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#20 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-26 10:54 PM
The options your current alias presents do not address the case I have where the range is a WiFi access point. It is not at all like Sitzkrieg's setup.

Yes, Captain Obvious, I understood that - that's why I offered it as a cheap, simple and safe solution.


...what solution does it have to the problem of the range having an WiFi access point that cannot be disabled, and may be hacked?

Isolate it.

If nothing "normal" works for some reason, you could build a Faraday cage... but then, it's probably easier to just return / exchange the range.


#21 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-26 10:55 PM
And, maybe next time, don't use AI to give your current alias something to post. Jus' sayin'

I am not using "AI" for "summaries" or any of my posts here... Maybe your "current alias" has "AI" instead of brain, if it can't recognize that.

Was trying to help but... no good deed goes unpunished. Jus' saying.

Good night.
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#18 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-26 06:17 PM
@#15 ... Checked mine with airmon-ng. No hidden AP, no visible AP from it. It's just connected to the router I use for house stuff. ...

- - - - - If my range worked like that, I'd have no issue.
I'd just configure kea (an excellent dhcp program) to assign an IP to the MAC address of the stove from the sequence that my outbound firewall blocks.
I've already done that with few other appliances on my network (e.g., the DVD player, so it doesn't report back to Sony every DVD I play).

You have several good options:

1. Simplest and safest (likely Sitzkrieg's setup): Buy a [cheap] WiFi6/6e router just for home LAN, set up a different subnet from your [main] router you have now, block / firewall it from outside, then bind all local devices to that WLAN's subnet, assigning static/fixed IP on the WLAN router's subnet to each device's MAC - you can use ARP scripts, router software or whichever DHCP/IPv4 manager you like, to configure static IPs.

NB: clear the IP and ARP caches and make sure you have no dynamic IP addresses on that subnet, and don't use DHCP! It's also best to only use IPv4 for local traffic on WLAN subnets and disable IPv6, unless it's necessary. Disable ARP spoofing on the router.

2. If you have a good srouter, just use a subnet different from the one you're using for WAN traffic, then as above - block / firewall it from outside, and make sure static IPs for WLAN devices are configured and bound to that subnet.

Scan network to make sure you don't have any rogue unassigned, "dynamic" IPs, ping assigned IPs to make sure they are responsive and not blocked. You're done.
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Trump Tells U.N. he is Still Deciding Whether to 'annihilate' Iran

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#98 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-22 04:15 PM
The exact ratio can be debated

No "debate" needed, since this "ratio" is meaningless and irrelevant because it compares apples to park benches, as I've explained how it's derived, how widely it varies with the market valuations, and what political purpose it serves.

... but the dramatic widening of the gap doesn't strike me as unreasonable at all.

Your prerogative, but it's based on your feelings (as it's so designed and expected to do) and your "experience," not on logic or economic understanding of the issue.

"You can avoid reality, you can't avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
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#99 | Posted by Danforth at 2026-09-22 05:05 PM
Nonsense. Pyramid schemes are always opaque, never transparent; defined benefit plans are transparent.

Opacity is not a necessary feature of pyramid scheme - but "transparency" is the only reason pensions are legal.

Continuous accrual of liabilities for current and past employees/payees is a feature, no matter the financial conditions of the issuer or the investment - that's what makes it a pyramid scheme, not "raiding" them, which would be illegal.
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#92 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-22 01:33 AM
So...put a summary on the end. In summary.....

Specifically, as (2) shows, ratio of "average" employee hourly wage to "average" CEO compensation is just one of the populist "nonsense ratios" designed to impress the economically illiterate (unfortunately, overwhelming majority of population) and a sound-bite usually used by unions against the "evil rich" management before and during contract negotiations to get the polls on their side.

In general, beware of "nonsense ratios and statistics", created by populist "political economists" specifically for benefit of one or several groups of society at that particular moment in time, and don't let some short-term numbers or sentiment affect your (and others) long-term economic or financial decisions - just because they look good or interesting on paper, or at that particular moment, doesn't mean they are relevant or based on long-term solid economic principles.

In other words, do your due diligence and get informed by checking with actual experts and professionals (not politicians and their cronies) on all sides of the issue, especially the "others" who will be affected by your decisions in the future - "they" may well be overwhelming majority... including you and your family.

If you think you won't be affected by "someone somewhere" paying more for "their" goods and services (like tariffs on "other countries" or tax on some "small group" or increase in wages for some "small group")... think again, and weigh pros and cons.

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#93 | Posted by Danforth at 2026-09-22 02:45 AM
Funding pensions is not a pyramid scheme.

Defined-benefit plans are the very definition of pyramid scheme (relying on and requiring an infinite economic expansion of issuing entity to support the accruing benefits of both current and past employees) ... which are very difficult to manage, having to use complicated formulas because many variables such as the rate of return, longevity, economic performance etc. are unpredictable and uncontrollable and can quickly become underfunded when conditions of any of these variables change. Like all pyramid schemes, they are more and more difficult to support over longer period of time.

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#5 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-19 09:35 PM
I'm not saying those things explain everything. But 40 to 1 became 325 to 1 somehow.

#11 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-21 02:14 AM
So, I asked why that change in ratio, from 40 to 325.

The answers why some hinky "ratios" of 1970s are different from the same "ratios" in 2020s are very simple and have been clearly explained here many times before - it's all about damn lies and statistics, global competitiveness, productivity and efficiency... and "technology."

1. 'Hourly wage' ("share of Labor") usually doesn't mean total compensation, which includes company-paid medical insurance, SS contribution, part of 401(k) or (more rare now) defined-benefit plan and other benefits, which were smaller or nonexistent in 1970s.

2. Comparing entirely different jobs just to come up with x multiplies of "average" worker's hourly wage to "average" CEO's total compensations is silly - salary is usually a relatively small part of typical CEOs' compensation package, who are incentivized with stock and options. So these ratios vary widely with the stock market valuations, and they are usually much wider when stock markets are on major bull run, like we have now; and the "average" CEO's compensation is further distorted by stock holdings of few founders-CEOs, whose stock valuations grew much faster than wages - obviously not the case in the 1970s.

So now is a great time to bring up the "nonsense ratios."

3. There was a horrible 15-year period for corporate earnings (shrinking 15%) and stock market "going nowhere" from 1965 to 1982, with rampant inflation and stagnation ("stagflation"), MMFs and UST's paying 12%-15%, Fed rates shot to 20%, US companies were burdened by high labor costs and low productivity, rapidly losing market share to foreign companies and some going bankrupt from the pyramid scheme of underfunded pensions (which mostly have been gradually replaced by more manageable 401(k) plans, starting in 1978).

Unions kept increasing costs/prices and lowering productivity "pricing their labor and products out of the market."

4. Crucially, the microchips "revolution" and affordable computer/electronic technology in the late 1970s allowed companies to replace ever-more-expensive labor with ever-cheaper "technology" (Faster, Better, More, Cheaper) - streamlined tax code incentivized transformation from stagnant, low-productivity economy to competitive high-tech / high-productivity one, which created millions of high-paying jobs :


https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2023/03/when-comparing-wages-and-worker-productivity-the-price-
measure-matters/ - When comparing wages and worker productivity, the price measure matters

https://www.investopedia.com/historical-us-unemployment-rate-by-year-7495494 - U.S. Unemployment Rates by Year


5. Labor had a moment from late 1940s through 1970s. You simply can't compare the composition of 1970s economy with the one in 2020s. For example, in 1970s UAW had 1.5M members producing cars. Today, they have less than 400K (with half not in auto industry) but produce vastly more cars, using robots and cobots (which, BTW, required significant initial investment, along with training - "costs to the company", but contributing to lower expense of headcount and productivity gains over time), e.g.:

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/gm-swapped-1-000-detroit-232700845.html - GM Swapped 1,000 Detroit Workers for 50 Cobots - 2026-06-26
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#16 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-09-21 08:08 AM
This is where I live. From 2006? This isn't true at all. Its up 30% or more.
I would doubt your whole post because of this.

You difn't pay attention:
In six major markets prices are below what they were in 2006:
Oakland, CA -32%
Contra Costa County (SF Bay), CA -17%
Cape Coral, FL -35%
Fort Myers, FL -27%
Sarasota County, FL -24%
Orlando, FL -18%
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#13 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-09-18 03:07 PM
Currently condo shopping in the San Fran area.
Commuting to Mountain View. I believe there's a bus that will take me most of the way. Morgan Hill looks nice.

Not a bad time to shop for condo - prices in many markets are crashing, some are down 15%-35%.

In six major markets prices are below what they were in 2006:
Oakland, CA -32%
Contra Costa County (SF Bay), CA -17%
Cape Coral, FL -35%
Fort Myers, FL -27%
Sarasota County, FL -24%
Orlando, FL -18%

Austin, TX -28%
Garland, TX - 22%
Arlington, TX -19%
Tampa, FL and Jacksonville, FL -22%
Denver, CO and Aurora, CO -19%

Manhattan, NYC/NY -17%
Fremont, CA -17%
San Mateo County, CA -17%

If you are looking in Morgan Hill (nice area), it's down about -20% -28%.
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#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-18 12:06 PM
imo, there should be actual punishment involved for those who were involved in the massive overruns, both politicians and contractors.

The entire theory of the LA-SF high-speed rail with connecting branches sold to CA voters never made sense, neither logistically nor financially... but the idea was really a make-work jobs program finally put on the ballot in 2008, in the end stages of 2007-2008 GFC crisis, so it passed with over 52% of the votes.

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#66 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-09-20 12:13 AM
My bet is that it never happens. Did the Saudis ever get their nuke deal? That went dark as well.

Saudis "may be" getting 48 F-35s under "new, new, new deal" with Trump... but then again, that's a "deal with Trump", so... subject to change at any wakeup moment.
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#65 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-20 12:04 AM
How about specific prohibition of non nato countries?

"Specific" prohibition of non-NATO countries on what exactly?

All the garbage about "INFINITE" non-military, commercial and sovereign rights in the agreement is Trump's fantasy and has been rejected. There are Chinese and other countries' companies in Greenland doing business, including mining, and there is nothing in the agreement changing that.

A recently minted North Carolina "rare earth" public company Greenland Mines (NSDQ:GRML - it was "doing biotech" before this pivot, via buyout in March) bought out rights 2 weeks ago for existing Sarfartoq Rare Earths Project, no "US - Greenland" deal was necessary. To give you an idea of viability of the company, its stock is at $2.85 now, was $600 in 2024.

We'll just have to wait and see what this agreement actually ends up including.

Exactly, you're reading Trump's "maximalist" version that he thinks includes all the things he boasts are in the "new" agreement (do you really think he read the draft?), which has already been [ever so subtly] rejected by Danish authorities, whose description of the agreement is vastly different.

How many times some people need to be disappointed by the yuuuuuge gaps between what Trump announces and the reality when the truth comes out?
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#1 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-18 06:38 PM
And people say Trump isn't doing anything good for America.

That must be the lowest bar for any president... but even then, here he isn't doing anything for America, he is trying to rebrand and put his name on yet another meaningless piece of paper, just like all those "peace agreements" he boasted about before, that were not real or he had nothing to do with, trying to get Nobel Peace Prize.

This "agreement" doesn't give the US anything more we didn't have in the 1951+2004 agreements. This is just a way for Denmark to placate Trump, who will now boast of a "great deal"... just like he eventually will with Canada and Mexico... except MAGA cult will hail it as an "Art of the Deal" "pressure tactics of successful hard-nosed businessman" even when a "deal" is not as good as one offered or could have been achieved before all the hostilities - so he backtracks and tries to sell it as a "win" - that's how he bankrupted nearly all his businesses and had to beg the Russians for lifelines.


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Over the last few years, California has quietly but dramatically increased the resiliency of its electrical grid through a significant expansion in battery energy storage. These batteries hold onto solar energy captured during the day, so it can be sent to the grid as demand peaks ...

No, it's not "surprising: at all - more sunny days actually generated slightly more electricity than normal, and lower demand than normal contributed to high percentage.

What yet another of California celebratory article about "renewable energy" only mentions in passing or doesn't cover at all are the additional expenses and valuable real estate to make them work, which make California's electricity (essentially a tax paid by residents and commercial entities) one of the highest in the nation :

1. The huge batteries, which have limited life span and will need to be replaced, contribute to additional costs of supposedly "cheap" wind and solar energy.

2. The batteries DO NOT INCREASE electricity generation - they only act as capacitors and buffer, the generation of additional energy needed will have to be done somewhere else and/or "rented" from other states - that's additional expense, costs that article doesn't even attempt to cover.

3. Large part of that "green" electricity is hydropower (that cannot be expanded) and imported wind power from as far as Wyoming:

This means that if there is an extreme heat event in Southern California, energy from a cooler area such as the Pacific Northwest can be imported to help meet regional demand.

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#17 | Posted by pumpkinhead at 2026-09-12 09:13 PM
Cutie Pie is a Zionist agent.

That's always a "winning" argument. I expected nothing less.
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Haaretz also reported that Hamas immediately offered to release all the Israeli hostages it had taken in the attack, demanding nothing in return...

And if anyone believes that, they will believe anything else from Haaretz, which has been at war with Netanyahu and Likud for a long time, especially since 2025 when they have seen their subscriptions plummet due to boycott:

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg wrote: "I like a lot of the people at Haaretz, and many of its positions, but the cartoonish anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism can be grating."


Reading Haaretz to "learn" about Likud is like reading NY Post to "learn" about Bidens or Obamas.

MBZ of UAE denied any specific knowledge, warning or even having a conversation with PMO, Shin Bet or Mossad about October 7 attack. Logs of any such calls from UAE at the time also don't exist. Also, there was no information transmitted from MBZ or anyone from UAE to the US intelligence or State Dept, which would be unusual if they had such information.


Bombshell' Report Says UAE Explicitly Warned Netanyahu of October 7 Attack.

Just in time before Oct 27 elections in Israel, and pushing the upcoming "bombshell" book of two Haaretz authors... based on "information" provided by UAE-based senior PA official Mohammad Dahlan.

"The real affair that was discovered in the last two days is blatant foreign interference in the elections in Israel. The person behind the false report in Haaretz newspaper is senior Palestinian official Mohammad Dahlan, who sits in the Emirates... for the purpose of PA gaining authority over Gaza."

The statement also noted a secret visit to UAE of Yair Golan and former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar two months before the "bombshell" publication.

Likud is filing an "election interference" lawsuit against Haaretz and demanding criminal investigation into authors and "co-conspirators" Democratic Party - successor of merged Labor Party in 2024.


This is similar to debunked and later retracted three separate UN / UNWR "reports" of Israel "starvation policy of Gazans", based on Hamas Ministry of Health testimony, despite evidence of exactly opposite - Hamas-controlled distribution of food diverted and later sold at exorbitant prices massive amounts of food delivered to Gaza.


---

Meanwhile, in real life:

Cisco bought an Israeli cybersecurity company Astrix for $400M

Greece is buying $3.4B Israeli air defense system 'Achilles Shield'

German Navy successfully tested launching IAI's LORA ballistic missiles

Several EU / NATO countries are interested in defense technologies and systems from Israeli companies

Iran is successfully rearming with Chinese, Russian and their own missiles

Hamas is losing commanders in "low-grade war" but keeps rearming while Witkoff and Kushner clown show was visiting and making statements about Hamas "need to disarm" in the Middle East tour

Hezbollah is rearming while the Lebanese army is not capable of securing the zone


In the latest polls, Netanyahu's Likud and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar parties are well ahead of others. Whichever party gets most seats will try to form the government.

If you "like" Bibi, you'll "love" Gadi.
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#8 | Posted by DarkVader at 2026-09-10 07:55 PM
Hybrids are the past. Battery electric is the future.

#9 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-09-10 08:02 PM
Rolls-Royce will produce their last ICE in the 2029 model year.
From the model years 2030 forward, electric only. Eye on the prize.

Not a good business case for "electric only" - many electric-only car companies have already died, slowly dying and/or pivoting to other "in vogue" technologies like "AI" services (XPeng EV) or robotics (Faraday Future):

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#9 | Posted by madbomber at 2026-09-09 04:31 PM
Maybe circumstances change in the future and the value of the dollar starts to go back up ... if the value of the dollar continues to decline.

That is no longer a safe bet, as the assumption was a year ago, when Trump's hack Peter Navarro and economic advisor Stephen Miran managed to quickly bring USD down 12%, and there was a plan for "Mar-a-Lago Accord" to bully other countries into supporting some USD devaluation... but several things changed since to make this much more iffy, notwithstanding Trump still wanting lower USD and rates.

1. When USD dropped sharply lower in 2025, China sharply lowered CNY to 7.3 and Miran wisely stopped currency mini-war, and USD stabilized at that 10%-15% lower range. No attempts to deliberately lower USD since that slapdown, especially because of very weak JPY.

2. Miran is out of administration, after a short stint at the Fed, and buffoon Navarro no longer has policy authority.

3. Trump, just as Biden, wants to "run economy hot"... but because of persistent inflation, in large part due to Trump's idiotic policies, US bonds are being sold and interest rates are going higher, ironically supporting USD, despite Trump bullying and Bessent's impotent attempts at intervention. Warsh can try and slow down short-term rates hikes, but that's only prolonging the agony.

4. As you know, EU (and Germany) is also in quite a bit of turmoil economically and politically, and there are several weak governments so that puts the limit on EUR / USD arbitrage, and makes the issue much less predictable or stable:

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#139 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-09-03 03:29 PM
This is a lie...

Only if you kept your eyes and ears closed or avoided news programs that were shown even in Santa Clara, San Francisco and Marin Counties at the time. You can check 2024 news archives... or you can believe whatever you want.

Talk about incompetence.

You're confirming exactly what I said.

Imagine being more incompetent than Trump, and yet still supporting Biden/Harris.

Or... keep watching utter incompetence, corruption and stupidity "at the highest level" doing possibly irreversible damage to the sections of country's economy, military, foreign relationships etc., bordering on treason... "yet still supporting Trump."

When people are faced with two bad choices (i.e., a question of "who is worse" not "who is better"), like we were "blessed" with in the last 3 elections, courtesy of having our choices decided by extremist idiots in the primaries they will usually choose one (not voting is also a "choice") - ... but given what we already knew about Trump, I would choose (not "support") simple "incompetence" (surrounded by reasonably competent professionals instead of "pretend-competent" TV personalities) every time.


This is false because CNN did a ride along with Obama's ICE deporting people right off the streets of Chicago. [ICE] agents go searching for undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of crimes while in the U.S. illegally.

Again confirming exactly what I said - no drama ride-along targeting illegals with criminal records, instead of deliberate militarized "wide net" show of force roundups of "suspicious" brown people and people without criminal records who had been here legally and in process of extending legal temporary or establishing legal permanent resident status.

There was no quota, no "in your face" militarization of ICE, no drama...

You can't possibly not see the difference, especially being well aware of Trump's "China Initiative" that only benefits China (or other countries), not the USA.


#136 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-09-03 02:29 PM
... our economy is doing fine. Our economic troubles are tied to Trump's stupid tariffs and war with Iran.

Well, "talk about incompetence"... and "yet still supporting Trump".

You sound almost like a few people here (who no longer post - Hans, TonyRoma, etc.) before 2024 elections. They kept reciting official NUMB3RS about inflation, GDP, and worrying about unemployment rate few months into November... even though I kept trying to explain that these don't represent the "economy" that > 2/3rds of the people see and experience, and besides, there are ["culture war"] issues they simply refused to see or acknowledge as relevant.

Yet now you're trying to defend objectively worse economic conditions for even larger segment of people.

Trump admin and followers are in exactly the same kind of self-denial - liar Bessent is arguing what economy shape is K- or C-... as if anyone cares:

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#1 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-09-02 11:36 AM
The Democrat party is the party of illegal immigration. They need to own it.

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#51 | Posted by madbomber at 2026-08-28 01:47 PM
I think Cutiepie is a project as well. Or experiment.

You sure you didn't mean Effeteposer instead?

I've been working on quite a few projects, many are experimental... never thought I was one, but... one never knows.


Both are similar in nature.

If you did mean me, do you mean that 'project' and 'experiment' are 'similar in nature' - or that my posts are 'similar in nature' to C0RI0LANUS' posts?

If it's latter, it should take less than 10 minutes to disabuse yourself of that notion. That in itself could be a quick and easy project... or an experiment.
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#42 | Posted by madbomber at 2026-08-28 10:22 AM
C0RI0LANUS is not a real person. Or at least not a real person from the US. The dictation is all wrong, and there is no officer in the world who would have written "Lieutenant Colonel" as Lieutenant-Colonel. That's not a thing. I've suspected this for a while, but for me, this confirmed it.

Maybe try not helping troll farms "debug" their "holes" - they'll make it more difficult to identify their trolls next time. They still use human trolls, including native English speaking contractors, because they are cheaper, but pushing the misinformation/disinformation content of AI-generated material from fake websites to legit channels or social media.

C0RI0LANUS is clearly a human CRINK troll, slightly more sophisticated than low-level Effeteposer, who is Putin's so-called "probe" troll - initially throwing things out on a blogsite to identify the areas of interest, majority "consensus" on empathy and issues, and then promote and feed daily these directional views (like "socialism" and "anti-Israel" / "anti-Zionism"), for the most part staying away from or being negative on the site's generally unpopular views (like Russia).

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#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-22 02:11 AM
... before Pres Trump's War of Choice with Iran, 130 ships per day passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Some 8.25% of those oil tankers were originating from Iran itself - ~ 90.5% / 1.5M bpd of which went to China, 57% of that going through UAE transshipment hub.


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-22 01:30 AM
But, the amount of oil transiting the Strait still shows Iran's control over the Strait.
... It is still subject to Iran's control.

At this point, exactly 0 (zero) tankers with Iranian oil are going through the Strait - does that mean that the USA and allies "control" the Strait? Or both parties "control" the Strait, no party "controls" the Strait, one of the parties has more/less "control"?

If Iran really had control of the Strait, Iranian people wouldn't be experiencing long queues due to supply disruptions and shortages at petrol stations even in Tehran.

To say that Iran "controls" the Strait is an overstatement, it's not even a stalemate... but Iran does have some leverage, and so far they used it as well as they could, under the circumstances.

In the past, Iran's leadership have been known to become overconfident and overestimate their strength. Now, however, they may have met their "match" on that score.


#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-22 01:38 AM
... and then there are the negotiations between Iran and Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz ...
Oman, Iran seek deal to safeguard shipping through Hormuz Strait
So, the US is not involved in that deal?

Of course, the US is/was "involved", as Oman has no ability to "safeguard" anything in the Strait, without the US' say-so. So, as "negotiations" go, these are useless, but hey, talking is good... The latest is that Iran acknowledged that Oman "deal" doesn't reopen the Strait.

Iraq has also been negotiating with the US and Iran about letting Iraq ship oil - Iran in exchange wants Iraq to leave Iran-backed militia in Iraq alone. Iran allowed passage of several Iraqi oil tankers, though the nature of that "agreement" has been in flux.


Indeed, Pres Trump has threatened to bomb Oman.

Trump is demented and an idiot who can't control his impulses so, whenever he hears "bad" news, he reflexively defaults to what comes naturally to him - threatening to use force or lawsuits.

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."
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#13 | Posted by SpeakSoftly at 2026-08-21 05:01 PM
If our government could order our industries to do their bidding like china does we'd be a lot more competitive.

LOL. No, we wouldn't - it's called "industrial policy" and it usually ends poorly for the industries involved and the economy in general due to mistaken notion that "government knows best" and results in misallocation of capital (and labor) and uncompetitively mispriced goods.

For example, right now, the buildout of datacenters resulted in lack of labor to build housing... Trump's immigration policy doesn't help.

"Industrial policy" of Japan in the 1980s and 1990s lead to several "lost decades" and loss of competitiveness in many other sectors. Same is actually happening with China and Germany.

We've had several experiments with the "industrial policy" and protectionism - in steel, cars, yachts, "renewable energy" etc. - most recently with Trump and Biden administrations trying to "re-shore / on-shore" manufacturing in places and sectors where there was either no real organic demand or it was not price-competitive and was cheaper to buy elsewhere... IOW, money down the drain once the government "program" was over.

We're plenty competitive in the global market, including "manufacturing", in the services companies choose to provide and the goods companies choose to make, based on the input costs, TCO, potential market size and available expertise - cost or quality is what makes companies competitive, not government edicts.

Most of the problems are that the governments (federal, state and local) increase input cost via several mechanisms - "minimum wage", taxation, regulations, mandates, resources misallocation (e.g., energy / electricity) etc.


Also, Maybe you have enough time to grow your own food because you're a loser, but most of us have other jobs.

You've just described what David Ricardo called "comparative advantage" - it's cheaper and less burdensome to buy the goods with a fraction of what you can earn elsewhere - that's why "industrial policies" don't work in the long run.

But that would be exactly the kind of "industrial policy" that government could demand - e.g., supplying a certain percent of "local", "farm to table" or "organic" food or non-caged chicken eggs, etc. - that would raise costs and made products less competitive vs other states or countries.

Competitiveness is about price - and governments' "industrial policies" inevitably raise costs and "price goods and services out of the market" - especially when the "market" is increasingly global and technology can make it cheaper somewhere else.
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