I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. They are all fundamentally nice people. The difference is, they get fixated on small issues, and let it control their actions. Jerry dates a woman that only looks good in bright light? Only go on dates that have good lighting. It is something you would want to do too, but you would have the control to not let it run the relationship. Jerry doesn’t have that control, and focuses on the good lighting at the expense of everything else.

The characters aren’t mean. They didn’t wish I’ll on anyone. Many of the episodes are them trying to find a way to get out of a situation without being honest because they think the truth would hurt too. Idiots, yes, not not jerks.

For another example. There is an episode where a waiter accidentally puts a menu on a candle and it lights on fire. George points it out, puts the fire out, and casually mentions “I think the busboy put the menu too close to the candle.” The manager overhears this, and fires the busboy. George then finds the busboy to try and help him get another job, but leaves the front door open, and the busboy’s cat escapes. It is the perfect example of what the characters are. They don’t want to hurt people, and go to extreme lengths to do it, even though it always backfires.

Stock price is really just a present value of future expected earnings. Buying Coke for $100 is because you think the earnings of that share in the future is worth $100. So yes, if the company makes an announcement that it isn’t as profitable, the price will go down, because buyers won’t want to pay the same for an asset that is returns less than it was expedited to.

Yes, there are complications. Shorts, futures, non dividend yielding shares, and more make it more muddied. At the end of it though, the future expected earnings are what is being bought and sold.

I hear people talk like this, but I don’t think it is actually true. Sure, fast food use to be half of a smaller joint, but now you are only paying 20-30% less at the fast food places. That ignores the fact that a lot of the cheap food is on the apps now. My Mcdonalds has had buy one get one Big Macs for about 2 years now. Even if I get that and a fry, I am looking at a $8 bill as opposed to a local joint that is going to charge $9 for their basic burger, no fries.

This doesn’t even take into account the speed of the fast food places, which is much slower than it use to be, but still the fastest places in town. So yes, the days of a late night snack run to Taco Bell are over, but the restaurants still have a purpose. The purpose is for when you need some food right now, and not for a huge price.

I don’t care who you are, free pizza is a gift I will accept any day. It will beat anything else I would be bringing in for lunch.