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Eastwood

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Eastwood

  1. It’s not an apples to apples comparison, but I think the tone is the same. All tax payers pay for programs and resources they will never use or need. But those programs and resources benefit those who need it. The demographic that is most opposed to forgiveness is the same demographic that depends on Medicare and Social Security. Point being that we, as tax payers, are footing other people’s bills every day. The position of “I don’t want to pay for so and so’s mistake” is a very disingenuous position for an American taxpayer to take. Between corporate bailouts, pointless wars, and the healthcare industry, paying for other people’s mistakes is an American tradition, at this point.
  2. I can appreciate the equity argument that blanket forgiveness today is unfair and does not address the injustice done to those who sacrificed to pay off their student loans in the past, but the system is, was, and forever has been absolutely broken. Kids who need a co-signer for a cell phone can turn around and borrow 5 figures worth of high interest loans a semester. Madness. I would support moving all interest rates to zero and taking repayment off of a timeline. Have a minimum payment of $100 a month for everyone and pay the rest over time at a pace of your choosing or kick the can down the road until they are taking it out of your estate when you die. The reality is that there is no truly “fair” way to do this. There are people who put themselves through absolute hell to pay off those loans. True sacrifice. I get that. But that doesn’t mean we keep letting people financially drown. And I understand that people don’t want to pay for something for which they will see no benefit. Of course I understand it. I’m a taxpayer who is paying into a social security system that I will likely never see a dime from because the money will be gone by the time I’m eligible. But thousands of dollars of my money flies out the window and into the pockets of seniors every year. Seniors who benefited from the most financially stable and arguably the most financially equitable period in human history. But it also finds its way into the pockets of seniors who truly need it and that’s the point of the system. Forgive some, fix the rest, and make sure that the system undergoes a massive overhaul that prevents it from happening again.
  3. I’m on mobile, so I can’t dig for it right now, but Elon had posted a tweet breaking down how the board’s lack of stock made them vulnerable. It was shockingly small. Their biggest holder on the board has 0.26%. By comparison, Jack Dorsey has around 2% and that was after being divested of large portions.
  4. Looks like I was wrong, but I also had no idea that the current twitter board had so little stock in the company. That seems like a monumentally stupid position for Twitter to be in. How can you trust a board that has virtually no personal stake in the company’s success? Had I known that, I would have been in the “it’s happening” camp.
  5. $8 was touched for a brief moment. Wild times.
  6. I think Elon feels that they wasted his time with the board seat discussions, so he’s going to waste their with this. He’ll buy it if it falls into his lap after this, but he’ll drop it after Twitter has spilled enough blood in legal fees and share volatility. Would be surprised if it went any farther than that.
  7. I totally agree and never want to make a statement where genocide or other human rights abuses are “okay” because they happen to people within their own borders. The China problem is a whole other ball of wax that merits its own thread. But when it comes to Ukraine, China’s opinion on the matter is the second to last opinion I would listen to, with the last being Russia.
  8. The Chinese don’t appreciate anything involving discussions about their business, internal or external. But if we make the distinction that we will step in if it involves invasions (Taiwan) but not internal struggles, that sends the appropriate message. That has been our policy towards the numerous genocides in Africa since the Somalia experiment failed. And in the end, China has no say because they are not an ally to any party involved. They are hostile, culturally and economically, to almost every country on the planet.
  9. It’s a matter of internal versus external. The Chinese are doing it to its own citizens, so it is difficult to make the case that the world should step into what is, in reality, an internal Chinese affair (obvious disclaimer that it is horrific and inexcusable for any country to do that to their citizens). Russia is an external force, their propaganda saying otherwise be damned, that is committing genocide against the citizens of another sovereign nation. I think if the case is made in that fashion, it sends the appropriate message to China.
  10. Just switched from Android to iPhone, so my phone corrects me when I say my ducking heroine has been stepped on.
  11. So women are starting to dig the heroine chic look, again. That’s unfortunate.
  12. Also, this has been a rare day for me where I have a little time to burn, so I wanted to chime in on a lot of the chatter that has happened every since that fateful month of January. There’s been a lot of talk on the finance channels and in other media about the “meme driven,” “wallstreetbets,” or “retail investor” driven spike that was the GME trade. Horseshit. All of it. Look at the volumes. No way retail investors could be responsible. Retail player a part, as far as visibility goes, but the real reason behind all of it is that Wall Street was doing what it does but those who were doing it got out over their skis. They were certain the GameStop was going bankrupt and if it wasn’t, it was damn near close enough that artificially depressing the share price would get it there anyway. Shit, the only reason I found it was because I was digging through stocks on TDA looking for value and found that GME was worth $10-12 after all assets and liabilities and was sitting at $5. Even if they went bankrupt, they were worth more than the share price. Groovy. But then they got to be 110% institutional ownership and 150% shorted and these finance douchebags want to tell us that retail is to blame? These are the same assholes who were telling us Bear Sterns, et al were just fine and the market was in no danger in 2007. Same shit, different decade. Certain firms play stupid games, but only win temporarily stupid prizes. The game is rigged. Play by their rules as best as you can and don’t make any moves in the market that you can be held truly accountable for.
  13. The spike started before the announcement of the split. I hold 1 souvenir share of GME. In my opinion, anyone with any sense took the money and ran already. I’m now loaded up on CRSR because they have a high institutional ownership percentage and are a good acquisition target for companies looking to increase gaming peripheral market share. Also, they sell good products in a space that has had year over year growth for many years in a row, including during the heart of Covid.
  14. Looks like a stock split is on the horizon. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/31/gamestop-shares-soar-10percent-as-company-plans-stock-split.html
  15. You protect the armor flanks with scouting detachments followed up by infantry in fast moving soft cover vehicles. We perfected the technique over two gulf wars and I guess Russia didn’t take notes.
  16. Chris Rock himself said it best: I don’t condone it, but I understand.
  17. Yeah, I'm running up on 20 years in this community and the various versions of it that has existed throughout the years. But that means the posters who were in their 40s when I started are now in their 60s. Life is inevitable. RIP to those we've lost, so far.
  18. Russia pulling out the hypersonic weapons is insanely telling. Real world data on those things in actual combat scenarios is probably the most valuable military intel on the planet, right now.
  19. Look at this braggart with 12" of soil on his property...
  20. NCOs are the backbone of our entire military. Specifically, NCOs who know how to get exactly what they need from those below them and above them the vast majority of the time.
  21. Russia should have realized that they should treat their former satellites better, lest they run to a better opportunity. Of course it is advantageous to us for Ukraine to be EU/NATO. We offered a better deal. It was Russia's job to offer an even better one. They didn't. Same with North Korea. The Chinese offers the dictatorship what they want, so they stay under Chinese influence. It is a different story with Taiwan. The US offers the better deal. That's foreign policy in a nutshell. Convince other countries that they are better off dealing with you than the other superpowers. And what this whole ordeal has shown that Russia is a superpower in nuclear arsenal only. They are an economic, diplomatic, and militaristic midget. The world has seen it and even if Ukraine eventually falls, no one, absolutely no one, outside of dictators that we don't tolerate will think that they will get the better deal between Russia and the US.
  22. And this blows up any legitimate argument he has. All sovereign nations have the right to control their own destiny. They looked across their eastern border and decided they didn't like how things were going. They decided they wanted to be more European than Russian. Ukrainian blood, and ONLY Ukrainian blood, ran in their streets to start that process in 2014. Then Russia removed all doubt by taking Crimea. If Ukraine wants to join the EU, that is their sovereign right to seek that membership. Same as NATO. The above quoted argument is the geopolitical equivalent of "this wouldn't have happened if she didn't dress that way." Bullshit.
  23. Legit question: Can we do a tortilla drive and how many tortillas do you think we can send across the pond? Bacon, eggs, potatoes, and cheese can be grabbed there, but tortillas and canned refried beans could be imported. The boy could set up a breakfast taco station and feed as many people as supplies allow.
  24. He wants a Ukraine to no longer be a sovereign nation. He has lied about his intentions in Eastern Europe for over a decade and you want to take him for his word today? What he wants for Ukraine is what he wants for all former Soviet satellites.
  25. I believe the Russians blew the dam that Ukraine built to keep the bulk of fresh water out of Crimea. So, the water situation is not as dire, but the food issue still remains. To be honest, the food situation has been dire country-wide after the first week.
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