151–160 of 338 posts
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More like Mr Evil. Prolly has a base on the dark side of the moon.
Fortunately, the new moon is just a week away, at which point the "dark side" of the moon will be facing Earth and we'll have a clear view of his base.
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If Bezos needs an evil villain lair for his secret headquarters, I know a fortress in the American desert with three-foot-thick stone walls, solar and diesel electricity, and its own water facilities, perched on a mountain ridge for maximum visibility 150 miles from anywhere meaningful. Last I saw, it was for sale for $750k.
Here's the vice documentary on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mutpYD0Amfk
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Amazon is now the only store open. This will clearly accelerate the death of retail, to the point that I'm not even sure it will survive. We must have a rent holiday if those businesses and their workers are to survive.
Which area are you in? Every large retail store is open (so far) in Southern California, with most retailers' inventory being purchased at full retail prices. I am not sure why the retailers don't switch to curbside-pickup model exclusively, instead preferring hordes of customers roaming around every single morning, but from what I hear, Instacart and store-specific delivery programs are overwhelmed.
Every morning I go to the grocery store in my neighborhood looking for toilet paper and every morning there is some new staple nearly out of stock. I still have a few rolls left, and amazon seems to have a few remaining in stock, so things aren't dire yet, but they are getting concerning.
This is also a city where not too long ago the social contract evaporated after hearing a verdict, requiring military intervention to restore order. An armed militia formerly stood on the roof of the store I scoured today for toilet paper. I'm fearful of what will happen when everyone realizes they can no longer wipe their ass or buy rice and the working class starts getting laid off en masse, and when this virus starts ravaging the 150k+ homeless in southern california.
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Marginal businesses of any size are going to fail, and the less marginal will become marginal. Larger businesses have a proportionately larger need for money to sustain themselves. Big business doesn't mean rich business. Look what's happening to the airlines.
That's the principle, but it doesn't reflect to the reality around us, or at least my reality. I am in the tourism industry, owning a small-medium hotel. If I stop paying any loans and generally I am left out of cash-flow I am pretty much screwed for the next few years, if not closing down. I know though a few people around my area with massive resorts and a debt over 100mil that have already stopped paying quite a f…
If this were a Bond movie, Bezos would be cackling in his secret lair about how his viral plan was coming to fruition. Bond (played by Idris Elba) would then cough on Bezos, who would whip out his antidote, which Bond would grab, escape, and release to the world before being killed by Thanos. (Pitch Meeting, call me)
Fantasy-land aside, Bezos is the CEO of the organization that runs the GovCloud AWS region, which is almost certainly designated critical military infrastructure, JEDI-loss aside. I would be astounded if there are many billionaires in the USA who are not this moment already taking chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine in the recommended prophylaxis doses, even outside of those deemed mission-critical by the most powerful or…
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At least the airlines will get another bailout, after selfishly spending billions on stock buybacks while shrinking seats and hiking fees. Meanwhile, Joe Average, who ended up running a food truck when Wells Fargo "right sized" him during the last recession, will find a comfortable slab of concrete upon which to rest his head, under the viaduct.
Look, I complain about wealth inequality more than anyone I know. Stock buybacks had A LOT of problems people don't discuss. But this isn't really what ruined the airlines. UAL -- the hardest hit and worst buyback offender -- bought back $1.2Bn in 2015, $2Bn in 2016, $3Bn in 2017, $1.2Bn in 2018, and $3Bn in 2019. That's a total of $10.4Bn. To my knowledge, less than 4% of that was on borrowed money. They returned ro…
If this were a Bond movie, Bezos would be cackling in his secret lair about how his viral plan was coming to fruition. Bond (played by Idris Elba) would then cough on Bezos, who would whip out his antidote, which Bond would grab, escape, and release to the world before being killed by Thanos. (Pitch Meeting, call me)
If Bezos needs an evil villain lair for his secret headquarters, I know a fortress in the American desert with three-foot-thick stone walls, solar and diesel electricity, and its own water facilities, perched on a mountain ridge for maximum visibility 150 miles from anywhere meaningful. Last I saw, it was for sale for $750k.