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Posted
13 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

Being a Trumper is sort of like a religion: Unwavering faith in a sole entity, lacking in any form of logic or evidence.

 

Screenshot2026-03-19080847.png.8386f8121ef62e5c340d6db02e3afadf.png

 

I try and respect everyone's beliefs. But I also think religion often lends itself to Authoritarianism.

 

It's usually self-interest...whether you are black, white, hispanic, chinese, indian, catholic, christian, muslim, persian, rich, poor, middle-class, pro-this, anti-that, etc. 

 

Few vote for what would be good for everyone and fair to all...it's almost always from a personal bias.  Again, human nature of self-interest supersedes all!  It's why capitalism generally works over long periods of time compared to anything else.  Cheers!

Posted (edited)

Both sides of government are as deeply fixated on optics as they've probably ever been. And most are completely unaware of the risks attached to both their inaction and ignorance. Our current Congress has passed the fewest pieces of legislation since preceding the Civil War.

 

And Congressmen are one of the most disdained groups of people in this country. Americans think they're crooked, weak, and ignorant, which is all mostly true of course, but it's funny because I also still think our Congress represents the electorate quite well.

Edited by Blake Hampton
Posted (edited)
13 minutes ago, Parsad said:

It's usually self-interest...whether you are black, white, hispanic, chinese, indian, catholic, christian, muslim, persian, rich, poor, middle-class, pro-this, anti-that, etc. 

 

Few vote for what would be good for everyone and fair to all...it's almost always from a personal bias.  Again, human nature of self-interest supersedes all!  It's why capitalism generally works over long periods of time compared to anything else.  Cheers!

 

True.

 

Seems to me a lot of history's worst events metastasized themselves from mass stupidity and greed.

 

When I look out across the United States, I see a lot of stupid and greedy people.

Edited by Blake Hampton
Posted
6 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

Both sides of government are as deeply fixated on optics as they've probably ever been.

Truest thing you’ve said in awhile, Blake!

 

And yea, that’s 100% the biggest issue. One side jumps on the green light side, the other party without a thought in their head as to the issue(ie defending dictators or colluding with pedos) MUST scream “RED LIGHT!”.

Posted
23 minutes ago, dealraker said:

Sanjeev I'm just hoping Greg will drop the political dance and pull a Scaramucci- an about face type traitor-ship.  That is in this case a pure financial Scaramucci where he does his skilled deep dive (and of course his patented straight punch to the face) into Trump-land finances - the wealth transfer from all of us to the Trump bunch!  Yea, both an X page of daily digest and a podcast.  Honestly I'd think someone who could go the distance and detail into the Trump world and spill it out in layman's terms could get so much attention and fame.

 

Just put all your assets into your wife's name Greg...and go for it.  You could make a name for yourself.  Oh yea...keep your extreme political bias...that's really not at all what this should be about.  It is pure finance, nothing more and nothing less.

 

The Trumps and milking it big time...as POTUS says, "like never before."  And the opportunity for fame is out there while nobody is taking advantage of it!

Ha! That would require work though. Today I’m bound to golf. Then probably happy hour at the beach. Life’s too good. The revolution can wait 

Posted
1 minute ago, Gregmal said:

Ha! That would require work though. Today I’m bound to golf. Then probably happy hour at the beach. Life’s too good. The revolution can wait 

 

HaHa! 😅😎 [<- Ray-Ban's for the beach to Greg [ @Gregmal ]!]

Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, dealraker said:

Sanjeev I'm just hoping Greg will drop the political dance and pull a Scaramucci- an about face type traitor-ship.  That is in this case a pure financial Scaramucci where he does his skilled deep dive (and of course his patented straight punch to the face) into Trump-land finances - the wealth transfer from all of us to the Trump bunch!  Yea, both an X page of daily digest and a podcast.  Honestly I'd think someone who could go the distance and detail into the Trump world and spill it out in layman's terms could get so much attention and fame.

 

Just put all your assets into your wife's name Greg...and go for it.  You could make a name for yourself.  Oh yea...keep your extreme political bias...that's really not at all what this should be about.  It is pure finance, nothing more and nothing less.

 

The Trumps and milking it big time...as POTUS says, "like never before."  And the opportunity for fame is out there while nobody is taking advantage of it!

Whats hilarious though is that I actually ran into The Mooch a few times way back when I first started working as his childhood best friend was also a player in the NYC finance/RE scene. They were ALL big time Obama fans and I…was too young and too poor to care either way as long as the market was volatile. Fast forward now almost 15 years, pretty much everyone in the small but also large and relevant influential NYC clique is…..not voting on that side of the ballot anymore. A bunch not even voting in NY anymore either.

Edited by Gregmal
Posted
5 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Truest thing you’ve said in awhile, Blake!

 

And yea, that’s 100% the biggest issue. One side jumps on the green light side, the other party without a thought in their head as to the issue(ie defending dictators or colluding with pedos) MUST scream “RED LIGHT!”.

 

It's sad because that has become the system itself. It would be a monumentous undertaking to try and fix it.

 

I was thinking this morning about how humans are largely reactive and not proactive; we don't like to change much until change is often forced upon us. I think this explains a lot. But also:

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
- Benjamin Franklin

Posted
1 minute ago, Blake Hampton said:

 

It's sad because that has become the system itself. It would be a monumentous undertaking to try and fix it.

 

I was thinking this morning about how humans are largely reactive and not proactive; we don't like to change much until change is often forced upon us. I think this explains a lot. But also:

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
- Benjamin Franklin

So as @SharperDingaan would say, bank on both ends via some creative straddles!

Posted
1 hour ago, Parsad said:

 

Also, the cancel culture on both sides is getting ridiculous.  Look at this one today...just plain stupid...it was a harmless joke.  

 

Oscars host Kumail Nanjiani faces backlash over Schindler’s List joke

 

People can't even laugh at anything anymore.  One of the most powerful television shows ever written, All in the Family, wouldn't be able to air most of its episodes today because of the language.  Fortunately, there is an "oldies" station in Vancouver that does show it every Sunday night. 

 

Both sides don't understand how they are actually harming themselves from this censoring of the right to speak.

 

Cheers!

Yep.  All in The Family was timely, clever and probably did help to begin to change a lot of long-held negative stereotypes.  Plus the show was hilarious.  The episode with Sammy Davis, Jr. was perhaps the most memorable TV show ever aired, maybe alongside the last episode of MASH.

Posted
52 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Whats hilarious though is that I actually ran into The Mooch a few times way back when I first started working as his childhood best friend was also a player in the NYC finance/RE scene. They were ALL big time Obama fans and I…was too young and too poor to care either way as long as the market was volatile. Fast forward now almost 15 years, pretty much everyone in the small but also large and relevant influential NYC clique is…..not voting on that side of the ballot anymore. A bunch not even voting in NY anymore either.

The Mooch is entertaining regardless of content.

Posted
6 minutes ago, dealraker said:

The Mooch is entertaining regardless of content.

The nickname “Mooch” is actually quite Trumpian in its origins. The story apparently goes that Anthony was so ambitious and relentless early in his career as far as getting AUM went, that behind his back everyone called him “The Mooch”. Even his buddy once told me, “you’ve never, I guarantee it, seen anyone kiss ass like Anthony”.
 

But in a creative marketing, Trump style way, he took ownership of the name and made it into a brand lol

Posted
3 hours ago, Gregmal said:

The nickname “Mooch” is actually quite Trumpian in its origins. The story apparently goes that Anthony was so ambitious and relentless early in his career as far as getting AUM went, that behind his back everyone called him “The Mooch”. Even his buddy once told me, “you’ve never, I guarantee it, seen anyone kiss ass like Anthony”.
 

But in a creative marketing, Trump style way, he took ownership of the name and made it into a brand lol

Great story!

Posted
6 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

Also, the cancel culture on both sides is getting ridiculous.  Look at this one today...just plain stupid...it was a harmless joke.  

 

Oscars host Kumail Nanjiani faces backlash over Schindler’s List joke

 

People can't even laugh at anything anymore.  One of the most powerful television shows ever written, All in the Family, wouldn't be able to air most of its episodes today because of the language.  Fortunately, there is an "oldies" station in Vancouver that does show it every Sunday night. 

 

Both sides don't understand how they are actually harming themselves from this censoring of the right to speak.

 

Cheers!

 

+1.

 

I wonder how many people in the audience were genuinely offended by the joke, and how many were simply concerned about the consequences they'd face for not appearing offended.

 

A censorship trend on reddit recently has been to ask people to explain why a joke is funny, in an attempt to shame them into never saying "inappropriate" jokes. I'm so ready for this particular pendulum to swing back.

Posted (edited)

Financial markets look a little like they did back in Jan/Feb of 2020. In North America we knew Covid was coming - and countries like China shut down their economies. How did financial markets in North America respond? Crickets. Well for a couple of months anyways. 
 

And this makes sense - who had seen Covid before? 
 

Fast forward to today. Of course the situation today is completely different. But it is the same in one important respect… we have never seen before what is happening today (war in middle east, closure of straight of Hormuz, energy infrastructure being shuttered/destroyed). 
 

Covid was a massive demand shock. This is a massive supply shock. 
 

This could be a big nothing burger - financial markets could well be right (that is what is priced in today). Like when Covid hit, I am not so sure…

Edited by Viking
Posted

Iran just struck a facility in Qatar which 20% of the world's LNG flows through. I doubt this will be a nothing burger...

Posted
37 minutes ago, Viking said:

we have never seen before what is happening today

Is this really true? Would it be a stretch to imagine the current situation developing into (or rhyming with) a 73 Oil embargo like situation (with necessary adjustments for developments since 73)?

Posted

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/netanyahu-says-iran-has-no-capacity-to-enrich-uranium-denies-dragging-us-into-middle-east-conflict-101773946707026.html

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday rejected claims that Israel had dragged the United States into its conflict with Iran, calling such reports “fake news.” He also claimed that after 20 days of war, Iran has “no capacity” to make ballistic missiles or to enrich uranium.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on March 19 (AFP)

During a press conference, Netanyahu added that Tehran’s threats to close the Strait of Hormuz would “not work” and expressed confidence that the war could end sooner than expected.

Posted
13 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Is this really true? Would it be a stretch to imagine the current situation developing into (or rhyming with) a 73 Oil embargo like situation (with necessary adjustments for developments since 73)?

 

The International Energy Agency has noted: “The war in the Middle East is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.” https://www.iea.org/reports/oil-market-report-march-2026

 

FT: ‘Armageddon scenario’ for gas markets as Qatar hit by missiles https://www.ft.com/content/5b66d91f-f94a-4ea1-b90f-ce62ccb15d50?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Posted
13 minutes ago, Hektor said:

Is this really true? Would it be a stretch to imagine the current situation developing into (or rhyming with) a 73 Oil embargo like situation (with necessary adjustments for developments since 73)?


The short answer is we do not have enough information today… what is happening has never happened before. We may learn prospectively that it was a big nothing burger. Of that is was a big deal. Or something in between. 
 

What happened in the 1970’s was unthinkable when it happened. As a result, it was probably underestimated - especially in the beginning - in terms of its ultimate impact of the economy, inflation, interest rates and financial markets (not to mention geopolitics). 
 

I have no idea how the current situation plays out. It probably isn’t a big deal. But the chances it might be a big deal are increasing - the longer it lasts and if it keeps escalating.

Posted (edited)

This is just what they do. They drum up all this fear and hysteria and get people worked up. Once the hedge fund guys get shaken out of oil futures and the entire ME plus now seemingly EU as well flip on Iran it’s over. 
 

Seems like these sort of “commotions” now happen 6-8 times a year. And of course the answer is to always panic or whatever everyone does….yawn.

Edited by Gregmal
Posted

QatarEnergy, the operator of the Ras Laffan facility, said it will take three to five years to repair and force it to cancel long term contracts with Italy, Belgium, Korea and China. The volume lost is about 17% of Qatar's total capacity. Gas prices in Europe and Asia going to be higher for a while.

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