mainstream stuff I want (aside from a government 1911), but I want goofy stuff like a Marlin .45-70 and other random shit I have no use for.
"One side openly fantasizes about the purge and preps for it; the other side makes angry tweets and blog posts. "
Which side is which, here? I "think" you think the side making angry tweets and blog posts are the urbanites, but that's not exactly true: those same urbanites were actively traveling to other cities to burn them down just 4 years ago.
And Rittenhouse shot three random ones and killed a pedo, wife beater, and felon.
Those are punks and shitheads but against even the most mildly organized and trained resistance they’d get mowed down like weeds. The only reason they haven’t been is due to selective prosecution. Also, they haven’t “tried that in a small town.”
I had a customer yesterday, who is very impressed with himself for reading a book, which hapned to be a bio of Andrew Jackson talk my disinterested ear off about how much more vile a person Trump is. I had to wonder what children's book about that man he was reading. Even people who think they know history seem to lack context about how horrific the past was.
I have an intense hate for communists due to what they did to my relatives in Eastern Europe. But I have found that people who did not have personal knowledge of communism don’t understand its horrors, or are uninterested in knowing about them, even though the evil history is well documented and incontrovertible.
The fact that you can buy hammer and sickle clothing in the United States -- the fact that Tom Morello got a deal with Fender for his guitar that winks at the death of 100 million or more people -- is insane to me.
I suspect a lot of young white and black men have been utterly radicalized by following a path of questioning that starts with "Why is is utterly forbidden to have a swastika anywhere but the hammer and sickle can be found in Hot Topic?"
In the late 90's/early 2000's my ski racing helmet was painted in a red with a yellow hammer and sickle, and CCCP across the front. I clear coated it before the base was dry to give it a crackle. At the time I had an NROTC ride and I thought it was a ironic comment on the Soviets never actually feilding a downhill squad AND I enjoyed playing a heel.
It took more education and context to understand the true evil of the Evil Empire.
Couldn't do that with a swastika. Which makes you wonder why commie iconography is okay while National Socialist symbology will get you killed, even though the Reds had ten times the body count.
Decades ago I worked with three Eastern Europeans that had escaped the iron curtain--one each from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. All three had horrific/fascinating stories about their lives under communism and especially their flights to freedom. Around the time I left that company in '94, the Hungarian lady thanked me for listening and expressed concern that too few Americans care to understand how bad communism is/was. In CURRENT YEAR it seems she was dead on correct.
I worked with an old guy from Estonia who as a young teen got caught by the Germans when he was trying to escape. He got conscripted into the German army.
When I was a kid in the 1960’s living in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago, the Polish Constitution Day parade came through my neighborhood. I distinctly remember the ex-WWII POWs marching in the parade in striped black and white prisoner uniforms. Everyone in my neighborhood back then knew the evils of communism.
My neighborhood has a lot of Polish transplants, and I use to drink with some of the guys back in 2015-2016 before I moved a few blocks away. I’ve never seen such ardent Trump supporters and anti-communists, because those guys saw firsthand the effects of it.
"What I can't really see is going back to "business as usual" with normal bi-partisan democracy on some normal, civil level."
Just slightly older than you, but was this ever effective? All I ever saw during this time were Republicans simply being speedbumps toward progressivism. Democrats actually did things while Republicans just stood there and yelled at clouds.
A Republican in office who wants to actually use power? But then again, he's not really a "Republican".
Piecing together a few additional things about Cars & Bids:
-Doug had at least one other co-founder, Blake Machado (the developer)
-Cars & Bids subsequently sold a piece of the business to Phillip Sarofim’s Trousdale Ventures entity, which was also an investor in Hagerty
-In February of 2023, Cars & Bids sold > 50% of the business (i.e., a change of control transaction) - also including Doug’s YouTube channel(s) on a go-forward basis - for $37MM, implying a maximum value of the business at ~$74MM two years ago
-So Doug took less than $37MM - because of his co-founder, other early employees who would’ve received equity (some of whom may have had change of control vesting agreements), and Trousdale’s investment - before taxes; I would assume that he filed an 83(b) election, of course
-The business is probably worth less today than it was two years ago, which means that Doug’s remaining equity, which is the reason he is still a public figure making YouTube videos and appearing on podcasts, would be worth less, as well
“It would bother me if my business failed in public for no other reason than the fact that it sucks balls compared to a slew of remarkably incompetent competitors…”
The (likely) decline in value transpired after the business was no longer under Doug’s control! He could make the argument that HE created and grew a business and then sold it to professional, smart money operators who struggled to run it effectively.
Wild if true considering he ran out and bought a $1M+ CGT basically the next day. I get he was already rich, but wow, blow 10% straight away. You could argue he’s storing money I suppose.
I just celebrated my pending 43rd birthday with the purchase of a new Ecodrive Diver. Cost me just shy of $400. Pretty sure I can sell my Apple Watch Ultra and come out of the transaction basically $0.
Also can't discount him negotiating some sort of (inflated) ongoing salary from the business since he's still "working" on it. I've seen some sharp operators do that, and do quite well with it.
+1 on the warehouse. For me it would be cheap XK8s. Lots of them. Then updating the chain tensioners on each and every one of them. When I get bored with the coupes I would graduate to convertibles with the hydraulic fluid in the roof mechanism turning to gel.
Agreed, I’m a cheapskate so that would be my logic. But when you have another $10mm producing investment income, he probably doesn’t care what the monthly nut on the CGT is. Plus I’m guessing that there are finance options available to people above my lowly tax bracket that make buying the CGT an afterthought. Also, there may be a small tax benefit to him whenever he features the car in a video. Not sure how making the CGT a business expense might work.
Is kinda wild, but he was already a fairly rich man from YouTube. Getting hundreds of millions of views per year or whatever it was will set you up just fine.
To add to that, the CGT isn’t gonna depreciate anytime soon. It’s parking money into something enjoyable rather than just an index fund. The money is still there, and I bet he can get every penny he put in out of it if he wanted.
Doug already made it known that he likes to be noticed in the CGT. Much easier than taking his Vanguard Total Stock Market fund statement to the bar and waving it around.
Sure, but what happens when you're no longer popular on YouTube or doesn't want to be the clown show anymore? Having the capital rather than fickle income stream from views is a smart move, make someone else hold the risk that the "business" won't work anymore.
CGT is a good call for exactly what you're thinking -- it's fun, can be driven a bit, and you won't lose too much because it's already a modern classic
I'm ok to blow 10%, but disagree on the car, as I'd rather have 10 x 100k cars instead. Or some other combination that allows me to pick up a few '70s & '80s fantasies. Or a lot of Saabs & Volvos.
-I knew Doug had at least one co-founder, Blake Machado
-I am assuming other employees got some equity (unsure if they had accelerated vesting schedules on a change of control; I am a co-founder of a startup and negotiated that for myself given my background as an M&A banker)
The first check if you're interviewing (or interested in a portco) is to check where the PE/VC holder gets the money from. There's a lot of those inheritance types, and they can be interesting to work "for"
Yeah I can see that, what with the same names and what not…
TCG, unlike Trousdale, has invested in companies whose shit is inside my house, as we speak. Seems to me they’re winning, if we’re going to be comparing.
Ya ya, the numbers, etc.
Also I would be shocked, SHOCKED I SAY!! If the Myers Manx ever turns a profit.
I mean to be a follow on investor isn’t really the sign of a good VC. Most of their portfolio is filled with ass companies that any serious VC wouldn’t touch. I’m not sure spacex will exist anytime soon unless it just becomes a defense company.
Still, that’s a joke investor. I’d take their money only cause they probably don’t understand a thing.
the steep ascent and now decline in (likely) value of C&B is tied directly to the secondary market for enthusiast vehicles. government lockdown-era bubble inflated the value of the asset; the ride down has been the same. claiming doug had anything to do with either instead of just being basically a carnival barker for a programmer and some sales staff seems like a gross exaggeration of his involvement and skills.
good for him to capitalize on the opportunity when it presented itself, but thats all i think you can really say.
Well the deal closed in February of ‘23, but the high water mark for “esoteric” assets was late ‘21 (when rates were still zero).
Doug started the business. He was - and remains - the face of it. There was always the opportunity for someone else to do that, or at least attempt it.
right, february of 23 means he was marketing on 22 numbers with the same (insane and fundamentally unachievable) hockey stick projections baked into his forecast, im sure, from the prior two years. the bottom started to fall out in nov 22 but by feb 23 most were still convinced this was a short duration turn (vs what we all now know)
Sounds like Doug sold the vision of what it could be (with his popularity) and found someone who thought the numbers were achievable. What is the stat, 90% of businesses fail in 5 years?
As was I, but later I counted the albums in my collection and found that I had the same number by Megadeth and Metallica - but more Tull than both put together. So, not entirely an unhappy surprise.
That’s a failure which I haven’t yet rectified. Decades ago I placed Steely Dan albums in the same category as Zeppelin or The Who- why buy what’s in constant rotation on FM radio? I think I need a “Dukes of September” dvd while I’m at it.
ETA: I later realized the connection here: “Lowdown” with its flute riff and a (controversial?) Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. I don’t know anything about Boz Scaggs’ career that didn’t get airplay fifty years ago. But retirement is near!
The day JFK was killed, my Mom showed up to pick us up at school, and her face was white, and she could hardly talk.
You see, despite my Jewish surname, I was raised so Irish that, as a child, I heard Gaelic being spoken.
And, my mother's brother had been in charge of Training for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. CIA, obviously.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, my mother was so spooked by the constant TV updates that our Navy was THAT close to the Russian ships, that she phoned her brother, to ask what to do.
He told her, "Take the kids to Mass every day. That way, you will be together."
You can figure out what he meant.
So, when JFK died because Lee Harvey Oswald had begged his wife for sex, the night before, and was refused, my mother thought that it was the Russians' revenge for the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Anyway, the family name was originally Marx, as in "Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin." Supposedly my Marxist ancestors had relatives who were entitled to the "Von."
Between World War One and the Russian Revolution, there were incentives to re-spell the name. New England was a center of hysterical anti-German paranoia during WWI. Every issue of the Providence "Journal" newspaper had on its front page a warning:
ALL PERSONS OF AUSTRIAN OR GERMAN BIRTH,
UNLESS KNOWN BY LONG ACQUAINTANCE TO BE LOYAL,
SHOULD BE CONSIDERED TO BE POSSIBLE SPIES OR SABOTEURS.
Which totally missed the point that most of the people who emigrated from Germany or Austria at least in part were motivated by a desire to live in a Democracy, and not be under the risk of being conscripted for the Prussian War Machine.
In US Jewish culture, such names as Marks are called "Changeniks."
Whereas, when you change "Tolchinsky" to "Tolin," that is a "Chopnik."
Supposedly, the name Marks is also original to the borderlands between Wales and England. And there is a Portuguese variant.
By the way, Elvis Presley was not Bar Mitzvah'ed, and I don't believe that he ever set foot in a synagogue. But, under Rabbinical Law, Elvis was entitled to claim Jewish identity, because his mother was a Jewish woman who had been born to a Jewish woman. Elvis's middle name was Biblical--Aaron.
The stone marker memorializing Elvis's mother at Graceland has a large Star of David on it.
That was Marina Prusakova Oswald's story, and she is sticking with it.
The guy who is currently occupying Bill Clinton's "Oral Office" has a long history of over-promising and under-delivering. So I have zero confidence that ALL US Government Documents on the JFK assassination will be revealed in full.
Even if Oswald was a "Lone Nut" (Jackie Kennedy was offended that her hubby had been killed by a "silly little Communist"), several Federal agencies have a lot of explaining to do.
Oswald had been a radar operator at the base from which U2 spy planes launched to overfly Russia. He had some kind of Security Clearance, and he knew the Climb Rate and Operational Ceiling of the U2. Which the Russians did not know, until Oswald defected and settled down in Russia.
Russia had never been able to shoot down a U2--until Oswald defected.
I think it entirely possible that ONI or the CIA had sent Oswald to Russia specifically to embarrass Eisenhower. The CIA had told Eisenhower that the U2 could not be shot down. So Eisenhower lied to Kruschev, telling him that the US was not overflying Russia.
Shooting down Gary Powers in his U2 put the Kibosh on the tentative Peace Feelers Kruschev and Eisenhower had been exchanging. The CIA on its part was terrified that "Peace Might Break Out."
Francis Gary Powers stated that when he was in Lubyanka Prison, the Judas Gate in his cell door opened, and somebody who spoke Russian with an American accent looked in and said in Russian, "Yes, that's him."
Powers later said he was sure it had been Oswald.
Yet when Oswald decided to come back home with the woman he had married on six weeks' acquaintance, the US provided travel money.
BTW, Oswald's Federal Income Tax returns are better guarded than the formula for Coca-Cola. JFK Assassination students believe that Oswald stupidly declared on his taxes the money he was being paid as an informant.
When my totally amazing son was chosen for the Defense Language Institute, in my best Fatherly Voice I urged him to keep his eyes peeled for a very superior officer, smartly walk up to the guy, salute, and then ask:
"BEGGING YOUR PARDON, SIR! COULD YOU PLEASE SHOW ME WHERE THE LITTLE PLAQUE IS, THAT SAYS 'LEE HARVEY OSWALD SLEPT HERE'?"
That's right, Citizens! Your parents' tax dollars went into teaching Lee Oswald how to speak Russian. Why, I can only ask!
In the event, when Comrade Lee was working at a radio factory in Minsk, at a party he met Marina Prusakova. Six weeks later, they were married. (She was more than a little hot.)
There is a theory that, over and above messing with Eisenhower's agenda, Oswald was in Russia to "extract" a relative of a high-ranking Russian General who wanted to defect, and who did not want his niece to suffer from his actions.
An audio chum of mine with degrees from Harvard and MIT and who had been a contract employee of the CIA, told me that he was sure that JFK's assassination was a "False Flag Operation" that was hijacked.
But there is also the theory that it was a "False Flag Operation" that went haywire when a untrained Secret Service Driver who had been assigned "Riding Shotgun" duty mishandled an AR-15 that was totally new to him, and shot JFK in the back of the head... hence all the covering up.
Back when supposedly they could use audio waveform analysis to detect whether someone was lying, one of those types declared that when Oswald said "I'm just a patsy," he was telling the truth.
Something that gives pause is that reportedly, when relatives went to break the news of JFK's death to his very infirm father, they at first said that it was a "terrible accident."
But never forget that Roger Stone wrote a book claiming that Nixon believed that LBJ had tasked his personal Hit Man to get rid of JFK, because LBJ's own legal problems were mounting.
you mean to say the united states governemnt trained someone that would in the future turn on them? im just glad this was an isolated incident and nothing like it ever happened again
I agree that there is a lot of weird stuff out there. My ex-CIA friend was a Moonbat; he was convinced that Nov. 22, 1963 was, in Reality, a "Masonic Ritual Execution of a King." Hard to respond to that.
A few to start:
"Mortal Error": JFK was accidentally shot by a Secret Service Rookie.
"The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ" Self-explanatory.
"Live by the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK" Self-explanatory.
"A Death in November: America in Vietnam, 1963" JFK's complicity in the murder of Ngo Dinh Diem.
As an author (and a best-selling one at that) I have zero regard or even respect for awards. They've always been nothing more than popularity contests among small cliques, and over the last couple of decades they have almost all veered to the hard left. They've almost all been taken over by the mainstream publishers on Madison Ave in NYC as well.
The whole debacle around the Hugos and 'Sad Puppies' which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the awards were rigged and proved it quite clearly. They clearly showed as well that it doesn't matter what you write or how much you sell - it just matters that you have the right politics. I know very successful authors who were completely black-listed, overnight, when their personal politics were discovered.
The 'award' that we all like to go on about these days, in the 'politically incorrect' circles are the 'Benjamin Award'. How many Benjamins did your fans award you with?
Because in the end, that's the only reward that really has any meaning: How many people are willing to give you their hard-earned money for your work?
Not in the writing/publishing market - or rather it wasn't until Independent Publishing (Indy) came along. Until then all of the books being published had to go through gate-keepers, who in the 80's nearly all became very left-wing and whom all of those marched in lockstep.
Indy changed that, somewhat, in that more people had access to the market, and suddenly books you weren't allowed to read were now being published (see ALL of my catalog - I'm a 'niche' writer, I write books for men).
Even with all of that, writing is still a very nasty market/business. Publishers actually pay people to go out and give bad reviews to the competition. And folks at a certain bookseller often have very political opinions that they'll exercise via their workplace powers - not to mention the ones who just simply do it for money (i.e. they accept bribes).
That would depend on what you like, to be honest. If you like hard scifi, Summer's End. If you like something a bit more 'Space Opera', Stand Alone. Urban Fantasy? Either Portals of Infinity, book 1 or Hammer Commission.
Yeah, there is, but don't worry about it. On Summer's End, which is from Baen Books, one of the trad pubs, I make more on the ebook, but they're happier when I sell print. Which is weird, because they make more on the ebook too.
One could say that your success in the indy publishing market is proof that your concepts for the books have been sound.
I'm not saying that every market success is a proof that the idea is superior, see VHS vs Betamax as well as corrupt markets like you mentioned, but being able to sell an idea to someone else is some measure of how good the idea is.
Aren't all awards essentially some sort of popularity contest or advertising payoff?
It all depends on who's judging and once you know how that works, you'll see through any of them. Various "product of the year" type of awards in any industry are the same game, just paid for directly by the manufacturer rather than the publisher and typically less political than "art"
Yes and no. They're supposed to have some standards to them, and they're not supposed to be rigged. Especially not if they're being given by a non-profit (there are actual laws against that).
When people say that 'anyone can win if they get enough votes' and then suddenly when someone they don't like gets waaaay too many votes and all of the sudden dodgy shit starts happening? Then you know that a lot of these awards are actually rigged by the small group of people in charge of them.
The thing is, there are awards that used to be serious and had high standards in the industry. None of those have any standards and more and are all rigged. And heaven help you if you expose it. Even USA today will come after you and slander you.
Can't agree with your last paragraph more, even as a (mostly unwanted) 'non-immigrant'.
First: Is that warning at the top because I engaged and challenged AK47isthetool to justify his statement in the other thread? If so, let me aplogise, since my intent is not to attack anyone, but perhaps firmly challenge beliefs or assumptions.
"Let’s put aside for a moment the facts that nobody who has a null entry in their birthdate field should be collecting Social Security. How is this not universally agreed upon? I spoke with a professional in the retirement field recently who told me, “I used to go through and take people off pension rolls for having a null birthdate, or other missing but important information, all the time. I’d tell the clients to call the person and see if they could come to the phone — and if not, why.”"
Why should we put this aside? This is literally the only thing that needs to be addressed.... nobody wants to even touch this...
"The Social Security Administration knows it has a serious data issue, so in 2015 they handled it in the laziest and most blunt-trauma way possible: by no longer paying benefits to anyone who is over 115 years old but not marked “dead” in the database. The SSA database, by the way, has 18.9 million “undead” people who fall into that bucket, which seems like a problem in and of itself. Occam’s Razor tells us that the SSA almost certainly has millions of dead people to whom benefits are still being paid, unless, you know, the “undead” issue is magically non-applicable to people born after 1911."
This needs to be still trimmed further, judiciously so, with follow up and a paper trail... why did it take Trump in the second term to find this out? Again something nobody wants to talk about... Isn't this somebody's full time job in the SSA? Why do these people still have a job? They should be sued for dereliction of duty and their salary for the last decade clawed back...
"The moral of the story here is that there’s a very real contingent of the media, the Twitterati, and the social-media universe that likes to play at being scientists, programmers, and other “smart people”. Because these people are not scientists or programmers, they fail to understand the iterative, zero-thrills, plodding nature of these enterprises, and therefore they are easily seduced by things that sound scientific or programmer-y."
Anybody with a brain doesn't fall into this trap - you're being charitable saying that these are midwits, they're utter morons, the people that fall for this shit.
It's the BIG LIE. That's all. Say something loud enough and long enough and people will believe it. The Clinton's did it with impunity, and proved that it still worked quite well.
Also don't forget that a lot of people posting on the internet are bots owned and run by left wing organizations. They got into that whole thing quite early. Look at Media Matters - they and their boiler rooms full of paid internet posters are still around and still active.
'First: Is that warning at the top because I engaged and challenged AK47isthetool to justify his statement in the other thread? If so, let me aplogise, since my intent is not to attack anyone, but perhaps firmly challenge beliefs or assumptions.'
No sir, you've always played fair. I have zero issue with anything you've written here or in any other context. Sometimes you hurt my feeeewings but I'm a grown man!
2. "This needs to be still trimmed further, judiciously so, with follow up and a paper trail... why did it take Trump in the second term to find this out?" Putting my tinfoil hat on for a second, party because much of the federal government tried to undermine Trump and his policies.
Under what professional accounting scheme or CFO would this sort of continuing malfeasance be not grounds for immediate audits down to the penny, if not jail time for all involved and bankruptcy?
Also isn't this the JOB of someone in SS? I'm not saying reduce or change SS benefits I'm saying everyone on the recipients list needs to be confirmed to be a real person and also not one assuming someone else's identity.
The 250 year old still collecting benefits was 230 years old 20 years ago... What sort of stupidity is this? FRAUD should be prosecuted and examples made of every single incorrect recipient and the money clawed back or jail time for all involved. This is a bare minimum.
man all of that programming talk went straight over my head (i seriously need to get a grip on that but have no idea what language is even useful and for what since everyone seems to have the opinion that theirs is the only one that isnt a waste of time) but when you look at who is posting it you can just check their background to find that theyve never posted literally anything programming related before and it all clicks
"What’s in the COVID-19 vaccine?"
aids, maybe. something something clot shot
tragic to hear about the ss united states and turning it into a reef is a colossal waste and an insult and i wonder who made that decision and why. fuck them fishes i want the boat
Sorry, I thought that was for Quadriplegic Lesbian Weddings, in Gaza?
The worst thing Hillary Clinton did, after giving cover to Rapist Bill, was to decree that local/native US Embassy and Counselate employees all over the world had to show up and cheer at Gay Pride events.
That comment might summon Sherman, who will no doubt talk about his father’s wooden boats, and then somehow spin that anecdote into a story about some billionaire he met in a sauna once.
I seem to recall reading a number of years ago that the SS United States was in really really bad condition and restoring it would have been enormously expensive.
The most interesting nugget in the Autopian article was that when the PE guys bought C&B, the site was only doing 25 auctions per day. It went up briefly to 29 auctions, now it’s back down below 25 auctions per day. It is mind blowing that they “invested” $37 million with those daily auction numbers.
What kind of due diligence did the PE guys do? If they thought that they could grow the business and be Burger King to BaT’s McDonalds franchise, they were delusional.
Yeah and that's also a hammer-blow to the face for the Doug fans who will say, and *ARE* saying on Autopian, that "PRIVATE EQUITY DROVE IT INTO TEH GROUNDS". Nah, bro, it was already there.
The Autopian comments are mostly a lefty echo chamber. But there are way more comments critical of DeMuro than I thought would be. I think these layoffs are damaging to his personal brand, but the PE guys are stuck with him as the face of C&B.
The Internet goes from "adulation" to "crab bucket" in a heartbeat, and the cringier and more beta the male consumers are for a particular item, the more risk one runs of such a transition.
Doug's appeal was that he was nonthreatening and in no way cool. Then he got rich. Now "he" is laying people off. It's like when Fat Brad Brownell voluntarily became a slum lord and started bragging about his real estate.
This is a weird YouTube thing, but these beta males who have some online success just cannot help themselves and have to display their newfound wealth, and then further, always talk about money in every other video. I don’t begrudge anyone who’s done well, but the beta males doing bling videos are total cringe.
It’s not a winning brand strategy, and you can see Demuro’s brand equity slipping away in the Autopian comments, because doubt about Demuro’s character has entered the room, deserved or not. The commenters there are working through their cognitive dissonance and it’s come down to the Carrera GT vs. laid off workers. It’s hard for an Autopian lefty to be pro CGT.
That was a useful corrective, but didn’t they also fire everyone on probation (not understanding that probation = new at the job, not performing badly)? Agree with your last para (save for the fact that they had a hard time agreeing on how to structure those institutions!).
Some of that falls under the heading of "Start by making a 180 degree turn". In other words, stop hiring people and let go some of the most recent hires, whether or not they are better or worse than the people around them, because much of the government works on seniority anyway and there's always the unpleasant spectre of the public sector unions.
Since the national debt is so out of control, they need to fire as many people as possible, then hire back if they cut too deep. It sounds cruel but it’s a way to figure out what staff is needed. Corporations do it all the time.
The thing I don't get is that I was under the impression congress had to issue a RIF. Maybe that is only for union jobs?
I am awfully tired of headlines saying "Trump fired National Park Employees" when in fact they were laid off. Yes, Trump has fired employees, many of which were previously appointed employees. Headlines keep acting like these are all "firings".
Has anyone heard what the government plans to do with all these supposed savings that are being realized by the DOGE boys? The reported savings being broadcasted reminds me of a controller I used to work with that used to say during engineering cost out meetings that he only wanted to discuss savings initiatives in number of head count reduced instead of dollars saved because without reducing FTEs you didn't actually save anything. What good is "saving" 55 billion if they don't issue a tax rebate to the taxpayers or clearly disclose where that money will now go,? I'm not saying we should continue to give it away, but identifying the waste is only half the battle.
This is wife math in the extreme. What are they going to do with the savings? Not go as deep into the red every single month. We’re in the “stop the bleeding” phase.
Until the government runs a surplus there isn't any money to pay down the debt, we just slow the rate of going deeper in debt which would be a step in the right direction at this point.
You're making an assumption that they will "stop the bleeding" all I'm asking is for a confirmation with data showing that is what is being done. Otherwise how do we know it isn't going to some other not beneficial program, this is our Government after all. If they are going to left pocket/right pocket the money with little transparency then I am all for "wife math" and taking my portion of that back so I can squander it as I choose.
I believe Musk has floated the idea of $5k rebates to the taxpayers. Which raises all sorts of questions such as taxpayers who didn’t pay in $5k or even the negative taxpayers who get credits.
The original proposal from the private citizen in Arizona limited the $5k rebates to actual tax payers. I don’t think that would fly, even though it’s logical.
That’s always been the $100,000 er $1,000,000 question. Joking aside, there’s been several tranches of various stimulus over the last several decades but I don’t think the answer is clear.
Depends on what else is happening in the economy. I think we are pretty solidly in "bad time for stimulus by deficit spending" territory right now.
In 2008-2009 it would not have been inflationary.
Short-term stimulus to offset the economic dip from COVID made sense, to the extent the dip was not a self-inflicted wound. Keeping the stimulus going was nuts. There are models for all this stuff. The simple ones sort of work, at least enough for good idea/bad idea.
Just edited, probably too late for anyone to see: Thought about this a little more and it is not inflationary. It replaces $5K of gov't spending with $5K of private spending. No significant difference. At an in-the-weeds level, different items might be purchased and each would be affected as per supply and demand. I'd rather see less debt than a check, but I'd take the check.
Dates in COBOL can also be stored as text (as can just about anything), which makes calculations on them even more fun. Better yet, use multiple variations of YYYYMMDD in the same space just to mix it up a bit. This was seen in one chunk of COBOL code within one program using one copybook at a small part of one fed agency. Despite COBOL being relatively understandable, ancient programmers can and have made it difficult by being idiots.
The SS United States always made going over the Walt Whitman to Philly such a joy.
For very nearly my entire life it’s sat as a sad, hulk of a thing haunting the Delaware. Out of commission for decades longer than it was ever in service, what was there left to do?
Whoever owned it in the 80s is apparently the one that let it go to rot… A dozen failed ideas to save it from a condo, to a casino, to a hotel, to a hospital ship, to a Hawaiian cruise line. All fell apart and lacked funding. The interest was never really there. It was a noble curiosity, but not much more.
At least now the beast can rest and still be useful. The real tragedy would’ve been it turning to razor blades or washing machines. Its new mission gives it some purpose for what it’s worth, other than to rust the waters around the Philly Navy Yard.
One, I assume, will be able to visit it and pay respects as a reef if you want. It’s not the finale it should have had, but at least it gets one.
Kind of like the sad story of the MV Kalakala in Seattle. I remember as a kid, the old timers talking about her and then driving by her where she was tied up on lake Union after they refloated her and towed her down from Alaska. A series of owners had grand plans to restore her, but they all fell through. She was scrapped in 2015 after being declared a navigation hazard. She probably came back as Chinese spatulas, hanging on pegs at Walmart
I seem to recall the biggest problem is all the fittings, decor, interior features etc. were all auctioned off around 1981. There was basically nothing left inside except the helm. Everything inside would have to be recreated.
That doesn't mean it should be turned into a reef, but I think it's past the point of no return by now. A shame any way you slice it.
Sad to hear about the SS United States. Use some recovered taxpayer money that was going to illegal-alien-funneling NGOs to fix her up!
I recently went down the rabbit hole of the USS Sachem which is currently decaying in the woods near Cincinnati. Quite a colorful history, but the most amazing part is where a guy bought the derelict ship in the mid 80s, swapped on "a Murray & Thregurtha Z-drive propulsion unit installed on the rear deck with a reused General Motors bulldozer engine to power it" then tried to move the thing closer to home on the Ohio River near Cincinnati. "He set up a lawn chair on the upper deck as the helm and a broomstick tied to the propulsion unit controls below, and was able to operate and steer the Sachem at a maximum speed of 8 knots, and at no more than 2 knots against the current"
So it was like one of those clickbait "first start in 30 years will it run and drive 700 miles home" except it's a huge old boat that needed to make it 2600 miles.
Link for anyone else curious:
https://uss-sachem.org/history
Great story on the Sachem. The Z-drive looks like a giant outboard. I bet that cruise was real adventure. Too bad it was all for nothing and the poor ship is too far gone now.
But you all now the saying about ships being a hole in the water, in which you throw money.
The way I look at it the guy successfully took it on an amazing last journey, if nothing else. My hat's off to him
'Ignoring the courts would be a considerable change in how the presidency works. Vance has suggested they may do it.'
I can recall other administrations being awfully defiant of the courts, especially when it comes to gun control and abortion. If and when Vance gets his wish, we should revisit this.
'Jack - what are your thoughts on Elon being in a position of power while simultaneously being a high-profile government contractor such as SpaceX, and the rumored order for armored Tesla cyber trucks?'
As I understand it, there's nothing rumored about it, the order actually happened, and it was placed under the Biden Administration, but I could easily be 100% wrong about all of it.
Prima facie, the whole thing is sketchy. However, there's historical precedent, much of it bad -- how distant was Bob McNamara from Ford, *really*, during his time in an Administration?
Elon is an odd dude, and I'm not one of those people who thinks he walks on water. That being said, ethically it's no worse than Pelosi somehow never making a bad stock trade -- hell it might be MORE ethical than the way much of Congress trades. And I think he genuinely wants to help fix America. In reality he can't do that much and I think the federal government will survive a minor shakeup.
Look at it this way: it's just an accident of birth that's kept HIM from being President.
Trump I do understand people liking to a degree. He’s charismatic and funny.
An Elon presidential bid may result in the most embarrassing campaign-by-meme the world has ever seen. Can you IMAGINE an old autist stammering out references to Grover House while talking about the nation’s infrastructure?
He would deservedly get a shoe thrown at him every step of the way just for being so lame.
Does he have Dubya's reflexes to dodge them, though? :D
As Elon is not a native-born citizen, he's not eligible to be elected President. He can certainly buy a President, though. The estimates of his spending this last election cycle are about 4x what the Soros PAC spent. ($68 million by Soros, $280 million by Musk.)
If there’s one person who needs to have his U.S. citizenship revoked, it’s Soros!
He has plenty of other passports from which to choose.
Many presidents have defied the courts over the years. I mean, Jackson taunted them. Biden openly defied them on rental forbearance and farming loans. They had to circumvent the courts for student loan forgiveness.
My own rebuttal when it comes to Elon's own conflict of interest is simple: any Auditor paid by the executive will inherently have a conflict of interest. Who audits the auditors? Arguably an executive audit could be sourced from Congress, but that would require an act of Congress.
How much did Fauci make off of COVID?
ordered by a dem administration!
"...thoughts on Elon being in a position of power...
One thing about Trump that I think most people agree on is that he's extremely opinionated on just about everything. So if anyone has Trump's ear, it's because Trump likes what he's hearing.
A Pheasant Hunt analogy: Trump's the guy with the shotgun; Elon's just the guy beating the bushes to flush the birds into the air.
As a distant relative of all the barbarians who sacked Rome, I feel confident in saying that we've already let plenty of outsiders into America. Immigration both legal and illegal is at unheard-of levels.
'What I can't really see is going back to "business as usual" with normal bi-partisan democracy on some normal, civil level.'
AHA! Finally, my theoretically knowledge of American history enables me to argue effectively with you!
Sir, what we have now ain't HALF of what we used to have in this country. We had open fraud in elections. We had brokered transactions of power. We had people killing each other in the street, up to and including the level of Vice President. We had entire towns crushed by private armies, we had cities burn.
What you think of as "the American way" of life and politics is a LUXURY. It's something we made up from about 1935 forwards. It's a by-product of there being enough pork available for the "bi-partisans" to steal it together -- go look up a picture of "Tip O'Neill" for an example of that class.
The American system was built to withstand shocks, violence, and disagreement far greater than anything we have now. My God -- don't forget THE BONUS ARMY! Veterans trampled underfoot during a peaceful protest by "heroes" like Patton, under the command of "Dugout Doug" MacArthur!
Yeah, we used to get DOWN in this country. It could happen again. It might NEED to happen again. If it does, then I regret to inform the Europeans that they will be on their own while Mom and Dad sort it out.
All those people are the descendants of the people who walked across the land bridge and killed everyone who was already here!
If you want to honor people who did no killing to take their land, you'll have to go back to at least the Neanderthals.
Well, we are definitely a nation of *european* immigrants, or at least we were until about 1990.
A lot of people read the Emma Lazarus poem and think it represents the official position of the United States; it does not, any more than does a Henry Miller novel. Maybe less so.
I resemble that remark!
Well, I’ve got the HAIR for it now!
I say this without any intended arrogance or hubris; I don’t see there is a real fight in this country. One side openly fantasizes about the purge and preps for it; the other side makes angry tweets and blog posts. We’re literally gearing up for a rural vs urban conflict, and I give the urbans 72 hours. And that might be generous. My only fear is looking hillbilly enough to escape the suburbs, but I figure I basically look the part anyways. Throw on a blaze orange hoodie and I should fit right in; gotta tell the girls to leave their Lululemon at home and rub some dirt on their ‘trendy’ Carhartt beanies.
It's a hard thing, killing someone in cold or merely warm blood.
At the risk of being cynical, let me say that my experience in this nation's houses of correction leads me to believe that 95% of men are total cowards who would rather blow a goat than engage in real sustained violence against other human beings.
The average lifted-Silverado dude with his ***III*** stickers will drop his rifle and run when he hears the crack of gunfire in his direction. Most of them will drive to the local collection points to turn in both guns AND trucks the minute someone threatens to turn off their Netflix or their corn syrup or both.
If the war comes, it will be PTSD servicemen from rural areas against the Uruk-hai from California and NYC, and the winner will be whoever figures out how to make nerve gas first.
Perhaps. Almost every single hillbilly I know is a vet. But realistically, I don’t know who would be shooting at them.
And on the subject of surrendering weapons, we’re currently under a “register or surrender” AWB in IL, and the favorite topic amongst my fellow gun nuts here is how many unregistered weapons were all holding onto. Registration has hovered between 2-10% depending on who’s estimate you would like to believe.
I don’t have a lot of interest in more scary black rifles because I end up with safe queens, but I do want an AR-10 (safe because it’s 5 less ARs!).
I have most of the mainstream stuff I want (aside from a government 1911), but I want goofy stuff like a Marlin .45-70 and other random shit I have no use for.
"One side openly fantasizes about the purge and preps for it; the other side makes angry tweets and blog posts. "
Which side is which, here? I "think" you think the side making angry tweets and blog posts are the urbanites, but that's not exactly true: those same urbanites were actively traveling to other cities to burn them down just 4 years ago.
And they had funding to do so and paid legal protection in the aftermath.
They were mercenary scum more than they were true believers.
Funded by us through US AID.
And Rittenhouse shot three random ones and killed a pedo, wife beater, and felon.
Those are punks and shitheads but against even the most mildly organized and trained resistance they’d get mowed down like weeds. The only reason they haven’t been is due to selective prosecution. Also, they haven’t “tried that in a small town.”
I’m sure that there are some small towns into which they might just disappear without a trace, if you get my drift!
I had a customer yesterday, who is very impressed with himself for reading a book, which hapned to be a bio of Andrew Jackson talk my disinterested ear off about how much more vile a person Trump is. I had to wonder what children's book about that man he was reading. Even people who think they know history seem to lack context about how horrific the past was.
I have an intense hate for communists due to what they did to my relatives in Eastern Europe. But I have found that people who did not have personal knowledge of communism don’t understand its horrors, or are uninterested in knowing about them, even though the evil history is well documented and incontrovertible.
The fact that you can buy hammer and sickle clothing in the United States -- the fact that Tom Morello got a deal with Fender for his guitar that winks at the death of 100 million or more people -- is insane to me.
I suspect a lot of young white and black men have been utterly radicalized by following a path of questioning that starts with "Why is is utterly forbidden to have a swastika anywhere but the hammer and sickle can be found in Hot Topic?"
The hammer & scythe will never, _EVER_ be an okay thing in America .
It's just dumb children mis using their freedom .
-Nate
Morello is the worst kind of communist, a rich one who made his money in a capitalist system. F him.
In the late 90's/early 2000's my ski racing helmet was painted in a red with a yellow hammer and sickle, and CCCP across the front. I clear coated it before the base was dry to give it a crackle. At the time I had an NROTC ride and I thought it was a ironic comment on the Soviets never actually feilding a downhill squad AND I enjoyed playing a heel.
It took more education and context to understand the true evil of the Evil Empire.
Couldn't do that with a swastika. Which makes you wonder why commie iconography is okay while National Socialist symbology will get you killed, even though the Reds had ten times the body count.
Tom Morello should give back all the money he made fronting Rage Against The Machine and go live in North Korea if he likes communism so much.
As should a fair number of people in mass-media and in Washington D.C.!
Decades ago I worked with three Eastern Europeans that had escaped the iron curtain--one each from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. All three had horrific/fascinating stories about their lives under communism and especially their flights to freedom. Around the time I left that company in '94, the Hungarian lady thanked me for listening and expressed concern that too few Americans care to understand how bad communism is/was. In CURRENT YEAR it seems she was dead on correct.
I worked with an old guy from Estonia who as a young teen got caught by the Germans when he was trying to escape. He got conscripted into the German army.
When I was a kid in the 1960’s living in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago, the Polish Constitution Day parade came through my neighborhood. I distinctly remember the ex-WWII POWs marching in the parade in striped black and white prisoner uniforms. Everyone in my neighborhood back then knew the evils of communism.
My neighborhood has a lot of Polish transplants, and I use to drink with some of the guys back in 2015-2016 before I moved a few blocks away. I’ve never seen such ardent Trump supporters and anti-communists, because those guys saw firsthand the effects of it.
"What I can't really see is going back to "business as usual" with normal bi-partisan democracy on some normal, civil level."
Just slightly older than you, but was this ever effective? All I ever saw during this time were Republicans simply being speedbumps toward progressivism. Democrats actually did things while Republicans just stood there and yelled at clouds.
A Republican in office who wants to actually use power? But then again, he's not really a "Republican".
Exactly. Republicans, to quote a famous essay, are the Washington Generals of politics.
Maybe we’re starting to see a little change.
We can hope, anyway!
because the government is waaaaay too damn big--the basis of 99% of our problems.
Piecing together a few additional things about Cars & Bids:
-Doug had at least one other co-founder, Blake Machado (the developer)
-Cars & Bids subsequently sold a piece of the business to Phillip Sarofim’s Trousdale Ventures entity, which was also an investor in Hagerty
-In February of 2023, Cars & Bids sold > 50% of the business (i.e., a change of control transaction) - also including Doug’s YouTube channel(s) on a go-forward basis - for $37MM, implying a maximum value of the business at ~$74MM two years ago
-So Doug took less than $37MM - because of his co-founder, other early employees who would’ve received equity (some of whom may have had change of control vesting agreements), and Trousdale’s investment - before taxes; I would assume that he filed an 83(b) election, of course
-The business is probably worth less today than it was two years ago, which means that Doug’s remaining equity, which is the reason he is still a public figure making YouTube videos and appearing on podcasts, would be worth less, as well
“It would bother me if my business failed in public for no other reason than the fact that it sucks balls compared to a slew of remarkably incompetent competitors…”
The (likely) decline in value transpired after the business was no longer under Doug’s control! He could make the argument that HE created and grew a business and then sold it to professional, smart money operators who struggled to run it effectively.
I think Doug made closer to $10m from the deal, not that it really matters
Impossible to say with public information.
If he wanted me to know, he would tell me. I haven’t asked, obviously.
Wild if true considering he ran out and bought a $1M+ CGT basically the next day. I get he was already rich, but wow, blow 10% straight away. You could argue he’s storing money I suppose.
If someone gave me five million bucks, I'd have an LMP2 tomorrow evening. TEn percent or not. I want to race a God-damned LMP2.
The equivalent to Doug would be prancing around in a Carrera GT yelling LOOK AT MEEEEE, so maybe it WAS ten percent!
That sounds made-up.
It was more like three consecutive paychecks.
I just celebrated my pending 43rd birthday with the purchase of a new Ecodrive Diver. Cost me just shy of $400. Pretty sure I can sell my Apple Watch Ultra and come out of the transaction basically $0.
I got paid a bonus in 2019 and had a watch on my wrist two days later that cost more than my 993 had cost.
OMG really?!
Yes but we already know you’re financially irresponsible, Dougie seems kinda preachy about money sometimes.
He was also shopping for an F40, and still sort of is.
Don’t forget the house in SD and the house on Nantucket.
Plus a wife and two kids.
I don’t think it was $10MM; probably at least double that (pre-tax), plus he has some remaining equity in the business.
I would get an F40 YEARS before a CGT. I would have one in my driveway 7 days after I won the lottery.
Also can't discount him negotiating some sort of (inflated) ongoing salary from the business since he's still "working" on it. I've seen some sharp operators do that, and do quite well with it.
I would buy a large warehouse building.
Then go Brougham hunting.
Maybe I could get the rust on my old VW Beetle repaired.....
-Nate
(hey, we're just dreaming here, right ?)
+1 on the warehouse. For me it would be cheap XK8s. Lots of them. Then updating the chain tensioners on each and every one of them. When I get bored with the coupes I would graduate to convertibles with the hydraulic fluid in the roof mechanism turning to gel.
I don’t think there’d be a 1977-1992 full-size Caddy in survivor condition left in the COUNTRY!
“Talk to the Brougham Whisperer in Iowa!” 😂😂
You might even buy SUVs occasionally and start a demolition derby series with them, or just occasional Viking funerals!
I’m guessing he financed the CGT.
I mean sure but spending $1M is spending $1M whether you do it on day 1 or day 1 through day 3,600. What’s the max term on a CGT anyways, 10 years?
Agreed, I’m a cheapskate so that would be my logic. But when you have another $10mm producing investment income, he probably doesn’t care what the monthly nut on the CGT is. Plus I’m guessing that there are finance options available to people above my lowly tax bracket that make buying the CGT an afterthought. Also, there may be a small tax benefit to him whenever he features the car in a video. Not sure how making the CGT a business expense might work.
1%'ers problems are always so interesting =8-) .
-Nate
Is kinda wild, but he was already a fairly rich man from YouTube. Getting hundreds of millions of views per year or whatever it was will set you up just fine.
To add to that, the CGT isn’t gonna depreciate anytime soon. It’s parking money into something enjoyable rather than just an index fund. The money is still there, and I bet he can get every penny he put in out of it if he wanted.
Doug already made it known that he likes to be noticed in the CGT. Much easier than taking his Vanguard Total Stock Market fund statement to the bar and waving it around.
You're 25 points below "BigTruckSeriesReviews", who once framed his 850.
I was at 831 until my most recent round of Piper-Archer-related credit-card charges hit.
It got me a brief moment of satisfaction when I was able to walk away from my job.
Either way, he'd look like a dork.
The CGT purely impressed men. Women think it's a Boxster.
you mean its not
i thought the c stood for cayman
Red blooded American man here who also thinks it looks like a Boxster. Its looks never impressed me.
Same thing with the 918 Spyder. One drove past me when I still lived in the Chicago suburbs and it also has the Boxster vibe.
He’s been married a long time right? Maybe he wanted it just because he likes the car. Not everything needs some ulterior motive of chasing sex…
Sure, but what happens when you're no longer popular on YouTube or doesn't want to be the clown show anymore? Having the capital rather than fickle income stream from views is a smart move, make someone else hold the risk that the "business" won't work anymore.
CGT is a good call for exactly what you're thinking -- it's fun, can be driven a bit, and you won't lose too much because it's already a modern classic
I'm ok to blow 10%, but disagree on the car, as I'd rather have 10 x 100k cars instead. Or some other combination that allows me to pick up a few '70s & '80s fantasies. Or a lot of Saabs & Volvos.
Sherman FTW!
All points make sense. Is this all personal knowledge, or is there some registry where these things and their details are listed?
That’s all public information.
-I knew Doug had at least one co-founder, Blake Machado
-I am assuming other employees got some equity (unsure if they had accelerated vesting schedules on a change of control; I am a co-founder of a startup and negotiated that for myself given my background as an M&A banker)
-Trousdale - https://trousdale.vc/company/cars-bids/
-The rest is just back of the envelope math
Their portfolio is chock full of cos I've never heard of... They are all in on the venture part of VC.
edit: Well here ya go... he doesn't have to make money: He is the son of Fayez Sarofim, an Egyptian-American billionaire
The first check if you're interviewing (or interested in a portco) is to check where the PE/VC holder gets the money from. There's a lot of those inheritance types, and they can be interesting to work "for"
That’s Phillip Sarofim, not Peter Chernin
Sarofim is the Meyers Manx Outlaw guy.
Yeah I can see that, what with the same names and what not…
TCG, unlike Trousdale, has invested in companies whose shit is inside my house, as we speak. Seems to me they’re winning, if we’re going to be comparing.
Ya ya, the numbers, etc.
Also I would be shocked, SHOCKED I SAY!! If the Myers Manx ever turns a profit.
I doubt it does, notwithstanding the variables of the SpaceX position.
But that’s fine since Phillip’s a billionaire heir.
whats so special about those outlaws?
Jesus Christ that’s not a real VC. Who the hell would take them seriously?
Have you ever heard of SpaceX?
https://trousdale.vc/company/spacex/
I mean to be a follow on investor isn’t really the sign of a good VC. Most of their portfolio is filled with ass companies that any serious VC wouldn’t touch. I’m not sure spacex will exist anytime soon unless it just becomes a defense company.
Still, that’s a joke investor. I’d take their money only cause they probably don’t understand a thing.
Depending on when they got into SpaceX, that could wash away the sins of the remainder of Trousdale’s portfolio!
Returns are the mark of a “good” VC, or any other steward of capital, come on!
the steep ascent and now decline in (likely) value of C&B is tied directly to the secondary market for enthusiast vehicles. government lockdown-era bubble inflated the value of the asset; the ride down has been the same. claiming doug had anything to do with either instead of just being basically a carnival barker for a programmer and some sales staff seems like a gross exaggeration of his involvement and skills.
good for him to capitalize on the opportunity when it presented itself, but thats all i think you can really say.
Well the deal closed in February of ‘23, but the high water mark for “esoteric” assets was late ‘21 (when rates were still zero).
Doug started the business. He was - and remains - the face of it. There was always the opportunity for someone else to do that, or at least attempt it.
right, february of 23 means he was marketing on 22 numbers with the same (insane and fundamentally unachievable) hockey stick projections baked into his forecast, im sure, from the prior two years. the bottom started to fall out in nov 22 but by feb 23 most were still convinced this was a short duration turn (vs what we all now know)
Did he trick a smart money billionaire?
I've seen worse, I'm sure you have too.
Sounds like Doug sold the vision of what it could be (with his popularity) and found someone who thought the numbers were achievable. What is the stat, 90% of businesses fail in 5 years?
The funniest part on the dumb buyout of C&B was that BaT was there for comparison the whole time. Literally the elephant in the room
That last paragraph… Amen brother.
I remember where I was on the days that Reagan got shot, the space shuttle exploded, and Jethro Tull won the Grammy.
Not necessarily in order of negative world impact!
For me at least, the last was a pleasant surprise.
I was rooting for Metallica at the time, but I’ve made peace with it.
As was I, but later I counted the albums in my collection and found that I had the same number by Megadeth and Metallica - but more Tull than both put together. So, not entirely an unhappy surprise.
Same here, but substitute Steely Dan for Jethro Tull.
That’s a failure which I haven’t yet rectified. Decades ago I placed Steely Dan albums in the same category as Zeppelin or The Who- why buy what’s in constant rotation on FM radio? I think I need a “Dukes of September” dvd while I’m at it.
ETA: I later realized the connection here: “Lowdown” with its flute riff and a (controversial?) Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. I don’t know anything about Boz Scaggs’ career that didn’t get airplay fifty years ago. But retirement is near!
The only Dan tunes I remember getting airplay in my town were Rikki don’t lose that number and do it again.
I have not.
The day JFK was killed, my Mom showed up to pick us up at school, and her face was white, and she could hardly talk.
You see, despite my Jewish surname, I was raised so Irish that, as a child, I heard Gaelic being spoken.
And, my mother's brother had been in charge of Training for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. CIA, obviously.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, my mother was so spooked by the constant TV updates that our Navy was THAT close to the Russian ships, that she phoned her brother, to ask what to do.
He told her, "Take the kids to Mass every day. That way, you will be together."
You can figure out what he meant.
So, when JFK died because Lee Harvey Oswald had begged his wife for sex, the night before, and was refused, my mother thought that it was the Russians' revenge for the Cuban Missile Crisis.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/08/horseshoe-nails-rhythm-history-general-motors/
Was that irony?
Anyway, the family name was originally Marx, as in "Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin." Supposedly my Marxist ancestors had relatives who were entitled to the "Von."
Between World War One and the Russian Revolution, there were incentives to re-spell the name. New England was a center of hysterical anti-German paranoia during WWI. Every issue of the Providence "Journal" newspaper had on its front page a warning:
ALL PERSONS OF AUSTRIAN OR GERMAN BIRTH,
UNLESS KNOWN BY LONG ACQUAINTANCE TO BE LOYAL,
SHOULD BE CONSIDERED TO BE POSSIBLE SPIES OR SABOTEURS.
Which totally missed the point that most of the people who emigrated from Germany or Austria at least in part were motivated by a desire to live in a Democracy, and not be under the risk of being conscripted for the Prussian War Machine.
In US Jewish culture, such names as Marks are called "Changeniks."
Whereas, when you change "Tolchinsky" to "Tolin," that is a "Chopnik."
Supposedly, the name Marks is also original to the borderlands between Wales and England. And there is a Portuguese variant.
By the way, Elvis Presley was not Bar Mitzvah'ed, and I don't believe that he ever set foot in a synagogue. But, under Rabbinical Law, Elvis was entitled to claim Jewish identity, because his mother was a Jewish woman who had been born to a Jewish woman. Elvis's middle name was Biblical--Aaron.
The stone marker memorializing Elvis's mother at Graceland has a large Star of David on it.
so we can blame the jfk assassination on women
neat
That was Marina Prusakova Oswald's story, and she is sticking with it.
The guy who is currently occupying Bill Clinton's "Oral Office" has a long history of over-promising and under-delivering. So I have zero confidence that ALL US Government Documents on the JFK assassination will be revealed in full.
Even if Oswald was a "Lone Nut" (Jackie Kennedy was offended that her hubby had been killed by a "silly little Communist"), several Federal agencies have a lot of explaining to do.
Oswald had been a radar operator at the base from which U2 spy planes launched to overfly Russia. He had some kind of Security Clearance, and he knew the Climb Rate and Operational Ceiling of the U2. Which the Russians did not know, until Oswald defected and settled down in Russia.
Russia had never been able to shoot down a U2--until Oswald defected.
I think it entirely possible that ONI or the CIA had sent Oswald to Russia specifically to embarrass Eisenhower. The CIA had told Eisenhower that the U2 could not be shot down. So Eisenhower lied to Kruschev, telling him that the US was not overflying Russia.
Shooting down Gary Powers in his U2 put the Kibosh on the tentative Peace Feelers Kruschev and Eisenhower had been exchanging. The CIA on its part was terrified that "Peace Might Break Out."
Francis Gary Powers stated that when he was in Lubyanka Prison, the Judas Gate in his cell door opened, and somebody who spoke Russian with an American accent looked in and said in Russian, "Yes, that's him."
Powers later said he was sure it had been Oswald.
Yet when Oswald decided to come back home with the woman he had married on six weeks' acquaintance, the US provided travel money.
BTW, Oswald's Federal Income Tax returns are better guarded than the formula for Coca-Cola. JFK Assassination students believe that Oswald stupidly declared on his taxes the money he was being paid as an informant.
Sleep tight, America!
didnt see that one coming
cant belive this guy was the reason the u2 got shot down in the first place and that all of this was even being orchestrated in the first place
When my totally amazing son was chosen for the Defense Language Institute, in my best Fatherly Voice I urged him to keep his eyes peeled for a very superior officer, smartly walk up to the guy, salute, and then ask:
"BEGGING YOUR PARDON, SIR! COULD YOU PLEASE SHOW ME WHERE THE LITTLE PLAQUE IS, THAT SAYS 'LEE HARVEY OSWALD SLEPT HERE'?"
That's right, Citizens! Your parents' tax dollars went into teaching Lee Oswald how to speak Russian. Why, I can only ask!
In the event, when Comrade Lee was working at a radio factory in Minsk, at a party he met Marina Prusakova. Six weeks later, they were married. (She was more than a little hot.)
There is a theory that, over and above messing with Eisenhower's agenda, Oswald was in Russia to "extract" a relative of a high-ranking Russian General who wanted to defect, and who did not want his niece to suffer from his actions.
An audio chum of mine with degrees from Harvard and MIT and who had been a contract employee of the CIA, told me that he was sure that JFK's assassination was a "False Flag Operation" that was hijacked.
But there is also the theory that it was a "False Flag Operation" that went haywire when a untrained Secret Service Driver who had been assigned "Riding Shotgun" duty mishandled an AR-15 that was totally new to him, and shot JFK in the back of the head... hence all the covering up.
Back when supposedly they could use audio waveform analysis to detect whether someone was lying, one of those types declared that when Oswald said "I'm just a patsy," he was telling the truth.
Something that gives pause is that reportedly, when relatives went to break the news of JFK's death to his very infirm father, they at first said that it was a "terrible accident."
But never forget that Roger Stone wrote a book claiming that Nixon believed that LBJ had tasked his personal Hit Man to get rid of JFK, because LBJ's own legal problems were mounting.
you mean to say the united states governemnt trained someone that would in the future turn on them? im just glad this was an isolated incident and nothing like it ever happened again
Any books/resources you recommend on researching these topics. I love this stuff but there is a lot of garbage to sift through. TIA.
I agree that there is a lot of weird stuff out there. My ex-CIA friend was a Moonbat; he was convinced that Nov. 22, 1963 was, in Reality, a "Masonic Ritual Execution of a King." Hard to respond to that.
A few to start:
"Mortal Error": JFK was accidentally shot by a Secret Service Rookie.
"The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ" Self-explanatory.
"Live by the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK" Self-explanatory.
"A Death in November: America in Vietnam, 1963" JFK's complicity in the murder of Ngo Dinh Diem.
As an author (and a best-selling one at that) I have zero regard or even respect for awards. They've always been nothing more than popularity contests among small cliques, and over the last couple of decades they have almost all veered to the hard left. They've almost all been taken over by the mainstream publishers on Madison Ave in NYC as well.
The whole debacle around the Hugos and 'Sad Puppies' which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the awards were rigged and proved it quite clearly. They clearly showed as well that it doesn't matter what you write or how much you sell - it just matters that you have the right politics. I know very successful authors who were completely black-listed, overnight, when their personal politics were discovered.
The 'award' that we all like to go on about these days, in the 'politically incorrect' circles are the 'Benjamin Award'. How many Benjamins did your fans award you with?
Because in the end, that's the only reward that really has any meaning: How many people are willing to give you their hard-earned money for your work?
Success in the marketplace is an important proof of concept.
Not in the writing/publishing market - or rather it wasn't until Independent Publishing (Indy) came along. Until then all of the books being published had to go through gate-keepers, who in the 80's nearly all became very left-wing and whom all of those marched in lockstep.
Indy changed that, somewhat, in that more people had access to the market, and suddenly books you weren't allowed to read were now being published (see ALL of my catalog - I'm a 'niche' writer, I write books for men).
Even with all of that, writing is still a very nasty market/business. Publishers actually pay people to go out and give bad reviews to the competition. And folks at a certain bookseller often have very political opinions that they'll exercise via their workplace powers - not to mention the ones who just simply do it for money (i.e. they accept bribes).
they really arent even trying to hide it so either theyre dumb or brazen
or both
That's because she got the money afterwards, therefore, according to liberals everywhere, it's not a bribe!
I'm serious, they believe that and will actually YELL at you about how no one pays a bribe AFTERWARDS.
The stupidity of these folks is impressive.
John - if I were to read some of your stuff where would you recommend I begin?
That would depend on what you like, to be honest. If you like hard scifi, Summer's End. If you like something a bit more 'Space Opera', Stand Alone. Urban Fantasy? Either Portals of Infinity, book 1 or Hammer Commission.
Thank you.
As a reader I really enjoyed Portals of Infinity and Summer's End.
Thanks for the advice. I'll probably check out Summer's end. Is there any difference in royalties/payout you get based on format or seller?
Yeah, there is, but don't worry about it. On Summer's End, which is from Baen Books, one of the trad pubs, I make more on the ebook, but they're happier when I sell print. Which is weird, because they make more on the ebook too.
One could say that your success in the indy publishing market is proof that your concepts for the books have been sound.
I'm not saying that every market success is a proof that the idea is superior, see VHS vs Betamax as well as corrupt markets like you mentioned, but being able to sell an idea to someone else is some measure of how good the idea is.
VHS vs Betamax was because Sony got greedy and acted stupidly.
Aren't all awards essentially some sort of popularity contest or advertising payoff?
It all depends on who's judging and once you know how that works, you'll see through any of them. Various "product of the year" type of awards in any industry are the same game, just paid for directly by the manufacturer rather than the publisher and typically less political than "art"
Yes and no. They're supposed to have some standards to them, and they're not supposed to be rigged. Especially not if they're being given by a non-profit (there are actual laws against that).
When people say that 'anyone can win if they get enough votes' and then suddenly when someone they don't like gets waaaay too many votes and all of the sudden dodgy shit starts happening? Then you know that a lot of these awards are actually rigged by the small group of people in charge of them.
The thing is, there are awards that used to be serious and had high standards in the industry. None of those have any standards and more and are all rigged. And heaven help you if you expose it. Even USA today will come after you and slander you.
Can't agree with your last paragraph more, even as a (mostly unwanted) 'non-immigrant'.
First: Is that warning at the top because I engaged and challenged AK47isthetool to justify his statement in the other thread? If so, let me aplogise, since my intent is not to attack anyone, but perhaps firmly challenge beliefs or assumptions.
"Let’s put aside for a moment the facts that nobody who has a null entry in their birthdate field should be collecting Social Security. How is this not universally agreed upon? I spoke with a professional in the retirement field recently who told me, “I used to go through and take people off pension rolls for having a null birthdate, or other missing but important information, all the time. I’d tell the clients to call the person and see if they could come to the phone — and if not, why.”"
Why should we put this aside? This is literally the only thing that needs to be addressed.... nobody wants to even touch this...
"The Social Security Administration knows it has a serious data issue, so in 2015 they handled it in the laziest and most blunt-trauma way possible: by no longer paying benefits to anyone who is over 115 years old but not marked “dead” in the database. The SSA database, by the way, has 18.9 million “undead” people who fall into that bucket, which seems like a problem in and of itself. Occam’s Razor tells us that the SSA almost certainly has millions of dead people to whom benefits are still being paid, unless, you know, the “undead” issue is magically non-applicable to people born after 1911."
This needs to be still trimmed further, judiciously so, with follow up and a paper trail... why did it take Trump in the second term to find this out? Again something nobody wants to talk about... Isn't this somebody's full time job in the SSA? Why do these people still have a job? They should be sued for dereliction of duty and their salary for the last decade clawed back...
"The moral of the story here is that there’s a very real contingent of the media, the Twitterati, and the social-media universe that likes to play at being scientists, programmers, and other “smart people”. Because these people are not scientists or programmers, they fail to understand the iterative, zero-thrills, plodding nature of these enterprises, and therefore they are easily seduced by things that sound scientific or programmer-y."
Anybody with a brain doesn't fall into this trap - you're being charitable saying that these are midwits, they're utter morons, the people that fall for this shit.
It's the BIG LIE. That's all. Say something loud enough and long enough and people will believe it. The Clinton's did it with impunity, and proved that it still worked quite well.
Also don't forget that a lot of people posting on the internet are bots owned and run by left wing organizations. They got into that whole thing quite early. Look at Media Matters - they and their boiler rooms full of paid internet posters are still around and still active.
'First: Is that warning at the top because I engaged and challenged AK47isthetool to justify his statement in the other thread? If so, let me aplogise, since my intent is not to attack anyone, but perhaps firmly challenge beliefs or assumptions.'
No sir, you've always played fair. I have zero issue with anything you've written here or in any other context. Sometimes you hurt my feeeewings but I'm a grown man!
1. SS is a hand grenade for both parties.
2. "This needs to be still trimmed further, judiciously so, with follow up and a paper trail... why did it take Trump in the second term to find this out?" Putting my tinfoil hat on for a second, party because much of the federal government tried to undermine Trump and his policies.
I should have phrased my concern differently.
Under what professional accounting scheme or CFO would this sort of continuing malfeasance be not grounds for immediate audits down to the penny, if not jail time for all involved and bankruptcy?
Also isn't this the JOB of someone in SS? I'm not saying reduce or change SS benefits I'm saying everyone on the recipients list needs to be confirmed to be a real person and also not one assuming someone else's identity.
The 250 year old still collecting benefits was 230 years old 20 years ago... What sort of stupidity is this? FRAUD should be prosecuted and examples made of every single incorrect recipient and the money clawed back or jail time for all involved. This is a bare minimum.
man all of that programming talk went straight over my head (i seriously need to get a grip on that but have no idea what language is even useful and for what since everyone seems to have the opinion that theirs is the only one that isnt a waste of time) but when you look at who is posting it you can just check their background to find that theyve never posted literally anything programming related before and it all clicks
"What’s in the COVID-19 vaccine?"
aids, maybe. something something clot shot
tragic to hear about the ss united states and turning it into a reef is a colossal waste and an insult and i wonder who made that decision and why. fuck them fishes i want the boat
Few things are simultaneously worth less and cost more than old boats.
Yacht are just holes in the ocean into which you pour $$$.
and theres nothing the govt like more than dumping money into useless causes so its clearly a match made in heaven
if they can dump 83 million dollars for gay interracial disabled weddings in myanmar then they could absolutely afford to resurrect the better titanic
or maybe the whole thing is just a demoralization campaign
Hmmm...
Sorry, I thought that was for Quadriplegic Lesbian Weddings, in Gaza?
The worst thing Hillary Clinton did, after giving cover to Rapist Bill, was to decree that local/native US Embassy and Counselate employees all over the world had to show up and cheer at Gay Pride events.
The Armless Transgendered couple in the Ivory Coast would like to have a word with you!
I hate to see the ship go this way, but will definitely visit the reef.
“Old boats”
That comment might summon Sherman, who will no doubt talk about his father’s wooden boats, and then somehow spin that anecdote into a story about some billionaire he met in a sauna once.
I seem to recall reading a number of years ago that the SS United States was in really really bad condition and restoring it would have been enormously expensive.
They should melt it down and make another boat
a slightly smaller scale version of the ss united states
Jack you summed it up beautifully!
The most interesting nugget in the Autopian article was that when the PE guys bought C&B, the site was only doing 25 auctions per day. It went up briefly to 29 auctions, now it’s back down below 25 auctions per day. It is mind blowing that they “invested” $37 million with those daily auction numbers.
What kind of due diligence did the PE guys do? If they thought that they could grow the business and be Burger King to BaT’s McDonalds franchise, they were delusional.
37mil for 25 auctions a day and you could probably buy every single car there for an entire year or two
Yeah and that's also a hammer-blow to the face for the Doug fans who will say, and *ARE* saying on Autopian, that "PRIVATE EQUITY DROVE IT INTO TEH GROUNDS". Nah, bro, it was already there.
The Autopian comments are mostly a lefty echo chamber. But there are way more comments critical of DeMuro than I thought would be. I think these layoffs are damaging to his personal brand, but the PE guys are stuck with him as the face of C&B.
The Internet goes from "adulation" to "crab bucket" in a heartbeat, and the cringier and more beta the male consumers are for a particular item, the more risk one runs of such a transition.
Doug's appeal was that he was nonthreatening and in no way cool. Then he got rich. Now "he" is laying people off. It's like when Fat Brad Brownell voluntarily became a slum lord and started bragging about his real estate.
This is a weird YouTube thing, but these beta males who have some online success just cannot help themselves and have to display their newfound wealth, and then further, always talk about money in every other video. I don’t begrudge anyone who’s done well, but the beta males doing bling videos are total cringe.
It’s not a winning brand strategy, and you can see Demuro’s brand equity slipping away in the Autopian comments, because doubt about Demuro’s character has entered the room, deserved or not. The commenters there are working through their cognitive dissonance and it’s come down to the Carrera GT vs. laid off workers. It’s hard for an Autopian lefty to be pro CGT.
https://tcg.co/portfolio/
They don’t need every investment to be a home run.
Peter Chernin is a billionaire who swans around at The Yellowstone Club - he’s good.
That was a useful corrective, but didn’t they also fire everyone on probation (not understanding that probation = new at the job, not performing badly)? Agree with your last para (save for the fact that they had a hard time agreeing on how to structure those institutions!).
Some of that falls under the heading of "Start by making a 180 degree turn". In other words, stop hiring people and let go some of the most recent hires, whether or not they are better or worse than the people around them, because much of the government works on seniority anyway and there's always the unpleasant spectre of the public sector unions.
Since the national debt is so out of control, they need to fire as many people as possible, then hire back if they cut too deep. It sounds cruel but it’s a way to figure out what staff is needed. Corporations do it all the time.
The thing I don't get is that I was under the impression congress had to issue a RIF. Maybe that is only for union jobs?
I am awfully tired of headlines saying "Trump fired National Park Employees" when in fact they were laid off. Yes, Trump has fired employees, many of which were previously appointed employees. Headlines keep acting like these are all "firings".
Has anyone heard what the government plans to do with all these supposed savings that are being realized by the DOGE boys? The reported savings being broadcasted reminds me of a controller I used to work with that used to say during engineering cost out meetings that he only wanted to discuss savings initiatives in number of head count reduced instead of dollars saved because without reducing FTEs you didn't actually save anything. What good is "saving" 55 billion if they don't issue a tax rebate to the taxpayers or clearly disclose where that money will now go,? I'm not saying we should continue to give it away, but identifying the waste is only half the battle.
This is wife math in the extreme. What are they going to do with the savings? Not go as deep into the red every single month. We’re in the “stop the bleeding” phase.
Exactly. Pay down the debt, then reduce taxes. The Feds should never send a damn "stimulus" check again. The only thing stimulated was inflation.
Until the government runs a surplus there isn't any money to pay down the debt, we just slow the rate of going deeper in debt which would be a step in the right direction at this point.
You're making an assumption that they will "stop the bleeding" all I'm asking is for a confirmation with data showing that is what is being done. Otherwise how do we know it isn't going to some other not beneficial program, this is our Government after all. If they are going to left pocket/right pocket the money with little transparency then I am all for "wife math" and taking my portion of that back so I can squander it as I choose.
If by ‘“left pocket / right pocket” you mean “120% of the NASA savings becomes SpaceX contracts” then yes, do enjoy the show.
We’ll get our placebo piece of the action, but not til a few months before elections.
I believe Musk has floated the idea of $5k rebates to the taxpayers. Which raises all sorts of questions such as taxpayers who didn’t pay in $5k or even the negative taxpayers who get credits.
The original proposal from the private citizen in Arizona limited the $5k rebates to actual tax payers. I don’t think that would fly, even though it’s logical.
Would these $5K checks lead to further inflation?
That’s always been the $100,000 er $1,000,000 question. Joking aside, there’s been several tranches of various stimulus over the last several decades but I don’t think the answer is clear.
Depends on what else is happening in the economy. I think we are pretty solidly in "bad time for stimulus by deficit spending" territory right now.
In 2008-2009 it would not have been inflationary.
Short-term stimulus to offset the economic dip from COVID made sense, to the extent the dip was not a self-inflicted wound. Keeping the stimulus going was nuts. There are models for all this stuff. The simple ones sort of work, at least enough for good idea/bad idea.
Just edited, probably too late for anyone to see: Thought about this a little more and it is not inflationary. It replaces $5K of gov't spending with $5K of private spending. No significant difference. At an in-the-weeds level, different items might be purchased and each would be affected as per supply and demand. I'd rather see less debt than a check, but I'd take the check.
Dates in COBOL can also be stored as text (as can just about anything), which makes calculations on them even more fun. Better yet, use multiple variations of YYYYMMDD in the same space just to mix it up a bit. This was seen in one chunk of COBOL code within one program using one copybook at a small part of one fed agency. Despite COBOL being relatively understandable, ancient programmers can and have made it difficult by being idiots.
The SS United States always made going over the Walt Whitman to Philly such a joy.
For very nearly my entire life it’s sat as a sad, hulk of a thing haunting the Delaware. Out of commission for decades longer than it was ever in service, what was there left to do?
Whoever owned it in the 80s is apparently the one that let it go to rot… A dozen failed ideas to save it from a condo, to a casino, to a hotel, to a hospital ship, to a Hawaiian cruise line. All fell apart and lacked funding. The interest was never really there. It was a noble curiosity, but not much more.
At least now the beast can rest and still be useful. The real tragedy would’ve been it turning to razor blades or washing machines. Its new mission gives it some purpose for what it’s worth, other than to rust the waters around the Philly Navy Yard.
One, I assume, will be able to visit it and pay respects as a reef if you want. It’s not the finale it should have had, but at least it gets one.
Kind of like the sad story of the MV Kalakala in Seattle. I remember as a kid, the old timers talking about her and then driving by her where she was tied up on lake Union after they refloated her and towed her down from Alaska. A series of owners had grand plans to restore her, but they all fell through. She was scrapped in 2015 after being declared a navigation hazard. She probably came back as Chinese spatulas, hanging on pegs at Walmart
I seem to recall the biggest problem is all the fittings, decor, interior features etc. were all auctioned off around 1981. There was basically nothing left inside except the helm. Everything inside would have to be recreated.
That doesn't mean it should be turned into a reef, but I think it's past the point of no return by now. A shame any way you slice it.
i heard funding was available but all the required permits pushed any work off into the uneconomic future
Great read. As always.
And as always, sir, thank you for reading -- you know I particularly value your opinion over, say, that of the "Speed" fellow*
* hope he doesn't see this
BRO WHAT DID I DO
Oh, you don't know?
thats my secret jack
i never know whats going on
Me neither. We should work together.
you got it chief