observer

@dose_of_Close @iwelsh You said GDP was movement of money. Actually, US saw ~3x its GDP worth of movement of money in 2025. So no, GDP is not *just* movement of money. It’s actually the movement of money that’s directly associated with generation of products & services.

@msiguc @iwelsh I didn't say anything about stock.

GDP doesn't mean shit. Example: you can get an MRI scan in China for about $50, same day. Food costs less, rent in most cities is less. A 5 star hotel in China (same chain) costs 1/10th as much as in America. You can get a good electric care for about 20K, etc, etc...

@dose_of_Close @iwelsh Hmmm. Just googled: US GDP in 2025 is $30.6T. Total amount of fin transactions that year within the US: $93T. When you buy and then sell a stock, you don't produce GDP, so calling GDP just money flow is about 3x wrong (per above numbers).

@msiguc @iwelsh GDP is not hard. It's simply the movement of money. Has zero to do with wealth or happiness. Just simply movement of money and the ease in which that movement is tracked. We could 2x GDP if spouses paid each other to cook dinner. But in real terms, nothing changed.

@dose_of_Close @iwelsh Right, GDP calculation is tricky. I’d argue that a person hiring someone to do work for them is likely a higher paid professional (eg a doc hiring a lawn mower) or isn’t proficient in that space (eg a lawn mower hiring a doc). In both cases I find GDP contribution justified.

@msiguc @iwelsh It's not. Had everyone just mowed their own lawn, the same amount of labor was spent and the same end result occurs. The only reason it counts as GDP is because it was someone else's lawn.

@SteffenRascher @DietmarPichler1 @inved_Europa I agree, there’s a lot of lies flying around. That story I referenced seems credible to me. Unfortunately, “seems” is the keyword here: one can’t trust any story 100% nowadays and unfortunately Intl community hasn’t run a bulletproof investigation.

@msiguc @DietmarPichler1 @inved_Europa Das schreibt einer vom anderen ab. Im Krieg stirbt zuerst die Wahrheit.

Bucha is well documented, but we still have people who distort, express denial, and doubts, not only on social media, not only anonymous trolls. Why are we not brave enough to confront real people? My article at @inved_Europa inved.eu/insight/bucha-…

@dose_of_Close @iwelsh Actual product is in fact produced in this scenario: mowed lawn. Most of the economy is based on products like this: delivered purchase, cut hair, served food, fixed car, cured tooth ache, etc.

@iwelsh GDP is simply the measurement of the movement of money. If you pay someone $50 to mow your lawn, then they pay $50, and then that person pays you $50 to mow, there was $150 of GDP but no actual product was produced and no one got wealthier.

@UziCryptoo A bit unclear: * Is E66K before or after taxes? If before, I surmise it might be ~E35K after taxes, which is *very* low by US standards, let alone engineering income. * How much is that guy paying for a 150m2 (1500sf) apt, given he has kidS and assuming he hasn't inherited it?

My friend works in tech in Paris He makes a top 1% income (€66k) Leaves work at 4:15pm sharp (work end time closely enforced by government) Commutes home via bike (only 7 minutes) Kids walk home from free daycare a few minutes later He never has to worry about medical bills or saving for retirement Yet gets to work for one of the most innovative startups in the world (it's a GDPR consulting business) Tell me again why America is the best place for tech workers?

@SteffenRascher @DietmarPichler1 @inved_Europa I agree, I don’t believe UA gov either. NYT put out what I find a fairly well substantiated story, though. youtu.be/IrGZ66uKcl0

@msiguc @DietmarPichler1 @inved_Europa The Ukrainians are unscrupulous and prone to lying. Many of these lies have been exposed. I don't believe them.

@SteffenRascher @DietmarPichler1 @inved_Europa There was a NYT documentary that seemed compelling to me. But: it didn't document atrocities in the hundreds, rather only in dozens. So, my current take: unlawful killing of civilians did happen in Bucha, but by far not to the extent presented by the UA side.

@DietmarPichler1 @inved_Europa Ist schon klar, Dietmar. Dann lege mal die Beweise auf den Tisch.

@JulianRoepcke I highly respect German culture and people, who demonstrated immense success in many dimensions (music, literature, science, tech, etc). I also believe that WW2 was a momentary lapse of reason on behalf of Germans. But this post of Ropke's illustrates how Holocaust happened.

Ich habe mir den Bericht unserer Kollegen von Welt angesehen und war darüber einigermaßen überrascht. Aus meiner Sicht enthält er eine Reihe von Ungenauigkeiten und Aussagen, die so nicht zutreffen. 1. In der Ukraine gibt es keine „Zwangsrekrutierung“. Es gilt eine Generalmobilmachung, die Millionen Männer betrifft. Diese erfolgt im Regelfall auf schriftlichem Weg und nicht – wie im Beitrag dargestellt – durch Maßnahmen auf der Straße. 2. Die in solchen Videos gezeigten Szenen betreffen in der Regel die Umsetzung bereits erlassener Einberufungsbescheide, denen die betroffenen Personen nicht nachgekommen sind. Dafür benötigen die TCK-Beamten konkrete Informationen zu den jeweiligen Personen, die sie der Armee zuführen sollen. 3. Ich selbst habe in den vergangenen Tagen zweimal Einsätze des TCK beobachtet, bei denen auch meine Personalien und Dokumente überprüft wurden. In beiden Fällen habe ich kein übergriffiges Verhalten wahrgenommen, sondern reguläre Kontrollen von Papieren, die eine Rückstellung vom Militärdienst begründen können. Es kam dabei zu keinerlei Gewalt, und die Beamten sind ohne festgenommene Personen wieder weitergefahren. 4. In dem Beitrag wird zudem behauptet, Männer würden direkt an die Front und in einen „Fleischwolf“ geschickt. Das ist aus meiner Sicht irreführend. Niemand wird ohne vorherige Grundausbildung an die Front geschickt. Zudem ist der Begriff „Fleischwolf“ unzutreffend, da die ukrainische Armee bemüht ist, eigene Verluste so gering wie möglich zu halten. Über die Gründe für die Darstellung in dem Bericht möchte ich nicht spekulieren. Nach meinem Kenntnisstand entspricht sie jedoch nicht den tatsächlichen Gegebenheiten. youtu.be/ZoMWWhaU6s8?is…

@MarcusAure221 @Septante12 @Mylovanov Not sure about this history. Facts remain: you can’t defend a territory that you haven’t even claimed to be yours. Even more so, you can’t engage foreigners to defend it. Armenia chose not to take responsibility for Karabakh, even formally.

@msiguc @Septante12 @Mylovanov They should have annexed it 1994, they didn't, ever since Russia was threatening if they tried, since Pashinyan came to power he started aggitating Russia and they probably green lighted Azeris to attack... that's my take

Russia declares ultimatum to Armenia. Putin [to Armenian PM]: You can’t trade with both EU and EEU. You have to choose. In the last few years, Armenia started exporting to EU 10 times more goods. We are fine with that. It’s your choice, who you will trade with. 1/

@Septante12 @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov I understand that the war of Karabakh wasn’t clean, neither war is; I don’t support it. Returning back to the original subject: Armenia hasn’t recognized/annexed Karabakh and hence Azerbaijan didn’t attack Armenia, they seized their own territory, per Armenian Intl standing.

@msiguc @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov So what are you doing here if you don't understand French? As I said, this is pure propaganda from someone posting from abroad and distorting the truth Same video: youtu.be/8FU2W9vfum0?si…

@Septante12 @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov Would you please mind contracting my statements in English, with credible English-language references? Unfortunately, I don’t understand French.

@msiguc @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov Tiens, un troll, venu de nulle part pour servir une propagande… dailymotion.com/video/x8o6q6h

@Mikalzet @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov Not sure what conclusion from these two articles I'm supposed to make. If you want to make a point, please make it concisely and also include a specific citation from the article you reference that supports it.

@msiguc @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov theguardian.com/world/2013/nov…

@Septante12 @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov There was no Azerbaijani attach on Armenia in 2020, at all. Karabakh, which Azerbaijan captured back then was part of Azerbaijan, *per Armenia*, because Armenia never recognized even the independence of Karabakh from Azerbaijan, let alone annexed it.

@MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov Sauf que la Russie n’a pas du tout honoré son obligation d’assistance militaire en cas d’attaque azerbaïdjanaise selon le traité de l’OTSC

@Mikalzet @MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov Michele, Foreign investment into RU's economy back in 2013 was driven by import tariffs. RU was totally OK with UA entering a free trade agreement with EU, but in response to that RU would have imposed tariffs on UA imports. That was really the choice for UA.

@MarcusAure221 @Mylovanov Yanukovych campaigned on balancing EU integration & Russian ties, calling EU ties a 'key priority.' The EU offered an Association Agreement. Russia (Putin) applied heavy pressure; Yanukovych suspended signing in Nov 2013. This sparked Euromaidan protests. That's history

@Tazerface16 @CDS949 @Tazerface16, qq for you: I know a bit (but not much) about rockets and was wondering, is there a back-of-the-envelope calculation that proves that landing back the rocket+refurbishing it is so much cheaper than alternatives (parachuting down just the engine block, etc)? Thanks!

@CDS949 Too heavy. Both stages can't be reusable and still be able to put an appreciable payload into LEO.

I'm an aerospace engineer. I made this prediction over five years ago, and I'm still correct. I'm not interested in non-engineers trying to explain to me how I'm wrong somehow. Elon Musk is not an engineer.

@sheilatebra > everything they ordered Been to Italy several times. Wouldn’t feel comfortable ordering unless I see a menu with prices in it.

Anonymous My mom and her friend were on vacation in Italy and went looking for a place to have lunch in this small village. They found what looked like a cute little café with a patio and sat down. This old man comes out, brings them pasta, coffee, juice, everything they ordered, and then just sits down to chat with them. When they asked for the bill the man looked genuinely confused. Turns out it wasn’t a café. They had walked into some random guy’s private home and asked him to feed them 😭😭😭 And he just… did it. Italy I love you.

@Mercfan3Mercfan @chinafutureclub Then I’m not surprised you spent $24K/60K km on your other cars. I was wrong, I admit. I assumed people know how to release the hand break before driving. Your example demonstrates that some people don’t.

@msiguc @chinafutureclub Consumables are not fixed service items, they are checked and replacement recommended if required. All my ice cars required discs and pads before 60 kays.

The biggest concern with EVs, the battery, is a non-issue. I’ve driven 60,000km and the battery health is 94%! The battery warranty is 8 years. In that time I will save about $24,000 in fuel and servicing costs.

@akafaceUS Great idea! Prepare to see folks parking in front of that door blocking the garage.

A homeowner in the Netherlands designed a garage door that cleverly blends in by looking just like a regular entry door.

@vlasta_blaha @RepLuna This is a different topic. Meanwhile, maybe you stop spreading this lie: > 32 years, 3 months, and 21 days since the Budapest Memorandum have passed, and many of the security assurances it promised to Ukraine have not been upheld in practice.

@msiguc @RepLuna It always makes sense to support democracy, human rights, and international law in the face of russia's daily brutal violations. Peace, accountability, and justice are more than welcome. Crimea has been under russian occupation since 2014.

Today, for the first time in close to a 1/4 century, 5 members of Congress (bipartisan) met with 5 members of the Russian Duma to discuss peace and bilateral relations. As representatives of the world’s two greatest nuclear super powers, we owe our citizens open dialogue, ideas, and open lines of communication. We will continue to foster this dialogue and push for peace in support of this admins push for peace, as well as economic opportunity. 🕊️