There are some things you just don’t want to see.
Like, a meat market next to a mortuary.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, I had been listening to the YouTube channel “The Quartering” about this Trump verdict thing, and saw that he has a recent video where he goes on a rant about McDonald’s charging $18 for a Big Mac, and then about how they started charging 15 cents for a bag, and yet they made $14 billion last year. “Shouldn’t McDonalds just take a little less profit and make their customers happier?” The comments are a torrent of McD’s-bashing.
“McDonald’s food is disgusting!”
-a guy who probably eats giant ocean bugs, as long as there are copious amounts of butter available.
After explaining in the comments how he was completely wrong, Jeremy (the host of “The Quartering”) decided to ignore me, and publish subsequent videos rehashing his earlier complaints.
Without any research, and relying solely on logic, one can arrive at the conclusion that if McDonald’s is charging $18 for a Big Mac, and people are buying it instead of $18 worth of tacos, or pizza, or tofu salad, then there is no reason for anyone to be outraged. You may not think that a Big Mac is worth $18, but someone obviously does. You aren’t just getting food; you are getting food that has—as much as is possible—been standardized with regard to quantity and quality. You don’t have to wonder what you are about to get, and you get it in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, if people are buying $18 Big Macs instead of $15 Whoppers or $12 Big Bacon Classics (I made those prices up), then it says something about people’s preferences rather than the control McDonalds has over what people pay for food. One could say that “the demand for Big Macs is inelastic”, if one wanted to—at least, it appears to be so in that Connecticut town.
Doing some research, I find a few little factoids.
- The $18 price was for a Big Mac meal, not just a Big Mac sandwich. Saying “$18 for a Big Mac” is deceitful.
- The McDonald’s near me charges a little over $5 for a Big Mac, and a little over $9 for the Big Mac meal (with medium fries and medium drink). That led me to conclude that:
- The $18 charge was in a particular place, and I was right. It was in a town in Connecticut, and it happened last year (2023, that is). I didn’t see if the charge was at the counter, or for a meal that was delivered (which would have an additional delivery fee added to the meal), but based on the reporting, I will assume it was at the counter. I don’t know the state and town regulations, but I highly suspect that regulations are a big factor in the high cost.
- Jeremy showed a video of a lady complaining about being charged 15 cents for a bag, otherwise they dump your food in your lap, or something (the comments expressed particular outrage over this 15 cent charge). After a little research, I’m pretty sure that the lady lived in Vancouver, since every business there is required to charge 15 cents for a bag, in order to stop climate change.
- 5. The McDonald’s Corporation doesn’t make most of its money by slinging cheeseburgers. It is, in fact, primarily a real estate company. (No wonder they like to do those Monopoly sweepstakes). They charge their franchisees rent on the buildings, along with franchise fees and a part of the sales revenue. They do have company owned stores, which in 2014 provided a majority of the company’s revenue, but profits from rent money were around triple the profits from selling burgers and fries out of the company-owned stores. For more information, see this article at Investopedia.
To sum up: the high prices are not due to corporate greed. There are many factors involved, and most of the increasingly higher prices are due to government regulations and taxes and other interventions in the marketplace. Complaining about McDonald’s “excessive profits” shows a fundamental misunderstanding about what function profits serve in the marketplace: they provide information about whether resources are being used efficiently. Companies that use resources to make products people actually want tend to have high profits. It’s a reward for serving people well.
Much of the price increase is due to inflation, not profits. All inflation is a monetary phenomenon. Inflation doesn’t happen because corporations suddenly get greedy, when they weren’t before, or because they are held back by public opinion. Most businesses are, in fact, doing everything they can to charge lower prices, in an attempt to gain market share over their rivals. That’s even more true for an industry like fast food, where the options are numerous, as well as the number of competitors for people’s dinner money.
Inflation happens when the government-established central bank “prints up” voluminous amounts of new money, usually through loans. Here is the Mises website with information for how this works.
And here is a promo where McDonald’s customers can win a free visit from Ronald McDonald.
One last thing: if you ever wondered how fast food franchises would act if they were actual people, then Frank James has you covered.
Complaining about excessive profits in such an elastic industry as fast food is a sure. If you don’t like McD’s, there are 14 competitors within a mile radius with cheaper/better/more varied/whatever options available. Take your business to them.
Is a joke*
You say “sure,” I say “joke,” let’s call the whole thing off!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJHbTuVcSwE
Very interesting read, thanks!
I never got a photo of the roadside fruit and nut stand on Highland Avenue outside Patton State (psychiatric) Hospital.
I don’t know, a meat market next to a mortuary? Isn’t that the definition of a Goth club?
As I recall, the 18-dollar big mac meal was at a captive interstate rest stop (on a toll road). Everything is fucking higher at those places.
I would have guessed airport but still, everyone* knows these places charge more.
*honest people I guess
I think the sandwich meals (at least for a double quarter pounder) near me at in the $15-$16 range (off the top of my head), so we’re close. But that has a lot more to do with California insanity (ever increasing minimum wage, Fast Food Soviet Council, etc.) than which brand of fast food you’re looking at.
Agreed on the “good read” comment, too.
The customers are already happy enough to purchase $18 Big Macs, what else do you expect McDonalds to do?
Bravo! Thank you for your research and writeup!
I can’t believe McDonald’s is all about making money with their poison food.
Related, I had In ‘N Out for the first time a few weeks ago. The love for it is completely unfounded, but the prices were surprisingly decent. I don’t care if the fries are cut fresh in the restaurant, they are a 100% knock-off of McDonald’s. /end take
Did you get your burger STEVE SMITH style?
Extra “mayo” and a large hole in the middle of the patty?
I concur on in-n-out. It’s a decent clean tasting burger. The fries are weird (single fried is objectively worse than double fried). Waaay overhyped.
I’ve said it before, but when we lived in TX the first time, there was a whataburger and an in-n-out the same distance away. 95% of the time we wanted burgers, we ate at whataburger.
Sadly, Whataburger no longer sells the $600 Whataburger logo cowboy boots. You’ll have to show your fandom by purchasing a set of french-fry slippers instead.
https://shop.whataburger.com/collections/shoes/products/fry-slippers
Around here there are armed men forcing cars off the street and into McDonalds drive through lanes.
California?
No, there they issue fines for going to McDonalds.
McDonalds is where the “there is no inflation” lie goes to die.
Pre covid, i could eat my fill for just 2 or 3 bucks. McDouble. McChicken. 2 or 3 of those… a buck each.
A meal deal with a quarter pounder was under 6 bucks.
Plenty of calories for a growing boy.
Prices have moderated a bit from their peak, but a big Mac meal (medium) is almost $11, plus tax.
They are fighting to keep customers…. they have a new special, $5 mcdouble meal, with 4 nuggets, small fries ans drink. Still a pretty decent deal.
Maybe this is why politicians and media personalities think they can get away with denying the impact of inflation. They go to a $40 per plate restaurant in the city and it is up to $50. They don’t even notice.
Are you unaware of the Big Mac Index for inflation?
I was completely unaware. Thank you, very kindly.
I can get a Big Mac in Columbia for $3.77 and have enough left over for a small bump of coke.
Trust me those expense account places are up at least the 20% you noted.
Yep, 2 McDoubles and an iced tea for $3.19 after tax was something I could cound on. Went the other day for 2 McDoubles and no iced tea for $6.35.
My drive through order used to be two mcdoubles, a small fry, and a small drink $5.35 every time. I would have exact change ready when I drove through.
Last time, it was 8 bucks and change. 60% increase in 4 years. Service is shit. Quality is down. McDs is dying.
Within my lifetime, restaurants have gone from “special occasion” to “reasonably affordable” to “lunch every day” and now back to “special occasion”. I almost do not eat out, ever, unless I am out of town anymore.
We’ve never eaten out much. We recently decided that Mrs. Dean needed a break from cooking, so I would get takeout once a week. I was getting takeout more like once a month.
I do go out for lunch every Saturday, to the local pub for a growler and a sandwich (and a beer while I wait). The growler and the sandwich also do me for lunch on Sunday. As we were discussing recently, restaurant portion sizes are ridiculously large – many can be stretched to two meals.
Once a month we go to Costco. She has a slice of peperoni and a glass of Diet Pepsi. I have 2 glizzies and a Diet Pepsi. $5.54
Other than that going out is usually a special occasion (kid’s birthday).
Never fear, consumers, CommaLa will price cap everything!
*Ghost of Nixon nods in approval
1. McDonald’s customers want a shake with their meal.
2. The shake machine is usually broken.
3. Profit?
The love for it is completely unfounded
I was never that impressed by In n Out.
One of the reasons I go to Freddy’s is because I like their onion rings.
What’s your beef with butter?
Culvers
^^
Tried it once. Don’t understand why it’s popular.
Pricey. Slow. Good burgers. Really good ice cream. Usually friendly, family oriented service.
Subjectively: seem popular in lower class / working class areas. Maybe a substitute “fancy restaurant” for better off working class folk?
This discussion actually underscores it very nicely.
Pre inflation bubble, McDonalds big burger meal was in the $5-6 range. That has fully doubled.
They would have us believe that all restaurants, fast food, and grocery stores suddenly decided get greedy and raise prices all at the same time.
If they’ve gotten greedy now, were they all perfectly altruistic before?
Hell, it’s getting to the point that the fast casual places (Applebees, Chilis, Red Robin, etc.) are getting to be about the same price as the fast food places.
At least the fast food places don’t have the “20% tip is completely expected and required… and a service fee” that the fast casual and above seem to be into now. (Pay with a tablet! We’ll pre-fill in the recommended tip!)
The weird thing was, it was in the same range when I was in high school – nearly forty years ago.
So many things at the lower end held price for decades.
In 1977/8 they switched from glass 2 quart soda bottles to plastic 2 liter bottles. 98 cents was the good price.
20 years later, 98 cents was still the good price.
15 years after that…. same.
Then it was $1.25 for a couple of years.
Then covid happened. Not $2 is the good price (down from $2.50)
Charging for bags is just silly.
Which is why they do it here in Duloot, of course.
Really?
Mandated by the city? Or just to recoup costs?
Mandated by the city.
Welcome to Oregon.
Our geniuses pulled plastic completely and now charge for paper.
Also, also… franchise owners can make a decent living… but unless they own several, they have to work as the manager to do it. So, factoring that in, they don’t really make all that much on the investment.
They charge for bags at the Sprouts here in Texas. Utterly stupid. They give you double-thick bags which end up in the trash anyway and decay even slower. Hippies are silly.
When I move I will be close to an HEB. I won’t miss Sprouts.
Also there is no bag mandate in Texas, Sprouts just does it because Gaia.
Back at the end of 2019, Cuyahoga county (which contains Cleveland) decided to ban single use plastic bags at stores to save turtles or some shite. Come 2020, when the ‘vid hysteria started, and all of a sudden we needed plastic bags back! In the meantime, the state banned counties and cities from banning plastic bags. Several local chains decided to go forward with removing their single use plastic bags regardless. The most entertaining of this was Giant Eagle. It started by removing all bags from the self checkout registers… plastic, paper, and even reusable.
After some outcry, they put paper bags back, but charged $0.15/each for them. After much loss and complaints, they decided to give the paper bags away free, but give people perks (loyalty program points) if they said they used reusable bags. They have since come out with their replacement for single use plastic bags, which feel as if they’re recycled plastic bottles and the like and have stamped on them that they’re good for up to “125 uses”. Meanwhile, the more local upscale organic tree hugging store has kept the single use plastic bags throughout the entire thing.
I am surprised though that McDonald’s, and fast food in general, prices are so high. There’s a Mexican restaurant near me where you can get freshly made lunch faijitas, including beans, rice, guac, pico, and tortilla chips/salsa for less than than a big mac meal.
Labor costs have gone through the roof.
Fast food near me has been struggling to have decent service. They are still often understaffed. With low margins and a large chunk being labor, they are under pressure.
Lunch deals at restaurants here are also competitive with a fully loaded fast food meal. But dinner at nicer low end restaurants has gone up a lot. Pasta is often over $20, even without chicken. That’s nuts.
Raising a family of four isn’t cheap.
Cats need to eat, too.
Part of what you pay for at McDonald’s is that you know what you’ll get. When travelling Jose’s Taco Stand may well be the tastier and cheaper choice, but it may also cause you to pull over a few miles down the road.
/points downthread to McDonald’s work experience
That’s assuming that the employees at McDonald’s are following the guidelines. I can say that when I was a teenager, we generally ignored all of those that made our jobs harder.
New information to me:
Routh was driving his daughter’s car when he was detained, according to a law enforcement source. The license plate on the Nissan SUV was registered to a 2012 white Ford truck that had been reported stolen, according to the charging documents.
So… no need to steal a car.
And daughter means he had a base and possible connections. So, it becomes less implausible to have an illegal SKS so far from home in Hawaii.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/17/politics/inside-apparent-assassination-attempt-trump/index.html
Tantrum economics
Online and in internal channels, employees sounded off on CEO Andy Jassy’s mandate that workers return to the office five days a week starting Jan 2, 2025.
“Amazon (AMZN+1.50%) has announced 5 day RTO, which is unfortunate because I’m interested in working for a living, not live-action role playing and virtue signaling,” CJ Felli, a system development engineer for Amazon Web Services, wrote on Linkedin. “If you have remote opportunities available, please message me. Nothing is off the table. I’d rather go back to school than work in an office again.”
Learn to drive a garbage truck.
That left coast tech bubble attitude is amazing.
The problem (from an employee perspective) is that these are the same companies that:
+ Moved to a “you have no assigned desk — we’ve put docking stations and monitors on tables in an open space… first come first served!” model years back.
+ Stopped having geo-located teams — now you work with several people in several cities and there’s no one in the office to talk to / brainstorm with even if you could find what table they got today (see above)
+ Allowed WfH pre-COVID and during COVID… allowing folks to realize that if they’re just doing Slack / Zoom / whatnot anyway with their team… they can do it just as easily at home and save the commute.
+ Are dealing with salaried people who tend not to work “to the clock” in the first place — that time you got inspired over the weekend, or your subconscious worked out a problem in the shower or in your sleep, etc. is just as valuable to the company as when you’re sitting in your “assigned workspace” and people know it.
Hence it makes so little sense for people to go in, suffer the non-stop “Sales guy on a call two tables away that distracts you” and whatnot crap.
Can the employer do it? Of course — they write the checks, they set the work environment…. but do I understand (and agree with, choosing “Remote” in the last RTO round at my current job) why there’s pushback? Definitely.
There’s also the mostly wasted time and cost of commuting. The last four years has opened the eyes of a lot of people to how shitty that is if it’s optional. Or could be optional.
Yup. And the employee can say, “take this job and shove it”.
My team is all over the world. My company is flexible that way, but some companies bitch when the help wants the same flexibility.
“Remote” is a bonus that those of us who chose this line of work can be rewarded with; instead they want to punish them with lowest-common-denominator drudgery.
Sort of like when employers bitch about no one will take the job at the wages they’re offering. Well, then increase the wages until you do get someone.
I’d not be so crass and petty as to post that on my LinkedIn, but I’m in the same place. If my company called me back to office 5days/week, I’d be gone within a month. At this point, people have been WFH for 4 and a half years. If they’re not hacking it, fire them. If they’re doing fine, leave them alone.
Exactly. Insecure managers who want their pre covid routines can fuck right off. Especially with a company like Amazon that has workgroups scattered across the country or world.
The corporate version of respect muh authoritah.
^this. The flipside for employees in remote industries is that they are no longer constrained by their geographic location. It used to be a major undertaking to change employers (moving, new job for spouse, new schools for kids (assuming government schooled).
Now, employees in remote fields can easily change employers with minimal effort. Or start their own business. Employers will need to work harder to retain their key employees. I suspect we’re just beginning to see the disruption this will cause.
My employer is going from 3 to 4 days a week in-office in October. Already lost 1 Project Manager. Lady with young kids who got a more flexible deal from a cross-town competitor.
A lot of other unhappy people here. I need to get my resume up to date.
Was the SKS registered to him? Was it purchased before he moved to Hawaii? If so, who kept it for him?
Was the SKS stolen?
sigh, reply to up above, obvs.
But, as far as 5 days in office? Fire anyone who doesn’t comply within the week. You want a new job, great, go find one. You work from home, you are a temp. Nothing more.
Good questions all.
Serial numbers supposedly ground off.
Modifications, including illegal. (Some obvious from pic)
He was on parole for weapon of mass destruction charges. Definitely illegal to own or possess a gun because of that.
Unless you are the owner you’re a temp.
And even then you basically are.
I haven’t worked in an office every day for more than 25 years. I’d rather cut grass at the golf course.
I haven’t worked in an office every day for more than 25 years. I’d rather cut grass at the golf course.
Yup. The only 5 days in the office jobs I worked were internships. All the big-boy jobs have been flexible to varying degrees.
Frankly, if the right role came along and required me to be in office, I’d consider it. Such an inconvenience would be priced into the salary I’d require, and I’d be gone as soon as a decently comparable remote job opened up.
The deeper issue I have is the rotten culture that is exposed by these mandates. The issue isn’t the issue. The issue is either the hiring and firing practices being effed up or the real estate group and HR getting in the ear of the CEO. I’ve never had a first, second, or third line manager who gave half a crap where I was when I did my job. They only cared about my work getting done on time.
I’m probably going to have to find another job eventually. Any internal opportunity that’s a promotion would probably be in a different city. With the new in-office requirements, I’d have to relocate, which I’m not doing. So I’m going to have to start looking around.
If you are working for a company, TRSY, that has those problems, no amount of working from home will cure them. That company is rotten to the core, and you are only setting yourself up for failure by staying. I know you are working hard to make your own way, and good on you for that, but when issues such as that come up, you need to be able to jump immediately.
If you are working for a company, TRSY, that has those problems, no amount of working from home will cure them.
True. Thankfully, we don’t have those issues to a substantial extent. I think there’s an inexorable connection between these draconian top-down RTO proclamations and a diseased understanding of why you have employees. My company went down that path for a little while, all the “company is family” BS, the DEI BS, etc. Even a half-hearted RTO event. Somebody got in leadership’s ear and told them that HR’s crap was causing a large number of good employees to leave, and it all got turned down from an 8 to a 3.
Thinking about this whole issue, a huge part of my pushback is related to coming from an OPS background, where if you aren’t 100% supporting the [machines, crew, etc.] you ARE the problem. No casual Fridays, always being on call, and so on were the parameters of the job. And this extended to upper management; in good companies they knew that they were no better than the dude dropping off shred bins at 4pm on a Friday, and showed it. Bad companies? You started looking for better work the second you found out.
I will be heading to the office next week. It will be my third time onsite in 4 years.
I have no issues working at the office or at home. My company decided that I and my team were in the wrong office and we needed to relocate or collect our severance check. 1/2 of my team needs to have access to equipment and facilities and the other can do their job on the moon if it had WI-Fi. The efforts to relocate or fire my staff had nothing to do with effectiveness or performance. Our current site is more than sufficiently equipped and my team supports and creates some of the highest profits in the division.
This whole effort was sold to the c-suite as some notion of centers of excellence, but in reality they were centers when I, the VP live and don’t want to move from.
My last day is Friday for the old job. My new job is in the same office at my same desk, but with a different division.
If anyone from my group was actually in the area, I wouldn’t mind going to the office 2-3 days a week. But we are spread out all over the country, so there’s no point. I suspect that even if my company tried to implement that, my boss would tell us to ignore it.
Come into the office, sit alone, and attend virtual meetings.
McDonalds, like most fast food chains, often has better pricing in the app at the cost of inconvenience/spyware/data mining.
I find the food apps more convenient. Less time ordering, an order of magnitude fewer errors, and less human interaction.
Yup. The bribery scheme is working on me as well.
Once you get it installed and familiar, I agree.
Nice write up. I’ve become really goddamn tired of explaining why “corporate greed” can only exist with a captured government. It really shouldn’t be that difficult to grasp.
…then Frank James has you covered.
Very funny.
NSFW thread about Hezbolah pager attacks. Has videos and pics.
It seems that a batch of secure, encrypted pagers destined for the terror group was intercepted and had explosives of a few grams installed.
Legit old school spy novel stuff.
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1836061232433930309?s=19
Israel famously blew up some terrorist with a bomb in his cell phone.
Use ear buds if you don’t want cancer or your head blown off.
That’s a good touch, right there.
So they just overloaded the batteries until they exploded?
Any reason this couldn’t be done to electric cars?
This is the vibe I am getting
These didn’t look much to me like a LiPO battery outgassing and catching fire. There were intercepted devices that were modified with a few grams of (probably) PETN or RDX.
My pager is blowing up!
Israel should have pushed out 1134 2 09 just prior….
Footage of a couple of the pager bombs going off:
https://x.com/Faytuks/status/1836038889179390199
I noticed they had a lag to get the owner to look at the pager number prior to it popping off.
Most likely in very bad taste, but when I first heard of the pager attacks, this is what went through my head.
All the better if it goes in the mark’s hand, as opposed to his pocket…
Do you know the importance of a skypager?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYc50S23pQY
Room for improvement, but I’d say the burger quality at McDonalds has gone up over the past twenty years. No more Qwave (microwaving), QPC patties are cooked to order, every prepped ingredient from 1/10 patties to lettuce gets a pull time sticker or alarm, ability to customize sandwich builds or request fresh made, etc. I do miss styrofoam insulation & beef tallow flavor oil and individual franchise supervision plays the biggest part, but the tools in place to provide a decent fast food meal.
Bring back deep fried apple pies!
With the lava-hot filling that burned your tongue every time!
I worked there back in the days of the introduction of the Qwave (don’t call it a microwave!). And while there may be timers/alarms, you were still dependent on the employees (and supervisors) following them. There was many a time late at night that 10 lonely nuggets sat in the warming tray for a couple of hours waiting for that asshole to order them 5 minutes before closing.
That’s why I said individual franchise supervision is the biggest factor. The system is in place, it still takes people. I watch S Patula’s YouTube channel and wish the owner/operators were that involved around here.
Gustave Lytton:
Can confirm on that point as well, I did not work at the McDonald’s that was the closest to my house, I knew some people who did, and was warned away due to sanitation issues.
BRING BACK THE MCDLT. – BOOMER CAPPED
Which 90s sandwich should be brought back, Arch Deluxe or Big N Tasty?
Trick question. It’s all just packaged sadness after the Happy Meal.
I’m so looking forward to a Jeremyburger, where he charges a non-greedy price and still makes a living wage from his investment. People like him have no frigging clue as to what goes into getting investments, managing investments, gauging market enthusiasm for your product, hiring and retaining good employees, complying with a myriad of governmental regulations, and all the other things that go into having a successful business.
This is likely click-bait/grifting. The guy runs a mail-order coffee company, he probably understands the fundamentals of business. A sober analysis doesn’t get clicks, spazzing out does.
Didn’t he run a comic book store in the Bay Area before getting fed up with the distribution deals / California in general, or am I thinking of a different cultural / somewhat political Youtuber?
If it is him — yeah, he should have some sense of business.
Isn’t that Nerdrotic?
Yeah, probably — I don’t watch either of them very often, I suspect I’m conflating them in my mind.
Yeah, that is Gary of Nerdrotic he ran a Bay Area Comic shop until, by his own admission, it disappeared up his nose. Jeremy of the Quartering is a ‘Sconie who runs Coffee Brand Coffee.
Gary does interesting takes on pop culture; Jeremy does mundane takes on politics and pop culture.
Jeremy does mundane takes on politics and pop culture.
From the limited exposure I’ve had to him, this seems charitable. 90% of what I’ve seen of him has been “I was texting with [name drop here] and what’s REALLY happening is [insert obvious statement here].” The phrase “also ran” comes to mind.
I was being charitable. Most of the time he is just reading someone else’s article to you with only the most surface-level analysis.
I remain subscribed to him because of inertia and the fact that I find him to be a very personable guy.
Reminds me of all those hippie coffeeshops that said “pay us what you can.”
Those all last a year or two.
Didn’t Panera dabble with that?
Human beings that don’t get human nature will get fucked every time.
There I Ruined It.
Boomhauer performs Rap God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmmHoam7y5U
First time I’ve been able to understand him.
We went back to the office almost a year ago. October 2023. It hasn’t been a disaster, but I prefer to be back at home.
I fell for the bait. Youtube shows a headline of Trump speaking out after the 2nd assassination attempt. The “news” story shows him standing at a podium briefly, but did not play any of Trump’s words.
TMITE
And to hear the lamentations of their bureaucrats
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of Elon Musk’s social media platform X, said European Commissioner Thierry Breton’s resignation Monday was “a good day for free speech.”
Breton, who served as the EU’s commissioner for the internal market since 2019 and was a big player on digital regulation, publicly announced his resignation Monday and accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of acting against him.
During his time as commissioner, Breton clashed multiple times with American tech billionaire Elon Musk over content regulation on X, which Musk took ownership of in 2022 when it was still named Twitter.
Breton sent a letter to Musk in August this year urging him to ensure that X adhered to EU regulations on content moderation, ahead of the entrepreneur’s interview with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Musk responded to Breton with a meme on X telling him to, err, back off.
Breton’s move also irritated the European Commission at the time, which said that “the timing and wording” of Breton’s letter to Musk had not been coordinated with von der Leyen or other commissioners.
What a shame. He just wanted to make the world a better place.
Good start. Now fire 10,000 more.
Then you’ll have a really good start.
Similar discussion:
The daughter watched a “Leave it to Beaver” episode where the Beaver started selling water door-to-door at 3 cents cup to people who had lost water service. The moral of the episode is that he should have given it away, and never charged for it.
I suppose I am a heartless capitalist for pointing out that the Beaver had gathered said water, and walked around the neighborhood at his own time and expense to sell cups of water. He should get recompensed for it just as a guy who lugs 1,000 sheets of plywood into a hurricane disaster zone should be recompensed fairly for his service. This is not price gouging, it is what the market will bear in an emergency to allow necessary goods and services to continue. TANSTAAFL, now and forever.
Anyone have another opinion?
Agreed. Good on him if he wants to provide it charitably, but I see zero issue with asking to be compensated for providing relief like that.
Wise capitalist Eddie should have offered to hook the hose up to Beav’s house and provided totally free water to those in need, however much they felt they needed. That might have cured Beaver’s parents of their objections.
And the pricing signal that a sheet 150% of normal list says to someone that might grab several extras “just because”. Hey maybe I’ll just buy what I need and leave the rest for the next guy.
Seen elsewhere (maybe here?)
Selling above competitors: gouging
Selling below competitor: undercutting/dumping
Selling same as competitor: collusion
Recall the great toilet paper shortage of 2020.
I remember coming home from an aborted vacation in March of 2020 and finding the shelves at Sam’s Club stripped bare. That was a huge WTF moment.
Frightened pack animals.
We used to attend a big summer camping event. Highs routinely in the 90s. We would go through ice like crazy. There was an ice truck on site, but it was a long walk hauling ice.
The kids used to come around and take orders. They’d show up later and we would pay them for the ice plus a tip.
The kids don’t do that anymore.
Leave it to Beaver? Timely reference…I wonder what Danny Partridge and The Man from UNCLE would’ve thought about that situation.
The man from UNCLE worked with the KGB. Clearly a commie, but smart enough to steal somebody else’s water and give it away.
Danny Partridge would have sung a song about love and cooperation and then hightailed it out of there on his bus.
Evidence that we haven’t had our head screwed on right for, what, sixty years or more?
I’ll let Tom take this one
Also, child labor bad. Child charity good. Same thinking?
Was that the episode before the one where Ward loses his job because his employer doesn’t think they should pay him for doing his work? Half the messages on all those old sitcoms were the kind of convoluted nonsense the “greatest generation” prompted in elections and governance.
I agree with you, economically. Socially and morally*, people F’ng HATE this.
*I don’t really have a moral opinion on it.
It is culturally out of context. Then, and until what seems to me to be fairly recent, one did not refuse water to anyone that asked for it. It was considered deeply immoral and contrary to the teaching of Jesus. I dont remember the exact biblical context, maybe someone else does here.
That is still deeply ingrained in my non-religious person. If someone is truly thirsty or hungry, do not give them money, feed them.
Also, the public or private water fountain free to all was part of that cultural tradition.
Mark 9:41
“For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, truly I tell you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Top men will tell you what to charge customers and pay employees.
Top men will tell you what to charge customers and pay employees.
And what to make and sell. Totally not fascism, though.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-senate-democrat-angry-over-biden-harris-admin-stonewalling-after-trump-assassination-attempts
A top Senate Democrat blasted the Biden-Harris administration for “stonewalling” in response to requests for information on the assassination attempts on former President Trump and the potential failures of the U.S. Secret Service.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) within the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was “almost derelict in its duty by resisting our requests for documents, evidence and information that are necessary to investigate.”
The Democrat reiterated his disappointment in the department, and added that he has become “angry” that DHS has not been more “forthcoming.”
The Senate must be getting some heat from somewhere.
How long before this attempted shooter disappears down the Epstein hole?
In stunningly brave stunning bravery nnews.
Drip, drip, drip goes the credibility.
That headline is so damn dishonest. “For only the second time in its 179-year history” implies those instances are far apart. The more honest headline would be “For only the second time in the last two elections…”
“For the second time in a row…”
Now that is news to me. SciAm has some credibility left? No shit?
Jeremy sounds like an idiot. Why do you watch his YouTube channel?
This meme is getting quite the use in economic right circles
https://x.com/cjsnowdon/status/1835943194854359343
Think Chris knows something?
Chris got canceled, or at least fired from his last job, so he’s no longer on the reservation.
Yeah, if he wanted to delight in the assassination attempts on Trump he could always land a job on MSBNC.
Maybe he took the same antidote as Fetterlump?
Yeah, that’s blasphemy alright.
Gary of Nerdrotic
Nerds are sexually titillated by him?
I think Vance was an excellent VP pick. He just eviscerates the media
https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1836053480307572979
Interesting RFK Jr. clip.
Weird
https://x.com/JDVance/status/1836119156589998565
um…
Hillary Clinton: Musk offer to give Taylor Swift a child ‘rotten and creepy’
One might even say deplorable.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4883748-hillary-clinton-slams-musk/
If anyone would know rotten and creepy it is her.
“And you know, here’s Taylor Swift, a self-made billionaire who brings joy to people and who imparts life lessons, particularly to girls and women, they can’t stand it,” she added.
If you listen to the music, the lesson should be ignore her endorsements.
“a self-made billionaire”
Unlike, say, Hillary Clinton.
How many Epstein Island visits for her and Bill?
I can’t blame Hillary for the misunderstanding – after all, for most of her life offers to ‘…give her a child,’ have involved human sacrifice.
Dude’s argument is 100% envy. I am reminded of the YT videos with idiot little commies going on about how ‘rich’ people could give all of their money away or buy a jumbo jet every day blah blah. They have no idea what wealth is or how it works.
McDonalds doesnt charge 18 bucks for anything. Cost of materials, labor, insurance, electricity etc etc etc determines their prices. ALL of those are artificially high because of govt law and regulation all the way down the line. The same is true for tennis shoes, lettuce, cars, gasoline, lumber, medicine…..
Get rid of the watermelon laws and regulations, all of them and watch prices drop to half what they are now. Cut the federal budget to only those things authorized by the constitution, limit the total taxes everyone pays to 15% of the income they have, get rid of withholding and everyone writes a check the day before Election Day to pay taxes.
If you think you have seen prosperity in the past you are mistaken. The economy would take off like a rocket. Unshackle it from the grifters and the envious.
“Where are those people apologizing? That’s what it’s time for. We are playing a dangerous game with ourselves. He is not a despot in waiting.”
Talk about going off the reservation.
And- speaking of the reservation, I have some correspondence here from the Dept of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. I can’t believe Deb Haaland hasn’t taken it upon herself to rename that particular segment of the government. Such offensive.
https://jalopnik.com/this-guys-hummer-ev-finance-deal-is-the-worst-ive-ever-1851650127
AND a 10% loan.
ROFLMAO
Stupid people make stupid decisions. News at 11.
Gap insurance and mysterious fire or repo and bankruptcy.
This dude sounds like a professional football player.
He owed more than either of those cars were worth, so he added the money needed to pay off both cars into the finance deal from the GMC dealer when he bought his Hummer.
Just kill yourself, Anthony. The world will be a better place. Kill the guy from the dealership who signed off on that deal, first.
I’m gonna just say it. Taylor Swift looks like a goddam realdoll.
They cheaped out on the womanly shapely bits.
How does the CIA choose their megastar ops? There are an awful lot of warbling hotties out there.
Put me on the jury.
Damn right.
“In shocking CCTV leaked to local media, Naziki is seen walking past a shop front when Dal Pino’s vehicle suddenly appears and rams into him at speed. The car then reverses back and forwards four times before Dal Pino – in high heeled shoes – is seen calmly getting out of her car, picking up her bag and driving away.”
*outright prolonged laughter*
Gotta love Italian chicks.
There is a reason some cultures do not allow women access to weapons.
If she had a gun she would not have had to damage the bumper on her SUV.