US CE Spring 2022: I'm convinced it's useless which is why I argue about it all day every day

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US CE Spring 2022: I'm convinced it's useless which is why I argue about it all day every day

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Sub Par: Jul 18, 2001; Dinosaur Gum

Willa Rogers posted:

Politico has a piece on dark-money PACs that are raising money on behalf of potential 2024 presidential candidates; some surprise inclusions (Murphy? Pompeo?):

Pompeo is not surprising to me after he lost like 100 lbs and announced a book coming out in the fall of 2022. Dude is 100% going to run.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 18:29

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# ? May 24, 2024 00:28

Jaxyon: Mar 7, 2016; I’m just saying I would like to see a man beat a woman in a cage. Just to be sure.

Sedisp posted:

Hey I get it there's not a lot to discuss. (not really but I'll go with this) but also idk cis people. You will get really fired up about Desantis dont say gay bill and tell me in the same breath that it's okay to restrict puberty blockers and HRT till 18. So while i appreciate that there isn't a lot to do besides decry it and offer solidarity, (well and actually signal boost people who are trying to fight this) that is something most trans people are not getting from people that call themselves allies offline. So sometimes it's nice to hear that a greater amount of people actually give a gently caress beyond trans people cause we have to.

I'm happy to post a D&D Queer issues thread but I'm I'm cis-male/mostly het dude and I already posted a transgender issues thread this week that turned out Very Bad.

Perhaps somebody else besides you or me could put together a good OP because it's a travesty that there's not a current thread on the constant attacks on LGBTQIA+ people happening right now, it's a huge loving issue

# ? Apr 11, 2022 19:09

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Biden just pulled a gun on reporters during his press conference on new regulations requiring background checks, serial numbers, and banning online sales of "ghost guns."

https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/1513589778591137799

# ? Apr 11, 2022 19:54

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

quote:

The duo allegedly flashed official-looking IDs, carried Glocks, drove black SUVs with flashing lights, and became so friendly with some agents that they put the agents up for free in penthouses at the Crossings and gifted them iPhones, rifles, and drones

Some agents are going to be manning weather towers soon if not outright fired.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:08

Crain: Jun 27, 2007; I had a beer once with Stephen Miller and now I like him.

I also tried to ban someone from a Discord for pointing out what an unrelenting shithead I am! I'm even dumb enough to think it worked!

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

The weird story about the two possibly spies who were bribing secret service agents gets even weirder.

Someone tipped them off about the investigation triggered by the Post Office and they tried to hide and destroy evidence (seems like they did a bad job if they found body armor, rifles, handguns, servers, listening devices, and lists of names in their apartment).

They also tried to recruit some of the Secret Service agents they were bribing to help them cover up (but, none of them helped) after they were tipped off. They don't know who tipped them off, but it seems like it wasn't any of the Secret Service agents they were giving all the stuff to.

They still don't know what their overall goal was or if they are affiliated with anyone. They are both Iranian, but one of them reportedly bragged to a group of people that he worked for Pakistani intelligence years ago. They don't appear to have any connection to Pakistan, though.

One of the two also defrauded people and issued fake checks 10 years ago in Missouri, but has had no criminal record or employment since then.

It is still unclear where they got all of this money, guns, computer equipment, battering rams, servers, drones, and listening devices.

https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1513268635929772035

My brother lives in that building and told us about some other things:

They were living there rent free and those apartments they were giving to/trying to give to people were also rent free. The management of the community took them at their word that they were FBI or whatever and never bothered to actually check with any agency about the guys. Also somehow never bothered to ask or worry about the free apartments they were giving up with no reimbursement.

That list of names of people the in buildings? Also given to them by the management and it wasn't just names and addresses it was full PII including bank information, SSNs, and the the background checks they did on the residents before they were approved. Again, simply because they said they were FBI and no one bothered to verify.

Also these dudes were semi-known about in the community as some creepy fuckers who would crash parties, pull rank on public party/meeting rooms, and complaints about them to management would always just be brushed off and they would side with them. Like you'd show up to one of the party rooms and it'd be locked, with the windows covered with black out sheets, and the doors locked (things you're not supposed to do or be able to do) and if you called the front desk they'd basically imply "It's a law enforcement matter move along to another room, if there are none, too bad". But there'd clearly be loud music blasting and partying going on.

So if you want a free apartment apparently all you needed to do was pretend to be in an Alphabet Agency and you'd get free poo poo and perks for a few years.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:10

Willa Rogers: Mar 11, 2005

^^^ lol, appeal to authority writ large.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Ron DeSantis is raising an astronomical amount of money for a re-election campaign he is expected to cruise to victory in. He's also not spending any of it.

This makes him the first statewide candidate in U.S. history to raise $100 million for a single campaign through donations only.

You missed the buried lede of the CNN story, which I didn't see till someone else posted the Fried-Crist numbers separately:

quote:

Meanwhile, the Democrats attempting to defeat DeSantis are still finding their footing. Through February, US Rep. Charlie Crist, a onetime governor as a Republican and the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, had raised $7.1 million with $4.7 million still on hand. State Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried had about $3.6 million left of the $6 million she reported raising through February, while a third candidate, state Sen. Annette Taddeo, had raised less than $1 million.

I still can't believe that Crist is giving up his House seat for a race in which he's polling 20 pts behind the incumbent. Has anyone announced yet for the Dem primary for Crist's seat?

Willa Rogers fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Apr 11, 2022

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:15

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Willa Rogers posted:

You missed the buried lede of the CNN story, which I didn't see till someone else posted the Fried-Crist numbers separately:

I still can't believe that Crist is giving up his House seat for a race in which he's polling 20 pts behind the incumbent. Has anyone announced yet for the Dem primary for Crist's seat?

I mentioned it in the post right afterwards!

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

DeSantis' $100+ million fundraising is blowing out every other candidate for Governor.

Crist has only raised $7.1 million and the other two Dems in the primary have raised less than that.

quote:
Meanwhile, the Democrats attempting to defeat DeSantis are still finding their footing. Through February, US Rep. Charlie Crist, a onetime governor as a Republican and the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, had raised $7.1 million with $4.7 million still on hand.

State Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried had about $3.6 million left of the $6 million she reported raising through February, while a third candidate, state Sen. Annette Taddeo, had raised less than $1 million. The primary election is August 23.

quote:
The Florida Democratic Party did not respond to questions about its plan to compete with DeSantis' fundraising advantage. Steve Schale, a Democratic campaign consultant, expects money to flood into Florida once the party has a nominee, but DeSantis, he said, "is still going to outspend, even in the rosiest scenarios on my side."

"When you're underfunded, you have to constantly make bad choices," said Schale, who was involved in past gubernatorial campaigns. "You're choosing between cutting off your right arm or your left arm and hoping you don't bleed to death."

DeSantis isn't spending nearly any of the money he raised. He didn't have campaign staff until recently and the largest expenditure he authorized with campaign funds was the production of "Fauci Flip-Flops" last year (which were his idea that resulted from brainstorming sessions).

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:17

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Biden just pulled a gun on reporters during his press conference on new regulations requiring background checks, serial numbers, and banning online sales of "ghost guns."

https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/1513589778591137799

Biden is stepping up his game to own Pete Doocey in new and interesting ways, I see.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:23

Willa Rogers: Mar 11, 2005

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

I mentioned it in the post right afterwards!

Yeah my bad for missing that.

So, what happens with Crist's House seat; who's running for it, and is the district still purple?

eta: I looked it up on ballotpedia & there's 1 libertarian, 4 dems & 7 republicans running.

Willa Rogers fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Apr 11, 2022

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:24

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Willa Rogers posted:

Yeah my bad for missing that.

So, what happens with Crist's House seat; who's running for it, and is the district still purple?

Florida still hasn't passed a redistricting plan. The state legislature said they are going to let DeSantis personally draw one and send it to them for approval, so they don't know what the district will actually look like.

Unless they get really crazy with it, it will probably end up purpleish, but with a more Republican lean.

The people running on both sides right now are a couple of state politicians and random nobodies because a lot of people are still waiting to see where the districts end up before declaring for a specific district.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:31

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

I'm Jewish and I still don't get what the implication is here?

I've heard the "HAARP is a secret government weather control device" and "Jews control the government" conspiracy theories, but I don't think the RNC is going that abstract with this.

Is there an anti-Semitic "Jews have biological weather controlling powers (and that is a bad thing the Jews should be ashamed of)" trope that I am unaware of?

MTG's "Jewish Space Lasers" theory is the closest thing I can think of, but space lasers are different than weather controlling powers and I don't think the RNC is trying to argue that MTG is right.

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1513603337253531657

# ? Apr 11, 2022 20:56

WAR CRIME GIGOLO: Oct 3, 2012; The Hague
tryna get me
for these glutes

Biden pulls a gun in reporters and makes Jew jokes.

Too radical the GOP must be the voice of reason.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:09

Meatball: Mar 2, 2003; That's a Spicy Meatball; Pillbug

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

MTG's "Jewish Space Lasers" theory is the closest thing I can think of, but space lasers are different than weather controlling powers and I don't think the RNC is trying to argue that MTG is right.

I think it might be this one. Instead of space lasers to start fires in California, it's "the jews use weather satellites to control the weather'.

But then as you say, that this tweet means the RNC is trying to argue MTG is right, or at least is doing a "yes, and.." improv comedy bit. Maybe they're trying to imply that Biden thinks this?

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:11

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

K-Mart is down to three stores in the United States after being the largest retail store in the country.

One of those three is expected to close by the end of the year.

quote:

Once a retail giant, Kmart nears extinction with the closure of a New Jersey store

AVENEL, N.J. � The familiar sights and sounds are still there: the scuffed and faded floor tiles, the relentless beige-on-beige color scheme, the toddlers' clothes and refrigerators and pretty much everything in between.

There's even a canned recording that begins, "Attention, Kmart shoppers" � except it's to remind folks about COVID-19 precautions, not to alert them to a flash sale over in ladies' lingerie like days of old.

Many of the shelves are bare, though, at the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, picked over by bargain hunters as the store prepares to close its doors for good April 16.

Once it shutters, the number of Kmarts in the U.S. � once well over 2,000 � will be down to three in the continental U.S. and a handful of stores elsewhere, according to multiple reports, in a retail world now dominated by Walmart, Target and Amazon.

The demise of the the store in the middle-class suburb, 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of New York City, is the tale of the death of the discount department store writ small.

"You're always thinking about it because stores are closing all over, but it's still sad," said cashier Michelle Yavorsky, who said she has worked at the Avenel store for 2 � years. "I'll miss the place. A lot of people shopped here."

A pop-culture icon
In its heyday, Kmart sold product lines endorsed by celebrities Martha Stewart and Jaclyn Smith, sponsored NASCAR auto races and was mentioned in movies including Rain Man and Beetlejuice. It was name-dropped in songs by artists from Eminem to the Beastie Boys to Hall & Oates; in 2003, Eminem bought a 29-room, suburban Detroit mansion once owned by former Kmart chairman Chuck Conaway.

The chain cemented a place in American culture with its Blue Light Specials, a flashing blue orb affixed to a pole that would beckon shoppers to a flash sale in progress. Part of its success was due to its early adoption of layaway programs, which allowed customers who lacked credit to reserve items and pay for them in installments.

For a time, Kmart had a little bit of everything: You could shop for your kids' back-to-school supplies, get your car tuned up and grab a meal without leaving the premises.

"Kmart was part of America," said Michael Lisicky, a Baltimore-based author who has written several books on U.S. retail history. "Everybody went to Kmart, whether you liked it or not. They had everything. You had toys. You had sporting goods. You had candy. You had stationery. It was something for everybody. This was almost as much of a social visit as it was a shopping visit. You could spend hours here. And these just dotted the American landscape over the years."

Kmart's decline has been slow but steady, brought about by years of falling sales, changes in shopping habits and the looming shadow of Walmart, which coincidentally began its life within months of Kmart's founding in 1962.

Struggling to compete with Walmart's low prices and Target's trendier offerings, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2002 � becoming the largest U.S. retailer to take that step � and announced it would close more than 250 stores.

A few years later, hedge fund executive Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart and pledged to return them to their former greatness, but the recession and the rising dominance of Amazon contributed in derailing those goals. Sears filed for Chapter 11 in 2018 and currently has a handful of stores left in the U.S. where it once had thousands.

Kmarts continue to operate in Westwood, New Jersey; Bridgehampton, on New York's Long Island, and Miami.

'A study in greed avarice and incompetence'
It didn't have to end this way, according to Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University in New York and former CEO of Sears Canada.

Trying to compete with Walmart on price was a foolish strategy, he said, and Lampert was criticized for not having a retail background and appearing more interested in stripping off the assets of the two chains for their cash value.

"It's a study in greed, avarice and incompetence," Cohen said. "Sears should have never gone away; Kmart was in worse shape, but not fatally so. And now they're both gone.

"Retailers fall by the wayside sometimes because they're selling things people don't want to buy," he continued. "In the case of Kmart, everything they used to sell, people are buying but they're buying it from Walmart and Target."

Transformco, which owns Kmart and Sears, did not respond to an email seeking comment and a phone number listed for the company was not taking messages.

Nationwide, some former Kmarts remain vacant while others have been replaced by other big-box stores, fitness centers, self-storage facilities, even churches. One former site in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is now a popular dine-in movie theater.

Employees at the Kmart in Avenel found out last month that the store would close.

An air of resignation
Unlike 20 years ago, when news of impending Kmart closures around the country prompted an outpouring of support from loyal shoppers and a Detroit radio station even mounted a campaign to try and save a local store, the closing of the Avenel location was met mostly with an air of resignation.

"It's maybe a little nostalgic because I've lived my whole life in this area, but it's just another retail store closing," said Jim Schaber, a resident of nearby Iselin who said his brother worked in the shoe department at Kmart for years. "It's just another sign of people doing online shopping and not going out to the retail stores."

The closing packed a little more of an emotional punch for Mike Jerdonek, a truck driver who recalled shopping at Kmart in Brooklyn and Queens in his younger days.

"It's like history passing right in front of our eyes," he said as he sat in his car outside the Avenel store. "When I was younger I didn't have any money, so it was a good place to shop because the prices were cheap. And to see it gone right now, it's kind of sad."

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/11/1092048292/kmart-avenel-new-jersey-closes-as-retail-giant-nears-extinction

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:11

VitalSigns: Sep 3, 2011

Meatball posted:

I think it might be this one. Instead of space lasers to start fires in California, it's "the jews use weather satellites to control the weather'.

But then as you say, that this tweet means the RNC is trying to argue MTG is right, or at least is doing a "yes, and.." improv comedy bit. Maybe they're trying to imply that Biden thinks this?

I think they're winking both ways on it with a statement that could be read in either direction

The alt-right, Q-people base can say "ah-HA he admit it, Jews control the weather", whereas the decorum Republicans can say "ah Dems call me racist but Biden himself is a racist" (correct)

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:43

America Inc.: Nov 22, 2013; I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even 500 would be pretty nice.

Why doesn't the US have something like a Schengen zone with Canada, that is to say an open border?

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:50

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

quarantinethepast posted:

Why doesn't the US have something like a Schengen zone with Canada, that is to say an open border?

9/11, mostly. You didn't need a passport to cross until shortly after that

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:51

Republicans: Oct 14, 2003; - More money for us

- Fuck you

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

K-Mart is down to three stores in the United States after being the largest retail store in the country.

One of those three is expected to close by the end of the year.

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/11/1092048292/kmart-avenel-new-jersey-closes-as-retail-giant-nears-extinction

It would be funny if the last one managed to hang on through nostalgia like the last blockbuster video.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:54

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

quarantinethepast posted:

Why doesn't the US have something like a Schengen zone with Canada, that is to say an open border?

Edit: Beaten. But, we did until 9/11.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:56

Papercut: Aug 24, 2005

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Here's a really interesting story about the new CDC study examining depression and sadness in American youth.

The highlights:

- From 2009 to 2021, the share of American high-school students who say they feel �persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness� rose from 26 percent to 44 percent.

- Women and white people experienced the largest changes. Women under 18 reported an over 200% increase in �persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness�

- LGBT youth rates were already high, so they did not proportionally rise very much, but they remained the #1 demographic group for youth depression.

- At the same time, LGBT acceptance, youth drug and alcohol use, and the amount of school fights (the three previous leading indicators of youth depression) have all dropped significantly.

- But, eating disorders, overdoses, tobacco use, and suicide attempts all are up significantly (even though usage of drugs that can cause overdoses is down generally).

- The four drivers are:

1) Social Media
2) Sociality is down
3) World is more stressful and youth have much higher access to news about stressors than before
4) Modern Parenting strategies

- Big demographic changes:

1) Men are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide today. Previously women were more likely.
2) Men in general, and black men in particular, report the lowest levels of persistent sadness or depression (but, it is still higher than historical averages).
3) LGBT youth (not a change here) and white women report the highest levels of persistent sadness or depression.

- One of the biggest differences demographically between youth from 2009 to 2021 and youth from prior generations (and part of the reason why black men have such low levels of reported persistent sadness or depression) is the level of church attendance. People who go to church regularly have much lower reported levels of depression and today's youth report far lower levels of church attendance.

- It is also possible that it is not church attendance specifically, but because of the huge decrease in sociality generally, that frequent church attendance would be one of the few places with consistent sociality for youth and church attendance would be one form of that, but the church attendance itself isn't the cause of less depression.

- It started before Covid. Covid amplified some of the problems, but it was not caused by Covid.

- In conjunction with the lack of sociality (teens today are much less likely to go out with friends, get their drivers license, play youth sports, belong to a club, or go to church), teens today also get less sleep compared to people who were teens in the early 2000's (sleep deprivation is a strong source of depression and anxiety).

- Teens today actually watch less TV than previous teens, but it is being replaced by social media. Social media is also replacing large chunks of "beneficial" activities that teens typically engaged in, like playing outside, socializing verbally, having hobbies, dating, or engaging with people directly in small groups.

- The spike started in 2012, which was also the year that a majority of teens reported owning a smartphone, and has continued rising every year since.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/04/american-teens-sadness-depression-anxiety/629524/

This almost reads like a companion piece to the article you posted, and it definitely does a lot more "enlightened centrist, both sides" than I agree with, but it does have some interesting takes on the impacts of virality and social media:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/

Some of it I think even applies to the way threads work on here. SA obviously doesn't have up votes or similar, but the way these threads tend to turn into twitter refeeds does mean we fall into some of the same outrage engine effects that Twitter and FB make their money off of.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 23:54

Oracle: Oct 9, 2004

haveblue posted:

9/11, mostly. You didn't need a passport to cross until shortly after that

You didn't need a passport to cross if you were white. My Asian college roommate got called out every time we cut through from Michigan to Boston for spring/summer breaks to visit her family.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 00:04

GoutPatrol: Oct 17, 2009; *Stupid Babby*

Republicans posted:

It would be funny if the last one managed to hang on through nostalgia like the last blockbuster video.

If people are nostalgic for K-Marts they have been gaslit something fierce, or they really liked Martha Stewart in the 90s.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 00:10

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

GoutPatrol posted:

If people are nostalgic for K-Marts they have been gaslit something fierce, or they really liked Martha Stewart in the 90s.

Someone isn't old enough to remember when it was a literal Friday night family activity to wander around K-Mart waiting for Blue Light Specials.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 00:13

GoutPatrol: Oct 17, 2009; *Stupid Babby*

No and I am fine with that, my memories of K-Mart are of a dying store next to an already dead mall.

In real news, several "traditional fare like border security and small government" conservatives are running against Paul Gosar.

quote:

These challenger campaigns are largely quixotic, run by veterans, political newcomers and local elected leaders who can muster barely a small fraction of the money, organization and news media attention as their incumbent opponents.

They also lack endorsements from former President Donald J. Trump, a critical weakness for Republican voters still loyal to him.

Still, there is precedent for upset wins against powerful incumbents. Just two years ago, Ms. Boebert was a restaurant owner with no elected experience when she ousted a Republican incumbent by running a savvy pro-Trump campaign.

They should note that these upsets are against "their kind" of conservative.

quote:

The latest upstarts are trying to tap into something different: a sense of voter exasperation with fringe views and the unending cycles of provocation and outrage that feel tailor-made to maximize social media clicks and donor response.

Mr. Morgan describes himself as an earnest outsider � a former soldier who opposes abortion and wants to finish Mr. Trump�s border wall. He said he would be conservative but not combative, adding that Mr. Gosar�s ties to white nationalists and censure have tarnished voters and cost the district clout.

�I think people are ready to get along again, to come back together,� he said, sounding almost Bidenesque at times in his appeal to comity.

The message is resonating with at least some Republican and independent voters who count themselves among the nearly 80 percent of Americans who say they disapprove of Congress and want to register their disgust of both parties by voting out any incumbent.

�The Republican Party stinks, too,� said Dale Kelley, a real estate agent in Bullhead City, Ariz., who signed Mr. Morgan�s petition largely because he was an outsider and veteran untethered to Washington.

Some Republican voters said they had grown embarrassed by members of Congress who promoted QAnon conspiracy theories, jeered at Mr. Biden�s State of the Union address or talked of cocaine-fueled orgies.

Coylynn Colbaugh, who runs a turquoise mine with her husband outside Kingman, said the antics �give us a bad name.� She is planning to vote for Mr. Morgan in the primary.

Some also disapproved of a handful of far-right Republicans who voted against measures such as sending American aid to Ukraine, economically punishing Russia or investigating it for war crimes. In Georgia, Jennifer Strahan, a health care consultant who is challenging Ms. Taylor Greene in the Republican primary, has sharply criticized the congresswoman�s rhetoric on Ukraine.

�Our congresswoman is serving as a megaphone for Putin and communist Russia, parroting Putin talking points and belittling Ukrainian freedom fighters,� Ms. Strahan said.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 00:19

Jaxyon: Mar 7, 2016; I’m just saying I would like to see a man beat a woman in a cage. Just to be sure.

K-mart is a horrible retail hellzone that got out-competed by even worse retail hellzones.

There's no sadness to be had there, other than the sadness that capitalism has driven even the slighest less horrible options out.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 00:22

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

GoutPatrol posted:

No and I am fine with that, my memories of K-Mart are of a dying store next to an already dead mall.

Jaxyon posted:

K-mart is a horrible retail hellzone that got out-competed by even worse retail hellzones.

There's no sadness to be had there, other than the sadness that capitalism has driven even the slighest less horrible options out.

In retrospect, it seems hard to believe that K-Mart's strategy of "Raise prices a lot, but offer coupons that dramatically cut the cost to make it feel like you are getting crazy savings + have blue sirens go off every hour to indicate a special 30-minute sale on one specific item" failed because most people just saw the higher prices and didn't think managing a binder of coupons or waiting around the store for hours to wait for the random deal on the thing you need was a good use of their time and they just went to Wal-Mart or Amazon instead.

Edit: Actually, it is more amazing that this was considered such a great way to shop for such a long time that it propelled the company to America's top retailer for about 30 years. I guess the bar for entertainment and shopping was a lot lower in the 70's and 80's. The downfall is less surprising than the fact that it somehow got to the top in the first place.

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Apr 12, 2022

# ? Apr 12, 2022 00:25

Professor Beetus: Apr 12, 2007; They can fight us
But they'll never Beetus

K-mart in my town was the last place you could get a Little Caesars pizza until Little Caesars made their big comeback via the 5 dollar hot and ready thing.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 04:57

a.lo: Sep 12, 2009

kmart needed little caesars

little caesars didn't need kmart

# ? Apr 12, 2022 05:23

Kavros: May 18, 2011; sleep sleep sleep
fly fly post post
sleep sleep sleep

GoutPatrol posted:

If people are nostalgic for K-Marts they have been gaslit something fierce, or they really liked Martha Stewart in the 90s.

I have fond memories of our town's K-Mart, but nothing of what I would remember of it then (or be nostalgic of) survived being subject to Eddie Lampert's Ayn Rand self-insert heroplay that used the power of objectivism and free market fetishism.

But the other half of it for me, admittedly was growing up somewhere ... provincial enough that a K-mart was of significance to the actual literal community

# ? Apr 12, 2022 05:24

LorneReams: Jun 27, 2003; I'm bizarre

I felt much worse about KB or Child World.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 05:38

This Is the Zodiac: Feb 4, 2003

Oh my god Child World, I forgot that place existed.

I don't think there even are such stores anymore, which makes me sad that my five-year-old will never have the experience of walking into a huge store that's just full of toys as far as the eye can see.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 11:44

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

New inflation report is out.

- Headline CPI inflation is up 1.2% to 8.5% over the past 12 months. That is the highest headline CPI inflation rate since 1982.

- Core inflation is actually down to 6.4%. That is because core inflation doesn't measure highly volatile commodities like oil and it is a measure of general inflation/dollar devaluation and more than 50% of the entire inflation rate came from gas/energy prices.

- That means inflation is falling in general, but it isn't necessarily going to translate to increased spending power. Prices for gas/energy are soaring massively above average, rents are rising moderately above average (following an even larger initial surge in pricing a few months ago), and food is rising slightly above average. Those are three major spending areas for all Americans.

- Wage growth continues to be stronger than it has been since the 80's as well, but inflation has been outpacing wage growth for the last 7 months. Average real wages have officially fallen by 2.7% in the last 12 months.

- Even though core inflation is down, it isn't expected to go below 6% by the end of the year. CPI inflation is heavily dependent on how long/how serious the war in Ukraine and shutdown in China lasts. Food and oil/gas prices are being highly disrupted by just those two events combined with general supply chain issues. Even if core inflation stalls or starts to decline, headline CPI inflation (driven by gas/energy, food, and housing rents) could continue to rise and those are the price increases that most Americans "feel" directly.

- Workers in leisure and hospitality are the one group that seems to be nearly unanimously better off. Their wages are still continuing to rise above inflation (14.8% nominal; 5.2% inflation adjusted), but have slowed down from the significant rises they saw in early/mid 2021.

- Additionally, the vast majority of people with college degrees have have had their real incomes rise or stay the same; while the majority of people without college degrees saw their real income fall.

- Agricultural/Farm workers, seasonal workers, public sector workers, and workers in food preparation had the largest drops in real income.

https://twitter.com/bencasselman/status/1513860243830321152

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Apr 12, 2022

# ? Apr 12, 2022 14:37

CommieGIR: Aug 22, 2006; The blue glow is a feature, not a bug; Pillbug

Professor Beetus posted:

K-mart in my town was the last place you could get a Little Caesars pizza until Little Caesars made their big comeback via the 5 dollar hot and ready thing.

My big memory of KMart was it sold a lot of really cheap electronics that were abysmal quality versus Walmart. Target took some of the things KMart was doing and did it better now. This is one thing Walmart does well, they set a fairly high bar for even cheap items, KMart just said "If its cheap, we'll sell it"

# ? Apr 12, 2022 14:39

Lib and let die: Aug 26, 2004

My memory of K-Mart is that it was one of the only places we did clothes shopping that wasn't a consignment store, so it was a real fuckin' treat for me as a kid.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 14:45

Heck Yes! Loam!: Nov 15, 2004; a rich, friable soil containing a relatively equal mixture of sand and silt and a somewhat smaller proportion of clay.

Lib and let die posted:

My memory of K-Mart is that it was one of the only places we did clothes shopping that wasn't a consignment store, so it was a real fuckin' treat for me as a kid.

Yeah, as a poor kid k-mart clothes were a treat. It was usually hand me downs and second hand stores.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 15:02

FlamingLiberal: Jan 18, 2009; Would you like to play a game?

Someone shot up a subway station in Brooklyn

https://twitter.com/cnn/status/1513873096280842261?s=21&t=dZFBZJPwkiVB1diBv8tG3Q

# ? Apr 12, 2022 15:05

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Here's the largest categories that are driving almost all of the CPI inflation rate (over the last 12 months):

quote:

Fuel oil 70%
Gas 48%
Used cars 35%
Hotels 29%
Airfare 24%
Utility gas 22%

4/6 are fuel or gas related.

And just for fun, here's the things that dropped in prices (which considering overall inflation, anything with any price drop at all, let alone a significant price drop, has had its price/demand really collapse):

quote:

Food at elementary and secondary schools
Food at employee sites and schools
Smart Phones
Admission to sporting events
Televisions
Audio players
Digital video disks or other video medium
Women's outerwear
Peanut Butter
Ice cream and related products
Floor coverings
Food from vending machines or mobile vendors
Miscellaneous household products
Men�s shirts and sweaters
Telephone hardware, calculators, and other consumer information items
Computer software and accessories
Checking account and other bank services

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Apr 12, 2022

# ? Apr 12, 2022 15:08

Heck Yes! Loam!: Nov 15, 2004; a rich, friable soil containing a relatively equal mixture of sand and silt and a somewhat smaller proportion of clay.

FlamingLiberal posted:

Someone shot up a subway station in Brooklyn

https://twitter.com/cnn/status/1513873096280842261?s=21&t=dZFBZJPwkiVB1diBv8tG3Q

It's Just another tragic Tuesday. (Woah, woah)

# ? Apr 12, 2022 15:09

Willa Rogers: Mar 11, 2005

Here's the NYT writeup of the economic news that Leon's been summarizing:

quote:

Inflation Continued to Worsen in March, as Gas and Rent Costs Rose

Here�s what you need to know:

* Prices were 8.5% higher in March than a year earlier.

* The surge in gas prices accounted for over half of the monthly increase in inflation

* Biden will allow summertime sales of higher-ethanol gas as prices remain elevated.

* Pay raises aren�t keeping up with inflation.

* The Fed prepares to raise rates quickly as high inflation lingers.

* Wall Street edges higher after the release of inflation data.

* Price pressures are easing for some goods, but supply chains face new disruptions.

* Globally, inflation is surging amid persistent pandemic disruptions and war in Ukraine.

* Airfares add to price pressure as travel demand and fuel costs rise.

Consumer prices rose 8.5 percent in the year through March, reaching the fastest inflation rate since 1981. Stubbornly rapid price increases have been exacerbated by a recent surge in gas costs tied to Russia�s invasion of Ukraine.

Fuel prices jumped sharply higher last month, with the U.S. average for a gallon of regular gas peaking at $4.33 on March 11.

Gas is not the entire story. Stripping out volatile fuel and food, so-called core prices climbed at a brisk 6.5 percent in the year through March, up from 6.4 percent in the year through February. Even so, the core index offered a rare glimmer of good inflation news: It slowed down a bit on a monthly basis, rising 0.3 percent from February, compared with 0.5 percent the prior month.

March�s data may represent a high-water mark for inflation, some economists have said. Overall price increases could begin abating in the coming months in part because gasoline prices have come down somewhat � a gallon cost $4.10 on Tuesday, according to AAA. Researchers have been expecting consumers to stop buying so many goods, like cars and appliances, potentially taking pressure off overburdened supply chains and allowing prices for those products to moderate.

Given the pop in gasoline prices in March, �these numbers are likely to represent something of a peak,� said Gregory Daco, the chief economist at Ernst & Young�s strategy consultancy, EY-Parthenon. Still, he said, it will be critical to watch whether the core numbers slow down on a monthly basis this spring and summer.

A spate of recent developments could keep inflation uncomfortably high.

Wages are up sharply, pushing costs up for employers and potentially prompting them to lift prices. Businesses may feel that they have the power to pass rising costs along to customers, and even to expand their profits, because consumers have continued to spend during a full year of rapid price increases.

Housing costs continued to increase relatively quickly, though there was some deceleration in an index of rent of primary residences. Those costs are likely to be a major factor determining the course of inflation in the months ahead. A coronavirus outbreak is shuttering cities and disrupting production in China, and the war in Ukraine adds a huge dose of uncertainty about commodity prices and supply chains.

On the other hand, prices are now being measured against relatively high readings last year, which could make it easier for annual inflation readings to slow down. Prices for some products, including used cars and apparel, moderated or even fell in March, which could be a hopeful sign that overall price increases will slow as rapid goods inflation wanes.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 15:26

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# ? May 24, 2024 00:28

Willa Rogers: Mar 11, 2005

A visual representing the annual inflation rates for various items factoring the March info:

# ? Apr 12, 2022 15:34

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US CE Spring 2022: I'm convinced it's useless which is why I argue about it all day every day

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