Is Capitalism destroying US society?

[OneViewpoint]

So I went to the CT DMV (Department Of Motor Vehicles) this morning to renew my license. but this isn't a story about how fucked up the DMV is. They're actually pretty efficient. No, what occurred to me while sitting there for an hour is how Capitalism has become so insidious that every aspect of our lives has become selling and buying and emptying the other guys bank account.

When you arrive for your appointment, you are asked to check in to confirm you showed up and you are issued a paper ticket with a number on it. Then you sit in a waiting room with 100 poor slobs waiting to be called to one of 22 windows with a clerk to transact whatever business you have. There ain't a whole hell of a lot to do while you wait for an hour past your 9:50 AM appointment to be helped.

But they have these large screens mounted all over the place, about 5 of them. Picture a 65" screen and on the right side taking up about 25% of the screen is a list of ticket numbers they are currently serving and which window is servicing which ticket number. So the entire room is forced to just sit there and stare up at the screen in anticipation of their number being called.

So what's on the other 75% of the screens? Advertising. Nonstop ads selling everything imaginable and flipping over every 30 seconds or so. If you're in a seat for an hour, you get bombarded with roughly 120 ads. The state of Connecticut must be benefitting directly from this ad revenue. So in addition to tax revenue they are raking in ad revenue now.

Then whip out your mobile phone and get bombarded with more ads. Jump on your laptop and get more ads. Visit any website and get more ads. Look at your email and find more ads. Watch broadcast TV and see nothing but drug ads. All of it is designed to extract money. When is enough enough? Tablets are sold with advertising baked into the low price. Refrigerators are being sold with screens to throw advertising at you.

Has Capitalism reached the point that it is harming society?

[MrOracle]

Capitalism is the the only thing saving us.

What to know where the big problem is? GOVERNMENT, and in particular, wild, irresponsible government spending and borrowing. It's been happening for decades, under both parties.

The government is involved in WAY too much stuff, and it is far more deeply involved in things that, perhaps, it needs to be involved in to some extent. Fraud is endemic (there are lots of kinds of fraud, but I'll include things like kickbacks, poor supervision or complete lack of oversite, etc. in the fraud bucket), and every dollar borrowed comes with interest payments on top of the principle. We are currently $34 Trillion dollars in debt, and must spend over $1 Trillion JUST to make the interest payments on the borrowed money each year, before a penny goes towards paying back the principle.

Let me give you a great example of how this works. California has been trying to build "high speed rail" for 3 or 4 decades, with the idea that Californians who need to travel between Los Angeles and the Bay Area would love to do so via high speed rail - even though it's slower AND more expensive than flying. No serious studies were done on the financial feasibility of this system, and when they put this up for a ballot measure in 2008, they estimated the cost of the system to be around $50B.

So, they start actually building this thing, and where do they start? In the absolute cheapest, most remote areas with the least impact on people. Okay, that should mean they should be able to knock out those hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere pretty quickly, right? After 10 years of construction and $14B spent, they have constructed a handful of over-passes. Not a single foot of track has been laid. NO TRACK. And, again, this is the cheapest, easiest land to work on with nearly zero impact on people, no one to complain about traffic or noise, etc., and they have spent $14B without laying 10 feet of actual track. Of course, they have revised the plans - now they plan to build from Los Angeles to Bakersfield (because, you know, there is a MASSIVE need for transportation there!) as Phase 1. At the current rate, this rail system would cost more than a trillion dollars to actually complete, and won't be complete for 200+ more years.

But the contractors (all well connected to California's [Democratic] government officials) have all gotten their money, and they've all declared that their costs quadrupled and they were only able to provide 20% of the work, but who cares? That same government (who are, of COURSE receiving massive kickbacks) aren't actually going to investigate anyone. No, they'll just beg, borrow, and steal more taxpayer money.

I'm not going to lie and tell you that Red states have zero problems with government overspending, but the contrast with Blue states is just insane. Texas and Florida, for example, have no state income tax, and many Red states are lowering taxes. Meanwhile, Blue states keep increasing taxes across the board, only to have their economies crash.

Why is the tax burden so much less in Red states? Because they embrace Capitalism. And by the same token, the reason the tax burden is so high in Blue states is because they embrace Socialism. And what do they get? More people on the government dole, demanding ever more money from the shrinking pool of productive workers, driving more of the productive workers to leave for clean, safe, less-expensive states that embrace Capitalism. Meanwhile, Blue states are in a death spiral, and lots of people in those states have their heads in the sand and don't see the complete crash coming.

[OneViewpoint]

You are blind to the fact that Capitalism has given us a sick twisted society where economic cannibalism has become accepted and we worship only wealth.

[MrOracle]

I'm not blind to anything.

Where is the sick and twisted society? Which states have out-of-control crime such that businesses are packing up and leaving? Which states have out-of-control homeless populations? Which states have crazy costs of living crisis's? Which states are loosing businesses by the dozen a day?

It's the BLUE states - the socialist states. I'm not saying that there is zero crime or zero problems in Red states, but the difference between them is enormous. People in Red states know their neighbors, and help their neighbors. People have real communities. Costs are lower, and WAY more people are able to live comfortably. They aren't taxed and feed endlessly by the government. Businesses are welcomes and allowed to conduct business without insane regulations that only provide useless jobs for government bureaucrats. And the sense of calm and well-being is very high.

Clearly you're in a Blue state, and by choice. You are angry. You are struggling. You lack any community. You don't feel safe. Yet, somehow, you aren't able to realize that these are the direct outcomes of your own set of beliefs. You voted for exactly the miserable society you are in, and you'll keep voting for it, and it will keep getting worse. Meanwhile, people in Red states are increasingly doing better. You think it's unfair, and you can't understand why THEIR lives are getting better while YOURS is getting worse, so you vote for even MORE policies that make your life ever worse.

I can't help you. I'm not sure anyone can. You have to be willing to really open your eyes and set aside your anger and your biases and SEE the world around you before you'll ever understand.

[katiesmuff]

That is so true!

[loveslongnails]

Oh yeah you are... you're blind to a whole HOST of things. LOL You're a maga doing nothing but GOP nonsense spewing as if people here are too stupid to look up facts. Don't you EVER get tired of being an echo box for the Fox Entertainment Network?

The USA didn't have any money to subsidize health care, or provide lunches for kids, but Trump found enough money to start a bullshit war that WOULD HAVE funded all of those things for a FULL year for every 10 days of it. You're now over 30 days, and NOTHING has been accomplished. Congratulations. Lies and bullshit.

Seriously... life is getter BETTER in RED states? You actually said this... "they have communities and live comfortably"? And YOU are the one in touch with REALITY? Tell that to the farmers Trump bankrupted, and the small businesses who were tariffed and are getting NONE of it back, but big corporations are. Give us a break, maga man.

The worst cities for crime in the USA are Memphis and St. Louis, in red states. Virtually every metric for education, health care, infrastructure finds red states on the bottom. There's a reason why they're CHEAP places to live, and they're subject to the same economics as blue states. Homelessness is everywhere and a huge problem. You try to sell the bullshit that it's not in red states because why... it isn't on the right-wing controlled TV media but all the big blue cities are? You're full of crap, dude.

YOU are the one who is clueless to what the P-2025 billionaires with the Trump puppet are doing to the USA. It's being GUTTED and you're ordering popcorn, selling your bullshit here on GAG. You have absolutely NO idea, but you do a great job sounding like a Prager U. propaganda machine.

The grift is on, has been on, and keeps going, and you're carrying water for some of the most VILE people on Earth. Congratulations, again.

[MrOracle]

I took no position on the war because that has nothing to do with Capitalism. Capitalism is an economic policy, not a political or military policy.

Please learn the difference.

[OneViewpoint]

@loveslongnails ,

Dude you sound like me. 🤣

[loveslongnails]

Great Minds Think Alike :-D !!

[abc3643]

Yes and no.

When American capitalism is more regulated, the US does rather well.

With less regulation, there is more chaos and growing wealth divide.

Part of the problem isn't just capitalism but the nature of government.
Democracies, such as ours - well, until Trump... now we are in something of an ochlocracy - are not conducive toward making their countries better because democracies are like having the school be run by the students and not the adults.

Furthermore, unless the populace has relatively homogenous cultural identity, like in smaller nations like Finland, there's going to be sufficient division especially in large countries like the US. Accomplishing major goals takes a long time but the electorate is too divided, too impatient, or too ignorant to appreciate what is necessary. Thus, genuine solutions rarely occur or, if they do, they may not be permanent and another generation didn't learn from history and so undoes the solutions to the problems from the past.

For example, here's something easy to understand...

Generation 1:
* Problem: Crime is bad.
* Solution: Hire more police.
* Result: Less crime.

Generation 3:
* Problem: Our budgets are tight. We need to cut back. Crime is low, so why are we paying so much for police? We need to cut back on the budget for police.
* Solution: Cut back on police budget.
* Result: More crime.

That said, what you are really whining about is something of a degradation that began with the Reagan Administration but actually has roots that go back to the dawn of TV.
Basically, people's ethics have gone down and, yes, capitalistic greed is the reason.
Years ago, doing all sorts of things was unthinkable in our culture. But, with decades of examples of crossing the lines, so to speak, teaches each subsequent generation that it is OK to cross the next line. 70 years ago, we had product placement on TV quite a bit, but then smart greedy people realized we could make more money by selling space on anything! So, you have patches on sports jerseys, stadiums and arenas have new names every few years, and Charmin is probably the official shit paper of the Olympics. And, perhaps worst of all, we have Gas Station TV.

[abc3643]

About that crossing the line crap... That's what Trump is teaching young would-be leaders. Politics is not going to get better as he will be the role model for assholes in charge and milquetoast toadies who won't go against such assholes. It's basically a cancer killing democracy.
Another reason why I am thankful that I had the wisdom over 40 years ago to not have kids.

[midnightmoon05]

Def not your perfect society. Still much better than other places. There is no comparison with the freedom we have here.
my friend complained how when they go to their govt offices to apply for anything they wait for 2-4 hrs… they close exactly and if you are next after waiting for 2 hrs… you have to go back the next day.

you are inCT? We did my daughters license last yr and yes it has gotten much more efficient… but I think I just ignored the screens … to be honest I don’t remember seeing any screens inside DMV.
brings back memories… we used to get a number, sit down then read a book till we were called.

[Horsegirly2001]

Thats not capitalism. Its oliarchy or modern feudalism.

The DMV thing is bureaucracy. Many government things are money and paper wasting exercises, if you think its bad in the us see it in action in a socialist country ie in the USSR in the 70s you had to wait 10 years for a terrible lada car designed in the 50s in italy but badly made in the soviet union.

[OneViewpoint]

It's not bureaucracy. Stop mindlessly repeating tropes you pick up in dark web chat rooms. CT state government is actually pretty well run. They've modernized the DMV considerably in the last 6 years. But to be honest Covid-19 was the catalyst for that. They have moved a lot of services online and self service to clear out the backlog at the physical locations. They have implemented an appointment based system where you schedule a visit in advance on their website which reduces wait times and stress. Is it perfect? No. But it's light years beyond where it was even 15 years ago.

[Horsegirly2001]

Bureaucracy is a formal, hierarchical system of organization used to manage large institutions, both public (government) and private (corporations). It operates through specialized roles, strict rules, and impersonal procedures implemented by unelected officials to ensure stability and efficiency, though it is often criticized for being slow, rigid, and excessively paper-driven.

[ammar12343]

You’re looking at this in a linear way. The benefits of what capitalism has brought to America should be recognized as well. Americans have the best career trajectories and we as a county have the most talented and capable workforce tagged with university institutions, but I largely agree with your rant.


Our healthcare for example is ridden with bad actors and faulty incentive structures, but if you actually run the math, you’ll quickly discover we have higher quality service and it’s cheaper at the end of the day. When you go to Scandinavian countries for example, the tax rate is astronomically high. As AI starts to disrupt and cause more job displacement, the “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” people are going to be a thorn our ass.


I’m not happy here as American either. Every block is just littered with corporate chains trying to entice you to spend your money. Everything feels like a scam. The “alphas” in American culture bend over and take it in the ass when they take pride in working to live. Work harder they say. Ignorance and irrationally spread like a plague amongst the radical left and the MAGAs. Independent and critical thought.


I live in AZ though. I spend most of my time outdoors. I like road cycling (obviously). I have a lot of fun with my friends doing it. I like camping and going to the lakes too. I took advantage of our countries education and job opportunity. I opt out of most corporate chains and I’m willing to pay a little extra for local food. I read a lot to create a balanced mindset. Got two kids and a wife I love. America is in a bad place right now, but all we can do is make the best of it unless you want to entirely uproot and leave. I think the culture shock and period of adaptation wouldn’t be worth it though. I don’t think all other countries are entirely cleansed of these issues we complain about as well.

[MrChinaski]

Errr... Average health care spend in USA per person $15,000, average spend in Sweden $8,000. Average life expectancy in USA 78 years, average life expectancy in Sweden 83 years.

[ammar12343]

I don’t mean this in the snarky way that most do, but can you provide sources? I work as a data scientist by profession and I would interested in reading it.

A lot of these models they post can be entirely misleading. For example p packing. The idea is that if you run enough tests, you expect maybe one false positive. Now there’s more positive than negative. More specifically, what’s even being counted? Long term care? The US specifically counts more things like health spending. Public vs total spending. Also need to consider purchasing power parity vs exchange rates correctly. Claims like life expectancy can be attributed to so many variables outside of health care. Mortality can also be influenced by violence and inequality. Also need to consider price versus qty. Premium doesn’t equate to goal cost when you consider payroll deductions, employer contributions, and supplementary private insurance. Just some things off the top of my head. I have a lot of distrust in claims like this. There’s a lot of regular practice in intellectual dishonesty,

[MrChinaski]

OECD

[ammar12343]

Do you have a link by chance? Thanks

[MrChinaski]

Errr... google 'OECD Health' or the World Bank has the same data modulo price deflators or... these data are ubiquitous.

[MrChinaski]

Or ask chatgpt if you prefer.

Everybody who has ever looked at health economics knows the US spends 50% more than almost all other advanced economies and achieves at best middling health outcomes.

[ammar12343]

Looked into it more… my points don’t really hold up against the OECD data once you account for the adjustments researchers already make. Appreciate the response.

[lightbulb27]

haha... you must have gone to Bridgeport DMV. Poor soul... just wait until they tax you for owning that vehicle every year and you are like... what? I have to pay tax on something I own? Yep!

Um... this is the most democrat controlled place around. If you would rather no advertising, go to a communist place like north korea and be bored stairing at the ants on the floor. China be better, but lots of advertising since they've gone capitalist.

DMV is a terrible experience usually, it could be run better if someone had initiative to improve the system. And if you don't have some evidence or something is messed up, start all over again.

You need MORE Capitalism... to fix that process, not less.

So vote for a Repooplican and toss out the king... Lamont. Maybe with some policy changing they can put an end to the roving bands of motorcycle and car street take overs and reduce the car theft and joy riders that are screwing your insurance rates.

Isn't capitalism necessarily destroying the country, but something is... lack of discipline! Good luck!

[OneViewpoint]

It was the Bridgeport DMV. And taxing cars and boats is nothing unique to CT. Massachusetts does the same thing. In fact 24 states do the same thing. Most of those states are in the shithole South or Midwest. They also tax boats. All 50 states tax real estate assets. So you agree that the US is and should be a progressive country.

And by the way, those CT vehicle property tax assessments are used to fund statewide road maintenance and other services at the local / town level. The cities and towns set the mil rates and get the funding. It's not a state thing. The mil rates vary by town.

[lightbulb27]

howd I guess... I been there before lol!
not sure what I agree with here... I could be convinced its a great idea.
I was thinking these dang kids around here, with expensive game systems and motor bikes... lets tax them on those REAL Assets.
While we are at it... aren't the companies I own real assets... stocks and the bonds. Lets tax those... for owning them. Even.05% to start. The billionaires down south aren't gonna like that but if they leave the state, we tax them 25%.

muahhhhhahhhaa!!!:)

[RavVid]

I think unreconstructed gov't bureaucracy is you main problem. Oh I remember those take a ticket waiting room for my equivalent of your DMV. Fortunately it now mostly online now.

But I have solved the waiting problem by buying AR glasses. I can play Youtube, Netflix anything while I am waiting... so I am not waiting! I could watch Pornhub if I feel like it. On whisper mode no one can hear.

I think you just have to accept you will have one or two subscriptions. I just have youtube premium as I borrow Netflix. I like YT as it has lots of stuff on Rome and Tanks (including the video of the first tank on tank battle in WW1 which is really special) plus it gives you music too.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

(Jump on your laptop and get more ads)

That's not the behaviour of a laptop, that's the behaviour of an infected laptop lol

(visit any website and get more ads)

Or simply don't get them at all: https://ublockorigin.com/

(Look at your email and find more ads)

There should not be that many, but a free mail provider is going to make ad money, there are paid providers offering no ads in exchange for a small fee: comparison

(Has Capitalism reached the point that it is harming society?)

I think it's been a while, but at least an unknown amount of volunteers are turning internet into an ad-free world, for everyone, since 2005 I believe

[andreasderjuengere]

US society already is fucked.
With, or without ads.
We can always ignore it, can't we. Similarly, I learned to ignore dog shit on the street, or to ignore people with neckties and suits (both are the same in some way).

https://m. youtube. com/watch? v=LzjNx-Nncoc&pp=0gcJCU8Co7VqN5tD

Then: with too many people on the planet, we need to give the useless ones a chance to earn their bread - otherwise, they'd burglar our homes. Let them pour out their shit - we don't need to buy it.
As for "preserving" societal quality... one needs to have one in the first place. That's tough stuff specifically in the U. S.

[Keyboardkat]

No. The ads are the reason why you can enjoy free programming on your devices. Programming costs money to produce. Music, for example, isn't really "free," because musicians deserve to be paid for what they do (although some people seem to think artists should work for free). Pay TV was tried for a while years ago, but it failed. So commercials, paid for by sponsors, are the way the programming comes to you without you going out-of-pocket.

[OneViewpoint]

So Amazon can't make enough money without ads? States need to bombard citizens trying to transact business with ads? We need nonstop drug ads because the Pharmaceutical Industry is going broke? What about Joe and Jane average having their bank accounts systematically drained? Is the point of life profit? is that what Capitalism has done for us?

[Keyboardkat]

What are you talking about, Joe and Jane average having their bank accounts systematically drained? See, under capitalism, you have certain choices. You don't HAVE to buy anything from Amazon if you don't want to. You don't HAVE to patronize any advertiser. You can, if you wish, go into business and compete with any of them, or not.
The alternative, Communism or Socialism, does not give anyone any choices. You disregard the fact that these systems have failed everywhere they have been tried. Every communist government has had to enforce its policies upon the populace by imposing a tyrannical dictatorship with one-party rule which penalizes individualism and initiative. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, is nonexistent. Informers are everywhere, ready to report you to the secret police for having voiced opinions contrary to the approved paradigm. Any of your friends or neighbors could be an informant. People "vote with their feet" and tend to leave such countries, if they can, which is why these countries make emigrating almost impossible. If you leave, you're disloyal and therefore an enemy of the state.
My wife grew up in such a "socialist utopia." She could tell you what it was REALLY like. No thanks. Capitalism with its associated freedom is far better. Or to quote a phrase, it's "The worst system ever invented, except for all the others." Capitalism isn't perfect. It doesn't have to be. NO system is perfect. But this one has proven to be pretty good, compared to the alternatives.

[888theGreat]

Just the crooked ones and crooked politicians. Capitalism is the greatest form of a society ever invented, but you can't allow it to be corrupted by a few individuals. You also need balance between small business and Corporations. Right now Corporations have too big a market share and are considered too big to allow failure. Failure should be allowed with Capitalism. We have never had a totally free market economy , well not since 1800. s. So it works great without cheating or gov't interference.

[goaded]

1800? Slavery, 7 day working weeks, child labour, starvation, high mortality rates...

[bingbongbangbung]

You can use ad blocker to get rid of most ads online, with exceptions of platforms that have ads embedded right in their content (e. g., Twitch), along with those that keep updating to not work if ad blockers are detected (e. g., YouTube, Spotify).

[OneViewpoint]

But at that point have you simply surrendered and accepted that it's your job to fight against being exploited 24X7 and having your data sold to the highest bidder all day every day. So now a chunk of your life is dedicated to finding and running ad blockers. But you can't shut off ads in public places like the ones I described. Some websites have become all but unusable on mobile devices as the ads start before login and cover up the login screen. The Amazon app bombards customers with constant notifications trying to get you to spend more money. How much of your life are you willing to devote to countermeasures?

[bingbongbangbung]

No because Brave has built-in ad blocker, and they never caved to Google's BS so it can still block ads where other blockers can't in Chromium. There's also ad blocking at the modem/router level, although I'm not good enough to implement that.

[bingbongbangbung]

Life is always a battle, and you're just strawmanning me claiming I gave up. What do you expect me to do? To overthrow the elites and establish some communist utopia; oh right, that's been tried many times in the 20th century and they all failed. Only countries left are China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba, which all are CINOs by adopting capitalism too lol.

[bingbongbangbung]

Well there were some ad blocking glasses somebody tried to sell, but I guess that product never took off

[jshm2]

Nah, it's just the USA is still stuck in the 1800's pretending to be a first world country.

In a modern capitalist society, you should be able to do all that shit online, without inconvenience, like we can.

[MrChinaski]

"We have shiny cars, appliances, suburbs, and consumer abundance — but neglected schools, ugly cities, weak public transport, pollution, and underfunded public institutions."

John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society, 1958.

[katiesmuff]

Not capitalism as much as GREED and the idea that it is YOUR WAY AS YOUR WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY and FORCING YOUR WAY ON EVERYBODY is our problem. Not included the liars and dishonest.

[Kelly6]

@OneViewpoint yes it is destroying US but without public knowing about it.

only some high ivy economist have explained how.

and how to save from it.

100% capitalism is not safe and neither is 0%.
50/50 is safe play

[loveslongnails]

The biggest problem with capitalism is letting it run amok. It also wages war on the Marxist idea of "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need" without understand how to implement that and just demonizing it as " Communism".

Capitalists believe that ability equals financial success and anything else means you're both lazy and inept. Simultaneously, it does not choose to educate the general populace to a point where it becomes a "rising tide that lifts all ships". Instead, only a chosen caste gets that privilege. Oh sure, there are examples here and there where that's not the case, but they are TRULY the rare exception and not the rule.

Instilling a fear of anything NOT capitalist driven is part of the capitalist program, and it is an absolute lie.

[OneViewpoint]

@loveslongnails ,

All true. And all very unfortunate.

[loveslongnails]

Indeed, very unfortunate. What's funny though is how many people in the US depend on "socialism" type programs because they can't survive otherwise.

[DonaldDarko]

Capitalism builds societies. Fraud and corruption are another thing and exist within all systems.

[MrChinaski]

I agree. But we can't assume that capitalism builds the best of all possible societies.

[MrChinaski]

Or ask chatgpt if you prefer.

Everybody who has ever looked at health economics knows the US spends 50% more than almost all other advanced economies and achieves at best middling health outcomes.

[MrChinaski]

Errr... wrong comment, sorry

[MichaelTrump]

Well the alternative is socialism which has failed around 17 times and succeeded zero. Komrade marxist momdami is currently trying im mew york amd its already failing misserably

[goaded]

Adverts are a pain, but being able to spend $250 million to get your preferred candidate elected is far worse.

[OneViewpoint]

Where do they get the money to donate to political PACS? Yup, uncontrolled Capitalism.

[goaded]

True.

[goaded]

[OneViewpoint]

That seems like a fair system. NOT!!!

[molonski2]

Try communistic ideals , your appointment takes 8 hours instead of one , and you still have advers..

[shortster]

Nope, we abandoned capitalism decades ago. So whatever is destroying us it isn't capitalism.

[Godihateyou]

No. Communism, socialism and government hand outs are.

[robocop666]

yes a documentary called the corporation explores it. watch it.

[AvacadoOnRye]

Not at all. If it was, we wouldn’t need a wall.

[megan20022]

What?

[AvacadoOnRye]

Border wall

[megan20022]

What about it lol. Whats the correlation

[AvacadoOnRye]

LMAO

Do you lock your door to keep people in or out? Do you lock your door to make it easier or harder for criminals to get in from the outside?

[NathanDavis]

society ruined capitalism

[loveslongnails]

Please define " US society".

[jahaims]

Monopolies and pay to play politics ruins society

[ChiTown33]

Brawndo's got what plants crave.🤣

[Shrimpenjoyer]

It's better than the alternatives

[beefcakebradybatson]

D**N SKIPPY !!!

[megan20022]

Yes.