Posts by rowdypilot19

They won't help you either, honestly. They'll just hit you with a massive fine and leave you to deal with the mess alone. ☕

Man, I am so sorry for your loss.

I guess this is exactly why anyone with half a brain tries to avoid starting a business here in the States if they can help it, and why everyone just sticks to under-the-table cash deals. It's everywhere.

Honestly, you end up dealing with people who don't have a clue how to do their actual jobs, and then they still charge you full price because they honestly think they have no idea what they're doing.

Alexander Thompson said:Still, I gotta say, the optimism of people who can't even borrow a dime from anyone they actually know—like family, godparents, friends, or coworkers, who obviously know exactly why they're being avoided—is kind of wild. They're just sitting there hoping to get a loan from a complete stranger... over on 🙏 Reddit
....

Well, look, it's possible that maybe, just maybe, the people they actually know don't have any money to spare, and the ones who do have it wouldn't even think about asking because, well, they aren't exactly the most reliable folks.

Anyway, this whole thing is pretty telling. 😁

If that’s actually the plan, then they’re being absolute idiots.

I mean, seriously, how many refugees do they have to bring in just to sway those undecided voters right before an election? It feels like the more people come in, the more everyone is going to push toward those far-right parties. Like, what does it take? 10 million people just in Germany? 🤔 ☕

I mean, at the end of the day, they’ve got food and a place to sleep. ☕

Hah, you know better than anyone how hard it would be to actually get over there and what it would cost... I mean, just think back to everything that went down during the war in the States.

I mean, I just crunched the numbers myself, and honestly? The ratio seems fine, though the raw figures look a bit higher than expected... I guess what I'm trying to get at is that we really need to be looking at this from both sides of the coin.

And look, those people who just don't want to put in the work? They're just as much of a drain. 😁

It really just depends on how you look at it, I guess... on one hand, you’ve got this massive gap where the European Union is missing something like 6 or 7 million workers, but then, if you flip the perspective, there are suddenly 10 million people who are basically surplus. 🍿

🍿

I was just wondering...

Is Turkish Airlines privately owned or state-owned?

Are you thinking about Asia? 🤣

Look, I was talking about the principle here, the location doesn't really matter. Who is actually running that company anyway?

It’s all the same, really. When Turkey hits a crisis, they pull through and start moving forward again. But when America falls into a crisis, it takes seven years just to stop the bleeding, and don't even get me started on getting back to pre-crisis numbers. We probably won't see that until maybe 2030.

You work for a firm where managers are expected to squeeze profit out of every single project, or at least break even, just to gain some foothold in a market. In America, none of that stuff actually works.

Brandon Gomez2 said:Look, there are really only two ways to look at this:

1. It’s basically a textbook example of what Ha-Joon Chang laid out in "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" and what Acemoglu/Robinson talk about in "Why Nations Fail." Economic policy actually raised the standard of living, which sparked demand, and then the state stepped in with stimulus and direct intervention to build up the infrastructure. So, once the sector suddenly starts blowing up, everyone realizes too late that you actually need experienced pros to run the show—and those experts don't just grow on trees. Wages are high enough to pull people in from everywhere; around here, besides locals, I've got Mexicans, Italians, Germans, Estonians, Canadians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Austrians, and Poles all working.

2. The national flag is red and features a five-pointed star.

I wouldn't say that's quite right.

Basically, you're describing a system that actually works—both for a state, which isn't going to let someone do a job and then never get paid, and for a company. In a firm like the one mentioned above, where they have the newer machinery, the whole system functions; everyone knows their role, and your productivity for the same amount of work ends up being several times higher.

Honestly, you don't even have to try that much harder, because the owner has already set everything up so the system runs smoothly and the company stays profitable.

More advanced countries actually have a market; the less developed ones... well, they really don't.

Alex Scott5 said:People constantly circle back to that figure of roughly 48 billion euros in laundered money, yet we rarely stop to wonder how much weight that number actually carries.

If you think about it, that amount is practically equivalent to seven full years of the federal budget back in 2000, based on those old 50 billion kuna estimates.

Even Hypo Bank itself admitted it during that legal battle involving Margetić regarding the breach of banking secrecy. They actually confirmed everything he said was spot on. Margetić posted that document online a few times, but I guess people just don't want to face the reality of it.

Just watch the video.

The total plunder is estimated somewhere between 250 to 270 billion euros—total—across Canada, America, and Mexico since 1978.

Someone really should dig into this properly, but honestly, just watch the clip and decide for yourself if the guy is talking nonsense or not.

I mean, I look at him in the mirror every single day, but honestly? He probably wouldn't last very long in the real world. ☕

Brandon Gomez2 said:Look, this isn't some high-level economic theory or whatever. America is totally dependent on food imports, so if we tank the currency, we're looking at actual hunger long before anyone sees a single benefit from a weaker Kuna.

It’s not even just about how much debt we have. The real issue is: a) this debt was taken on unnecessarily at insane interest rates, so the cash is basically just leaking out of the country, and b) you guys have gutted our own domestic economy, making it nearly impossible to actually pay anything back.

As for "hard work" and "sacrifice"—please. I don't work harder or sacrifice more than I already did while living in America, except now I get paid way more and actually have free time. So, you can probably guess exactly what I think about people preaching that we should all just suck it up and suffer.

Alright, come on, maybe explain why you feel that way? Specifically that last part you wrote.

Nancy Gomez26 said:Currency devaluation only makes sense if—post-devaluation—the budget remains at the same nominal level. That way, the state actually spends less in real terms. However, wage growth pressures would hit immediately after such a move. If the government caves to those pressures due to the temporary positive effects of devaluation, there won't be much left over.

As for the collapse of the state, I suspect a much larger portion of the funds has been squandered, drunk away, or poured into concrete—only a smaller fraction was successfully stolen (by "successfully," I mean money that actually made it into a private account to accumulate long-term). This is largely secondary, though useful for understanding where the leakages are so we can attempt to plug them. Our only hope might be a global crisis and some sort of general debt jubilee—or at least reducing our debt to a manageable level, which in our case would be somewhere around 10-30% of the actual debt.

It is not up to Tim to work for all of us or to pull this government out of the gutter. We can only save ourselves through our own labor, ideas, commitment, and sacrifice. Tim and his associates can only reorganize the system, perhaps level the playing field slightly, and insist on implementing fair, equal rules for everyone in this country. As long as we have situations where certain people don't have to pay taxes or contributions, or where their tax debts are forgiven under the guise of "better something than nothing," we don't stand a chance. We need to start with solid foundations. I am no advocate for a heavy-handed state, but an unjust state is a far worse phenomenon than a strong, but just, one.

Just in Hypo Bank, somewhere around 47 or 49 billion euros vanished. 🍿

They have to fix the system, because right now it feels like trying to organize a Formula 1 race on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere.

The judiciary is non-existent, the tax system is a zero out of ten, and social classes feel like castes in India when it comes to who gets screwed over and who doesn't. Then you wait ten months for a building permit just because you aren't part of the construction mafia... etcetera, etcetera...

Honestly, it doesn't matter what kind of new laws they pass or how much they tweak things... if you’ve still got a totally broken judicial system, then everything else is just a complete waste of time.

I mean, you do your job, someone from the GOP or DNC—doesn't even matter which party—buys your product, but then they just refuse to pay? Well, you're basically screwed.

Thomas Fowler84 said:That is exactly why you have to distinguish between what they are permitted to do and what they are strictly forbidden from doing. It is their legal obligation to update their records. You aren't making a valid point by telling them they already possess your address or phone number; they have a mandate to verify that information. As long as they are refreshing data that hasn't been touched in years, there is nothing controversial about the process.
It is questionable to demand information that isn't strictly necessary. It is much like asking for a driver's license when one only needs to buy a newspaper.

What is the standard protocol if I choose to decline answering questions that fall outside my obligations?

I believe a bank holds the discretionary right to terminate a business relationship without providing specific justification, provided they aren't engaging in discrimination based on religion or sexual orientation. They might threaten to report you to federal regulators, but if the issue falls outside of legal mandates, there shouldn't be much to fear. I am more curious about their protocol for someone holding a mortgage who refuses to provide documentation—would they actually move to foreclose just to protect their own interests?

But then what? Am I supposed to just hand over a brand new ID that was issued a few months ago? It's basically the exact same thing as the old one... 😁 It’s the same stuff I’ll be handing over in about 3 or 4 weeks when I switch banks.

I mean, I'm actually curious to see what they'll even ask me.

Quincy:

I believe banks have the discretionary right to terminate a business relationship, you know, without any specific reason (as long as it isn't based on sexual orientation, religion... discrimination or whatever). The bank might tell you they're going to report you to the federal regulators, but if it's truly about questions that aren't mandated by Law, then I don't think you have much to worry about. Personally, I'd be more interested to see what they do with someone who has a mortgage with them but refuses to provide updated data—would they try to call the loan (to their own detriment)?

But that's exactly what we're all talking about here.

On the other hand, I haven't heard from anyone yet who's actually had their account shut down out of nowhere. 🍿

So, I was just watching some news coverage about terrorism on TV, and I picked up a few interesting bits of info:

- Counter-terrorism efforts in France used to cost them around $380-$430 million a year
- But after all this recent mess, it’s looking closer to $800 million now, I guess
- They’ve actually hired about 3,000 new people
- And then there's FATCA, which basically says anyone holding over $50k in an account needs to be checked out
- In France, a "terrorist act" by these "terrorists" costs them less than $2,200 per incident
- The economic damage in France following those attacks was several billion dollars

I put quotes around those specific words on purpose.

Is it just me, or does this whole FATCA thing sound totally nonsensical? 🤔

Like, why would I hand over every single piece of my personal data—which they pretty much already have anyway—wtf? 🤷