marcusverus

вчераdiscuss

L̶a̶u̶n̶c̶h̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶v̶a̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶d̶e̶d̶

̶F̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶m̶p̶o̶s̶s̶i̶b̶l̶e̶.̶ ̶

̶F̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶e̶c̶o̶n̶o̶m̶i̶c̶a̶l̶.̶ ̶

̶M̶e̶g̶a̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶a̶l̶l̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶L̶E̶O̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶i̶p̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶e̶a̶m̶.̶ ̶

̶S̶t̶a̶r̶s̶h̶i̶p̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶l̶y̶.̶ ̶

Starfall will never happen!

marcusverus

10 дней назадdiscuss

If you remove the word abject, the argument is:

> half of the US is living in poverty

This statement is also false.

> I encourage you to try to live on anywhere from $7 to $15 an hour

That's the bottom quintile, not the bottom half. The Median household income is $83,730, which would be more like $41.50.

marcusverus

10 дней назадdiscuss

It's actually far better than that! When people hear "poverty rate", they think "the percentage of people living in poverty". That's not what the census data on poverty is reporting, though. The census data is based on income only. It excludes in-kind welfare (Food Stamps, HUD, and Medicaid) and even excludes some welfare that is paid out in cash (like refundable tax credits). In other words, the census data is reporting that 10% of Americans earn under the poverty line. The number living under the poverty line is far, far lower.

marcusverus

10 дней назадdiscuss

The United States doles out >$30K/year in welfare spending for each person (not household, each person) under the poverty line. And that's just HUD/SNAP/Medicaid. The idea that any significant portion of the US is living in "abject poverty" (let alone half!) is hysterical in every sense of the word.

marcusverus

в прошлом месяцеdiscuss

"Don't leave us or we'll kill you" isn't the pro-EU argument you seem to think it is.

marcusverus

в прошлом месяцеdiscuss

Ah yes, economists are famously capable of accurately projecting a decade in the future.

marcusverus

в прошлом месяцеdiscuss

Nobody has to condition me to see a useful robot as being worth 20K+. Being able to offload domestic labor would be a huge win. So would the more subtle benefits of living in a home that is always in pristine condition.

Once they're able to cook, they'll be in every middle-class household on earth.

marcusverus

в прошлом месяцеdiscuss

DCA

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

The Democrat election messaging that caused border encounters to ~3X immediately after Biden was elected, obviously.

https://archive.is/QKk0l#selection-923.73-930.0

https://dgcjnpzq7j07id.archive.is/QKk0l/41e225be79dbd90e86c6...

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

Democrats actively encouraged more than 10 million illegals to pour into the country during the previous administration. They lied about it and downplayed it for three years, and then (when election season rolled around) they talked tough about their plan to "seal the border"... which was another lie, as the bill they proposed would have allowed illegal immigration to continue at up to ~6X the historical average rate without requiring any action whatsoever to "seal the border". When the American people vote for mass deportations, those were called "fascism" and the basic enforcement of immigration law is actively, even physically opposed.

But an inconvenient process change has you clutching your pearls and crying "bad faith"? Yikes.

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

> 10% of the population being able to put major policies to a referendum is a bit silly.

I think it's fantastic, actually. If the US had such a mechanism in place, we'd get term limits passed in a jiffy! In the absence of such a mechanism, the political class can simply refuse to act on popular measures. And while 10% might seem like a small number, the time, effort, and organization required to get 1/10th of the entire population to sign on for such a measure is actually a huge undertaking.

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

> I’ll cut against the grain here and say it’s ABSOLUTELY appropriate for taxpayers to pay the bill here.

It's one thing to agree that he should be compensated (I agree), but the figure doesn't make much sense. Per the article:

> During his stay in jail, Larry lost his post-retirement job and missed his anniversary — as well as the birth of his grandchild.

That's all pretty rough, but I fail to see how it entitles him to the lavish sum of $800,000. That's roughly half a lifetime's earnings for the typical worker!

> we need incentives for voters to take this stuff seriously.

I have a sneaking suspicion that setting public money on fire is not the best mechanism to achieve this outcome.

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

Both can be true. Democrats tend to dominate the lowest income quintile, while Republicans tend to win the second and third quintiles. So if you're only looking at the bottom quintile, Democrats would win that cohort. If you combine the bottom three quintiles, Republicans would win it.

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

Who said anything about revoking drivers licenses?

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

You have successfully rebutted my use of the word "mass". What about the substance of the argument?

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

This rude reddit stuff, this snarky ignorance-as-an-argument junk, is just so demeaning.

The role of the entrepreneur is to organize labor and capital in pursuit of their goals. The achievement of said goals can obviously be attributed to the entrepreneur.

Try anchoring your arguments in facts--in reality. Make assertions. Form syllogisms. Word games are for children.

marcusverus

2 месяца назадdiscuss

The first catch of Super Heavy by the chopsticks was 18 months ago. Tesla started mass production of a dedicated, steering-wheel-free robotaxi five days ago. The first flight of the new Raptor 3 engine should happen any day now.

Elon is doing amazing things on a regular basis. What would drive someone to pretend otherwise?

marcusverus

3 месяца назадdiscuss

The definition of usury hasn't changed in 200 years.

From Webster's 1828 Edition:

U'SURY, noun s as z. [Latin usura, from utor, to use.]

1. Formerly, interest; or a premium paid or stipulated to be paid for the use of money.

[Usury formerly denoted any legal interest, but in this sense, the word is no longer in use.]

2. In present usage, illegal interest; a premium or compensation paid or stipulated to be paid for the use of money borrowed or retained, beyond the rate of interest established by law.

3. The practice of taking interest. (obsolete)

marcusverus

3 месяца назадdiscuss

There is something insidious about the state forcing a citizen to pay for its services, only turn around and insist that the use of said services entitles the state to further control of the citizen.

marcusverus

3 месяца назадdiscuss

Only if it could be done in an apolitical way, which seems impossible in the current political climate. The legitimacy of the US Federal Government depends on the perceived continuity of the (now mythical) constitutional order. If one party or the other packs the court without bipartisan support for their nominees in the Senate, it would be denounced by the other as an authoritarian end-run around the constitution--as a revolutionary rather than a mere procedural act. IMO this would be more likely to foment disunion than it would be to restore the bygone constitutional order.

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