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Washpark

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Posts posted by Washpark

  1. 14 hours ago, midtown said:

    Ok.  I thought you meant in general and not specific to his situation.  I agree if you are going to do 17 nights on company dime and are staying in one place then I totally get it but for someone like me that isn't tied to a chain and would prefer to find something different or unique based on the city at half the cost of say a Marriott it does give you some benefit.  

    For personal travel, I will pay more sometimes to stay at a boutique hotel. Only if going to a large city, will I prefer a chain.

  2. 15 hours ago, Sgt. Slaughter said:

    Sorry if this had been discussed, but I don’t want to search. We just flew to Croatia and back via AA/Iberia and they lost our bags going both ways. It took 4 days to get them in Croatia and we are on day 8 coming back. I’ve been told we can ask for financial restitution for this, but curious how to start that process. Anyone have experience?

    Call and document. It is a painful process but everything is negotiable in my experience. They will want receipts of what it cost you because you didn't have luggage. 

  3. Quote

    Last month on CNN, Paul said it was a “waste of time” to try to hold Vladimir Putin responsible for election interference. “I think we mistake our response if we think it’s about accountability from the Russians. They’re another country, they’re going to spy on us, they do spy on us, they’re going to interfere in our elections,” Paul said.

    “We all do it,” he added on the eve of Donald Trump’s meeting with Putin in Helsinki, drawing criticism for equating the U.S. to Russia.

    In recent months, Paul, a longtime skeptic of U.S. intelligence services, has emerged as Trump’s biggest defender against the Russia investigation, even adopting the president’s language to talk about the “witch hunt.” He was also the most vocal defender of Trump’s meeting with Putin, repeatedly saying that he thinks “it’s a good idea for us to have conversation even with our adversaries.”

    For his trouble, he got an “atta boy” from the president.

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/rand-paul-trumps-ally-on-russia-is-going-to-moscow.html

  4. More of the obvious

    The Republicans ravage America’s fiscal future
    A party of Trump and Ryan cannot be trusted with the US’s finances
     

    Quote

    The size of the tax cut carries risks in both the short and long run. A fiscal boost at the time the US economy is already growing healthily is always likely to boost spending on imports and push up the dollar through higher interest rates. That runs directly counter to Mr Trump’s obsession with reducing the trade deficit.

    In the longer term, the cut will further denude the US government of revenues at a time when an ageing population is pushing up the cost of Social Security and Medicare. The Congressional Budget Office says the federal budget deficit over the next 10 years will average nearly 5 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with 3.5 per cent in 2017. Federal debt will rise to equal nearly 100 per cent of GDP, its highest since just after the second world war.

    The Republicans’ profligacy is rash and partisan. Under Barack Obama’s presidency, the Republican Congress, pleading the need to return the country to solvency, pushed the US to the brink of default by creating dramas out of routine operations such as increasing the debt ceiling. This was sharply at odds with their willingness under the previous president, George W Bush, to support a huge unfunded spending commitment in the form of an expensive prescription drug benefit under Medicare, in addition to more tax cuts.

    For some time now, a broad pattern has been clear. A Republican Congress or Republican president — Ronald Reagan, George W Bush — worsens the long-term US fiscal position before Democrats are elected and repair it. Even when the US desperately needed fiscal stimulus after the global financial crisis, Mr Obama gave it only a timely, temporary boost and later constrained spending growth.

    There is almost no sign of similar responsibility being taken on the Republican side. The departing Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, is frequently touted as a fiscal policy wonk with a commitment to balanced budgets. He is not. Mr Ryan’s plans for combining tax cuts with control of the deficit only ever added up with unrealistic assumptions about the growth rates that would be unleashed by lower taxes, plus unspecified and improbable spending cuts.
     

     https://www.ft.com/content/9f61432a-94b8-11e8-b67b-b8205561c3fe

  5. 20 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Thing is, though, she is now.   She very well understands corporate depredations in the field of consumer finance.  Because she lives in Cambridge, Mass and canoodles with Hahvahd types, now, her reactions to those depredations are a little too lefty for her own good, and actually are probably against her better instincts.

     

    If she had remained at UT or in a little less leftist-Utopia environment, she'd be a bit more palatable candidate.  I actually still think she's redeemable and might not actually be such a lefty if extracted from Cambridge.

    This makes no sense. Spends a whole life growing up in rural Americ. Only in the last few years because of her sheer intellect and work ethic is hired by Harvard and now will be too elititest.  I don’t get this anti intellectualism that people embrace just because someone was able to excel in their field. 

  6. Hall of Uselessness - Heavy reading but interesting

    https://www.amazon.com/Hall-Uselessness-Collected-Essays-Classics/dp/1590176200

    Quote

    Simon Leys is a Renaissance man for the era of globalization. A distinguished scholar of classical Chinese art and literature and one of the first Westerners to recognize the appalling toll of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Leys also writes with unfailing intelligence, seriousness, and bite about European art, literature, history, and politics and is an unflinching observer of the way we live now.

    how portugal forged the first global empire - easy read as good as his book on venice

    https://www.amazon.com/Conquerors-Portugal-Forged-Global-Empire/dp/0812994000

    Quote

    In Empires of the Sea and City of Fortune, New York Times bestselling author Roger Crowley established himself as our generation’s preeminent historian of the great European seafaring empires, and the go-to author for post-Crusade clashes of East and West. Now, in Conquerors, Crowley gives us the epic story of the emergence of Portugal, a small, poor nation that enjoyed a century of maritime supremacy thanks to the daring and navigational skill of its explorers—a tactical advantage no other country could match. Portugal’s discovery of a sea route to India, campaign of imperial conquest over Muslim rulers, and domination of the spice trade would forever disrupt the Mediterranean and build the first global economy.

     

  7. I love when people attempt to solve issues with bans. Always works out well.

     I love when other people opine on local regulatory decisions then decry federalism. / Full CR as you have a history on that other site saying to respect local law

     

    Having lived in SF, the issue if you actually read is that SF city gave a bunch of tax breaks for companies to have offices in the city with the understanding that the employee base would stimulate local areas (market st for Twitter) to help redevelop the city.

     

    These companies instead gave fully subsidize meals so workers have no reason to go to local businesses so the arrangement was broken.

     

    The city is trying to fix their loop hole as the result has been a bunch of tech companies in SoMa for cheap rent but the rest of the area still looks like a war zone as employees spend 0 dollars in the area.

     

     

  8. 4 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

    Jackass on NPR this morning trying to defend the tariffs got owned by the interviewer.  He just reverted back to bullshit talking points over and over when he couldn't answer her questions.  First tried straight up lying and when she called him out on it, he got frustrated and just kept repeating how the Chinese are very unfair.

     

    it was peter navarro. i listened to that too. this is how the press should handle outright lies by calling it out.

  9. 14 minutes ago, bernorange said:

    Do you have Anastasis on your ignore/block list?

    I usually skip his post.

    Saying Rand is one of the least supporters of the administration's policies isn't much solid ground for such a politician who has made his career out of being so principled about his positions. It only indicates that he hasn't bent over as far as the other republicans for Trump. 

  10. If I was in your position, max roth (tax avoidance for when you retire is almost always better later given compounding nature of money), a split between 401(k) and 529.

    The split between 401(k) and 529 depends on kids situation and how much you want to contribute to their college. I would not screw yourself on retirement as most people don't save enough and likely kids won't take care of you. 

    If you can max out 401 (k) and significantly contribute to 529 then only would buy company stock. Stock purchase plan don't have the tax advantage and your are already invested in the company by working there. 

    Unless, you can buy stock with that discount in your roth or 401k but I doubt that.

    https://www.betterment.com/resources/traditional-or-roth-401k-decide-with-this-401k-calculator/

  11. 18 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

    How many times has he voted against the Trump administration’s agenda?

    123

     

    35 minutes ago, bernorange said:

    Well, if folks are going to rail on Rand for not "standing up to the establishment/administration", they should really do some basic research first, because just a few minutes of reading shows that Sen. Paul regularly stands up to the establishment/administration on multiple issues.

    The Pauls have always had a different perspective on foreign policy and diplomacy.  They have always believed in dialogue and peace.  I wasn't aware that Rand approved Trump meeting with Putin privately.  It doesn't surprise me or particularly trouble me that he supports a meeting and open dialogue (though it should be done "properly", not privately, IMO).

    my website says all these lovely positions too but if I don't vote that way then who cares.

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