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Nice Guy Eddie

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Nice Guy Eddie

  1. Many family farms should fail if they can't stand more on their own. For some reason we have created a dream that family farms are the highest value of work that an American can do. In the meantime many do not produce much value for the US, so much that other Americans have to pay to keep them in business. I've watched a few videos where farmers speak to the economics and frankly I wonder how they can make their farm equipment payment.
  2. One word of advice on financial advisors. Be 100% clear on how you (or anyone) is paying for those services. It can get very expensive paying 1% or higher for their services. There are options to pay a hourly rate with some advisors which is much lower.
  3. Richard Chamberlain, 80s mini series star of Shogun and the Thorn Birds, died at 90 this weekend.
  4. His other twitter investors were always quick to release bad X numbers to the press, and most likely he couldn’t stop providing the numbers to them and prevent them from leaking them. I assume they are now AI shareholders but who know maybe Elon paid some of the in cash (AI raised capital) to get rid of them. More details will come out. i also would discount the idea that he’s hurting depending on how much he’s borrowed against his Tesla shares. Perhaps this sale somehow played into that.
  5. Is there a consensus for what the large indexes will end up for the year now? I’m guessing 15% down.
  6. No one is crossing the border illegally at big bend np. there are handful of Mexican citizens who put some handmade souvenirs on the American side asking tourists to buy them for a few bucks. It’s completely on an honor system. They live on the Mexico side.
  7. Just remember that some of todays announcement are all to distract and move on from signal gate.
  8. Getting out of the market is one method to not worry so much. I know the conventional wisdom is that you shouldn't attempt to time the market but when there are limited reasons to think your investments will go, the smart thing is to sit out. And just because you missed out on selling at the top, that isn't a reason to stay the downward trajectory. I do think there is a decent chance that Trump pauses some of the tariffs next week but will announce new ones.
  9. Trump is going to raise the costs of car for many "American" manufacturers but he's warning them to not raise the costs to customers? By the way, there are rumors that the same is/will be occurring with American O&G producers in that Trump wants more drilling even if they are operating at a loss. Strange how capitalism is not ok in the MAGA world.
  10. I imagine there are more than a few athletes, who perhaps are not as worried about the paid scholarship, who use athletics to get in, and then quit. Once you are accepted, is there any condition that you have to remain on the athletic team? Could you quit before Day 1?
  11. I imagine TexAgs is struggling with that photo, and more than few former Marines making excuses how the sitting VP has a pass.
  12. Trump pardoned Nikola (EV car maker) CEO who had been found guilty of defrauding investors due to lies about the company. Prosecutors had been pushing the judge to get the CEO to pay restitutions upwards of $700m to the defrauded investors. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardons-nikola-trevor-milton-ceo-securities-fraud-electric-vehicle.html Oh, and the now-pardoned felon is currently represented by Pam Bondi's brother.
  13. there's more to the story. Stefanik's district was not in danger of not electing an republican and most likely a MAGA candidate. Elise had just won 62-38. Maybe there was worry about her seat being empty but there have been at least 2 Dem deaths since January so the GOP still has a majority.
  14. the best part of the Signal debacle is that it showed us more of the inner workings of the Trump cabinet. They quickly turn on each other, Hegseth just wants to be liked, and possibly hasn't kicked his drinking problem. Now they won't trust each other which will ultimately create more chaotic episodes. Sadly, we may end up with military casualties due to their incompetence.
  15. Yes many "foreign" brands are assembled here but to increase any American manufacturing is a major and costly decision. Would it be better to build an American manufacturing vertical to lower the customer costs, or is it better to wait out Trump? It's not like anyone is building a manufacturing plant within a short period anyway. If the tariff occurs, your importing arm will have zero choice but to pay it for several years at a minimum. Also the tariff will most likely encourage the increase of prices for cars that have no/low impact of the tariffs. Say if you're Volkswagen and your car prices are about to go up 25% for the customer. If Ford decided to also raise their car prices 25% or 22%, is that really much of a difference? If I were the foreign companies, offer more creative financing to get customer monthly costs down. Offer bigger lease incentives. etc. And as for Tesla being the big beneficiary of this policy that assumes that anyone wants a Tesla.
  16. for entertaining videos about financing, leasing, upside-down loans, low credit scores check out https://www.tiktok.com/@benzsandbowties He appears to be a sales mgr at Mercedes store in Ohio. He records his interactions with the salesmen talking about deals and customers. He's not disrespectful towards customers but openly talks about crazy scenarios, to me. Like prepaying 40K excess miles on a lease, trading in a vehicle that was purchased 2 days ago and the standard situation are people that keep rolling negative equity from one car to the next. And it looks like many customers either want to ignore or don't understand car value depreciation. It's something we all know but many luxury cars are owned by people who really can't afford them. Maybe they stay one step ahead of it being repo'ed but that isn't quite affording it.
  17. the well behaved dog can easily drop a deuce on aisle 4 before you know it. And I don't blame the dog for being a dog.
  18. I've known more than one person who went into the lease with the plan to purchase the vehicle at the end. They felt this was the least expensive since it was the vehicle they wanted at a lower monthly cost than financing today. They then proceed to quickly surpass the mileage allowance because it didn't matter if they were going to buy it. But you already know what happens next. They decide near the end of the lease term they are tired of the vehicle and want something else. Now they owe a large bill when walking away from it.
  19. Love the rain in Houston. Gave me an excuse to skip a vendor event at the Houston Open today.
  20. I feel bad for the children that have morons for parents. As for the parents themselves, I have zero sympathy for their feelings if their child is sick or even dies. It's their fault. I would have no problem if they were arrested for endangering a child if not manslaughter but since this is Texas, Abbott will pin a freedom medal on their chest.
  21. I would bet that Harris County does offer mental health resources to their employees. It's difficult to force people to seek treatment especially if they're hiding it. You also have many people that ignore or refuse to see a doctor for physical issues as well.
  22. In my limited experience of friends,coworkers or family with kids getting athletic scholarships to smaller schools, they all end up quitting the sport. Maybe they get 2 years of full or partial paid school, but they get sick of the grind and lack of a personal life. I imagine that going from a top high school athlete to a middle of the road to struggling college athlete also comes into play.
  23. leaves rant: I had a neighbor constantly dispose of her leaves and grass clippings in the storm sewer off her curb. And while a blade of grass or a leave does not change the storm sewer capacity, I don't think it was meant to be used in that way.
  24. Do you know if their recommendation is for a mental reset or to give your body a deeper rest and recovery? Or perhaps both.
  25. The forward PE ratio is 117 today. Is that ratio estimating unofficial future revenues that are falling off a cliff, or only officially reported earnings and future guidance?
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