Politics

[LivingTheDream]

Well played sir.

They did send troops to fight with Russia. Just saying.

 

[spike.t]

There is no reason why we can’t return to manufacturing products here.

Out of interest how many times the current price are you willing to pay?....

 

[rigbymauser]

There is no reason why we can’t return to manufacturing products here.

If you did you wouldn’t be able to afford them. Lots of american companies import because its cheaper and sellable on the US marked.

Just for info. Danish tech and medical companies are keeping some 180000 americans on a payroll.

 

[gbflyer]

My family members in The Donbas have been attacked by Ukraine......ya, Ukraine since 2011 and much more violently since 2014. They have lost their radio and tv stations, their newspapers, their religion, their politicians, their language, and some, their lives. They had to ask Russia to save them. But the media continues BS phrases like "Unprovoked", "Premeditated" and "Full Scale".....all of which are lies. Each time I read one of you, regurgitating what MNM has been telling you, over and over, I wonder: Do you always refuse to see both sides? In life, or just in politics? Ukraine aggression fueled by USAID money started this war. They said they would. The CIA wanted it that way. NATO desperately needed it. The "Wise and experienced politicians and military leaders" that are oft cited here, are the idiots that got us into this mess. I'm happy with a change. Don't see any Russian bases in Mexico. Are there North Korean base in Canada? Think it through. Who is the aggressor world wide? Time to stop it. Be satisfied with the paradises we have made in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc ad nauseum .... ................FWB

Terrible what has happened to those people. If Canada started shelling the YT civilians and all or Mexico bombing Chihuahua civilians and all because they wanted separation, would the US stay out of it? Doubtful.

I hope your family can recover.

 

[fourfive8]

My memory must be failing… the Turtle announces retirement and won’t seek re-election. But didn’t he announce his retirement over 6 months ago? Unfortunately about 20 years too late, IMO. I think “The Village at Galapagos” would perfect. But crap, that may give the CCP an in there…

 

[lwaters]

I want an opinion from everyone. If the US persues isolation how will it effect the dollar.

 

[mdwest]

he stepped down from his leadership position in Feb 2024 (a year ago) but then stepped up to become the chair of the Defense Appropriations cmmte and the Senate Rules cmmte in November after the election(s) were won..

he implied a few months back that he wouldn't run again in 2026.. but I don't think he ever made a formal announcement/decision..

 

[Tanks]

...
Do you think there may be a return to more U.S. domestic manufacturing on some of the items you mentioned as advances in technology like AI and robotics reduce or eliminate the need for cheap labor? It would be nice to not have to rely on our adversaries for critical materials and goods.

Some industries are gone forever (furniture, textile) unless bespoke. Below is a picture of the living room and dining room of a vacation condo I have overseas. I gave a custom furniture shop the Restoration Hardware catalog, showed what I wanted (all down filled), and they went to town. They created the mock-up of the down filled chair in two days, we sat on it and said raise it an inch. I went to the lumber yard and picked the lumber for the dining room table.

Every piece of furniture you see there cost me about $15K in total. You are looking at tens of thousands from Restoration Hardware in the USA and not sure it is even produced here. I furnished a 10K sq. foot condo completely for about $35K.

They are working on more furniture for me, and it will be sent via container to here.

They even made the trolley on the bottom right of the pic so food can be delivered from the kitchen to the dining room.

 

[mdwest]

I want an opinion from everyone. If the US persues isolation how will it effect the dollar.

I think it largely depends on how far the US goes down the isolationism path, and also depends on how that aligns with (or doesn't align with) other domestic and foreign policy moves...

we should IMO pull back from much of what the US involves itself in overseas.. we throw a lot of money at valueless programs that don't do anything to further US economic interests, US strategic interests, or US national security interests..

but, to @Tanks earlier point about the amount of foreign made products in his office, whether we like it or not, the fact is we are in a global economy, and the information age allows data/knowledge/information, etc. to circle the globe at a pace faster than we have ever seen before (and it will only continue to get faster over time).. also as stated in an earlier post, bringing ALL manufacturing back to the US simply doesn't make any financial/economic sense.. the fact of the matter is (once again, whether we like it or not), that a strong middle class means wages are simply far too high to justify manufacturing of low cost goods in most industries..

China is actually facing this problem now... I did some consulting work for GE about 15 years ago.. even that far back they were already looking to move a fairly significant amount of their china manufacturing to another location.. Chinas middle class was emerging, wages were going up, and the cost to manufacture goods there was increasing... they were looking at other Asian markets, a few places in Africa, Brazil, and a couple of other options and considering everything from whether or not they had access to an educated workforce, political environments, regulatory environments, corruption, etc..

Im going to guess things haven't gotten better... Chinas economy continues to grow.. it wont be long before they will start offshoring some of their own manufacturing.. it will simply be cheaper for them to get textiles out of India, or Vietnam, plastics out of Indonesia or Bangladesh, etc..

Im actually surprised that China hasn't put more effort into propping up a manufacturing capability in North Korea.. they could obtain super cheap labor, control all of the building and facilities costs, etc.. and it could be a potential win-win for both countries..

 

[bowjijohn]

The Art of the deal might work when you are buying shopping malls

When you are head of the (currently) most powerful nation on earth..

Every nuance, every gambit and every statement is pored over by every institution and every Gov on earth

Every miss statement has profound consequences

Trumps approach, clever as he thinks he is, works only so long as people keep believing that his approach is the work of a genius rather than that of an egotistical fool

The US is risking the trust and support of its allies

 

[Tanks]

I wonder if Trump will put tariffs on this as well.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/turkey-export-15000-tonnes-eggs-us-amid-bird-flu-disruptions-2025-02-19/

 

[rigbymauser]

I want an opinion from everyone. If the US persues isolation how will it effect the dollar.

I assume it would create a new island like Sentinal island in a new scale. In regards to the US dollar a Zimbabwe dollar would become more attractive. Remember all oil will be traded in another currency than USD except in the US.

 

[Wheels]

So..Hegseth has ordered a 40% decrease of USA´s military budget over 5 years.. What is happening here..? Is a withdraval from NATO next..?

Forty years ago I owned a compressor company. We made low volume 3-100 CFM, High Pressure 2,000-10,000 PSI Compressor and package units. Our largest market was fire departments who used them to fill their SCBA breathing units.

Tinker AFB used these type of compressors as jet starters. They had an older model they had bought from the company prior to my ownership. The compressor had done all they needed for around 20 years. We told them we could rebuild the block for $3,500 or supply them a new system for around $10,000. Tinker came out with a bid package for a unit six times the size. One of the requirements was the compressor had to be able to run 24/7/365 which was a massive overkill since they were putting around 50 hours a year on the old compressor. The bid package had a ridiculous number of bells and whistles added that were redundant and would never be used. I asked the contracting officer why they needed such a large upgrade. His response was they needed to spend money so they could request a larger budget for the next year. I complied with the bid package and won the contract with a price a little north of $100,000. One of my service techs did the one year preventive maintenance according to the warranty prior to turning the unit over to the Air Force. The unit that had to be able to run 24/7/365 had less than ten hours of running time.

This is only one example and a small expense of waste within the system that has no bearing on combat ability or readiness. How much of this type of waste is systemic within the system, I doubt anyone knows but I am glad we have an administration that is looking at the problem.

 

[fourfive8]

30 seconds each was all I could stand of both Durban and Schiff pontificating at the Patel hearing. I wanted to puke. How they get elected is THE question.

 

[mdwest]

The Art of the deal might work when you are buying shopping malls

When you are head of the (currently) most powerful nation on earth..

Every nuance, every gambit and every statement is pored over by every institution and every Gov on earth

Trumps approach, clever as he thinks he is, works only so long as people keep believing that his approach is the work of a genius rather than that of an egotistical fool

I dont necessarily agree..

The Art of the Deal really isn't anything more than an Americanized version of classic Japanese negotiations.. he just adds a lot of bombastic, abrasive, Gordon Geckko type New Yorker to it all.. and people tend to focus more on his words, rather than his actions...

He also has a problem with speaking in a way that the message people hear, isn't the actual message he is sending... (an example "Mexico will pay for the wall"... people thought that meant Mexico would be writing a check and actually paying for the wall to be built on the border.... that's not at all what he was trying to say.. what Trump was saying was he'll take funding that otherwise was going to Mexico, and divert it to the wall if that's what needs to happen..)...

When he says "Ukraine started the war".. what everyone hears is the exact words he used.. and believes he means that Ukraine declared war, made the first act of aggression, etc..

What he thinks he is saying is Ukraine could have avoided the war by being better negotiators with the Russians, or by coming to the US in advance and being better negotiators, or by not trying to align itself with NATO and aggravating the Russians, etc..etc..

Dont get me wrong, Im not advocating for Trump.. He drives me freaking nuts most of the time.. Hes not a stupid man (you don't graduate from The Wharton School, build a multi-million dollar business into a multi-billion dollar business, etc.. as an idiot).. you'd think he'd learn, figure out how to speak in a way that actually communicates what he is trying to say, etc..

Thats where I think his ego becomes a problem.. I don't think he cares if you understand what he is trying to communicate.. or whether or not you think what he is doing is right or wrong.. he believes he has all the answers, and everyone else just needs to shut up and color..

but I don't think his negotiations tactics rely on others buying into his brilliance at all.. the rest of the worlds leaders have been calling him an idiot since 2016...

he negotiates from positions of power and leverage.. he firmly believes in "going big" or don't bother going at all (small negotiations arent worth his time or attention).. and exactly as he wrote in Art of the Deal, “The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to peoples fantasies”...

Nothing he is doing is new.. and nothing he is doing should be surprising to anyone.. he told everyone as far back as 1987 exactly how his mind works, why he operates the way he operates, and gave several examples of where he has applied his tactics and strategies effectively and ineffectively (Grand Hotel, Manhattan Convention Center, Trump Tower, USFL, etc..etc..)..

If I were Zelensky, Netanyahu, Putin, Rocket Man, Trudeau, or any other world leader that thinks they will have any cause to deal with Trump, I'd be reading Trumps book cover to cover a couple of times before we met.. he's told you exactly what he is going to do, how he's going to do it, and why he's going to do it.. and hasn't deviated from that methodology in literally 50 years..

 

[Hunt anything]

I wonder if Trump will put tariffs on this as well.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/turkey-export-15000-tonnes-eggs-us-amid-bird-flu-disruptions-2025-02-19/

What am I missing? Egg prices have skyrocketed since bird flu, they have slaughtered millions of laying hens. Why has chicken meat not gone up in a proportional rate? I can still get my 7pc dark original at KFC for $10, the toiletries needed afterwards not so much!

 

[Pondoro]

Forty years ago I owned a compressor company. We made low volume 3-100 CFM, High Pressure 2,000-10,000 PSI Compressor and package units. Our largest market was fire departments who used them to fill their SCBA breathing units.

Tinker AFB used these type of compressors as jet starters. They had an older model they had bought from the company prior to my ownership. The compressor had done all they needed for around 20 years. We told them we could rebuild the block for $3,500 or supply them a new system for around $10,000. Tinker came out with a bid package for a unit six times the size. One of the requirements was the compressor had to be able to run 24/7/365 which was a massive overkill since they were putting around 50 hours a year on the old compressor. The bid package had a ridiculous number of bells and whistles added that were redundant and would never be used. I asked the contracting officer why they needed such a large upgrade. His response was they needed to spend money so they could request a larger budget for the next year. I complied with the bid package and won the contract with a price a little north of $100,000. One of my service techs did the one year preventive maintenance according to the warranty prior to turning the unit over to the Air Force. The unit that had to be able to run 24/7/365 had less than ten hours of running time.

This is only one example and a small expense of waste within the system that has no bearing on combat ability or readiness. How much of this type of waste is systemic within the system, I doubt anyone knows but I am glad we have an administration that is looking at the problem.

I get your point..but a 40% reduction is so large it must be negative to combat strenght..

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I dont necessarily agree..

The Art of the Deal really isn't anything more than an Americanized version of classic Japanese negotiations.. he just adds a lot of bombastic, abrasive, Gordon Geckko type New Yorker to it all.. and people tend to focus more on his words, rather than his actions...

He also has a problem with speaking in a way that the message people hear, isn't the actual message he is sending... (an example "Mexico will pay for the wall"... people thought that meant Mexico would be writing a check and actually paying for the wall to be built on the border.... that's not at all what he was trying to say.. what Trump was saying was he'll take funding that otherwise was going to Mexico, and divert it to the wall if that's what needs to happen..)...

When he says "Ukraine started the war".. what everyone hears is the exact words he used.. and believes he means that Ukraine declared war, made the first act of aggression, etc..

What he thinks he is saying is Ukraine could have avoided the war by being better negotiators with the Russians, or by coming to the US in advance and being better negotiators, or by not trying to align itself with NATO and aggravating the Russians, etc..etc..

Dont get me wrong, Im not advocating for Trump.. He drives me freaking nuts most of the time.. Hes not a stupid man (you don't graduate from The Wharton School, build a multi-million dollar business into a multi-billion dollar business, etc.. as an idiot).. you'd think he'd learn, figure out how to speak in a way that actually communicates what he is trying to say, etc..

Thats where I think his ego becomes a problem.. I don't think he cares if you understand what he is trying to communicate.. or whether or not you think what he is doing is right or wrong.. he believes he has all the answers, and everyone else just needs to shut up and color..

but I don't think his negotiations tactics rely on others buying into his brilliance at all.. the rest of the worlds leaders have been calling him an idiot since 2016...

he negotiates from positions of power and leverage.. he firmly believes in "going big" or don't bother going at all (small negotiations arent worth his time or attention).. and exactly as he wrote in Art of the Deal, “The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to peoples fantasies”...

Nothing he is doing is new.. and nothing he is doing should be surprising to anyone.. he told everyone as far back as 1987 exactly how his mind works, why he operates the way he operates, and gave several examples of where he has applied his tactics and strategies effectively and ineffectively (Grand Hotel, Manhattan Convention Center, Trump Tower, USFL, etc..etc..)..

If I were Zelensky, Netanyahu, Putin, Rocket Man, Trudeau, or any other world leader that thinks they will have any cause to deal with Trump, I'd be reading Trumps book cover to cover a couple of times before we met.. he's told you exactly what he is going to do, how he's going to do it, and why he's going to do it.. and hasn't deviated from that methodology in literally 50 years..

I appreciate that post and I actually agree with most of it. The difference for me is that when he was building his personal empire, he wasn't representing me or my country. He is now. As such I expect better/different. His narcissism won't allow for that. I will continue to hope for and embrace the good stuff at home, and pray that he won't terminally f**k things internationally during the course of his term in office.

 

[Wheels]

My family members in The Donbas have been attacked by Ukraine......ya, Ukraine since 2011 and much more violently since 2014. They have lost their radio and tv stations, their newspapers, their religion, their politicians, their language, and some, their lives. They had to ask Russia to save them. But the media continues BS phrases like "Unprovoked", "Premeditated" and "Full Scale".....all of which are lies. Each time I read one of you, regurgitating what MNM has been telling you, over and over, I wonder: Do you always refuse to see both sides? In life, or just in politics? Ukraine aggression fueled by USAID money started this war. They said they would. The CIA wanted it that way. NATO desperately needed it. The "Wise and experienced politicians and military leaders" that are oft cited here, are the idiots that got us into this mess. I'm happy with a change. Don't see any Russian bases in Mexico. Are there North Korean base in Canada? Think it through. Who is the aggressor world wide? Time to stop it. Be satisfied with the paradises we have made in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc ad nauseum .... ................FWB

Sorry that your family is having to live through war.

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

I get your point..but a 40% reduction is so large it must be negative to combat strenght..

Unless it is meant to challenge the contemporary structure. Things like the 20 year career, procurement process, indirect support, etc etc are probably going to be forced to be reevaluated and restructured.