IkmoIkmo

85 ms·

751.
by IkmoIkmo 9y ago
There's still opportunity costs to consider. For example, in the Netherlands tuition is about 2k a year (the rest is subsidised). Education is top-notch (pretty much all of our universities are top 5% worldwide), although we don't
752.
by IkmoIkmo 9y ago
Some examples would've been nice.
753.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
> But mostly it's just a smokescreen to ignore how terrible our corporate income tax system is and it's rates are among the highest in the world. I think it makes sense to look at outcomes. It's a fun intellectual exercise
754.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Here in the Netherlands my employer's data is all pre-filled in. Just have to log in to a mobile app and sign with my citizen's digital ID. (just a login with 2FA). All of that takes about 3 minutes, and it's pretty much suff
755.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Here in Amsterdam I find that the rates of short-term tourist rent to long-term citizen rent is about 3:1. i.e., an apartment which costs $1000 a month, could be rented out for about $100 a day, or $3000 a month. That does mean you need to
756.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
This is true outside of tech as well. Work at a midcorp with about 50-100 offices worldwide, we have 21 year old juniors who don't know shit (like me) follow templates and flowcharts to do bulk legal or accounting work, slightly more c
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Well the story to me is basically: money plays a gigantic factor and allows you to win elections, because it gives you exposure. You can beat that moneyed system if you happen to be an eccentric billionaire, who happens to have been a house
758.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
You have to consider though how many of our current 7 billion people: - don't use toilet paper - don't drink milk - don't travel more than a few miles from their birthplace etc etc, and that will be shifting quite quickly, I
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
> It's a psychological motif, even if its not the economic reality. Absolutely, although it does get a bit silly. At 220k income from salary alone, you're squarely in the top 3% household earners in one of the richest countries
760.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Really? All my friends, my boss, the shop I just bought a new suit at, my municipality, they're all on whatsapp nowadays. It's a pretty big deal to just cut it out of my life. It's a platform that's approaching something
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
I mean it really depends... like in Morocco this never happens, unless you look foreign. All taxis have a number on the top of the car, so you can just easily report it. And the penalties for drivers are actually quite harsh, even just refe
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
I fully understand one may tax a new successful industry, and then use the proceeds for individual citizens who lose jobs and need some support, training and job programs to help them back on their feet. But this is ridiculous. The notion a
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Well, consider that Japan has been the nr 2 economy for many decades, having been overtaken only as recently as 2010 by China. That's not nr 2 of Asian countries, nr 2 of all countries. All the more special is that it's also the n
764.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Tons of languages have K's in there, e.g. the Dutch or Germans, but also the Turks, Polish, Swedes or Hungarians. He's Dutch though.
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
All of that sounds very familiar, both the German system as your personal story. It's quite similar in the Netherlands, only that the academic class is mostly found in professional life as well, in which they occupy the traineeships, f
766.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
This, citing employee numbers is somewhat meaningless without any data on the number of non-employees working in your supply chain. Could indeed very well be a case of outsourcing differences rather than a difference in productivity.
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Come on, don't be silly. I won't even comment on the former, it's akin to a silly stereotype of the feminist movement you see on 4Chan. Mobs assaulting women is not blowing things out of proportion, in and of itself. All of t
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
There were about 2k incidents in total all across Germany, and 5 reported rapes. That's 0.25%. That's 5 too many rapes, and 2k assaults (groping etc) too many, I've been molested before and it's obviously unacceptable. B
769.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Fly between Berlin and Paris, and your luggage and ID will be checked at the airport multiple times. Not because you're not free to move, but to check you and your luggage for security concerns, and sometimes even precisely to check if
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
> let's please stick to reality and facts here. Why say you're sticking to the facts and then repeat pretty much the facts I stated with a different perspective? 8.5b (I think I had it at 7b, it depends on various valuations bu
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
London was the de facto capital (as in, economic powerhouse) of the EU, where you'd create your EU headquarters for its connection to the EU, its most talented individuals, its market, and to some extent its political connections. This
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
This really is a key point. The UK contributed a net of something like 140m pounds a week or so to the EU, that's about 7b pounds on a 1.8 trillion pound economy, or a small (0.3%) fraction or so of the GDP. For that they got 10% or so
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
For those who want a little context: - The UK contributes, but also receives from the EU. The net is a 7 billion pound a year (136m, not 350m, a week) contribution to the EU. Blatant lie there. - Leave camp has consistently said the money w
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
This is really interesting. I do fear it'll cause exhaustion techniques. This may not happen in isolated experiments, but if you build a political system on that concept, let it run for decades, in a world where a political decision ca
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
> You could also make the counterargument that older voters are wiser and have more experience and can make more sound decisions about the future of their country and should therefore have a heavier influence. Yes, but it's a differ
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
> UK was not part of Schengen. As such, it was always more difficult to go to/from the UK. Foreigners having a Schengen visa (work permit) still need an expensive Visa to go to UK. UK opting out of Schengen has nothing to do with it
777.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Well as much as I appreciate your earlier points, I do want to comment: > The culture around college necessity is incredibly frustrating. To make matters worse, when the subject comes up, many people say things like "Not going to co
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
It's not even that college isn't for everyone because there's jobs like plumbing for which you don't need a bachelor's degree for work, or to obtain the job. It's that there's jobs like credit analyst whic
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by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
I really don't think the top 200 is as impressive a metric as you think for so called middle ground. I mean really, extend it to other industries. The top 200 highest grossing album, concert, football player, movie star, corporate exec
780.
by IkmoIkmo 10y ago
Great points, and mostly agree. 1. as far as I know, the jack takes up quite a bit of volume, it's a long and empty space, that could be used for battery, heatsink etc. It's a minor save, but smartphones are some of the most volum

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