| second: The SEC once considered stock buybacks to be illegal stock manipulation. But under President Reagan, stock buybacks were made legal. Now, instead of investing profits into people, corporations use stock buybacks (at record levels) to line the pockets of wealthy shareholders. Before 1982, open-market stock buybacks were rare because the SEC offered no clear "safe harbor" guidelines, meaning companies risked facing market manipulation charges under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 if they repurchased their own shares. In November 1982, during the Reagan administration, the SEC adopted Rule 10b-18, establishing clear criteria for volume, price, and timing that protected companies from manipulation charges. |
| second: 6) 6ix, adjusted for inflation, the U.S. direct cost of World War II is estimated between $4.1 trillion and $4.7 trillion, while the total global cost is estimated at roughly $60 trillion to $70 trillion in today's money. GDP Impact: At its peak in 1945, defense spending for the war effort accounted for approximately 40% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nominal Cost: The U.S. spent roughly $330 billion in 1945 dollars during the conflict. The Republican Presidents have made their smaller wars more expensive and far more profitable than the biggest war in history. |
| second: 5) 6ix, how much will Trump’s War on Iran cost? It is uncertain, but $trillions and $trillions is likely over the next 10 years. |
| second: 4) 6ix, how much did Bush’s War on Terror cost? The post-9/11 War on Terror has cost the U.S. Treasury an estimated $8 trillion to nearly $10 trillion in direct and indirect budgetary expenses. Independent research projects, such as the Costs of War Project at Brown University, track these sweeping expenditures across multiple categories. |
| second: 3) 6ix, how much did Bush’s Iraq war cost? The direct budgetary cost of the Iraq War for the United States is estimated at roughly $1.79 trillion, while total long-term economic and societal costs—including future veteran care and interest on debt—range from $3 trillion to over $6 trillion. |
| second: 2) 6ix, how much did Bush’s Afghanistan war cost? The direct cost of the U.S. war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 was an estimated $2.26 trillion, according to the Costs of War Project at Brown University. |
| second: 1) 6ix, how much did Nixon’s Vietnam war cost America, adjusted for inflation? The Vietnam War cost the United States approximately $168 billion to $200 billion at the time, which adjusts to roughly $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion in today's dollars. Broader estimates place total direct spending (including aid to South Vietnam and allied expenditures) closer to $168 billion at the time, scaling up to $1.3 trillion. When factoring in long-term obligations such as veterans' medical and disability benefits, and interest on wartime borrowing, the total economic footprint climbs past $1.5 trillion. |
| 6ixStringJack: You're so fucking worthless and sad. |
| 6ixStringJack: Yes! He really said it!!! Shut the fuck up, dude. Everybody was swimming in Nam while that was going on. Only freak faggots like you obsess over Iran everyday. Most people don't even think about it because they have actual lives to live and aren't sad old dying men with nothing to live for like you. |
| second: Q: If this is not a war, what exactly is it?
Trump: A lot of people don’t call it a war. It's small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing. In this we lost 18 people and in Vietnam you lost 100,000 people [go to link] Yes, he really said it. |
| second: I'm surprised Trump isn't talking about his face on Mount Rushmore anymore, but the WH did post a picture of him as Green Lantern with the words "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might beware my power... Green Lantern's light!" [go to link] More truthful would be Trump as Sinestro [go to link] |
| second: So now the US is supposed to hate Canada and love Putin? Is that where we are at with this corrupt gangster government? [go to link] |
| second: The President of the United States is mentally ill, but everybody knows that. So while we should continue to focus on this degeneration taking place in front of our eyes, we should also, beyond that, ask what we can do about the powers, the interests, the system that put this horrifying person in a position of power. It’s May 31st. If you have been following some of the news you may know that Trump’s mental deterioration, which has been obvious for quite a while, got even more extreme in the past few days. Tellingly, the things that are really driving him into more obvious dysfunction are things that are blows to his ego. I was especially struck — I was rattled actually — by his reaction to the wave of artists canceling out on the self-glorifying concert series he’s holding on the mall. More at [go to link] |
6ixStringJack: You're an evolutionary dead-end. It just sucks for everybody else how long it takes when you're living through it. But we'll get there.  |
| 6ixStringJack: You keep talking about what "historians" will do, but you forget you boomers are all dying off, and your offspring that agrees with you isn't having any kids and will die off as well. You're a problem that will fix itself, and then we'll fix the history books. Don't worry about it. |
6ixStringJack: My cousin owns some land on the moon. You interested?  |
| second: Trump claims US ownership of the moon. Sunday he publishing three dozen bizarre online posts in the span of two hours. Something is very wrong with the president, and yet, he still has the codes to the nuclear arsenal and is the single person who can order their use. “This is not normal. It’s like watching a slow-motion train crash. Historians will be aghast.” [go to link] Trump also shared an AI-generated image depicting himself blowing up the earth, as well as an AI-generated image depicting himself buying stocks in the Oval Office, alongside the admission that he had “made Hundreds of Billions of Dollars on Stocks, and Many other type Holdings.” |
| 6ixStringJack: I'm not saying what Trump is doing is right or wrong. That's completely besides the point. If Trump decides to end trade with Canada, it's literally hell on earth for Canada for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. |
| 6ixStringJack: lol... "You can't take control of us"? They've already forgotten Covid, huh? You'd better ask your truckers what they think on the issue before writing checks that your asses can't cash, because they're the only ones with any balls between the entire lot of you. |
| 6ixStringJack: We know you won't try to steal anything Trump says and pass it off as your own. |