Y2HH

Boo, this is unfortunate. This was one of the few places I actually liked discussing politics because the board isn't full of brainless trolls with IQ's I can count on one hand. ? Has it been discussed if you can you bring back the 'Buster as a private/invisible forum or something, so those of us who want to be a part of it can be? I understand we're free to discuss politics elsewhere, but ... like I said ... I only enjoy discussing politics WITH THE FINE CITIZENS OF SOXTALK. Yes, it can get heated at times, but that happens when you discuss things people are passionate about... #BRINGBACKTHEBUSTER

These people don't have a long term mindset anymore -- so while it's not quick compared to the past, the past no longer matters -- what matters is these suddenly fast rising rates (after a decade of none) are being combined with a trade war, and while either separately wouldn't make a dent, both combined are making for a potential storm. I think if they had started the rate hikes long before they did (and they should have), and spread them out over these years they slept at the wheel, not only could we be way ahead of where we are now in terms of interest rate, but it would have been a lot more seamless/painless.

It can handle it, which is why I said there is likely nothing to worry about in my original post (I use the word likely because I don't "call" markets, I'm not stupid enough to pretend to be that smart!) I still think they're going at it a bit too swiftly only due to how long it's been since they started raising rates. Gotta wean these people back into it instead of yanking off the band-aid.

I don't think they're "overreacting", I simply think they're trying to course correct in to swift a fashion. I'm not opposed to the rate hikes, as a matter of fact I think they're necessary and long overdue -- however -- I think they're coming too fast.

Was it a cause for concern 8 months ago? Probably not. While I think the fed is being overly aggressive with interest rate hikes, I'm not all that concerned since Wall Street is prone to over-reactions such as this. It's actually of my opinion that they do it on purpose to drive massive sell-offs from regular folks who are quick to get nervous, and then they snap it all back up at bargain prices. It's like when you see stories about some guy that correctly "called" the last recession (in reality he/she/they simply got lucky) who "sets price target of Apple to 60$" citing bullshit rumor x, y and z, and it causes a short term there is a sell off out of irrational fear. And then 6 months later Apple is trading at 225, but then we don't hear about that guy anymore, or he/she/they pretend they "didn't actually mean it like that". People like Ron Paul (and others) who have been predicting crashes for like 50 years, often say these things without putting their money where their mouth is. If a person TRULY believes the market is about to crash, they'd sell EVERYTHING they have and put it in gold or something. Only they never actually do.

Eh, I'm sure you'll get some of that -- but she brought that little nickname upon herself. That said, no, I don't care for her much, either. But I'd take her over Booker.

I don't have an issue with Barack's name at all. *shrug*

Please not Avenatti -- this dude is just slime. And he looks kind of like me, so I really hate him. He's IMO, one of the main things that severely undermined Ford's account against Kavanaugh because he took what looked like a legit claim and just started tossing out obvious lies and tall tales to get attention. Asshole.

From everything I've seen/read, Beto seems like a good dude. I just don't like his name. It's like Beta, but not. ?

It should.

Based on what I've seen of Booker thus far, it'd be WAY more soaring rhetoric than Obama. At least Obama came across as genuine. Booker comes across as a person that will say whatever an audience wants to hear, so long as you let him say it and keep all the focus and attention on him. And if it's not on him for some reason, he'll just get louder and turn up the rhetoric even more until everyone is paying attention to him again. Obviously this is just my opinion of the man, so whatever.

Win at all costs is largely why we are where we are as a nation. It's also why a good majority of our electorate votes party, and not candidate ... and that's a problem. Allow me to give a reason why you shouldn't vote party -- let's take me for example. Yeah, me. We may disagree on some things, but I'm sure we'd agree on others. I could likely say that for most of the people that post here. I could never run as a Democratic candidate in Chicago on any level. Why? Glad you asked! Because they already have their established base of candidates and insiders, so there is no way for me to get that necessary letter next to my name. You know what that means? I can run -- but as a republican or an independant, and only because they're far less established. And ... I'd also lose because I have the wrong letter next to my name, regardless of policy. And ... from the bottom up, that's largely how our government runs itself these days. It's to the point that even the politicians vote along party lines, almost regardless of what their constituents think (unless it's in an election year, because win at all costs)! The only way I could break myself into the Democratic party in Chicago and actually run for anything is if I somehow say something borderline insane that somehow resonates with the people and it goes viral. Anywayyyyyy ... Daley's staff "loved him" too, until he was gone. And why wouldn't they? He kept them employed. EDIT: Oh, and good to see you again Reddy -- hope you're doing well.

So we finally agree.

Yet the only two "major" US telcoms (Verizon and AT&T) both already denied it. I'm not claiming something like this isn't possible -- I'm simply saying Bloomberg tried to sound the alarm that pretty much every major US organization has been hacked via this method, and now they're slowly back tracking and getting vaguer by citing "someone in an industry we consider major" instead of naming names.

There is almost no living politician I despise more than that snake oil salesman. Which is why you like him, since you like snakes that eat chocolate cakes. Reddy, you got kool aid stains all over your face. Be careful.

Oh no, by all means, do it -- but then the people implementing the programs need to be held accountable -- only they never are. And why should they be? They're rich and powerful. We love to do one (spend the money), without the other (holding our elected officials accountable) -- instead we pretend they're accountable, go along with their programs, and then they reach into their somehow empty pockets and pretend they don't know what happened... And then we re-elect them again. Whatever happened to all those rich evil bankers that oversaw the near collapse of the world economy in 2008 due to predatory and illegal lending practices? Oh, that's right, we bailed them out, and then they got even richer. No jail time or anything, though. As you can see, I'm part of the *real* D party -- as in DISENFRANCHISED.

Oh, I found some common ground with Balta.

But would it be easy to make these deals? I heard you're great at making deals. But I also heard you're Crooked GoSox05, and I don't want any crooked deals. lol

Right, I've heard this before. Then they raise the taxes, cut the military spending -- and somehow that added money just "vanishes" into thin air, and the "free" college isn't actually paid for, but just somehow added to the deficit. It's like the Chicago way! /s but not really /s.

Obviously. Since I was being intentionally absurd.

This story has been widely refuted by many government organizations (NSA/Europe's version of the NSA), as well as Apple and Amazon in no uncertain terms. The more I've read about this the more this "anonymously sourced" story sounds like bs.

It's a Wondeful Life Home Alone Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Trading Places (eh, yea, I consider it a Christmas movie, agree with the person above) Frosty the Snowman A Charlie Brown Christmas A Nightmare Before Christmas (good for either halloween or christmas) A Christmas Story Just Friends

Hey, maybe he'll hire you, and then you'd be right... ❤️

Well, I did. I have a degree in programming, and I've never written a line of code professionally, "Mr. I Write code". I got into security/networking after graduating with a degree in programming, because I found programming soooooooo boring I decided I'd rather die than write another line of code that made no sense to me. I mean, while the field is related, it's not the same mindset or even skillset. That at least made the transition sensible/possible. Majoring in dance and then trying to become a nuclear engineer isn't quite as easy of a segway...

Free. Because all of those professors and administrators are going to teach and run the schools for free, I assume? Oh, and the electric/gas companies that power the schools aren't going to charge anything for this magical free energy to heat/cool the buildings? Oh, and the landscapers and construction workers are going to cut the grass and maintain the buildings for free, too, right? They can't pay for what's left of our public school system now, so we may as well lop four to six more years of free higher education on top of that! How are you proposing we pay for this? We're already about 800 billion into deficit spending and counting. Raising taxes may be a start, but it's just going to scratch the surface. You could cut the military budget by 50% and it still won't make a dent. Sounds like it's anything but free. This is why I have a hard time having this conversation -- can we have some proposals that are at least grounded in reality? As things stand, without this stuff being "free", we can't sustain our current budgetary trajectory. With this stuff, we're hitting the accelerator when we see the brick wall up ahead. Quick, let me take off my seatbelt and disable my airbag while we're at it...