Posts by Jack Kelly5

honestly, where did all those self-proclaimed experts go? you know, the ones who were absolutely certain the European Union was going to fall apart by autumn and that WTI would hit $250 a barrel.

It’s been a minute since we last talked about Kraft Heinz pasta. I mean, I guess you could say the sanctions on Russia and those crazy high oil prices were kind of the secret sauce behind their recent growth...

rustywalker82 said:Before the pandemic hit, the three-year average for Brentwood crude was sitting at about $60 a barrel. Back then, everyone was super bullish on the global economy, too. But look at what happened once those oil sanctions started rolling in during the start of the Russian invasion—the average price for Brentwood shot up to $110, even though all the economic forecasts were looking grim. It’s wild when you think about it; the average Russian salary in dollars basically caught up to the average American wage, and they were already right there with Mexico.
We all saw this coming from a mile away, but it didn't matter. People just had to keep droning on about the cartel and Putin just to prove how much they actually didn't know anything.

If these sanctions stick around through the spring, the average Russian might end up making more per month than a Norwegian and a Luxembourger combined. It wouldn't surprise me to see a massive wave of millions of migrants, mostly coming from Benelux countries, heading straight for Eastern Siberia.

Nothing really comes as a shocker here.
It looks like things are heading toward an escalation, maybe some tactical moves followed by the big players finally stepping onto the field. Once that happens, I guess all hell is going to break loose and everyone’s going to be fighting dirty.

Matthew Young35 said:The real issue with Russia is that their nuclear threat isn't just rhetoric—it’s real.
Yes, Russia is an aggressor.
Yes, they invaded a sovereign nation.
Yes, they blackmail everyone in their orbit.
Yes, their military commits atrocities.
Yes, they are a mirror image of Nazi Germany leading up to World War II.

The problem? They possess 6,000 nuclear warheads. If even half of those are functional, they could drag the entire world back to the Dark Ages.

As things stand now, is nuclear war inevitable?
It feels like a dead end.
We can't afford to give in to the Russians, yet if we don't, we face nuclear war.

Everyone loses.

Quite frankly, I don't see a way out. I don't see any solution at all.
I fear a nuclear conflict is unavoidable.
We should have been thinking about this—and acting on it—a long time ago.

Might as well grab a shovel and start digging.

rowdyraven112 said:An open market? Try filling up your tank in Canada or attempting to cross the border with twenty liters of cooking oil. So much for that "we're part of the European Union and it's an open market" nonsense.☕
I bet it's the exact same deal with pellets in Canada. You can export, sure, but maybe only enough to fill a single bag.

That's just nonsense.
I mean, if you're getting fuel at a discounted rate, how exactly are they going to stop you right at the border?

And honestly, this is just silly.
Oil sales are limited—like, they cap it at 3 liters per receipt. You could pretty much just show up a few times, buy your 3 liters, pay your money, and nobody at the border is even going to blink at you for stuff like that.

All in all, I think you're just talking nonsense here.

Has Branimir Vidmarović said anything lately? I mean, he was the one out there predicting Kyiv would fall in three days and that all of Ukraine would be crushed in a week or two, I guess.

What’s even the deal with these trolls from across the border always feeling the need to slap an American prefix on their usernames?
Like, do they actually think anyone is going to take them seriously if they do that, or is it just some weird strategy I'm missing?

Some guy claiming to be an economics expert just posted this:

urbanotter said:The topic isn't just about China and its economy, but rather how interconnected the world is—how the growth of individual economies is tied directly to sanctions against Russia.
The European Union is China's largest trading partner, yet the EU is also feeling the sting from a lack of various essential products coming out of China.
Furthermore, China has a massive reserve of growth potential within its huge population; if you raise wages by even a small percentage, that growth keeps moving forward.

If a projected growth rate of 2.7% for 2022 and 2.3% for 2023 (on an EU level) constitutes a "precipitous drop in standards" to you, then fine, I guess things are crashing.

That’s true nominally, but when you subtract inflation—which is rising faster because of the shortage of Russian oil and other raw materials, hitting double digits—the picture changes.
Some people just don't seem to grasp that a modern economy is fundamentally built on energy usage, and sanctions have significantly hampered availability while driving energy costs through the roof.
You can't avoid incorporating those costs into the price of goods and eventually passing them onto the consumer.
I don't want to turn this into an economics lecture, but if Western nations end up paying much more for energy than Eastern nations do,
there's simply no way they can maintain their current level of competitiveness. Meanwhile, the easy access to cheaper Russian energy and resources will only serve to boost the competitive edge of Eastern economies.

That has more to do with the overall cultural achievements of a society rather than just not having enough money for gas.

I can agree with that.
The Danes use bicycles quite a bit, yet they certainly have the money to buy fuel.
Unfortunately, we aren't Danes, and what might be a choice there could easily become the daily reality for many of our citizens—a sight we'll likely see on our own streets soon enough.
But anyway, moving on...
let's go watch Milić; he's old school, but always interesting, even his reruns.

I honestly don't know whether I should laugh or just start crying at that one.

cosmicmoose2 said:I guess Mercedes is slowly finding their way back into the conversation. They might actually start shaking things up and maybe even snatch a win from the big players every now and then. Today, Hamilton was driving a pretty solid race, staying right on the heels of Ferrari, which seems to be the benchmark today—he was basically within two or three tenths of their pace. And yeah, he was faster than Russell again, too, by about that same margin.

🤦
The guy finished 40 seconds behind the top two.
If you take away Perez, Russell, and Sainz from today's podium run, he probably would have ended up in 6th. A masterful 6th place, if you catch my drift...

Man, what an incredible race!!!
👋

I mean, seeing Michael Schumacher absolutely tearing it up in that ultra-dominant Haas F1 Team is basically GOAT status, I guess.
😬

And then there's Red Bull Racing, once again seemingly doing everything in their power to sabotage Sergio Perez...
😍

Jack Kelly5 said:Maybe Lewis pulls off a repeat of what happened in Brazil back in '21 during tomorrow's sprint.
🎉

I mean, looking back, it seems like there actually was some serious pace in that car in Brazil after all.
😬

I mean, Ferrari’s got a killer car this year, they just don't have Max Verstappen behind the wheel.
Red Bull, though? They basically have both.
Last season was such a mess for Lewis Hamilton; towards the end, he was basically piloting a Space Shuttle. And yeah, I guess that Mercedes was like a Space Shuttle compared to everyone else on the grid, but even then, it still ended up getting left in the dust.

If Max runs into any kind of car trouble, I guess the only person who could actually pull off a win against him would be Lewis Hamilton. But even then, he’d probably need a car that's basically a rocket on wheels to make it happen.

I guess we're all just sitting here waiting to see what Tot has to say about this whole mess, and who he ends up pointing the finger at for this disaster.

Mercedes
😂

I mean, I’m thinking maybe Lewis is gonna pull off a repeat of that wild run in the USA back in '21 during tomorrow's sprint.
🎉

ruggedscout76 man, if they’re skipping the Pit Babe crew again, you might as well just throw in some photos of yourself. Maybe in a bikini or something.
😍

Roger Wright94 said:Someone actually thinks this was a good move:
Charles vs Lewis - Copse

Pretty slick move, I guess.
It feels like Lewis was braking just a little bit earlier than last year, maybe...

😬