Political Posts

[dwy000]

4 hours ago, 73 Reds said:

Speaking of Target, is there a thread for this company (I couldn't find one but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place).  I've been looking at this lately.  Seems like replacing the CEO would be a good start.  

https://thecobf.com/forum/topic/4227-tgt-target/#comment-40495

[73 Reds]

25 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

https://thecobf.com/forum/topic/4227-tgt-target/#comment-40495

@dwy000 thanks.  (When I searched this forum for TGT nothing showed up).  I'm trying to understand why WMT is eating TGT's lunch; its almost 4X as expensive.   Anyone else looking at this? 

[John Hjorth]

On 9/17/2025 at 8:29 PM, John Hjorth said:

The Danish Ministry of Defense [September 17^th 2025] : The government clearly states: Denmark must have longer-range precision weapons in the future.

 

Subtitle : Based on the military expert recommendation of the Chief of Defence, the government has made a decision in principle that Denmark must have longer-range precision weapons with a view to strengthening Denmark's national and NATO's and allies' collective deterrence.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

These weapon systems have nothing to do with defence. They are counter-attack systems. Think Sct. Petersburg and Moscow.

 

TV2 News - nyheder.tv2.dk [September 17^th 2025] : Today's overview: Denmark must have longer-range precision weapons 

Edited September 21, 2025 by John Hjorth

[dwy000]

4 hours ago, dwy000 said:

Driving high end jobs and talent overseas.  How does this make America better?

So now an official says the fee wont apply to existing visa holders.  Looks like they got some calls from the tech sector. 

 

Another well thought out and executed plan.

[Spekulatius]

5 hours ago, dwy000 said:

So now an official says the fee wont apply to existing visa holders.  Looks like they got some calls from the tech sector. 

 

Another well thought out and executed plan.

Applying  new rules to existing VISA holders would likely be illegal (retroactively applying a law) so that’s why existing VISA holders remain as is.

 

The logic behind this from a MAGA perspective is that these H1B emigrants take America citizens jobs away. Others claim that H1B holders are just serfs and only good for repetitive work and do as they told. Anyways, most H1B applicants are now Indians and you see a good amount of drivel around Indians at X and other platforms , which is a somewhat new occurance (I don’t see that a couple of years ago).

The thinking is typical MAGA/Trump zero sum thinking that goes along with every transaction, imo. While it is correct that these people take a job, it is also true that these people are far above educated and probably work harder than American with with the same skill level.

 

Looking at this from another perspective to create the same human resource (education ) than an H1B for an US citizen would cost probably more than $300,000 (counting the cost of education through school, university and often advanced degrees) so the us is getting an immense bargain here attractor these people.

The Indians I have worked with with H1B VISA holders  were exceptional well educated and did of course very well in the US often. Rising to senior scientist or leadership positions. Many IT and high tech companies have Indians in the highest positions for very good reasons.

 

I think it’s an economically very dumb decision that is just another nail in the coffin for American exceptionalism. What yo think is happening that many MAGA folks have an inferiority complex thinking that we cannot beat the Indians, Chinese so we need to shut them out of the country and out of our market and become an Island nation behind a big beautiful concrete and economical tariff wall.

Edited September 21, 2025 by Spekulatius

[whiskybravo]

10 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Applying  new rules to existing VISA holders would likely be illegal (retroactively applying a law) so that’s why existing VISA holders remain as is.

 

The logic behind this from a MAGA perspective is that these H1B emigrants take America citizens jobs away. Others claim that H1B holders are just serfs and only good for repetitive work and do as they told. Anyways, most H1B applicants are now Indians and you see a good amount of drivel around Indians at X and other platforms , which is a somewhat new occurance (I don’t see that a couple of years ago).

The thinking is typical MAGA/Trump zero sum thinking that goes along with every transaction, imo. While it is correct that these people take a job, it is also true that these people are far above educated and probably work harder than American with with the same skill level.

 

Looking at this from another perspective to create the same human resource (education ) than an H1B for an US citizen would cost probably more than $300,000 (counting the cost of education through school, university and often advanced degrees) so the us is getting an immense bargain here attractor these people.

The Indians I have worked with with H1B VISA holders  were exceptional well educated and did of course very well in the US often. Rising to senior scientist or leadership positions. Many IT and high tech companies have Indians in the highest positions for very good reasons.

 

I think it’s an economically very dumb decision that is just another nail in the coffin for American exceptionalism. What yo think is happening that many MAGA folks have an inferiority complex thinking that we cannot beat the Indians, Chinese so we need to shut them out of the country and out of our market and become an Island nation behind a big beautiful concrete and economical tariff wall.

I like your point about structural disadvantages Americans have as a result of the boated cost of higher education.  Most Indians competing for these jobs have zero debt.  And there is an element of employer coercion.  H1B workers are tied to their employers, so will be less willing to push back against unrealistic demands.

 

America has always benefited from talented, hard working immigrants and will continue to do so.  But your “inferiority complex” oversimplifies motivations like very high education costs and wage pressures.  These are legitimate concerns for American workers.

Edited September 21, 2025 by whiskybravo

[John Hjorth]

12 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Applying  new rules to existing VISA holders would likely be illegal (retroactively applying a law) so that’s why existing VISA holders remain as is.

 

The logic behind this from a MAGA perspective is that these H1B emigrants take America citizens jobs away. Others claim that H1B holders are just serfs and only good for repetitive work and do as they told. Anyways, most H1B applicants are now Indians and you see a good amount of drivel around Indians at X and other platforms , which is a somewhat new occurance (I don’t see that a couple of years ago).

The thinking is typical MAGA/Trump zero sum thinking that goes along with every transaction, imo. While it is correct that these people take a job, it is also true that these people are far above educated and probably work harder than American with with the same skill level.

 

Looking at this from another perspective to create the same human resource (education ) than an H1B for an US citizen would cost probably more than $300,000 (counting the cost of education through school, university and often advanced degrees) so the us is getting an immense bargain here attractor these people.

The Indians I have worked with with H1B VISA holders  were exceptional well educated and did of course very well in the US often. Rising to senior scientist or leadership positions. Many IT and high tech companies have Indians in the highest positions for very good reasons.

 

I think it’s an economically very dumb decision that is just another nail in the coffin for American exceptionalism. What yo think is happening that many MAGA folks have an inferiority complex thinking that we cannot beat the Indians, Chinese so we need to shut them out of the country and out of our market and become an Island nation behind a big beautiful concrete and economical tariff wall.

 

1 hour ago, whiskybravo said:

I like your point about structural disadvantages Americans have as a result of the boated cost of higher education.  Most Indians competing for these jobs have zero debt.  And there is an element of employer coercion.  H1B workers are tied to their employers, so will be less willing to push back against unrealistic demands.

 

America has always benefited from talented, hard working immigrants and will continue to do so.  But your “inferiority complex” oversimplifies motivations like very high education costs and wage pressures.  These are legitimate concerns for American workers.

 

It will be interesting to see if a CofB&F member living outside USA will grab the opportunity here to start a topic in the General Discussion forum named 'Is USA becoming uninvestable' 

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

From a tax law perspective it is a tax on a cost related to the wages and salaries to a certain group of employeés in US businesses.

 

Well, I have here In Denmark seen something similar, but madness and stupidity luckily always tend to be short lived, after which reason tends to prevail.

 

A couple of examples :

 

1. Under the Potato Cure the Danish parlament imposed a 20 per cent tax of all personal interest expenses related to debt from consumption. I'm sure you can imagine and have an idea about how many societal, social and other kinds of severe problems this tax caused, i.e. by hitting poor and weak citizens, just causing new problems, or amplifying others.

 

2. Just after the GFC the Danish parlament imposed a special tax on banks and their loan losses provided and expensed, charged in their income statements. [Punishing those mother***er suits with silly fines, best mobster style, lol!], all while the already severely tested and totally innocent bank shareholders as spectators to the whole circus could do nothing but just sigh once again!, knowing they were again picking up the tap for the party.

Edited September 21, 2025 by John Hjorth

[Spekulatius]

5 hours ago, whiskybravo said:

I like your point about structural disadvantages Americans have as a result of the boated cost of higher education.  Most Indians competing for these jobs have zero debt.  And there is an element of employer coercion.  H1B workers are tied to their employers, so will be less willing to push back against unrealistic demands.

 

America has always benefited from talented, hard working immigrants and will continue to do so.  But your “inferiority complex” oversimplifies motivations like very high education costs and wage pressures.  These are legitimate concerns for American workers.

Yes, the bloated education costs are an issue. However keep in mind that most H1B from India come from the equivalent of the top 10 institutions in their country. They would most likely get a free ride at many colleges in the US as their kids do when they get here.

 

In a way one aspect of MAGA is that’s it’s just DEI but for white people 

 

Overall, I agree, the education sector in the USA is vastly inefficient starting from high schools to colleges. Same with the health care sector and I argue construction as well.

 

Shelter, health care and education are huge expenses for middle class households and are very bloated. its the reason why the mean person in Europe has an equivalent life standard than the mean person in the USA despite much lower nominal income.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2025 by Spekulatius

[dealraker]

29 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Yes, the bloated education costs are an issue. However keep in mind that most H1B from India come from the equivalent of the top 10 institutions in their country. They would most likely get a free ride at many colleges in the US as their kids do when they get here.

 

In a way one aspect of MAGA is that’s it’s just DEI but for white people 

 

Overall, I agree, the education sector in the USA is vastly inefficient starting from high schools to colleges. Same with the health care sector and I argue construction as well.

 

Shelter, health care and education are huge expenses for middle class households and are very bloated. its the reason why the mean person in Europe has an equivalent life standard than the mean person in the USA despite much lower nominal income.

 

 

Transportation cost US vs Europe.

[Marco Van Basten]

17 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Applying  new rules to existing VISA holders would likely be illegal (retroactively applying a law) so that’s why existing VISA holders remain as is.

 

The logic behind this from a MAGA perspective is that these H1B emigrants take America citizens jobs away. Others claim that H1B holders are just serfs and only good for repetitive work and do as they told. Anyways, most H1B applicants are now Indians and you see a good amount of drivel around Indians at X and other platforms , which is a somewhat new occurance (I don’t see that a couple of years ago).

The thinking is typical MAGA/Trump zero sum thinking that goes along with every transaction, imo. While it is correct that these people take a job, it is also true that these people are far above educated and probably work harder than American with with the same skill level.

 

Looking at this from another perspective to create the same human resource (education ) than an H1B for an US citizen would cost probably more than $300,000 (counting the cost of education through school, university and often advanced degrees) so the us is getting an immense bargain here attractor these people.

The Indians I have worked with with H1B VISA holders  were exceptional well educated and did of course very well in the US often. Rising to senior scientist or leadership positions. Many IT and high tech companies have Indians in the highest positions for very good reasons.

 

I think it’s an economically very dumb decision that is just another nail in the coffin for American exceptionalism. What yo think is happening that many MAGA folks have an inferiority complex thinking that we cannot beat the Indians, Chinese so we need to shut them out of the country and out of our market and become an Island nation behind a big beautiful concrete and economical tariff wall.

Spek, this is just not true.  When I was at JP Morgan in mid 2000s, I remember them advertising (as required by law) positions for which they were seeking HB1 visas with salaries listed at $40-60K for tech people in Manhattan.   This was half of what people with those skills were commanding at that time in Manhattan.  Similarly, when I was in academia, I saw postings (as required by law) stating that university was looking for professors on HB1 visas.  At the same time, there were plenty of PhDs in the field, Americans to boot, looking for jobs.  Foreigners they hired on HB1 visas had an accent so thick that I could not understand them.  Oh, and the "research" these professors as well as many others in the field did was not worth the paper it was written on.  Throwing a ton of regressions against the wall and see what sticks.

Edited September 21, 2025 by Marco Van Basten

[whiskybravo]

2 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Yes, the bloated education costs are an issue. However keep in mind that most H1B from India come from the equivalent of the top 10 institutions in their country. They would most likely get a free ride at many colleges in the US as their kids do when they get here.

 

In a way one aspect of MAGA is that’s it’s just DEI but for white people 

 

Overall, I agree, the education sector in the USA is vastly inefficient starting from high schools to colleges. Same with the health care sector and I argue construction as well.

 

Shelter, health care and education are huge expenses for middle class households and are very bloated. its the reason why the mean person in Europe has an equivalent life standard than the mean person in the USA despite much lower nominal income.

 

 

While many students get scholarships and such, a full ride is actually pretty rare.  So in the hypothetical that all H1B workers could be born and raised in the U.S., only a tiny fraction would get it.  I may be misunderstanding your point.  In any case, wage and other pressures on American workers exist.  Good deal for employers.  

 

I can’t reconcile MAGA as DEI for white people since for instance Asians would be significant beneficiaries of meritocracy.  

Edited September 21, 2025 by whiskybravo

[Gregmal]

43 minutes ago, whiskybravo said:

can’t reconcile MAGA as DEI for white people since for instance Asians would be significant beneficiaries of meritocracy.  

That was the illusion of DEI that most didn’t understand. It really only embraced LGBT types and impoverished blacks and Hispanics. If you were Asian, Indian, middle eastern, etc..might as well have been white. 

[Gregmal]

40 minutes ago, TB said:

There is a twin of DEI called CRT (critical race theory) which is peddled by many and is now being taught around the world including Canada schools. CRT says that there are two classes - oppressors and oppressed. An offshoot is that no billionaire is ethical, this includes folks like @Parsad, Chou, and Watsa as they are squarely in the oppressor category. 

 

https://jcri.ca/index.php/CRI/article/view/17486

 

Yup, and then the sick twist is when you see the movement is really just some virtue signaling experiment endorsed by a few rich white guys whom appear to have some ax to grind with historical America….its weird as fuck and rightly now being targeted for elimination.  

[Spekulatius]

1 hour ago, Gregmal said:

That was the illusion of DEI that most didn’t understand. It really only embraced LGBT types and impoverished blacks and Hispanics. If you were Asian, Indian, middle eastern, etc..might as well have been white. 

This is correct, DEI affected Asian people as well but it seems that the MAGA movement/resentment is much more so driven by whites than the Asians.

 

Asians understand the impact of DEI on college applications all too well. I told my son not to put in Asian as a race (he is of mixed race) for that very reason.

Edited September 21, 2025 by Spekulatius

[Spekulatius]

49 minutes ago, TB said:

There is a twin of DEI called CRT (critical race theory) which is peddled by many and is now being taught around the world including Canada schools. CRT says that there are two classes - oppressors and oppressed. An offshoot is that no billionaire is ethical, this includes folks like @Parsad, Chou, and Watsa as they are squarely in the oppressor category. 

 

https://jcri.ca/index.php/CRI/article/view/17486

 

Actually this is not what critical race theory is. Critical race theory means that racial bias is a critical factor how our society and institutions operate and determines many outcomes.

 

The theory was also taught at my sons high school at which point I was acquainted by it. While I don’t agree with some of the material presented, it was also taught as a theory and not as an absolute truth. Teaching a theory and fully endorsing it are different things. I was taught Marxism and Leninism theory too at school but that does not mean the teacher were communists. I don’t really have an issue with teaching critical race theory either because I think at some point it was how society operated it just much much less the case nowadays at all, if you look at many objective facts.

 

I think parents get upset about what some schools teaches but they should only be when it is taught in a wrong way as absolute truth. Reading about Karl Marx and learning about communism does not make your kids a communist either.

[Spekulatius]

23 hours ago, dwy000 said:

So now an official says the fee wont apply to existing visa holders.  Looks like they got some calls from the tech sector. 

 

Another well thought out and executed plan.

When you look at the lowest salary in this list, it all tend to be Indian outsourcing houses (Cognizant, Tata Consulting, Wipro, Infosys). ACN for example pays $195K but those pay around $100k.

 

If you want to find abuse, that’s probably where it is. The rest seems to pay pretty food salaries in my opinion. The H1B brings in qualified and very desirable  foreign educated human capital in the US. it a tremendous bargain for the US as a whole.

[Spekulatius]

6 hours ago, Marco Van Basten said:

Spek, this is just not true.  When I was at JP Morgan in mid 2000s, I remember them advertising (as required by law) positions for which they were seeking HB1 visas with salaries listed at $40-60K for tech people in Manhattan.   This was half of what people with those skills were commanding at that time in Manhattan.  Similarly, when I was in academia, I saw postings (as required by law) stating that university was looking for professors on HB1 visas.  At the same time, there were plenty of PhDs in the field, Americans to boot, looking for jobs.  Foreigners they hired on HB1 visas had an accent so thick that I could not understand them.  Oh, and the "research" these professors as well as many others in the field did was not worth the paper it was written on.  Throwing a ton of regressions against the wall and see what sticks.

I don’t think what you are posting from memory is correct:

 

 

Edited September 21, 2025 by Spekulatius

[dwy000]

59 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

When you look at the lowest salary in this list, it all tend to be Indian outsourcing houses (Cognizant, Tata Consulting, Wipro, Infosys). ACN for example pays $195K but those pay around $100k.

 

If you want to find abuse, that’s probably where it is. The rest seems to pay pretty food salaries in my opinion. The H1B brings in qualified and very desirable  foreign educated human capital in the US. it a tremendous bargain for the US as a whole.

Its not just a bargain, it encourages development and technology advancement in the US as opposed to being done overseas.  At $100k fee instead of bringing in someone to lead a development team here it becomes easier and cheaper to just put together a team in India or Canada. 

[Marco Van Basten]

1 hour ago, Spekulatius said:

I don’t think what you are posting from memory is correct:

 

 

Spek, average is a meaningless number.  There was a guy named Patrick Edsparr on an HB-1 visa who was in charge of all proprietary trading at JP Morgan.  His comp by itself divided by 25 would exceed $81,342.  Oh, and I just pulled up my Goldman analyst class directory.  More than 25% of people on the list were on Hb-1 visas, at a time when there were a dozen applicants for a each job opening at GS.  

[dwy000]

33 minutes ago, Marco Van Basten said:

Spek, average is a meaningless number.  There was a guy named Patrick Edsparr on an HB-1 visa who was in charge of all proprietary trading at JP Morgan.  His comp by itself divided by 25 would exceed $81,342.  Oh, and I just pulled up my Goldman analyst class directory.  More than 25% of people on the list were on Hb-1 visas, at a time when there were a dozen applicants for a each job opening at GS.  

I was in inv banking in the 2000's as well and most H1B's were used to get global talent and rising stars a couple of years in the US and in front of senior management before giving them a bigger global position. Either way, its more anecdotal.  It would be really difficult to make a reasoned argument that the H1-B program is a way to just get cheap labor in the US.  

[Spekulatius]

 

1 hour ago, Marco Van Basten said:

Spek, average is a meaningless number.  There was a guy named Patrick Edsparr on an HB-1 visa who was in charge of all proprietary trading at JP Morgan.  His comp by itself divided by 25 would exceed $81,342.  Oh, and I just pulled up my Goldman analyst class directory.  More than 25% of people on the list were on Hb-1 visas, at a time when there were a dozen applicants for a each job opening at GS.  

I think the numbers that @Marco Van Basten cited are incorrect.

 

https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/Sponsor/Top500_h1b_visa_sponsor_2005.pdf

 

I get $75k mean and $80K average for JPM H1B salaries  in 2005.

 

Edited September 21, 2025 by Spekulatius

[dwy000]

7 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

 

I think the numbers that @Marco Van Basten cited are incorrect.

 

https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/Sponsor/Top500_h1b_visa_sponsor_2005.pdf

 

I get $75k mean and $80K average for JPM H1B salaries  in 2005.

 

Don't forget that on top of that it can take months to get the visa, the company has to pay the lawyers to do it (for banks that's usually Fragoman who is not cheap) and then you have to pay to physically transfer the employee, put them up until they find a place to live, usually pay for a couple flights home per year, tax prep and equalization etc.  Its an arduous, time consuming and expensive process.  You would need to save a ton of money to make it a worthwhile effort. 

[Spekulatius]

Just now, dwy000 said:

Don't forget that on top of that it can take months to get the visa, the company has to pay the lawyers to do it (for banks that's usually Fragoman who is not cheap) and then you have to pay to physically transfer the employee, put them up until they find a place to live, usually pay for a couple flights home per year, tax prep and equalization etc.  Its an arduous, time consuming and expensive process.  You would need to save a ton of money to make it a worthwhile effort. 

I am very much familiar with the H1B visa process myself, as I emigrated to the USA in the late Nineties through H1B myself. The company has to provide extensive documentation about salary comps, the labor market. It’s quite a process. Companies can game this somewhat but not to the extend that many think. Some of the post you see on social media indicate clearly that people have no idea what they are talking about.

 

I think the most important mistake however is the zero sum game thinking that is so common with MAGA.

 

[Mephistopheles]

On 9/20/2025 at 7:29 AM, Castanza said:

Both party extremes want this but their approach is different. The left uses PC culture which is nothing more than fascism with manners. The right uses force so it’s front and center. 
 

I was concerned with Trump this election when he tweeted out Napoleon Bonaparte…

 

The difference is that only one of the parties got their version of extremist in power (along with his sycophants), thanks to the cult following

 

[Castanza]

16 minutes ago, Mephistopheles said:

 

The difference is that only one of the parties got their version of extremist in power (along with his sycophants), thanks to the cult following

 

 

Well that tends to be how elections work? I thought both candidates were equally "extreme." And if you look at the independent sway voters as well as the shift in minorities, you could make the argument the less extreme candidate was elected with the information known at the time. There is a reason many non-cult MAGA Trump voters are upset with the direction the President has taken. But you cannot look at the YTD and say the "less extreme candidate was chosen." The Harris administration outcome is an unknown....