US Steel Sold

[bertsmobile1]

And to be totally fair to president Trump he had the misfortune of being in office during covid and that contributed to massive government debts world wide so you could halve that 40%.
I can appreciate why Trump got elected as it was a toss up between just another career politician who has had her hand in the public purse nearly all her life and a supposedly successful business man so I like a lot of others expected him to run the country like a business.
Unfortunately President was not actually a business man but a sleazy real estate sales man and he ran the country as you would expect a sleazy business man to .

And FWIW I am a swing voter and rarely ever vote for either of the major parties .
Lucky for us we have a much more honest political system , with compulsory & preferential voting
So while our pollies are a lot more honest than the US ones , because we have to at least get a ballot paper and put it in the box that means we end up with a very mediocre bunch to choose from .

A good example of this is how the GOP is claiming they're not going to fund much of the Ukraine war. But somewhere in the dead of night, the Senate got a bill that funds billions to Ukraine. It's in the Senate right now.

I don't think that is correct as Johnstone is ardent he will subvert democracy and not allow the vote because god spoke to him and instructed him to do so .
I am following the Ukraine war fairly closely as I knew quite a few metallurgist who worked in the Ukraine , some Russian, some Ukrainian & some Turks , all good men & all worked well together .
Once upon a time if you heard voices in your head they locked you up in a padded cell, now days it appears that they elect you to the most powerful position in
congress .
As a black fella friend of mine used to say
"most dangerous animal in Australia is a white fella with a bible in his hand "

 

[bertsmobile1]

Every war that's been fought in this century was started by a government. So I agree, completely.

Actually most wars have been started by dictators , or monarchs .
Democracies rarely start a war because they are ( mostly ) responsible to the population & populations do not like being at war .
so governments become hostage to a single person , Hitler & Putin , for example who change the system so they can never be voted out then you have sham government .
The next most common war starters are generals who think they can run the country better than the elected government , then they go on to become dictators .
Switzerland is a true democracy ( only one on the planet ) and thy have never declared a war nor joined a war since they became a democracy .
And there is a world of difference between a democracy, a representative democracy & a democratically elected government .

 

[StarTech]

What I am seeing is that the world as we know it is getting more and more hostile...Right now any one thing could start our last major war that is not fought with sticks and stones as the following war would be if anyone is left.

Right now we got localized wars that could potentially explode into major regional wars. Dictators like Kim of North Korea for one that his father would take an anti-aircraft gun and blow away a rival just to he had the power to do so.

People here are even stealing driveways now or when you pull up to stop light pointing guns at you...The World has gone MAD with angry... All because of politics and religions extremism.

What ever happen to our peaceful childhoods. Now it seems everybody thinks everybody is out to get them. No wonder I will not join any of the social media forums like Facebook or X. I just withdrawing from about every forum in general now because of all the hateful attitudes. I used to be on about 30 repairs forums, now I am down to about 5 now. Even here I am withdrawing my technical support. I like helping others but there is a limit of how much hateful attitudes I will take from other members. I have bad days just everyone else but I don't take it out on others. I just find something else to do with my time.

 

[hlw49]

Unemployment is down
Post covid inflation is down
Oil price is down
US oil production is up
GDP is up
so where is the problem , apart from a functionally broken political system ?

And what country do you live in? Gas prices, food prices, energy prices are up. Ask truckers what it cost now to fill up their trucks. Higher fuel prices make higher prices for every thing. Unemployment is only down due to people going back to work after the covid shut. Biden has opened our border and we are being flooded with illegals from all over the world and they are not being vetted at all. Setting records every day in illegals flooding across the border. Have had over 14,000 in one day and growing. Mayors from all over the US are crying about it. Mostly in blue cities. Not that they want anything done about the border but want help from the government and this will put an extra burden on us tax paying citizens. Biden and dems are doing this because they are loosing their voter base and are trying to make it legal for the illegals to vote. To build their base up. If you think this is a good job God help us all.

 

[hlw49]

The Biden adminstration will have allowed between 8 and 10 million known elligals not counting the got aways into our country during his presidency. The got aways are the ones we need to worry about the most. Probably terrorist.

 

[DK35vince]

And what country do you live in? Gas prices, food prices, energy prices are up.

Exactly
Our cost of living expenses are WAY up from just a few years ago.
Everything from gas to diesel, groceries, propane (heating), electric, water, Etc.
Everything costs a lot more.

 

[hlw49]

Lets see just saw this on the news this morning. Cars up 22%,Rents 21%,Gas 25%, Eggs 57%, Bread 47%, Credit Card rate 25% and higher. 14% agree with Bidenomics. 46% say it hurt then, 39% said there was no difference. 68% Disgussed with Bidenomics. So if all these number are doing a good job I would hate to see a bad job. Bidens poll number are in the tank and dropping.

 

[StarTech]

Strange....Gas here is down from $3.25 / gal to $2.25 / gal. My credit card interest rate have been unchanged for years sitting at 8.9%. With zero interest paid on the card for the last 5 years. even though I charged up to $4000 per month on it.

Apparently some US people prefer to see deflation (recession) to be happening. At least the overall inflation is down to under 4% annual now and headed to under 2%. If a recession happens then what we buy today will sell for less tomorrow and even less the following days. IE business would be losing money inventory instead making a profit or just breaking even. When business start losing they start closing down putting everyone in a world of hurt as thing start to accelerate to worst conditions. Everytime one of my supplier goes out business it takes months to find new ones meanwhile my business loses customers due to the lack of products.

In order for the bread prices to drop then we need to the Ukraine/Russia to end since they are the main supplier of wheat. But that would take a long time to recover due to all the unexploded ordinance laying around. It is bad enough that Russians are blockading by mining the shipping lanes out of Ukraine.

In order for eggs and chicken prices to drop we have stop the whole slaughter of the chickens and learn to treat the sick flocks. My flock just recovered in December from all being sick with bacterial cold infection. Two weeks of antibiotic medication and they all recovered except one. I treated two week due to they got sick over a period of a week, three groups. Not bad odds considering I have over 50 birds and if the health department knew about it they would just killed my whole flock and I probably would had committed suicide as they are my family. I had been treating the flock for years so I usually get a head of it but caught off guard this year due a massive black bird flock passing though the area. Usually it is just a couple birds that get sick before I catch it. We do need to come up with Avian Flu antivirus vaccine. It is not going away by just slaughtering whole flocks. It is in the environment and we can't stop it otherwise.

Fuel prices will be going back up due Israel /Hamas war with the Iranian backed Houthis showing their a**e* even when we in the US are producing more oil then ever. Global product prices will start going back up too due the extra shipping costs of having go around the Horn of Africa. The whole Middle East area is a powder keg right now. Then of course we have China and North Korea showing their butts too. And we can't forget the damn Somalian pirates either that has caused a lot trouble around the Horn of Africa.

And top of that we might just have a civil war here after the next major election caused by brainwashed people that won't accept the results.

When will the people in the US understand that the government can only do so much when the rest of the world is in such turmoil? Our economy is Global reliant so are our costs.

When the US people start living within their means and not living off of credit, they be better off. Yes you have to do without fancy gadgets and other finer things. Just think how our folks survive the Great Depression? They buckle down and survived.

Ever heard operating on a shoe string budget? That is why my home is paid for other than annual property taxes and insurance. I had the option of paying $70K cash or taking out a mortgage that I would still be paying on that would have doubled the cost in the long run. Matter of fact the bank did me a favor by turning the loan down.

 

[PTmowerMech]

One thing we should all keep in mind is that the president doesn't control the economy or the gas prices. He can make those things worse by injecting too much money into the economy.
That 8+% inflation we all went through during Biden's first year, came from Trump who injected $8 trillion of new money into the economy in just 4 years. That buys a LOT of inflation.
The high gas prices were due to the oil bust cycle that always happens every 4 or 5 years. Right now, the US is producing more oil than at any time when Trump was in office. But the economy still has too much money flowing through it.
Biden lied when he said he was going to end fossil fuels in the US. Funny, how people only believe a politician when it either makes their side look good. Or makes the other side look bad.

Oil companies are going to produce as much or little as they want. The reason why gas was so much cheaper under Trump was because Saudi and Russia were in an oil price war. They flooded the market with cheap oil. US oil companies were buying it. The government was buying to refill the SPR's.
US oil companies and OPEC went into a bust cycle in April, 7 months before the 2020 election. They had so much in reserves that it took months before those reserves were depleted. By June, US oil companies were issuing record layoff notices. That was OK with Trump, because his deal with US, Mexico and Saudi is what initiated the bust cycle.
By January or Fed, the oil companies reserves were low, and the prices started to climb. Add that to the inflation that $8 trillion created, we have the makings for a huge economic down turn.

As far as spending goes, Biden seems to be trying to break Trumps record. Which is going to create the same scenario.
The end result will be the same. These big spending politicians come in and pretend to save the world. Then we get stuck with the bill.

 

[PTmowerMech]

In order for eggs and chicken prices to drop we have stop the whole slaughter of the chickens and learn to treat the sick flocks. My flock just recovered in December from all being sick with bacterial cold infection. Two weeks of antibiotic medication and they all recovered except one. I treated two week due to they got sick over a period of a week, three groups. Not bad odds considering I have over 50 birds and if the health department knew about it they would just killed my whole flock and I probably would had committed suicide as they are my family. I had been treating the flock for years so I usually get a head of it but caught off guard this year due a massive black bird flock passing though the area. Usually it is just a couple birds that get sick before I catch it. We do need to come up with Avian Flu antivirus vaccine. It is not going away by just slaughtering whole flocks. It is in the environment and we can't stop it otherwise.

That's cool, man. I didn't know you raised chickens. I suppose you sell a lot of eggs?

Fuel prices will be going back up due Israel /Hamas war with the Iranian backed Houthis showing their a**e* even when we in the US are producing more oil then ever. Global product prices will start going back up too due the extra shipping costs of having go around the Horn of Africa. The whole Middle East area is a powder keg right now. Then of course we have China and North Korea showing their butts too. And we can't forget the damn Somalian pirates either that has caused a lot trouble around the Horn of Africa.

We Americans show a lot of support for our oil industry. But my support is starting to fall a little. They seem to go into a bust cycle at the same time as OPEC does. And considering they could sell us oil/gas at a fair market price, they still use the price gouging global market price. It really ticks me off that they got record profits, and produced record low amounts of oil.

And top of that we might just have a civil war here after the next major election caused by brainwashed people that won't accept the results.

I think there could be isolated instances around the US. But it won't be a civil war. People have groceries to buy, lawns to mow, kids top raise and everyday life to live.

When will the people in the US understand that the government can only do so much when the rest of the world is in such turmoil? Our economy is Global reliant so are our costs.

It wouldn't hurt if the government would do a lot less. Just leave a lot of things alone. And stop wasting money on things they've got no business in.

When the US people start living within their means and not living off of credit, they be better off. Yes you have to do without fancy gadgets and other finer things. Just think how our folks survive the Great Depression? They buckle down and survived.

This needs to be the way of our government. Everyone else has to live within their means. Including the states. So should the federal government. And the fed needs to put stricter guidelines on the government. No more money for gender studies in Pakistan. No more money to fund reproductive research on insects. You know, stupid money.