jbay808

49 ms·

541.
by jbay808 5y ago
Are you essentially saying that you don't think there are important material and chemical differences between Roman and modern concrete that might be responsible for orders-of-magnitude differences in durability, aside from the absence
542.
by jbay808 5y ago
Often, the only reason you wouldn't choose, say, stainless steel over regular steel, or UV-resistant polycarbonate over ordinary polycarbonate, is because of the expectation that one is cheaper. So price can't be so unimportant.
543.
by jbay808 5y ago
Your comment reminds me of Scott Alexander's review of On the Road : > Even more interesting than their ease of transportation to me was their ease at getting jobs. This is so obvious to them it is left unspoken. Whenever their mon
544.
by jbay808 5y ago
I'd love it if they added a price filter option! If I want a clear plastic tube I don't always know whether I'll get a cheaper price with acrylic, UV-resistant acrylic, static dissipative acrylic, ultra-strength polycarbonate
545.
by jbay808 5y ago
Do you remember the make, model, and price?
546.
by jbay808 5y ago
Well, I'm glad to have read Atlas Shrugged, although I didn't find it philosophically convincing. It would be very frustrating to not be able to read it and just be stuck wondering what the Republicans seem to cite as an important
547.
by jbay808 5y ago
From the '80s to I think around 2002, real interest rates were positive and you earned money from a savings account faster than inflation.
548.
by jbay808 5y ago
I think the Bank of Japan might be more innovative than you give them credit for, seeing as how they were the first to deploy almost all of today's unconventional policies, including QE itself. A low birth rate also is certainly not so
549.
by jbay808 5y ago
To be clear, I'm not talking about QE, but specifically minting of actual paper currency and just handing it out to every citizen. It seems like that should directly create as much inflation as you want, without creating any debt.
550.
by jbay808 5y ago
Helicopter money is not like a stock split, because you aren't handing it out in proportion to how much money people already have. When prices go up it certainly creates an incentive to spend your savings, even if you're getting n
551.
by jbay808 5y ago
That's why I was wondering about not doing that, and literally minting new cash and using handouts / UBI instead. We can't expect people to borrow money to spend on consumption, even at low interest rates, because they&#x27
552.
by jbay808 5y ago
Is there some reason why a country experiencing deflation can't print money and hand it out to voters until inflation returns?
553.
by jbay808 5y ago
Buying oil, I think. And perhaps saving some for Evergrande's rainy day.
554.
by jbay808 5y ago
I can't speak for Europe, just for Canada, but I assume that a similar dynamic might exist. "Less upside" for successful founders due to taxes is frequently cited but I seriously doubt it. Instead, less risk appetite in the i
555.
by jbay808 5y ago
As other commenters noted, this is a prototype so it would have been done by hand with an English wheel and similar forming tools. There would be a set of master profile forms that the craftsman would check against to ensure that the panels
556.
by jbay808 5y ago
That's one thing. Also, China is no longer buying US treasuries, which for a long time contributed to reducing US inflation via underpriced imports.
557.
by jbay808 5y ago
(Further response just to clarify): by "the wealthier contingent outside the 1%", I am of course referring to the 50% to 99% percentile, who do collectively hold almost three-quarters of all mortgage debt, and that mortgage debt a
558.
by jbay808 5y ago
It might be considered softening, but I think it's always essential to express your "confidence level" when giving feedback. The article does advise focusing on facts and tying feedback to outcomes, but managers don't ha
559.
by jbay808 5y ago
> I don't know how to make it more clear to you that the average balance sheet of the bottom 50% is no assets, many liabilities. ... Yes? Again, I think we agree on this fact. You're stating a lot of facts as though they were t
560.
by jbay808 5y ago
I don't think that's inconsistent with what I said, so as much as you can emphasize it with a full stop, I think it's somewhat tangential to my point. I agree that homeowners will benefit (as long as rates stay low). But they
561.
by jbay808 5y ago
Didn't we just hear this whole story about how billionaires don't pay income or capital gains tax because all the dollars they keep on hand derive from low-interest fixed-rate loans taken out against their shares? When someone is
562.
by jbay808 5y ago
I think the trick would be to increase interest rates (deflationary, mostly for assets) and implement UBI simultaneously (inflationary, mostly for consumables). The increasing cost of debt will sink asset prices, houses most of all, while t
563.
by jbay808 5y ago
I agree, and when governments are worried about deflation, UBI / helicopter money, which goes to people who need it and will rapidly spend it, seems much better than lowering interest rates, which mainly inflates asset prices and benef
564.
by jbay808 5y ago
The main reason for this is very simple. It's because housing is considered a "safe asset", and this means that lenders are willing to lend at low rates for housing purchases; they think that if you fail to pay, at least they
565.
by jbay808 5y ago
Absolutely. Here's a recent quote from John Hussman that really changed my perspective: > "There's this notion that low interest rates justify high valuations. You have to understand what people are saying there. So let&#x
566.
by jbay808 5y ago
Works well in Canada too (as long as you are on their Canadian site).
567.
by jbay808 5y ago
I've written about this before more extensively, but my previous company tracked time vs predictions very rigorously and extensively, and they always fit a lognormal distribution shockingly well.
568.
by jbay808 5y ago
This has been happening in China for over ten years, and housing has only been getting more expensive in the process -- even while much of it remains empty, waiting to be sold to a higher bidder. Yes, it will all collapse someday, maybe soo
569.
by jbay808 5y ago
This might be true in the USA where you can get a fixed rate mortgage. It might not be true elsewhere. I recommend doing your own research.
570.
by jbay808 5y ago
There are still reclusive tinkering inventors today who need to make a living! It's very hard to otherwise compete with an established company who can copy your brilliant idea, scale, and distribute it way faster and more cheaply than

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