It's like a bell choir playing presto. Yes, you had to pause and think on that one.

@Jolly said in Iran: The $64 question is, what do we do with Iran? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_dynasty

From the article: He’s blaming a list of headwinds weighing on consumers including [1] inflation, [2] higher interest rates, [3] federal budget wrangling, [4] polarized politics and [5] student loan repayments — and now new [6] global tensions connected to violence in Israel. 1 and 2 being handled by the Federal Reserve. 3 is being screwed up by the House Republicans, they need to get their act together. 4, when has polarized politics affected consumer spending in the aggregate? There is some worry about businesses splitting into "red team" and "blue team" (e.g., the recent Mulvaney/Bud Lite example), but that's just shifting spending from one vendor to another vendor. Biden is handling this. The GOP can help or get out of the way. Will this have an even bigger impact on aggregate consumption than Russia invading Ukraine, or just a recency bias on the part of the interviewee? Haven't check on oil/energy prices lately but it doesn't look like oil/energy prices are being affected as much as when Russia invaded Ukraine. “That sort of pileup wears on the consumer and makes them wary,” the former Walmart U.S. CEO told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Monday. “For the first time in a long time, there’s a reason for the consumer to pause.” The interviewee has short memory. Consumers sure had reason to pause quite recently, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, before world governments started pumping large amounts of money into the economy. Even then, consumers had to pause for a while for the lack of supply in the midst of various lockdowns and movement control orders.

We haven't had a true budget since W was President. Time to lock the House and the Senate in their offices and chambers until they produce a budget. That budget should be basic and based mostly on stand-alone bills. We must reprioritize what we spend money on. We desperately need to cut fat out of our spending and fund only what is truly needed.

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@Axtremus said in Vermont Utility to Give Customers Batteries: putting up more power lines. Driving through the mountains the other day I was wondering about this. I saw power lines running for miles to connect what appeared to be a small number of homes up on a steep hill. Vermont is this way, low population density, lots of impassable hills. It must be really expensive to drag power lines to all the homes that want it. I assume the State requires the power company to do the installation without charging the consumer the full cost.

@Rainman Sorry Rainman, I was a little bit confusing. That picture was taken about 1 year + one week ago.

@Jolly said in What is it with naked Bidens?: Kennedy is not impressed. [image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fgifdb.com%2Fimages%2Fhigh%2Ftsk-tsk-tsk-finger-wag-dnob704qvqd61skh.gif&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=12771803b45ca526d02e17e2119e6ee6e34df548da9dbcddeb0676db7b967a03&ipo=images]

Apparently, the principal has resigned, saying he will retire after the leave of absence.

I figured that was going to be the big announcement.

However, over larger areas, the US faces similar challenges to the Vietnam War: insurgencies and potentially unreliable local allies. Thus, the US has increased its spending on special forces groups and “smart” weapons. At the same time, spending on conventional weapons has declined, which may be influencing American decisions on arming Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. The US may be hesitant to provide Ukraine ample weaponry both out of fear of draining its own stockpiles and concerns that a sudden Russian advance might lead to the capture of those weapons, similar to the end of both the Vietnam War and the unexpected advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Those are perfectly legitimate concerns. At the same though I do not believe for a moment that Ukraine or NATO members can be considered unreliable. I would add that unlike the south Vietnamese who were engaged in a civil war in the which the sides were represented by two opposing ideologies, the Ukrainians are fighting a war of foreign aggression and occupation and are only too willing to die for their continued sovereign independence and freedom.

My sympthay meter has down way down. In the US, I see a lot of people on the street outside of a strip mall, asking for assistance. In the background, you can see each of the stores with a help wanted sign. Now, I am sure it is not so black and white. I am sure that addiction is a big part in many cases (like we talked about in the other thread). And there may be other reasons, but still......

@Jolly said in Hay Lufin: Absolutely. The Honey Badger had a pick six yesterday, that sure helped fire up the Saints. Man, they slaughtered Bill's boys...at Gillette.

Fuck Columbus. It's Leif the Lucky's day.

I wish.

No relatives here but three friends lost brothers and one friend lost a son to opioids. It’s a genuine tragedy.

Nah. The Pats just don't have a lot of offense.