animaltobacco11

Barber's Hill ISD, eh? username School District name checks out

No sir.

Your point is bold is interesting and definitely worth discussing. I'm not an Auto industry or even manufacturing expert, so I'll defer to those that know better, but my first reaction as a laymen to this would be to question: 1) Is this sustainable profit based on forecasted costs and demand? 2) Is it a Gray Swan event that caused this? (e.g. average vehicle costs $50k, only 1 new car model is priced under $20k in 2023, avg new car loan is $1000/month, etc. which goes back to the, is it sustainable?) 3) Are there similarities to other cyclical industries having record profits (namely, O&G)? My personal opinion, the % raise in hourly wages is a nothing-burger. Give it to them and be done, if that was all it was. I think the bigger piece the CFO is looking at is the reinstatement of Ye Olde World pension plans that exponentially blow up the costs of labor and cost of goods sold.

When you put it that way, it would bother me the same. I guess I have this broken brain idea that employees should defer and acquiesce to the paying customer when it comes to polite niceties like convenience and being in the way and even worse having a disgruntled or bad attitude about having to serve. It triggers me, like having teenagers all over again.

Do you not believe that CU will get their opposing teams best and potentially dirtiest efforts this year, because of all the noise and bravado? I don't think I'm particularly insane or crazy for assuming that. You think it's a particularly insane or crazy idea to believe that if there were none (or even the normal amount) of the crap talk and drama and "disrespect" being spewed in the lead up to the game that Travis Hunter would NOT have been hurt by a cheap shot? I think it's likely there wouldn't be nearly as much angst, disdain, or hate that clouds these kids and let emotional impulses get the better of them and hit someone late or out of bounds or blind shot, etc. I blame the CSU kid for his dirty play, I don't blame Travis Hunter, Deion or CU. But let's acknowledge that CU/Deion's go-to-market messaging is provocative, which is putting a target on your back and making yourself loathsome to your rivals and competitors in the zero sum marketplace of competitive college football, and some of these idiots are going to take it personal and unfairly try to hurt you. This is what I think played out last week. As I said, I'm more curious to see what the temperature is like coming from Deion and CU when they are 3-2 and if they have the same energy of hype and bravado.

I sure can appreciate you being big enough to own an accidental misreading of something. You are in rare air around these parts, sir!

Why did WSJ literally title the article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-tsla-q2-earnings-report-2023-9be2b571 You'd think the good people at the Wall Street Journal would know the difference between income and profit.

That's interesting. I was literally quoting the article though, which said "Despite the price cuts, Tesla’s Q2 profits rose 20%" I didn't see a citation so I'm assuming it's from this (googled) The automaker on Wednesday reported income rose 20% to $2.7 billion in the second quarter, buoyed by cheaper materials that helped offset lower vehicle prices. The result beat analysts’ predictions for a slight profit gain from a year earlier. While Tesla’s delivery of new vehicles rose 83% in the April-through-June period, revenue didn’t grow as strongly, rising 47% to $24.9 billion. Even so, that revenue figure beat expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who on average, predicted $24.2 billion. The company has targeted production growth of 31% this year while Musk has suggested closer to 50%, or 2 million, is possible. https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-tsla-q2-earnings-report-2023-9be2b571 No, I get it, that's fair. I was also being serious in that I took it as a compliment.

That's a compliment to my ability to interpret what I read, synthesize the data and communicate via original ideas and thoughts, against a background of existing context, right? Thanks, have some +rep!

Great post and good points. I think the one thing I would add, as you mentioned she's rueful about it and how it impacts her perception to do the job, which is wholly independent (unless she's crusading against porn, etc.). This to me just indicates a possible lack of judgment or maturity, if you feel like doing something you want to do will be perceived as harmful to the goals you are trying to accomplish, yet do it anyways. If she owned it completely (again, to your point she's not), I wouldn't draw that inference as a possibility. We've seen politicians embrace things, which I think shows honesty and integrity, and it generally endears them to people who agree with their stances. As the kids say, let your freak flag fly, if you want!

Sir, I thought the article was an interesting in that it looked at the automobile sector writ large and thought about the indirect winners and losers and potential unintended consequences. I thought it was interesting to read UAW union leader Fain's quote about the strike hurting the market position. He's narrowly focused on the one thing he's paid and motivated and probably passionate and called to do, which is to get his labor paid more and a better deal. He flat out said he isn't concerned with the more medium and long term issues that getting this piece of the pie could potentially create, which I thought could potentially lead to a "cutting of the nose to spite the face" situation in which you win the battle but lose the war. Lastly, I hadn't seen any financial reporting or results and would have assumed from reading this thread that Tesla was cutting prices and in a death spiral of cutting prices, losing margin, losing market share, etc., but in fact, their Q2 profits rose 20%. Because the world is not an ideal state, and despite people like captainant spilling much ink about the "oughta be's" and "should be's" of the corporate world, shareholder capitalism is not going to meaningful change in the utopian ways we'd want, so if I was a $TSLA bull, this strike does seem to bode well for $TSLA in the near and long term, if UAW gets a lot of what they want. @hayden_hornyou and I know these thoughts, though earnestly held and respectfully communicated, are not welcome in a thread--and community-- that holds such staunch beliefs and fervent bias and so I felt it safer for my continued existence to post the article, analysis, and link for others to read and determine if it was interesting to them or not. But if I'll be negged regardless of content, as Kevwun and others are committed to the cause, then I guess that's my answer to your direct question. Sir.

I'm reminded, though it's not the same thing, of the NY pol running for office with a big part of his program being legalizing sex work. And so, in an effort to "eat his own dogfood" he went out and hired a sex worker and filmed the whole thing to put his money where his mouth is: https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/10/manhattan-congressional-candidate-publishes-porn-video-highlight-his-sex-positive-platform/378456/ It seems this situation is more of a personal/private kink being exposed farther and wider than anticipated and has nothing to do with politics.

I think you read way too much into what I said. I meant it at face value. If you think pornography is acceptable/good/moral/whatever, then this is a nothing-burger. If you don't think that way, you were likely never voting for that person anyways, so your outrage and disdain and "moral superiority" is a nothing-burger and nobody cares. Is that a clearer re-statement of what I was trying to convey? Edit to be clear: I was in no way, shape or form calling you a sexual degenerate or otherwise meaning to insult you. Apologies if it came off that way.

When my son turned 13 we did this:

Olivia Rodrigo Guts album. It's a lot more spunky and punk poppy than I thought it would be (assumed it would be an ersatz Taylor Swift effort). I'm a girl dad, by the way:

Not sure what that means. I just floated conjecture, the same as you.

Thanks for the feedback, Kevwun. Just making sure it wasn't something I was doing wrong like I used to forget the links, but I include them now and felt like I was getting into a groove in how to assimilate and get along in the more volatile corners of Surly.

@kevwun and @Chopper, serious question: why are y'all mad at me for posting that article with the link? You guys realize I didn't write it and I don't write for WSJ or do financial analysis with Wells Fargo, right?

I think I agree with you and @RomaVictain that, if you are someone whose values and belief system align with pornography and public or exhibitionistic sex, then this should not be something that you think twice about. Or maybe it's a net positive for you and it makes you like the candidate more. This is probably one of those things that it's an outrage and embarrassment to those who were never going to vote for her anyways.

I assumed it had something to do with "Taylorxicsm" in that the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie release forced Exorcism to change their date to the 6th which maybe trickles to Loki moving a day. Even the Attention Economy has (intangible) supply chain issues, I guess.

Cross post: Elon Musk Watching the Auto Strike While everyone is focused on who will blink first in the labor standoff between Detroit’s car manufacturers and its unionized workers, one person is already being declared a winner—Elon Musk. Tesla’s CEO was already enjoying a major cost advantage over his competitors thanks to more streamlined production processes and lower wages for his nonunionized workforce. Now that UAW employees are on strike and likely to see increased wages no matter how this labor dispute ends, Tesla’s edge in that area will only grow. Tesla’s labor costs average $45 an hour, compared to GM, Stellantis, and Ford’s estimated $66 an hour, per the WSJ. And if the UAW gets the dramatic pay bumps it initially sought, labor costs for Detroit’s Big Three would swell to $136 an hour, according to Wells Fargo. This year, Tesla has used that cost advantage to slash its car prices in a bid to maintain its commanding market share in electric vehicles. So far, that strategy has paid off: Despite the price cuts, Tesla’s Q2 profits rose 20%. UAW President Shawn Fain has brushed off comments that his labor action would only solidify Tesla’s dominance in the EV market. “Our concern is working-class people need their share of economic justice in this world,” he told CNBC last week. So, what could slow Tesla’s roll? It’s possible that the UAW strike, if successful at securing higher wages, could galvanize Tesla workers to unionize at Musk’s factories. But the UAW tried and failed to do this in 2017 and 2018. https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/09/17/elon-musk-emerges-as-winner-of-the-auto-strike?

Elon Musk Watching the Auto Strike While everyone is focused on who will blink first in the labor standoff between Detroit’s car manufacturers and its unionized workers, one person is already being declared a winner—Elon Musk. Tesla’s CEO was already enjoying a major cost advantage over his competitors thanks to more streamlined production processes and lower wages for his nonunionized workforce. Now that UAW employees are on strike and likely to see increased wages no matter how this labor dispute ends, Tesla’s edge in that area will only grow. Tesla’s labor costs average $45 an hour, compared to GM, Stellantis, and Ford’s estimated $66 an hour, per the WSJ. And if the UAW gets the dramatic pay bumps it initially sought, labor costs for Detroit’s Big Three would swell to $136 an hour, according to Wells Fargo. This year, Tesla has used that cost advantage to slash its car prices in a bid to maintain its commanding market share in electric vehicles. So far, that strategy has paid off: Despite the price cuts, Tesla’s Q2 profits rose 20%. UAW President Shawn Fain has brushed off comments that his labor action would only solidify Tesla’s dominance in the EV market. “Our concern is working-class people need their share of economic justice in this world,” he told CNBC last week. So, what could slow Tesla’s roll? It’s possible that the UAW strike, if successful at securing higher wages, could galvanize Tesla workers to unionize at Musk’s factories. But the UAW tried and failed to do this in 2017 and 2018. https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/09/17/elon-musk-emerges-as-winner-of-the-auto-strike?

Yep, this National Inquirer thing creates more headwind to any sort of real and measured explorations into this kind of thing and hangs thick in the court of public perception and opinion.

October 1st Student Loans are entering back into the chat. Read this today: -- Guess Who’s Back Student loan repayments, that’s who. Don’t freak out - you don’t have to make a payment today. But, starting on October 1st, you’re gonna have to pony up that cash once a month once again. Mazel tov! As we discussed recently, student loan repayments have been on pause since March 2020, when the entire world fell into a spiral of misery and despair and had us all wondering, “Am I ever going to get to sit next to a crying baby on an airplane ever again??” "Those payments, according to Census Bureau and Education Department data, will average between $200 - $300/month." Now that we’re all happy and rich again (obviously), it’s time to start acting like it and pay off our loans. Those payments, according to Census Bureau and Education Department data, will average between $200 - $300/month. It’s not a bank-breaking, homelessness-inducing amount, but it sure isn’t fun either. With that, the WSJ estimates that these repayments will pull $100bn away from consumers in the “coming years.” Basically, that cash that got spent on things like an additional streaming service, a new laptop, or a nice tip for some service worker doing the bare minimum but still demanding it will now be going to the Department of Education and student loan providers. But, at the same time, indebted Americans really don’t like to pay off their education, whether they graduated or not. Student loan repayments are at the absolute rock bottom of repayment priorities. Already, delinquencies in credit cards, cars, mortgages, and other nonsense are rising fast, largely thanks to JPow’s rate hikes. But that is the exact opposite of a good sign for student loan repayments. "… student loan repayments are at the absolute rock bottom of repayment priorities." $100bn of consumer spending over a few years would be a lot to lose, in case that wasn’t obvious enough. But if borrowers simply aren’t going to repay those loans - whether delinquencies go back to their normal range or (as expected) even higher than historical averages - will that really have a material impact? Either way, good luck getting that paid off. I’m sure you’re excited! The big question: What kind of impact will student loan repayments have on the U.S. economy? What kind of delinquency rates can we expect? How will the federal government respond?