OT: Stock and Investment Thread

tom1944

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I’m squeezing my lawn maintenance service this year for a lower rate. The problem is they are trying to expand the mowing season to April- November.
My South or Central American lawn cutter and crew is back. I have no idea what their status is. I just know my wife got rid of several services before them because she thought they did a poor job edging. This crew gets an excellent grade.
 

bac2therac

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My South or Central American lawn cutter and crew is back. I have no idea what their status is. I just know my wife got rid of several services before them because she thought they did a poor job edging. This crew gets an excellent grade.
Explain by poor job edging
 

rutgersdave

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The mowing season literally is April to November

Hint..hire American if you dont want ICE on your property
Actually the owner is Hispanics and his crews but he’s probably a US citizen. I don’t know or care.

I don’t think I need April or November. I’m a retiree and don’t have much money. I know everybody accepts it without question.
 

bac2therac

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Yes

Some of services did a lousy job especially along the fence. We have 1.5 acres and the backyard fence is a lot.
Its going to be a hefty charge for that kind of detailed work..sidewalks are understandable..some people want the clean edge others dont care. Fences though are tough to keep pristine and if you walk to hard you chip the fence away or basically go down to dirt and only weeds will grow
 
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RU848789

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And anybody who isn’t a moron or suffer TDS knew the longer it went on the better chance he’d do it. He’s too much of a narcissist not to.
Mostly agree, which is why my financial adviser said to sit tight, but it was the bond market that likely led to the pullback, as people selling stocks off but not buying Treasuries wasn't in anyone's playbook; Trump's "queasy" comment in reference to this might be the understatement of the year. I just feel sorry for folks who cashed out and missed the rebound. For me, though, it was all just so unnecessary. Market theater - made for great drama, but pissed off many and we're still down 9% from 2025 highs and still have an overvalued market, historically.
 

RU848789

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If this is solely about China then we’ve stabilized our position to more broadly hold firm on China…but then what did we accomplish today except undo some unnecessary damage from the last week that destabilized our position in the first place? And indicate to other trade partners that in 90 days we may or may not be able to stomach throwing down the gauntlet again because the knock on effects proved too much this time around.

I don’t think anything particularly bad or good happened. We played brinksmanship, had a lot of volatility, then we backed off to avert a crisis, and it’s unclear there’s any benefit from the approach.
Great post. It was market theater with DJT in the leading role. We likely would've been in the same place without the market angst and without pissing off every other country in the world (and many here), if the original proposal was, hey, we we're going to raise tariffs to 10% and want to negotiate trade and market barriers with everyone relative to that target (which is still way higher than our average 3.3% but closer to tariff levels of some other countries, so I get the desire to level that playing field to some extent). Also, I can live with trade deficits if we can also have record high markets, record low unemployment and reasonable inflation, which is where we were on 1/20/25.
 

tom1944

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Are you familiar with Down to Earth
Its going to be a hefty charge for that kind of detailed work..sidewalks are understandable..some people want the clean edge others dont care. Fences though are tough to keep pristine and if you walk to hard you chip the fence away or basically go down to dirt and only weeds will grow
I pay what they want without giving them a hard time. We also give the crew drinks and lunch whenever they come.

My wife is extremely generous.
 
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vkj91

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Actually the owner is Hispanics and his crews but he’s probably a US citizen. I don’t know or care.

I don’t think I need April or November. I’m a retiree and don’t have much money. I know everybody accepts it without question.
Don’t have much money?
Thought you and your siblings were all so wealthy except for your maga brother
 

DHajekRC84

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The sharp move upward in markets came after Trump paused many tariffs but kept 10% baseline duties in place that came into effect last weekend for all countries.

That baseline does not apply to Mexico or Canada, which still face a separate set of duties related to fentanyl. Separate industry-specific tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos also remain unchanged.


Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump's tariffs

The president's pause of "reciprocal" tariffs has one notable exception: China. Trump announced he would be unilaterally raising the rate on China further to 125% because of "the lack of respect that China has shown."


Still a lot of negotiations necessary. This pause was for the stock market but the 10% tariffs will be felt by US citizens which will see the increase in inflation.
Thats a very simplistic view regarding inflation. There are SO MANY other factors in play that will go into it.
 

DHajekRC84

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Actually the owner is Hispanics and his crews but he’s probably a US citizen. I don’t know or care.

I don’t think I need April or November. I’m a retiree and don’t have much money. I know everybody accepts it without
You should wait on gas to come down so you can squeeze them more. But don't forget to ask them how much thier labor and insurance went up this past year thanks to non tariffs inflation.
 
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DHajekRC84

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I’ve lurked in this thread forever and it’s been mostly great reading. Very interesting to see certain folks all of a sudden coming over here to tell us all how economics & investing works.
Perhaps they were just lurking too?
 

Caliknight

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Sep 21, 2001
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Well, I guess I would be a big Trump supporter like you and VK91 if I owned a business and got the extra 20% tax deduction but everybody didn’t get it. It’s in your best interest to get that tax cut extension. Maybe BAc also gets the tax cut for cutting lawns.
Tax cuts are in everyone’s best interest to pay less taxes u less your some gov slug slave beholden to living on the dole. Those people will just have to deal with it.

Doge saving a couple billion lol. You have no idea what you are talking about.
 
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DHajekRC84

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Well, I guess I would be a big Trump supporter like you and VK91 if I owned a business and got the extra 20% tax deduction but everybody didn’t get it. It’s in your best interest to get that tax cut extension. Maybe BAc also gets the tax cut for cutting lawns.
I've been out helping my daughter move into her first home she bought today. So I'm just catching up myself. I'm not getting you tonight. You're complaining about tariff based inflation then being upset that small businesses got this 20% to help even the field vs. big corps that had their tax rates decreased? You're opposed to helping both the small guy/gal and also things that will reduce their costs/raise their profits and be anti-inflationary?
 

RU205

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Usually my landscaper bills me each month based on the work done. March, November and December are usually more expensive for spring and fall cleanup/leaves.

This year he gave me a total price for the full season upfront. Spring clean up, weekly cuts from April to November and fall clean up in early December. He divided the total cost by 10 months and is charging me the same price each month for 10 months.
 
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DHajekRC84

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If this is solely about China then we’ve stabilized our position to more broadly hold firm on China…but then what did we accomplish today except undo some unnecessary damage from the last week that destabilized our position in the first place? And indicate to other trade partners that in 90 days we may or may not be able to stomach throwing down the gauntlet again because the knock on effects proved too much this time around.

I don’t think anything particularly bad or good happened. We played brinksmanship, had a lot of volatility, then we backed off to avert a crisis, and it’s unclear there’s any benefit from the approach.
IF we have 75 countries willing to drop/reduce tariffs and barriers to trade, and have countries and companies agreeing to move industry and investment into the US...then how can that be "No benefit?"

Did it have to happen this way? I don't think so but I also know NOTHING has been done for what 40 years + and you expect a slow roll here would get it done? I wouldn't trust that either.

The position that the "US Blinked" I don't buy. Do you think Israel was losing the fight in Gaza when they chose to cease fire? You think we retreated and gave up the high ground? Not me. It was the right thing to do. You can win and not be stupid in the process. (and yeah I am on record here as saying I thought some of this was stupid).
 

bac2therac

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Usually my landscaper bills me each month based on the work done. March, November and December are usually more expensive for spring and fall cleanup/leaves.

This year he gave me a total price for the full season upfront. Spring clean up, weekly cuts from April to November and fall clean up in early December. He divided the total cost by 10 months and is charging me the same price each month for 10 months.
Some do this...it may work out that we have a dry stretch and he skips a few cuts but you still have to pay for it. However it helps you out by not getting hit by huge bills right before X Mas
 

bac2therac

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Jul 30, 2001
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Are you familiar with Down to Earth

I pay what they want without giving them a hard time. We also give the crew drinks and lunch whenever they come.

My wife is extremely generous.
Yes I think I've heard of them. Your wife is a rare gem. I can't count on one hand the number of customers per year that even offer a water..sign me up for lunch
 

DHajekRC84

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Usually my landscaper bills me each month based on the work done. March, November and December are usually more expensive for spring and fall cleanup/leaves.

This year he gave me a total price for the full season upfront. Spring clean up, weekly cuts from April to November and fall clean up in early December. He divided the total cost by 10 months and is charging me the same price each month for 10 months.
I tried that with my wife but she says she will only pay on results.
 

DHajekRC84

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Yes I think I've heard of them. Your wife is a rare gem. I can't count on one hand the number of customers per year that even offer a water..sign me up for lunch
That's a shame. I do most of my own stuff but when I have any crew here for a few days they always have a cooler of water from us...and if they are here longer depending on the project I make them a BBQ lunch or something mid-project. it goes a LOOOONG way. Heck I went thru a good bottle of tequila with the guys who did my walkway. (I'm also always looking to tailgate with someone off season!).