Recent posts

#41

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Syt - Today at 06:50:18 AM

The Chamber of Commerce Austria has been one of the drivers behind most salary increases in Austria remaining below inflation for another year.

This week it was then announced that the 5800 employees of the chamber would receive a salary increase over 1% above inflation which caused an outcry over a lack of solidarity.

It did not help that shortly after it turned out that the salaries of the managers of the chamber would rise between 40% and 60%.

President of the Chamber of Commerce (he's a member of conservative ÖVP) says that the communication may have been less than ideal.

Membership in the chamber is mandatory for all companies/entrepreneurs in Austria.

(As is membership in the Chamber of Labor for all employees ... conservatives in the past have again and again advocated to make membership in the Chamber of Labor voluntarily (which would save me like 20€ a year while losing out on a lot of benefits, like free legal advise etc.). They never bring up changing the Chamber of Commerce membership to being voluntary. 

#42

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by The Brain - Today at 06:15:28 AM

Does the US have any plans to end its breach of Article 1 of the NATO treaty?

#43

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Richard Hakluyt - Today at 06:05:22 AM

I see, the loss of medicaid would be a disaster....Catch-22.

#44

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 06:00:50 AM

The baseline of?

What he is saying is we should all have the patience of a saint, I mean Jacob.

#45

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 05:55:17 AM

Other reasons to think the US market is headed to a crash.

Part of a lengthy piece in the NYTimes

Four years ago, the economist Robert Shiller expressed concern about the stock market's lofty heights, but he concluded that there was "no particular reason" to expect a market collapse "as bad as the 1929 crash" because "the government and the Fed have shown themselves to be far more adept in staving off prolonged recessions than their predecessors." Today, with the S&P 500 over 60 percent higher than it was the day Mr. Shiller issued his warning, we should be heeding the words of the former Federal Reserve chairman William McChesney Martin, who warned that market stewards must be willing to serve as the "chaperone" who can order "the punch bowl removed just when the party was really warming up."
Mr. Trump has been ordering the chaperones removed. Since January, his administration has been firing regulators and vigorously tearing down the guardrails that have kept our markets thriving for nine decades.

For the first time in a century, the S.E.C. is seriously exploring how to allow firms and funds to sell investments to masses of Americans without registration or disclosure. The administration is even encouraging individual retirees to vouchsafe their life savings to exotic financial offerings like private equity. Private equity is, as the name suggests, notoriously opaque, which means retirees would know little about what they're investing in. The White House and the private fund lobby argue that this policy will "democratize" access to alternative assets and promote "better returns." But such a plan, which comes with neither the information nor the protections needed to defend investors from serious economic risks, is as compelling as a plan to "democratize" brain surgery.

ADVERTISEMENT
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Mr. Trump is also allowing financial regulators to atrophy: The five-person Commodity Futures Trading Commission, tasked by this administration to oversee significant portions of the crypto and prediction markets, has dwindled to a single member. Only two of five statutorily mandated S.E.C. commissioners are serving in their normal terms; the lone remaining Democratic appointee, Caroline Crenshaw, is in her post-expiration grace period, and warning that the agency's policies are "a reckless game of regulatory Jenga."

The agency's chair has declared "a new day at the S.E.C." But the lamps are going out all over the agency: Staff has been cut by 16 percent (substantially more than the 10 percent of a literal decimation), quarterly reports are on the chopping block and forms that provide intelligence about dark corners of the market are being repeatedly deferred.

#46

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 05:49:45 AM

I drop social security disability I might lose Medicaid, without which I would lose my medications, rendering me unable to work and putting be back at square one.  I still have to pay for other expenses such as groceries, gasoline, internet, etc.  Also have to pay off some of mom's debts.  She had negative 700 dollars in the bank so I deposited 500 for her.  I'm doing better, but not very much better.  I'm very worried that if my car breaks down I won't be able to repair it, and without it will have a difficult time getting to work.

#47

Gaming HQ / Re: PSA: Game Discounts

Last post by Solmyr - Today at 05:41:40 AM

KCD2 is free to play for the weekend and has a nice discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1771300/Kingdom_Come_Deliverance_II/

#48

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Richard Hakluyt - Today at 05:22:34 AM

But you are down to only 80 from social security so surely that bad marginal rate will go away soon?

Also, if you take off the 2900, then the household income has increased from 860 to 1280 which is nearly a 50% increase on money for discretionary expenditure (which is the best money    )

#49

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 04:57:41 AM

I note with distress the increasing tendency of those here (like those on the internet in general) to ascribe to "us" the sacrifices made by others. To ascribe to "us" the sacrifice of blood and treasure, ascribe to "us" the victimhood of the contempt of others.

It's that kind of faux victimhood that feeds Trump and MAGA. Stop thinking like Trump!

Alright, I shall not take into consideration the 62 Germans that died in Afghanistan.

Good. They were better men than you'll ever be. Don't sully them by even thinking about them.

Are they better men then you'll ever be?

#50

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by PJL - Today at 04:37:39 AM

Well, happily I have discovered that I will get much less in social security disability now that I'm working.  From 660 dollars to 80.  I get paid about 1000 a month from a my job, my mom bring in 3100 from Social security and from my dad's pension.  The cost of living here is 2900 a month.  I can't move to a cheaper place because I got an eviction on my record because my mother's dementia caused her to not pay the mortgage we put out to pay for when my dad got sick.  If I work more hours, I get diminishing returns due to receiving social security I only get 2/3rd of the pay over like 1400 a month.  I also need to look after my mom, she often freaks out if I'm not there.  When I came home Wednesday, she had tried to barricade the doors because she thought someone was trying to steal her cat.  This is not working out well.

Sounds like you will still get more if you work more. The marginal rates are horrible, but think of the welfare as a top up on your wages.