Walker88

The cult sees anything that relates to their messiah as blasphemy, so they feel it is their sacred duty to come to defense of their bloated charlatan clown felon, kind of like jihadis going after Danish cartoonists. They toss out "this has always happened" despite the fact they have absolutely no clue if it has or not. Add to this many stories now of NATURALIZED US citizens facing hours of questioning by Immigration when returning from an overseas trip. These are 100% legal full US Citizens, but they are now subject to interrogation and seizure of their mobile devices. Pure, 100% fascism. MAGAs are too stupid to see it, or think somehow born in a trailer park to white trash sperm and egg donors is superior to a naturalized citizen.

Who are these people who uttered that mantra while the market and economy soared under Biden? Never heard that in this Forum. Perhaps they are people in your dreams. Maybe Straw Men. I agree about stupidity in stock threads, like folks who automatically say "buying opportunity" or "buy NVIDIA at $110 and thank me later". Some other "expert" reminded us to "buy low and sell high", as if the markets announce one or the other. Sometimes highs are just a way station on the way to higher; sometimes lows are just a way station on the way to lower. All of the "experts" here must be so rich, as they know so much. I always admit to being lucky, but since I only have enough money for a dozen lifetimes, I guess I must defer to that guy who once boasted of making a whole 5000 baht in one day, and who dines on 30 baht street food. Now I am on record here as not only saying the market and dollar would tumble if our current POTUS was elected (yes, he won, unlike in 2020), and that we would see at least a 20% decline in the stock market (into classic bear territory)---to which many in his cult attached laugh emojis---but I also said we saw a generational high during the last month of Biden's Presidency. I do not expect to see new highs before around 2050. Today has all the hallmarks of 1929 US and 1989 Japan: excessive valuation, stupidity, a change in the underlying economic underpinnings, and probably fraud. Go ahead and back up the pickup truck if you disagree. The clown had an economy and market buzzing along, with the worst expectation being a soft landing. He inherited the best economy since the late 1990s, but via a totally self-inflicted wound, he has guaranteed a hard and ugly landing, a Recession or Depression, high inflation (a 10% dollar decline so far plus his across the board 10% tariffs with juice inflation), likely higher rates as foreigners stop funding 30% of the deficit, and unemployment that will probably hit 10% in 2026. And if I'm wrong, I'm still sitting pretty, having really juiced my NW under the Biden Economic Boom.

It would seem to make sense. Anyone retired should have at least 2 million baht free and clear to place in a Thai bank. It’s hardly a fortune for someone who has worked his entire life. It demonstrates a kind of financial responsibility that is more likely to be a benefit to Thailand than someone who pays an agent to temporarily put 800K baht in a bank and lives hand to mouth on what a local might spend. Also, as retirees tend to be elderly, having the extra money in country makes it less likely that in an infirmed state a foreigner would become a burden on Thai society. I find it ironic that the folks most apoplectic about how immigrants are destroying the fabric of their home society feel it is almost a right for them to live in Thailand. Folks who "contribute" less than, say, 100K baht per month to the Thai economy are not exactly doing the country any great favor, so why should Thailand continue to welcome outsiders like that? What’s in it for Thailand? I suspect the same people who would bark at this increase would still be against the unassuming, law-abiding and tax-paying migrant to their home country, because "those people are changing our social fabric and culture". We'd be hearing the cries of "replacement theory". When the retirement rules were written, Thailand was less prosperous, so even meager economic contributions were welcome. That is no longer the case. Other countries, such as Malaysia, have upped the ante, expecting a more significant economic contribution from foreigners it allows to settle. Make a measurable contribution, and one is still welcome; just try to jump on the "lower cost retirement home" bandwagon, and they don't want you. Though I have no information corroborating this change in policy, it certainly makes sense for Thailand to do it.

Go back 15 years and try to imagine---outside of an Onion article---the US would ever have such a low life piece of subhuman filth as POTUS, who would sully a holiday important to so many Americans and other people in this world. There is no other way to describe what he is than the words I have used. Imagine also not only would the POS have a cult following, but that his Party would be filled with cowards who have so little self-respect that they are afraid to take exception and call out his continual vulgar nonsense. Not a single Republican has a pair. Cowards, lackeys and quislings, one and all. As for his cult, the only wall we should build is around their trailer parks.

He is incapable of empathy. He has all the hallmarks of a psychopath: ---lies as easily as he breathes ---zero empathy ---thinks rules apply to others, not to him After the FSU shooting, his only comment was, "stuff like that happens", which is pretty much "ask me if I care". The post you note, along with the "Happy" Easter post noted elsewhere in this thread, not only shows what sort of rancid scum the bloated clown is, but says all one needs to know about the cult who support his every move and utterance.

None of us is capable of sinking as low in the cesspool as POTUS and the turds who worship him. While I believe in no deity, Easter is intended to be a joyous occasion of hope and redemption, but the scumball, lowlife, psycho POTUS decided to post the vulgar Tweet he did. When it comes to hate and nastiness, we who are actual patriots are mere posseurs. Your messiah owns hate and nasty.

For all those standing behind Hegseth, imagine this: You're deployed on a US carrier off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula. You just got off the phone with your wife and little son, whose birthday you are missing because of your deployment. You could hear the crying of your wife as you closed off the call. You then head out to climb into the cockpit of your F-18, missiles loaded, ready for a long and dangerous flight toward Sana'a. You find out your boss has been on his private phone discussing your upcoming raid with his wife and friends, even noting the time your flight will get catapulted off the deck of your warship. Do you still trust your boss' discretion and opsec? Do you fear getting hit by anti-aircraft or g-to-a missiles fired by Houthis, who might now know your mission, your targets and your timing? Do you wish you had told your wife and son one more time you loved them?

Let's see how POTUS' "economic theory" works.... I guess he assumes US workers will begin the work currently being done in sweatshops in Bangladesh, while females in Bangladesh will be ordering Gulfstream 700s. We buy what they make; they buy what we make. Obviously POTUS hasn't a clue how trade deficits develop, nor does he understand the work goals of Americans. Maybe he should listen to comedian Dave Chappelle: "Americans want to wear Nikes, not make them". OTOH, maybe POTUS thinks all the MAGAs on SSDI in States like TN, KY, WV and MS are chomping at the bit to spend 8-10 hours a day putting itsy bitsy little screws into iPhones or screwing in tiny LEDs into strings of Christmas lights. I suppose he could be right there, as such jobs would be challenging intellectually for the typical MAGA.

I believe it was produced quite recently....April 1st, IIRC.

The pilots who would be flying those F-18s into harm's way at the times noted beforehand by Hegseth in his Signalchats would hope their departure time was classified. Had someone hacked his private phone (which he used in this second gaffe), the info could have been relayed to the Houtis or Iranians, and knowing where the carrier was and the intended targets, they would have had plenty of time to intercept the F-18s. Hegseth, one has to assume, has lost all confidence in DoD pilots. Their missions are tough enough without someone boasting to friends and family about when the pilots---not Hegseth---will be going into harm's way. Not sure if POTUS has the cojones to admit a mistake and fire the clown, but certainly there is going to be a lot of pressure to do so, particularly by the men and women who pilot the US' fighter aircraft.

Oh my! Ben Graham it ain't. What is "high"? You only know it after it's gone. Sometimes "high" is a way station on to "higher". Similarly, sometimes "low" is just a way station to "lower". Now admittedly I must have been lucky getting out near top tick, but I can still spend lucky money. Lucky money spends just like smart money. Now I'm sure your net worth dwarfs mine, but I have enough for a dozen lifetimes, so I'm not going to complain. Don't cry for me, susanlea. When I first stated my opinion that I thought both the market and the dollar were at recent highs, I think I saw lots of laugh and sad emojis, which I assume were from MAGAs. Well, MAGAs were wrong. Their man behind the curtain is a fraud. I also noticed one of my favorite amateur lines in this thread, saying something to the effect of "you haven't lost if you haven't sold". Now THAT deserves a laugh emoji. Secret: the market doesn't know and doesn't care where you bought, and is under no obligation to go back to new highs in the near term. A paper gain is a paper gain, but a paper loss is real money (as we used to say). As I have noted---to much Bronx Cheering---I do believe we have seen generational highs in the US market, and it will be 25 years before we see new highs. Rallies based on rumor or flip flopping of POTUS are gifts where believers can leg out. There are times when cash is king, and not necessary USD cash. Now is one of those times. Opinions, especially after the fact, are worth nothing. Results and net worth are all that count in the market.

First, nominal rates are far less meaningful than the rate of change. The move in dollar-euro and dollar-yen has been quite rapid. The next key thing is the reason for the abrupt move, and for the dollar, it's totally self-inflicted. The US economy was buzzing along at its best clip since the late 1990s. Growth rates were three times the G7 average since 2020, when Biden took over. The markets were at an all time high. Enter the new President, and all goes to hell in a handbasket in the blink of an eye. As for fiat, the world is never going back to a gold standard. It will give up autos and antibiotics and go back to horse drawn buggies and bloodletting before it goes back on gold. Give up the ghost. Even Nixon knew. Since going off the gold standard more people on planet earth have been lifted from poverty than ever, and that's both nominally and as a percentage of the total population. For most people, fiat has worked out pretty well. Maybe all paper money goes to zero eventually, but that is a matter for Methusalehs of the world. The world is operating okay today on 180 different types of fiat, the USD being just one, though at the moment one of the weakest. Of course some say nobody is better at messing up a good thing than POTUS.

Using a kind-of-like Bill Maher trick: "I don't know it for a fact; I just know it's true." Here's my take on what POTUS has done, which I predicted long ago. Folks can argue all they want, pretending to be economists, but as a trader, the absolute only thing that matters is results. You make money on a trade, or you lose. Results make sense, not all the political opinions in the world combined. First, I didn't want the market to tank; I just knew it would. (I completely exited US equities). Since I left, the market has been ugly. I did not want the dollar to tank; I just knew it would. (Yes, I went long the euro in the 1.03 to 1.04 range, and I'm now looking at 1.15) I don't want the economy to tank; I just know it will. (Recession if lucky, Depression if not.) I don't want unemployment to soar; I just know it will. (We'll see 10% UE in 2026, which will bode poorly for the midterms). The dollar is down 10% recently. The equity market is upwards of 20% down recently. Near term GDP number might look better than expected, but not because of underlying economic strength, but because consumers will hoard in front of the tariffs. Don't be fooled, especially when MAGAs boast. POTUS is a failed businessman, only saved by his dad's money and co-signed loans, until Mark Burnett created a fantasy, which POTUS has "wisely" used to grift off his goobers, with sneakers, bibles, crypto, a social media campaign donation entity, etc. His ability to run a $30 trillion economy is less than his ability to run a casino, and he bankrupted several of those. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: "[MAGAs] may boo me, but when I go home and think of my money, I applaud myself."

Not sure you ever attended school, but in America, there's this Constitutional Amendment that allows an alleged criminal to defend himself in court and face a jury of his peers....BEFORE he is jailed. Really. That's America. Perhaps you need a remedial course in Civics?

It is my opinion the US equity market hit a generational high in the last full month of the Biden Administration, in December 2024. I suspect we will not see those highs breached for 25 years*. *One caveat is if the Federal Reserve chooses to monetize the massive deficit and Depression the current POTUS will bring on, as money would be almost worthless, so stocks would be an inflation refuge of sorts. While over the very long term, equity markets tend to move higher, partly from actual growth and partly as a function of the fiat monetary system, the world has seen two generational highs in the last 100 years. One was the 1929 crash in the US, where the Dow did not achieve a new high until 1954. The other was in Japan, which hit a high of 38,915.87 on 28 December 1989, and took until 2024 to top that level. So we have two examples of a generational high lasting 25 years and 35 years. This time will be no different. Three things are necessary to achieve such an ignominious accomplishment. One is excess exuberance that blinds people to actual risk. The second is stupidity. The third is a change in the economic underpinnings of the market. There is often a fourth factor, which is fraud that has gone ignored or unnoticed. Markets have suffered from some of these factors, but not all of them at once, so sometimes scary market moves do not turn out to be generational highs. 1987 in the US was stupidity and excess exuberance. The stupidity evidenced itself in the idea of “portfolio insurance”, where market players thought they could immunize themselves from loss by shorting futures. They forgot that there had to be another side to that trade. Everyone tried to “immunize” themselves at the same time, but there were no buyers. The market fell 23% in one day. Because economic fundamentals were okay, the market recovered in a few months. Another example was 2000, but that was largely part of NASDAQ and the dot com bubble. Nonsense was weeded out, such as Pets.com, but Amazon, Google, etc. proved they had a viable business model, so they recovered and prospered. 2008 was another, and nearly a generational high, as the entire world’s financial system was on the brink of collapse. That period had all the hallmarks of a top---stupidity, fraud, weak fundamentals and excess exuberance---but the bailout orchestrated by Obama in 2009 saved the system by backstopping banks and insurers, forcing banks to issue equity and slash leverage, and getting help from the Fed and its ZIRP. Confidence was restored (and banks bonused themselves undeservedly). Who can ever forget Synthetic CDO Squareds with a CDS kicker? Today, there is excess exuberance (high P/Es), plus a belief---built from extrapolating limited experience into the future---that one is “always” rewarded for buying dips. There may well be fraud, too, but that will not evidence itself until a crash occurs. Like 2008, it’s probably in the $750 trillion in notional value of derivatives throughout the financial system. The other necessary factors are also here. Economic fundamentals are deteriorating by the day, exacerbated by the idiocy of the current Administration. The dollar has already fallen 10%. The flip flop on tariffs has introduced uncertainty that will have business sitting on its hands. Alienating allies has likely made funding the deficit much more difficult, as foreigners have been buyers of upwards of 30% of US Treasuries. Even the across-the-board 10% tariff that remains in place, coupled with the 10% fall in the dollar, means inflation is guaranteed to pick up. Considering the basket of goods the average consumer buys, higher priced imports will produce at least 8% inflation, and much higher if tariffs are upped after this 90 day retreat. What we clearly have in spades, which is a needed factor for a generational market high, is stupidity. It is abundantly clear POTUS has no clue what he has done, and has no realistic idea of where he intends to go. He is the proverbial dog chasing a car, with no plan what to do if he catches it. His idea of building everything in the US is patently absurd. The US lacks some of the key resources required in the modern technological world, so has no choice but to rely on others. Also, even if the US wanted to produce TVs and phones and other things domestically, factories take years to build and get into production. Besides, there’s no way a US-produced TV or iPhone can compete with foreign brands or production in terms of cost. People might pay $1500 for an iPhone, but few would pay $3500, which is the estimate of the cost if built in the US. Foreign producers may also realize the tariff is less than what it would cost to build in the US. China holds far more cards than the US or POTUS, but he is too stupid to know. He also lies about the size of the trade gap, which is not the $1 trillion per year he claims, but was $295 billion in 2024, and about $260 billion after adjustment for services. The US is now only 15% of China trade, as China has diversified. China has the power to affect US interest rates by selling USTs or simply going on a buyer’s strike. China can withhold key things such as chips, aircraft parts and rare earths. China could nationalize all US investments in the Middle Kingdom, too. If the US halts grain sales to China, China will source elsewhere, as it did with soybeans under POTUS 45, which required POTUS to go “Socialist” and bail out US farmers. All of these things point to a generational high in the US equity market. That’s going to hurt 401ks, corporate pensions, and insurance company portfolios. Heaven forbid a natural disaster hits and insurance policy payouts are required. The last factor missing in setting a generational high was stupidity, but with this POTUS, we have more than enough of that. It will probably be Joe Kernen III who finally announces a new market high in 2050 or so….if we get lucky.

Like her boss, she lies as easily as she breathes. Also like her boss, she does not seem to be the brightest bulb. As for morality, she has none. She clearly hates the US Constitution, especially the 1st Amendment enshrining speech and press freedom. In other words, she's a perfect turd in this cesspool of an Administration.

Well, even Fox covered it, but since it was probably not in a comic book or a slogan on a red hat, it seems you missed it.

Certainly there is precedent. POTUS stated he intends to 'deport' US Citizens to El Salvadorean jails, even telling the El Salvador President to "maybe build some more jails". POTUS has already shown he doesn't believe in due process, but rather just will seize and deport whomever he wishes. Since that, too, is precedent, there will be nothing to prevent the next Dem President from having the Feds seize the 34 time convicted felon and sending him to a gang infested jail in El Salvador. No appeals, no wasting time like the convicted felon did with his other indictments, no silly Supreme Court immunity; just bag him and send him off. If any court or judge orders the new Administration to return the felon, that Administration can simply ignore it, as this POTUS already set that precedent, too. Karma. Goose and gander. What goes around comes around.

Interesting that none of the MAGA cult offers any explanation as to why their messiah lied so blatantly. I guess after a while a lie from him is a 'dog bites man' kind of story. Mark Twain said "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics". If alive today, he might say there are lies, damn lies, and POTUS.

I'm not religious, but if I had to choose, I'd pick Satan over anyone's deity. I mean, that Satan guy is supposed to be the epitome of evil, but all I ever hear is that it's him who makes a person cheat on their spouse or steal money or tell a lie. Deities, on the other hand, are supposedly omnipotent and all loving, but they bring tsunamis and earthquakes and childhood cancer. Compared to any god, Satan is a mere posseur when it comes to evil.

India is nice, but only if you live like an 18th Century Maharajah. I lived a few years in the Chanakyapuri area of Delhi. It's wildly expensive, but safe. I had a household staff of cooks, cleaners, gardeners and security. I did not have to do the food shopping or cooking, and that is a huge plus. In all my time there, I did not get Delhi Belly even once. Loved the food. I became quite close to my staff, and the women shared their experiences growing up female in one of the lower castes. It ain't pretty. Opportunity for them was minimal, despite their above average intellect. The rape stories are real. Gang rape is a national sport, more than cricket. While I did some of my own driving, I did have a driver. Traffic is batsh!t crazy. One way roads merely mean you only go one way at a time. The guy coming at you full speed is also only going one way; it just happens to be at you. Stop at a traffic light, and a beggar suffering from leprosy, half his face missing, will come up to your window with a fingerless hand out. Cows have the right of way, even if a tuk tuk of schoolgirls is coming at a truck. Cow wins, schoolgirls lose. There's a massive tool booth area just outside Delhi in Gurgoan. I once saw a guy in a Suzuki car coming through the wrong way. I assume he thought "I go that way, I pay; I come this way, they pay me." I did a lot of time in Rajasthan, and loved Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. Getting there by road is "interesting", as the roads mostly suck and trucks or camel carts go wherever they want. Coming once from Chandagarh to Delhi, on an otherwise good road, I came across a 20+ car pile up, owing to bad fog and cars going the wrong way. Body parts strewn all over the road. It barely made page 20 of the Times of India, though I'd guess 15-30 deaths, going by body parts I counted. People do do their business wherever they are. I remember being in a tuk tuk heading to my guest house in Jodhpur. The alley was maybe 7 feet wide. Stuck in traffic for a moment, a mother parked he teen daughter just outside their hovel, the girls butt aimed at me, as she proceeded to do a huge #2 maybe two feet from my face. It wasn't an editorial comment on me; it was just how things are done. Her business fell in a drain that ran along the alley, washed away by bathing water and urine from neighbors. I also did Himachal Pradesh. If there is one place I would have enjoyed spending a year or two as a young adult, it would have been Manali, in the foothills of the Himalayas. It's more Buddhist than Hindu, the air is glorious, and there's a smell of Deodar trees in the wind, which are apparently a type of cedar. A wild few hour ride---if you survive---gets you to Rohtang Pass, at about 13,000 feet. The bottom of the drive is strewn with cars and buses that didn't make the 180 degree turns on dirt roads with no guardrails and 1000+ meter drops. Not sure I'd do it again, but India was great. The caveat I noted at the start as you'd better be sinfully rich, because living comfortably in India takes more than Pebble Beach kind of money.

A TV sitcom starring POTUS would have this in their promo: "When willful ignorance is your modus operandi, hijinks ensue."

It's just rational and intelligent people owning the MAGAs. Guys like the OP live rent free in the heads of MAGA members. Like jihadis upset by Danish cartoonists, they have to come defend their messiah if they see blasphemy.

Let's start with the terrorists who stormed the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. They beat 140 cops and set up a gallows to hang the VP. They should have been Babbitized that day. Instead, the convicted felon pardoned them. Obviously he hates law enforcement and democracy, as he fomented the entire terrorist attack. Actually, let's start with the convicted felon himself, if committing felonies is the excuse. Bag him and send him to that prison in El Salvador. No due process, just bag and send.

I thought your messiah said that we'd all have so much money we wouldn't even know what to buy? Funny now how Recession and economic decline are a plus. Well, if you really believe that, I understand why POTUS could be your hero, because if anybody can make a huge mess of what was a robust economy under Biden, it's POTUS47. Anybody who can bankrupt 5 casinos and an iconic hotel is a natural born economic cyclone.