Recent Comments

1. about 3 hours ago on Prickly City

   nobody in particular – just the idea of “I run because I can”… like RFK Jr, Cornel West and Jill Stein.

2. about 6 hours ago on Doonesbury

   California’s population grew by 13% during the 1990s but it refused to build more power plant and expand the power grid. It set up a situation where it was always going to be overtaxed and cause issues.

   Add to that, usage increased beyond population growth as it was mainly urban growth which has higher usage than rural (for obvious reasons of dense population centers).

   Enron looked at this and though – I can make good money on stupid people, and did. It was a short-term tactic (buying up line usage and selling access at a higher price) that shouldn’t have survived the first round but CA did nothing. And it was predictable – heck, the rail barons did that with railroads and rail cars in the late 1800s / early 1900s. Why nobody thought others would do this was insane.

   Not a defense of Enron but they did the market-predictable action (and criminal when crossing borders). Allowing them to keep doing it was insane. Still not expanding the transmission lines, power grid and power plants is also insane.

3. about 21 hours ago on B.C.

   the ant-child is wrong. He’d rather see a loss of 4.8% buying power on his allowance vs a 2.8% loss.

   realize the loss from inflation already happened. refusing an increase because it isn’t enough is losing money – getting partway there is better than no way there (outside of extremist politics… which wants all or nothing so they can complain).

4. about 21 hours ago on B.C.

   Inflation rate is annual inflation rate. So in March, CPI-Core rate, running over the last 12 months, was 3.8% vs the 3.4% in february – so an uptick of 0.4% for the month of march vs 2023.

   Remember, annual rate over the prior 12 months. Core goods are, on average, priced 3.8% higher than in March 2023.3% isn’t a bad inflation rate – stable economies should be seeing inflation in the 2%-4% range. Very low rates are a sign of weakness in demand for goods… or are being subsidized via other methods (or locked in place from government controls).

5. 1 day ago on FoxTrot Classics

   Right but for the wrong reason. They wanted to buy Iraqi oil and reopen the market – they’d been trying that for for close to a half-decade by that point.

   A war in Iraq would not only ensure that wouldn’t happen but they’d lose a regime that looked favorably on them vs others in Europe.

6. 1 day ago on Over the Hedge

   The problem with “his people” is they don’t keep snacks – they eat them as soon as they get them.

7. 3 days ago on Out of the Gene Pool Re-Runs

   I’m surprised the cash register and broom didn’t win the other 2 months.

8. 4 days ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   The advance wasn’t an advance on the babysitting fee, it was an advance on the ‘signing bonus’ (the agreement to come back).

   Now you pay the rest of the signing bonus.

9. 4 days ago on Prickly City

   a large majority of IPOs drop in price during the first 3 months. the real question is where it is after 6 month.

   Hopefully a penny stock.

10. 4 days ago on Tank McNamara

    that would make them easier to police – they can become criminal fraud.