millimeterman

9 ms·

31.
by millimeterman 4y ago
A negative income tax is equivalent to UBI combined with increased taxes on mid to top bracket earners. There are some practical concerns such as potential administrative waste from having to distribute and then immediately tax away UBI mon
32.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> I'm not against Daft Punk. But, I can't stand to listen to very much rap after M.F. DOOM because it has all been infected by T-Pain. Why is overt use of autotune a less valid artistic choice when T-Pain uses it than when Daft
33.
by millimeterman 4y ago
While I agree that increasing productivity is the prime directive when it comes to improving standards of living, dismissing the benefits of wealth transfer is naive. Direct wealth transfer is a useful tool for mitigating market failures li
34.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> you’re going to end up with an outgoing cash flow towards some welfate policy or humanitarian cause that funds people’s basic needs and healthcare, which won’t count as “growth” in the capitalist sense Properly executed redistributive
35.
by millimeterman 4y ago
Do you think humans have run out of things to invent and improve? Are standards of living good enough that we can be content to stop here? Why exactly should we expect (let alone hope) that growth will stop?
36.
by millimeterman 4y ago
Because there are major societal losses incurred by preventing development. I see no reason why governments should enable locals to enjoy the benefits of high property values and low density while externalizing the costs of that behavior on
37.
by millimeterman 4y ago
There are already some companies that let you calibrate your TV's colors with your phone camera. Apple TVs do it and adjust the output signal while some new Samsung TVs can do it and actually apply hardware calibration. Adjusting for u
38.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> What I am calling "slavery" for lack of a better word I would object to calling a mutually beneficial arrangement "slavery", but whatever. > I'm just saying that no one really wants something made 100% in th
39.
by millimeterman 4y ago
It's not like Apple can compel anyone to work for them - they must offer competitive pay to attract workers. By definition, the people in India taking jobs at Apple are doing so because it's the best option available to them. The
40.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> you could still have the situation where everyone refuses to sell to developers There's nothing wrong with this - no one is obligated to sell their land to developers. But considering that NIMBYs have to fight hard and continuousl
41.
by millimeterman 4y ago
Why should development be a matter of formal voting and government mandates? Why should it be any more complex than private entities buying land and then constructing what they want on that land? (Within reason - zoning is still important t
42.
by millimeterman 4y ago
There are cities that are pro-growth in the sense of not having NIMBY zoning but that have awful urban planning from a transportation perspective. Houston and Atlanta come to mind. Pro-growth perhaps, but certainly not pro-density. I don&#x
43.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> Most people who live (and vote) in Santa Cruz prefer to be in a low density area. While I understand that some people actually like to live in denser cities, the majority prefer some space and privacy. Sure, there's nothing wrong
44.
by millimeterman 4y ago
While some comments have pointed out that the population has increased, that doesn't actually matter. Because what's being discussed here is an increase in demand for housing in a specific city. Even if the country's populati
45.
by millimeterman 4y ago
You are effectively just proposing an enormous tax (read: price increase) on renters, which seems like the exact opposite of what needs to be achieved. I would support completely repealing prop 13 though. Demonizing landlords, developers, a
46.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> The problem is the people who live and vote there want the city to remain as it is There's no good reason that Santa Cruz should specifically stay the way it was 50 years ago or whatever. Personally, I would have liked for Santa C
47.
by millimeterman 4y ago
I think humans have demonstrated time and time again that densely constructed cities are a desirable place to live. Are there some people that would leave if these cities started loosening zoning and allowing dense construction? Sure - not
48.
by millimeterman 4y ago
I'm not disagreeing that land can be a good investment for that reason (though psychically knowing which bits of land will increase in desirability in the future is not trivial). I _am_ disagreeing with your assertion that "there
49.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> When does growth stop ? What’s the end-game ? Why should the growth stop? People are clearly demonstrating a desire to move to these cities. I see no reason why NIMBYs should be allowed to artificially decide that newcomers are not all
50.
by millimeterman 4y ago
Ever since humanity started being able to build upward, I'm not sure this is so relevant. There's more than enough developed land to comfortably house the human race. We're just using it comically inefficiently.
51.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> voters feel it's in their interest to not change things I mean, in a sense it is. NIMBY-dominated suburbia might be a disaster for the environment, economic growth, and the well-being of newer and poorer residents, but it does an
52.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> Santa Cruz since the 70's has been a very environmentally conscious no-growth city Dense construction with high-quality public transport is a significantly more environmentally-friendly city design than a sea of single-family home
53.
by millimeterman 4y ago
There's nothing inherently impossible about building a dense, thriving city on "a tiny dot of land". I fail to see how the issue is overpopulation and not an abject failure to construct housing in line with the number of peop
54.
by millimeterman 4y ago
The regressiveness of sales taxes is fairly irrelevant since the government can simply perform direct redistribution to achieve any desired level of progressivity.
55.
by millimeterman 4y ago
On HN, VCs are either ruthless short-term profit extracting machines or overly optimistic clowns investing in hopelessly unprofitable companies on the promise of future growth, depending entirely on the point currently being made.
56.
by millimeterman 4y ago
The EPI's numbers are wrong/misleading for a few reasons. - The productivity and compensation graphs are often inflation-adjusted using incomparable deflators. Productivity is measured using a GDP inflator (which includes investme
57.
by millimeterman 4y ago
Real compensation has tracked with productivity gains quite nicely, though a growing gap did start to emerge in 2008. https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/gr... Two things that _are_ real issu
58.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> It's parroted because it's make sense. Every 'imperfection' of an economists idea has led to further concentration of capital in the hands of incumbents. Has it? Are you talking about actual economics research or co
59.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> Any economic thought a bit further left than left-of-center gets quickly deemed "not economics." I would encourage you to listen to actual economics experts and academics, not right-wing hacks dressed in economic cosplay. Des
60.
by millimeterman 4y ago
> Economics is the lies told by some middle class assholes with a degree and/or credential that get paid just enough by upper class assholes to trick low class rubes. Why does nonsense like this get parroted so much? Economics is as

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