Leaderboard

Is this some sort of Keynesian fever dream? You are taking government action in meddling with the economy, designed specifically so they can achieve ends that do not occur naturally in an unmolested economic system, and using the results of those actions as evidence that the outcome was inevitable. This is effectively why we are in the catastrophe we're in right now. The Fed completely and totally failed to achieve their 2% inflation target over a period of decades, and were unable to identify why. Then, when the massive deflationary forces of globalization were brought to an immediate halt by the pandemic, the extreme inflationary measures the FED had been taking for years were finally able to take effect, uncontested by the deflation that had been hiding the results of government spending. And when that started, the Fed spent a year outright denying it, then recharacterizing it, before finally admitting its existence and now claiming that the very same economic philosophies and policy tools that led to the disaster are somehow the solution. The entire field of advanced economics has devolved into a secular religion that requires absolute faith in a set of principles that are unsubstantiated and fail upon first contact with reality, every single time they are used. And it's even funnier when you realize it's just a bunch of political opportunists, steeped in worthless academia, who have been tasked with the unenviable chore of creating an intelligent sounding justification for what their political masters wish to do: spend more money than they have access to. And because of this, our entire banking industry has morphed into a one-way money siphon designed specifically to take advantage of these political cowards and their obviously absurd economic policies. If you can't beat 'em... But yeah, let's hear more about debt is actually good. Everything is going great.

Yeah, that USAA card is reverting to a mediocre 1.5%.

DNIF: no. To include a long-term illness (my opinion). You have a Class I? You're GTG. I have a friend that has MS. He was able to get a Class I, and was hired by one of the Big 6. Form 8 or FAA checkrides only.

It was chosen to extend the life of the T-38. It was nothing about CRM or mobility flying.

"Back in the before times" certain workplaces still had health rules and you also had the god-given right as an American to not volunteer for the military or any other job with health requirements you don't like. As far as I know we haven't drafted anyone since Vietnam, so you voluntarily signed on to the host of rules the military imposes on its members above and beyond the civilian population. Exactly. I'm not aware of any time in recent military history where personal interpretations of cdc guidance, drinking buddies, or friends had any bearing on military medical requirements. Maybe clergy to a very tiny extent. Civilian world is a whole different discussion. But military members complaining about the rules they voluntarily subjected themselves to is hilarious stupidity.

I often think about the child mortality around vaccines since I'm an older Dad now. I could not imagine losing swaths of kids to polio, *pox, or the long-term health effects they imposed.

I left banking with USAA in 2019 for Navy Fed. They’ve been outstanding. I still have USAA for insurance due to them being the cheapest for me for the coverage and been flawless for claims I’ve filed in 21 years of membership.

Hell no. I say no. In FAR parlance, those were "progress checks."

I just left USAA for auto insurance. I bought a new car and figured I’d call around for rates. I couldn’t believe I would save 40% by switching to Geico for the exact same coverage. No complaints so far.

While I’m pleased with the results… I have questions. https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-botashev-commander-killed-1709596?amp=1

It’s an interesting question. Are TDYs tied to career progression? Is career progression tied to promotion? What would happen to a WG/CC if he told a pregnant airmen that based on her choice to become pregnant she would be denied opportunities for career development and progression? Or what if only pilots who received elective eye surgery to forego wearing glasses could TDY, and therefore advance professionally? Where I’m going here is that a policy of pushing elective medical procedures by attaching career impacting consequences to the choice wouldn’t withstand first contact with legal in any other context. I copy a portion of society has gone COVID psycho, but it’s logically indefensible and unlikely to be sustained if pushed against. Just my guess, I’m not a WG/CC.

Wow, the President wants to look into if we can use an existing vaccine or develop a new one to help protect people from a deadly virus, what an asshole!! /sarcasm Folks, vaccines are really really good. Massive net positive for humanity. The levels of disease and pestilence and death our ancestors regularly had to suffer through are just unthinkable today, in part because of vaccines (and clean water & sanitation!). Life pro-tips: Don’t shit where you eat, don’t drink from that murky stream of runoff, and get your MFing vaccines.

Worth noting that if you've ever been vaccinated for small pox, the small pox vaccine has 85% efficacy against monkey pox. The viruses are in the same family.

The ability to borrow at low interest rates, as the US government can, is a tremendously powerful tool. The price of having that tool is paying some interest. Just ask anyone with bad/no credit history how much you get jammed up when you can't take out a loan when you need one. At the rates Uncle Sam gets, I'm fine with borrowing, in fact I wish we would borrow more for things that have a tremendously positive return on investment and less on things that are just a straight-up cost. Basically: borrow to invest, don't borrow as a shortcut to spending above your means. All caveated with the idea that the sovereign debt of the country wielding the world's reserve currency is not like a household budget, that really can't be said enough.