gottorf

50 ms·

781.
by gottorf 3y ago
> While Ehrlich's predictions might have missed the mark in some cases That's very generous. Has he made a single major prediction that even came close to being true?
782.
by gottorf 3y ago
I think everyone already knew that heat pumps are more efficient than combustion heating. The real-life difference is that gas or oil furnaces are simple technologies that are easy to maintain and fix. Heat pumps, especially the variable-sp
783.
by gottorf 3y ago
> It's kind of impressive to watch Xi continually double-down on disastrous policy. "Well, did it work for those people?" "No, it never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might... bu
784.
by gottorf 3y ago
> I imagine this could be scaled up Likely a false assumption. The flagship Medallion Fund supposedly has $10B AUM. Many strategies that work in insignificant volume (such that your actions don't affect the broader market) won'
785.
by gottorf 3y ago
The American system isn't without its eccentricities, but that's true for every country, I suppose. > in most countries the legality of abortion would be decided by elected legislators, rather than judges who are appointed for
786.
by gottorf 3y ago
Bob Mercer said that they were right 50.75% of the time.
787.
by gottorf 3y ago
> Only in the US would cities like Beverly hills-CA, Brookline-MA, Piedmont-CA exist. I supposed places like Neilly-sur-Seine outside of Paris don't exist? I fail to see how rich, lower-density suburbs that well-to-do people prefer
788.
by gottorf 3y ago
> It's hard to look at America and not draw the conclusion that federalism is a major mistake. So many problems downstream from fickle localities. The "fickle localities" that share sovereignty with the federal government
789.
by gottorf 3y ago
This seems like an unnecessarily uncharitable view. Plenty of people are given support and love by those close to them. The overwhelming majority of such people do not become billionaires, or even millionaires. And at least in America, peop
790.
by gottorf 3y ago
Your statement is true, for some definitions of "massive" and "financial assistance". We all Live In A Society, after all, and nobody exists in a vacuum, let alone build a billion-dollar enterprise in a vacuum. The first
791.
by gottorf 3y ago
Nobody has to work 40 hours. Everyone can choose to work less, prioritize other stuff in their lives, and be paid less. I'm not sure how we could have our cake and eat it, too?
792.
by gottorf 3y ago
Besides the other commenter's point (that had the apartments, luxury or otherwise, not been built, prices would have gone up), I think college towns are an exceptional market, especially depending on what type of college it is. If it&#
793.
by gottorf 3y ago
> the rentier class who add nothing to the value of the transaction I lived in one of the most expensive rental markets in the US for a while, so believe me, I'm not inclined to defend landlords, but the availability of rental units
794.
by gottorf 3y ago
For the purposes of shaping public policy, shouldn't the focus be on those who can vote? They comprise the body politic, after all.
795.
by gottorf 3y ago
> Colorado still has A LOT of undeveloped land. Not just Colorado! I live in a state that's pretty much middle of the pack for size and density, and there's no shortage of open land around here. No water concerns, either, with
796.
by gottorf 3y ago
Some places become more valuable as you pack humans more densely in it. Some places become more valuable with the opposite. "Idyllic mountain towns", of course, are the latter. Naturally beautiful places whose beauty in part depen
797.
by gottorf 3y ago
One of the greatest fallacies of the modern identitarian movement is that every subsection of society, no matter how you slice and dice it, must reflect the composition of the society as a whole. There's no reason why this should be th
798.
by gottorf 3y ago
> Globally, white people are a minority of people, and they're likely not the overwhelming majority of all scientists even. So it would obviously be a statistical anomaly if only white people were on a specific research trip. This w
799.
by gottorf 3y ago
> cheap nuclear is a fallacy that many fall for (Jevons paradox) Jevons paradox does not apply here. All of human progress has basically been about being able to use more energy per capita. You're right that people will always need
800.
by gottorf 3y ago
Every human problem is in essence a problem of energy abundance. We need to embrace all technologies that let us unlock more energy wielded per capita, preferably without harmful side-effects like pollution, but where there exist side-effec
801.
by gottorf 3y ago
Ah, the usual suspects, then.
802.
by gottorf 3y ago
Zero availability would indicate either severe supply shortages due to an inability to build (zoning/regulatory problems a la some municipalities in the US? Something else?) or a price ceiling on rent, leading to an inability for the m
803.
by gottorf 3y ago
Not the GP, but eBay is great for off-lease or just plain old computer equipment.
804.
by gottorf 3y ago
> The question then becomes do you pay the value to the landlord, or do you pay it to the community? This is the precise point, and thank you for elucidating it. With an LVT, the value of a highly-desirable piece of land inures to the co
805.
by gottorf 3y ago
> there's very little viable, good land in Canada Canada's economy is 70% services (meaning, to varying degrees detached from the land) and as of May 2023, one in five Canadian workers were still working from home[0]. Surely so
806.
by gottorf 3y ago
Yes, but that's true of any kind of tax, including traditional property taxes. Landlords are already charging the most the market will bear (including passing on any and all taxes), and similarly tenants are already offering the least
807.
by gottorf 3y ago
Well, now you're just making the rest of us jealous.
808.
by gottorf 3y ago
> It says Canada's population has increased by 15% over the last decade (35 million -> 40 million). Canada is a developed country with a lot of natural resources; by a lot of metrics, it is one of the top 10 countries with the mo
809.
by gottorf 3y ago
The easiest policy decision to fix this would be to stop making housing such a guaranteed (literally, in many cases) investment. Big firms will chase their yields elsewhere if home prices were allowed to go down or even be stagnant for a lo
810.
by gottorf 3y ago
"Underpopulated" in terms of the GP's comment saying God isn't making any more land, yes. Like I said elsewhere in this thread, it's a policy tradeoff to preserve wilderness at the cost of a housing crisis.

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