Russian Ukraine shenanigans

[BashiChuni]

Google search trend. The public doesn’t care anymore. 

Edited July 19, 2024 by BashiChuni

[brwwg&b]

Ah, yes...the ineffable knowledge of the public

[BashiChuni]

Germany cutting Ukraine aid in half. If I were Z I’d be negotiating a peace agreement. This adventure is over. Especially when trump takes over. 

[Random Guy]

Ukraine is hiring. Go get some guys. 🤣

 

 

[HeloDude]

5 hours ago, Random Guy said:

Ukraine is hiring. Go get some guys. 🤣

 

 

So we gave them F-16s, but no/not sufficient training.  I wonder what their mx will be like.  Where have I seen this before?

[brabus]

I’m betting we gave them as much training as we’re willing to give a country like UKR. Up to them to sort the rest out. 

[HeloDude]

2 minutes ago, brabus said:

I’m betting we gave them as much training as we’re willing to give a country like UKR. Up to them to sort the rest out. 

I very much would like for all of this to be “up to them”, but unfortunately our federal government seems to love giving them hundreds of billions of dollars of money/resources, putting us further and further into an unsustainable debt.  Giving them F-16s will only most likely lead to spending more money/resources, especially training and mx costs.  But hey, our defense industry appreciates the business. 

[Random Guy]

4 minutes ago, HeloDude said:

I very much would like for all of this to be “up to them”, but unfortunately our federal government seems to love giving them hundreds of billions of dollars of money/resources, putting us further and further into an unsustainable debt.  Giving them F-16s will only most likely lead to spending more money/resources, especially training and mx costs.  But hey, our defense industry appreciates the business. 

The debt is perfectly sustainable, the Fed can honor any liability denominated in USD.

 

It's just more free money (interest) for anyone with money who buys bonds. It's like welfare, but for rich people.

[HeloDude]

11 minutes ago, Random Guy said:

The debt is perfectly sustainable, the Fed can honor any liability denominated in USD.

 

It's just more free money (interest) for anyone with money who buys bonds. It's like welfare, but for rich people.

Enjoy your inflation and reduced purchasing power…

[Lord Ratner]

16 minutes ago, Random Guy said:

The debt is perfectly sustainable, the Fed can honor any liability denominated in USD.

 

It's just more free money (interest) for anyone with money who buys bonds. It's like welfare, but for rich people.

It is not sustainable if it leads to price instability. It is, as you suggest, payable, but if the welfare for the rich leads to social unrest, that is the opposite of sustainable.

Edited August 13, 2024 by Lord Ratner

[Lawman]

I very much would like for all of this to be “up to them”, but unfortunately our federal government seems to love giving them hundreds of billions of dollars of money/resources, putting us further and further into an unsustainable debt.  Giving them F-16s will only most likely lead to spending more money/resources, especially training and mx costs.  But hey, our defense industry appreciates the business. 

Well for one, we didn’t give them F-16s… The Vipers they have are from Denmark.

And yes the Danish are buying F-35s under FMS contracts (which lowers the fly way cost for us), so it’s not just a bunch of rich industrialists winning here.


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[HeloDude]

9 minutes ago, Lawman said:

Well for one, we didn’t give them F-16s… The Vipers they have are from Denmark.

And yes the Danish are buying F-35s under FMS contracts (which lowers the fly way cost for us), so it’s not just a bunch of rich industrialists winning here.


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Thanks for the clarification…but just so I understand, this isn’t costing the American taxpayer any money, is that what you’re suggesting?

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/10/joint-statement-on-f-16s-for-ukraine-from-u-s-president-joseph-r-biden-dutch-prime-minister-dick-schoof-and-danish-prime-minister-mette-frederiksen/#:~:text=The Danish and Dutch governments,operational F-16s this summer.

Edited August 13, 2024 by HeloDude

[Random Guy]

The term "unsustainable debt" implies there is some limit of numbers one can write in a ledger, and there is no limit.

 

Whether the real goods exist that people want to purchase is another matter. It has nothing to do with the numbers in the ledger, per se. 

[HeloDude]

13 minutes ago, Random Guy said:

The term "unsustainable debt" implies there is some limit of numbers one can write in a ledger, and there is no limit.

 

Whether the real goods exist that people want to purchase is another matter. It has nothing to do with the numbers in the ledger, per se. 

Well, I thought most educated people would be smart enough to realize the negativity of the “unstable debt” with how it relates to causing high inflation, reduced purchasing power, etc…you know, things that people generally don’t like.

Edited August 13, 2024 by HeloDude

[Random Guy]

Have you calculated your purchasing power wrt the inflation during and after COVID?

What is your representative basket of goods, and how did your quantities change with the new price levels in the US?

[HeloDude]

3 minutes ago, Random Guy said:

Have you calculated your purchasing power wrt the inflation during and after COVID?

What is your representative basket of goods, and how did your quantities change with the new price levels in the US?

Well, the grocery bills increased quite a bit since 2019, without much change in what we generally purchase.  If I had to guess it’s an increase of at least 25%, if not more.  Is my argument any less accurate if I have not directly compared receipts from 2019 and today of an item by item list?  

[M2]

1 hour ago, Lawman said:

Well for one, we didn’t give them F-16s… The Vipers they have are from Denmark.

And yes the Danish are buying F-35s under FMS contracts (which lowers the fly way cost for us), so it’s not just a bunch of rich industrialists winning here.

The Slovaks did the same with their MiG-29s, not sure how those are faring.

Ironically, the Slovaks are getting F-16 Block-70s, two of which were just recently delivered.

https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/State-Partnership-Program/Article/3851566/indiana-guard-helps-deliver-f-16s-to-slovak-partners/

[Lawman]

Thanks for the clarification…but just so I understand, this isn’t costing the American taxpayer any money, is that what you’re suggesting?
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/10/joint-statement-on-f-16s-for-ukraine-from-u-s-president-joseph-r-biden-dutch-prime-minister-dick-schoof-and-danish-prime-minister-mette-frederiksen/#:~:text=The Danish and Dutch governments,operational F-16s this summer.

I know you live in this weird world where the term, “total return on investment,” doesn’t exist, but yes in this case your original statement wasn’t in need of clarification it was a bold faced misstatement of truth.

You implied we simply gifted them weapons (in this case F16s) like allowing a person to simply walk in and out of Costco with a full cart and not pay. That is in no way representative of what is going on with these aid bills and it’s damn sure not an accurate depiction of a bunch of allied air and ground forces paying premium dollar totals to accelerate replacement of the systems they are donating to the Ukrainians. To say nothing of the investment in our own industrial capacity when most would agree this rollercoaster will get worse before it gets better.


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[Random Guy]

25 minutes ago, HeloDude said:

Well, the grocery bills increased quite a bit since 2019, without much change in what we generally purchase.  If I had to guess it’s an increase of at least 25%, if not more.  Is my argument any less accurate if I have not directly compared receipts from 2019 and today of an item by item list?  

Yes.

 

It would be a good exercise at least.

 

On the income side: Since 2019, can you list any changes to your pay and the reason, including any one-time transfers?

 

On the cost side: did your basket of goods and services change? Do you know what proportion of your income is spent on which things?

[Lord Ratner]

1 hour ago, Random Guy said:

The term "unsustainable debt" implies there is some limit of numbers one can write in a ledger, and there is no limit.

 

Whether the real goods exist that people want to purchase is another matter. It has nothing to do with the numbers in the ledger, per se. 

This is called pseudo-intellectualism. It's where you focus on arbitrary semantics instead of the point.

[Random Guy]

5 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

This is called pseudo-intellectualism. It's where you focus on arbitrary semantics instead of the point.

Which is why you are laser-focused on debt numbers and are not discussing real projects, quantities consumed, ownership or incentives? 

[HeloDude]

1 hour ago, Random Guy said:

Yes.

 

It would be a good exercise at least.

 

On the income side: Since 2019, can you list any changes to your pay and the reason, including any one-time transfers?

 

On the cost side: did your basket of goods and services change? Do you know what proportion of your income is spent on which things?

Why would I do this for you?—do tedious work to prove something that is obviously a fact, even if you want to bear around the bush rather than agree.  If you don’t want to believe that inflation hasn’t drastically increased from 2019 to today, then that’s ok as you can have your head in the sand.  I previously told you that our weekly bills have increased with no significant changes to our weekly purchases, but yet asked me again anyway, which shows you don’t care to engage in a real conversation.

[Random Guy]

52 minutes ago, HeloDude said:

Why would I do this for you?—do tedious work to prove something that is obviously a fact, even if you want to bear around the bush rather than agree.  If you don’t want to believe that inflation hasn’t drastically increased from 2019 to today, then that’s ok as you can have your head in the sand.  I previously told you that our weekly bills have increased with no significant changes to our weekly purchases, but yet asked me again anyway, which shows you don’t care to engage in a real conversation.

There's lots of studies on the outcomes of the inflation, but the actual impact varies person to person--because your basket is unique to you. We can answer the question 'how much worse off am I today, because of inflation' with quantitative certainty. 

Steel production facilities in the EU were very hard hit, for example, because energy is usually a foundry's largest input by cost. Similarly, your inputs may not reflect a typical basket. Maybe you consume large quantities of dildos imported from Asia, and logistics delays led to unusually large price increases for your particular basket. We can be specific about just how badly you got ****ed by businesses with more power than you.

 

🤣

Edited August 13, 2024 by Random Guy

[SurelySerious]

There's lots of studies on the outcomes of the inflation, but the actual impact varies person to person--because your basket is unique to you. We can answer the question 'how much worse off am I today, because of inflation' with quantitative certainty. 
Steel production facilities in the EU were very hard hit, for example, because energy is usually a foundry's largest input by cost. Similarly, your inputs may not reflect a typical basket. Maybe you consume large quantities of dildos imported from Asia, and logistics delays led to unusually large price increases for your particular basket. We can be specific about just how badly you got ****ed by businesses with more power than you.
 
🤣

Ah yes, the AI chatbot with no actual point is back.

Those of us humans with a budget already have the answer.

[brabus]

4 hours ago, HeloDude said:

I very much would like for all of this to be “up to them”, but unfortunately our federal government seems to love giving them hundreds of billions of dollars of money/resources, putting us further and further into an unsustainable debt.  Giving them F-16s will only most likely lead to spending more money/resources, especially training and mx costs.  But hey, our defense industry appreciates the business. 

Totally agree. We shouldn’t have done it in the first place.