augustus

@samhexum Wow, how cool is that. There must be some big investors involved here.

Be careful of "add ons" like rust proofing or wheel and tire warranties in case you go over a pothole or hit the curb (for the $700 they charge it's cheaper just to buy your own new tire). Just assume they will try to rip you off (because they will).

That 45,000 is worldwide. About 10k in the USA. Actually, they already pay hefty taxes. Are you talking about confiscating people's wealth??!! Do you have any idea of the economic consequences of that? The number of people with at least $100 million has doubled since 2003 WWW.CNBC.COM Low interest rates fueled the growth in asset prices, leading to a rapid expansion in the number of centi-millionaires.

Exactly! But we are not getting Sweden like income tax rates or European style VAT's here.

You CANNOT borrow yourself to prosperity. Eco 101. It is clear that the current size of government can no longer be sustained and will inevitably lead to the financial ruin of the United States. Our “resilient” economy is a house of cards!

It's government deficit spending (7% of GDP) that is keeping us out of recession, and at the same time setting things up for a massive economic crisis.

A Big Mac meal costs $18.00 in Connecticut. It was on the news. At this point, "containing" inflation is a little like "containing" the fire that has already burned down half your house.

Starbuck's venti hot chocolate and a brownie, Jan 2021 - $6.95. Today, only three years later? $8.88. Increase - $1.93, or 27.8%.

Well, if it came in higher than expected that's not "continued improvement". Inflation is NOT coming down - the rate has slowed. Basic necessities of life are 30-40% higher than 3 years you know.

Don't worry about him. That's the way he rolls.

I gave him a like, even with the tats.......😁

It would be disastrous if Boeing went under. It's a big contributor to our exports. We already run a trade deficit as it is. Boeing will recover I'm sure.

No. The FBAR is just the yearly report you have to file if you have a foreign bank account, trust, etc worth 10k or more. This is a yearly tax on unrealized gains of assets, even before you sell them. It's a wealth tax.

@stevenkesslar.... yes, but you aren't giving the whole picture. The low interest rates of the past have reduced the "Household Debt Service Payments as a Precent of Disposable Personal Income", but the nominal amount of Household Debt is at a record of over $17 trillion. And the National Debt is well over $30 trillion now. It's horrible!

Exactly! Inflation is masking the real decline in the standard of living, no matter what these cheerleaders say.

Very true. Nearly all the jobs being added are part-time, which actually indicates a recession. And most are government jobs, which mean the private sector is cracking. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/jobs-report-was-crazy-strong-minus-the-troubling-parts/ar-BB1hHdrD?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=38d7fc3bbd294938b25923c8c6e0fcd5&ei=14

$10 beers, $100 steaks, $100,000 pickup trucks, and $1,000,000 houses. Things are going great!!

“The first panacea of a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permeant ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists." Ernest Hemingway

The federal budget deficit for the 2023 fiscal year clocked in at $2 trillion and 7.5% of GDP—roughly double what the deficit averaged as a share of the economy from 2016 to 2019. Incredibly, hundreds of billions of dollars of PPP is still going out the door, despite the Senate Finance Committee stating a couple of weeks ago that 95% of these claims are fraudulent. This is all about unsustainable federal spending and massive debt. It will end very badly.

Well said!! About 1,500,000 cars are getting repossessed each year due to non-payment and people falling behind on car payments is at a 27 year high. The average family pays $11,000 a year more for the same goods and services than in 2019. Property taxes are soaring (they just DOUBLED in Columbus). I think most of us see through this "All's Well" smokescreen.

Oh yeah. The good ole boys are hot.

That is a classic bubble. And the return is about 50% for the past year.

Things are NOT good. The economy is only humming along because of huge debt spending by the Federal Government (which is not sustainable and will itself cause a crises) and consumers going into debt. Layoffs Hit 10-Month High As Financial And Tech Companies Slash 39,000 Jobs (msn.com)

If you can afford to pay, and have claimed you are wealthy, then the out-of-pocket expenses shouldn't be "staggering".

Meta and Amazon do not represent the entire US economy. What about all the tech layoffs going on? What about the stress the banking system is now under? What about the high cost of living? These issues way override some revenue increases at Meta and Amazon. BTW, who gives a hoot about Meta?