Screwball

Consumer Price Index News Release - from the BLS Above is the link to the actual report. Can you tell us what part is not believable? If not, you are just making **** up, and no better than the guy you hate. That's why we tried to keep all the political horse**** out of here. To no avail, I admit.

And let's not forget the lottery. Example. I live in a small town. We have a Moose, Eagles, VFW, American Legion, Amvets, Elks, and probably another I can't remember. In 2019 alone, and I know this because I saw the numbers; around 600 members between the men and women and they spent $493,000 on the lottery alone in one single club. That's a drop in the bucket to the state operated gambling machines and ez-pull tickets they call them. Huge money.

Speaking of gambling; those 100 year bonds. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears over debt-fuelled AI arms race - Bubblevision

Gambling has been a problem for a long time. It's just easier now. There are more ways to do it as well. Visit a local animal club over the last 50 years and you will see tons of people pissing away money they shouldn't. Guy gets paid on Friday afternoon. Gets home Friday night and has lost it all in 4 hours. Happened 50 years ago and still happens today.

And let's think about that for a minute. Why would anyone, and I don't care if you are a person, a company, a state, providence, country, or a ****ing whale - why in the hell would you buy 100 year bonds?

You can get some Google 100 year bonds. 🙂

Maybe I'm nuts (yes, confirmed) but when you think about it - Bitcoin and all the crypto stuff - the futures thing Del posted up thread, then the market at all time highs... Where is all this money coming from? Don't we need money for this to happen?

The comments in the thread pretty much sum it up. Insanity.

Good for you. We can only do what we can do with what we have to work with. Pretty much tells you how it all works.

Hospice...the memories... They do great work around here, but when you are dealing with them it's not pretty. Another bad part of this. I hate to hijack the thread and this is off topic anyway, but I feel like this is a public service thing, and a warning to other people, so I will. I will use my mom. She had a terminal disease. She was on oxygen but could get around and do some things, but that eventually went away. I moved in with her for her last two years to help take care of her. I was in the position to do that at the time (dad was already gone) so it was a good thing. She was in and out of the hospital more than once. After one trip they put her in a nursing home for a period of time because she needed that much help. Covered by insurance (100 days) as long as it was a "skilled care" facility. She was in there for 32 days. I went everyday after work. On day 32 when I went in her room she was crying and clearly highly upset. What's wrong? Somebody from the rest home came in her room and told her the bill hasn't been paid, and if it wasn't paid right now they were going to kick her out. WHAT? I told her that was a bunch of BS, and if they did that I would friken own the damn place. She was mad at me, and told me to go straight home and write a check (over 3 grand). OK, I'll take care of it. I took the next day off work and first thing called the insurance people. The guy said "don't you dare pay that bill." This was her supplemental insurance company. They said they get the data right from Medicare and do their part - and they did - this was paid. The guy said they are trying to double dip you. They were. To make a long story short, I went after the home and got the second in command fired over this. Good, **** you! She spent the rest of her time there with no incident, and they treated her like a Queen. Good, they got the point. They weren't the only one. Maybe a year later she was back in the hospital. At this point nothing they could do for her. She knew it. As usual, when I stopped after work she said the doctor will be here at 6 and you are going take him out in the hall and tell him I want to go to (a particular nursing home) because they can't do anything for me and I'm ready to die. Just the conversation you want to have. So the doc shows up and mom says "he wants to talk to you." I had POA so I was in charge. I took the doc in the hall and explained. He said no, we can help her. No, you can't. This is obvious and she knows it. He was on the board of the nursing home so all she needed was his signature. I finally told him this is what mom wants and if you don't do this, I will find someone that will. He agreed, but it pissed me off because all he wanted to do was soak her for more money like he had been doing. Bad experience #2. Then there was the final rest home experience. Over 3000 a month for a room, while they pumped another 1200 dollars worth of drugs through this 90 pound women - for quite some time - before they brought in Hospice to help with her final days. I had said to my friends a few years before, they are going to string her along until she runs out of money and then they will let her die. That's exactly what they did. It was so obvious. That's our ****ing system. She was always sharp mentally and still had a handle on her money, until she didn't have any. On her deathbed a few days before she passed she started crying and told me how sorry she was that there was no money to leave me. I didn't care, and that was OK, but she felt that way anyway. Sorry for the rant but that stuff still pisses me off to this day. Horrible places, many not ran very well. I know people who work in the homes and the horror stories are off the charts. Understaffed, underpaid and over worked. The way our seniors are treated is criminal.

It is hard getting old and you find out you can't do things you once did. We don't want to face the truth so we keep trying. It's even tougher on the families who have to deal with this. They are trying to keep them safe for their own good, but they don't want to listen. At some point there are tough decisions that have to be made - taking away the car keys - time to get them into assisted living or a rest home. We will all face these things as we get older and those who have to care for us - if one is lucky enough to have someone care for them. That's if you have all your mental capabilities. For those who are dealing with someone with dementia or similar - it gets a lot more difficult and complicated. One of my bartenders who is 60 has a mom like that. She calls her in the middle of the night scared out of her mind because there is a strange guy in the house - it's her husband. Getting old is no fun for anyone. But it's part of life - and death. Wait until you have conversations with other old people about the various ways to commit suicide because they are going to do it "their way." Jack Kevorkian had a point. When your quality of life becomes bad enough, what's the point?

I know guys that age who do as well. It only takes one opps. Buddy of mine was trimming trees into his late 70s. One day fell. 6 months later he was in a box.

Wall Street knows the numbers. There are other ways to figure them out. This guy touches on it in his article today; BLS Revises Nonfarm Payrolls for 2025 Lower by 1 Million Jobs FTA: A big Wall Street bank analyst makes more money than the CEO's of the companies he covers, or sector. The ARE the smartest guys in the room and have data we don't. They don't get fooled. The rest is up for debate for us serfs. It's been like this since forever.

And the crowd would go wild! 🙂

This is like super cool. JV is the guy with the golden arm. He's back home where it all began. They have to give him the opening day start, they just do. He can clinch the WS down the road a few months later.

When people don't have a means and/or can't afford pain meds, they turn to other things. Eventually this feeds the heroin problem. Black market, cheaper than doctors and proscription meds. Other drugs as well. It's all they have. Sad ****.

There was a documentary on Netflix a few years ago called "The Pharmacist" that is a must watch.

If you are old, like I am, you will hear the horror stories about health and old people (they go together). Getting hooked on opiates is not at all uncommon, and a concern for many my age. And they love to push the stuff. Cha-ching!

This seems nuts, but when you read a bit further; Alphabet Plans Tech’s First 100-Year Bond Since Dot-Com Era - Bloomberg News FTA:

Back 30-40 years ago I suppose, there were a lot of people around here who had ties to the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee, WVA, and beyond. They would go visit family and bring back moonshine. That stuff was like drinking pure alcohol, which it mostly was. Awful rot gut stuff. No wonder the billhillys were a mean bunch. 🙂

Thomas Massie didn't kill himself.

I will add; on the medical benefits of pot. In the last year my DIL was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went through 20 weeks of chemo treatments which just knock the living **** out of you. She then had a double mastectomy. Thankfully, she is now cancer free. The only thing that helped her with the pain and nausea was pot. It was the same with one of my best buddies a few years ago after he developed prostrate cancer. He wasn't so lucky. The chemo didn't work, but the pot made him as comfortable as possible before he left us.

Pot is not addictive, period. I quit reading any article on pot when they say that. I don't care what some over educated dickhead sitting in a ivory tower who never smoked a doobie in his life has to say (and probably getting paid to say exactly that). I will go with the dozens upon dozens of test dummies who I know who have smoked the herb for the last 60 years and proven it's not.

Duct tape is one of the greatest inventions - ever.

My mom grew up in the hills of West Virginia, born in 1918. My grampa was into moonshining. As time went on in them thar hills, moonshine and pot were huge cash crops. 🙂 And you didn't want to FAFO with those hillbillies.