Comments by rdig

@mark94: you do realize "most" means more than 50% right? Sorry but it was nowhere close to that. How many T-34's were made in the US? I'll give you a hint: US tanks sucked by comparison even up to the last days of the war.

Zelensky has backed off his insistence on being allowed to join NATO. Ukraine is not going dislodge Russia from Crimea or Donbas anytime soon. You could argue just as well that Putin has already won. Now he just seems to be seeing just much he gain: would like formal recognition of Crimea and Donbas but he could just hold it de facto if that doesn't happen. China and India are big players and we help ease sanctions on him. Militarily his tanks are useless against javelins and his planes nearly so against stinger. It's effectively infantry versus infantry. Can he draw in more troops? Would it require a draft? I don't know the mood in Russia well enough to comment, but if he can draft then his population is three times that of Ukraine so he will win eventually. The media is saying it is a slam dunk and mark94 is parroting it, but I don't think it's over by a long shot.

The United States certainly did not save Russia during WWII. Sometime between Stalingrad and Kursk the Soviets stop insisting very hard the US enter the war. After Kursk the Soviet Union knew they had it in the bag: with out without the United States entering in western Europe. The Soviets never lost momentum after Kursk and certainly by Normady (which happened around the time of Bagration in the East) it was merely nice that the US land, but not essential.

@misterorange: Your post is nuts! You are willing to risk nuclear war on the one in a million chance that it's all a big bluff and Russia doesn't have any actual nukes?

@misterorange: missile defense systems are under development but not deployed and certain not on a large enough scale to counter a full nuclear strike. Hypersonic missiles will probably render them obsolete.

Basic question? Suppose you establish a no-fly zone and then Putin ignores it and keeps planes flying. What next?

Good information thanks for posting!

Absolutely Ukraine is not worth starting a nuclear war over.

I see nobody took me up on my challenge, so I'll try it again: There is no doubt that, in the past, there was horrific systemic racism in the United States. Is there still systemic racism today? If so please give a few examples.

Inflation is one of the main reason I go to strip clubs: Love having my dick inflate when hot strippers bounce up and down on it.

Does systemic still even exist? There are strong long against it. If it exists what are some examples? I think many people throw the phrase around because everyone else is, but don't really know what it means.

I think she needs some of my Gu on her.

I read an article that part of the "great resignation" is people who decided they wanted to retire early and had enough due to stock market gains. If you retire early and are sitting on big gains I can see you staying put at first to see much how further the market continues up. What happens once it starts to look like it's in trouble? Are you going to fine with riding out a possible dip or are you going to protect your retirement and sell? I think it's safe to say these folks will be "weak hands" who will contribute to the selling. rdig (prophet of doom)

You have to show initiative and bring up the subject. A pretty good number will be proactive but some won't. Just ask: the vast majority of them are up for it. And if they aren't, it's not like they aren't getting asked all the time by others. Very unlikely you are going to offend them by asking. Have fun! rdig (the prophet of doom)

25: "Not claiming that truck drivers are stupid, but this protest is not really as popular as right wing media portrays" Agree. They are being used (and well financed if their funds didn't keep getting frozen) to trigger international uprisings.

The White House is in a dilemma regarding what to do about inflation. Far from there being "no chance" that they pressure the Fed to raise rates they very well may. Either way they are fucked, so it's 50/50: Raise rates and the market bubble pops. Not good for the midterms. Don't raise rates and the Dems lose a good share of lower and lower-middle class votes. Hell, unchecked inflation could rightfully be called systemically racist.

Absolutely true all that cash siting in the bank will be in there to buy the dips (though it will ultimately get annihilated. The amount of it also means banks will not inclined to increase their own rates: what do they need more cash in deposits for? They already have enough. But that means inflation will get worse. That will put pressure on the lower and lower middle classes in our already polarized environment. Which will be even more polarized once Trump returns to the scene. How y'all are preparing for SHTF scenarios! rdig (prophet of doom)

@BitCoinHodler Ok, I'm going revise what I said somewhat: it doesn't matter if sometimes they have accepted high interest rates. When the pressure is on, they'll always opt to print their way out of a debt crisis. It only takes one time to destroy the currency.

@BitCoinHodler: I can't tell if you joking or not, so apologies in advance if you are: If you ask the public they will always say print more to inflate their debts away. Has happened a quadjillion times in history.

That one I disagree with you on. I think racism, other than left wing racism such as affirmative action and race baiting, as having almost no impact on politics today. At least not toward the supposedly most victimized groups: black people and Latinos. White people, Asians and Jews are the primary targets of racism now.

I love to see all the skepticism regarding cryptocurrencies. Means we are still early. When everyone is finally convinced of its utility and start buying that will be the point at which we are near the top. Main use case: cannot be printed by central banks at will. If you say "Oh, but rdig, yes they could invent one controlled by central banks that they could print as much as they wanted to" then that one would have no appeal.

I agree with some of what you say. Racism has definitely been a huge economic drag on the country. This was known by abolitionists in the North even before the Civil War and was a key argument against it. Today there is little left in the way of racism in the United States, but residual effects continue to cause that economic drag. You are also right that the time is coming fast when not everybody will have to work: the machines and AI will do it all. How does wealth get distributed at that point? According to Jordan Peterson the military is already at the point where the amount of useful work someone with an IQ below 80 can do is not sufficient to justify having them on the payroll. As technology advances that IQ bar is going to climb. What will happen when it reaches 100 and half the population cannot justify being paid versus replaced by machine + AI?

I imagine escrow would be another use case of smart contracts. Some money is held pending something that has to happen, or time that has to pass. Then when it happens the money is released. Or, if the criteria aren't met the money reverts to rules specifying what happens when conditions aren't met.

Yep, Ethereum: that's the one. Great use case for cryptocurrencies this week: $10 million CAD was donated to the trucker protest up in Ottawa but GoFundMe refused to deliver the money. With a cryptocurrency the money would have just been transferred. NFTs are just starting to find use cases. Right now awards and certifications are starting to grow. No one can predict what use cases will be found but it's promising when folks say there aren't any; then some are found; then folks say, "okay, but that's the only one."

@SJG what is the test to distinguish between the two hypotheses: Don't have the free stuff due to not wanting black people to have them vs Don't have the free stuff due to not wanting socialism?