Steve Demarest

All Around Good Guy

[Bill Aleshire @AleshireLaw]

I’m sure the Sister City Cost/Benefit Analysis is hidden somewhere on the City’s Website. You know, the analysis that explains how much more Affordable that program expenditure makes it for people living in Austin.

Austin Mayor and Council JUST DON’T GET IT.
Elect 5 new ones this November and pass the Charter Audit Amendment.

[Douglas A. Boneparth @dougboneparth]

Nutritionist: “Your diet is poor.”
Dentist: “Your brushing is bad.”
Friends: “Your life is a mess.”
Liquor store guy: “Excellent choice.”

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

Can't they find a design they like? https://t.co/qvsI8UHD5l

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

@MikeyDiMercurio @emailmistaken From a reader perspective non fiction feels like you're learning something, and actual history is fascinating. Meanwhile there's a ton of formulaic fiction out there to the point it feels like you've read everything before.

[Andy Staples @AndyStaples]

Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua, who used to run NBC Sports, tells senators that the best way to make the most money from TV rights is a super league.

Then he says he doesn't want a super league.

Then he offers a sample super league schedule.

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

@BalconesRoofing I wonder how long before TxDOT decides to rip it up for some reason that only makes sense to them. 24 months? 36?

[Roseanne Barr @therealroseanne]

@Polymarket He will definitely win Dearborn, Michigan

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

@jlatrell @DJSnM The fun comes from winning.

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

@DJSnM All good proposals focus on deliverables and schedule. 1) What are you delivering
2) When are you delivering
3) What is the order of tasks to deliver on schedule (Workplan)

With this you have the basis for pricing and contract.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

We have moved on to entirely new moral panics, such as [squints, checks notes] water consumption in datacenters. And in a few years (or months, or weeks, or days), that will be completely forgotten too.

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

@LoewyLawFirm You have to admit the man knows something about disaffected conservative voters.

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

Rachel Robinson is 103 years old, widowed over half a century ago, never remarried, and has dedicated her adult life to preserving and building upon her husband’s legacy.

My first wife left me because I accidentally put a pair of clean socks in the dirty clothes hamper.

[@jason @Jason]

Stopping data centers is dumb.

… but we are a union of 50 states and each state — and cities and towns — have the right to control their destiny.

If New York wants to block data centers let them — Texas, Pennsylvania and Nevada will take the business, negotiate taxes and boom.

States are the ultimate A/B test

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

@LoewyLawFirm Wife said "I feel like the Alamo just fell".

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

Cardinals & Mockingbirds like crazy this year. I think we have 2 or 3 pairs of each.

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

cc: @austintexasgov @KirkPWatson and other local “Affordability Advocates”.

[Swann Marcus @SwannMarcus89]

People seem to be misinterpreting why Seattle is fucked. Seattle is not fucked because they over-regulate big business or because of the “millionaire’s tax.” They’re fucked because they overregulate small and mid-sized businesses which caused a massive localized inflationary spiral that is forcing out big businesses because labor costs are too high

Seattle massively over regulated the service sector by imposing gargantuan minimum wages on restaurants and delivery apps + implementing a zillion other regulations that caused service sector costs to soar. Seattle’s housing prices are actually *declining* but their inflation rate has been 1-1.5 points higher than the national average despite reduced housing costs. This is caused mainly by food service prices rising at 7% a year due to Seattle’s minimum wage policies and excessive service sector regulations. Inflation in Seattle is now 5% and nominal wage growth is 3%, meaning real wages fell 2% in the last twelve months

High local inflation forced big companies to pay artificially high wages because highly paid corporate workers expect wages to keep up with living costs. On top of that, Seattle has a payroll tax that almost exclusively applies to huge companies. Those big companies are therefore paying insane wages to do business in Seattle, whereas if they relocated, they could pay people the same real wages relative to local cost of living and save tens of millions a year in corporate labor costs alone

But here’s the thing: Because Seattle overregulated their small and midsize businesses, those businesses are now operating on razor thin margins and are reliant on highly paid corporate workers who can pay exorbitant prices in order to stay in business. So when a corporate office relocates out of Seattle, all of the local restaurants collapse because they no longer have a customer base who can afford the prices they have to charge due to Seattle’s regulatory environment

What this means is that as corporations cut payroll in Seattle the entire city’s service sector is imploding, which has resulted in localized stagflation. Their whole labor market is quickly evaporating and now they have 5.5% unemployment, 5% inflation, and -2% real wage growth.

None of this has anything to do with the “millionaire’s tax” because the companies are leaving before the people do. Why would companies care about a tax on ultra high incomes that doesn’t impact their cost of doing business?

[Lori Garver @Lori_Garver]

@NASASpox Out of all the positive decisions & reforms announced by @NASAAdmin to date, this is a stand out. It isn’t often you get a visionary, inspirational, decisive leader, who is also quick to listen, acknowledge missteps & pivot when data is made available. Bodes well for the future!

[Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴‍☠️ @mercoglianos]

George, I suggest you read the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, Article 110 (1d) and you will see that stateless ships can be boarded by navies and all ships in international waters must be properly registered.

Will you have the same outrage if that ship spills 2 million barrels of oil and we discover that only is the ship not registered but it has no insurance and has not been inspected in years?

[Supersonic Redhead🛫 @Supersonic_Red]

Good morning.

Today is Martha Washington’s birthday, and this may be one of the wisest things ever written:

“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.”

I’ve had plenty of reasons over the last few years to be discouraged. Most of us have. But what I know for a fact is that gratitude, faith, humor, and a little stubbornness go a long way.

Have a wonderful day, friends.

[Steve Demarest @go_demarest]

@Jordan_Moorhead Trump opened this dumb can of worms.