And you have the gall to say this admitting you didn't catch his SOTU?
And you have the gall to say this admitting you didn't catch his SOTU?Biden says is different from Biden does
I guess if you can believe this kind of fairy tale bullshit you can believe a political speech.We're in a capitalist system. Competition should prevent corporate rape of the public.
But that is still enormously stupid and on brand conspiracy wise. Ok. Sure. This one turned out right, but when you have 100 experts and 3 of them agrees its airborne, why push that particular narrative? Same thing with Ivermectin and when he caught covid and got better he used himself as proof that Ivermectin works… cause see, it worked for me! - And that’s actually how dumb he is. And dangerous given his audience size.My first Rogan interview I saw was with Michael Osterholm right as the pandemic started raging through Italy and it was really informative and I thought man this guy is a great interviewer. Then I find out he's taking horse pills and is an antivax loon. At least it helped me find Osterholm who was an amazing resource to follow the pandemic with. Osterholm was the first who said washing your hands, don't touch your face was BS, that this was clearly an airborne pathogen based on how it had spread in Seattle in January 2020.
There a millions and millions of dumb people around. None of them should have large audiences. Quite a few do. Not to be forgotten.But that is still enormously stupid and on brand conspiracy wise. Ok. Sure. This one turned out right, but when you have 100 experts and 3 of them agrees its airborne, why push that particular narrative? Same thing with Ivermectin and when he caught covid and got better he used himself as proof that Ivermectin works… cause see, it worked for me! - And that’s actually how dumb he is. And dangerous given his audience size.
Osterholm's not a conspiracy theorist, he's a world renowned epidemiologist who laid out a rock solid case it was an airborne pathogen based on spread at a church choir in SeattleBut that is still enormously stupid and on brand conspiracy wise. Ok. Sure. This one turned out right, but when you have 100 experts and 3 of them agrees its airborne, why push that particular narrative? Same thing with Ivermectin and when he caught covid and got better he used himself as proof that Ivermectin works… cause see, it worked for me! - And that’s actually how dumb he is. And dangerous given his audience size.
This is probably the best economy of our lifetimes.
I know, I was talking about Rogan.Osterholm's not a conspiracy theorist, he's a world renowned epidemiologist who laid out a rock solid case it was an airborne pathogen based on spread at a church choir in Seattle
Not sure if you're familiar with the NE, but Tops is pretty bottom-barrel. Walmart is usually a touch cheaper on some stuff but I refuse to shop there, and it's minimal enough to not justify the 20 minute drive or whatever for me. We adjust our spending by not buying it, but my SO loves blueberries and gets pretty depressed when trip after trip we have to skip them.Holy shit, I bought them for $5.50/18oz this weekend (I go through 3 18oz packs a week by myself, I basically never pay more than $6 for them). Maybe you need to find a new grocery store. Price inflation is easy when consumers don't adjust their spending habits in response to price gouging.
I wasn't longing for the 70's-90's, I remember that time well, at least the parts I was alive for it. Housing was cheaper, most everything else sucked though.Not to be insensitive, but in the 50-90s when the economy was mythically "better," no one would've spent 9K on a pet. Standard of living in the US has gone way up, people spend what the make, pushing up the standard of living but then get upset that they don't have a nest egg or more than their neighbors and long for the past when they could've had those things on their current salary. But in 1970 the average house was half the size as today, the have house had less cars, way less TVs, no cell phones, internet, or computers, way less clothing, less kitchen gadgets, much less eating out, much less alcohol, much less/cheaper travel, etc.
I can legitimately say I haven't bought a TV in that timeframe. One TV in my house was free (given to me free, damaged, soldered new caps on it), a plasma from '09 or so. One other was purchased for about $400 by my in-laws so they could watch the news when they visited. I get replacing like, a projector or something, you'll probably pay for the difference in energy usage. But a decent LED or oLED I guess at this point should last a decade or longer if it doesn't 'planned obsolescence' itself.It's still a higher standard of living. My family bought a TV in 1987, my mom had that TV and only that TV until 2009, and that was pretty normal in the 80s and 90s. I don't think many people struggling in this horrible economy can say that they've had one TV in the house and kept it for 15+ years.
Haha, because the speech was fantastic, I don't have anything to say. Bring on more Dark Brandon, and let's share some sparkling glasses of conservative tears.
It’s easier to complain than offer solutionsWhat’s your point here? That Biden and democrats are making things worse or that republicans will make things better? Or that because things aren’t 100% fixed both sides suck?
For whom?
Maybe it’s clothes you buy. Granted, cheap Walmart t-shirts rarely last a season but buying half-decent clothing helps longevity.Do you think there are many TVs that would last 22 years these days? Clothes are the worst though. God clothing quality has gone to total shit this last ten years.
Clothes are the worst though. God clothing quality has gone to total shit this last ten years.
Legit, right now, I couldn't afford another car.
I want to live in an economy where the inflation slows the fuck down for a second so the generally accepted concept of raises can actually result in an increase in buying power, so people feel like they're working toward something. A generous 3% raise means fuck all if inflation was 4% during the same timeframe, doubly so if that inflation hit consumer needs products more than consumer wants products. I need eggs, not televisions.
I have some suspicion that there are a lot of grocery store changes people can make but choose not to. Maybe its part of my background growing up but I don't understand the attachment I've seen for fancy cuts of meat and brand names at the expense of your weekly/monthly budget. Don't get me wrong I know people struggle making ends meet with even basic food stuffs (and I was one of them for a time) but that trend of posting a picture of your grocery cart or bill sure has changed into carefully staged images and cut video to portray a desired narrative as opposed to giving people the information necessary to evaluate the situation. Mostly because they went fancy cut of red meat, precut and prepackaged non-seasonal fruit and veggies, expensive brand names etc and got called out for it.Housing costs aside, what people tend to miss is that the bottom half of earners spends a lot more of their net income on food and other necessities. Telling someone their 8% YoY raise covered CPI doesn't assuage the pain they feel at the checkout line, or at the restaurant. Granted some of this pain or anxiety is just perception or urban legend (i.e. the $16 Big Mac combo), but telling the electorate* that they are dead wrong about Bidenomics isn't going to change people's messed up opinions.
I used to get Honey Nut at Costco. I went through a phase a few years ago in which I checked out a lot of the huge cereal culture that's been going on in America for decades. When I was a kid there were NO sugared cereals, NOTHING! It was Cheerios, corn flakes, Rice Krispies, shredded wheat. We had that stuff. Then Special K came out (didn't like it, but my folks did, I guess). Then Sugar Frosted Flakes, and Pandora's Box just opened and other sugary stuff took over the ever burgeoning cereal aisle.
So, I tried a bunch of stuff around 10-12 years ago, liked a lot of it, over a couple years or so and then I stopped buying it. I realized it wasn't good for me. Only some Cheerios (plain) now, occasionally.
Like a car of almost any kind, I'm not in a position to slap $4k on CC nor do I have that in cash. I could probably swing the monthly payments if my bank would actually finance that low of a loan (not sure if they do?) but that $4k civic inevitably comes with another $2-3k of bills for when shit starts breaking (citation, my current 07 tundra).Like a car you want? Or like an acceptable car if you needed one? Around here you can get a Honda Civic for $4k with ~150k miles on it which, for those, typically means another 50-100k of miles on them.
I hear you regarding all of this, there's upsides and downsides. Just wish we saw more upsides of the 'roaring economy' we keep hearing about, that's all. As far as I can tell it's just roaring for everything I have to spend money on.I get it. Inflation in a lot of areas people aren't used to can hit hard. But inflation really has slowed way the fuck down. And it peaked lower and came down faster than a huge chunk of the rest of the world. So, if we're attributing inflation as something the president can control, then Biden did better than most of the industrialized world (ex China)
(As an aside egg prices were high and are spiking again not because of inflation but because of bird flu outbreaks)
You're also in a challenging environment for raises. Universities are notoriously stingy on raises for non-shiny and fancy faculty/staff positions. Granted my experience is predominantly on the IT org side at large Universities but what I've seen is, over and over again, there are have and have not institutions and have and have not units inside institutions (Or even teams within central IT). If you're in a Have environment you could likely see a higher raise. If you're in a Have Not? 3% is generous. I've seen 1% and 2% at R1 schools with huge endowments performing well because: 1) Its not an area that commands attention for whatever reason and/or 2) strong and strict rules around funding such that endowment can only make up a small portion of staff funding that local units need to supplement for larger raises with local funds or higher charge back rates (which cause the 'poor' units balk loudly) if they're so inclined. This has been common collectively since well before COVID although I realize it might be a more recent thing for you where you are at your institution. The flip side is that Universities really don't lay people off in bad economic or pandemic times. Job stability at Universities was exceptional during the COVID years compared to a lot of other industries. Size of raises tend to be part of the tradeoff.
And I don't see this as something the Federal government is going to change for Universities. If anything I think it will get a lot harder for the Have Not Higher Ed areas due to economic and demographic pressures. If you're only getting 3% raises and want more you will almost certainly need to look elsewhere or get a title/responsibility change.
While I am not against the idea we need to remember market forces, if suddenly everyone is able to pay $500 per month more for rent, rents will increase $500 per month. This will just increase to flow of money to the top. We need more housing, we need to evaluate small portions of things like wet lands and determine if preserving them makes more sense than improving the drainage in the area and assessing a permanent extra tax on the property to upkeep that improved drainage. We need to decide how much land is appropriate for a small house to be on, we need to encourage builder to build lower cost housing (maybe sale is tax free if it’s sold under market value. Plenty of small things we can do.UBI. Yeah yeah, political suicide, but fuck it. UBI. $200/mo, $500/mo, I don't care. Get that shit rolling now before it's too late.
All a balanced part of the Neglected Food Groups Pyramid, alongside the whipped, congealed, and chocotastic. Thanks Dr. Nick!When were you a kid?
I grew up in the 70s. We had Frootloops (introduced 1963), Lucky Charms (1964), Frankenberry, Count Chocula (monster cereals came out in 1971), Co-co puffs (1956) Frosted Flakes (1952) Sugar Pops (1951) and Super Sugar Crisp (1967). All loaded with sugar. SO much so the milk you drank at the end was concentrated sugar milk.
Those were our daily cereals in the house at any given time. My fav was Frootloops.
Yes, apparently the new complaint is that 'Sleepy Joe' wasn't sleepy enough.So. I understand Biden was on fire last night.
To a degree where the only thing Hannity could think to pull is that Joe must be dipping into his sons supply.