Up Up Up

From the APP:

NJ inflation: Energy, furniture, food soar, and retirees may need jobs to pay for it

As Valentine’s Day approached, Lou Smith, the owner of Blend on Main in Manasquan, last week found the wholesale price of a 2-pound lobster was $39, nearly twice as much as it was before the pandemic.

The price increases, he said, don’t stop with lobster. Chicken, beef and anything made with flour is surging, too.  

“Something had to give,” Smith said of the impact of rising prices on his restaurant. “So my sanity is first.”

Inflation has climbed at its highest rate in nearly 40 years, forcing New Jerseyans to dig deeper to pay for everything from cupcakes to automobiles. 

The Consumer Price Index rose 7.5% from January 2021 to January 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week, the biggest annual gain since February 1982.

The CPI in New York City and Northern New Jersey, which includes Monmouth and Ocean counties, was tamer, rising 5.1% during the past 12 months, the agency said.

Still, the increases hit all sorts of items regionwide. Energy was up 28.5%; durable goods like furniture was up 17.2%; meat, poultry, fish and eggs were up 16%; and new vehicles were up 14.6%, according to BLS.

Business owners said they aren’t sure what to expect any given week. Food Circus, a Middletown-based company that owns five Super Foodtown supermarkets, recently was hit with higher prices for chicken cutlets, whole milk and mayonnaise, Lou Scaduto Jr., the company’s president, said.

And there are signs that the supply chain remains bottled up; the grocer ran into trouble getting deliveries of Gatorade and Capri Sun juice boxes, Scaduto said.

“Those costs have to be passed on; we can’t afford just to eat it,” Scaduto said last Wednesday. “I got another notice today just on Hellmann’s mayonnaise. It’s going up $10 a case for the 30-ounce jar. They are blaming it on oil. They can’t get the (cooking) oil to produce mayonnaise.”

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90 Responses to Up Up Up

  1. dentss dunnigan says:

    First

  2. grim says:

    Just wait until this translates into property tax increases this year.

    Hang on to your wallets.

  3. dentss dunnigan says:

    Seniors will have to go back to cat food …..

  4. Fast Eddie says:

    Still nothing built… still nothing back… still nothing better.

  5. Fast Eddie says:

    Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation has “accelerated,” and more people are “cooperating” and coming before the federal grand jury than has previously been reported, a source familiar with the probe told Fox News.

    The source told Fox News Monday that Durham has run his investigation “very professionally,” and, unlike Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, his activities, and witness information and cooperation status are rarely, if ever, leaked.

    “Durham does this right and keeps it a secret,” the source said, adding that there has been “much more activity” in Durham’s investigation “than has been visible to the public.”

    Tick… tick… tick… tick…

  6. Old realtor says:

    Regarding secession, this is a fantasy of both extremes. The notion that 2 sides so tightly intertwined can unwind their differences in a systematic manner as to avoid conflict and financial disruption is a fairytale. The middle is much larger than the combined extremes. The extremes are just far noisier. At some point cooler heads will prevail.

  7. grim says:

    Once the boomers are all dead we’ll be fine.

  8. Phoenix says:

    For those of you who have been called a chicken, a turkey, or a do do bird. Prepare to put your N95 masks back on:

    Poultry operations in Kentucky and Virginia were confirmed to have birds infected with a highly lethal form of avian flu, federal agriculture officials said Monday, days after a flock of turkeys in Indiana tested positive, raising worries about a wider outbreak in the country.

  9. Bystander says:

    Good that Ed is bringing back the orig – HRCDS.

    Old,

    Don’t be too logical here. It is apparently as easy as telling all blue and red to move to their respective states.

  10. Phoenix says:

    Old Realtor

    Inflation is only going to hurt some. That 30 dollar pizza is not going to affect all families the same, and plenty are going to enjoy the “Dream Mall” until it finally collapses as many with the actual ability to afford it are too parsimonious to actually pony up.

    This is just part of a plan for those with wealth to wrap their arms around the table and scoop up everyone else’s chips.

    Expect more carjacking and family self destructions in America.

    Boomer greed has now turned into full blown AIDS.

  11. Phoenix says:

    America is dying the death of a thousand cuts.

    Or a thousand locust bites from the locust generation.

    Either way, just the talk of “splitting the country” tells you all you need to know

    United we stand, divided we fall.

    The Soviet Union can now enjoy watching the same thing that Reagan did to them.

    America enjoyed for years destroying other countries, meddling in their business, causing regime change.

    Looks like payback is a bi ee tch, isn’t it.

  12. Phoenix says:

    “At some point cooler heads will prevail.”

    Who, Karen at the fast food place going ber zerk when her fries don’t have enough salt on them?

    Hell no, America is about to go full blown Zonkers. There will be people beating each other over the head with stolen catalytic converters.

    As Carlin said, sit back and enjoy the show.

  13. Fast Eddie says:

    I have the perfect name for the new Blue country; the “United Nation of We” a.k.a “UNW.” A nation of selfless folks, in the very literal sense of the word!

  14. BRT says:

    Michael P Senger@MichaelPSenger

    How did the consensus against recognizing natural immunity to COVID arise? In a closed-door meeting described here by insider Paul Offit, Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins simply decided against recognizing natural immunity—and that was that. “Consensus”

    Good to know the high priests of science get to decide truth while ignoring basic science and all available data.

  15. Phoenix says:

    “I got another notice today just on Hellmann’s mayonnaise. It’s going up $10 a case for the 30-ounce jar. They are blaming it on oil. They can’t get the (cooking) oil to produce mayonnaise.”

    Can’t get the cooking oil? Can’t get the computer chips? Can’t get the parts?

    Supply chain issues? Outsourcing.

    Sounds like a capitalist problem. Greedy little freaks counting every last dime, squeaking every bit of efficiency, outsourcing for every last nickel, maxing out that bridge for every last pound of weight it can handle.

    Until it snaps. Bang.

    You just couldn’t allow a ten percent reserve. You couldn’t pony up and have a backup plan, it all had to be in your pockets. You had to keep pushing.

    I hope your cars are bulletproof, cause when people have nothing to lose they become quite dangerous. And at the going rate those who don’t like the homeless are about to get a whole bunch more, and no, they aren’t illegals that’s for sure.

  16. Phoenix says:

    No one cares about Covid when they are evicted from their house.

    In fact, they are more likely to walk up to your face and cough in it.

  17. Phoenix haha edition says:

    Sounds like fun.

    Go for it.

    Texas sues Meta over Facebook’s facial recognition, saying the social media giant violated privacy protections: State seeks BILLIONS in civil penalties

  18. Phoenix haha edition says:

    Dinobabies.

    Haha. That’s a good one. I guess it’s okay to mock the boomers when you are a corporation, cause then it’s just business, right???

    “Firm accused of firing hundreds of other older workers after branding them ‘dinobabies’ who needed to be made ‘extinct'”

  19. Boomer Remover says:

    A lot of catalytic converters are sawed off cars in Edgewater/Fort Lee. I hear about this on the local FB group once or twice a week.

    We have a small battery EV roundabout that works fine for bergen/hudson use cases. Every now and then we’ll make a trip out to southern NJ or PA and on the way back we find ourselves stopping at Jersey Gardens mall to charge. I went in there once and was struck by all the roving groups of mouth breathers, 3+ kids, bags full of cheap crap, full zombie mode every weekend. I got the fk out of that zombie hive quick.

  20. Phoenix says:

    “But … you can’t shoot and kill another person over that.”

    Well, obviously you can, and obviously he did.

    Reeves was so irked by the white light emanating from Chad Oulson’s device that he got up to notify a manager at a Tampa-area matinee. Oulson, 43, eventually threw popcorn at Reeves, authorities say. Then Reeves, a retired police officer, pulled out a handgun and fired into the other man’s chest.

    Reeves, who was 71 at the time of shooting, is charged with aggravated battery and murder in the second degree, which in Florida means an unlawful killing stemming from “an act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life.”

    “Of course, in a perfect world, should Chad Oulson have grabbed a bag of popcorn and tossed it onto the defendant? Of course not,” Scott Rosenwasser, the Pinellas-Pasco assistant state attorney, told the jury Monday. “But … you can’t shoot and kill another person over that.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/14/curtis-reeves-trial-popcorn-shooting/

  21. BRT says:

    Now they are accusing zerohedge of misinformation for quote “publishing numerous articles that accused the US of fomenting panic about Ukraine”.

  22. leftwing says:

    Old, I don’t have time to participate today like yesterday (probably makes everyone happy given the topic lol) but again, there are no ‘hotheads’ in my scenario.

    It is so logical, so obvious I don’t know why it hasn’t happened already….

    For every issue I hear ripping this nation’s fabric – from left, right, and middle – splitting our federal government (not ‘secession’) into two distinct and separate new federal governments and sovereigns makes all the sense in the world.

    I say the following points with no mocking of your beliefs and values whatsoever, total sincerity and respect.

    Each side starts with a much more homogenous country that has the easy ability to implement its goals and values….for Blue, you want affirmative action, easy abortion, a strong social safety net, restrictions on guns, a highly progressive tax system…they are a given. A lock. Done on Day 1. No debate, no acrimony. Same for Red.

    There are all kinds of knock-on positive effects….by keeping Defense as the only real ‘combined’ Federate item you will stop the world wide expeditionary forces and wars of the current US…Red doesn’t have the money to fund it and won’t want to send their sons; Blue can’t print enough money and wouldn’t fund it alone anyway….we become a powerful, defense first coalition, like a NATO of two but with real teeth….think of all the trillions and lives that would have been saved without our decades of needless wars and interventions…

    The biggest objections I hear are “but the other side will use this opportunity to [do something against my values in their sovereign]”…

    Seriously, why does that matter? Who cares? Again, with no malice or sarcasm we really don’t care, nor should we. Can anyway say without googling what the GDP of Mexico or Canada is? What their social policies are other than some amorphous ‘they have nationalized healthcare’? Their tax rates, hell even just their tax structure? Their poverty rates?

    With apologies to many minor Central American states all this idea does is take the primary North American continent comprised of three large, sovereign entities and make it comprised of four large, sovereign entities.

    Why would that – in a historical context – minor reorganization along de facto social, economic, and political lines – that already exist by the way – be a bad thing? Every scenario I sketch the citizens of each entity at the end of the day are happier and more prosperous.

    I have many friends who went through good, easy divorces. Each party is in a great place, for a while now. I had a thermonuclear marriage and divorce, and I (and she) are in great places now even with respect to each other. Phoenix, you may think it impossible but it will eventually happen for you.

    Trust me, in a relationship with irreconcilable differences the sooner you get out and move on the better for both parties. As a nation we are there. Let’s bring in the attorneys, split the assets, and get on with our respective lives. Even the least competent attorney or social worker will tell you not to stay in a busted marriage for what it used to be, or for the kids.

  23. Bystander says:

    Left,

    Serious question – did it work in Canada? Still b*tching about it decade after decade. I am not getting the time and energy on this topic. It ain’t happening.

  24. leftwing says:

    Talk to me about Canada.

  25. The Great Pumpkin says:

    What’s up with the right wing propaganda machine. Why do they now take the position that we are starting this. Are they that naive? Putin is f/ing with us. Wake the f up. Guy moves 100k troops on the border, and we are the ones fomenting panic? Wow, new low for the right wing propaganda machine.

    BRT says:
    February 15, 2022 at 9:30 am
    Now they are accusing zerohedge of misinformation for quote “publishing numerous articles that accused the US of fomenting panic about Ukraine”.

  26. Phoenix says:

    LW,
    What is also important is not that you “get out,” it’s how you get out.

    It’s also what you are left with when you are “discharged.”

    It’s easy to divorce when you have millions, no one is left broke. It’s why Hollywood does it all of the time.

    I don’t see forgiveness in my future. Ever. Not when you claimed I molested my kid.

    It attacked the core of my being. Not forgiving that.

    If she croaks before I do I will send you a selfie of me taking a dump on her tombstone.

  27. Boomer Remover says:

    I got caught up in zerohedge for a bit a decade ago or so. When I log back on now I see it for what it is, but back then it didn’t set off a single alarm.

    Pivoting a bit: Given the level of polarization and radicalization that the Zuck has empowered this country to engage in, how are assassinations not a thing!? Why has not a single regular person decided to take matters into their own hands? The fact that not a single militia ex-military took it upon themselves to camp out in a suburban bush somewhere to make “them” hear “us” loud and clear is strange.

  28. The Great Pumpkin says:

    That’s how you win in the market over time…insider information.

    “Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought $1 billion of Activision shares, just weeks before Microsoft’s surprise acquisition”

  29. Bystander says:

    I don’t know Quebec nationalism? One “culture” feeling completely suppressed by govt due perceived economic welfare states, dilution of religion, immigration policy and lack of sovereignty. 60 years and going..

  30. Fast Eddie says:

    Will Jo Bi Dung defeat Putin the way he defeated Corn Pop?

    The world anxiously awaits!

  31. Old realtor says:

    Phoenix,
    I separated from my ex in 1997. We have almost zero contact. Our relationships with our 3 children are entirely separated. My children know that I want to be cremated. The instructions are to scatter my ashes in their mother’s eyes!

    False police reports and false accusations of child molestation were lodged against me. Despite this I don’t hate women. I only hate my ex!

  32. BRT says:

    This is a brushback pitch to the inside. The pitcher doesn’t actually hit the batter, but lets him know that he can. Better not crowd the plate.

  33. crushednjmillenial says:

    Nato has been expanded to the borders of the former Soviet Union AND it has been expanded to include former Soviet states (Baltics). Then, NATO extended overtures to Ukraine and Georgia. This is irresponsible and de-stabilizing.

    Former Soviet states should understandably be considered to be within the Russian sphere of influence. The West started this. The West exacerbated this. When Putin positioned to call the West out on this, the West refused to simply and flatly state that Ukraine would NEVER EVER be a NATO member, but Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory should nonetheless be respected. This perspective is conspiculously absent from msm coverage of the Ukraine dispute.

    How would Americans feel if Russia had something to say about Mexico? How would Americans feel if Russia was making overtures to Mexico? See the Cuban Missle Crisis – any other global power tries to mess around militarily in Western Hemisphere, the US will respond with maximum force.

  34. The Great Pumpkin says:

    USA is ALREADY in a recession that could be as bad as 2008: Dartmouth College prof David Blanchflower warns that the real state of the economy has been skewed by Biden’s huge unemployment payments

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10103413/US-recession-bad-2008-paper-warns.html

  35. crushednjmillenial says:

    Another perspective the msm doesn’t even raise.

    Maybe Trudeau, rather than invoking the Emergency Powers Act, could just simply state publicly “I am hereby repealing all vaccine mandates in Canada. The population is 80-90% vaccinated. While the vaccine reduces an individual’s likelihood of hospitaliztion and death, at this point I will no longer FORCE people to take this medical treatment. Furthermore, there will be no federal mandates regarding the opening or closing of businesses or similar from the Canadian executive while I remain in office.”

  36. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Crush is just another putin and russian sympathizer. Go ask the people in Poland if you should ever trust a russian. Wake up. Those countries want to be independent. It’s their choice, not putins. Keep supporting dictatorships.

  37. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You think Nato wants to invade Russia? They simply want to protect free nations from Russian aggression.

  38. The Great Pumpkin says:

    F that. Why does a slim minority of the population get to hold a country hostage. They are clearly in the minority. F them and their crazy positions.

    “The population is 80-90% vaccinated.”

  39. BRT says:

    There’s only one country that seems to endlessly invade other countries here…and you are living in it, and support it.

  40. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Brt,

    And why do we have to do it?

    Just understand this, no other empire in world history has been as powerful as the United States. We have been more than fair with our rule over the world. We have brought countless people out of poverty. Look at the big picture and not minor scraps. How much money have we given to develop other nations economies? Yet, we are hated? Imagine if Putin had this kind of military power, the world would be f/ed.

  41. BRT says:

    tell that to the kids that Biden drone striked 6 months back

  42. Bystander says:

    ..or the 30 pine nut farmers, civilians, children (plus 40 injured) that Trump killed in 2019 via missed target drone strike

  43. leftwing says:

    “It’s easy to divorce when you have millions, no one is left broke. It’s why Hollywood does it all of the time”

    Exactly why what I am proposing works…two parties at the table, extremely well off before separation knowing they each will be extremely well off after. It is the functional equivalent of debating who gets the Old Short Hills house and who gets the East Ave beach house in Bay Head, and we’ll sell Snowmass and dump the proceeds in the portfolio for an even split…the knowledge of post-separation security is the single most common thread to amicable divorces.

    “I don’t see forgiveness in my future. Ever….It attacked the core of my being. Not forgiving that.”

    Which is why I pointedly avoid the term ‘secession’ or criticizing the value system of the other side…those actions are the equivalent of throwing pots at each other in front of the kids and your arguments spilling out onto the porch for the bemusement of the entire neighborhood.

    This is easily doable guys, and beneficial to each side. And long overdue. The historical anomaly is that the US exists in its current form, not that more than one country ought to occupy its current physical and philosophical space…

  44. crushednjmillenial says:

    10:39 . . .

    Poland is within NATO.

    I support NATO using tremendous military force to defend Poland. Russian troops will not step one formal and purposeful boot into Poland without missiles raining down from the sky. That bell cannot be un-rung. Maybe NATO should not have been expanded to Poland when it was, but that decision is over.

    Ukraine is different.

    I’m not a Putin supporter. I just simply believe that it is NATO expansion that precipitated this clash, rather than Russian expansionism. So, I suppose we disagree. Despite our disagreement, I am not going to call you “a shill for the US establishment/security deep state” or anything. I respect that you and many feel that Putin is the bad guy in this scenario. However, I disagree.

  45. leftwing says:

    “…nationalism? One “culture” feeling completely suppressed by govt due…”

    The fact that Quebec did not actually separate supports my point…welcome to our collective futures if we stay together, with each of our sides alternatively feeling like the suppressed Quebecois as our current federal structure changes hands over each cycle and the then party in power implements its own views on razor thin margins, until the pendulum of marginal power shifts next cycle….

  46. Bystander says:

    Easier solution – stay on the ride while it lasts. Both sides remain hypocrites and blame other for repression. Enjoy the petro-dollar monopoly for awhile longer. War comes. See what matters after that. Hopefully it will be a society where a n*pple at the Super bowl won’t be debated religiously/politically for decade nor which pronoun you use on social media.

  47. crushednjmillenial says:

    10:44 . . .

    I don’t know exactly what the Canada vax mandates are. (Is it something like truckers cannot cross the border unless proof of vax is presented?).

    However, hypothetically, let’s pretend that Canada had a US-style federal vax mandate (as you might recall, Biden’s admin through the CDC mandated vaccination for employees of 100+ person companies). If the vax rate reached 95% of adults in Canada, would you support keeping this vax mandate in place? 98%? 99%? 99.9%? Is there any limit? Even in the face of dramatic protests?

    If so, is it beacuse we need to shove “the right way” down the throat of people who disagree even if it seems medically-dubious that a few percent unvaccinated could have an appreciable public health effect?

    The msm doesn’t talk about “herd immunity” anymore. But, is there any scientist who is claiming that 99% vaxxed is necessary for herd immunity?

  48. crushednjmillenial says:

    Also 10:44 on “take a country hostage” ?!. . .

    Do you believe that the trucker convoy would stay in place even if Trudeau announced he is ending the Covid restrictions in Canada that he has control over?

    I think Trudeau can change a policy and the truckers go home. With BLM, as a counter-example, the protests could not likely be stopped with a discreet policy change. So, for example, if police qualified immunity was ended nationwide by act of Congress (maybe a good policy!), the protest demands would shift, I think. The truckers are asking for something more concrete and less diffuse and are motivated by something more particular than general, compared to BLM and BLM supporters.

  49. BRT says:

    Bystander, my states apply to all presidents of the US. Our foreign policy is atrocious.

  50. chicagofinance says:

    Putin is a looter, killer, fascist and hired police of oligarchs. No check and balances. Runs the media. It is difficult to support anything out of his position.

    I will say I am incredibly biased against Russians. Many of the most brilliantly analytic, ruthless and professional individuals in my career have been Russian. Ice water for blood. Cruel assassins. I’ve been successful in any project I have worked on with them.

    crushednjmillenial says:
    February 15, 2022 at 11:51 am
    I respect that you and many feel that Putin is the bad guy in this scenario. However, I disagree.

  51. leftwing says:

    “Easier solution – stay on the ride while it lasts…Enjoy the petro-dollar monopoly for awhile longer. War comes. See what matters after that.”

    Ahhh, but that is the relationship equivalent of blowing all the cash and then sitting down to the divorce table…two financially insecure people are highly unlikely to have an amicable separation.

  52. 3b says:

    Crushed: I don’t think Putin is a nice guy, far from it. But I do understand his perspective. The Soviet Union gone and the Warsaw Pact gone, and NATO expands to Russia door step . Why antagonize the Russians like that. Ukraine was Putin s line in the sand. I have been saying this for years. We would not tolerate the Russians on our borders with Canada and Mexico.

    The real enemy for the USA, and many other countries is China. Distasteful as it might be we should developed a working relationship with Russia. But no, now the Russians and Chinese are our adversaries.

  53. leftwing says:

    “tell that to the kids that Biden drone striked 6 months back…or the 30 pine nut farmers, civilians, children (plus 40 injured) that Trump killed in 2019 via missed target drone strike…”

    Good to agreement. I’ll click my thumbs up button as well…..

  54. chicagofinance says:

    leftwing: love you man, but I don’t care how logically or thoroughly you argue this position. It is serious loony tunes. Our differences are what creates the strength of this country. The solution will come from Gen Z. The boomers will be gone and the millennials will all retire early. Gen Z will stomp on all of them. Bless their hearts.

    leftwing says:
    February 15, 2022 at 9:30 am
    Old, I don’t have time to participate today like yesterday (probably makes everyone happy given the topic lol) but again, there are no ‘hotheads’ in my scenario.

    It is so logical, so obvious I don’t know why it hasn’t happened already….

    For every issue I hear ripping this nation’s fabric – from left, right, and middle – splitting our federal government (not ‘secession’) into two distinct and separate new federal governments and sovereigns makes all the sense in the world.

  55. chicagofinance says:

    You would team with the Russians against China? If so, I know a great bridge I’d love to sell you.

    3b says:
    February 15, 2022 at 12:16 pm
    The real enemy for the USA, and many other countries is China. Distasteful as it might be we should developed a working relationship with Russia. But no, now the Russians and Chinese are our adversaries.

  56. Bystander says:

    BRT,

    I find the peace and war arguments between parties probably the most hypocritical and ridiculous. Right next to better economy argument. The world is not safer because pres has D or R next to name. The economy is not better because pres has D or R. These are single solutions across parties – more defense money/more strikes and more debt/more money stimulation.

  57. JCer says:

    Pumps based on Poland you should never trust anyone but yourself. From the first through third partitions and then the WWII disaster Poland has been fcuk’d by every “ally” they have ever had. The partitions were particularly bad because were it not for Sobieski the Austrians would be speaking Turkish.

    Poland is a different animal as are the baltic states because many of them looked west before the USSR hence the Roman Catholic majorities. Ukraine on the other hand has a much more complicated history, the very notion of Ukrainian nationalism was created by the the Germans and Austrians to prevent the resurgence of a Polish nation in the 18th and 19th century. Mind you the people we call Ukrainian today used to refer to themselves as Rusyn or Ruthenians. Their territory was usually ruled either by Poland or the Russian Empire and during the soviet era they were Russian proxy state with a large Russian population and widespread use of the Russian language and culture. Obama, Nuland, Merkel/EU and Biden fcuk’d things up royally. We meddled, fomented a revolution, actively aided in the over through of a democratically elected government(albeit a very corrupt one) with mercenaries and CIA support. That last one is why we have the situation we have today the people drawing the analogy with Cuba are on the right track the situation is not dissimilar. We meddled in Ukraine first and now Putin isn’t going to have it, which we should have expected, somehow the idiots in our state department didn’t realize “Yeltsin the drunk” isn’t in charge of Russia any longer.

  58. JCer says:

    Chi we made our bed with Russia, they are now with China. From a geopolitical perspective Russia is a more natural ally against China. Just from an economic perspective the Chinese have been stealing Russian military technology which is a big economic area for the Russians, they don’t want to compete with the Chinese selling armaments. We have partnered with the Russians before and realistically China currently is the most openly militaristic state we have seen since Nazi Germany.

  59. JCer says:

    Left we could never effectively split into the Red and Blue states of America. THe first big argument who gets the debt? Red states wouldn’t want the bill from the California’s high speed trains to nowhere. Then what happens is the rich all flee the blue states to flat tax red, it is a different situation than the current state because yeah maybe you can save 6% or 8% in income tax but with split federal it will be even more enticing. Now add in the removal of federal benefits and the poor will head straight for the blue states as would the criminally inclined. Basically the blue states would wind up looking like NYC in the 1970’s, bankrupt and full of criminals. I don’t think it would end well and I don’t think they could ever agree to an amicable split.

  60. Bystander says:

    ..and how could the Red states survive without bloated Defense budget that feeds their govt jobs/pensions plus Lockheed, Boeing and every hanger-on company that sucks it dry. Afterall, they hate large govt and socialism.

  61. grim says:

    My dad shared a great book with me years back that was simply a set of maps of Eastern Europe arranged in chronological order.

    We define border as a sort of immutable line … history says it’s anything but.

  62. BRT says:

    By, this entire country has been hollowed out. Both blue and red states…we are all screwed.

  63. leftwing says:

    “Left we could never effectively split into the Red and Blue states of America. THe first big argument who gets the debt?”

    Off-balance third party trust it if you want then agree some long term contribution by both sides for paydown, fixed or variable on some future measure. Securitize it if needed. Not an issue, from a corporate perspective done a dozen times a year in corporate spinoffs and over a hundred thousand times a year in divorcing families.

    “Then what happens is the rich all flee the blue states to flat tax red…and the poor will head straight for the blue states…”

    To accept this argument means one has to accept that Blue policies are inevitable long term failures….not the question and specifically not the assertion. One could also argue, as Grim did yesterday, that Red will wither because they are all just a bunch of hillbilly rednecks and Blue has all the chips…

    So long as Red and Blue believe in the superiority of their respective social frameworks and economic policies the separation is validated. What the actual results will be – whether one side is ‘better off’ in the future – cannot be forecast even in a static environment, let alone without regard to exogenous, as yet unforeseen events.

    I continue to maintain that there is a pathway, reasonably achievable, that both sides will be better off as the massive wasted intentionally counterproductive energies are not spent on internecine conflict but directed to productive means.

    Can you imagine over any recent time period – two years, five, nine – if all the wasted energy, time, resources, and quid-pro-quo spending between the two parties simply disappeared? And those resources were instead dedicated to a two smaller, more focused populations each in agreement with end goals? Both red and Blue win.

  64. Fast Eddie says:

    immutable — This is the 3rd time in 2 days that I have seen this word in 3 different scenarios and I can’t remember the last time I saw it prior to that time. That is interesting. The 1st time was reading about blockchain, the 2nd was in a novel I’m reading and now the 3rd time is here. Hmmm…..

  65. leftwing says:

    “We define border as a sort of immutable line … history says it’s anything but.”

    LOL. Ironic post. So carve my proposal up better than just NY/NJ/CT/MA……

  66. BRT says:

    We can separate easily once the debt is completely wiped out with funny money from the fed.

  67. Bystander says:

    All this argument. Please just watch South Park ‘Go God Go’ . It is brilliant. Humans will always find minor differences to further splinter ourselves into groups. It is our nature. It harpoons both religious as well as science/atheists. There is no split solution because it was never just two distinct groups, easily separated.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjg9pwIlzvc

  68. Fast Eddie says:

    The Blue nation of “We” undoubtedly wants a diapers to dentures safety net; it would be curious to watch the frustrations turning to violence as the communal government decides who gets what and when. Remember, as a citizen, you are working ever-increasing hours to assist the (ahem…) less healthy and able. When the last remaining worker decides to sit it out, then the nation becomes bankrupt.

  69. SmallGovConservative says:

    leftwing says:
    February 14, 2022 at 2:56 pm
    “Discuss what you will but as the person who started this thought I would to try to keep specific views on the other side out.”

    Understood and I know well-intentioned, but I think where you and I differ in thinking about this hypothetical [red/blue split], is you assume that both sides are rational and reasonable. I don’t. I think the left has largely abandoned reason — they truly believe that men can become women, for instance. And with that, I think divvying up the USA between blues and reds is the equivalent of divvying it up between alcoholics and non-alcoholics — and we know who’s who in that analogy.

  70. No One says:

    I just stumbled upon this quote from 1972:
    “America might be led to build up China’s economic and military power, only to see the two criminals pull a sudden switch, join forces, and attack us. A sudden Russia-China alliance is not as unlikely as the Hitler-Stalin pact was in its time. It would take a giant to prevent a future catastrophe…”

    Ayn Rand, in her essay “The Shanghai Gesture” published March 27, 1972. Rand continued “Mr. Nixon is no Giant”, and I’ll add the obvious update: nor is Mr. Biden.

  71. Bystander says:

    Sure, Small…I’ll wait for the list of reasonable Q members. Probably as long as wait on Playb&y’s Women of Q (Fried Hambone edition)”..meaning never.

  72. Ex says:

    1:56 Trump wears diapers – that POS has been bankrupt a half dozen times.

    aNy qUesTiOns ??

  73. Libturd says:

    Hey Phoenix,

    If I record the tombstone defication desecration? May I monetize it? Don’t worry. I’ll cut you in.

  74. Bystander says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oXZXT3D0UE

    Filmed 4 months ago. I will be wherever these people are not. Klepper takes them down with basic logic so easily. Small’s people of reason…

  75. Phoenix says:

    For you Lib

    Absolutely.

  76. Hold my beer says:

    Lib and Phoenix

    Turn it into an NFT.

  77. Libturd says:

    HMB,

    Sadly, that was my plan. Really.

  78. Juice Box says:

    Ottawa’s police chief fired.

    “Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly lost his job after failing to move decisively against the bumper-to-bumper demonstration by hundreds of truck drivers. ”

    Again the truckers are not going to tow truckers. There are only about 360 hardcore truckers there now in downtown Ottowa the rest have bailed.

    https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/canadian-official-police-act-now-stop-truck-protest-82903633

  79. grim says:

    What omicron?

  80. Hold my beer says:

    Texas only reported 6,300 cases on 2/14. We were getting 75k a day in beginning of January

    https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2020/texas-coronavirus-cases-map/?_ga=2.123681035.1870348773.1644967922-1475100341.1639855173

  81. Juice Box says:

    There are 17,000 people in the ICU with covid. Many many more will die. Nobody cares.

  82. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Putin is trading this market.

  83. leftwing says:

    “There are 17,000 people in the ICU with covid. Many many more will die. Nobody cares.”

    Nearly twenty years ago, with no pandemic distortion, 200,499 patients were admitted to the ICU. Of that number 50,764 were cardiopulmonary patients. A total of 26,583 patients expired in the hospital.

    Newsflash…sickly, unwell people become severely ill and die.

    Since at least the time we’ve walked upright, as far as I can tell….

  84. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I tried telling anyone that would listen to buy last decade. Most peoples laughed me off. That’s how when you know it’s a nail in the coffin.

  85. The Great Pumpkin says:

    What does that say about ark etfs long-term? Lol

  86. Sluggo says:

    JCer at 12:29 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rcYhYO02f98 Saboton’s music is mediocre but at least their topics are interesting.

  87. your site is simply beautiful and superb. Kudos to you and keep going.

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