This would be awful. Through my Amex Platinum, I get far more benefit than I pay for. I don't think that would be possible if Amex wasn't making money on people who carry high balances and pay high interest rates.

The Centurion Lounge is free for me because someone else has chosen to pay for it.

The republicans and democrats all go after businesses they don't like. Trump lashes out against companies that don't explicitly favor him. Dems do against companies whose policies clash with progressive ideals.

No one is safe.

"The majority of the wealth of the stock market is owned by the wealthy, not the lower and middle classes."

???

Around 55% of US households have a retirement plan with an average balance of $255k. If that money is not in stocks, then where is it?

Do you mean owned directly? Not through some sort of mutual fund or other vehicle?

My company hired a Gen Z-er about a year ago. 25, no college degree, four years as an enlisted logistics support troop in the Air Force.

It has been transformational. Seh designed SharePoint sites and web applications that streamline our ability to process and manage information. She implemented procedures that her predecessor, someone with a PhD had completely ignored. Bottom line, she is able to work with IT in ways that us older (I'm 49) people cannot.

That said, she is still a Gen Z-er. Our company Christmas party is held in Venice each year. This will be her first year going. She asked me if there would be dancing. If she could twerk. She has also stated that the difference in pay between herself and us older guys is a symptom of the patriarchy. She may have been joking about that one.

#140

The antisemites own this narrative. 500 years ago, there were Jewish communities across southwest Asia. Now there is one. The Muslim countries-I don't call them Arab countries because not all of them are-have extirpated the Jewish populations.

That's never brought up. Nor is the fact that goal of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Palestinian groups is explicitly to extirpate that last remaining Jewish community.

Now it's "genocide" when the Jews refuse to roll over and die.

"Do you really think it was ONLY added to ones Hezbollah used? That none of those got repurposed or sold or lost or stolen?"

Do you know anyone who is in the market for a pager? I don't.

Pagers are value added for people who want a receive-only message system that doesn't emit a unique or detectable signature. They're sorta useless for everyone else.

"Now we have to worry about whether we're going to be killed by our devices."

Do you have a cellphone? If so, it can be used to kill you.

Using a cell phone for geolocation is something that I suspect even Iran has the technology for nowadays. What they lack is the ability to take action on it anywhere outside of their local area.

As a side, my daughter's boyfriend is at Parris Island right now. He's going to be an aircraft mechanic. I have been extremely impressed with the way the Marines run that program. Even before he left for basic training, his recruiters flew him back to the US to compete in field activities with others who were awaiting training. They also have a person with a camera follow the company around to take pictures and document what the recruits are doing and share them online with friends and family.

When I first enlisted in 1994, there was none of that. It was like volunteering for four years in prison. They did not give a ---- about us.

"Having said that there are still some federal jobs for which you should have a degree and experience."

Sure. Like an accountant or a nurse. I have a BSBA and an MBA. I don't need either one for my current job.

One of my former instructors told me that the F-4 was the best EW jet ever built. Tons of jamming antennas. That was the version the USAF was using for its SEAD (YGBSM) mission. Not sure if Marine F-4s had the same kit.

"We need to end the federal student loan program and make all public universities free for students."

Why should taxpayers be on the hook paying for degrees that don't contribute to labor value? There are degrees where, statistically, if you get that degree, you'd make less money than if you had not gone to college.

My youngest wants to do into the trades. I think that is very ambitious of her. I feel like most kids today feel like they have to go to college, even if they don't know what they want to do in life.

#9

When I was in the military I graduated from the US Air Force Weapons School. It's basically the USAF version of the Navy's TOP GUN program or the USMC's WTI. You spend six months getting your face kicked in, but the graduates are told that they will always be the smartest person in the room. I was probably that ------- right after I graduated, but later in life I've found it tough to work with them. Many of them think they are always right. As often as not, they're clueless about most things outside of tactics and their specific aircraft.

#8

My company just hired a new 25-year-old as a logistics planner. No college degree. The person she replaced had a doctorate.

Sometimes a degree matters. Much of the time it does not.

#28

Trump is a New York socialite/reality TV star. If you look at his behavior in this context, it all makes sense. The only thing that's missing is a sex tape.

Austria just got a ton of snow over the weekend. That's not common.

If you look at the requirements on paper for some GS positions, they are a little silly. I would prefer someone with the required experience over someone with a meaningless degree.

NewsMax and OANN are ridiculous.

I think you kind of know what I do for a living, but on the day of the UKR invasion I was digging through open-source news reports from around the world. RT had accurate reporting on the Invasion. At the top of OANN's list of stories was something on Hunter Biden's laptop.

True story.

#7

So...you would favor of a VAT, higher taxes, or both?

"Back in the time of fmr Pres Kennedy, the trickle down theory appeared to work. Unfettering expenditure in the economy benefited the middle and lower classes, not just the wealthy."

It worked when Reagan did it in 1986.

Where the U gets weird is in their (our) refusal to implement a VAT. We wouldn't be having these discussions as much if the US had a VAT, like pretty much every other western country.

----. RT is more honest and less pro-Russian than some of the US networks.

"Shut up, Jew." "Your Jew lies don't work anymore." "Yeah, Jew, the truth can be a bitch, huh?" "Jews lie, steal, and murder " it's their religious duty." "Less ----- is always good."

Taken from a college campus protester?

"So who would bomb the children cheaper than you?"

The Russians. Obviously.

A Russian pilot at my rank when I retired would have made about $37k per year. I was making just under $200k.

I also figure that it cost somewhere between $13M and $66M to get me qualified and current, although those would all be sunk costs, so it would be difficult to validate them.

"When Boeing "merged" with McDonald-Douglas, the company apparently turned into a money printer for the wealthy new owners, and that seems to be why the workers were screwed pay-wise."

That doesn't matter.

Wages aren't defined by how much a company makes; they are defined by the market for that labor. You don't pay more for electricity or internet because you make more money. Or labor.

It would appear that the wages Boeing is offering don't match what the market demands. This is the Seattle area after all. It's not Possum Pouch, Arkansas. If you want to operate a facility in that region, you'll need to pay enough to keep them happy.96.4% of them are not.

But I'm with JPW. If I demanded a 25% increase in wages, I'm pretty sure my employer would just not have this as a job anymore. And no one would even notice.

This article doesn't make any sense at all. Why would redistribution of wealth have any impact? Costs, whatever they are, are going to be the same regardless of who gets to keep the money.

Implementing policy that limit wealth creation? Possibly, but that does not appear to be what the cited authors were suggesting.

"The cities Factories needed more workers than they had in the county Haiti was having serious problems that government encouraged (settled) a bunch of them there."

Refugees are not required to work. They can, but by law the taxpayers support refugees.

Housing is one of the easiest things in the world to solve. Go to any area that's been hit by natural disaster and you'll come across the ubiquitous "FEMA trailer." I lived in Minot, ND during the 2011 flood, and there were hundreds if not thousands of these things. And the National Guard is very good at setting up refugee centers.