Obtuse1

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This is reasonable accurate. I'm about to build a house. $12k-14k is what I'm getting quoted for a 2800 SQFT living area house.

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Keep in mind new construction doesn't include tearoff and cleanup is MUCH easier. You also have the possibility of decking replacement on old work.

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I would imagine Trumps endgame involves a world in which the world’s largest terrorist supporting government doesn’t have a nuke provide to those terror groups.

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It isn't about nuclear weapons; that is a Bushesque WND ploy. It isn't really about oil directly either. All the unusual moves Trump is making is in regard to Taiwan or more specifically, about high-end chips and global domination in the race to AGI.

Nuclear weapons is the ruse because it is a much easier sell to his base than trying to explain that all this global upheaval is about being able to put the highest density of transistors on a wafer of silicon. A bomb in your backyard is much more relatable to most people.

Surprised this isn't getting any love. TD usually love a good climbing story.

WTF, how can you not avoid posting about politics?

I post on multiple watch, woodworking, tool, 3D printing, climbing, backpacking, etc forums, and never once have I even thought there was a need to get remotely political. Many of the ones I post on make political posts verboten... which could be part of your issue.

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Techdave

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Small price to pay. Suck it up.

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I am curious if you can articulate what the actual endgame is here. Your user name suggests you should be able to.

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I'm as big as a Trump supporter as there is, but if this was Biden in charge and all this happened they'd be ready to string his arse up.

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I am not much of a Trump fan, probably comes as little suprise to most people here.

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I don't agree with Trump on any of this with Iran.

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Here is where we diverge. The difference is I think I see the chessboard.

None of the crazy moves are about oil (per se) and definitely not nuclear weapons. This is the Bush WMD ploy playing out again because they can't speak the quiet part out loud.

This is all about a little island ~120 miles to the east across the South China Sea from Quanzhou China. Taiwan is the pan that made it to the other side of the board and got promoted to queen.

All these moves are directed at running the time out on Taiwan. Up until recently, we needed to keep Taiwan safe for the foreseeable future. Because of the Biden and Trump`administrations luring TSMC to our shores we just need to run our the clock until their 3rd Arizona fab is running at production level for 2nm chips. This should happen in '27 and when it does it demotes Taiwan from a queen to a knight at best. If I was the king of the US at a time when US TSMC is up to production levels with 2nm chips and the fall of Taiwan is imminent, I would vaporize the TSMC factories and the critical parts of their supply chain. Check and mate.

Taiwan has the manufacturing and most of the supply chain for bleeding-edge chips now. US holds the high-purity silicon and the Netherlands has ASML, which is the world's sole supplier of ultraviolet (EUV) machines needed for the EUV lithography machines needed to produce high-end chips. So, without control of any of the three parts, China remains SOL in the bleeding-edge chip game.

Some people may think China can't reproduce the ASML EUV machines because they don't have the smart engineers to reverse-engineer them, but this is false. By hook and crook and reverse engineering, they almost certainly have all the explicit knowledge they need; they are just short of the implicit knowledge to build the machines. Which is why we need to ensure as many engineers and others from TSMC and their supply chain as possible end up on US soil before Taiwan is reintegrated into China and the one nation policy is the only policy.

ASML and TSMC both have critical supply chains that have built up over decades, with the ASML supply chain being very diverse and spread all over Europe. So with only mainly explicit knowledge, it would take China decades to catch up, and possibly never happen as long as TSMC and ASML keep pushing boundaries with the market forces anyway.

This game started well over a decade ago, and calculated covert moves have been slowly developed. Trump has inherited the endgame, well set up, but now he has to play the overt endgame. This is blitz, and the time on the clock is getting tight, so the moves will have to come fast and furious. Buckle up, it is going to be a bumpy ride, and the stakes are incredibly high... like global balance of power high. Stockfish says white has a strong advantage (we are white, right?), but we have to hope the orchestration of the snowy army doesn't flub the advantage.

She's just not that into you, lil bruh.

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UAE has already said they are going to produce more now.

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Doesn't matter, instability is what is running the show now.

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There is no mechanism for a president to just” lower gas prices for the midterms”, oil is traded globally, and prices respond to market forces, not political calendars.

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Generally true, but when an administration sets the conditions that caused the increase and has control over changing those conditions at a moment's notice, they certainly can. The market is reacting to conditions shaped almost unilaterally by the administration.

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Did you apply yourself?

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No, I just have it done when I get my PPF installed. You can DIY it, though, and they sell specific DIY kits. I would consider DIYing the WPF, where I won't even consider doing PPF because I have seen a ton of poor "professional" installs.