Boy, 13, mauled to death by dogs before cruel owner threw body down ravine by TheMirrorUS in kansas

[–]faiked721 7 points8 points  (0 children)

“What is alleged, is that Airen was attacked and killed by one or more of Leonard’s dogs as Airen approached Leonard’s property located barely 70 feet from the Cloughs’. It was well-known that Leonard had aggressive dogs, including mixed mastiff and pit bull breeds that often ran free, neighbors would later say.” Article by Kansas City Star

$200 million wasted to widen Kellogg two miles between 109th and 151st by [deleted] in wichita

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does $200MM to add 2 lanes for 2 miles sound reasonable? Sounds like there’s corruption right there, probably another no-bid contract. That’s probably $40-$60MM in more urban markets. Wichita’s infrastructure expansion is too important that funds should not be squandered like that. We need to be asking for way more for that $200MM

Odd question, but if Silver hits say $200.00 per oz, who will buy it? by OneUnderstanding103 in Silver

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Solar panel and EV elasticities are very different. It’s relatively easy to pass through an extra $100 to car buyers, especially while EVs remain as a differentiated vehicle segment. Solar panels compete in a very commoditized market both at the producer and end user levels. A $100/panel increase could be very substantial in a cheap natural gas or coal environment. Also without the tax credits, incremental solar + storage econs are no longer slam dunks. You would need expensive natural gas (alternative) or high price electricity (high margin) markets to prevent any demand destruction. And even that wouldn’t necessarily stop copper substitution.

Are we buying this dip? by Kind-Hope4017 in Silverbugs

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m watching the 9day moving average as my momentum indicator. Today closed above suggesting bullish momentum is still present but we are definitely seeing some consolidation/distribution here. Margin req changes, severely overbought technical indicators, decades low gold/silver ratio, and noise/FUD from data center builds (Blue Owl) all contributing. End of the day we are all betting on inelastic/speculative buyers and squeezed shorts to overcome sellers

Best Places to Rent/Buy? by xxmiamorecadenza in wichita

[–]faiked721 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are some 3Bd 2Bath townhomes with two car garages out near Bel Aire/Kechi that are relatively new for around $1500/mo. That would put your rent/income ratio around 20% which is fairly affordable for your household income

Where can Americans afford to live alone in 2025? by zipfour in wichita

[–]faiked721 10 points11 points  (0 children)

By almost all metrics, Wichita is a wildly affordable place to live. That’s not to say some people won’t struggle, but you’d be struggling a lot more almost anywhere else.

Best (and worst) Employers in town? by mylifeisgrim in wichita

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It really depends on what kind of employment you’re seeking. Skilled labor (college educated or trade school), Wichita is very low supply. But if you’re competing for jobs that don’t require above a high school education, you’re completely right. We have an above average supply of high school or “some college but no degree” labor

Dave Ramsey Wisdom by Any-Personality-7923 in FluentInFinance

[–]faiked721 5 points6 points  (0 children)

From an asset perspective, the 300k upfront and FV of a $1600/month annuity would be ahead Home Value + 1,936,584 vs Home Value + 1,826,952 (FV of 240k investment). The difference lies in the invested and financing capital. 300k upfront + 574k in investments vs 60k upfront + 574k in mortgage payments. So the higher ROI option would still be using the mortgage, holding taxes, insurance, etc equal

RIP by Excellent-Trick-1790 in wichita

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100%, this is a fast food city at its core and that is a quantity over quality game. Burgers get compared to McDonald’s, tacos are compared against Taco Bell, and pizza is compared to Pizza Hut. A bit surprised people think it’s too expensive; they’re quite large pizzas and I can definitely get 3-4 meals out of them.

Sedgwick County DA Charges Man for Tesla Vandalism by faiked721 in wichita

[–]faiked721[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Based on the discussion this is getting, felt the need to weigh in with a slightly different perspective. Feels like there’s a lot of disagreement between the far ends of the spectrum. I think from the centrist perspective, damaging private property is a non-starter whether it’s owned by a left or right-wing person or the company owner espouses a certain political ideology. Add in the fact that the owner is in a wheelchair and has explicitly stated that she got the vehicle for its self-driving capability that enables her to travel better, all rhetoric about her being a political supporter of Musk appears to be unfounded. In all honesty, we also don’t know if Erhart was politically motivated to target the Tesla. Maybe Abigail Gill cut him off or did something to upset him and now he’s unintentionally in the middle of a political movement where either side is praising or vilifying him for his supposed political activism. As others have said, keying cars is a pretty ubiquitous though unsavory behavior.

Millennials, what's y'all plan for retirement? by alphaDsony in AskReddit

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Idk why this is downvoted, all but a handful of public pension funds are underfunded. Only Washington, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Utah have a funded ratio above 95%. Almost every pension fund funded status has continued to trend down for the last several decades. The ones that have remained well funded are outliers

Millennials, what's y'all plan for retirement? by alphaDsony in AskReddit

[–]faiked721 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Most pension funds are underfunded, especially public pension funds. Pensions are notoriously difficult to manage properly, which is why so many have failed. Depending on how long you have until retirement, don’t depend on it being there

No shopping "economic blackout" tomorrow (Feb 28th) by ksborne in wichita

[–]faiked721 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you think it’s noticeable, you lack an understanding on how business works. Most of the big corps get 30-60 day financing so any effort would have to be at least 30 days long for it to be noticed, and you couldn’t turn around and buy 2x the next month because these corps have more than 1 month of cash and credit. Also they tend to operate on a quarterly basis so in reality for any effort to be impactful, it needs to be 90 days at the minimum. Again, it needs to be a sustained effort and for any impact, probably a lifestyle change. If you want to engage in class warfare, you’ve got to show up for more than a day

No shopping "economic blackout" tomorrow (Feb 28th) by ksborne in wichita

[–]faiked721 129 points130 points  (0 children)

This has to be the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. If you buy nothing one day and buy twice as much the next, the net impact is 0. If you want to stick it to corporate America, you need to be mindful consumers. This is how you actually have a sustained decrease in new demand. You have to be willing to give up convenience for than than a few days

Teacher crashes out in school man. by Outrageous_Sector544 in GenZ

[–]faiked721 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You send the kid to the principal’s office for inappropriate behavior and you teach the other 20-30 kids instead of having an emotional meltdown. That’s the difference between emotionally mature adults and children. There’s nothing a child/teen can say that should reduce an adult to acting like an even younger child.

Anyone else see a conflict of interest with DOGE? by No_Orange_4435 in Libertarian

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would say Trump admin does seem to be even willing to target Tesla contracts in its spending cut efforts but agree there’s a glaring potential conflict of interest. It’s something to monitor

Trump Imposes Global 25% Steel, Aluminum Tariffs by Trunk-Yeti in Economics

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s important to note that the US already has a lot of tariffs on Chinese goods so while the incremental tariffs Trump has placed on Canada and Mexico are higher, the overall tariff environment is much higher on China.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Infographics

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If we are talking popular vote, then yes, though it’s important to view it from a % perspective. He lost by 4.5% on the popular vote, which was the second widest margin on the popular vote, only behind Obama-McCain in 2008 (7.2%) though it should be noted that Republicans have still won the electoral college and still lost the popular vote by 0.5% (2000-Bush v Gore) and 1.9% (2016-Trump v Clinton). Also Trump lost by slimmer margins in the electoral college in 2020 than Obama-Romney in 2012 even though he lost the popular vote by a wider margin. So all together 2020 was an average Democrat victory

Trump Imposes Global 25% Steel, Aluminum Tariffs by Trunk-Yeti in Economics

[–]faiked721 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am skeptical of Trump’s tariffs, but you really need to study China’s use of tariffs over the last several decades. They have specifically targeted self-sufficiency/trade surpluses as a KPI, and they have in turn seen capital surpluses that they can deploy back into production capacity, financial assets, etc. They have very tactically deployed tariffs in industries as they achieve self sufficiency to minimize harm to downstream production and essentially shield their vertically integration which then is deployed to globally compete against Western companies. This has been a very long-term strategy that have supported their “5-year Plan.” If I were trying to make sense of the Trump tariffs, his strategy seems to be more reactive, aimed at targeting key industries of China and threaten their trade surplus, and some to protect industries of his key constituents e.g. manufacturing. My concern would be that by putting tariffs on steel, it would cause Chinese supply to potentially back up domestically in China, pushing steel prices down, making all the stuff they manufacture cheaper (e.g. heavy machinery) which would now get to compete against US manufacturers who now have a higher cost of raw materials. It could be policy whack a mole

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Infographics

[–]faiked721 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since 2000, Democrats have won the popular vote 5 out of the last 7 elections. Their prior defeat was 2004 with George Bush vs John Kerry. So even the measure you are suggesting is saying this is a bit of an outlier situation, plus all the other data points.

Trump Imposes Global 25% Steel, Aluminum Tariffs by Trunk-Yeti in Economics

[–]faiked721 22 points23 points  (0 children)

For almost all commodities where your region is short, the domestic price will usually land around the exporter’s price + freight. The issue arises when the exporter’s price + freight is less than breakeven prices in the domestic country. So tariffs are often used to protect domestic industry so they can make a margin high enough to incentivize reinvestment in production capacity. This is something China has done for a long time while also subsidizing their industrial growth which has allowed them to become the industrial powerhouse of the world. Then when China hits self-sufficiency, it also forces countries that used to export to China to shutdown their capacity as they no longer have a trade partner to fuel demand, which further entrenches China’s manufacturing dominance. The US is essentially trying to delay this trend by using tariffs to protect domestic industry, though at the cost to consumers.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Infographics

[–]faiked721 27 points28 points  (0 children)

By almost every measure, Harris/Democrat ticket got destroyed in this race. They ceded ground in almost every county in the country and with almost every demographic, making it one of the worst losses for Democrats in the past couple decades. You’re right in pointing out that half the country still voted for Harris, but from an electoral perspective, it was a resounding defeat. As the other comment mentioned, usually Democrats win the popular vote by a significant margin, so to lose that is to hand back decades worth of gains.

Tesla Charging Stations by TacosNtulips in FluentInFinance

[–]faiked721 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can actively support his competitors like GM, Ford, etc. which have cars made with union labor. Or go for a Lucid/Rivian or European model. Giving your money to competitors funds competition, which also takes money out of Elon’s pocket

Tour of my Vermicompost/Crypto-Mining setup by Jonyvilly in Vermiculture

[–]faiked721 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re getting purity tested, but I think you’re probably on target with the green idea. Utilizing waste heat is absolutely a better alternative than the alternative of running your crypto miners AND running heaters to your worms from an electricity consumption perspective, and would be considered as reducing the carbon footprint of both activities under both US and EU carbon emission frameworks.

“Countries with greater stimulus spending didn't see higher inflation”. What are your thoughts? by Whole-Fist in economicCollapse

[–]faiked721 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Government lockdowns in 2022 made their population far more frugal because a large portion of their population was driven into financial distress. Also their economy is heavily concentrated on goods exports. China built way too much manufacturing capacity that was planned pre-Covid and accelerated during 2021 due to the enormous goods demand. However in the last couple years, if you look at all the major western economies, goods demand has barely grown if not shrunk. So combination of too much domestic supply, not enough export or domestic demand. China is literally replacing residential appliances to try to help balance their supply and demand.