What's Going on in the US House of Representatives?

Pilgrim

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
By now most everyone has seen video of the Squad in full tantrum mode on the House floor yesterday, making compete fools of themselves after Ilhan Omar was booted from the Foreign Affairs committee. Of course the race card was on full display, 9/11 was invoked, and irrational hysteria flowed freely. Why would anyone consider these women serious representatives of anything?
 
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muttly

Veteran Expediter
Hopefully the House Republicans can get to the bottom of this growing scandal:


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Pilgrim

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The FBI has morphed into a modern-day Gestapo, and in retrospect it hasn't just begun under Biden. It started with Robert Muller who was director under Barack Hussein Obama, who BTW also weaponized the IRS (remember Lous Lerner?).

Now it looks like whistleblowers feel safe to come out in droves to help expose this corrupt group for what it is - a weaponized arm of the Democrat party.

"In his whistleblower complaint to the Department of Justice inspector general, Friend alleged that the FBI has been manipulating case-file management in order to falsely inflate the threat of domestic terrorism, and using unconstitutional excessive force against political dissenters."
 
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muttly

Veteran Expediter
The FBI has morphed into a modern-day Gestapo, and in retrospect it hasn't just begun under Biden. It started with Robert Muller who was director under Barack Hussein Obama, who BTW also weaponized the IRS (remember Lous Lerner?).

Now it looks like whistleblowers feel safe to come out in droves to help expose this corrupt group for what it is - a weaponized arm of the Democrat party.

"In his whistleblower complaint to the Department of Justice inspector general, Friend alleged that the FBI has been manipulating case-file management in order to falsely inflate the threat of domestic terrorism, and using unconstitutional excessive force against political dissenters."
Yep, it started after 9/11. Mueller was at the FBI helm then and centralized the agency. Comey exacerbated the problems. The decision making is now done in a highly charged political atmosphere. What could go wrong?
Fortunately more whistleblowers are coming forward and hopefully much needed change is on the horizon.


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danthewolf00

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ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
The problem is the place is full of democrat and republican members and not any U.S. members.
That seems so. It seems all of them ask first how any action will hurt the other party or help their own before they ask how it will help the country.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
House Democrats and Republicans both have ideas about how to deal with the federal deficit. The attached article nicely summarizes their approaches and explains why neither will work.

With no workable solution in sight, our country continues to speed headlong toward a financial crisis. I believe the upcoming crisis will make the Great Recession of 2008 look mild. It may not come on the exact date of the looming debt-ceiling trigger, but it will come.

This long post talks not about what the Democrats or Republicans are going to do (or not do) to prepare for the coming crisis. Instead, it encourages you to think about what YOU will do.

In 2008, Diane and I were owner-operator expediters, working and living on the road in our CR-unit. As auto manufactures shut down plants, major financial institutions went bankrupt, people lost the homes they purchased with the then-popular "liar loans," truck sleeper companies evaporated seemingly overnight, some motor carriers evaporated too, new truck sales ground to a halt, used truck prices plummeted, and millions of people went on unemployment, Diane and I were relatively unaffected.

We were able to proceed pretty much as usual because while the freight was down, so was the supply of available trucks and drivers to haul it. Because we had a reefer truck, security clearances, and hazmat certifications, our loads were diversified well beyond the automotive freight so many other expediters tended to rely on. We were also wise with our business assets and money management.

While we drove one of the most expensive custom-sleeper, Class 8, expediter trucks on the road (then about $250,000 to build) our revenues were high enough that we built the truck in 2006 and fully paid off the truck loan before the 2008 crisis arrived. Knowing the evils of debt, we resisted the temptation to fund big family gatherings at Disney, take lavish vacations, take extended time off, play the dollar slots at the casino, buy new cars, buy a bigger house, etc. By choice, and because we spent most of our time on the road, we owned no cars or house. When the crisis hit, we were debt free, and happy in the business as we lived our trucker-tourist lifestyle of choice in the shower-equipped, kitchen-equipped truck of our dreams.

Having left expediting in 2013 to enter the gym business, we were similarly prepared for an unanticipated crisis when COVID-19 hit in 2020 and devastated businesses of all types. There too, the loan we took out to start the business had been quickly paid off. The type of gym we set up was diversified such that we could serve a wide range of demographic groups and income segments.

While vast portions of the population avoided gyms because of COVID-19 fear, and while the government even forced gyms to lock their doors (but continue paying rent) for months, our business practices and reputation were such that we survived.

Our great staff did not flee for the security of the elevated unemployment checks of the time. We gained members from gyms that closed around us. Our diversified product offerings enabled us to earn money while serving people online. The "free money" government provided certain businesses helped. So did the additional "free money" the government gave us because we kept our employees on payroll when many gyms layed theirs off without notice or severance pay.

Most meaningful of all through the COVID-19 crisis was the support our gym members provided. While we suspended dues billing when our doors were forcibly locked by the government (the right thing to do, which many gyms did not do, much to the ire of their members), some of our members asked us to continue billing them because they wanted to help our gym and its truly exceptional staff survive. Additional members actually donated additional money (thousands of dollars) to the gym for the same reason.

Unlike the Great Recession, the COVID-19 crisis was scary for Diane and me. It wasn't just us two in a truck having a great time. It was us, our staff, our members, the government-ordered shutdown, our lease and other expenses all at once.

The Great Recession was worse than previous recession, but it was a recession. A recession is a known thing and it was relatively easy to chart our course through it. COVID-19 was unprecedented, as was the worldwide panic response. In the midst of it, we did not know how it would end. But even so, we had to choose our actions each day (just we must do when there is no crisis). While fearful, we kept leaning into it, doing what we thought was right, because we saw little else we could do that would produce a potentially better result.

When you don't know what's coming next, and with COVID-19, we really didn't know what was coming next, you default to operating on instinct. In such times, you do not develop new instincts. Your brain reverts to what it believes is tried and true. With the benefit of hindsight, we are grateful to see our instincts served us and our business, staff, and clients well.

Above, I said, "... when COVID-19 hit and devastated businesses of all types." It may be more accurate to say ... "when COVID-19 hit and the collective, worldwide panic devastated businesses of all types." Some may wish to go further and make partisan statements like, ... "when COVID-19 hit and the [insert party name here] response devastated businesses of all types."

I urge readers to resist that partisan urge. This post is not about the Democrats or Republicans. This is about YOU getting ready for the next and bigger financial crisis that lies ahead. A crisis is coming. Are you prepared?

Diane and I did not see the Great Recession coming but we were ready when it did. We did not see the COVID-19 crisis coming either, but we were ready when it did. In both cases we were ready because we were healthy, debt free, diversified in our offerings, and known by the people we serve as honest, reliable operators.

We do not know exactly how the coming debt crisis or financial crisis will develop, but we know neither the Democrat or the Republican have an adequate plan to stop it. The coming financial crisis is different than the Great Recession and COVID-19 in that we can see this one coming.

So, instead of answering the partisan question of who to blame, it is far, far more important to answer the question about you. We all see the crisis coming. What are YOU (not the Democrats or Republicans) doing to be ready? How will YOU (not the Democrats or Republicans) prosper as those who are not prepared fall into their dark places?

As Diane and I answer that question ourselves, we are increasingly mindful of the increasing risk of the collapse of the US Dollar. Because the majority of the world's goods and services are priced in or indexed to USD, a USD collapse will be far more devastating than the Great Recession. In 2008, we saw what a credit collapse (bubble burst) and consequent real estate collapse looked like. While it's difficult to fully comprehend what a USD collapse would entail, we are giving careful thought to what it may mean, and we're positioning our assets to be nimble as the collapse unfolds.

People in our area look back on 2008 and dearly wish they had bought one or more of those nice beach-front homes when they were available for a song back then. These crashes are crises for some and opportunities for others.

As we see the financial crisis coming, look beyond that to see the opportunity too. Think about how you tend to respond when presented with great uncertainty and high stakes. Think about how you can improve not just your finances but yourself for the great uncertainty that is coming soon.

 
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danthewolf00

Veteran Expediter
Get more Democrats out of government office and let Republicans fix stuff....our tax code is a joke....and so is the current president and vice president.
 
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