Political Posts

[Spekulatius]

13 hours ago, Marco Van Basten said:

Spek, 45% of NYC's population is on Medicaid.  Public services are degrading because we are wasting our money on supporting those who refuse to work.  When public contracts get awarded due to race/religion/sexual orientation - as is often the case, you don't expect degradation of public services?  When government employees cannot be fired for bad performance, what do you expect?  

I can’t comment on NYC situation but you need to get the hell out of there. As I understand it , you live of your investments which means you can live anywhere you want. You have no reason to stay where you are except inertia.

 

Edited October 27, 2025 by Spekulatius

[Marco Van Basten]

9 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

I can’t comment on NYC situation but you need to get the hell out of there. As I understand it , you live of your investments which means you can live anywhere you want. You have no reason to stay where you are except inertia.

 

Carnegie Hall, opera and jazz clubs have a gravitational pull...

[Spekulatius]

5 minutes ago, Red Lion said:

Bonus depreciation encourages growth capex which I would think certainly has some benefit to the average Joe in terms of the job market. Dare I say trickle down economics? 
 

The average Joe actually doesn’t pay much in taxes, so tax cuts are almost always going to benefit actual taxpayers (corporations and the top 20%) more than the average Joe. 

This is true but only to the extent that it

causes incremental Capex. What I am

some  is that some Capex heavy  seem to become zero Taxpayer spending the same

amount that they are spending last year. Read CHTR, ATT Cc transcript for reference .

 

Some companies even get reimbursement checks for taxes paid in prior years. Saw this in SAIC CC (~$1/ share in extra cash flow

and ~$200M in taxes returned if I read this is right)

 

There is actually an investment angle in there that BBB is the biggest tax windfall for many large business since the PPP came out during COVID.

 

[dwy000]

1 hour ago, Marco Van Basten said:

What are you talking about?  Even if one takes your numbers as correct, (hard to believe that 2.5% of all adults in NYC between 21-64 are disabled), 25% of the population is 2.05MM. (0.55*45%).    So there are 2.05MM adults between 18 and 65 in NYC who are not disabled on Medicaid.  It is clear that none of these people actually has a full time job.    Anyone who works full time in NYC ($16 minimum wage) at 40 hours per week, earns $33.3K per year, which makes the person not eligible for Medicaid.  Working 3 hours a week, is NOT working.   

If you want to live off the system NYC is the absolute worst place to do it.  If you think there are millions of people living large off of welfare and medicaid in NYC, that's crazy.  This is one of the highest cost places in the country. 

[Red Lion]

3 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

This is true but only to the extent that it

causes incremental Capex. What I am

some  is that some Capex heavy  seem to become zero Taxpayer spending the same

amount that they are spending last year. Read CHTR, ATT Cc transcript for reference .

 

Some companies even get reimbursement checks for taxes paid in prior years. Saw this in SAIC CC (~$1/ share in extra cash flow

and ~$200M in taxes returned if I read this is right)

 

There is actually an investment angle in there that BBB is the biggest tax windfall for many large business since the PPP came out during COVID.

 

 

These are all good points, and I don't know enough to make an educated guess about CHTR / ATT capital allocation, but in general wouldn't CAPEX heavy firms likely plow tax savings back into incremental Capex? 

 

I guess if all the tax savings go into stock buybacks there would not be as much economic activity gain, and I could certainly see a lot of tax savings going to buybacks at some firms. 

[rogermunibond]

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/27/2025/trump-is-poised-to-end-washingtons-decade-of-the-china-hawks

[cubsfan]

42 minutes ago, rogermunibond said:

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/27/2025/trump-is-poised-to-end-washingtons-decade-of-the-china-hawks

 

It's great to have a President that is not owned and paid for by the CCP.

[Parsad]

This is what happens when idiots discount science and fake news permeates the minds of usually sane people!  Cheers!

 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/27/health/measles-elimination-canada-us-who

[adesigar]

2 hours ago, Parsad said:

This is what happens when idiots discount science and fake news permeates the minds of usually sane people!  Cheers!

 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/27/health/measles-elimination-canada-us-who

 

Heat and humidity is know to negatively affect the brain including reduced cognitive function. It might explains why people who spend a lot of time in Florida act the way they do.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/desantis-moves-end-floridas-childhood-vaccination-mandates-doctors/story?id=126719452

[Sweet]

58 minutes ago, adesigar said:

 

Heat and humidity is know to negatively affect the brain including reduced cognitive function. It might explains why people who spend a lot of time in Florida act the way they do.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/desantis-moves-end-floridas-childhood-vaccination-mandates-doctors/story?id=126719452

Several European countries don’t have mandatory childhood vaccinations.  Including the country I live in.  I still got all my shots and so did my kids.  Not the craziness you think it is.

[dwy000]

1 hour ago, adesigar said:

 

Heat and humidity is know to negatively affect the brain including reduced cognitive function. It might explains why people who spend a lot of time in Florida act the way they do.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/desantis-moves-end-floridas-childhood-vaccination-mandates-doctors/story?id=126719452

Vaccines are always a quandary. On one hand you've got decades of evidence, thousands of doctors and medical experts and hundreds of clinical studies saying they are safe and effective.  On the other hand you've got a heroin addict with a brain worm and no medical degree pushing conspiracy theories.  So it really is something I have to weigh up for my kids and do my online research. 

[Gregmal]

Isn’t it weird how liberals automatically associate thinking for yourself with extremism or an individual lunatic? Rather than just simply a natural course of action one takes with life? It’s like these folks just need to be told what to do by some greater government prescribed master. 

[dwy000]

4 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Isn’t it weird how liberals automatically associate thinking for yourself with extremism or an individual lunatic? Rather than just simply a natural course of action one takes with life? It’s like these folks just need to be told what to do by some greater government prescribed master. 

Always a generalization. And sorry, I'm hardly a liberal.  A former republican. 

 

Nowhere in my post did I suggest people shouldnt think for themselves. In fact the whole point of the post was thinking for yourself.

 

For those who wish to be told what to do, there's a cult out there that is happy to tell you exactly how to think and react to everything even if it contradicts many of the underlying principles that the cult claims to represent.  Good luck. 

[Gregmal]

I mean up thread there’s this automatic kinda of assumption and association like thinking that because people do not think the government has a right to force somebody to get vaccinated, that all those people are anti vaccination. Which is first off pretty stupid. And second off directly contradicts the “my body my choice” stand that Gavin’s crew like to run around in the streets protesting every now and then. 

[dwy000]

Just now, Gregmal said:

I mean up thread there’s this automatic kinda of assumption and association like thinking that because people do not think the government has a right to force somebody to get vaccinated, that all those people are anti vaccination. Which is first off pretty stupid. And second off directly contradicts the “my body my choice” stand that Gavin’s crew like to run around in the streets protesting every now and then. 

And never once have I taken that position - and yet you immediately start going off about liberals and choice. 

 

My post actually suggested there was a decision to be made. And implied tongue-in-cheek that the decision is so obvious that the only reason anyone would throw common sense out the window is because the cult master suggested it.  But the decision is yours to make. 

[Spekulatius]

I had the measles as a kid because the vaccine wasn’t available yet. I remember almost a week having itchy blisters all over the body and missing week in school. Other kids hit the jackpot and had some permanent scars.  Tough choice between that a single shot. The chance to get the Measels back then with no one being vaccinated yet was almost 100%.

 

If I had been born two years later and I would have missed all the fun.

Edited October 28, 2025 by Spekulatius

[Parsad]

1 hour ago, dwy000 said:

Vaccines are always a quandary. On one hand you've got decades of evidence, thousands of doctors and medical experts and hundreds of clinical studies saying they are safe and effective.  On the other hand you've got a heroin addict with a brain worm and no medical degree pushing conspiracy theories.  So it really is something I have to weigh up for my kids and do my online research. 

 

LOL!  Cheers!

[Parsad]

55 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Isn’t it weird how liberals automatically associate thinking for yourself with extremism or an individual lunatic? Rather than just simply a natural course of action one takes with life? It’s like these folks just need to be told what to do by some greater government prescribed master. 

 

Sure, with your own life...but not with your kid's life or how it affects other people's children.  This is the really stupid part of this argument...which for such a smart man is what keeps surprising me!

 

I mean if your kid's leg was really badly cut...more than just stitches...would you just try and patch it up yourself or go to a hospital with a surgeon? 

 

The nutjobs trust medicine when they admit they can't fix the problem, yet when it comes to the science side of medicine, they suddenly become the god-damn expert after some Youtube video or podcast!  Cheers!

[dwy000]

3 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

Sure, with your own life...but not with your kid's life or how it affects other people's children.  This is the really stupid part of this argument...which for such a smart man is what keeps surprising me!

 

I mean if your kid's leg was really badly cut...more than just stitches...would you just try and patch it up yourself or go to a hospital with a surgeon? 

 

The nutjobs trust medicine when they admit they can't fix the problem, yet when it comes to the science side of medicine, they suddenly become the god-damn expert after some Youtube video or podcast!  Cheers!

Its not just when they cant fix the problem. Plastic surgery and Ozempic seem to get a pass when questioning medicine.

[Parsad]

16 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

I had the measles as a kid because the vaccine wasn’t available yet. I remember almost a week having itchy blisters all over the body and missing week in school. Other kids hit the jackpot and had some permanent scars.  Tough choice between that a single shot. The chance to get the Measels back then with no one being vaccinated yet was almost 100%.

 

If I had been born two years later and I would have missed all the fun.

 

Yup!  Even today, if you are exposed, you have a 90% chance of getting the measles if unvaccinated.  Cheers!

[Parsad]

Just now, dwy000 said:

Its not just when they cant fix the problem. Plastic surgery and Ozempic seem to get a pass when questioning medicine.

 

Well, it's liberals who mostly use those two.    Cheers!

[Gregmal]

11 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

Sure, with your own life...but not with your kid's life or how it affects other people's children.  This is the really stupid part of this argument...which for such a smart man is what keeps surprising me!

 

I mean if your kid's leg was really badly cut...more than just stitches...would you just try and patch it up yourself or go to a hospital with a surgeon? 

 

The nutjobs trust medicine when they admit they can't fix the problem, yet when it comes to the science side of medicine, they suddenly become the god-damn expert after some Youtube video or podcast!  Cheers!

This has nothing to do with it though and continues to make these same wild assumptions. Like Spek mentioned above, is there some kind of assumption that if measles wasn’t mandated he wouldn’t get it? Or phrased differently, the only reason he d get it is because of the government? Whether vaccines or surgeries or weight loss drugs are mandated or not, I have the ability to make those decisions without big government. 
 

So yea, I don’t get why they always frame it so stupidly; basically, if the government doesn’t make you get them, no one will get them…or reversed into how many of them operate, I need the government to force me and everyone to do what they want us to do….such a shameful, sheepish, low IQ way to live life. Just like a donkey that’s basically just waiting to get kicked so it can find its next direction.

Edited October 28, 2025 by Gregmal

[dwy000]

1 minute ago, Gregmal said:

This has nothing to do with it though and continues to make these same wild assumptions. Like Spek mentioned above, is there some kind of assumption that if measles wasn’t mandated he wouldn’t get it? Whether vaccines or surgeries or weight loss drugs are mandated or not, I have the ability to make those decisions without big government. 
 

So yea, I don’t get why they always frame it so stupidly; basically, if the government doesn’t make you get them, no one will get them…or reversed into how many of them operate, I need the government to force me and everyone to do what they want us to do….such a shameful, sheepish, low IQ way to live life. Just like a donkey that’s basically just waiting to get kicked so it can find its next direction.

A mandate is not needed in most countries because common sense takes care of it. It would be less of an issue if the government here wasnt actively suggesting people question vaccines.

 

Then there's also the question of at what point your child's health risks (and their classmates) takes precedent over your personal right to do something that could be harmful. 

[Parsad]

3 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

A mandate is not needed in most countries because common sense takes care of it. It would be less of an issue if the government here wasnt actively suggesting people question vaccines.

 

Then there's also the question of at what point your child's health risks (and their classmates) takes precedent over your personal right to do something that could be harmful. 

 

+1!  Cheers!

[Sweet]

Are you guys deliberately missing the point?

 

It’s not about the science or the efficacy of vaccines but whether it is mandated.

 

The UK doesn’t have a mandate and yet from a quick look at the stats more kids here have their childhood shots than Florida where it was mandated.