leot

32 ms·

271.
by leot 13y ago
I'm usually surprised by the depths of cynicism I find at large corporations, not by their altruistic goody-two-shoes-ness. Google would be remiss if it wasn't trading against the massive wealth of data it has. They're prob
272.
by leot 13y ago
If there's enough public will to make something great happen, and that something-great is within the realm of engineering feasibility, then it will happen. I love HSR. But I also think we as a species are capable of much, much, much
273.
by leot 13y ago
At present, it should be obvious to anyone that the greatest harm that marijuana causes, by a long shot, is found in the gov't response to those who use, make, and traffic it. The U.S. made >6,000,000 arrests in 2011 [1] for the pos
274.
by leot 13y ago
It depends on whether people would talk more, and more inquisitively, about "disappear" as compared with talking about a "car crash" one. It also depends on the relative practical difficulties in orchestrating the two ki
275.
by leot 13y ago
As if guns are the only things that can provide this kind of protection or have this kind of influence. Yes, guns are powerful. So are four people with long knives. So are traps. So are the "half a dozen people with axes, hammers, poke
276.
by leot 13y ago
You don't have to spend any money to benefit from being wealthy.
277.
by leot 13y ago
The first few million would need to be leveraged to gain the support of others with money and influence. Probably the first bunch would be spent meeting with lobbyists to hear what they propose. I'm afraid I can't speak to the ret
278.
by leot 13y ago
This may be true of a wealth tax in the absence of a VAT. If you have any good sources on this, I'd be very curious to see them (though I'll look them up myself, too). Regardless, too much consumption (and too little saving) has n
279.
by leot 13y ago
To be clear, I'm not advocating egalitarianism, or contending that it's the highest value. The goal is to align policy with our most defensible values and ideals (hard work, fairness, merit, etc.). If the wealthy truly believe we
280.
by leot 13y ago
If this claim is true, it's highly non-obvious. For one, it seems you would need to conclude that inflation should also be zero (or negative!?) lest certain productive investments go unmade. Sure, it may discourage some very low-yield
281.
by leot 13y ago
Perhaps something hasn't been made clear. I'm not sure why you seem to have adopted a condescending tone. A wealth tax is typically a periodic (monthly/quarterly/yearly) tax on total net worth. This tax often ranges betw
282.
by leot 13y ago
VAT rate is a tunable parameter in a tax system. It could, in principle, be set high enough to discourage all consumption (which would of course not be desirable). This implies that there is some rate that it could be set to that would offs
283.
by leot 13y ago
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/06/property... http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/wolffe/
284.
by leot 13y ago
Funding and founding organizations that can serve as counterweights to the ones advocating on behalf of the interests of the already powerful would be one way. Though it took some decades, we have seen the results, in the public narrative a
285.
by leot 13y ago
I don't see where that assumption comes into play. The reform mentioned above need not increase government revenue.
286.
by leot 13y ago
Huh? Instead of "fund" perhaps I should have said "account". I was just thinking of IRAs (as they're named in the U.S.) and the like.
287.
by leot 13y ago
Provide money for thoughtful, convincing research and advocacy.
288.
by leot 13y ago
Lots of economists like wealth taxes, too, though talking about them to wealthy people often goes over poorly. A wealth tax encourages putting assets to work rather than simply engaging in "wealth preservation". Replacing most tax
289.
by leot 13y ago
If there are specific policy goals that we'd like to accomplish, it's probably best to make a very simple taxation system (tax the total of everything, using the best appraisal tools we have), and then add specific provisions that
290.
by leot 13y ago
Were the wealthy truly interested in promoting greater social good, they would put their efforts into reforming tax systems and global finance in order to help make the world more fair and just. Replacing income taxation with wealth taxatio
291.
by leot 13y ago
My favorite exploration of this topic is found in Maturana and Varela's "Autopoiesis and cognition: the realization of the living". Cells have to "work" to preserve their ability to go on preserving their ability to
292.
by leot 13y ago
I think this is true for most definitions of "better". Our definitions of good, in the first place, are learned, reinforced, and enforced, from observing social norms. In their absence (as we get on Freenet, Tor, 4chan, etc.) we s
293.
by leot 13y ago
http://www.scantegrity.org/
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by leot 13y ago
We know that people behave better when they're accountable for what they do and say, and worse when they're not. The internet permits much more anonymity and privacy than people had previously: we no longer need to mail physical
295.
by leot 13y ago
Ultra-cheap mesh network, anyone?
296.
by leot 13y ago
I remind myself that the vast majority of people who fly and steward planes all day, every day, live to a ripe old age.
297.
by leot 13y ago
Concerns are misplaced for many reasons. 1) no supervision 2) no dependency on any particular employer 3) ability to choose what to work on 4) ability to choose own hours 5) intrinsic trade-off between job compensation and the speed at whic
298.
by leot 13y ago
As usual, an idea adopted by our culture (you learn more from failure) to counter a still worse idea (never fail!) has been taken too far (you learn nothing from success). Details, nuance, and subtlety matters. The stories we hear from our
299.
by leot 13y ago
"Terroristic" -- this whole concept is straight out of 1984. How is it useful, legally? What qualifies as "terroristic" and what doesn't? Does threatening to organize an online sit-in count? If not, why? I'm al
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Secure communications using the KLJN scheme(scholarpedia.org)
1 points by leot 13y ago|0 comments

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