Yeah they’ve been saying this every time someone helps Ukraine. First small arms were a “dangerous escalation”, then heavier weapons, then tanks, then fighters, etc. etc. Funny how they don’t consider eg. threatening nuclear war every second day or sabotage operations in Europe a “dangerous escalation”.
I’m starting to feel like nuclear war would probably be preferable to a planet with Russia in it (the fact that I live in a country bordering them doesn’t help)
Afaik they only allowed Ukraine to do that when Russia started “I can hit you but you can’t hit back because I’m in Russia” tactics. Afaik Ukraine can only strike Russia under certain strict conditions.
Yeah, in a year they will have their own home grown capability. Untill then the current generation of drones is performing adequate. Once they integrate hard and software that allow the drone to finish the mission on its own in the terminal phase, it will be even more painful.
“Hey adults of Japan, are you dishonoring your family by not working hard enough? Now you can shit your pants without leaving your cubicle! HONOR YOUR FAMILY!!! NO SEDOKU AT WORK!!! ONLY SEPPUKU!!! SHIT YOUR PANTS!!! YOU SHIT YOUR PANTS NOW!!! HONOR YOUR FAMILY!!!”
Exactly, what are they going to do that’s new? Take more territory? They would have already if they could. Target civilians? They’re already doing that. Use banned weapons? They’re already using various chemical agents and white phosphorous, so nothing new there.
The only real escalation they have left is nuclear, and that would 100% result in countries retaliating with their own, ending us all. Besides, then they’re still just left with more irradiated land than they already have, there’s no benefit.
Are they trying to claim they’d be capable of maintaining a war with multiple fronts if other countries openly join in retaliation? Because if they had more military in reserve, they’d surely be sending it to Ukraine to end this “2 week conflict” as quickly as possible.
You know what I would consider a dangerous escalation? Bombing a children’s hospital you fucking sick fucks. We need to lift these restrictions on Ukraine immediately.
I mean - as just one example, we have here a country that launched a military invasion of another country, and is now trying to characterize attempts by that country to defend itself as “escalation.”
The only possible “logic” behind that is that the Russian position is that the only acceptable thing for Ukraine to do is to meekly submit to Russian rule, and that anything else is such an affront that it justifies even more violence and murder.
That’s stark, raving, bug-eyed insane. And it’s not some derelict on a street corner spouting that insanity - it’s s nation. And it’s not the only national level insanity happening - hell - it’s not even the only national level insanity happening today. Even as I type this, it’s guaranteed that some country or some national level politician somewhere, and probably more than one, is doing or saying something at least as mind-boggling insane as that, and it just keeps going, moment-to-moment, day-to-day.
How does that even work? Seriously - is it some sort of conspiracy of silence or something? Some (potentially unspoken) agreement around the world that yeah, we know that these people are stark staring mad, but let’s just pretend that the shit they spew has some merit, mmkay?
Or is it that the rest of the world is so insane that they don’t even notice? (Or, it suddenly struck me, so drunk that they don’t?)
I just don’t get it. It’s not even just countries and their leaders doing and saying things that are a bit questionable, but countries and their leaders doing and saying things that are screechingly insane - that don’t even bear a passing resemblance to logic, reason, truth or reality. Day in and day out, and without even a whisper about how patently insane it all is.
some other countries try to stay diplomatic so talks are still possible when russia is ready to surrender. they have professional politicians who hold back instead of lashing out, even if they want to.
also, many countries didn’t expect war and were low on war supplies. then many of them are also giving their supplies to Ukraine and have even less, but can probably still defend against russia or others, but it’s more risky. in that situation they ask that their weapons aren’t fired into russian territorry for two reasons: (1) so russia has less reason to attack them in their slightly weakened state and (b) so russia can’t find parts of their weapons and develop countermeasures or copy their tech.
russia knows this, of course and they are losing the war. it’s just the question how many years it will take. so because of reason 1 they try to threaten the Ukraine supplier countries to stop them sending weapons. And those countries know it’s outrageous how russia behaves, but their politiciancs act cool and won’t call out the insanity, so negotiations for russias surrender will be possible as soon as possibble.
It’s a demographic issue. They (Japanase diaper producers) started making more money on adult diapers last year or so because of the change in demographics.
The market for diapers is unusual local. Partly because every country has local producers and partly due to local customs, tradition, legislation, standards and cost of living. It varies a lot by country and once you’ve found one brand that works, then you’re set for the duration of when you need them.
For babies that’s two years or so. No blame for anyone having to use them longer or whatever, but from a business point of view, it’s a two year customer relationship. This short period is very influenced by getting informed by other parents, because there simply isn’t time to try out every possible brand. Time is one thing, but also not wanting to change from what works, and just not taking chances.
Adult diapers are different in that regard. It might still be local quality pricing and trustworthyness, but the duration of the customer relationship is 10-20 years or more. The customer base is smaller but they’ll use them for longer.
It would theoretically be a good business to make a good quality diaper for adults and ship them worldwide at a good price, but it’ll be difficult to breach the market as a newcomer, because consumers aren’t really going to take chances on this issue, so they’ll rather buy a locally renowned brand.
Japan is (one of the) first countries to break this point. It is also happening elsewhere, but it’s difficult to know for sure, because it is only visible in the figures from local manufacturers who make both products, or by comparing wildly different segments using different products.
Anyway… I just find it interesting from a business and demographic perspective, because the product used to avoid shitting your pants is different from other kind of products in that regard.
There’s also a matter of size. Babies come in pretty standard sizes overall (ranging from tiny preemie to tiny newborn to toddler, and then a bit of extra market for in-between ages), but adults…
What works for one country does not work for another. I, for example, cannot buy underpants made for the Chinese market (I’ve tried) because the dimensions are just wrong. Even when scaled, they don’t fit right. The body proportions are just different for adults from different places, and that’s ok, but it does make the adult diaper scene similarly localized.
After all, you can make a one-size adult diaper, hospitals use them, but they have strong limitations for how hideable they are (most adult diaper products are marketed to women who suffer far greater rates of incontinence due to childbirth, so hideability is important).
I probably should be happy about this, but I really don’t care. This seems like something that’s more important to experts and academics. Regardless of what the official indicators say, something just doesn’t seem right to me. I can’t necessarily quantify it or express it through some equation, something just feels…wrong.
But is it really progress, or did the price of everything jack up an it has come down just a bit because companys are finally getting the blowback they deserve as consumers reduce spending?
While that is a better trajectory, I do kind of have the mildly pessimistic view that a large part of the costs of good going down isn’t truly a positive sign for inflation, but the market forcing prices down due to decreased spending. I’m luckily in a decent position financially (my bills are paid, rent, while not cheap, is paid on time), but the cost of pretty much everything has become so much higher with not much of an increase in earning. If the minimum wage were forced up it would probably help, but idk, every person I’ve talked (in person) about the issue with is pretty negative about the issue.
On January 1, 22 states will increase their minimum wages, raising pay for an estimated 9.9 million workers. In total, workers will receive $6.95 billion in additional wages from state minimum wage increases. In addition, 38 cities and counties will increase their minimum wages on January 1 above their state’s wage floors, adding to the number of workers likely to see increased earnings. In the absence of federal action, states and localities continue to take the lead in advancing fairer wage floors via legislation, ballot measures, and automatic inflation adjustments.
Don’t get me wrong, if these numbers are indicators that some people are going to experience less stress and that they will be less overwhelmed or that they will be made to feel more secure in their financial situation, I do think that is objectively a good thing and I’m happy for those people. It’s just that these numbers don’t make me feel any better about the economy or my personal financial situation. Maybe I should feel better, but I don’t. I generally feel pessimistic, and these numbers don’t change that.
It’s because this is a manufactured inflation (imo) that companies have created by greedy price gouging.
To imply that we should be rejoicing at the fact that companies are starting to drop prices slightly (even though the average person is struggling to afford GROCERIES) is quite frankly, disgusting.
Corporate price gouging has not been a primary driver of U.S. inflation, according to research published on Monday by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
While markups for motor vehicles and petroleum products did rise sharply during the 2021-2022 inflation surge, markups across the entire spectrum of U.S. goods and services have been relatively flat during the post-pandemic recovery, the bank’s latest Economic Letter showed.
“As such, rising markups have not been a main driver of the recent surge and subsequent decline in inflation during the current recovery,” wrote the bank’s research chief Sylvain Leduc and colleagues Huiyu Li and Zheng Liu.
Where is the research in the article? It’s basically citing one paper, and not really telling what its title is so you can’t just review it to make sure it’s valid and not missing something.
Thanks for linking, it was just suspect that it wasn’t linked in the Reuters article (I know it Reuters, but even then if it’s a claim that might be challenged they should link to the research).
The source reporting on the study should lend itself to the veracity of the information. I think there’s a bit of shooting the messenger going on. I trust Reuters as a reliable source of information, and if the study were lacking I feel it would be noted. The study was published in May, so I would hope if there were holes in the report they would have surfaced by now.
No, we should be taking this as what it is: the world's smallest W. Take it, have a beer or a smoke if you've got them, and go back to being angry tomorrow.
I could have sworn that this was the version I read, but they may have deleted it and posted a different article on the same topic.
We did it, y’all! Get the Champagne on ice and gather the townsfolk because America hath slain the beast known as inflation. (Or, at least, it’s hit a turning point.)
Huzzah! Maximum employment and price stability? Let’s party.
But wait — what’s that I hear? Not the riotous cheers of American consumers dancing in the streets. Not a chorus of workers singing about the strongest labor market of their lifetimes, and no — I can’t even pick up on the sound of what I’m sure is an army of economists demanding sainthood for Jay Powell. Instead, the single best economic news of the past decade is but a murmur of chit-chat, barely audible against a clamor of politicos shouting about President Joe Biden’s age.
So would you rather respond to that article or the posted one? Because the article you’re citing was written with a humorous bent, which I thought would bring some levity. But instead I see it’s taken seriously, so I suppose it was right to go down.
And it was the CNN article for those keeping score, not Yahoo.
reuters.com
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