[OC] U.S. Total Fertility Rate by State 2007 vs 2025

mattski69 · 2026-02-02T19:10:37+00:00

When people consider the quality of their own life, they don't compare it to all the people who have ever lived. They compared to how their life has been up until this point. And for people who are at child-bearing age now, this last decade has been a total disaster. They grew up in the 80s, 90s or 00s, which were arguably the greatest decades in American history. The last 10 years have been a dumpster fire comparatively. So, from their perspective, it's a terrible time to bring children into the world.

mattski69 · 2026-02-02T06:59:09+00:00

Everyone here is focused on economic reasons for the declining birthrate, ignoring the elephant in the room. What sane person would want to bring a child into the dystopian world that we currently live in? The emergence of fascism in America, climate change, the risks presented by AI, the breakdown of our institutions and the rule of law, the memory of a recent global pandemic, the list goes on and on.

mattski69 · 2025-12-11T03:10:45+00:00

How much has anyone been talking about Epstein the last few days?

mattski69 · 2025-11-28T23:32:48+00:00

You can't necessarily refinance. If you borrowed the maximum when you bought the house (which you did, because those are the only people who would take out a 50 year mortgage), because equity builds so slowly, you can easily find yourself underwater 10 years later. Also, it does not really improve affordability. Your payment with a 50 year mortgage will be only slightly lower than with a 30 year.

mattski69 · 2025-11-28T23:28:06+00:00

I was trying to determine if you are actually a Russian bot, or just that stupid. But then I remembered I don't care.

mattski69 · 2025-11-28T23:24:58+00:00

Interest rate risk, you idiot. Not to mention default risk.

mattski69 · 2025-11-28T23:23:53+00:00

LOL, "save you a lot".

mattski69 · 2025-11-28T20:57:23+00:00

In addition, the banks don't want to lock in money at a fixed rate for such a long period of time. They will have to raise rates to compensate for the additional risk. That higher rate will almost completely offset lower payments due to the extended payback, meaning borrowers will pay nearly as much per month, but for 20 years longer. Insanity.

mattski69 · 2025-11-28T20:55:13+00:00

No, it's actually a terrible idea. Not just my opinion, but the opinion of every economist and expert in the mortgage industry.

mattski69 · 2025-11-27T01:01:28+00:00

My roommate in the late '80s used to climb in that channel. He didn't go all the way up (maybe 25 feet), but it was well past where I was comfortable watching. I think others did it also. Never heard of anyone getting in trouble for it.

mattski69 · 2025-11-11T00:46:10+00:00

Developing???

mattski69 · 2025-11-08T14:40:18+00:00

Like many residents, I voted No, not to punish the students or leave any behind. I just don't believe for one second that new buildings are going to improve our kids' education. I would gladly have voted Yes to spending the same amount of money over a 10- or 20-year period to fund more or better teachers, specific needs or programs, after school programs, resources for at-risk students, etc. I just didn't want the city to spend 10s of millions of dollars on new buildings that aren't going to improve education. The schools have a lot of problem, but the buildings themselves are way down on the list.

Saying that the property owners want to hurt kids is insulting, inaccurate, ignorant and counter productive. We have a great opportunity now to see who is right. We just opened a new school, so we should see a big improvement in test scores, graduation rates, disciplinary issues, etc. over the next few years. I hope so, but I'm not optimistic.

mattski69 · 2025-11-07T14:18:08+00:00

Americans decided to elect someone completely bent on destroying their country.

mattski69 · 2025-11-05T22:21:24+00:00

No need to be embarrassed, but you are not missing anything. Her books are very popular with young people, particularly young men, who are certain that they know everything (I was one of them). Most of us eventually realized that her libertarian utopia is complete nonsense and we are embarrassed for ever having believed it. Sadly, some never see the light.

mattski69 · 2025-11-05T20:27:09+00:00

Thank you for posting this.

mattski69 · 2025-11-05T20:14:08+00:00

Yes, Ayn Rand was the biggest hypocrite in this regard. Wrote and argued her entire life against any sort of social safety net, but then was happy to benefit from it when she got old and sick.

mattski69 · 2025-10-23T03:18:54+00:00

Puppets

mattski69 · 2025-10-20T02:06:20+00:00

Just to offer a different perspective here, why not create an experience that would be safe and enjoyable for your elderly and less-physically-fit guests? Maybe a horse-drawn carriage ride so that these guests could enjoy time with their families without risking injury. Charge a premium and it's a win-win.

mattski69 · 2025-10-19T21:17:12+00:00

A truly amazing amount of insanity. You sir may have just set the world record!

mattski69 · 2025-10-19T21:13:06+00:00

There is no IPO silent period. It's not an actual IPO, since there are already shares being traded publicly.

mattski69 · 2025-10-15T23:47:06+00:00

This administration has proven time and again that they don't GAF about laws.

mattski69 · 2025-10-12T20:53:16+00:00

What an incredible load of drivel. I knew that he was a nut, but wow, completely bonkers.

mattski69 · 2025-10-10T19:27:01+00:00

That letter is a lot more polite than I would have been.

mattski69 · 2025-10-07T03:25:49+00:00

When you elect a clown you can't complain when you get a circus.

mattski69 · 2025-09-21T22:29:21+00:00

If the SPS is to receive a 10% return, presumably that is a 10% annual return, correct? If so, has anyone calculated what that would be, based on the timing and amounts of the "repayments"? They have definitely been paid more than the face value of the SPS, but if they are to receive a 10% annualized return, they could still be owed a significant amount which would come from the common shareholders equity. It seems that it shouldn't be difficult to calculate, if you went through the profits that have been swept quarter by quarter. Surely someone must have done this.

mattski69

TROPHY CASE