9 hours ago, John Drake said:

 

How about Grok, which is superior to every other competitor. It's not even close. 

No, it isn't: https://aigptjournal.com/explore-ai/ai-guides/grok-3-vs-other-ai-tools/

16 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

One thing is clear. He is NOT the man most Americans think they voted for

 

Yes he is, the tariffs plan was announced long ago. Here he is laying it out last October:

 

 

 

1 hour ago, anotherexpat4444 said:

Not sure you noticed, but the stock market lost $5,000,000,000,000 last week. Are you saying that all that selling came from students who cannot repay their loans and don't understand tariffs? The market collectively said they do not like the tariffs, and many of those traders are worth more than you can imagine in your wildest fantasies. They long ago repaid their student loans, and likely have added $millions to their alma mater's endowments.

 

Are you worth tens of millions of dollars? I'm guessing the answer is "No". If you're an expert on tariffs and economics, you would be worth millions.

On 4/5/2025 at 9:24 AM, Jingthing said:

Well we do know that Donald Trump has committed the most momentous own goal against his own country ever. The damage to the American brand is permanent. OK, I'm now an older gentleman but if I was a young American I would seriously be looking into expatriating to a nation with a sane government to build my future. The  USA is now a quicksand country. Empires come. Empites go. But they don't have to go so rapidly by intentional national SUICIDE. 

That's an overreaction. Yes, he's doing serious damage. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, 47 is golfing while Murikkka goes up in flames. Unless he actually gets us involved in a nuclear war (I'm not saying it's impossible, but most unlikely), we will do as we have done in the past - a Republican president screws things up and the Democrats come in and clean up the toddler's mess.

 

What we need to do RIGHT NOW is start a Project 2029 book, instructions on how to repair the damage DOGE et al have done once they have their asses handed to them. Until then, hunker down, endure with as much hope as you can muster, then vote. With the new buyer's remorse blossoming from the MAGADI's, it will be a cinch.

4 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

That's an overreaction. Yes, he's doing serious damage. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, 47 is golfing while Murikkka goes up in flames. Unless he actually gets us involved in a nuclear war (I'm not saying it's impossible, but most unlikely), we will do as we have done in the past - a Republican president screws things up and the Democrats come in and clean up the toddler's mess.

 

What we need to do RIGHT NOW is start a Project 2029 book, instructions on how to repair the damage DOGE et al have done once they have their asses handed to them. Until then, hunker down, endure with as much hope as you can muster, then vote. With the new buyer's remorse blossoming from the MAGADI's, it will be a cinch.

Personally I don’t think trump will make the whole term he’s absolutely angered a lot of very very powerful people and institutions……and love your post spot on!

On 4/6/2025 at 4:21 AM, Cameroni said:

What about GPS?

 

Pretty innovative.

 

The internet?

The internet has given us social media, intellectual property theft, Musk and porn.

They should have restricted it to government agencies. We'd have been better for not having it.

On 4/6/2025 at 5:44 AM, kwonitoy said:

 

How much revenue does GPS generate?

How much money does GPS save? Not everything can be evaluated on what it earns.

20 hours ago, anotherexpat4444 said:

 Can someone  help explain  why America charging almost of half what it is currently charged by other country becoming such a big crime . 

 

 Because the mathematics is flawed.

 

It is not based on tariffs but on trade balances - so if the USA buys more from another country than it sells to another country then it is raising a tariff on them. It is the USA which decides to buy the product not the other country, so the process is inherently unfair.

 

Essentially what is happening is that the Trump administration has decided to raise revenue by applying wide raging taxes on imported goods, taxes which will be paid by it's own citizens, and is cynically and dishonestly justifying it by using a nonsensical mathematical model which attempts to divert the blame to other countries.

20 hours ago, frank83628 said:

He is correct, the USA is in no position to dictate to others. 

and that was long before Trump became POTUS.

1 minute ago, JAG said:

 Because the mathematics is flawed.

 

It is not based on tariffs but on trade balances - so if the USA buys more from another country than it sells to another country then it is raising a tariff on them. It is the USA which decides to buy the product not the other country, so the process is inherently unfair.

 

Essentially what is happening is that the Trump administration has decided to raise revenue by applying wide raging taxes on imported goods, taxes which will be paid by it's own citizens, and is cynically and dishonestly justifying it by using a nonsensical mathematical model which attempts to divert the blame to other countries.

and your so much better plan to save the western world from destruction at it's own hands is?

 

I won't hold my breath waiting for an answer.

21 hours ago, Yagoda said:

Restoring the old "Global Order and Trade" means the death of America. Its not going happen.

 

Since we built the "Global Order", its ours to mess with as we choose. Its so much fun to see y'all screech, cry, yell in rage and then grovel.

 

Ah - ownership of "Global Orders"!

 

Yes, it was one of the great American journalists, William Shirer, who wrote the great book which documented the last big attempt to create own and manipulate the "Global Order", in the third and fourth decades of the last century.

 

I think it is fair to say that didn't end all that well, particularly for the country which laid claim to the "Global Order"!

 

Mind you, he ended up on Senator McCarthy's little list, so he was probably a liberal, a Democrat even a commie. In fact if he was alive now he would probably be leading the drive to boycott Teslas!

On 4/5/2025 at 11:04 AM, BigBilly said:

He will certainly try to stay beyond 2028.  Probably by force of some sort.  He will be ousted at that point.

I dont think the majority of americans would object when they see the other candidates

And so the destruction continues:

 

https://www.investing.com/indices/indices-futures?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19277875882&utm_content=725858854782&utm_term=dsa-1518303930164_&GL_Ad_ID=725858854782&GL_Campaign_ID=19277875882&ISP=1&ppu=9801673&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwna6_BhCbARIsALId2Z3zDeMDAOjc_jZYoE-3T9Tx69UbC47E6zL-wcg304zUmctytxwGuLcaAopiEALw_wcB

 

 

13 minutes ago, anchadian said:

And so the destruction continues:

 

https://www.investing.com/indices/indices-futures?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19277875882&utm_content=725858854782&utm_term=dsa-1518303930164_&GL_Ad_ID=725858854782&GL_Campaign_ID=19277875882&ISP=1&ppu=9801673&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwna6_BhCbARIsALId2Z3zDeMDAOjc_jZYoE-3T9Tx69UbC47E6zL-wcg304zUmctytxwGuLcaAopiEALw_wcB

 

 

I wonder if you guys posting your graphs and stuff about the stock market realise that most of the humans on the planet have never, and never will have shares or suchlike. For most of us, it's just gambling for rich folk, and the dealer always wins.

 

Perhaps one of you should start a thread about it and you can talk to each other as much as you like without confusing the rest of us.

US companies gave up on innovating or even inventing consumer products a long time ago.  Ford makes it's money on big and now bigger trucks. These behemoths have little use in most cities.  They are simply too big for urban roads and parking lots.  US innovation has been mostly in online consumer oriented services (Amazaon, the Facebook, twitter chat apps etc) and most imoprtatnly defense related like stealth technology and just about anything that goes boom.  One of America's great companies, Boeing, could ge gone if things don't change soon.    Yes, eventually BYD EV's will be on US roads. This is how you kill Tesla and not by lighting them on fire.  

9 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

US companies gave up on innovating or even inventing consumer products a long time ago.  Ford makes it's money on big and now bigger trucks. These behemoths have little use in most cities.  They are simply too big for urban roads and parking lots.  US innovation has been mostly in online consumer oriented services (Amazaon, the Facebook, twitter chat apps etc) and most imoprtatnly defense related like stealth technology and just about anything that goes boom.  One of America's great companies, Boeing, could ge gone if things don't change soon.    Yes, eventually BYD EV's will be on US roads. This is how you kill Tesla and not by lighting them on fire.  

 

 I would disagree that lack of innovation or invention is the problem.  IMO the problem is labor costs and excessive red tape.  The cost to build a factory is much higher with the amount of permits needed and inspections etc.  Then building costs are high with labor to build being much higher than that in 3rd world countries.  After that your run rate is very high with unionized labor costs being double or triple that in China or India etc. 

 

Really is tough to open a new business in some places the the amount of hurdles placed in front of business.  Now SOME of them are for good reason and I don't want the USA to allow open sewers and spewing chemicals into the ecosystem.  But there needs to be a better balance than what we have now.

 

 

29 minutes ago, jimmybcool said:

 

 I would disagree that lack of innovation or invention is the problem.  IMO the problem is labor costs and excessive red tape.  The cost to build a factory is much higher with the amount of permits needed and inspections etc.  Then building costs are high with labor to build being much higher than that in 3rd world countries.  After that your run rate is very high with unionized labor costs being double or triple that in China or India etc. 

 

Really is tough to open a new business in some places the the amount of hurdles placed in front of business.  Now SOME of them are for good reason and I don't want the USA to allow open sewers and spewing chemicals into the ecosystem.  But there needs to be a better balance than what we have now.

 

 

Manufacturing in the US depends on the product.  F-35 plants in Fort Worth TX are humming with lots of workers. New chip plants are in the plans for many US locations.  But clothing, shoes and consumer electronics are dead on arrival. I call this the "Wal Mart" effect.  Therefore, innovating or inventing products in the aforementioned categories are dead in the US.  Therefore, even 100% tariffs will not bring "home" manufacturing in these categories. 

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The internet has given us social media, intellectual property theft, Musk and porn.

They should have restricted it to government agencies. We'd have been better for not having it.

 

I'm okay with the porn, IP theft and Musk, but yes, social media's creators will live in the eternal torment of hellfire for all time, if there is justice.

2 hours ago, JAG said:

Ah - ownership of "Global Orders"!

 

Yes, it was one of the great American journalists, William Shirer, who wrote the great book which documented the last big attempt to create own and manipulate the "Global Order", in the third and fourth decades of the last century.

 

I think it is fair to say that didn't end all that well, particularly for the country which laid claim to the "Global Order"!

 

Mind you, he ended up on Senator McCarthy's little list, so he was probably a liberal, a Democrat even a commie. In fact if he was alive now he would probably be leading the drive to boycott Teslas!

Such a simplistic comparison does no credit to Mr. Shirer

2 hours ago, Yagoda said:

Such a simplistic comparison does no credit to Mr. Shirer

As so often, you seize the wrong end of the stick and gallop off into the distance.

 

I make no criticism of Shirer, I have read much of his work, including "The Rise and Fall" I am pointing out the remarkable parallels between the events he documented so vividly ( whose authors boasted amounted to the creation of a new "World Order") and what is happening today. It was you who raised the spectre of creating and reshaping "World Orders".

On 4/6/2025 at 12:42 AM, Keeps said:

I predict that he will be ousted, somehow, within the next 18 months. I do not necessarily hope this happens, merely a prediction. I'm not American but his recent exploits have cost many financially. Only on paper though for myself at the moment so no major concerns....yet... probably a fair bit of pain to come 

How could Trump possibly be "ousted"?

13 hours ago, rasg said:

And not convicted by the Senate either time.

 

Because the Senate failed to comply with their Oath to support the Constitution. It's very clear the Constitution as written does not serve current times to address corruption and lack of ethics by elected political representatives. I suggest to get an updated Constitution passed is now impossible, signalling the downfall of the US as a world power. Same as UN which is locked into a superseded Security Council which is frozen in the past.

On 4/6/2025 at 8:59 AM, jimmybcool said:

Some of you are giving way too much credit to a single guy for inventing the internet.  My bet is most of you haven't a clue how inter computer networking actually communicates.  I mean it's OK.  Most of us don't know how electricity flows to lights and other devices.  We just use it.  And if it makes you feel good that a guy born in England defined some of the specs feel good.  Trust me that the real work to invent, test and build the protocols occurred in the USA in the 60s and 70s by Arpanet and universities like Stanford and others. 

 

Betting most of you wouldn't understand the difference between a defined guaranteed bandwidth network and packet switching ala X25 or current IP protocols.  I installed X25 switching and worked with the engineers that defined ATM switching which currently carries the higher speed data for the internet.  I designed the first private ATM network ever implemented (Intel) and many other private cell switching (private cell architecture) networks.  One guy from Switzerland or England is just a small part of the big picture.  But hey, feel free to think it was invented by one guy.

 

It's a bit of a conundrum really, isn't it? Who to believe "invented the internet"? I mean Berners-Lee who is widely thought, and well documented, internationally recognised as the man who started it, or some bloke who goes under a pseudonym on an expatriate forum in Thailand?

6 minutes ago, JAG said:

It's a bit of a conundrum really, isn't it? Who to believe "invented the internet"? I mean Berners-Lee who is widely thought, and well documented, internationally recognised as the man who started it,

 

That's nonsense.

 

Get  your facts right:

 

 

Did Sir Tim Berners Lee invent the Internet? Fact Check

ByCraig HaleyJuly 7, 2020

A popular claim surrounding the evolution of the Internet is that it was first invented by British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

http://www.thatsnonsense.com/images/false.jpg FALSE

 

https://www.thatsnonsense.com/did-sir-tim-berners-lee-invent-the-internet-fact-check/

 

Now he wants reparations.

 

 

2 hours ago, JAG said:

As so often, you seize the wrong end of the stick and gallop off into the distance.

 

I make no criticism of Shirer, I have read much of his work, including "The Rise and Fall" I am pointing out the remarkable parallels between the events he documented so vividly ( whose authors boasted amounted to the creation of a new "World Order") and what is happening today. It was you who raised the spectre of creating and reshaping "World Orders".

No criticism of Shirer intended and your entirely and completely wrong about any parallels.  Start a topic and I'll go beat you up on it over there

11 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

Manufacturing in the US depends on the product.  F-35 plants in Fort Worth TX are humming with lots of workers. New chip plants are in the plans for many US locations.  But clothing, shoes and consumer electronics are dead on arrival. I call this the "Wal Mart" effect.  Therefore, innovating or inventing products in the aforementioned categories are dead in the US.  Therefore, even 100% tariffs will not bring "home" manufacturing in these categories. 

 

Yes those industries are DOA.  But not innovation as the issue.  Production costs are too high in comparison to the sweat shops in Asia.  The cost to manufacture a Nike shoe in Massachusetts is massively higher than in Shanghai or Vietnam. 

 

Reality is some day this might not be true.  When robotics truly remove the unskilled labor force from the equation or when standard of living costs are on par. 

6 hours ago, JAG said:

It's a bit of a conundrum really, isn't it? Who to believe "invented the internet"? I mean Berners-Lee who is widely thought, and well documented, internationally recognised as the man who started it, or some bloke who goes under a pseudonym on an expatriate forum in Thailand?

 

It isn't me to believe.  It is the massive quantity of evidence available on this very resource. 😃

Interesting news for those who expected companies to get on their knees and bring manufacturing (back) to US..

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/peter-schiff-says-nike-wont-180018691.html

 

 

 

Sorry folks, but global companies would rather keep 7.5 billion customers' market than drop all of that to please 400m... or rather 1 man.

I am fully expecting MAGA crowd to now come and tell how nobody will miss Nike, that it's pile of 💩 they would never consider wearing, that Shiff is an i-diot who knows nothing, dig up some made up scandal, attack me as a lefty, in other words - do whatever they can to discredit the messenger and smear the brand which dares to resist their divine leader...

 

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