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US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

bbc.com

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Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#281

Post by ZeroGravitas »

NickC25 wrote: post #237
virgildotcodes wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The America First MAGA people fail so hard to understand that these expenditures on things like foreign bases and US Aid resulted in far greater returns for us. It's never been about altruism or the greater good. I say this as an anti-empirical leftist with no great sympathy for the effort, but for those proclaiming to put America's interests above all else it's just such an obvious and idiotic short-sighted self-own…

US Aid has probably been the biggest ace the US ever had in its hand. US farmers growing otherwise unprofitable crops with no buyer? Check. US exporters being able to export crops? Check. US Aid workers being able to give food to starving people in countries that have huge deposits of rare earth materials? Check. US intelligence apparatus having advanced knowledge of developing situations in strategically important c…

Musk claimed that USAID was a CIA front as part of his rationale to gut it. A very strange thing for a defense contractor to say out loud.

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#282

Post by wak90 »

WarmWash wrote: post #153
khriss wrote: post #32

I can't think of a single way in which the United States came out ahead in the war. We have * Demonstrated that the US simply can't offer any meaningful security guarantee to it's middle east partners. * Permanently ceded de facto control over the straits of Hormuz to Iran * Significantly strengthened the hardliners in the Iranian regime and cleared the way for them to have absolute power by eliminating all moderates…

The saving grace is that China (well modern living CCP members) have never had an armed conflict. China's military ranks are people who got there by playing politics and bending exercises to their benefit rather than showing battlefield competence. There are no war vets or experienced players. So while they might have incredible man power and manufacturing capability, everyone in that first battle will be seeing batt…

How is that "saving grace" in any way

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#283

Post by whateveracct »

Retric wrote: post #15
whateveracct wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i live in the suburbs and gas could 2x, 3x in price and my wallet wouldn't notice. i fill up a couple times a month.

Many products are shipped half way across the US on semi trucks, that hits everyone’s pockets even if you drive an EV. Train’s move around vast amounts of freight but they got optimized for coat per ton for coal, wheat, etc not latency. Which then plays havoc if you try and do just in time manufacturing etc using them. Airfare and thus airfreight is simply dominated by fuel costs which hits many industries in ways th…

I live in a major shipping center in a state with a lot of agriculture.

I think that's why my grocery prices haven't gone nuts. For instance, I buy whole chickens (local-grown, free-range) for 99c/lb regularly.

Looking at my receipts, I spend a few hundred/week at this $KROGER. And that includes buying alcohol and non-food items like charcoal, cat litter, diapers, cleaning supplies.

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#284

Post by runako »

parineum wrote: post #241
runako wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"started by" here was used to indicate that there was not already a shooting war in progress.

If you want to get technical, the US hasn't been involved in a war since WW2. See how annoying that is? No more wars means stop putting Americans at risk to kill foreigners.

If you're going to get technical, you need to pick apart the AUMF for Iraq.

In any case, I personally don't think the US interventions in Bosnia or Haiti rose to the level of the colloquial understanding of "no more wars." This is to the extent that the public of 2024 was even broadly aware of those interventions.

Major point is this: in the last 50 years, every GOP president has started a trillion-dollar boondoggle in the Middle East that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths or more (count is still running in Iran, which the President credibly threatens to nuke every other week). Democratic presidents have initiated e.g. peacekeeping missions or the like with definite endpoints and missions. "Both sides" elides all of this as if they are the remotely equivalent.

(I'm on record suggesting that the US military should be reduced to a footprint necessary to defend only the US states and not foreign interests. 75%+ cuts in budget as a start. 11 carrier battle groups to ~4, two per coast. etc.)

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#285

Post by 1234letshaveatw »

khriss wrote: post #32

I can't think of a single way in which the United States came out ahead in the war. We have * Demonstrated that the US simply can't offer any meaningful security guarantee to it's middle east partners. * Permanently ceded de facto control over the straits of Hormuz to Iran * Significantly strengthened the hardliners in the Iranian regime and cleared the way for them to have absolute power by eliminating all moderates…

I find it so interesting that you believe the Supreme Leader was a moderate. Also that somehow, the almost complete dismantling of the Iranian military resulted in Iran having more control over the straits of Hormuz. "The end of the US empire" so dramatic! fun stuff

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#286

Post by whateveracct »

bombcar wrote: post #33
whateveracct wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i live in the suburbs and gas could 2x, 3x in price and my wallet wouldn't notice. i fill up a couple times a month.

The transaction costs of selling the median home is like $40k. Buys a lot of gas.

Not to mention that I'd still want a car in the city. Half a decade ago I paid more for parking in the city than I do for gas in the burbs.

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#287

Post by nozzlegear »

dualvariable wrote: post #258
WarmWash wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The saving grace is that China (well modern living CCP members) have never had an armed conflict. China's military ranks are people who got there by playing politics and bending exercises to their benefit rather than showing battlefield competence. There are no war vets or experienced players. So while they might have incredible man power and manufacturing capability, everyone in that first battle will be seeing batt…

The flip side is that the US isn't used to fighting anything other than asymmetric warfare / insurgencies / terrorism against people who can't project force and can't really hit back. We park valuable assets out in the open on military bases and installations around the world, and don't do anything to shelter them or even move them around during a conflict because of hubris. Iran also basically just fought us to a st…

> Iran also basically just fought us to a stalemate, with an arguably long-term strategic victory going to Iran, just by being willing to absorb more punishment in the short term. Once we depleted our stocks of expensive weaponry we had to stop. We could win every fight and still lose the war.

Iran had a different victory condition. All they had to do was outlast and not be completely wiped out. Trump's victory condition was... well, only Trump knows. Short of a total ground invasion of Iran and full eradication of the Iranian regime (a tall, tall order), victory for the US in Iran, in the eyes of the public, was always going to be impossible.

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#288

Post by nullocator »

1234letshaveatw wrote: post #285
khriss wrote: post #32

I can't think of a single way in which the United States came out ahead in the war. We have * Demonstrated that the US simply can't offer any meaningful security guarantee to it's middle east partners. * Permanently ceded de facto control over the straits of Hormuz to Iran * Significantly strengthened the hardliners in the Iranian regime and cleared the way for them to have absolute power by eliminating all moderates…

I find it so interesting that you believe the Supreme Leader was a moderate. Also that somehow, the almost complete dismantling of the Iranian military resulted in Iran having more control over the straits of Hormuz. "The end of the US empire" so dramatic! fun stuff

Easy. There has been no "almost complete dismantling of the Iranian military" and anyone saying so is lying or deeply propagandized.

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#289

Post by ryandrake »

dirck-norman wrote: post #239
ryandrake wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anyone saying "Iran good." That's just a straw man. Both Israel and Iran can be bad simultaneously.

[flagged]

Well, he must have deleted it, then, because there is literally no mention of Hezbollah in this thread. Nobody with at least half a brain is saying that Iran is in any way a good guy.

Re: US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war

#290

Post by opo »

runako wrote: post #103
parineum wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the reason people voted for "no more wars" was because of the long history of more wars from both parties. Desperate people make desperate choices.

> long history of more wars from both parties Which wars were started by Democratic presidents in the last half-century?

Depends on what you call a “war” since the last time the US declared war was in WW II.. In terms of military operations, a partial list would probably include:

Democrat Presidents: Bosnia, Haiti, Iran, Kosovo, Libya, Niger, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

Republican Presidents: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Panama, Somalia, Syria, and Venezuela.

It is outside the 50 year timeframe, but go back another 10 years and you have Viet Nam which caused more deaths than all the rest combined.

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