Politics

[Ontario Hunter]

This is just too much. Can Trump's head get any bigger? The "tough guy" president who dodged the draft. Why? With his illustrious background in military training (the boarding school "military academy" his parents shipped him off to in the eighth grade) Trump surely could have obtained an officer's commission if he'd enlisted. Problem was in the military he'd have to learn how to take orders.

'Welcome, but be good': Trump shares new US passport rendering

President Donald Trump shared new images of the administration's limited-edition commemorative U.S. passport, highlighting a design that features his portrait.

abcnews4.com

"Welcome, but be good!" Wait ... aren't people issued US passports already citizens? I don't generally require a welcome to enter my own home. Or a warning to "be good" before I enter ... whatever that means. Just dumb. Why am I not surprised. Like driving a full blown presidential motorcade down the middle of the Reflection Pool after it was repaired and before it was filled. What was the point in that!? Asking for trouble. Another pointless stupid vanity trip.

Even his radical right supporters with super-glued blinders are finally at a loss to explain Trump's rudderless handling of his war in Iran. The history books will lable it Trump's Folly.

 

[Brent in Az]

What is "excess" profit to any business and who gets to determine it? Someone with the political/economic worldview of Zoran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, or Brent in Arizona?

Well Sarge, for those that think big oil and Wall Street arent manipulating the market and consumer, you can continue to be bent over with your head in the sand for all I care.
A sophomoric comparison, to say the least

 

[Brent in Az]

8th person charged in UFC terrorist plot.
It makes you wonder what could have potentially happened if they were not amateurs?

 

[Foxi]

What is "excess" profit to any business and who gets to determine it? Someone with the political/economic worldview of Zoran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, or Brent in Arizona?

Red Leg.
There is no fixed figure for this complex issue that would define a profit as indecent or disproportionate.
It depends on so many factors:
unfair wages, a lack of environmental sustainability, possibly child labor, and dozens of other aspects.
Ultimately, our private stock ownership is already questionable and unethical, because we all want to make profits without working for them.
What do you consider to be the criterion that makes a profit questionable?

Best regards from the hot mountains
Foxi

 

[WAB]

Oil companies are taking advantage of the chaos in international oil markets to artificially jack up prices. In March, the world’s top 100 oil companies made an estimated $30m per hour in unearned profits at the expense of everyday people. But Trump’s war in Iran is just one reason for sky-high gas prices.

View attachment 773347

I know these sound like big numbers to you, but they have to be looked at in the context of the investment that has to be made to capture them. RONA for these companies is typically in the 8 to 10 percent range. For every good year there are one or two marginal years.

Years ago I was responsible for an asset that made $120 MM EBITDA. Sounds good right? Replacement cost for that asset was $3.5 B. It would take $350 mm EBITDA for 20+ years to justify building that asset. Context is everything. Quoting profit without providing the context just proves that AI can’t make you an expert.

 

[Tanks]

Ultimately, our private stock ownership is already questionable and unethical, because we all want to make profits without working for them.

Where do you think the money one invests in stock ownership comes from? Also, I guess it would be more ethical if government owned everything? Did not work to well for the Soviets, Venezuelans or Cubans. China did not get better until they opened up private ownership.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

8th person charged in UFC terrorist plot.
It makes you wonder what could have potentially happened if they were not amateurs?

Funny thing is they were radicalized Republicans. Their logic was an attack on Trump's birthday fistfight show would cause a knee-jerk reaction against liberals and start a glorious revolution that would do away with them permanently. I really don't find it that surprising these kooks were conservative fanatics. Seems to be a lot of them running around.

 

[Tanks]

I wonder how closing two refineries in CA impacts overall profit.

 

[Brent in Az]

Funny, but true. The brainless side of the leftist voters will rush to jump on that communist orgy wagon.

 

[Tanks]

I am confused. I ordered this from a company in Denmark.

Fedex charged me this:

$232.12 was the customs fee by the USA. An almost 30% fee of the original price. Thought the tariffs were dead.

 

[WAB]

I know these sound like big numbers to you, but they have to be looked at in the context of the investment that has to be made to capture them. RONA for these companies is typically in the 8 to 10 percent range. For every good year there are one or two marginal years.

Years ago I was responsible for an asset that made $120 MM EBITDA. Sounds good right? Replacement cost for that asset was $3.5 B. It would take $350 mm EBITDA for 20+ years to justify building that asset. Context is everything. Quoting profit without providing the context just proves that AI can’t make you an expert.

Funny thing is Trump knows all this. So what is it he doesn’t want you paying attention to while he gets you fired up over a nothing burger?

 

[Red Leg]

Red Leg.
There is no fixed figure for this complex issue that would define a profit as indecent or disproportionate.
It depends on so many factors:
unfair wages, a lack of environmental sustainability, possibly child labor, and dozens of other aspects.
Ultimately, our private stock ownership is already questionable and unethical, because we all want to make profits without working for them.
What do you consider to be the criterion that makes a profit questionable?

Best regards from the hot mountains
Foxi

And to think you once rolled your eyes at our love of air conditioning.

I have no problem with government having a hand in "unfair" business practices. I would simply argue the "excess" profit is a red herring created by socialists who wish to manage all aspects of production and return for the "good" of the state. As long a business is successful and profitable within the law and the terms of its contract, there is no such thing as "excess" profit.

And you have lost me completely with the efficacy of stock ownership where the stockholder is sharing the risk with the business in its profitability.

 

[Brent in Az]

Another War, Another Excuse for Profiteering | Washington Monthly https://share.google/MUuumONcsUGPQe4Ei

 

[Altitude sickness]

Ultimately, our private stock ownership is already questionable and unethical, because we all want to make profits without working for them.

Actually a company going public and selling stock
Is a partnership between the investors and the company. If a company wanted to be involved with nefarious processes, ambitions or goals it would certainly stay private.

Large Hedge funds won’t go near a company with low ESG scores. So you could say that by simply selling stock is in itself a check on corporate misdeeds.

 

[Brent in Az]

Funny thing is they were radicalized Republicans. Their logic was an attack on Trump's birthday fistfight show would cause a knee-jerk reaction against liberals and start a glorious revolution that would do away with them permanently. I really don't find it that surprising these kooks were conservative fanatics. Seems to be a lot of them running around.

You are a liar, and an extremely disturbed person.

 

[Tanks]

Another War, Another Excuse for Profiteering | Washington Monthly https://share.google/MUuumONcsUGPQe4Ei

Interesting that you berate WSJ as a leftist paper while linking articles from a true leftist organization when their narrative agrees with yours.

 

[Altitude sickness]

If you want to experience really high fuel prices. Mandate profit caps for the big fossil fuel industries. Drive them from our shores. Or out of business completely.

Another War, Another Excuse for Profiteering | Washington Monthly https://share.google/MUuumONcsUGPQe4Ei

 

[Tanks]

Funny thing is Trump knows all this. So what is it he doesn’t want you paying attention to while he gets you fired up over a nothing burger?

Shift the blame to the boogeyman for inflation and gas prices. If it is oil companies fault then he can't be held responsible.

Pretty obvious ploy, must have been taking lessons from Newsome. Of course, his sycophants in MAGA will take what he says as gospel.

 

[Foxi]

And to think you once rolled your eyes at our love of air conditioning.

I have no problem with government having a hand in "unfair" business practices. I would simply argue the "excess" profit is a red herring created by socialists who wish to manage all aspects of production and return for the "good" of the state. As long a business is successful and profitable within the law and the terms of its contract, there is no such thing as "excess" profit.

And you have lost me completely with the efficacy of stock ownership where the stockholder is sharing the risk with the business in its profitability.

Oh Red Leg.
I’m just not up to this discussion today—my brain has shut down in this heat.
We had 40 degrees Celsius in the cities and valleys. Try as I might, I can’t remember us ever experiencing anything like this.
The cold beer in the pubs and beer gardens was completely gone by mid-morning. And that really says something in Bavaria!
We Bavarians are certainly no Scots—even if certain similarities can’t always be entirely dismissed. But we don’t usually skimp on beer. This time, the heat simply drained our glasses faster than the taps could keep up.

Keep well
Foxi

 

[Ontario Hunter]

You are a liar, and an extremely disturbed person.

My bad. The conspirators were ultraconservative fanatics opposed to all govt, they were not specifically Republicans. Maybe a little further right than GOP The knee-jerk reaction blaming liberals and leading to open revolution was definitely part of their plan. Who knows, it might have worked. It would have had no chance of success if their target had been a liberal gathering. Perhaps would precipitate another round of gun control.