Tntpov

23/08/2021

At the beginning of covid everyone stayed home for about 10 days which caused a supply glut. So much so that tankers were waiting in the ocean to off-load their oil cargo because there wasn't anywhere to put it. Thus the prices dropped to temp people to purchase excess gas. That is one of the few times in my entire life where I saw the gas prices drop at any kind of meaningful level in such a short amount of time.

Those oil tycoons were desperate to get everyone driving again, or better yet stuck in traffic just wasting gas, so their profits weren't reduced. Fortunately, they (and other industry titans) give the government a metric s**t ton of bribes (sorry... lobbying money) to try to force the people to behave as if there wasn't a new airborne easily transmittable virus ripping through the population. I am not surprised at the speed which a vaccine was developed. I am surprised it didn't happen faster. But, I suppose slower was better for politicians and investment firms who were heavily invested in the drugs used to treat covid, as opposed to a vaccine which will cost them their investment money. They want us to catch covid so they can rake in the share value.

So you are right. It was a "money grab/way to control people." The government does control us, as we the people have allowed for good reason (otherwise every minor dispute would end with at least one dead person and no accountability). But the big corporate money lobbyists control the government (both wings of the same corrupt bird), which we the people have also allowed.

So if you don't want to be controlled, then force an end to Citizen's United, as it is not looking out for the best interests of the American People. End the practice of Gerrymandering, as it is a way consolidate political power over voting areas, and only provides the illusion of choice.

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/20/818457109/were-barreling-toward-an-epic-glut-of-oil

The supply of oil has surged as the coronavirus pandemic has destroyed demand. Prices have plummeted and analysts are starting to ask if the world will have enough space to store all the extra oil.

24/05/2021

Employee waste. Its a huge number (restaurant people call it food cost and it is calculated every week). The guy at $7.25 doesn't give a crap about scraping out the dressing container with a spatula, the guy making $15 not only gives a damn and makes it happen, they also make sure everyone else makes it happen. Dressing and sauce waste alone is thousands a year.

The "to-go" cups which the kitchen uses... they cost money. $7.25 gets a new cup every time they get a drink. $15 keeps that thing until the bottom falls out. Thousands a year. $7.25 doesn't care about what we kitchen folk call F.I.F.O. (First In, First Out... or sell the oldest stuff first) and they will take anything off the shelf to restock their station, while very frequently the product which was supposed to be sold first because of state mandated health board regulations sits on the shelf and dies (gets thrown away) due to a technicality ( a very well researched technicality to prevent food poisoning to the general public). The guy making $15, who throws that expired food out, then goes on to curse out the lazy sack of sh*t, thus ending the waste problem for the employer... which lowers costs. Its in the tens of thousands of dollars a year.

You get what you pay for. And at $7.25... you don't get much. Minimum pay minimum effort. However, if that guy making $15 when the minimum is $7.25 doesn't also get an appropriate bump in pay when the minimum gets bumped up... well then the problem just resets itself. Raising the minimum wage in and of itself without those already making more than that won't help matters much.

The employers themselves need to make the call to raise wages willingly, thus attracting better employees, instead of being forced. I do think the minimum should be increased to a wage that actually pay enough to not be on food stamps and welfare as someone working full time (otherwise that extra cost is passed on to the people who can't dodge their taxes). I suspect that number is much higher than $15 which would have been great 10-15 years ago. Likely closer to $22.

But that minimum should be tied to the average rate of inflation (roughly 2.7% per year) Better employees, however, should always make more. Because they are worth having on your team to prevent stuff like waste, turn over, and training costs (also thousands per year).

11/05/2021

What they said...

Our so-called staffing crisis hearkens back to the colonial era.

11/05/2021

Looks like its time to pay the piper.

18/04/2021

Alright... so this one went a little odd right out the gate. But it was a fun conversation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUaGYbqcqQY

Today we actually generally agree with our topic. We will look at how a group of Reddit users on WallStreetBets played against the hedge funds and won. Will ...

16/04/2021

Exactly...

Stimulus payments aren’t the only thing keeping workers on the sidelines

05/04/2021

It says what it says. Do better for the people doing the work, and be better for it. Or keep floundering with the endless supply of people not fit for the job. Entice us. Cooks will cook, but they need to earn at least what the average server earns per hour. Based on $45,000 a year server earnings with tips and 1664 average hours worked, that number is $27/hour. Do that, and the qualified cooks will come crawling out of the woodwork. Until then, we are capitalists, and we are capitalizing while we can.

XOXOXOXOXOX Cooks Everywhere.

Restaurants say they're not worried about a possible hike in the minimum wage, debunking what their own industry lobbyists are saying.

03/04/2021

THIS!

25/03/2021

I am all for people owning what ever type of gun they want, regardless how fast it shoots. What I am not for is allowing the purchase of guns for people whom are clearly mentally unstable (or easily manipulated idiots), and capable of bringing a great deal of harm to an unsuspecting and unarmed populous.

Seems to me that the only good form of gun control would be to mandatorily arm and train everyone, and make certain they qualify for their weapon(s) or else they can't carry it(them) legally. I feel like this would be a greater deterrent to gun violence if the insane gunman walking into a church, a bar, a theater, a school (go ahead and pick your atrocity) KNEW everyone was packing heat and knew damn well how to use it. (It would probably inadvertently cut down on a whole lot of other crimes as well.)

Granted, I would also mandate a psychological exam before allowing ANYONE access to a weapon. I guarantee it would NOT catch everyone, but it would catch a significant number, and the remainder would be kept MOSTLY in check by the fact that the gunner would KNOW they could be gunned down nearly instantly by any number of trained marksmen... instead of slinking off with a "having a bad day" like a damn coward.
But that is just MY point of view (I don't own a gun, but I would if it were mandatory).

~Tim TnTPoV

17/03/2021

Tim's answer to self check out and ordering kiosks.

05/03/2021

At first I was mad about this. Then I looked into it. Did a bit of research. My mind has been changed based on available information. https://apnews.com/article/dr-seuss-books-racist-images-d8ed18335c03319d72f443594c174513

03/03/2021

GAME STONKS!!! We both got a chuckle out of this one. Sorry not sorry, Wall Street. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUaGYbqcqQY&feature=emb_logo

Today we actually generally agree with our topic. We will look at how a group of Reddit users on WallStreetBets played against the hedge funds and won. Will ...

03/03/2021

I am a couple weeks behind but here we go. Talking about the "Living Wage". Naturally, we are on different sides on this with different points of view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD86IwixMcM&feature=emb_logo

Today we tackle the debate on the $15 minimum wage. Tom takes the approach that there are too many concerns with the government getting in behind business ow...

03/03/2021

Here we go... we're talking Covid. And of course we are on different sides here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO-UoMJhw3Q&feature=emb_logo

Today we tackle the COVID issue with actual SCIENCE. Let's see how we hash out this debate in the case of COVID and society. , A...

16/02/2021

Well... yeah kinda did...

14/02/2021

Looks like a happy bunch of maniacs.

31/01/2021

Child labor laws were written because kids were working in textile factories and getting their arms ripped off in machines. But kids worked cheaper which meant a better profit margin. When permitted to police themselves, businesses routinely don't.
~Tim

Regulated capitalism still values profit over human life, but the overall message is still good

31/01/2021

The memes have been great. EAT THE RICH!!!
~Tim

30/01/2021

A conversation between brothers. One kind of right, the other kind of left. Both independent. Topic: Trickle Down Economics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdhK1ELbjTw&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Today we debate about Trickle Down Economics, where it all began. We talk about the wealth and poverty crisis, and how things seemed to get bad and how they ...

30/01/2021

Just sitting back and enjoying the entropy.
~Tim

19/01/2021

Someone on Facebook commented the following to a meme related to raising the minimum wage:"

Raising it to $15 an hour will not solve the problem, only make it worse. The real problem is companies charging an arm and a leg for something simply because everyone has to have it so why not charge more. The average price of a car these days is around $40k. People are having to spend $1,500 a month on rent or a mortgage in order to live somewhere decent. People are financing for longer than ever before because prices are so ridiculous it’s the only way they can afford it. That’s why the rich get richer and your monthly payments eat your $10 an hour income alive. Do people live beyond their means sometimes? Yes, but people should be able to live comfortably and happily without having to finance everything they need. Prices on essential products must be governed. Otherwise the cycle just continues.

The retort from Tim at TnTPov is as follows:

I agree in spirit, but those prices were achieved by a 2.9% inflation rate almost every year for the last 40 or so years. Bringing the minimum wage up to $15 only gets it halfway closer to what it should be if the minimum wage had kept pace with the rate of inflation over the last 4+ decades. But it hasn't. The cost of everything from a gallon of milk to a new car to rent has increased year after year while the minimum wage and the people working that job have not had an effective increase in pay. Thus, their buying power for their money has been reduced by forces well outside their ability to control.
Had minimum wage kept pace with the rate of inflation, as it should have, then the minimum wage would be around $23 an hour, and making ends meet wouldn't be as much of a problem. Not to mention they would not qualify for welfare which means, "woo hoo" less tax burden for everything else. That would mean everyone who had worked their asses off to not have a minimum wage job would also have to make far more in order to keep them from not working food service or retail (since it requires no skill... as we are told... I assure you that is bulls**t). For example, the average hourly rate for an EMT (the guy who saved your life in the event of an accident) is $15.38, while an ambulance ride could cost you $450. For the $450 you pay for an ambulance ride, don't you think they should get at least an hourly rate of something far greater than $15 an hour? Because right now some bureaucrat on a beach is pocketing the rest.
And this tracks right back to the average cook. In most restaurants I have worked at, I have always made above minimum wage... but even $13.50 an hour (my current wage) isn't enough to make ends meet. Hell, I can't even afford day care fees ($500 a week for 2 kids). At the end of 40 hours, if I even get 40 hours, I bring home $40 just to go to work for that amount. At $23 an hour (what minimum should be had it kept pace with the rate of inflation... but that is what McDonald's wages should be based on customer cost of the product) I would bring in $920 a week, the cost of day care would be covered, and I would be left with $420 a week and could actually afford to pay down my student loans for a degree not in my field of study (Game Development).
(Predatory lending on student loans is a bitch, but the topic of another discussion. And at this rate if I did not qualify for an income based repayment plan would be more than double my monthly income because child care is too much so I make more money if I work less... note I do not apply for welfare out of stupid pride.)
To pay for this, prices will most likely increase for the populous by about $0.12 for a gallon of milk, or $0.45 for a Big Mac. But honestly it could also be covered by paying some slack ass, private jet flying, Armani Suit wearing, Cuban cigar smoking, fat ass CEO making $2,000,000 a year instead of $25,000,000 a year.
Side note: If you could not possibly live for the rest of your life on the simple monthly interest $1,000,000 could generate... then you have a spending problem.

P.S. Tim is nearly certain Tom has something to say.

12/01/2021

HAHAHAHAHAHA

05/01/2021

I don't give a f**k about gender studies. Nor if that was actually part of the covid bill instead of the annual government spending bill... or even a rider. All that I give a crap about in this one is that any tax payer money left the country for anything other than clearing a debt for a bill of sales. Other than that, tax payer money shouldn't be going to foreign governments unless we get something out of it which benefits the American tax payers as opposed to some billionaire's oil stock portfolio value increasing by a quarter of a percent. With my tax payer money I would like to see public education being well funded, fire departments with the best tools available, roads without potholes, and in my particular geographical case the dreaded socialist snow plows. Along with actual affordable health care.
~Tim-TnTPoV

03/01/2021

We get heated, but the conversation is interesting, and in the end we are still brothers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkL05gkjkwo&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Today we will talk about the controversy involved in the 2020 Election. Was there cheating or not? Why is there such a debate?Show Notes and Info:https://tnt...

28/12/2020

What am I getting for my tax money? Taxed on income, taxed on property, taxed on things I buy with my income which was already taxed. I realize I am going to get taxed, and I am fine with it. But I want something for that tax money which I don't have a choice in paying. Be it education, healthcare, UBI. Our military is already a fricken powerhouse (also socialist AF for the record) and I am fine with that too. "Speak softly and carry a big stick" as Teddy Roosevelt would have said. But Roosevelt would have also hammered the corporatocracy we have today. "Liberal cry babies"? FFS. Give your nuts a tug.

Patriots, real patriots, love their fellow countrymen. They love their neighbor, even if they are idiots, because they are their countrymen. If you think this is left versus right, liberal versus conservative, then you have been feeding from the fascist trough for far too long. It is rich versus poor and has been for quite some time. But the people who have us at each others throats over political ideology have the populous there so that we don't rise up as one people and slay them in their very comfortable beds.

Its time for guillotines.
~Tim

25/12/2020

Damn you Lucas...
~Tim

25/12/2020

Funded 100% from tax dollars. Everyone contributes a little bit to make sure we have a standing army, which honestly I am totally fine with. Our "most powerful army in the world" is straight up socialism. As are our roads, public schools, electricity (couldn't be built without the government), police, fire departments, libraries (so we don't have to be stupid unless we want to be), welfare so the corporations don't have to pay a living wage... the list goes on and on. Doesn't make sense to me why we can't help our own people, maybe even clear some serious predatory debt to actually make the economy grow from the bottom up. Like UBI... the rich are going to get the money anyway. Why not make it have to go through the lower class first and help everyone on the way up? I guess the rich just strive for the "J.G. Wentworth 877-CASH-NOW" economic theory.
~Tim

We are Post 9/11 Veterans on the left. We are a pro-vet, pro-political revolution, and an anti-war political group. leftflankvets.org for more info.

23/12/2020

"Its 2020...I needed extra strength!"
~Tom

23/12/2020

$600? Time for some cake.
~Tim

22/12/2020

Our first kinda debate. Come watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuEXeTN-aK0&feature=emb_logo

Today we tackle Legalization and Decriminalization looking at the history of substance abuse and some recent votes to overturn classic laws. We will have a d...

22/12/2020

Fortunately the corporate overlords can now write this off as a 100% tax deduction. Pizza parties for everyone!!! ~Tim

22/12/2020

Were doomed... ~Tim

18/12/2020

I think this has gone a bit too far.
~Tom

17/12/2020

As a comments section connoisseur, I approve of this message.
~Tim

17/12/2020

Alright... our first video is up on YouTube. Hello World! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNz7wOSdDks&feature=emb_imp_woyt

This is our first show! We didn't talk about an article today, just so you can get to know who we are. In this video, we talked about why the nature verses n...

17/12/2020

This might be a little below the belt from both sides...
~Tim

16/12/2020

These are the same kind of things the robber barons did to garner public favor when they themselves became unfavorable because they had so much vast wealth, that people came to loath them... some with malicious intent. Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center... stuff like that, so people would say, "Yeah he is one of the evil rich BUT he built this big thing for the community, and donated a whole bunch of money to charities for the poor." Which kind of makes people (who have been dumbed down by p**s poor public education due to budget cuts from the No Child Left Behind slogans) overlook the fact that there would not need to be a donation to the poor, if the owners of America would just pay a wage which didn't require food stamps after a 40 hour work week. Their little Trump card just got removed from play, and they are getting nervous that pitchforks and torches might become a fashion trend on Tik Tok. ~Tim

11/12/2020

Yeah I don't understand the curfew thing. Its not like covid comes out after dark, or you have a harder time seeing it in the moonlight. But, I also don't understand why we cant just shut down absolutely everything for 45 days and eliminate the covid problem all at once. We could deliver supplies of everything including liquor, to***co, coffee, food, and w**d (ranked from most to least dangerous) along garbage pick up routes for those that need it. One good hunker down some Netflix and p**n, maybe some family time and board games, and then everyone can go get a f**king hair cut. Granted we would still need a production line, and people to work it. The people that have to perform that task... wipe out any and all outstanding debt as a thank you for keeping us alive and give them a significant wage to make it happen, give them a nice little cushion for saving our asses. Freeze all mortgages, loans, rent, and bills for everyone else... tack that s**t onto the back end, and if the banks and Wall Street don't like it, they can go f**k themselves with a giant box of rubber c***s... particularly when we have to bail them out... again (and it will happen). But that's just my 2 cents.

~Tim

04/12/2020