Politics

[Tanks]

Perfect shoes for Tanks...
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I am not that much of a fan of Trump to spend that kind of money, would not pay $10. Not to mention he could at any time produce another "limited" edition.

Also, at that price one could get a few Rigbys.

 

[Altitude sickness]

I have taught a lot of financial planners/wealth managers. An economist would look at home ownership as being a landlord to yourself. At the same time you are renting from yourself, which is a consumption decision. The good thing is that you avoid landlord/tenant information asymmetry since you as the landlord have full knowledge of your tenant’s financial capacity and treatment of the property.
A landlord alone would have to be compensated for the risk of that information asymmetry.
The other benefit is diversification. Real estate prices and rents do not move lockstep with the stock market. For example in 2001 the NASDAQ got slaughtered but real estate did reasonably well. The opposite happened in the early 90s when the RFC was buying distressed S&L properties but stock markets were recovering.
I have some rental properties but most of my money is in the stock market. I am not selling rental properties for two reasons:
1 Prices are high but so are rentals Rents are about 70 percent higher than 2000 in my area.
2. Prices are high but I don’t know where they are heading next. Predicting the future is betting against God.

Rental properties are an asset, or should be.

 

[Brent in Az]

I am not that much of a fan of Trump to spend that kind of money, would not pay $10. Not to mention he could at any time produce another "limited" edition.

Also, at that price one could get a few Rigbys.

I'm sure some Saudi prince with more money than common sense will snatch them up

 

[fourfive8]

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Macron and Starmer are still dreaming of driving a green Peugeot with a little windmill and solar panel on top hooked up to a battery and electric motor under the hood!

 

[Altitude sickness]

Look at all of Poland‘s metrics, they never bought into the Green scam, and as a result are not retooling and paying for low energy production and high demand. In many areas if not all, they are kicking butt. They’ve had smart leadership.

 

[Tanks]

Rental properties are an asset, or should be.

Depends on the location, I remember my parents being in court for several years in NYC, when a tenant in a rent-controlled property passed and her son moved in without telling us. Took forever to kick them out.

 

[Wheels]

UAE ..Saudi Arabia..Bahrain..mostly middle East places I think....used to be a refinery in ndola but it closed as was too old...hear its being rebuilt....brought in by pipeline through Tanzania and tanker trucks...you see shit loads of them on the roads....been told there is a lot that vanishes from the pipeline.....prices are set by the government through one of their boards....just put prices down a small amount at beginning of the month...prices are adjusted monthly and issued last day of the month...so you sometimes see queues at fuel stations if orice is going up....even though government denies it fuel shortages happen on a regular basis...some places more so than others...usually due to the importer buggering around because they don't like the price imposed by the government....kapiri is a bit of a problem fuel wise...bit of a trucking hub...I try to top up with diesel when I go through on way to and back from ranch...but a lottery to find diesel there....usually takes 2 stops to find diesel at a station...but if after 3 or 4 say no I give up....its probably one of the worst places as so many trucks....but stations run out around where we live in lusaka as well on a regular basis and then wait for a delivery.....government always denies there are any problems and state how many days fuel supplies are in the country.....am on takeri at moment and am bit worried when I head back in a few days there might be shortages kicking in...but won't know till try to top up....have enough to get back to lusaka...but never like to let tank get too low here...guy who has fuel station I use near us in lusaka said he reckons prices at end of month will sky rocket...at moment prices are

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Thanks for the update and education. Hope the situation in the gulf doesn’t mess things up too bad for you.

 

[Wheels]

Look at all of Poland‘s metrics, they never bought into the Green scam, and as a result are not retooling and paying for low energy production and high demand. In many areas if not all, they are kicking butt. They’ve had smart leadership.

…and never allowed mass immigration from third world countries to happen.

 

[Tanks]

20% of the worlds oil flows through the straits of hormuz...

that means 80% of it does not..

and roughly 90% of Irans oil goes to China...

The problem is not just oil. Gulf countries import 90-100% of their food. For example, UAE imports 100% of their rice etc.. So, closing the Straits impacts them quite a bit. I think they have 4-6 months of stock and already issued notices that price gouging was not going to be allowed.

 

[Wheels]

Until the Straits open It’s very possible we see a world where petroleum is priced in tiers. ie:

< $10/barrel. Persian Gulf

$100/barrel. Oil producing countries for their national market.

>$150/barrel rest of the world.

Oil is inelastic in price. Until it isn’t.

 

[Wheels]

The problem is not just oil. Gulf countries import 90-100% of their food. For example, UAE imports 100% of their rice etc.. So, closing the Straits impacts them quite a bit. I think they have 4-6 months of stock and already issued notices that price gouging was not going to be allowed.

On the opposite side of the food chain equation, fertilizer not leaving the gulf now for the 2026 planting season will impact food prices until the 2027 harvest.

 

[Pondoro]

2 russian ships en route to Cuba with oil..Putin contesting Trumps embargo..?

 

[Wheels]

Certainly not what anyone in the State Department would recommend but very entertaining.

Trump makes a Pearl Harbor joke while meeting with the Japanese prime minister

When asked by a reporter about why the U.S. didn't share their Iran war plans with Japan, President Donald Trump said it was necessary for the element of surprise. The president followed this with a joke, saying, "Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Ok, why didn’t you tell me about Pearl...

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Doug Hamilton]

All they’ll do is run the cost of a burger up so high that a $30 an hour employee can’t afford one… nor can the cop.. or anyone else…

And tourists will stop visiting because the cost of visiting is so high…

So all of the burger flippers will become unemployed…

It’s amazing how fundamental economics escape liberal politicians…

The answer to that is easy! The new mayor of Seattle has decided that stores were going broke and closing. So she just told them they were not allowed to close or leave the city. It's sort of like ,"if you wish real hard it will come true." See there, Liberal logic wins again!

 

[mdwest]

The problem is not just oil. Gulf countries import 90-100% of their food. For example, UAE imports 100% of their rice etc.. So, closing the Straits impacts them quite a bit. I think they have 4-6 months of stock and already issued notices that price gouging was not going to be allowed.

There are land routes available for things like food delivery.. for example, Bahrain is literally a 30 minute drive from Dammam, Saudi Arabia and there are thousands of trucks and cars that cross the bridge between Bahrain and Saudi daily.. The UAE has ports on the east side of hormuz.. Fujairah in particular is extremely well developed and capable of bringing in any ocean going vessel on the planet.. its only a 90 minute drive from the port in Fujairah to downtown dubai.. oman and yemen are unimpacted by hormuz..

Saudi has several ports on the red sea side.. they can still easily get goods of any sort..

that just leaves Kuwait and Qatar..

Qatar is solvable in the same way Bahrain is.. they share a border with the Saudis.. and there are excellent highways between Riyadh and Dammam and Doha... but.. the Saudis and Qataris dont really care much for each other.. my guess is the Saudis wouldnt make things too easy on the Qataris... That said.. the Qataris have supported Iranian proxys like Hamas and Hezbollah for years and havent shunned the Iranians nearly to the same degree as the rest of the gulf states.. so.. perhaps they deserve a little more pain than the rest of the gulf states..

Kuwait Im not sure what the solution is... They also share a border with Saudi.. but its a much longer haul over land to get stuff to them from primary Saudi ports.. and they are almost entirely dependent on oil exports.. 90% of their economy comes from the black stuff under the sand..

They are however outrageously wealthy.. they have the 10th largest wealth fund in the world and one of the worlds smaller populations.. if they have to dip into that fund a bit.. Im sure they would think that would suck.. but.. they arent going to starve..

 

[rookhawk]

So are they passing out free jars of Vaseline or do they charge for that too? What a fool!

Know of a gentleman that paid 31k last year in property taxes in NY. Unbelievable!

My in-laws were paying more than that in Westchester County, NY 20 years ago. They moved away as they were priced out of retiring in New York in their own home.

For fun, I just looked and its $56,000 in property tax for 2025, but of course has gone up since then.

The value of that home in 2007 is roughly what zillow thinks its worth today, but in the intervening period it sold twice for HALF that amount because that is what socialist policies and astronomical property taxes do to home values.

 

[Brent in Az]

On the opposite side of the food chain equation, fertilizer not leaving the gulf now for the 2026 planting season will impact food prices until the 2027 harvest.

If grocery prices climb along with escalating fuel prices, the geniuses in the Trump administration can kiss winning the mid terms goodbye.
Trump will deal with 2 years of impeachment and harassment.
The best laid plans of mice and men.

 

[Altitude sickness]

What’s the over under on Tulsi Gabbard getting the broom ?

If it’s on the bingo card. It’s not a good time. It’s easier to sideline her and replace her after the war.

 

[Wheels]

If grocery prices climb along with escalating fuel prices, the geniuses in the Trump administration can kiss winning the mid terms goodbye.
Trump will deal with 2 years of impeachment and harassment.
The best laid plans of mice and men.

America is fairly insulated regarding food prices just as they are with oil prices. Prices on both may rise but not anywhere close to the levels of countries that don’t have an internal food or oil supply chain. Both are fungible until of course they are not.

I won’t claim to know what will happen in the midterms but if commodities start flowing through the straits by summer, the prices will be long forgotten prior to the midterms.

 

[Brent in Az]

America is fairly insulated regarding food prices just as they are with oil prices. Prices on both may rise but not anywhere close to the levels of countries that don’t have an internal food or oil supply chain. Both are fungible until of course they are not.

I won’t claim to know what will happen in the midterms but if commodities start flowing through the straits by summer, the prices will be long forgotten prior to the midterms.

Let's hope so.
The Democrats and their media lapdogs won't let people forget