Divemedic

Shortages

In a comment to a recent post on signs of the collapse, HomePlace asks:

When I see reports of shortages from what I believe are credible sources, I’ve been making sorties to see what I see locally. These trips in the last several weeks have been limited to grocery and home improvement stores. I haven’t seen evidence yet here in the midwest of shortages. Are shortages regional at this point? Thoughts, theories?

There are shortages, but they are being stealthy about it. My local grocery store isn’t doing anything so obvious as to leave shelves bare. A great example:
The canned soup section was most of one side of an entire aisle just before COVID began. Now the selection is much smaller, and the soup section has shrunk down to less than half the size that it was. The produce doesn’t look as good as it used to- more blemishes, more wilting on the leafy greens, that sort of thing. There are other signs, let’s take a look:

By Divemedic, ago

Girlfriend contract

I saw this story about a woman who came up with a 17 page “contract” that her boyfriend was expected to sign– just two weeks after they began dating. Her demands included things like he pay for date nights, buy flowers twice a month, and work out five times a week.

Reducing relationships to be a business matter? You think you get date nights paid for, flowers every two weeks, and I have to stay in shape? What do I get?

OK. But if this is going to be a contract, here is my counter offer:

I agree to stipulate to your conditions. However, I have a few of my own:

  • Blowjobs at least once a week. If you fail to perform in this manner, I get to fuck someone else.
  • If at any time, you are unable or unwilling to perform in a sexual manner, I get to fuck someone else.
  • If you gain more than 10 pounds, your flowers and paid nights out cease until that weight is lost, and I get to fuck someone else.
  • If at any time, the woman has an affair, there is a penalty clause. You agree that this places you in immediate default, and must pay an “early termination fee” equal to one half the cost of all date nights for the previous 6 months.

Don’t like those? Then I am not signing your one way contract that benefits only you. You demanding this shows that you have no respect for your man.

The man? Him signing it proves that he has no respect for himself. This woman is a selfish bitch. He is an effeminate cuck.

By Divemedic, ago

Inflation is how much?

The Federal government is claiming that inflation is only 5.3 percent per year. This is despite the fact that energy is up 25%, gasoline is up 42%, and car prices are up 31.9% from a year ago. Home prices are increasing at a record pace, with June seeing an 18.6% rise– not an annual rise, an 18.6% rise in just one month. Year over year, home prices are up by about 31% year over year. (pdf alert)

We are being mislead. Anyone who buys anything and pays attention to prices knows it.

Meanwhile, stock market investors are happy. Good. I am trying to sell all of my holdings by the end of the year. Read this story to see why.

By Divemedic, ago

Labor shortage continues

School bus drivers, at least in my area, aren’t full time jobs. The job is only for 4 to 5 hours a day, 180 days a year. A half time job, at best. In Orange County, they are offering a $3500 sign on bonus, and they still can’t get enough applicants, no one even showed up to the hiring event. It’s not just a Florida problem. There is a nationwide shortage of school bus drivers. Massachusetts can’t get enough school bus drivers, so the Governor has activated the National Guard and is forcing them to drive the bus.

School bus drivers aren’t the only shortage. Substitute teachers are short as well.

It isn’t just the public sector. A restaurant in Winter Park has closed its doors after 35 years. Not for lack of business, but for lack of employees. There were only 4 people left who worked there, and no one was even applying for jobs. I have eaten there before, the food was actually quite good.

The left claims that no one wants to return to work because wages are too low. I just don’t buy this one. How can people afford to simply sit at home with no money coming in? The answer is simple: they don’t need the money.

If they don’t need the money, the next question is: Why don’t they need the money? Logic follows that they must either have no bills, or have another source of money to cover those bills. We all know that they must have SOME bills. Food, the cell phones that everyone seems to have, etc.

That must mean that employers have competition. Someone is paying them enough that they don’t need to work. Welfare, combined with food stamps, the $300 a month tax payments for having children, and other monies issued from the public dole are removing the main incentive for working: they don’t need more to live on.

The US government is practically pouring bags of cash out of helicopters. Even businesses are catching tons of cash. Selected businesses, that is. The Biden administration is handing out $482 million to aircraft manufacturing companies, even though they are making trillions.

Here comes the inflation.

By Divemedic, ago

Republican

A Republican from Manhattan posts:

I have said plenty of times on this very site: Just because the Democrats are your enemy doesn’t mean that the Republicans are your friend.

By Divemedic, ago

I don’t buy it

So I can believe that there are swastika wearing idiots who identify with the right. It isn’t like I am going to claim that it’s impossible that a guy like that could exist.

I just don’t believe this story. We are expected to believe that a person can drive from California to Washington, DC with no plates, his truck covered in swastikas, and not one cop pulled him over? An Internet search for the guy finds nothing but the story from DC. Nothing on social media, no criminal record, nothing. It’s like the guy didn’t exist before today.

It just stinks.

By Divemedic, ago

Signs of the collapse

Back in 2007, there were hints that a financial disaster were coming, it’s just that many of them were simply missed, even though they were obvious in hindsight. As a firefighter, I saw them: Multiple families living in brand new, expensive homes without a stick of furniture. They could barely make the payment on their adjustable rate balloon mortgage, so they certainly couldn’t afford furniture. All it took was an increase in gas prices to set off the entire mortgage collapse.

There are again signs of an impending financial disaster, and they are everywhere. For example:

My in-laws were in Maine for the summer. They returned last week. Just before they returned, my wife went over to their house to prepare it for their arrival. While she was there, she smelled something odd, like rotting garbage. The smell was coming from the refrigerator. Even though the display on the door said it was cold, it was not. All of the food had rotted.

After a rather nasty cleaning session, the in-laws returned home. They went shopping for a new refrigerator, and there were not many to be had. It turns out that there is no supply coming from overseas, where most of them are made. The ones that ARE getting through are not enough to meet demand. There are lengthy backorders.

Yet another sign that the economy is grinding to a halt is coming from the auto industry. GM and Ford have suspended the production of pickup trucks because of the shortage in computer chips. This is a disaster for Ford Motor Company. All Ford makes is trucks, SUVs, and the Mustang. Ford reports that its sales are down 32 percent.

Total Ford Motor Company sales during July 2021 decreased 32 percent from last July, selling only 120,053 units. Sales of cars were hit hardest, with a 78% reduction to 4,365 units. Trucks were down 38 percent to 72,574 units, and SUV sales dropped 35 percent to 43,114 units.

That news was bad enough, but was ever worse for August, as Ford sales dropped 33 percent in August from the same month last year.

If this is a disaster for Ford, it is also a disaster for the US economy. Ford is the 21st largest company in the USA, and GM is the 22nd.

We are seeing shortages in all sorts of things: supplies are hard to find. Chicken, lumber, microchips, gas, steel, metals, chlorine, and ketchup packets are all in short supply. We shut down the world’s economy, and it is not wanting to restart. We can’t even get people to return to work.

“Experts” can argue about it for months, but no matter the cause, the result is the same. This slowdown of the economy is going to continue for months, perhaps several years. How many businesses will fail as a result is anyone’s guess. One thing is for sure, though. The economy is going to get much, much worse. Inflation is going to increase markedly as the law of supply and demand begins to take hold. Once Suzy Soccermom figures out that there is a problem, expect panic buying and even more shortages as she begins to panic shop for things.

The things that begin to skyrocket in price and see scarcity will probably not make sense. Remember the toilet paper shortage of last year? Like that, but with more products being involved.

I am getting completely out of the stock market. We began a complete sell off last week. As soon as funds are released, we are moving into other investments, things that are not based in the US dollar.

By Divemedic, ago

Take advantage of minorities

Facebook recently decided to buy outstanding invoices from businesses owned by women and minorities. The way it works is the business sells an outstanding invoice to Facebook, then Facebook has the debtor pay them what is owed. In return for this, the business pays Facebook 1% of the value of the invoice.

There is a catch– the invoices have to be “eligible.” Invoices must have a minimum value of $1,000 and the customers must have an investment-grade rating. In other words, the invoices ARE going to be paid, making this a no risk endeavor for FB.

Businesses eligible for this program must be certified by an approved partner organization as majority-owned, operated and controlled by racial or ethnic minorities, women, U.S. military veterans, LGBTQ+ people or individuals with disabilities. This makes FB look “woke,” but what is happening here is that they are taking advantage of gullible small business owners.

In other words, Facebook is making no risk loans at a rate that varies from 4% to 12% APR to gullible companies and making itself appear to be “woke.” I wonder how many people will think that FB is doing people a favor.

By Divemedic, ago

On watch

When I was in the Navy, we would periodically have women on board, usually reserve units. Back in those days, women were not normally present onboard combat ships. Whenever they were aboard, they were housed in a berthing compartment that had its own head, as well as having only one easily guarded entrance. A lucky petty officer was then posted at that entrance to make sure that no males entered. One of them was on this watch when a friend saw him just standing there in the middle of the passageway. The conversation that ensued was very much like this:

Passerby: “What are you doing, standing here in the way?”

Person on watch: “I am on the pussy watch.”

Well, one of the females housed in the aforementioned compartment overheard the exchange and filed a complaint for sexual harassment. The petty officer was brought to Captain’s Mast for punishment. It went like this:

Captain: “Why did you refer to your assignment like that?”

Petty Officer: “Well, when I am on duty caring for the ship’s generator, I am on Ship’s Generator watch. When I am caring for the steering gear, I am on steering watch. I was guarding the pussy, so I figured I was on the pussy watch.”

The Captain reduced him one full paygrade, took half of his pay for two months, and confined him to the ship on extra duty for 45 days. In other words, he got the maximum punishment permitted without a courts martial.

Can you imagine how that would go today?

By Divemedic, ago