Originally about tariffs and watches ... now just political rambling

ErichPryde · Apr 10, 2025

Archer
It just keeps getting better. So much winning!

Tungsten is interesting. Back in the time frame just after 9-11 when wars were gearing up and ongoing, there was a shortage of tungsten for the archery world…used in high grade target points for arrows…

The high density offers very specific advantages for a calculation called %FOC. Anyway they were very tough to get for a few years as it was going to ammunition. Note that this is not tungsten carbide, but just tungsten.

Tungsten is also used heavily in the watch industry, for automatic winding rotors. The heavy segment that is on the outer edge of the rotor is often made of tungsten so it will be interesting to see if there is any effect there…

Was this about when traveling salesmen were trying to sell cubes of tungsten for hundreds of dollars?

watchyouwant · Apr 10, 2025

New World trade order ... These efforts are on the move everywhere. The destruction of Trust due to the idiotic handling of worldwide Tariffs ( On - off. On - off. Insecure, uninformed and stable Geniuses destroy the Bond market ...) restarted the Free Trade agreement consultations with Germany/EU yesterday. Australian and German Government sources say it will happen soon. We have every single Raw Material, the Hi Tech Nations need for manufacturing their High Tech Products , here. And we always had a trade surplus with the USA, which punished Australia with 10% Tariffs anyway. Maybe the stable Geniuses thought we are Austria ? Adolf Hitlers Birth Place ? No turning back now.

kfranzk · Apr 11, 2025

Sorry friends I cannot without citing Navarro, the US government trade adviser (a retranslation from German):

"To the world's leaders who, after decades of fraud, suddenly offer to lower tariffs, this is just the beginning," Navarro continues.
He accuses foreign countries of, among other things, "currency manipulation, VAT distortions, theft of intellectual property, discriminatory product standards" and other measures to distort trade to the detriment of the US. He accuses the EU of stricter regulation of US tech companies.'

=> Wow! Great view of the US dominated world. And believe me, I am since ever a big friend of the US in any way in all my private discussions.
Konrad

reverbtime · Apr 11, 2025

Watching oil very closely. Still on a downturn, but the more it goes down, the higher it will rip. Would not be surprised to see $200-300 oil. If Iran is attacked, expect that to go higher.

Relative to gold, oil has never been cheaper (except during the March, 2020 event).

glownyc · Apr 11, 2025

Mtek
I did tell one person I was embarrassed for them, I was responding to them saying YouTube (instead of msm) was a credible source. I was out of line, it was an ad hominem, and unnecessary.

Never said such a thing. I referenced the town halls where republican members of congress were hammered by the people who voted for them. This was in response to you falsely insinuating the administrations actions had wide support among those voters. You stated you hadn't see them and I let you know you could watch them on youtube. Your post since shows me it was a mistake to think you would be interested in seeing anything that doesn't fit into your preconceptions.

Mtek · Apr 11, 2025

glownyc
Never said such a thing. I referenced the town halls where republican members of congress were hammered by the people who voted for them. This was in response to you falsely insinuating the administrations actions had wide support among those voters. You stated you hadn't see them and I let you know you could watch them on youtube. Your post since shows me it was a mistake to think you would be interested in seeing anything that doesn't fit into your preconceptions.

You are wrong, again, but believe what you want and have a nice day with it. I’m over it, but you do.

I will address the “my preconceptions “ as i find absolutely laughable.

I am open with who I support, there is nothing to hide. Dan S, for example, has insinuated insults on the current admin, but wants to “get back on tariffs”, or whatever, when I actually have some integrity and openly state my opinion. I’m not picking on him, but he’s a great example as he then went on to stalk my history on this platform, judge me and my intentions, and liberally use the edit feature with responses. I’m not hiding anything lol, it’s like being honest is a bad thing, but using insinuation is ok? One member said “and there it is” or something after one of my responses, like I am the one hiding 😂. Some others went on to bring up egg prices, like it’s some kind of own on me. 😂

Ridiculous hypocrisy.

Archer · Apr 11, 2025

ErichPryde
Was this about when traveling salesmen were trying to sell cubes of tungsten for hundreds of dollars?

That's a new one for me - never heard of that.

hansaboy · Apr 11, 2025

I am looking at Swiss watch!

Is this a valuable watch.
Do I need to service it.
Can I flip it.
What is the reference.
I want the answer today.

Have a nice weekend OF!!

Yamas!

🍺🍺🍺

Peemacgee · Apr 11, 2025

reverbtime
Watching oil very closely. Still on a downturn, but the more it goes down, the higher it will rip. Would not be surprised to see $200-300 oil. If Iran is attacked, expect that to go higher.

Relative to gold, oil has never been cheaper (except during the March, 2020 event).

Oil might rise in price due to the current economic turbulence but it peaked at something like $150 during the Iraq war and hasn't passed $120 in the last 10 years - and that was only briefly due to the disruption caused by the war in Ukraine.
OPEC is quite happy to carefully regulate the flow of oil - even without Iran - to keep prices more or less stable. (and they can produce so much more quite quickly if needs be -in order to keep control of supply - always to their advantage of course)
- and when oil hits a certain price then the US also ramps up production as it is worth their while (cost-wise) to do so.

p4ul · Apr 11, 2025

hansaboy
I am looking at Swiss watch!

Is this a valuable watch.
Do I need to service it.
Can I flip it.
What is the reference.
I want the answer today.

Have a nice weekend OF!!

Yamas!

🍺🍺🍺

I have PM’d a generous offer although the watch is worthless.

Yasou!
🍷

Archer · Apr 11, 2025

Term 2 not going so well for approval ratings on the economy...

Dan S · Apr 11, 2025

Archer
Term 2 not going so well for approval ratings on the economy...

Empirical trends are showing the same sentiment. Treasury yields are soaring and the dollar continues to drop vs the Euro.

texasmade · Apr 11, 2025

Mtek
Some others went on to bring up egg prices, like it’s some kind of own on me. 😂

My partner eats a crap load of eggs. She easily goes through a dozen a week. I want some cheaper fvcking eggs!

Archer · Apr 11, 2025

texasmade
My partner eats a crap load of eggs. She easily goes through a dozen a week. I want some cheaper fvcking eggs!

For 30 at the local grocery store...

MRC · Apr 11, 2025

texasmade
My partner eats a crap load of eggs. She easily goes through a dozen a week. I want some cheaper fvcking eggs!

How about keeping your own chickens?

add-covers-and-extend-at-any-time-with-the_eglu-pro-dc.webp

For a dozen eggs a week you'll need at least three birds. Remember that they have a laying career of 12-18 months so refreshing the flock each year is necessary. But the old birds will yield best tasting roast chicken you've ever eaten.

sablepoots-day-old-chicks-next-available-spring-2025-mix-match-on-the-day-mix-match-5-for-50-...webp

Mtek · Apr 11, 2025

texasmade
My partner eats a crap load of eggs. She easily goes through a dozen a week. I want some cheaper fvcking eggs!

I genuinely wonder how many people have just went out and bought chickens to lay eggs over the last couple of years.

Archer · Apr 11, 2025

MRC
How about keeping your own chickens?

For a dozen eggs a week you'll need at least three birds. Remember that they have a laying career of 12-18 months so refreshing the flock each year is necessary. But the old birds will yield best tasting roast chicken you've ever eaten.

Many places have by-laws against keeping farm animals in a residential area, and for good reason (noise, smell, attracting wild animals, and of course now for the spread of bird flu). So you need to check before you go the to trouble and expense of setting anything up.

Of course there are ways around it - we have such a by-law where we live, yet one family in the area has a large number of smelly and loud chickens (along with a rooster). When the by-law officers tried to enforce the law, they were claimed to be "emotional support chickens" so nothing could be done.

::facepalm1::

Same people who let their grass grow 4 feet tall, and haven't trimmed a tree or shrub since they moved in years ago...

texasmade · Apr 11, 2025

Archer
Many places have by-laws against keeping farm animals in a residential area, and for good reason (noise, smell, attracting wild animals, and of course now for the spread of bird flu). So you need to check before you go the to trouble and expense of setting anything up.

Of course there are ways around it - we have such a by-law where we live, yet one family in the area has a large number of smelly and loud chickens (along with a rooster). When the by-law officers tried to enforce the law, they were claimed to be "emotional support chickens" so nothing could be done.

Same people who let their grass grow 4 feet tall, and haven't trimmed a tree or shrub since they moved in years ago...

When I lived near downtown Houston and one of the people in my neighborhood has chickens. I asked her about the rules and she said you're allowed to have chickens but no roosters. City ordinance didn't allow roosters for obvious reasons.There was no HOA so nothing to worry about on the chickens though.

pdxleaf · Apr 11, 2025

We had chickens for almost 14 years. Our neighbors had chickens, ducks, and goats. The goats they milked. Our neighborhood had so many chickens that I once remarked to a friend that you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a chicken. My young daughter overheard me and said "That’s why you shouldn't throw rocks!" (She took it literally.)

We recently noticed that there aren't many chickens anymore. For us, we decided to stop when we were down to two chickens. To thrive, they need to be in a flock. Over the years, we had maybe 4 or 5 flocks. There were many mornings where I had to deal with decapitated chickens before the girls woke up. They were in a coop, which I improved over the years to make it safer. But somehow raccoons and other critters got to them, even though they were locked up at night.

Eggs were a nice benefit, but egg laying ceased fairly early. One of the biggest benefits was simply watching them. They can drop dead from being startled, but they are also very chill. They'll find a nice sun patch in the garden and dig themselves a little shallow spot, then spread their wing feathers and fall asleep. It's very relaxing to watch them. If you start young, they get accustomed to being carried, and the girls would carry a chicken around the yard while playing outside.

They have a downside, but I'm told so do husbands.
But we also have our positives . I have no regrets about keeping chickens and encourage anyone with kids to consider them, albeit with eyes wide open.

blufinz52 · Apr 11, 2025

About 60% of the calories in eggs are from fat—much of which is saturated fat. Eggs are also loaded with cholesterol—about 200 milligrams for an average-sized egg. That’s more than double the amount in a Big Mac. Fat and cholesterol both contribute to heart disease.

Everyone should remove eggs from their diet. You're welcome.