jas007

Follow the money. And unfortunately, the people that control all this have money everywhere. Without "grant" money, who would pay for the research? The entire system seems to revolve around "grants." Scientists and medical researchers can be bought and paid for, just like politicians, so there's a problem.

Follow the money. And unfortunately, the people that control all this have money everywhere. Without "grant" money, who would pay for the research?

Just later in the day, or later in the month? If it's just late during the day, blame your bank. I can't imagine anything else.

They say the real estate meltdown is just now getting under way, especially in some of the overpriced areas. RE taxes are going up, along with homeowner's insurance and maintenance costs. It all adds up to a bad situation. For some reason, I still get an email copy of a property tax bill for a property I sold almost six years ago. Taxes up more than 100% in that short time, and I'm sure the insurance is up as well. I wouldn't want that house if you gave it to me. Too much trouble. It's no wonder RE buyers are having second thoughts. Anyway, it should be interesting to see what happens. I'm pretty sure the powers that be won't let the entire economy collapse. Too many people have too much to lose.

As usual, the central banks around the world are pretty much all playing the same game. Lower and lower interest rates and weaker currencies. But they all can't win. It's a so-called "race tot the bottom." Which currency has the most staying power? What would replace the dollar and it''s reserve currency status, over the short term? It can't be nothing, and there are lots of reasons why the dollar will win out, at lest over the short to intermediate term. So the dollar may decrease in value in the USA, but in Thailand, maybe not so much.

There's actually a lot of documentation out there about the origins of COVID, the production of the jabs, and when all this occurred. There are paper trails. Emails, requisition invoices, patents applied for and granted, and so on. It's all available. And yet if you show all that to some people, they'll call you a "conspiracy theorist." They simply won't open their eyes. Their brains not are wired to do that. In the end, it's not worth bothering with at this point. Let them wallow in their ignorance. I could post a lot of information here, but in my mind, the COVID era is over. I escaped unjabbed and I won't be a victim. The rest is unfolding now.

Nothing to worry about, IMHO. What's happening is a much needed correction. And yes, the valuation of many stocks doesn't make much sense. In any event, a correction is just that, a correction. Fearful people will sell, some people will sell if they get margin calls, and Wall Street institutions will adjust their algorithms as interest rates drop and currencies continue to weaken. That seems to be Trump's plan. Lower rates and a weaker dollar. Fine. How do you play the game, given that scenario? Accumulate an ever weakening dollar and perhaps end up investing in lower yielding stocks and bonds at some future point? I don't think so. Sell and hang onto cash that continues to decrease in value? Accumulate cash and hope you can time the market and reenter at or near the bottom? Try to do that and, historically, unless you get really lucky, you end up not doing so well. Why not stay invested? Perhaps adjust your portfolio toward include more risk-on assets? When the market changes course, which it will, you'll be supercharged. You bought high risk stocks when no one else wanted them and you'll do well. And if everything really does crash big time, it won't matter, anyway. You'll be in so much trouble that your stock portfolio will be the least of your worries. Finally, and in case it's not obvious, the people screaming that the sky is falling are doing so for political reasons. If it's a Trump plan, it has to be bad. That's the extent of their analysis.

I wasn't presenting "fact." Just a theory I read about during the very first phase of the COVID deal. It sounded bizarre then, but in retrospect, things may be playing out that way. The pieces fit together. Now more than ever. -Manufactured virus. Gain of Function research begun at Ft. Derrick and later transferred to Wuhan via Fauci shennanigans. -Jabs designed and contracted well before 2020. -Jabs are administered mostly to the educated people of the world. People who are more expensive and use more energy. In other words, people the elite would like to get rid of. -Millions of migrants flooding across Europe countries almost unimpeded. All poor and mostly unjabbed. -Millions of migrants invaded the Southern US border, also unimpeded. All poor and mostly unjabbed. They didn't even test, did they? They just let them in. Handy replacement workers for all the people who will die. -Connect the dots. In retrospect, it all fits. So, do whatever you want with your tinfoil hat. It sounds like it may be too late for you at this point.

COVID wasn't the real killer, it was the jabs. And those are still killing people as I type this. Whether the jabs were supposed to work faster than that, I'm not sure, but the plan was put into place well before the start of the COVID spread around the world in early 2020. They had manufactured the virus and they had contracted for the production of the jabs. As for the world's poor people and breeding? Someone once said that the plan wasn't to reduce the population of "people" in general, but to thin out the population of the developed world, where people use the most energy. Remember, the nuts that dreamed all this up also believe in global warming and climate change and would very much like to reduce energy usage around the world. So, they eliminate a bunch of expensive Europeans and Americans who use a lot of energy and replace them with compliant poor people. You can see evidence of that part of the plan, now. Millions of migrants in both Europe and the USA, and all of them poor and mostly not jabbed. Slave labor, ready to serve the ruling elite.

As I understand it, it's a round about way to determine the tariff amount based on trade deficits with each country. This would allow for the inclusion of extraneous factors that might not otherwise show up, such as currency manipulation. I guess that makes me sense. Otherwise, countries would just find some way to circumvent the tariffs. Currency manipulation is always possible, and this would lessen the benefit of a country going down that route.

I'm not the expert on fake drugs, but with all the fentanyl out there and, given the possibility of buying some pills that might be trouble, why risk it? Once you're dead you don't get a do over and it's not that hard tp obtain the real thing.

I remember that day. I remember the entire week before and the weekend before, when they were trying to get a little girl out of a well she fell into. That was big news. Anyway, the few days before Black Monday were no picnic. Down 100 or so one day, which was a lot back then, and maybe a little less the day before. On Monday, watching the stock ticker was entertaining, for sure. People throwing away perfectly good stocks because they had no other choice. They were using a lot of leverage. I was lucky that week, I guess. I had quit my job in August, and was in the process of moving back to San Diego and, prior to that time, I sold a lot of stocks just because I didn't want to fool around watching them. I was using some margin, but the one stock I had at the time, Ford, didn't sell off too much on Monday, so I never got a margin call. I got back into the market a few weeks later and it's been more or less up ever since, with some minor dips along the way. The 2008-2009 drop was another good opportunity tp pick up cheap stocks, as wears the beginning of the COVID scare. The moral of the story: Don't use margin, don't try to time the market, and stay invested. You can't lose, long term.

And the problem is that when you buy from some guy on the street, do you know what you're really getting? Fake, or the real thing? Is it worth your life? The smart thing to do is to get the real thing from a trusted source by way of a prescription.

I'm sure that's true, but at this point what the Ukrainian people "wish" is beside the point. They just lost a war.

Supposedly, if the price of the wine is less than 1000 baht, there is no tariff. That's why we see so many wines that cost 999 baht. Still, there most by some other explanation for the crazy markups. Other taxes?

It never made much sense to me, but knowing her, she wasn't doing that because she loved flying. Maybe flying doesn't always make sense, but it must sometimes.

Someone should start a threat on airline points. I've never bothered to pay much attention to airline points and credit card points, but apparently, it's a great game for those who know the rules. I know a girl in California that is into points. When she doesn't have anything else to do, she'll fly around in airplanes, just to get points. How that works, I'm to sure, but she wouldn't be doing that if the flights cost more than the points she gets.

I'm in Thailand and I buy wine anyway, even though the price is sort of ridiculous. California wine that would cost $11 in the USA is 1000 baht here. I can see a little bit for shipping, but 1000m baht per bottle? Oh well. Someday, I'm going to price some really good wine and see what it costs.

Why everyone seems to think the tariffs are some sort of a crisis is beyond me. The tariffs are reciprocal. If a country doesn't like them, the solution is simple. Stop putting tariffs on things from the USA. Problem solved. By this time next month, no one will be talking about tariffs.

So, what's the alternative to all those tech names? Do they have any real competition, or will people just pay the price, whatever it is?

What's the quintessential song from the era? I could never pick just one. I might be able to make up a playlist. I'm old enough to have seen a lot of the music from that era, live. Either at concerts or in clubs. In NYC, I used to live in the Village, not far from CBGB. And around the corner was The Bottom Line. Both had live bands just about every day. And down the street? All the jazz clubs. At the time, it didn't seem like too much of a big deal, but in retrospect, I was really lucky. Today's music just doesn't seem the same and the concert scene just isn't the same. What do concert tickets cost today? $500? It used to be more like $7. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Yardbirds, MC5, T-Rex, Rickie Havens, Country Joe and the Fish, The Talking Heads, The Doobie Brothers, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, The Grateful Dead, Captain Beefhart, America... And I'm probably forgetting a bunch of the rock bands. I'll skip all the jazz greats.

I have a cousin like that. He goes out bar hopping and it has to be with a limo to drive him around. Mr. Big Shot. Anyway, if you've ever lived in Manhattan, the last thing you want there is to fool around with a car.

Back in the USA, when I was just 15 years old, the laws were such that a kid could rent a motorbike. A little 50 cc Honda or whatever. Anyway, all you needed was a learner's pernit license and a little cash and you could rent a motorbike. We did that a few times. We didn't think about helmets. And we didn't even try to be careful. I'm sure I'm extremely lucky to be here right now.

Much ado about nothing. The affected countries will likely lower their tariffs. What's made in America these days, in any event? Trump's term will be over before the world economy adjusts in any significant way. In the meantime, enjoy the stock market discount. As usual, the idiots are overreacting.

If you ask me, the entire tariff thing is being blown way out of proportion. Why? Because longstanding trade patterns aren't going to reverse overnight. Trump's changes won't make a big difference overnight, and by the time they do, Trump's term will be over. If the tariffs were a disaster, it would be easy enough for the next President to reverse course. In the meantime, I think countries will perhaps lower their tariffs on US goods. Why not? What's made in the USA these days, in any event?