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#21
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Bauer - December 08, 2025, 09:36:00 PMQuote from: The Minsky Moment on December 08, 2025, 08:38:47 PMQuote from: viper37 on December 08, 2025, 08:21:01 PMTrump is threatening tariffs on Canadian fertilizers because of... price increases in the US.
No one in MAGA understands what is happening.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11568842/donald-trump-tariffs-fertilizer-canada/
What a load of shit.
I see what you did there.
And also as usual, how can you negotiate with a man like that. He's punishing us all with tariffs on stuff America needs. Riiight.
#22
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Tonitrus - December 08, 2025, 09:35:06 PMThat's what I meant.
Though, it may be that there aren't any parts of the infrastructure in Ukraine that would allow them to just "switch it off", and it would require actually physically "cutting off" the pipeline...which I expect would be very messy (if they could even stop the flow without the Russians stopping it from their pumping stations).
Though, it may be that there aren't any parts of the infrastructure in Ukraine that would allow them to just "switch it off", and it would require actually physically "cutting off" the pipeline...which I expect would be very messy (if they could even stop the flow without the Russians stopping it from their pumping stations).
#23
Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...
Last post by Sheilbh - December 08, 2025, 09:12:37 PMSo I think Motability is actually pretty good. Living with a disability is expensive. We are not a kind, caring or generous society for people with disabilities. So my inclination is that anything that is helping disabled is worth fighting for (although I am worried at the growth in long-term disability claimants and costs as well as SEND costs - not least because I thought a lot of it was long covid, but we seem to be the only country where this is happening) - Frances Ryan is a commentator I really like and often agree with.
There are some costs to the taxpayer in that I don't think there's VAT or some other taxes on the vehicles. It's also basically a state backed company in a lot of ways which will be an implicity subsidy. I think the tax breaks are about £1 billion. Not nothing, but not vast - however that has grown pretty rapidly in recent years as the numbers of people using the service have increased.
Motability Operations Group plc (so the corporate bit that delivers the services) has a history over the last few years of earning significant "unplanned profits". Basically their profits have been double what they anticipated and planned for over the last decade or so. I don't think they give money to shareholders in the normal way a company would, but worth noting that the shareholders of MOG plc are Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Natwest. So there is an argument that it is a way of financialising welfare - with huge reserves, large "unplanned profits" and massive executive pay (especially for a company with state backed revenue and no competition).
Having said all that I don't necessarily mind saying they need to buy UK manufactured vehicles. I broadly think we should have a lot more of that in government contracting/procurement.
I sort of feel like this is one of those things that the Economist flagged of the UK state having relatively generous policies available but they're not straight forward to get an implicit assumption by the state is that most people won't claim what they're entiteld to. Increasingly the internet has democratised knowledge of how to actully get what you're entitled to - what forms to fill in, what evidence to provide etc (something similar in the asylum system) which basically means the state's bluff is being called and it doesn't like it/can't afford it.
There are some costs to the taxpayer in that I don't think there's VAT or some other taxes on the vehicles. It's also basically a state backed company in a lot of ways which will be an implicity subsidy. I think the tax breaks are about £1 billion. Not nothing, but not vast - however that has grown pretty rapidly in recent years as the numbers of people using the service have increased.
Motability Operations Group plc (so the corporate bit that delivers the services) has a history over the last few years of earning significant "unplanned profits". Basically their profits have been double what they anticipated and planned for over the last decade or so. I don't think they give money to shareholders in the normal way a company would, but worth noting that the shareholders of MOG plc are Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Natwest. So there is an argument that it is a way of financialising welfare - with huge reserves, large "unplanned profits" and massive executive pay (especially for a company with state backed revenue and no competition).
Having said all that I don't necessarily mind saying they need to buy UK manufactured vehicles. I broadly think we should have a lot more of that in government contracting/procurement.
I sort of feel like this is one of those things that the Economist flagged of the UK state having relatively generous policies available but they're not straight forward to get an implicit assumption by the state is that most people won't claim what they're entiteld to. Increasingly the internet has democratised knowledge of how to actully get what you're entitled to - what forms to fill in, what evidence to provide etc (something similar in the asylum system) which basically means the state's bluff is being called and it doesn't like it/can't afford it.
#24
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by The Minsky Moment - December 08, 2025, 08:44:39 PMQuote from: Zoupa on December 08, 2025, 07:53:03 PMPosted by DoD. Interesting flag on the helmet there. Gilead is closer by the day.
The fact that there are still American Jews supporting Trump is powerful evidence falsifying the stereotype of Jewish intellectual achievement.
#25
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by The Minsky Moment - December 08, 2025, 08:38:47 PMQuote from: viper37 on December 08, 2025, 08:21:01 PMTrump is threatening tariffs on Canadian fertilizers because of... price increases in the US.
No one in MAGA understands what is happening.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11568842/donald-trump-tariffs-fertilizer-canada/
What a load of shit.
#26
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by viper37 - December 08, 2025, 08:21:01 PMTrump is threatening tariffs on Canadian fertilizers because of... price increases in the US. 
No one in MAGA understands what is happening.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11568842/donald-trump-tariffs-fertilizer-canada/
No one in MAGA understands what is happening.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11568842/donald-trump-tariffs-fertilizer-canada/
QuoteThe president has been very unequivocal in saying we have to figure out why all these input costs are skyrocketing," Rollins said.
Many U.S. farmers rely on Canadian potash fertilizer from Saskatchewan in order to add potassium to their soils. Over 90 per cent of Canadian fertilizer is exported, and the U.S. market accounts for well over half of that, according to Fertilizer Canada.
When Trump imposed a blanket 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods early this year, he lowered the tariff on fertilizer to 10 per cent after outcry from industry groups and Republican lawmakers in farming states, such as Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
That tariff only applies to quantities of fertilizer exports to the U.S. that exceed limits under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA).
Canadian and U.S. farmers said in March they were facing higher fertilizer bills amid Trump's trade war. Some Canadian lawmakers like Ontario Premier Doug Ford had suggested Canada should block potash exports as a negotiating tactic in broader trade talks with the U.S., a move Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe opposed.
#27
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Zoupa - December 08, 2025, 07:53:03 PM
Posted by DoD. Interesting flag on the helmet there. Gilead is closer by the day.
#28
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Zoupa - December 08, 2025, 07:51:52 PMThey've attacked that pipeline several times I think. But also it goes through Ukraine doesn't it?
#29
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by mongers - December 08, 2025, 07:41:50 PMWho'll direct trump's inevitable 'Triumph of the Will' propaganda piece?
Or will it all be AI BS sliced together off of youtube?
Or will it all be AI BS sliced together off of youtube?
#30
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Tonitrus - December 08, 2025, 07:26:11 PMCouldn't Ukraine cut off Hungary from their Russian oil supply? 