jas007

This is hardly news. And the issue is far from settled. The litigation continues. What you may come to find out is that lower level federal judges will not be allowed to stop the President of the USA from conducting US foreign policy. Were it otherwise, imagine what that would mean. Don't like a Presidential policy? No problem, just shop for a judge and file a lawsuit. You win, the President loses. That's not going to fly with the Supreme Court. It's stupid on its face.

No one needed to be a medical doctor to know what was going on back then. All you had to do was pay attention and read publicly available information. Many doctors didn't have much choice. They could go along with the program or lose their jobs. Truly amazing. Propaganda works. And the doctors who spoke out and told the truth? Banished.

I won't pretend to know anything about the Thailand economy or whether it's becoming an "economic basket case." I do think, however, that from a US perspective, Thailand is important in a geopolitical sense, and so Thailand might be spared the brunt of whatever tariffs Trump might otherwise propose. I guess you must know that the U-Tapo airbase was built by the USA during the Vietnam war era, and can handle B-52s and the like. That's strategically important.

"Marginal gains." No Nazis in Ukraine? LOL What surprises me is how anyone who actually supports Ukraine is OK with a US proxy war in which Ukrainians die to the last Ukrainian for a bunch of Neocon nutcases who couldn't care less about Ukraine, Ukrainians, or Ukrainian "democracy." What you're going to end up with is no Ukraine at all and thousands of more dead Ukrainian kids.

Do you really believe that? Anyway, what I believe doesn't matter. What you believe doesn't matter. The reality will be played out in realtime, on the ground. And in reality, and after three years of support from the USA and the EU, where is Ukraine now? Begging for more help, with large parts of Ukraine already lost. A nonsensical deal between Trump and Zelenskyy won't change that. Thousands more young people might die for no good reason, but that's about it. It's too bad. Young people in the prime of their life, gone, because some people can't accept reality.

The agreement would be all well and good in a fantasyland where Russia has not already won the war. But an agreement, without more, does not trump reality. And the reality is that Russia holds all the cards, so to speak. It's not a matter of selling Ukraine to Russia. Russia already won. Anyway, we'll have to see how it plays out, but I'm afraid the longer the charade goes on, the worse it will be for Ukraine. Right now, they have a chance to save what's left of Ukraine. Maybe they should accept that and move on.

Even with continued America support, Ukraine can't win. So far, even with all the support they received, they lost. It's over. So what's Trump really doing with this "deal"? It's not a deal to end the war at all. And if Russia doesn't agree, then what? Nobody is going to be mining anything. No "reconstruction" will take place. The entire country of Ukraine will be lost. Maybe Trump is just going through the motions to satisfy the nutcase Neocons. He knows full well the deal is no deal, but he can say he "tried" and it didn't work. At that point, the real negotiations can begin.

I'm sorry. I guess I just don't know where that is. I'm at Wongamat beach and I don't see anything like that.

I don't think it's a serous effort by Trump to do anything much. He must surely know Russia won't sign onto such an agreement. As for Zelenskyy and Putin? Without US support, Zelenskyy is finished. Everyone knows that, including Zelenskyy. Even the EU knows that. Or, if they don't they will surely find out.

Most importantly, it won't be agreed to by Russia, at least not in its present form. And if Russia doesn't agree, what does Trump have, really? Nothing. And he won't be able to sell "nothing" to anyone, including his supporters. The idea is to end the war, not continue the war.

I wouldn't call it "seeing the light." More like seeing a bunch of nonsense that won't be taken seriously by Russia and won't end the war in any event. The chances of this "deal" with Zelenskyy being agreed to by Russia are nil. So, what is Trump up to? Just pretending to go along with the warmonger program to please the Neocon elements? He must know the "deal" will never fly. The war s already over, Russia won. I guess we all get to find out what Trump is up to sometime soon.

From what's being reported, the so-called "deal" doesn't end the war, is a bad deal for America as it's America who will end up paying, and isn't anything that Russia would agree to, in any event. Why would they? The reconstruction of Ukraine, continued American military support, and Americans profiting only from future operations to mine Ukraine's resources? Who profits? Blackrock. The big banks. The warmongers. My only guess is that Trump knows this will not fly but is taking a baby step towards getting Zelenskyy to cave.

Meaning, I presume, that 1 in 3 trillion is pretty close to a sure thing?

??????????/ What's wrong with staying fully invested? And let's say you do that and don't make a lot of portfolio adjustments. How do "brokers fees" fit into that situation? Your broker makes nothing unless you have a margin account and they loan out your shares for a fee.

Just out of curiosity, what restaurants and in which part of Wongamat beach?

I'll have to go back and look. I remember one time you wanted "sources" for something or other. I wasn't about to waste all day looking for "sources." And by now you should know what I think about "sources." Finding fake news to prove that fake news is fake news is an exercise in futility.

Seriously. How is this even an issue? Who cares? How much does Thailand make from "dual pricing"? Who sits in their home country and decides whether or not to visit Thailand based on the admission price to a national park?

Again. I agree. But we're talking about Trump. He doesn't care about short term consequences. He cares about winning. All he has to do is stay the course. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The alternative would not be pretty.

I didn't "pull out" of anything. I take every penny I can get my hands on and double down. I just bought more stocks a few days ago. Whatever nonsense is going on in the market is only temporary. Otherwise, I just paid some bills and transferred some money to Thailand, leaving me with a grand total of cash in the US bank account of about $50. I don't need any more than that there, and I certainly am doing OK here in Thailand. I think I also have some small amount in a few other banks accounts there, but nothing much that matters. And in the middle of the month, I'll get a Social Security payment. I'll use that to pay off a credit card that I've used in the meantime to buy junk here. Groceries and so on, along with payment for a few streaming services. No interest due, so long as I do that. Any remaining money - into more stocks.

I have to agree with dinsdale. You don't seem to know what you're talking about or refuse to answer questions you don't like. You have yet to respond to my question about the DNA sequence patented by Moderna in 2016. And while you're thinking about that, maybe you should look up which US government department or agencies bought and paid for Moderna's gain of function research beginning in 2011. There's currently some ongoing litigation about the ownership of the patents, but rest assured, the research was bought and paid for by the US government. I could go on all day about that, but I think it would be over your head.

I don't disagree, and. over the longer term, in a static world, US firms would begin to feel the pinch, along with the economy as a whole. But, over time, the world adjusts and tariff wars come and go. This one will be over long before the situation becomes critical.

Not too many people have a crystal ball, and certainly not me. In understand all about the complexity of supply chains and the difficulties involved in undoing what was assembled over a period of decades. I guess my main point is that China is on a short fuse. The propaganda would have us believe otherwise, but I don't think they can outlast the US Fed, and, so long as Trump doesn't reverse course, he's on a winning path.

Both countries? Ukraine and Russia. And as I understood Trump's initial thinking, the idea was for the USA and Russia to take and mine the mineral deposits spanning both countries and share in the proceeds. Russia gets a cut and the US take's its share as repayment for the money invested in the war effort. The situation reminds me of the scene in The Godfather where Sollozo meets with the Godfather in a bid to finance his drug business. In exchange for the Godfather's support, Sollozo says he'll "take care of the Tattaglias out of his end." The same kind of deal is suggested here. Ruthless and transactional. In the process, Ukraine loses. It may not be fair, but where is it written that the world is a fair place? I apologize if I haven't kept up with the latest news. In my mind, this war ended long ago.

So, who do you pay for all this "information"? Do you have a Bloomberg Terminal? Having access to both sides of the story is great, if you can actually get it. I wouldn't be so proud, though, of not having an X account. What are you afraid of? That you might encounter a little bit of the truth now and then? X accounts are free. If you have such an open mind, why not read what people have to say? Or, if you want, you can only read what people you "follow" have to say. Pretty simple. You can both have an X account and insulate yourself from reading anything from anyone who might not agree with you.

It's called the CPI for a reason. And the C stands for "consumer." And in the US economy, consumers don't shop for a billion items. They shop for food, housing, gasoline, and they pay their monthly bills, including bills for various types of insurance and for energy. They don't have much choice. It's that, or a tent on the sidewalk somewhere. Prices in the grocery stores are not increasing by a rate of only 3.1%. Try adding 20 points to that number and you'd be in the right ballpark. As for housing? LOL Did you know that the CPI does not include actual housing costs? Instead, the BLS uses a figure called "Owner Equivalent Rent" which is derived, in part, by asking owners what they think it would cost to rent their property. And typically, owners underestimate the cost, so the results aren't too accurate. Anyway you slice it, it's a scam to exclude real long term housing costs. But it sure does help hide the reality faced by consumers on a day-to-day basis. Look here, don't look there. Nothing to see here. Move along. That's the game they play. "Look, we shopped for a billion items, and we conclude inflation is under control." Something like that, right? And let's not forget health insurance and property insurance, both of which are through the roof at present and show no signs of slowing down. Different reasons for increases in each, but a big part of every consumer's budget, for sure. Except for the people who are uninsured and just don't care. Maybe they're the real winners? Lots of people are just partying on, as if they don't have a care in the world. Credit card balances increase every month, and people are buying groceries on a "buy now pay later" plan. Even for food they have delivered, they can do that. Want a pizza delivered? No problem. Just four easy payments. No problem if you pay on time, but if you don't check the interest rate. So, pretend, if you want, that the government isn't, at a minimum, distorting the truth. Just don't tell Joe Six Pack everything is fine.