• 0 Posts
  • 95 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: July 4th, 2023

help-circle
  • True. One of the biggest parts of modern-day American exceptionalism is thinking that only America has these problems. People who claim to dislike America unknowingly put it on a pedestal as “the worst thing ever”, without acknowledging the very similar problems in their own backyard.

    The main point of American exceptionalism is that “America is different from other countries”, to an advanced degree. Some people mean “good” when they say “different”, but it’s not necessary.

    American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is either distinctive, unique, or exemplary compared to other nations.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism


  • I think in one sense it can be good. Sometimes it is counterproductive to downvote someone from 1 to 0. I think this would prevent that, as the first downvote is probably the most important one.

    But I agree that making any data public will allow everyone to be categorized easily. “This person dislikes this content and likes other content.”

    Remember, you are giving this info to everyone. Mark Zuckerberg will be able to see what you like and dislike in all public votes.





  • No, I think you are confusing the two kinds of trusts: a revocable trust means you still own the money or property, an irrevocable trust means you don’t own it anymore. Either you “give it away” in an irrevocable trust (which can’t be “dissolved”), or you don’t give it away (in a revocable trust).

    You are describing putting something in a revocable trust, which is not spending it or giving it away. It’s closer to just putting a label on it: “this money is for charity”. You don’t get a tax deduction unless you put the money in a irrevocable charitable trust or the charity actually receives the money (from any source, trust, whatever).



  • This may shock and amaze you but…

    there is more than one user for your product. If you don’t know that, it sounds like you either haven’t done a user survey or you haven’t created the correct user profiles (based on that survey).

    Creating a “perfect UI” without asking users what they want is not good UX. It’s just masturbation. The user survey tells you that people want A B C, etc. and in which order. You should know exactly how your changes are going to be received when you release them.

    Imagine a restaurant that doesn’t ask you what you want. Instead the chef tells you “This is the best food possible” and just makes what they want. That’s what developing without a user survey is like.





  • generative AI makes it very easy for anyone to flood the internet with generated text, audio, images, and videos.

    And? There’s already way too much data online to read or watch all of it. We could just move to a “watermark” system where everyone takes credit for their contributions. Things without watermarks could just be dismissed, since they have as much authority as an anonymous comment.


  • You think that high interest rates keep real estate prices high? That’s the opposite of what happens with high interest rates. People can’t afford to pay as much when interest rates are high (like they are now).

    I’m judging solely based on your comments. You are using big words incorrectly. You clearly don’t understand what you’re talking about if you think high interest rates keep real estate prices high. Also, your description of Japan’s economic problems are disjointed and confused, not correct.


  • It’s not a “failed model”. Japan has issues because banks committed fraud and disguised non-performing loans. There are strict rules in the US about when assets must be “marked to market”. Plus the US has a growing population because we let in immigrants, which supports a growing economy. We are not close to having problems like Japan.

    There are also many levers the Federal Reserve can pull to keep banks in check. As I said, they can raise and lower the reserve requirement and raise and lower the overnight lending rate. This can prevent banks from going nuts with lending, but obviously can’t prevent all asset bubbles. Sometimes people are just irrational.

    Frankly you seem to be using a bunch of big words and implying that they make a point. Using “ex nihilo” instead of “from nowhere” clinched it for me. Also, you spelled “keiretsu” wrong.


  • Yes, they still have it. It’s just not in cash.

    Fractional reserve banking works because most people don’t need all their money as soon as they get paid. Most businesses keep some money in the bank too. Banks have a required percent of deposits that they must keep on hand to allow these withdrawals. And if they run low on cash, they just borrow money for a day from other banks (literally just one day). The US government can adjust the percent of required reserves or the overnight lending rate to keep banks from lending too much money out.

    Banks use this money to loan to businesses or people buying houses. It works well because whenever the money is loaned out it is used for a purchase and just redeposited in another bank. A percentage of that money is retained by the bank and the rest is loaned out again. And again and again. This way money is “created” when people buy things in the economy.






  • Plus y’know the unreal amount of money it pays for work that isn’t even that hard once you’ve built the muscles.

    Don’t sell yourself short. Pay isn’t about how hard your work is. It’s about how much money the company makes off of you and how quickly they can replace you.

    This was obvious during the pandemic when all the “low skill” jobs hiked their wages. It turned out most office jobs were not as important as retail work, so lots of people in retail got raises for the same work.