yeah, my house in 2005 was $113K. It's now close to $300K. it's insane. my house is a starter. we just never left. lol. $300K as a starter, even in CDN funds, is insanity.
That at least is over almost a 20 year period. You're seeing that growth in about 1/3 that time in a lot of the parts down here. Imagine buying your first home as a younger couple and paying 3-5 times the mortgage you did 20 years ago. Most people can't do it.
And now the boomers think today's 30-year-olds are too lazy to achieve their lifestyle. Good for my parents for their 1974 purchase of a $29,000 home now worth $300,000 but income hasn't grown at anything close to that clip.
I'm absolutely blown away by the cost of housing nowadays. My wife and I (DINKs) spent $240,000 on ours and we just would not entertain $300,000. Meanwhile people making our money with kids are probably living in houses they payed $400,000 for and have two car payments. I don't know that I could endure the stress of that.
Like you said in a post above, I also don't want my value to go down but this all is a huge problem and I (admittedly in an extremely privaledged position) would make that sacrifice if housing was much more affordable. I honestly don't know how some people even live indoors anymore.
Morally speaking (i.e., with no thoughts on the market), a decent home should be very low six-figures. Given how much money people are making, that would serve us very well. Mansions that the common person cannot afford would still exist. Not everyone would have the perfect home, but they'd be able to get what they need without living check-to-check from age 25 to age 60.
I agree and empathize with the plight of younger adults struggle to find affordable housing, and I agree with most everything you said. What I don't understand is the "boomers" bashing. What kind of shitty peers of mine are you hanging with?
Well, I think we do tend to overgeneralize all generations. That said, it would be the boomer generation that was able to buy a house for low/mid five figures and make an absolute killing financial killing on it. Therefore, those who think younger generations are not working hard/smart enough, etc. and don't realize how much more difficult things have gotten tend to be boomers. I'm sure there are some well-off people in younger generations that fit that gap. I'm sure you can find a 30-year-old lawyer who can't believe their lazy former peers are still renting and haven't joined him in the purchase of a $600,000 house. That said, when people are bagging on calling millennials, gen y, gen z, etc., it tends to be boomers and I am sure gen X (my generation) is participating, as well.
Also, all generations get older and think the younger generations are a bunch of punks.
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
yeah, my house in 2005 was $113K. It's now close to $300K. it's insane. my house is a starter. we just never left. lol. $300K as a starter, even in CDN funds, is insanity.
That at least is over almost a 20 year period. You're seeing that growth in about 1/3 that time in a lot of the parts down here. Imagine buying your first home as a younger couple and paying 3-5 times the mortgage you did 20 years ago. Most people can't do it.
And now the boomers think today's 30-year-olds are too lazy to achieve their lifestyle. Good for my parents for their 1974 purchase of a $29,000 home now worth $300,000 but income hasn't grown at anything close to that clip.
I'm absolutely blown away by the cost of housing nowadays. My wife and I (DINKs) spent $240,000 on ours and we just would not entertain $300,000. Meanwhile people making our money with kids are probably living in houses they payed $400,000 for and have two car payments. I don't know that I could endure the stress of that.
Like you said in a post above, I also don't want my value to go down but this all is a huge problem and I (admittedly in an extremely privaledged position) would make that sacrifice if housing was much more affordable. I honestly don't know how some people even live indoors anymore.
Morally speaking (i.e., with no thoughts on the market), a decent home should be very low six-figures. Given how much money people are making, that would serve us very well. Mansions that the common person cannot afford would still exist. Not everyone would have the perfect home, but they'd be able to get what they need without living check-to-check from age 25 to age 60.
I agree and empathize with the plight of younger adults struggle to find affordable housing, and I agree with most everything you said. What I don't understand is the "boomers" bashing. What kind of shitty peers of mine are you hanging with?
I didn't see it as bashing either. I've been frustrated with the situation. I am paying the price for Boomers to have a better retirement than me, and it's frustrating. Teachers who retired 10 years ago are going to be much better off financially than when I retire. They are frequently increasing my contributions and lowering my pension. For example, when I first moved to Colorado I was paying something like 7.5% of my salary into my pension and would be getting something like 2.25% of my salary per year. Each year they'd raise it a little, so I was contributing closer to 9% by the end. So if I worked 30 years, I'd get 67.5% of my salary in retirement. But those who retired earlier paid less and received something like 3% per year into retirement. So they would have worked 30 years, paid less of their paycheck and gotten 90% of their salary in retirement. The problem is people were retiring earlier and living longer, so the only way to fund it was to make new hires pay more and get less. I believe they could raise your contribution amount, but I don't think they could change your retirement rate. That per year rate was locked in. Meaning if when you were first hired you were getting 3%, then that is was you got. But new hires were getting less and less. Every several years they'd drop the percent down slightly. Most states have the retirement posted if you look hard enough. Many are around 2% a year now, when it was much higher 30 years ago, meaning those retiring now are getting a lot more. I'm not mad at the boomers, it's not their fault. But it is frustrating, that I am paying for their retirement and will be getting less for my higher contributions. And not just teachers, other public and state positions are similar, like law enforcement, etc. And that's not even factoring in the point OnWIs made, the 20k they paid for their first house that is now selling for 500.
yeah, my house in 2005 was $113K. It's now close to $300K. it's insane. my house is a starter. we just never left. lol. $300K as a starter, even in CDN funds, is insanity.
That at least is over almost a 20 year period. You're seeing that growth in about 1/3 that time in a lot of the parts down here. Imagine buying your first home as a younger couple and paying 3-5 times the mortgage you did 20 years ago. Most people can't do it.
And now the boomers think today's 30-year-olds are too lazy to achieve their lifestyle. Good for my parents for their 1974 purchase of a $29,000 home now worth $300,000 but income hasn't grown at anything close to that clip.
I'm absolutely blown away by the cost of housing nowadays. My wife and I (DINKs) spent $240,000 on ours and we just would not entertain $300,000. Meanwhile people making our money with kids are probably living in houses they payed $400,000 for and have two car payments. I don't know that I could endure the stress of that.
Like you said in a post above, I also don't want my value to go down but this all is a huge problem and I (admittedly in an extremely privaledged position) would make that sacrifice if housing was much more affordable. I honestly don't know how some people even live indoors anymore.
Morally speaking (i.e., with no thoughts on the market), a decent home should be very low six-figures. Given how much money people are making, that would serve us very well. Mansions that the common person cannot afford would still exist. Not everyone would have the perfect home, but they'd be able to get what they need without living check-to-check from age 25 to age 60.
I agree and empathize with the plight of younger adults struggle to find affordable housing, and I agree with most everything you said. What I don't understand is the "boomers" bashing. What kind of shitty peers of mine are you hanging with?
Well, I think we do tend to overgeneralize all generations. That said, it would be the boomer generation that was able to buy a house for low/mid five figures and make an absolute killing financial killing on it. Therefore, those who think younger generations are not working hard/smart enough, etc. and don't realize how much more difficult things have gotten tend to be boomers. I'm sure there are some well-off people in younger generations that fit that gap. I'm sure you can find a 30-year-old lawyer who can't believe their lazy former peers are still renting and haven't joined him in the purchase of a $600,000 house. That said, when people are bagging on calling millennials, gen y, gen z, etc., it tends to be boomers and I am sure gen X (my generation) is participating, as well.
Also, all generations get older and think the younger generations are a bunch of punks.
Well, that may be true and if so, it sucks. I think things are getting harder for each progressive generation. Jeez, toddlers, preschoolers... what will they have to deal with. It's hard to imagine.
The things about boomers doing well is that a lot of them could have done well but either blew it and either burned out, died from poor life-style choice (drugs/alcohol), or went crazy from going into the war in Vietnam. So you won't hear much from them. There were what you might call "boomer generation slackers"- I knew people my age like that who were lazy, freeloaders- most of them identified themselves as hippies. Those who are still around are mostly poor, live in trailer parks or are older homeless, so also not heard from a lot.
On the other end of the spectrum, many boomers inherited money and/or houses from their G.I. generation parents who passed on (I know a number of such people), or they had the good fortune to ride the coattails of their G.I. parents to get into college when college was dirt cheap (and I mean really cheap). If those people are bashing younger generation, they forgot their good fortune and just plain dumb luck.
It's also true that there were a lot of heavy duty career-driven boomers, but again, a lot of that was luck of the times. Opportunities abounded. Even less skilled people could get good paying jobs that have now taken over by robotics. If they were smart about personal finances, they could buy into at least a starter home.
It's a hell of a lot harder world to get by in today.
The best advice I would give to any younger person today is to learn how to manage your money. Personal finance is more important than ever. It probably seems easy for me to say that, being a boomer and all, but I went from being a professional in the early 90's to living in my vehicle and had to figure it all out from scratch. By then it was the new century and I was 50 years old- past my prime. Once I got myself back on track, I still never managed to make an average persons annual U.S. income, but I did OK in the end with a lot of work, a little luck, and using good personal finance skills. It's a hard road. I feel bad for younger generations today and can only hope for the best for them.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Biden wants to move fast on AI safeguards and signs an executive order to address his concerns
By JOSH BOAK and MATT O'BRIEN
Yesterday
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday signed an ambitious executive order on artificial intelligence that seeks to balance the needs of cutting-edge technology companies with national security and consumer rights, creating an early set of guardrails that could be fortified by legislation and global agreements.
Before signing the order, Biden said AI is driving change at “warp speed” and carries tremendous potential as well as perils.
“AI is all around us,” Biden said. “To realize the promise of AI and avoid the risk, we need to govern this technology.”
The order is an initial step that is meant to ensure that AI is trustworthy and helpful, rather than deceptive and destructive. The order — which will likely need to be augmented by congressional action — seeks to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy.
Using the Defense Production Act, the order requires leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is to create standards to ensure AI tools are safe and secure before public release.
The Commerce Department is to issue guidance to label and watermark AI-generated content to help differentiate between authentic interactions and those generated by software. The extensive order touches on matters of privacy, civil rights, consumer protections, scientific research and worker rights.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients recalled Biden giving his staff a directive when formulating the order to move with urgency.
“We can’t move at a normal government pace,” Zients said the Democratic president told him. “We have to move as fast, if not faster, than the technology itself.”
In Biden's view, the government was late to address the risks of social media and now U.S. youth are grappling with related mental health issues. AI has the positive ability to accelerate cancer research, model the impacts of climate change, boost economic output and improve government services among other benefits. But it could also warp basic notions of truth with false images, deepen racial and social inequalities and provide a tool to scammers and criminals.
With the European Union nearing final passage of a sweeping law to rein in AI harms and Congress still in the early stages of debating safeguards, the Biden administration is “stepping up to use the levers it can control,” said digital rights advocate Alexandra Reeve Givens, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology. "That’s issuing guidance and standards to shape private sector behavior and leading by example in the federal government’s own use of AI.”
The order builds on voluntary commitments already made by technology companies. It's part of a broader strategy that administration officials say also includes congressional legislation and international diplomacy, a sign of the disruptions already caused by the introduction of new AI tools such as ChatGPT that can generate text, images and sounds.
The guidance within the order is to be implemented and fulfilled over the range of 90 days to 365 days.
Last Thursday, Biden gathered his aides in the Oval Office to review and finalize the executive order, a 30-minute meeting that stretched to 70 minutes, despite other pressing matters, including the mass shooting in Maine, the Israel-Hamas war and the selection of a new House speaker.
Biden was profoundly curious about the technology in the months of meetings that led up to drafting the order. His science advisory council focused on AI at two meetings and his Cabinet discussed it at two meetings. The president also pressed tech executives and civil society advocates about the technology's capabilities at multiple gatherings.
“He was as impressed and alarmed as anyone,” deputy White House chief of staff Bruce Reed said in an interview. “He saw fake AI images of himself, of his dog. He saw how it can make bad poetry. And he’s seen and heard the incredible and terrifying technology of voice cloning, which can take three seconds of your voice and turn it into an entire fake conversation.”
The issue of AI was seemingly inescapable for Biden. At Camp David one weekend, he relaxed by watching the Tom Cruise film “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.” The film's villain is a sentient and rogue AI known as “the Entity” that sinks a submarine and kills its crew in the movie's opening minutes.
“If he hadn’t already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he saw plenty more to worry about,” said Reed, who watched the film with the president.
Governments around the world have raced to establish protections, some of them tougher than Biden's directives. After more than two years of deliberation, the EU is putting the final touches on a comprehensive set of regulations that targets the riskiest applications with the tightest restrictions. China, a key AI rival to the U.S., has also set some rules.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes to carve out a prominent role for Britain as an AI safety hub at a summit starting Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris plans to attend. And on Monday, officials from the Group of Seven major industrial nations agreed to a set of AI safety principles and a voluntary code of conduct for AI developers.
The U.S., particularly its West Coast, is home to many of the leading developers of cutting-edge AI technology, including tech giants Google, Meta and Microsoft, and AI-focused startups such as OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. The White House took advantage of that industry weight earlier this year when it secured commitments from those companies to implement safety mechanisms as they build new AI models.
But the White House also faced significant pressure from Democratic allies, including labor and civil rights groups, to make sure its policies reflected their concerns about AI’s real-world harms.
Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a former Biden administration official who helped craft principles for approaching AI, said one of the biggest challenges within the federal government has been what to do about law enforcement’s use of AI tools, including at U.S. borders.
“These are all places where we know that the use of automation is very problematic, with facial recognition, drone technology,” Venkatasubramanian said. Facial recognition technology has been shown to perform unevenly across racial groups, and has been tied to mistaken arrests.
While the EU’s forthcoming AI law is set to ban real-time facial recognition in public, Biden’s order appears to simply ask for federal agencies to review how they’re using AI in the criminal justice system, falling short of the stronger language sought by some activists.
The American Civil Liberties Union is among the groups that met with the White House to try to ensure “we’re holding the tech industry and tech billionaires accountable” so that algorithmic tools “work for all of us and not just a few,” said ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s racial justice program, who attended Monday's signing.
After seeing the text of the order, Moore applauded how it addressed discrimination and other AI harms in workplaces and housing, but said the administration “essentially kicks the can down the road” in protecting people from law enforcement’s growing use of the technology.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The headline makes it sound like the grand daughter was in danger at one point. Looks like it was just an attempted break in and theft of an unmarked, unoccupied vehicle and the grand daughter was nowhere near it. Wonder why they thought it was necessary to open fire? I mean, many states don't even pursue stolen vehicles anymore and car thefts are on the rise, so this shouldn't surprise anyone that eventually an unmarked government vehicle was a target.
The headline makes it sound like the grand daughter was in danger at one point. Looks like it was just an attempted break in and theft of an unmarked, unoccupied vehicle and the grand daughter was nowhere near it. Wonder why they thought it was necessary to open fire? I mean, many states don't even pursue stolen vehicles anymore and car thefts are on the rise, so this shouldn't surprise anyone that eventually an unmarked government vehicle was a target.
states arent secret service. this isnt just any gov vehicle. what kind of gear you think they have. for all we know , a weapon was displayed by one or more of the three individuals.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The headline makes it sound like the grand daughter was in danger at one point. Looks like it was just an attempted break in and theft of an unmarked, unoccupied vehicle and the grand daughter was nowhere near it. Wonder why they thought it was necessary to open fire? I mean, many states don't even pursue stolen vehicles anymore and car thefts are on the rise, so this shouldn't surprise anyone that eventually an unmarked government vehicle was a target.
states arent secret service. this isnt just any gov vehicle. what kind of gear you think they have. for all we know , a weapon was displayed by one or more of the three individuals.
The articles described it as an unmarked and unoccupied vehicle. I doubt they knew it belonged to secret service, and how was anyone's life endangered to the point where lethal force was justified if it was unoccupied? If the car thieves drew a gun or pulled a knife when they were approached by the secret service, then that would obviously be a justified reason. But the 2 articles I read didn't mention it. Maybe that did happen and the media doesn't have the whole story, it's very possible. But my other point was the headlines make it sound like the grand daughter was in danger. She wasn't even there. With the number of car break ins and thefts, them likely not even knowing it was a government vehicle, it being unoccupied during the break in, no one related to Biden was ever in any danger, seems like a story that's trying to get blown up to me. It's click bait. With headlines like "Secret Service protecting grand daughter of President Biden fire shots when SUV gets broken into," the media wants you to think the grand daughter was a target, until you click on the story and read it. There isn't much I could care less about as far as news stories go than an unoccupied and unmarked government vehicle getting broken into like thousands of other cars, doesn't seem like a news story to me.
What’s going on with Hunter’s laptop? Anyone? When are the indictments coming? Asking for a friend.
I don't know. Why don't you ask the 50 former intelligence officers that lied saying it was Russian disinformation and interfered with a Presidential election?
What’s going on with Hunter’s laptop? Anyone? When are the indictments coming? Asking for a friend.
I don't know. Why don't you ask the 50 former intelligence officers that lied saying it was Russian disinformation and interfered with a Presidential election?
yeah, my house in 2005 was $113K. It's now close to $300K. it's insane. my house is a starter. we just never left. lol. $300K as a starter, even in CDN funds, is insanity.
That at least is over almost a 20 year period. You're seeing that growth in about 1/3 that time in a lot of the parts down here. Imagine buying your first home as a younger couple and paying 3-5 times the mortgage you did 20 years ago. Most people can't do it.
And now the boomers think today's 30-year-olds are too lazy to achieve their lifestyle. Good for my parents for their 1974 purchase of a $29,000 home now worth $300,000 but income hasn't grown at anything close to that clip.
I'm absolutely blown away by the cost of housing nowadays. My wife and I (DINKs) spent $240,000 on ours and we just would not entertain $300,000. Meanwhile people making our money with kids are probably living in houses they payed $400,000 for and have two car payments. I don't know that I could endure the stress of that.
Like you said in a post above, I also don't want my value to go down but this all is a huge problem and I (admittedly in an extremely privaledged position) would make that sacrifice if housing was much more affordable. I honestly don't know how some people even live indoors anymore.
Morally speaking (i.e., with no thoughts on the market), a decent home should be very low six-figures. Given how much money people are making, that would serve us very well. Mansions that the common person cannot afford would still exist. Not everyone would have the perfect home, but they'd be able to get what they need without living check-to-check from age 25 to age 60.
I agree and empathize with the plight of younger adults struggle to find affordable housing, and I agree with most everything you said. What I don't understand is the "boomers" bashing. What kind of shitty peers of mine are you hanging with?
I didn't see it as bashing either. I've been frustrated with the situation. I am paying the price for Boomers to have a better retirement than me, and it's frustrating. Teachers who retired 10 years ago are going to be much better off financially than when I retire. They are frequently increasing my contributions and lowering my pension. For example, when I first moved to Colorado I was paying something like 7.5% of my salary into my pension and would be getting something like 2.25% of my salary per year. Each year they'd raise it a little, so I was contributing closer to 9% by the end. So if I worked 30 years, I'd get 67.5% of my salary in retirement. But those who retired earlier paid less and received something like 3% per year into retirement. So they would have worked 30 years, paid less of their paycheck and gotten 90% of their salary in retirement. The problem is people were retiring earlier and living longer, so the only way to fund it was to make new hires pay more and get less. I believe they could raise your contribution amount, but I don't think they could change your retirement rate. That per year rate was locked in. Meaning if when you were first hired you were getting 3%, then that is was you got. But new hires were getting less and less. Every several years they'd drop the percent down slightly. Most states have the retirement posted if you look hard enough. Many are around 2% a year now, when it was much higher 30 years ago, meaning those retiring now are getting a lot more. I'm not mad at the boomers, it's not their fault. But it is frustrating, that I am paying for their retirement and will be getting less for my higher contributions. And not just teachers, other public and state positions are similar, like law enforcement, etc. And that's not even factoring in the point OnWIs made, the 20k they paid for their first house that is now selling for 500.
Kind of the same problem with my pension. As of now, there is an option to take a commuted value lump sum instead of monthly pension payments. So many of the boomers are taking the lump sum now that the pension fund is suffering from it. So all 3 unions who are in the pension group had vote on a new pension plan that gave more to everyone, but got rid of the lump sum payment. It would have fixed so many problems, and literally paid out $1000 more per month for most pensioners going forward. So what happened? The VAST majority of people voted to approve the new plan... But since all 3 unions needed to have a positive vote for it to pass, the tiny union local that is literally all boomers decided to fuck us all over because they still want to take the lump sum instead, since what do they care about reliable monthly payments for everyone? They paid off their mortgages decades ago. So about 8% made the decision for the other 92%. It was so so so frustrating.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Damn you Brandon! When have you done anything for me, me, me lately!!!
Meanwhile, the Biden administration today celebrated the drop of the inflation rate to zero for the month of October, meaning that prices did not rise at all between September and October. That flat month means the yearly inflation rate dropped to 3.2% for the past year. Much of that lower inflation rate reflects lower gasoline prices, which dropped 5% in October.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Chiiiiiii-naaaaaa? But do you see how President Xi tells people to jump and they jump. Tough guy that Xi. One of the toughest. And smart. Very smart. Now, we have Brandon. No match. No match at all. No match.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
China's Xi tells Biden as talks open: 'Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed'
By AAMER MADHANI, COLLEEN LONG and DIDI TANG
42 mins ago
WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping plunged into their first face-to-face meeting in a year Wednesday,, intent on working to stabilize fraught relations and showing the world that while they are global economic competitors they’re not locked in a winner-take-all faceoff.
“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi told Biden.
The U.S. president told Xi: “I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader-to-leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunications. We have to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.”
The two warmly shook hands as they made a red carpet entrance to a bucolic Northern California estate for hours of work on detangling a multitude of tensions. Their meeting, on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, has far-reaching implications for a world grappling with economic cross currents, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, tensions in Taiwan and more.
Both leaders acknowledged the importance of their relationship and the need for better coordination. But their differences shone through: Xi indicated he wants better cooperation — but on China's terms. And he sought to project strength to his domestic audience in the face of U.S. policies restricting imports from China and limiting technology transfers to Beijing.
Biden, meanwhile, will also spend time this week in California working to highlight new alliances in the Indo Pacific and efforts to boost trade with other regional leaders.
Xi, speaking through an interpreter, declared it “an objective fact that China and the United States are different in history, culture, social system and development.”
The presidents and their respective aides on trade, the economy, national security and regional diplomacy gathered across from one another at a single long table, the culmination of negotiations between the two leaders' top aides over the past several months. It was Biden and Xi's first conversation of any kind since they met last November in Bali.
They're seeking to build back to a stable baseline after already tense relations took a nosedive following the U.S. downing of a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the continental U.S., and amid differences over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, China’s hacking of a Biden official’s emails and other matters.
For Biden, Wednesday's meeting was a chance for the president to do what he believes he does best: in-person diplomacy.
“As always, there's no substitute for face-to-face discussions,” he told Xi. With his characteristic optimism, Biden sketched a vision of leaders who manage competition “responsibly,” adding, "that's what the United States wants and what we intend to do.”
Xi, for his part, was gloomy about the state of the post-pandemic global economy. China’s economy remains in the doldrums, with prices falling due to slack demand from consumers and businesses.
“The global economy is recovering, but its momentum remains sluggish,” Xi said. “Industrial and supply chains are still under the threat of interruption and protectionism is rising. All these are grave problems."
The relationship between China and the U.S. has never been smooth, he said. Still, it has kept moving forward. "For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option,” he said.
More pointedly, Xi also suggested it was not up to the U.S. to dictate how the Chinese manage their affairs, saying, “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.”
Robert Moritz, global chairman for the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, said business leaders are hoping for signs of more cooperation and a firmer commitment to free trade between the world’s two largest economies following the Biden-Xi talks.
“What we are looking for is a de-escalation and a bringing of the temperature down,” Mortiz said during a CEO summit being held in conjunction with the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that has brought together leaders from 21 member economies.
“Discussion isn’t good enough, it’s the execution on getting things done” that will matter, he said.
The Biden-Xi meeting and broader summit events attracted protests around San Francisco, but the demonstrations were kept at distance. A large crowd loudly condemning Xi marched from the Chinese Consulate toward the summit venue at the Moscone Center nearly two miles away. Speakers implored the Biden administration to stand up to Xi and China's human rights violations.
During their talks, Biden was expected to let Xi know that he would like China to use its sway over Iran to make clear that Tehran or its proxies should not take action that could lead to expansion of the Israel-Hamas war. The Biden administration sees the Chinese, a big buyer of Iranian oil, as having considerable leverage with Iran, which is a major backer of Hamas.
Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, senior White House officials said Biden would walk away with more concrete results than from the leaders' last talks in November 2022. There will be agreements from China to help stop the flow of chemicals used in the production of illicit fentanyl, and to revive communications between the militaries -- increasingly important as incidents between the two nations’ ships and aircraft have spiked.
While Biden was expected to defend U.S. expansion of export controls on semiconductor chips, he also was to assure Xi that the U.S. is not trying to wage economic war with Beijing.
Xi, meanwhile, was looking for assurances from Biden that the U.S. will not support Taiwan independence, start a new Cold War or suppress China’s economic growth. He was also keen to show the U.S. that China is still a good place to invest.
Late Wednesday, Xi was to address American business executives at a $2,000-per-plate dinner that will be a rare opportunity for U.S. business leaders to hear directly from the Chinese leader as they seek clarification on Beijing’s expanding security rules that may choke foreign investment.
Foreign companies operating in China say that country's tensions with Washington over technology, trade and other issues and uncertainty over Chinese policies are damaging the business environment and causing some to reassess their plans for investing in the giant market.
Even before Biden and Xi met, there were some signs of a thaw: The State Department on Tuesday announced that the U.S. and China -- two of the world's biggest polluters -- had agreed to pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, through wind, solar and other renewables.
Biden and Xi held their talks at Filoli Estate, a country house and museum about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco. The event was carefully staged, Biden first to arrive at the grand estate, then Xi. After their handshake and smiles they sat down with aides for talks that lasted more than two hours.
Next came a working lunch with inner-circle members from both administrations. They ate ravioli, chicken and broccolini. Almond meringue cake and praline buttercream was for dessert.
White House officials said Biden was coming into the talks bolstered by signs the U.S. economy is in a stronger position than China's, and that the U.S. is building stronger alliances throughout the Pacific.
The U.S. president, speaking at a campaign fundraiser on Tuesday evening, pointed to the upcoming meeting as an example of how “reestablished American leadership in the world is taking hold.” As for China, the president told donors, it has ”real problems."
___
Long and Tang reported from San Francisco. Associated Press journalists Zeke Miller, Sagar Meghani and Josh Boak in Washington and Michael Liedtke and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
China's Xi tells Biden as talks open: 'Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed'
By AAMER MADHANI, COLLEEN LONG and DIDI TANG
42 mins ago
WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping plunged into their first face-to-face meeting in a year Wednesday,, intent on working to stabilize fraught relations and showing the world that while they are global economic competitors they’re not locked in a winner-take-all faceoff.
“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi told Biden.
The U.S. president told Xi: “I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader-to-leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunications. We have to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.”
The two warmly shook hands as they made a red carpet entrance to a bucolic Northern California estate for hours of work on detangling a multitude of tensions. Their meeting, on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, has far-reaching implications for a world grappling with economic cross currents, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, tensions in Taiwan and more.
Both leaders acknowledged the importance of their relationship and the need for better coordination. But their differences shone through: Xi indicated he wants better cooperation — but on China's terms. And he sought to project strength to his domestic audience in the face of U.S. policies restricting imports from China and limiting technology transfers to Beijing.
Biden, meanwhile, will also spend time this week in California working to highlight new alliances in the Indo Pacific and efforts to boost trade with other regional leaders.
Xi, speaking through an interpreter, declared it “an objective fact that China and the United States are different in history, culture, social system and development.”
The presidents and their respective aides on trade, the economy, national security and regional diplomacy gathered across from one another at a single long table, the culmination of negotiations between the two leaders' top aides over the past several months. It was Biden and Xi's first conversation of any kind since they met last November in Bali.
They're seeking to build back to a stable baseline after already tense relations took a nosedive following the U.S. downing of a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the continental U.S., and amid differences over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, China’s hacking of a Biden official’s emails and other matters.
For Biden, Wednesday's meeting was a chance for the president to do what he believes he does best: in-person diplomacy.
“As always, there's no substitute for face-to-face discussions,” he told Xi. With his characteristic optimism, Biden sketched a vision of leaders who manage competition “responsibly,” adding, "that's what the United States wants and what we intend to do.”
Xi, for his part, was gloomy about the state of the post-pandemic global economy. China’s economy remains in the doldrums, with prices falling due to slack demand from consumers and businesses.
“The global economy is recovering, but its momentum remains sluggish,” Xi said. “Industrial and supply chains are still under the threat of interruption and protectionism is rising. All these are grave problems."
The relationship between China and the U.S. has never been smooth, he said. Still, it has kept moving forward. "For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option,” he said.
More pointedly, Xi also suggested it was not up to the U.S. to dictate how the Chinese manage their affairs, saying, “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.”
Robert Moritz, global chairman for the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, said business leaders are hoping for signs of more cooperation and a firmer commitment to free trade between the world’s two largest economies following the Biden-Xi talks.
“What we are looking for is a de-escalation and a bringing of the temperature down,” Mortiz said during a CEO summit being held in conjunction with the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that has brought together leaders from 21 member economies.
“Discussion isn’t good enough, it’s the execution on getting things done” that will matter, he said.
The Biden-Xi meeting and broader summit events attracted protests around San Francisco, but the demonstrations were kept at distance. A large crowd loudly condemning Xi marched from the Chinese Consulate toward the summit venue at the Moscone Center nearly two miles away. Speakers implored the Biden administration to stand up to Xi and China's human rights violations.
During their talks, Biden was expected to let Xi know that he would like China to use its sway over Iran to make clear that Tehran or its proxies should not take action that could lead to expansion of the Israel-Hamas war. The Biden administration sees the Chinese, a big buyer of Iranian oil, as having considerable leverage with Iran, which is a major backer of Hamas.
Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, senior White House officials said Biden would walk away with more concrete results than from the leaders' last talks in November 2022. There will be agreements from China to help stop the flow of chemicals used in the production of illicit fentanyl, and to revive communications between the militaries -- increasingly important as incidents between the two nations’ ships and aircraft have spiked.
While Biden was expected to defend U.S. expansion of export controls on semiconductor chips, he also was to assure Xi that the U.S. is not trying to wage economic war with Beijing.
Xi, meanwhile, was looking for assurances from Biden that the U.S. will not support Taiwan independence, start a new Cold War or suppress China’s economic growth. He was also keen to show the U.S. that China is still a good place to invest.
Late Wednesday, Xi was to address American business executives at a $2,000-per-plate dinner that will be a rare opportunity for U.S. business leaders to hear directly from the Chinese leader as they seek clarification on Beijing’s expanding security rules that may choke foreign investment.
Foreign companies operating in China say that country's tensions with Washington over technology, trade and other issues and uncertainty over Chinese policies are damaging the business environment and causing some to reassess their plans for investing in the giant market.
Even before Biden and Xi met, there were some signs of a thaw: The State Department on Tuesday announced that the U.S. and China -- two of the world's biggest polluters -- had agreed to pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, through wind, solar and other renewables.
Biden and Xi held their talks at Filoli Estate, a country house and museum about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco. The event was carefully staged, Biden first to arrive at the grand estate, then Xi. After their handshake and smiles they sat down with aides for talks that lasted more than two hours.
Next came a working lunch with inner-circle members from both administrations. They ate ravioli, chicken and broccolini. Almond meringue cake and praline buttercream was for dessert.
White House officials said Biden was coming into the talks bolstered by signs the U.S. economy is in a stronger position than China's, and that the U.S. is building stronger alliances throughout the Pacific.
The U.S. president, speaking at a campaign fundraiser on Tuesday evening, pointed to the upcoming meeting as an example of how “reestablished American leadership in the world is taking hold.” As for China, the president told donors, it has ”real problems."
___
Long and Tang reported from San Francisco. Associated Press journalists Zeke Miller, Sagar Meghani and Josh Boak in Washington and Michael Liedtke and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.
a gop president would have told xi "this here planet ain't big enough for the both of us."
this is why we need real leadership like trump and w.
LETH GO BINDEN!!!
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
What’s going on with Hunter’s laptop? Anyone? When are the indictments coming? Asking for a friend.
I don't know. Why don't you ask the 50 former intelligence officers that lied saying it was Russian disinformation and interfered with a Presidential election?
Free speech and opinions are election interference now. There oughta be a law...
What’s going on with Hunter’s laptop? Anyone? When are the indictments coming? Asking for a friend.
I don't know. Why don't you ask the 50 former intelligence officers that lied saying it was Russian disinformation and interfered with a Presidential election?
But...if there isn't anything of substance on there doesn't that lean toward disinformation? For years you people have been going on and on about the laptop being a smoking gun and it has been completely useless other than a few dick pics.
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
Comments
Also, all generations get older and think the younger generations are a bunch of punks.
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
I've been frustrated with the situation. I am paying the price for Boomers to have a better retirement than me, and it's frustrating.
Teachers who retired 10 years ago are going to be much better off financially than when I retire. They are frequently increasing my contributions and lowering my pension.
For example, when I first moved to Colorado I was paying something like 7.5% of my salary into my pension and would be getting something like 2.25% of my salary per year. Each year they'd raise it a little, so I was contributing closer to 9% by the end. So if I worked 30 years, I'd get 67.5% of my salary in retirement.
But those who retired earlier paid less and received something like 3% per year into retirement. So they would have worked 30 years, paid less of their paycheck and gotten 90% of their salary in retirement.
The problem is people were retiring earlier and living longer, so the only way to fund it was to make new hires pay more and get less. I believe they could raise your contribution amount, but I don't think they could change your retirement rate. That per year rate was locked in. Meaning if when you were first hired you were getting 3%, then that is was you got. But new hires were getting less and less. Every several years they'd drop the percent down slightly. Most states have the retirement posted if you look hard enough. Many are around 2% a year now, when it was much higher 30 years ago, meaning those retiring now are getting a lot more.
I'm not mad at the boomers, it's not their fault. But it is frustrating, that I am paying for their retirement and will be getting less for my higher contributions.
And not just teachers, other public and state positions are similar, like law enforcement, etc.
And that's not even factoring in the point OnWIs made, the 20k they paid for their first house that is now selling for 500.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday signed an ambitious executive order on artificial intelligence that seeks to balance the needs of cutting-edge technology companies with national security and consumer rights, creating an early set of guardrails that could be fortified by legislation and global agreements.
Before signing the order, Biden said AI is driving change at “warp speed” and carries tremendous potential as well as perils.
“AI is all around us,” Biden said. “To realize the promise of AI and avoid the risk, we need to govern this technology.”
The order is an initial step that is meant to ensure that AI is trustworthy and helpful, rather than deceptive and destructive. The order — which will likely need to be augmented by congressional action — seeks to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy.
Using the Defense Production Act, the order requires leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is to create standards to ensure AI tools are safe and secure before public release.
JOE BIDEN
Biden and Jill Biden hand out books and candy while hosting thousands for rainy trick or treating
Biden administration is moving toward a narrower student loan relief targeting groups of borrowers
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The Commerce Department is to issue guidance to label and watermark AI-generated content to help differentiate between authentic interactions and those generated by software. The extensive order touches on matters of privacy, civil rights, consumer protections, scientific research and worker rights.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients recalled Biden giving his staff a directive when formulating the order to move with urgency.
“We can’t move at a normal government pace,” Zients said the Democratic president told him. “We have to move as fast, if not faster, than the technology itself.”
In Biden's view, the government was late to address the risks of social media and now U.S. youth are grappling with related mental health issues. AI has the positive ability to accelerate cancer research, model the impacts of climate change, boost economic output and improve government services among other benefits. But it could also warp basic notions of truth with false images, deepen racial and social inequalities and provide a tool to scammers and criminals.
With the European Union nearing final passage of a sweeping law to rein in AI harms and Congress still in the early stages of debating safeguards, the Biden administration is “stepping up to use the levers it can control,” said digital rights advocate Alexandra Reeve Givens, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology. "That’s issuing guidance and standards to shape private sector behavior and leading by example in the federal government’s own use of AI.”
The order builds on voluntary commitments already made by technology companies. It's part of a broader strategy that administration officials say also includes congressional legislation and international diplomacy, a sign of the disruptions already caused by the introduction of new AI tools such as ChatGPT that can generate text, images and sounds.
The guidance within the order is to be implemented and fulfilled over the range of 90 days to 365 days.
Last Thursday, Biden gathered his aides in the Oval Office to review and finalize the executive order, a 30-minute meeting that stretched to 70 minutes, despite other pressing matters, including the mass shooting in Maine, the Israel-Hamas war and the selection of a new House speaker.
Biden was profoundly curious about the technology in the months of meetings that led up to drafting the order. His science advisory council focused on AI at two meetings and his Cabinet discussed it at two meetings. The president also pressed tech executives and civil society advocates about the technology's capabilities at multiple gatherings.
“He was as impressed and alarmed as anyone,” deputy White House chief of staff Bruce Reed said in an interview. “He saw fake AI images of himself, of his dog. He saw how it can make bad poetry. And he’s seen and heard the incredible and terrifying technology of voice cloning, which can take three seconds of your voice and turn it into an entire fake conversation.”
The issue of AI was seemingly inescapable for Biden. At Camp David one weekend, he relaxed by watching the Tom Cruise film “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.” The film's villain is a sentient and rogue AI known as “the Entity” that sinks a submarine and kills its crew in the movie's opening minutes.
“If he hadn’t already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he saw plenty more to worry about,” said Reed, who watched the film with the president.
Governments around the world have raced to establish protections, some of them tougher than Biden's directives. After more than two years of deliberation, the EU is putting the final touches on a comprehensive set of regulations that targets the riskiest applications with the tightest restrictions. China, a key AI rival to the U.S., has also set some rules.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes to carve out a prominent role for Britain as an AI safety hub at a summit starting Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris plans to attend. And on Monday, officials from the Group of Seven major industrial nations agreed to a set of AI safety principles and a voluntary code of conduct for AI developers.
The U.S., particularly its West Coast, is home to many of the leading developers of cutting-edge AI technology, including tech giants Google, Meta and Microsoft, and AI-focused startups such as OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. The White House took advantage of that industry weight earlier this year when it secured commitments from those companies to implement safety mechanisms as they build new AI models.
But the White House also faced significant pressure from Democratic allies, including labor and civil rights groups, to make sure its policies reflected their concerns about AI’s real-world harms.
Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a former Biden administration official who helped craft principles for approaching AI, said one of the biggest challenges within the federal government has been what to do about law enforcement’s use of AI tools, including at U.S. borders.
“These are all places where we know that the use of automation is very problematic, with facial recognition, drone technology,” Venkatasubramanian said. Facial recognition technology has been shown to perform unevenly across racial groups, and has been tied to mistaken arrests.
While the EU’s forthcoming AI law is set to ban real-time facial recognition in public, Biden’s order appears to simply ask for federal agencies to review how they’re using AI in the criminal justice system, falling short of the stronger language sought by some activists.
The American Civil Liberties Union is among the groups that met with the White House to try to ensure “we’re holding the tech industry and tech billionaires accountable” so that algorithmic tools “work for all of us and not just a few,” said ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU’s racial justice program, who attended Monday's signing.
After seeing the text of the order, Moore applauded how it addressed discrimination and other AI harms in workplaces and housing, but said the administration “essentially kicks the can down the road” in protecting people from law enforcement’s growing use of the technology.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Thpit yaa gum out, bud!
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
states arent secret service. this isnt just any gov vehicle. what kind of gear you think they have. for all we know , a weapon was displayed by one or more of the three individuals.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
But my other point was the headlines make it sound like the grand daughter was in danger. She wasn't even there. With the number of car break ins and thefts, them likely not even knowing it was a government vehicle, it being unoccupied during the break in, no one related to Biden was ever in any danger, seems like a story that's trying to get blown up to me. It's click bait. With headlines like "Secret Service protecting grand daughter of President Biden fire shots when SUV gets broken into," the media wants you to think the grand daughter was a target, until you click on the story and read it.
There isn't much I could care less about as far as news stories go than an unoccupied and unmarked government vehicle getting broken into like thousands of other cars, doesn't seem like a news story to me.
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Brilliantati©
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
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Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Kind of the same problem with my pension. As of now, there is an option to take a commuted value lump sum instead of monthly pension payments. So many of the boomers are taking the lump sum now that the pension fund is suffering from it. So all 3 unions who are in the pension group had vote on a new pension plan that gave more to everyone, but got rid of the lump sum payment. It would have fixed so many problems, and literally paid out $1000 more per month for most pensioners going forward. So what happened? The VAST majority of people voted to approve the new plan... But since all 3 unions needed to have a positive vote for it to pass, the tiny union local that is literally all boomers decided to fuck us all over because they still want to take the lump sum instead, since what do they care about reliable monthly payments for everyone? They paid off their mortgages decades ago. So about 8% made the decision for the other 92%. It was so so so frustrating.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Meanwhile, the Biden administration today celebrated the drop of the inflation rate to zero for the month of October, meaning that prices did not rise at all between September and October. That flat month means the yearly inflation rate dropped to 3.2% for the past year. Much of that lower inflation rate reflects lower gasoline prices, which dropped 5% in October.
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping plunged into their first face-to-face meeting in a year Wednesday,, intent on working to stabilize fraught relations and showing the world that while they are global economic competitors they’re not locked in a winner-take-all faceoff.
“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi told Biden.
The U.S. president told Xi: “I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader-to-leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunications. We have to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.”
The two warmly shook hands as they made a red carpet entrance to a bucolic Northern California estate for hours of work on detangling a multitude of tensions. Their meeting, on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, has far-reaching implications for a world grappling with economic cross currents, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, tensions in Taiwan and more.
JOE BIDEN
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Lush, private Northern California estate is site for Xi-Biden meeting
Both leaders acknowledged the importance of their relationship and the need for better coordination. But their differences shone through: Xi indicated he wants better cooperation — but on China's terms. And he sought to project strength to his domestic audience in the face of U.S. policies restricting imports from China and limiting technology transfers to Beijing.
Biden, meanwhile, will also spend time this week in California working to highlight new alliances in the Indo Pacific and efforts to boost trade with other regional leaders.
Xi, speaking through an interpreter, declared it “an objective fact that China and the United States are different in history, culture, social system and development.”
The presidents and their respective aides on trade, the economy, national security and regional diplomacy gathered across from one another at a single long table, the culmination of negotiations between the two leaders' top aides over the past several months. It was Biden and Xi's first conversation of any kind since they met last November in Bali.
They're seeking to build back to a stable baseline after already tense relations took a nosedive following the U.S. downing of a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the continental U.S., and amid differences over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, China’s hacking of a Biden official’s emails and other matters.
For Biden, Wednesday's meeting was a chance for the president to do what he believes he does best: in-person diplomacy.
“As always, there's no substitute for face-to-face discussions,” he told Xi. With his characteristic optimism, Biden sketched a vision of leaders who manage competition “responsibly,” adding, "that's what the United States wants and what we intend to do.”
Xi, for his part, was gloomy about the state of the post-pandemic global economy. China’s economy remains in the doldrums, with prices falling due to slack demand from consumers and businesses.
“The global economy is recovering, but its momentum remains sluggish,” Xi said. “Industrial and supply chains are still under the threat of interruption and protectionism is rising. All these are grave problems."
The relationship between China and the U.S. has never been smooth, he said. Still, it has kept moving forward. "For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option,” he said.
More pointedly, Xi also suggested it was not up to the U.S. to dictate how the Chinese manage their affairs, saying, “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.”
Robert Moritz, global chairman for the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, said business leaders are hoping for signs of more cooperation and a firmer commitment to free trade between the world’s two largest economies following the Biden-Xi talks.
“What we are looking for is a de-escalation and a bringing of the temperature down,” Mortiz said during a CEO summit being held in conjunction with the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that has brought together leaders from 21 member economies.
“Discussion isn’t good enough, it’s the execution on getting things done” that will matter, he said.
The Biden-Xi meeting and broader summit events attracted protests around San Francisco, but the demonstrations were kept at distance. A large crowd loudly condemning Xi marched from the Chinese Consulate toward the summit venue at the Moscone Center nearly two miles away. Speakers implored the Biden administration to stand up to Xi and China's human rights violations.
During their talks, Biden was expected to let Xi know that he would like China to use its sway over Iran to make clear that Tehran or its proxies should not take action that could lead to expansion of the Israel-Hamas war. The Biden administration sees the Chinese, a big buyer of Iranian oil, as having considerable leverage with Iran, which is a major backer of Hamas.
Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, senior White House officials said Biden would walk away with more concrete results than from the leaders' last talks in November 2022. There will be agreements from China to help stop the flow of chemicals used in the production of illicit fentanyl, and to revive communications between the militaries -- increasingly important as incidents between the two nations’ ships and aircraft have spiked.
While Biden was expected to defend U.S. expansion of export controls on semiconductor chips, he also was to assure Xi that the U.S. is not trying to wage economic war with Beijing.
Xi, meanwhile, was looking for assurances from Biden that the U.S. will not support Taiwan independence, start a new Cold War or suppress China’s economic growth. He was also keen to show the U.S. that China is still a good place to invest.
Late Wednesday, Xi was to address American business executives at a $2,000-per-plate dinner that will be a rare opportunity for U.S. business leaders to hear directly from the Chinese leader as they seek clarification on Beijing’s expanding security rules that may choke foreign investment.
Foreign companies operating in China say that country's tensions with Washington over technology, trade and other issues and uncertainty over Chinese policies are damaging the business environment and causing some to reassess their plans for investing in the giant market.
Even before Biden and Xi met, there were some signs of a thaw: The State Department on Tuesday announced that the U.S. and China -- two of the world's biggest polluters -- had agreed to pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, through wind, solar and other renewables.
Biden and Xi held their talks at Filoli Estate, a country house and museum about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco. The event was carefully staged, Biden first to arrive at the grand estate, then Xi. After their handshake and smiles they sat down with aides for talks that lasted more than two hours.
Next came a working lunch with inner-circle members from both administrations. They ate ravioli, chicken and broccolini. Almond meringue cake and praline buttercream was for dessert.
White House officials said Biden was coming into the talks bolstered by signs the U.S. economy is in a stronger position than China's, and that the U.S. is building stronger alliances throughout the Pacific.
The U.S. president, speaking at a campaign fundraiser on Tuesday evening, pointed to the upcoming meeting as an example of how “reestablished American leadership in the world is taking hold.” As for China, the president told donors, it has ”real problems."
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Long and Tang reported from San Francisco. Associated Press journalists Zeke Miller, Sagar Meghani and Josh Boak in Washington and Michael Liedtke and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
this is why we need real leadership like trump and w.
LETH GO BINDEN!!!
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
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