tequila4kapp said:

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Nice statement. The probably that Trump wrote it is less than zero

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Wishing former President Jimmy Carter a speedy recovery from his hip surgery earlier today. He was in such good spirits when we spoke last month - he will be fine!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

He may not have physically typed it but I'm sure the words came from Trump.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/12/30/credit-card-defaults-spike-to-highest-level-since-aftermath-of-2008-financial-crisis/

American credit card defaults have risen to the highest levels since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis as consumers grapple with years of high inflation.

Credit card lenders wrote off $46 billion in delinquent loan balances in the first three quarters of 2024, a 50 percent increase from the same period last year. These forms of write-offs are are viewed as a highly monitored measure of loan distress.

This is the highest level since 2010, according to industry data gathered by BankRegData.

Mark Zandi, the head of Moody's Analytics, said, "High-income households are fine, but the bottom third of US consumers are tapped out. Their savings rate right now is zero."

The Financial Times wrote that, although banks do not have data for the fourth quarter, there are worrying signs about the state of the American consumer:

Quote:

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The sharp rise in defaults is a sign of how consumers' personal finances are becoming increasingly stretched after years of high inflation, and as the Federal Reserve has left borrowing costs at elevated levels.

Banks have yet to report their fourth-quarter numbers but the early signs are that more consumers are falling significantly behind on what they owe. Capital One, the US's third-largest credit card lender, after JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, recently said that as of November its annualised credit card write-off rate, which is the percentage of its overall loans that are marked as unrecoverable, hit 6.1 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent a year ago.

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Odysseas Papadimitriou, the head of consumer credit research firm WalletHub, said, "Consumer spending power has been diminished."
* * *
"Delinquencies are pointing to more pain ahead," Papadimitriou remarked.

^High inflation on high-ticket items (rent, autos, health insurance/healthcare, tuition/student debt) have definitely had an impact here.

Biden / Green Economics.

bear2034 said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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Nice statement. The probably that Trump wrote it is less than zero

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Wishing former President Jimmy Carter a speedy recovery from his hip surgery earlier today. He was in such good spirits when we spoke last month - he will be fine!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

He may not have physically typed it but I'm sure the words came from Trump.

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Rubbish. And MAGA is furious at the kind words that Trump's assistant wrote. Nothing is sacred to MAGA.

While MAGA is at war over H1-B...Cal seems to be very much a part of this particular program btw. About 8 tweets down the thread he addresses Cal.

🧵You thought the H-1B visa was bad? Wait until you hear about the largest guest worker program killing jobs for new American college grads—the Optional Practical Training (OPT):

• No caps⁰• Employers get payroll tax exemptions⁰• No wage requirements@NumbersUSA explains: pic.twitter.com/ipTyUe3oVy

— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) December 30, 2024

Data: Google Trends. Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios

Kathy Hochul told us just last week that the subway is safe. Since then:

Woman burned alive
Man shoved into oncoming train
Man slashed in the neck
TdA gangs robbed riders
Woman stabbed in throat

Kathy Hochul needs to resign. pic.twitter.com/PsB4IqJlsL

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 31, 2024

Liberalism ...

TERROR: President Biden's belief that America's greatest terror threat was from white men guided the FBI's massive online efforts to befriend disaffected young men online. Thousands of FBI agents targeted young men who struggled to find jobs, friends, and female companionship. pic.twitter.com/XbN1K4UE3I

— @amuse (@amuse) January 2, 2025

concordtom said:

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Breaking News:
She's really sexy!

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Reminds me of the time I went out of town with two co-workers, a married man and a single woman. When we checked into our motel, the clerk tossed three keys on the counter and we picked them up. Turns out the man and woman took the keys for which the other person was registered. When the man's wife called that night she was connected to the woman, who she knew through company events. Our somewhat naive employee just said, "Oh, he's not here; I'll go get him." Needless to say he, as Lucy often did, had some splaining to do.

movielover said:

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Liberalism ...

TERROR: President Biden's belief that America's greatest terror threat was from white men guided the FBI's massive online efforts to befriend disaffected young men online. Thousands of FBI agents targeted young men who struggled to find jobs, friends, and female companionship. pic.twitter.com/XbN1K4UE3I

— @amuse (@amuse) January 2, 2025

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movie lover wants that trad wife lifestyle The womens are getting too smart and being selective with their partner choosing. If only Dylan Roof had a girlfriend. Movielover sides with the incels.

concordtom said:

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Breaking News:
She's really sexy!

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I was in the market to buy a new car. Parked behind me at the gas station was a plug-in hybrid I was considering buying so while waiting for my tank to fill I asked the owner some questions about it. She was really chatty and shared a lot about her personal life (kids, husband's profession, etc). She folded down the back seats to show me and we talked long after my car had filled up.

Did I mention she was attractive? Yes, she was a bit younger than I am and very attractive. Maybe I dragged the conversation on longer than I could have because I enjoyed talking to her. She didn't mind. She also could have wrapped up the conversation long before. She offered to let me test drive it sometime so we exchanged names and numbers.

When I got home my SO was wondering what took me so long to get gas since that was my only errand. I told her I met a woman and she showed me her car. My SO was interested in knowing about the car as well but she said: "Sure sounds like she was a Chatty Cathy."

A few days later I was at Whole Foods with the SO and I heard a woman call my name out loud. I turned around to see the Car Lady standing there looking very fine. Even better than at the gas station. I knew that this hottie calling me by name with my SO there could be trouble so I politely told her it was nice seeing her again and introduced her to my SO who was standing next to me looking very displeased.

"Are you a coworker?" asked my SO.

"No, this is the lady I was telling you about from the gas station," I said before Car Lady could answer.

My SO looked even less pleased.

Car Lady picked up on that and said to my SO:

"Oh, you are welcome to test drive my car, too. Not today, though. I need to clean it first. Kids."

Pregnant pause.

"You are so kind," said my SO while staring at me with daggers.

"Maybe some other time," I said quickly.

Car Lady scurried away in a hurry.

Every time we talked about buying a car my SO specifically avoided discussing that make and model anymore. I did buy a car in the end - not a hybrid at all but a Subaru - and Car Lady's car was the one we didn't consider at all. Never did drive it.

dimitrig said:

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concordtom said:

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Breaking News:
She's really sexy!

---

I was in the market to buy a new car. Parked behind me at the gas station was a plug-in hybrid I was considering buying so while waiting for my tank to fill I asked the owner some questions about it. She was really chatty and shared a lot about her personal life (kids, husband's profession, etc). She folded down the back seats to show me and we talked long after my car had filled up.

Did I mention she was attractive? Yes, she was a bit younger than I am and very attractive. Maybe I dragged the conversation on longer than I could have because I enjoyed talking to her. She didn't mind. She also could have wrapped up the conversation long before. She offered to let me test drive it sometime so we exchanged names and numbers.

When I got home my SO was wondering what took me so long to get gas since that was my only errand. I told her I met a woman and she showed me her car. My SO was interested in knowing about the car as well but she said: "Sure sounds like she was a Chatty Cathy."

A few days later I was at Whole Foods with the SO and I heard a woman call my name out loud. I turned around to see the Car Lady standing there looking very fine. Even better than at the gas station. I knew that this hottie calling me by name with my SO there could be trouble so I politely told her it was nice seeing her again and introduced her to my SO who was standing next to me looking very displeased.

"Are you a coworker?" asked my SO.

"No, this is the lady I was telling you about from the gas station," I said before Car Lady could answer.

My SO looked even less pleased.

Car Lady picked up on that and said to my SO:

"Oh, you are welcome to test drive my car, too. Not today, though. I need to clean it first. Kids."

Pregnant pause.

"You are so kind," said my SO while staring at me with daggers.

"Maybe some other time," I said quickly.

Car Lady scurried away in a hurry.

Every time we talked about buying a car my SO specifically avoided discussing that make and model anymore. I did buy a car in the end - not a hybrid at all but a Subaru - and Car Lady's car was the one we didn't consider at all. Never did drive it.

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The way you tell it, it sounds like you barely escaped that time, Hopefully, it was a life lesson learned.
First, never linger while on an errand of finite duration. Second, if you must linger, and should be required to talk with a female, no matter how innocent the conversation, NEVER EVER reveal this to your lady.

In my mid 20s, I was on vacation with my girlfriend. We arrived in NYC, and was not able to reach the friend I had hoped we could stay with for a few days. We didn't have the money for a hotel in Manhattan, but I heard that we could rent a room at the YMCA. We got in line an waited to register. The YMCA was permitting women to stay there, but they had to rent a room on a separate floor from the floors where the men stayed. My girlfriend left the waiting line to use the restroom in the lobby.

So there is this good-looking chick standing in line behind me, and we strike up a conversation, which I thought was harmless chit chat. The girlfriend returns, and I excuse myself to use the men's restroom. When I returned, the chick had left the waiting line, and the girlfriend was staring daggers at me. She then tells me the chick behind us told her that I was a cool guy, a Cal graduate, a young author and a filmmaker. She said she was going to find out what floor my room was on, and then she was going to try and sneak up to my floor during the night to find me. The girlfriend never let me out of her sight for the rest of the trip.

Like you, I barely escaped disaster.

Yours Truly,

Hugh Hefner

The real world out there sounds like it is rife with possibilities. Maybe, for 2025, I should get off of BI and ride little bicycles and go fill up my car at gas stations and stuff.

concordtom said:

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Haha. That was very well written.

What happened with SO?

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Well, because I was honest with her from the beginning she knew I wasn't hiding anything except for the fact that the Car Lady wasn't some old gray-haired spinster but was in fact quite attractive. She never asked me and I wasn't going to volunteer that fact.

Would the conversation have gone differently if she wasn't attractive? Of course! Not gonna lie about that. I had no plans to hook up with this woman or anything, though - not even for the test drive she offered.

That's why the video is funny. If it had been some other person in the same scenario the wife wouldn't have really cared but because the woman was sexy the husband already knew he was busted despite no wrongdoing on his part.

SO did remark that she found it odd that Car Lady knew and remembered my name despite meeting me only once but I cannot account for that. I guess I am that memorable.

She also did scratch that car off of our car-buying list pretty quickly and I think the idea that I might have an excuse to reach out to Car Lady played at least a small part in that if only maybe subconsciously.