Tiger337

I am putting more and more money into a CD ladder as I age. I am still in S&P 500, but also have a global fund which has done significantly better than S&P since the beginning of last year. I am not sure what to do with maturing CDs as interest rates drop. So far, they are still decent (close to 4% in January).

The worst numbers for measuring economic health are the probably market indexes. They are measuring something in which the majority of American are unable to participate. Why would someone who has no money to invest care about the S&P 500?

ZeroHedge is a conservative darling but he's just the messenger. I don't think these numbers are fake. They will be adjusted later, but that's not the same as being fake.

People are fighting against the authoritarianism and the protests seem to be working a little bit. Good for them.

He was good in the playoffs, but his second half performance was one of the reasons they almost did not make the playoffs. He was horrible in 2023-2024. Maybe that was because of his injury. I don't know, but I don't consider him a reliable offensive player.

Yes they are and that is a problem.

Who is Mike Smith? Edit: just looked him up. I emember you mentioning him before. I've been following him since then, but haven't been on twitter regularly.

Becoming a consistent playoff team is a process. Getting deeper into the playoffs is not a linear thing though. Having a better team doesn't necessarily mean you'll do better in the playoffs. Even Verlander admitted yesterday that the playoffs are largely a crapshoot. The key is to get there as as often as possible and have more opportunities to win. Having a lot of pitching gives you a better chance, but's is still not a guarantee as exhibited by the Dombrowski era Tigers.

My thought was that they were not being aggressive enough. Now, I have a l lot more confidence in their willingness to do what it takes to win.

I agree. It's always been a problem, but it's more widespread because it's so easy and acceptable now. It is now widely promoted as a fun, entertaining activity and it's going to get worse.

I already said "ever" was the wrong word. You made it very clear that you didn't think the Tigers would be able to sign a major free agent this off-season.

Yes, he is very accessible and not condescending like some writers. He also seems to genuinely like baseball and that's another thing I don't get from all baseball writers. I am not going to pay for his newsletter or whatever it's called, but I don't dislike him.

Not "ever" but this off-season. Every time somebody talked about the Tigers signing a good free agent, you said that none of them would sign with the Tigers because they didnt see the Tigers as a winning organization and they'd rather play for big market teams.

I didn't really pay attention back then, but Perot came across as a lot smarter than Trump (the bar is low). Listening to him talk didn't make me want to puke, but again I wasn't paying a lot of attention.

And some people said nobody good would ever even want to sign with the Tigers!