Wooster

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Curiously, the interview fails to address making money for employees.

That and the biggest donors, on both political sides, have everything to lose from following through on stopping price gouging.

I mean, it's not anything special to presidency. With concerts, it's the conductor that gets the praise… with companies, it's CEOs, with sports it's usually coaches.

We're not good in general at remembering the individuals, let alone acknowledging them and their cog in the machine. A flaw to be sure, but a universal one.

That said, I certainly agree with the sentiment, the wrong people do get the praise and blame for those under their authority.

He amplified his crackdown on soaring prescription drug costs, hidden fees for cable and air travel and corporate “price-gouging.” He also promised to “keep fighting to bring down costs.”

Following the links the above quote, the CNBC articles suggests we can expect progress on the first two items (prescription drug costs and hidden fees), but there's nothing I read in the linked article about dealing with price gouging other than some stern words. Maybe something is indeed in the works, but it wasn't obvious to me at the least.

Instead of taking a routine victory lap, the president doubled down on the war, pledging to do himself what the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have not: Make things cheaper.

[…]

It is a marked tone shift from the president’s typical reactions to positive inflation data.

I do appreciate this narrative shift—transitioning from tone-deaf/gaslighting to acknowledging that key issues still aren't addressed.

Additionally, even though the copyright is expiring, the trademark is not.

“You can use the Mickey Mouse character as it was originally created to create your own Mickey Mouse stories or stories with this character,” Daniel Mayeda, associate director of the Documentary Film Legal Clinic at UCLA School of Law, told The Guardian. “But if you do so in a way that people will think of Disney — which is kind of likely because they have been investing in this character for so long — then in theory, Disney could say you violated my trademark.”

😕

Second, Biden recently started to blame inflation on corporations that hiked prices when they saw an opportunity to improve their profits, bringing more prominence to an argument first used when gasoline prices spiked. The president's argument is suspicious to many economists, yet the intended message to voters is that Biden is fighting for them against those he blames for fueling inflation.

“Let me be clear: Any corporation that is not passing these savings on to the consumers needs to stop their price gouging,” Biden said recently in Pueblo, Colorado. “The American people are tired of being played for suckers.”

Wow. There's no question who's side the reporter is on.

Utilities have also been on the rise, and this year Ortigoza isn’t planning on turning on the home’s heater, even with temperatures dipping into the 30s at night. Instead, she plans to wear extra clothes around the house and bundle her daughter in blankets.

I just want to say… Don't do that.

If you want burst water pipes, then that is how you do it.

Instead, let your house drop to uncomfortably cold temperatures, but with still a buffer above freezing. The thermostat is only accurate for wherever it's placed in the house. It's not able to tell you what temperature your pipes are at the distant ends of the house.

If you're going to turn the heat off at below freezing, then you need to empty your pipes first, and no one is going to do that.

But yeah… I felt I needed to get that out of the way first.

Anyway, wages and unemployment are getting 'better', but that means very little if it's still not a living wage.

Covid vaccination is at an all time low since roll out, we have new strains, and everyone is back from sharing bugs with relatives at Thanksgiving.

Christmas is up soon.

Article title is “Renting alone in Miami is too expensive for Gen Z”.

That aside, it does have some interesting statistics about Gen Z moving back home and Boomers moving to apartments.

Reminds me of cigarette companies burying research on lung disease.

Serious question:

Would anything short of that lead to reform? I’m not eager for a second Great Depression, but considering we can’t even pretend to get climate change under control, I can’t see the 1% changing their policies until it hurts them, and bad.