jas007

No one has given Trump dictatorial powers. The US wasn't set up that way and it isn't about to change just because the voters got sick of how the Democrats were destroying the country and wanted to try something different. Legally, there's a "separation of powers." The executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The constitution was set up to prevent a dictator-like situation. And t works. Sometimes too well, as we can se from the gridlock in DC. Still, it's better than the alternative. Will the voters be disappointed? Many of them, especially all the people who will lose their jobs in the coming months and years. Not necessarily because of Trump and the budget cuts that will be implementing where he can, but because of new disruptive business models and the rise of artificial intelligence. And that's happening at warp speed. A new industrial revolution of sorts. Millions of people will lose their jobs to AI "agents" and businesses implementing artificial intelligence solutions. Accountants, some lawyers, paralegals, clerical workers. Basically, anyone engaged in a mid-level white collar job should be prepared for unemployment. And it won't be just those people. Robotics is also coming of age. Humanoid robots available at a very reasonable cost. Just the occasional recharging, and they're good to go. And they will be able to be programed to do all sorts of different tasks. People will be losing factory jobs. In any event, the country can no longer afford business as usual. The bond market is already on life support. So it's change or else.

Hardly. Just an illustration of what might happen if people don't perform their job. Look up the concept of "standard of care" in the context of medical malpractice. If you're a doctor and a plaintiff can prove that you didn't provide medical services that conformed to the standard of care expected, guess what? It happens every day, by the way. Law firms make a fortune. Put it in another context if that helps. You want the transmission rebuilt on your car. Or you hire a contractor to install a new roof. You pay for and you expect those people to do a proper job. If they don't. how is it somehow a defense if they were busy with other priorities, that, while "productive," had nothing whatever to do with the job you hired them to do?

Yep. She usually speaks her mind. Mostly, it's funny.

Of course they're "productive" is a certain sense, but obviously can be counterproductive on balance, if the end result is the breakdown of the system because core duties were ignored. How is that so hard to understand? Imagine you're in a hospital for open heart surgery. During your surgery, an entire team is there. The surgeon, the anesthesiologists, the nurses. each with their own function. Each plays a critical role. And of course, you can rightly expect that the hospital's back-up electric generators will work in case of a power outage. Your life depends on an entire team, all attending to their jobs. Your surgery is botched and you die. Reason? Maybe the anesthesiologist was daydreaming about some DEI project. Or maybe, it was the surgeon, or both. Or the nurse failed in some core aspect of her job for a similar reason. You're dead because people weren't performing their core functions. Get it? There are certain basics. Forget those, and you're not doing your job.

Arguing with a taxi driver probably isn't the smartest thing to do. I wonder what this was all about? The amount of the fare? Usually, even if they quote you what they think is a rip off rate, it doesn't seem like such a big deal, and it's probably better just to say OK that to wait around trying to find another cab with a lower rate.

Depending on your US banks and it's foreign ATM fee, you can pay a lot to take out money when you consider that fee, the foreign transaction fee, and the currency conversion fee, and the fee charged by the local ATM. that's just how it is unless you plan it out in advance. Some US banks won't charge a foreign transaction fee, some won't if you have the right kind of account with a certain balance level. Others might refund any foreign ATM fee.

Non-productive agendas are all well and good, provided the core functions of government aren't ignored. Here. in the case of the fires, there was a systemic failure. A failure at every level, no doubt caused, at least in part, by people in authority focusing on their pet agendas rather than their jobs. For example, the mayor of LA knew fires were possible. She had weather forecasts, she keow it was the season for Santa Ana winds, and yet where was she? In Africa, not at all worried about LA and its people.

The article I was referring to has nothing to do with MTG. I'm not sure what her theories are on the whole thing. Sometimes she seems to be nuts, but I like her just because she's good at stirring up trouble. Sometimes, that's a good thing. Calling into question mainstream beliefs to allow for more discussion.

Basically, it's an article about two fire experts and what they think could have prevented the fires. They emphasized the need for proper forest management techniques, better building materials, and the fact that while very high winds no doubt contributed to the severity of the fires and that containment of the fires might have been an exercise in futility once they became widespread, proper management of the brush and so on might have stopped some of the fires from starting in the first place. That's just basic stuff. Basic precautions. Do what can be done and do it diligently. Fires will happen periodically, as they always do, but basic precautions must be maintained.

I think I've seen pictures. Maybe they're still floating around.

I don't doubt that it's called a "conspiracy theory." However, that doesn't mean it's not true. Do you need examples?

This is an interesting article: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-11/fire-experts-asses-los-angeles-blazes-amid-changing-times

If I'm not mistaken, the Central Festival lower level has two food courts? One is right net to the Tops grocery store, and the other is in another area, but still on that same level.

Of course, you keep ignoring the fact that the reservoir for the Palisades area was empty and had been empty for months. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/as-flames-raged-in-palisades-a-key-reservoir-nearby-was-offline

Every time I venture into central Pattaya area, I come back without being run over by a motorcycle, I feel like I cheated death for another day. Twice I've come within inches of being run over, and I've witnessed any number of accidents. All you really have to do is find a busy intersection, find a place to have a beer that has a good view, and wait. Sit there long enough and you'll see an accident or, at a minimum, a bunch of close calls. The corner of Soi Diana Inn and Soi Bukhao is a good spot.

Back to stocks. The other day, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a jobs report that showed explosive job growth in December. In response, the yield on the 10 year bond is approaching 5% and the market tanked, or I should say dropped a lot. Some stocks are now in correction territory, especially some high flying tech and speculative tech stocks. My theory going forward: I don't believe the jobs report for one second. Lately, many of the jobs reports have been revised downward at a later date. Perhaps the Biden administration is deliberately trying to leave Trump with a mess? That's exactly what the Democrats are now trying to do. A phony jobs report would be just the ticket to shake up the markets. I'm sure a lot of the official reports have been phony or fudged. For example, no one believes that inflation in 2024 was only 2.5% or whatever. And yet that's what was reported. Anyway, the markets have been disrupted because large banks and other institutions have little choice but to react to the official news and the movement of the bond market. They have rules they follow and don't deviate. If the 10 year yield is 5%, they go with that number and adjust their portfolios accordingly. If the stock market corrects, they make the appropriate adjustments there. They have no choice. They're managing large pools of other people's money and they don't want to be seen as gamblers. And yet Trump takes office in a matter of days. Perhaps they'll start reporting real numbers. And I'm sure the powers that be will do everything humanly possible to push down interest rates. It's that or a system collapse. It may be a system collapse either way, but I'll go with the lower interest rates. Why not? It's the only hope. So, I'm ignoring the market moves right now and I'm buying more of what's already working well for me. Palantir and Tesla. I've also been buying a little NVDA. And maybe some more oil stocks just for stability. XOM and OXY. Anything I buy going forward I'm not buying to trade, I'm buying for what they will be in a few years.

I've found a few good Apple Original series on Apple TV+, for anyone who subscribes. -Slow Horses, now in it's sixth season, I think. -Silo. also well past the first season. There are a bunch more, but so far, those are the recent ones.

Today I saw a picture online of a totally burned out house in California, and in front of one was a blue shoe in the driveway that survived the blaze, apparently unscathed. And that got me thinking. That and the fact that I've seen other posts about strange flashes of light over the fires. Directed energy weapons to deliberately start the fires? Think back to the fire in Maui. In the fall of 2023, I believe. Anyway, remember all the houses with blue roofs that survived the fire? In perfect shape while the houses all around in every direction were destroyed. Even Biden knew about the blue roof thing when asked. I got the feeling he spoke when he should have kept his mouth shut. Is it more than a coincidence? They never did truly get to the bottom of what happed in Maui back then, and there were more than a few clues pointing to something other than natural causes. Directed energy weapons being tested out on prime real estate after a weather modification experiment? The government is capable of both, no doubt. Lots of pole would like to ge tiheir hands on prime Maui real estate, cheap. Fast forward to the current California fires. The same kind of freak winds. Prime real estate. And I'm sure lots of people will be standing in line to buy it cheap, once the dust settles. Many were uninsured. Billions in uninsured losses so far, and the fires are ongoing.

Look up AIPAC. It's an Israeli lobbying group and they're very effective.

I'm not "blaming" anyone. But if you don't understand US politics, it's not my fault. It's broken. It's been broken for a long time, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to make the observation. Nothing much gets done in DC, given all the political animosity, and I'm afraid Trump probably won't fare much better. His promises are well intentioned, but extreme to some. And the Republicans have only a slim margin of control. Throw in a few trouble makers in the Senate or in the House and the result is gridlock. Anyway, we'll see. There are some things Trump CAN do. And those things will happen, starting on day one.

If he doesn't "follow through with the vast majority of his promises," it won't be for a lack of trying. It'll be because the political system is broken. At this very moment, the Biden administration appears to be doing everything in its power to sabotage Trump, his plans, and his incoming administration. For example, much of the money provided for the "Inflation Reduction Act" has not been spent. So what is Biden doing? Signing long term contracts to spend as much of the money as he can in as many ways possible. Those are hard to wiggle out of. The money has been appropriated, and once the contracts have ben signed, that's that. In other words, more inflation. Much more. I think the American people can count on that, at least at first. At some point, all the AI agents and the effects of AI may be deflationary. Of course, there are things the Biden administration can't control. The effect of the Bond Market Vigilantes, for example. They can control the long end of the yield curve, and there's not much Biden or the Fed can do about it. The bond market is too big. So, Trump may well be thwarted in his plans to spend spend spend. At some point, higher interest rates will crash the system. Zero interest rats may still be possible, though. It's that or the end of the financial system as we know it. We'll see. Typically, they find a way to kick the can down the road. All things considered, Trump may have a hard time of it. I do worry, though, about his treats to Hamas over the hostages. He's not kidding.

I don't remember if I've ever had any airport food in Thailand. However, from my experience in airports generally, paying what might seem like a higher price goes with the territory.

I thought about that, but I figure that most of the market is dominated by large institutions who probably have their own trading rules and asset allocation guidelines. And then there are stocks that they don't own at all, for whatever reason, or stocks "off the radar" of most investors. So for now, maybe it's worth a try. In a sense, small individual investors have a lot of advantages.

Has anyone tried this service? Looks interesting for anyone too lazy to cook healthy meals. https://easyhealth.asia/

"State to probe why Pacific Palisades reservoir was offline, empty when firestorm exploded" https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/as-flames-raged-in-palisades-a-key-reservoir-nearby-was-offline