Calax

Come to America, god knows there's enough trucking jobs you'd be able to use it.

I am now 34... I feel old

Honestly, the real problem with investment banking anymore is that they are so focused on the short term gain, that they would prefer to ruin a company for an extra 4% return after 6 months. And when the company does go down in flames, everyone blames various CEO's and Executives who stuck their heads in the sand and "didn't listen to the market"... rather than looking at Charles Icahn or his bro's who forced the changes through with three people on the board of Directors. I mean, look at Yahoo. 15 years ago they were a premier search engine and built on being an Internet business, after constant forced changes by various investors they had to get rid of that core business and change to something else. Or, My old company, Hertz, used to have an overhead company that unified the cars with HERC (heavy equipment like cherry pickers), and with Trucks (Penske was Hertz old truck division). In various attempts to prop up the stock price they shaved off these other divisions to just be about the Cars, and even that's not doing fantastic.

We aren't actually dependant on Foreign oil right now. On the net we export more than we import although that may change as the cost of oil drops due to a surge from cheaper countries (Saudi and Russia). It's why the production war and disagreements have been making the news around Covid. Meanwhile Minnesota is currently moving to an entirely green energy grid by 2050(I think... may be sooner) with the Nuke plant that's just north of my current home having it's permit ending right as the energy company no longer needs it because wind etc have taken up the burden. The economy didn't see a "clear boom" under Trump. Through the entire presidency there have been worries that his actions with China and others would slow/kill the economic growth that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 crash. The cuts inflated Wall Street, certainly, but that's because rather than creating a space for additional economic activity to take place (by providing workers more money to spend as consumers), the companies used those dollars to initiate buyback programs to boost their stock prices to show off to hedge fund managers. I mean, at the start of his administration he basically forced a reversal on Net Neutrality rules that has begun a slow process by which we'll start paying more money for the same speeds (of internet) we're operating at now, which are significantly behind those of our colleges across the Atlantic. Realistically if he wanted to help the economy he'd need to actually grow a spine towards big business and initiate projects to break up the massive conglomeration of business. Disney is quietly closing in on a monopoly around entertainment, Amazon has effectively created a monopoly that's only strengthened by the Stay-At-Home orders, and their leaders feel like all they need to do to get away with any real crimes is to make a massive donation to the Trump campaign via super PAC and they'll get a presidential pardon, or intervention.

So I ask you this, would you prefer the USA be relegated to something more akin to the EU, primarily an economic block? With the Armies etc all being drawn and controlled by the individual states rather than at a (currently) federal level? The biggest problem with decentralization is that you lose your ability to react. Right now the Feds should (emphasis should) be coordinating the response and using the authority they have to prevent situations where New Mexico can't get Ventilators because California is paying 6% more per unit (purely as an example, I don't think that specific situation has happened). Only having one buyer in the market would mean prices would stay low, and then the resources could be allocated on the basis of need from the federal stockpiles, or even having the states buy the units of the feds at cost. Currently it's all a giant cluster because Trump wants to let the "free market" play out (and earn a bundle of money for businesses), while he does the bare minimum to ensure that he can wave his hands and declare "I'm doing something" for the political points.

To be fair, I'd think you'd kinda enjoy the current situation in a way given that the Federal Government has basically abandoned a lot of it's powers under trump and are leaving much more up to the States in regards to Covid. I mean Trump managed to effectively kill the EPA in regards to enforcement at a national level, and has dutifully prevented the federal response from going beyond "MONEY! GET YOUR MONEY HERE!", meaning that the various governors have had to pick things up and figure out their own supply chains and responses to the situation. Although I suppose this is the sort of situation where die hard "States Rights" people have to actually take a look at their beliefs and figure out if they really want a disjointed dis-empowered federal government, or would prefer a more empowered federal government that can actively respond in times of crisis and prevent bidding wars between the states.

Sup Homie. I've been more or less gone for four years

Considered Essential. Still doing 10 hour days. Realized during all of this that me and the lady don't have a thermometer (we're getting one second hand tomorrow). Prior to this whole corona virus stuff we were slated to move to Atlanta for family reasons, and mental health. Trying to sell your house, buy another one, get a transfer, and organize all that BS over 18 hours drive away is a trip. Already had two options fall through down in ATL because of bad things.

Lazy weekend with my girlfriend. Ended up tuning into "Meet Joe Black" which... the ending with Anthony Hopkins somehow really struck a nerve. Like a Seriously struck a nerve.

not every mission is a shootout. There's also a drunken chase as well! And a few others. But at the same time they are still making a game and nobody wants to load up a game about the rootin tootin wild west to sit down and have a philosophical talk about what it really means to be "free" for an hour.

Isn't that kinda every Rock* game? You play everything normal and quiet and "BANG BANG KACHEW!"

The useless guy. That's a strange one.

Back from the Funeral. Biggest thing much fighting and my brother was an **** (he declared himself the "better son" and did his best to steal anything I looked at Inherentence wise). Did learn of the Ida May Project to rebuild my great Grandfather's boat, back from when he ran an oyster farm. http://www.idamayproject.org/

It's been a hell of a year. Right now I'm rebuilding my financial situation while trying to muscle through a month or two of hell at the office so that something better appears (specifically, they're opening a new office that means I'll be about 15-20 minutes from my house rather than a full hour+ that it is now). Plus the whole "learning a new aspect to my industry" situation.

Depends on your tires, vehicle and drive. on a 4/awd you probably want to swap them all together so that they don't create more issues where they get out of sync. Most consumer tires shouldn't be that expensive for a pair (at least on sedans) I just did 4 on my dads (now mine) 2000 Tundra and that only cost me 800 overall, and when I was at Hertz ordering tires, most of the tires I bought for everything up to a Tahoe generally punched in around 100 bucks a wheel.

I think most of this is going to take care of itself, but I also think that they are going to retrograde a few of their systems to give back some complexity. They'll see what players really attach to (again) in classic and emulate it in the next xpac in some way shape or form. It won't be perfect (obviously) but it may do something like reverting talents to actual trees instead of the polyglot they are now. I do know a lot of my friends are on it seemingly every night, I just can't get into it because I can't get over the initial hump to actually have my class play properly.

If I were to guess I'd say you should probably look into changing the other three tires. That's lookin pretty dang worn there.

I am. I have a house now. Grandfather died though. Still haven't fully processed his, or my grandmothers death last year (My mom's not doing great right now, she's had to deal with four very close deaths in the past 2 years)

Mostly been playing Assassins Creed UNity again. A touch of Fire Emblem Three Houses.

Still here broham. Working for Ryder though, which is A hell of a commute until I finish training then I get to move to a store that's closer to me.

Keep right on interviewing. Got called out of the blue about running a refurbished tool store. May do it, am unsure. Our newer cat got bathed yesterday and likes being cleaner. My older cat is fearing for his life because he's next.

To be fair, the reason Trump survived is because of the mess of candidates leading up to the primaries. Traditional candidates were fighting over the same overall electorate that, as a group, were the majority of the party. Meanwhile Trump managed to touch the base of the party through clever marketing (he had more unpaid screentime than the others because of his on-display ego), and because people didn't believe that he'd follow through on half of what he said (IE he won't actually shutdown the government over something petty...). If the democratic party can get it's **** together and coalesce around somebody without to much ridiculous infighting, they should pull out a fairly easy win from the population that was already anti-Trump, plus those that he's lost due to various factors (for example, farmers who've lost money for almost a year because of tariffs with China).

They do, it's just that the opposition to the executive are always the ones who fight that point while the party that has the executive just shrugs and stamps the paperwork. It's getting worse given the current possibility of criminal issues in the Office but it's just a log flume ride we have to stick with.

City of Heroes (thank god it's back) Rome Total War Tie Fighter Zone of the Enders Metal Gear Solid 2

Went to a friends place for a get together. We were firing an air rifle and I managed to get to close to the scope, giving myself a wonderful gash above my eyebrow. First time I've ever felt blood dripping down my nose.