Posts by mellownomad

wearytrucker22 said:I don't owe anyone a single cent.
If anything, people owe me.
I still have a decent amount of cash sitting in various bank accounts in different currencies.
I also hold a significant portfolio of stocks.
Following my proposal would mean taking a hit personally; maybe I’d see some long-term gains through real estate later on.
But let's be real: the current global situation is just unsustainable. It's better for the world if we sacrifice the big American, German, Dutch, Danish, French, and British banks—along with their savings accounts—for the greater good. Otherwise, we're looking at a massive war on the horizon that will claim billions of lives this time around. Money isn't worth that many lives.

You would likely speak differently if you were the one being asked to surrender part of your own savings to bail out Greece.

Besides, you keep drifting away from the actual topic.
I fail to see how your statement relates to my comment. You advocate for others to stop importing Middle Eastern products—essentially oil—but when I ask if you are personally prepared to live without using it, I get two or three nonsensical answers that dodge the question entirely..

It is the same thing here; you mention your savings, yet suggest that Germans, Dutchmen, Danes, Frenchmen, and Englishmen should forfeit their savings just to prevent some kind of war..

Please, at least try to separate the part where you call on others to do exactly what you aren't willing to do yourself.😁

As the saying goes: put your money where your mouth is.

By the way, Germany has paid off its debts.
That is exactly the kind of socialist mindset I am talking about. Beyond wanting someone else to give up their claims, they would also want someone else to hand over their savings (very much in the style of Piketty).

wearytrucker22 said:I walk to the office, and in the summer, I just catch a breeze.

If my interpretation of your stance is correct, you were essentially calling for a boycott of products from the very country where I reside.

Were you personally prepared to make any sacrifices to lead by example?

Regardless, we are drifting away from the core issue at hand....

wearytrucker22 said:And they’re basically the only reason why barter trade is impossible.

So, what's the next step in your logic—are you planning to commute to work by bicycle just to stay consistent?

Middle Eastern nations control the oil supply that powers our entire fleet of vehicles

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wearytrucker22 said:Personally, I say let's just ban all products coming from whatever country you work for. And what happens when the entire world goes bankrupt and falls into poverty? Where is your precious new country supposed to sell its goods and services then?

Look, nobody is stopping you from riding a bike everywhere if that's your thing.

Just send me a private message with a photo of the receipt after you buy the bike, along with a picture of yourself commuting to work on it...
Then maybe I'll consider doing the same.

wearytrucker22 said:Germany is rich because they didn't pay back their debts after WWI or WWII, and because the US pumped hundreds of trillions of dollars in grants into them. On top of that, they haven't paid up for the roughly $50 trillion to $100 trillion in damages caused across Europe.
Because of them, America lost about 400,000 people multiplied by €2 million, which totals €800 billion.
If not a single German had ever been born, America would probably have at least 10 to 12 million more people today. But German barbarism and hooliganism set us back so far we still haven't recovered.
Under American law, if you're driving a getaway car for a bank robbery and the robber kills someone, you as the driver get the exact same sentence as the shooter. If you hadn't been driving, they wouldn't have reached the location or had the chance to shoot in the first place.

By the way, that is a falsehood that gets pushed far too often.
Germany defaulted around 1932, and they have remained in debt ever since—though who knows exactly how much.
All those debts were restructured in 1953. Part of it was forgiven under a clause stating that any forgiven debt would have to be repaid if Germany ever reunified, which is precisely what happened when they reunited.

Incidentally, you seem to be the primary opponent of this so-called horrible debt (which doesn't even exist in the case of America), yet you would demand it be billed to Germany, even though nobody is asking for that (except perhaps the frantic Greeks).

You are once again fighting against the facts.

Why would that be a bad thing for us?

First, do you honestly believe a debtor should have the right to decide how much they owe? If you live in the USA, you have that agency; if you live in a place like this, you don't.
Second, why do I refer to this as "mental socialism"?

We have this deep-seated tradition of taking from the wealthy to redistribute to the poor.
There is an old proverb that suggests a wealthy man can become poor, but he will find his way back to wealth; however, a poor man might find wealth, only to slide right back into poverty.
Why does this happen? It comes down to several factors, one being the fundamental relationship one maintains with money.
By taking from those who actually possess capital—whether through progressive taxation or various progressive levies and similar burdens—we effectively penalize the very people who drive success. It is the successful individuals who push society forward.
You can argue with me, but workers and laborers alone don't push a society forward; they merely maintain the status quo.
Whether it is through progressive taxation or the refusal to honor debts, we are essentially incentivizing a socialist mindset...

And where has that path led us? The US has seen its own eras of massive fiscal instability, and looking at our history, we see the patterns.
People have always been leaving this country; one major wave began back in the mid-60s when people headed toward Europe, and the latest wave is happening right now.
Does that suggest we are a successful society? We are certainly not...
Einstein once noted that "the mind which creates the problem is not the same mind capable of solving it." In other words, we require an entirely different mindset.

How is a country like Germany so prosperous? They are prosperous because they don't spend their time lamenting their inability to pay off debt; instead, they focus on working and saving, working and saving... and then using those savings to purchase things (as Hayek might suggest).
They likely understand that wealth is built over generations and passed down accordingly.
We lack that awareness... why? Because every 20 to 30 years, the system feels the need to reset itself—wealth must be seized from someone, someone must flee the country, and so on...
It is because we lived under socialism and continue to harbor a socialist mindset... our current social order simply leans on those old habits.
If the public weren't so easily swayed, they wouldn't fall for the repetitive political games played by the Republicans and the Democrats.

That is precisely why I left and moved away. From a comfortable distance, I am watching the Titanic sink, because four or five years ago, I predicted the economy would hit a breaking point (and I felt the same way even earlier).

To conclude: there is a saying, "choose your own battles," and fighting for our debts to be wiped clean is a lost cause. Creditors will likely be even harsher with us than they were with Greece, and our only saving grace is that our debt load isn't quite as massive as theirs.
Instead of chasing fairy tales, we should be looking at how to actually repay that debt and fix the state of the nation.

silentnomad7 said:Just yesterday, our government took on $9 billion in debt, and it barely even registered as news before everyone moved on to the next thing.

Did those supposedly "capable, adult citizens" say a single word about this borrowing?

What percentage of actual adults actually spoke up regarding yesterday's debt hike?

It would be lovely to live in a country where at least half the adult population actually uses their heads, but the reality here in America and across the whole world is something else entirely...

People tend toward ignorance by default, yet that doesn't absolve them of their responsibilities.
If they weren't so inherently shortsighted, we wouldn't be seeing devastating wars breaking out constantly.

Are they destabilizing the nation by issuing these loans?
That’s a bit of a complex question... At the end of the day, a nation is comprised either of adults who are financially literate and capable, or a collection of people who lack judgment and require constant supervision.

Everyone claims to crave freedom, yet when they exercise that liberty irresponsibly, they aren't prepared to face the fallout. I call that a mindset of mental socialism.
It’s quite simple: you either embrace total freedom—complete with all its inherent opportunities and risks—or you don't have it at all.

The core argument behind voting on this thread is quite simple: we shouldn't give Greece an inch of leeway. In fact, we should push them straight toward bankruptcy rather than offering any concessions.

Think about it this way: if we decide to bail them out, we aren't just helping one nation; we are effectively opening the floodgates. It would set a precedent that invites every other country to come knocking, demanding their own debts be wiped clean.
long live socialism! long live the Communist Party! long live Comrade Marshall!

I believe we need to address the underlying complexities of this situation with more rigor. It isn't merely about the surface-level symptoms we see unfolding; rather, it is about the structural integrity of the entire framework being discussed. If we look at how similar precedents were handled by the Federal Reserve during previous economic shifts, we can draw a parallel to our current dilemma. We cannot afford to be reactionary. A measured approach, characterized by careful deliberation and an understanding of long-term consequences, is the only way to ensure stability. To ignore these nuances would be akin to ignoring a hairline fracture in a bridge's foundation—eventually, the weight of reality will cause the whole thing to buckle. We must proceed with caution and intellectual honesty. As specified by mellownomad:
I would be more than willing to take on the financial responsibility of co-signing for that Ford Motor Company on your behalf. 😉

Should there be any possibility that you might consider this, please know that I am entirely at your disposal.😁

Since a third of all pension payments are funded directly through the federal budget, one could argue that every retiree you know—veterans included—is essentially a stakeholder in that national debt.
The segment of the highway connecting Chicago to St. Louis has been completed.

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wearytrucker22 said:Go read up on international law regarding this stuff. The US Congress has the right to request financing for specific projects that benefit all citizens. If the administration goes rogue and raises it on its own? No.
Do some research on those lost creditor lawsuits. It happens in thousands of cases.
The only legally valid way is
to take out a loan that was voted on by the US Congress for one specific project, requiring a supermajority of two-thirds plus one representative.

There is no such thing as "international law" in this context; there are only the laws of the United States.
And you want me to go read about lost lawsuits? Where exactly am I supposed to find that?
Besides, we aren't dealing with some so-called "disgusting debt"—we are simply looking at standard, normal national debt.

Could we hold a national referendum where every single citizen gets their own Ford Motor Company vehicle handed to them? Of course everyone would vote yes—it’s a no-brainer.

It is the exact same logic here;
The US Congress holds the authority to approve government borrowing, just as the federal administration does. If everything follows the legal framework, then the process is legitimate. We aren't paying off some foreign war debt; we are essentially paying back the money we borrowed from ourselves.

Andrew Barrett4 said:Please, let’s be real. You have plenty of smart, highly educated people who fall for this kind of nonsense just because they're naive. Genuinely, hopelessly naive. And if they aren't naive, they're just greedy, which is arguably worse.

I remember when a friend told me "in confidence" about some "inheritance email" involving a transfer through JPMorgan Chase, and you could practically see the dollar signs dancing in her eyes.$

It’s supposedly professional. Even Pomona. All with degrees from state universities.

I mean, what else is there to say...

In my view, naivety and intelligence rarely walk hand in hand.

I don't think $15-20 million is what it should cost; it definitely ought to be less than that. However, you have to factor in the potential ROI if a program like this doesn't already exist on the market.
Think about how many manufacturing plants out there are running machinery and desperately need to know their actual utilization rates...

Then again, I suspect there might already be solutions out there, though they’re likely priced at those steep industrial rates.

Which specific types of food should one be wary of when considering dental health?

briskskipper27 said:Look, take Tor for example. In the case of that Silk Road drug site, it wasn't some genius move by the NSA or the FBI cracking their tech. It was just pure stupidity on the owner's part. He used his actual IP address and a damn gmail account when he was out there hyping up the site on regular internet forums.

So, what you're suggesting is that the NSA or FBI just joins the Tor network, adds their own node, and starts sniffing data?

Nonsense...
We owe money to foreign banks, their local branches here in the States, and international investors ranging anywhere from Goldman Sachs to major pension funds..

Anyone claiming we’re indebted to criminal organizations is acting like someone who wanders into a dive bar, gets hammered, and then—when the bartender brings the tab at 3 AM—has the audacity to ask, "Why are you even charging me? You're just the guy who brought me drinks every time I raised my hand."

What is the purpose behind this buffet of different technologies? Are you planning to hire five separate Software Engineers just to manage them all?

What is the actual utility of using Ruby on Rails here?
What does the licensing fee look like, and at what point does that 2% threshold actually kick in?

Look, if you're claiming to offer a full-scale enterprise solution and you're in a rush to close the deal, then $5,000 net is frankly a bit low...

What kind of tech stack was used to build the software?