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Nice Guy Eddie

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Nice Guy Eddie

  1. It will be interesting to see if a 24 year old can live up to those expectations. Are there individuals that are that talented to deserve that? They guy requiring $200 million over 4 yrs fell just short of being qualified?
  2. The end goal of one's life shouldn't be the numbers on a spreadsheet or ledger, back of envelope, etc.
  3. There is also a strategy to see your money put to use before you die. I can understand that someone wants to play it safe and keep funds just in case they live to 105 or the more cynical view that they want to control their heirs a bit more, but there's also the good feeling of seeing how your life's work is benefiting others either through inheritance or donations.
  4. Not to get political, because it's next to impossible to achieve that, but what will be the impact now that we will all know that the govt reported financial numbers are cooked? I know a cynical person will reply that they were always cooked but at least they followed the same formula and process, including negative #s. We now know that everyone in govt has to report good news only. Or will this be a new era that govt numbers will start to be ignored and we should count on the private sector only to report on macro economic #s?
  5. RMDs are necessary and I don’t have a ton of sympathy for someone who is pushed to 200-250k in taxable income and higher tax brackets. There was a deal with tax advantaged, retirement accounts that the owner would someday pay taxes on their accounts. Time to pay the piper. Im going to assume an older person, who doesn’t want to take RMDs, already has plenty of money and assets. And they want to avoid a >30% bracket. I get it but start spending the money, or give it away. Or is it their eventual heirs that are ticked off?
  6. Abbott and Patrick would say that counties don’t have a choice. They will tell the people who want to remain an American to leave.
  7. Can’t stand exemptions or other govt regulated amounts that are not tied to the CPI.
  8. Interesting point that while you can primarily plan on the most likely scenarios, you have to think through some of the less likely scenarios. And one person in a marriage dying before the other one is common. it also speaks to strategies about converting funds to Roth earlier, when possible. I recognize that many with large retirement funds also have higher incomes and tax brackets while they’re working. That creates difficulties in converting to Roth.
  9. “Anyone who criticizes this Administration is a liar.” - anyone who voted for Trump.
  10. The Brexit proponents like Boris or Farage still go on that it’s the poor brexit implementation that created problems and not Brexit itself. And I bet many still continue to believe them.
  11. As these small business owners are discovering, it’s almost like you want economic professionals negotiating trade deals to create the fewest negatives impacts while improving the wider economic situation for Americans and Americans importers. Instead we get the opposite with 2am tweets in deciding the tariff percentages. and how would you feel if you bite the bullet and pay that 50% tariff on that $500k grinding machine for that Montana knife company, and then Trump decides to eliminate the tariff AFTER you pay. TACO teaches us to halt purchases but that’s a problem for the Montana guy who expanded his facility and presumably wants to crank up his output.
  12. Used to work with a guy who's Houston-area vehicle constantly alternated between belching white or black smoke. The vehicle not the guy. I asked him how he passed the inspection, and he replied that there were locations that would pass any vehicle for an extra $20. He also complained about the reach of govt in our lives.
  13. I believe Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos infamy is also housed at the Bryan minimum security camp. Lately I've been watching the Tiktoks of a woman who spent 5 years in federal custody for a fraud conviction. She mentioned that when she transferred to a CA minimum security camp from a MN high(er) security, the feds drove her to MN airport and gave her a plane ticket and a $100 and told her she had X hours to report to the CA prison. She basically was on her own for the day in the middle of her sentence. I wouldn't have guessed that was an option.
  14. Our system of drawing up congressional districts is ripe for abuses. Both parties do it. The judicial system has at least tried to limit those abuses by the threat of continued denial if they're not somewhat reasonable at least at the macro level. While the system sucks, I don't see a better one. Yes I would prefer a system where we apportion the seats by a statewide vote. Say Texas goes 56%-42%-2% (2024 Texas presidential results.) That rounds to giving the seats to 21 (GOP), 15 (Dem) and 1 Ind. But who and how do we decide who gets to go to DC, and do they really represent their constituents? On the flip side, nationwide system looks to balance itself. Trump beat Harris on the popular vote 49.8%-48.3. The House is relatively close to these percentages. But if Texas goes crazy to disenfranchise Dems, then Dems need some blue states to follow like CA to disenfranchise republicans.
  15. If Texas moves forward with this plan, and then CA does the same thing in the reverse, there will be screams from the Texas GOP MAGA types about how Newsom is breaking the law.
  16. Sounds like we need to build more coal plants, just as Jesus wanted.
  17. bump my own comment. Mack is the poster child for a new Harris County MAGA PAC. https://www.chron.com/politics/article/mattress-mack-maga-pac-houston-20784064.php MAGA is the party championing human rights? I have to wonder how many Gallery Furniture customers are aware how much Mack hates them?
  18. wouldn't shock me that several people in attendance at that meeting with at January 6th.
  19. With my Dad dying with dementia, we mainly just talked about the Longhorns, Astros and I asked him a ton of questions about his childhood and my grandparents that I didn't know very well. Some stories were repeated a dozen times but he seemed to enjoy talking about them. His dementia did more of a number on his short term memory while memories from decades before were sharper, at times. I found that he just appreciated seeing that someone cared. who knows.
  20. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/29/politics/trump-duke-freeze-funding-health-race Duke University had $108M of federal money frozen because they're not hiring enough white people. Crazy world that we're living in.
  21. We produce unnecessary tariffs that have harmed the US economy in both the short and long term, so the answer is borrowing more money to give to citizens? Wouldn't the easier answer be for Hawley to work to prevent Trump from causing these issues? (I know the answer.)
  22. Admittedly I'm ignorant about weather modification but there are companies that claim to be able to help produce rain. I don't know if its science based or the modern day equivalent of a rain dancer. I do think there should be regulation about someone putting chemicals in clouds, which is being done. And I don't mean chemtrails.
  23. I was wrong thinking Deion was going to leave CU yesterday. Bladder removal seems extreme but then again I’m not an oncologist or surgeon. I can understand wanting the cancer cut out even if it creates other side effects. And good on him for being open about embarrassing side effects but they shouldn’t be embarrassing. It’s better to have to wear depends or frequently head to the bathroom as opposed to dying. hopefully more people, especially men, visit their doctors after seeing Deion’s story.
  24. Has a little wang to it.
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