nickff

10 ms·

241.
by nickff 8mo ago
There was a time when that was the intent, but it doesn’t really matter anymore, as there are not enough payroll taxes to cover the programs anymore.
242.
by nickff 8mo ago
And the government could stop murdering people.
243.
by nickff 8mo ago
The status quo in Iran isn’t going well either; the economy is terrible and getting worse, and the government is slaughtering its own citizens.
244.
by nickff 8mo ago
I’d make that bet, because you obviously don’t know much about pressure cookers or the law. Juries hear expert testimony; they do not perform independent investigations. I have inadvertently tested the safety mechanisms, and they are quite
245.
by nickff 8mo ago
I've owned and used two of the affected models (for ~6 years in total), and also read the version of events presented by the plaintiffs (in their claims), as well as the judges' view of what happened. I originally read the documen
246.
by nickff 8mo ago
> "If they can go a few cents cheaper, they will." What I find most interesting about the USA is the variety; yes, there are low-cost (often unhealthy) options, but there are also a wide variety of wonderful restaurants which
247.
by nickff 8mo ago
> "It would help explain why a lot of "poorer" countries reportedly don't feel poorer to live in, for a normal family, than the US." There are many sources for purchasing power parity (PPP) corrected GDP if you
248.
by nickff 8mo ago
I invite you to read both the claims and the judgements related to the Instant Pot lawsuits yourself; they're all quite clear, and you can come to your own decision about how reasonable they are. My read is that people overpowered the
249.
by nickff 8mo ago
These product-liability lawsuits are out of control; perhaps this judgement is directionally correct, but the punitive damages seem insane. This reminds me of the lawsuits which drove Instant Pot bankrupt, where the users were clearly doing
250.
by nickff 8mo ago
If the average person does not know what an autopilot does, why would they expect Tesla's 'autopilot' to take such good care of them? I am reminded of a case many years ago when a man turned on the cruise control in his RV an
251.
by nickff 8mo ago
Have you actually looked up any of the numbers you're writing here? It seems like the USA has about 393.4MM civilian firearms, which is ~1.2 per capita. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_g.
252.
by nickff 8mo ago
This is indeed pithy, but does not capture the contrast of the great-grandparent comment.
253.
by nickff 8mo ago
I’ve observed this behavior, but never came up with such a succinct (perhaps pithy) way of describing it.
254.
by nickff 8mo ago
The public does not act in its self interest; Bryan Caplan explained this clearly in "The Myth of the Rational Voter": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_the_Rational_Voter
255.
by nickff 8mo ago
Many countries have similar controls; they're often represented as being anti-money-laundering, and anti-terrorism, but they are also used to control capital outflows, and improve tax compliance. I have never seen any evidence that thi
256.
by nickff 8mo ago
It seems like AMZN has significant growth priced-in to the stock, but retail growth will become increasingly challenging as their market share increases.
257.
by nickff 8mo ago
Yes, much like the EU, they would regularly over-ride the ‘opinions’ of their subordinate states.
258.
by nickff 8mo ago
I can definitely imagine the Soviet Union making arbitrary rules about which genocides were recognized and ‘protected’, and which were not.
259.
by nickff 8mo ago
I agree that commercial speech is not the same as advertising, but the comment I replied to was talking about restricting commercial speech, not advertising.
260.
by nickff 8mo ago
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/human-right... > "Article 10 of the Human Rights Act: Freedom of expression 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom
261.
by nickff 8mo ago
Could one not categorize material published in a book, magazine, or on television as 'commercial speech', liable to restrictive licensing and censorship? This seems like a slippery slope which the USA is on the correct side of.
262.
by nickff 8mo ago
If you think that labor in the USA and China are treated similarly, you really need to pull your head out of the sand.
263.
by nickff 8mo ago
From what I can find, the guarantee period seems to be two years, after which the burden seems to 'flip'. Given that this microwave is at least five years old, I am not sure what standard one might cite to demonstrate 'non-co
264.
by nickff 8mo ago
I believe that SpaceX launches and operates satellites for the Department of Defense, which regards both its communications and surveillance satellites as 'essential goods'.
265.
by nickff 8mo ago
I find the overall population participation rate as being very informative with respect to the tax base, and more general changes over time.
266.
by nickff 8mo ago
I agree that the most-commonly reported 'head-line' numbers can be misleading, but more detailed statistics are available. One of my favorites is the labor participation rate: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series&#x2
267.
by nickff 8mo ago
These brands are being bought by PE because their business models are under attack by low-cost competitors on one side, and e-commerce on the other. They no longer have a way of differentiating themselves and winning customers, so they beco
268.
by nickff 8mo ago
Is auditing state-subsidized service providers fascistic? From this piece, it seems like the state auditor detected some fraud, but there was little follow-up from either the state or 'responsible journalists', so the sensationali
269.
by nickff 8mo ago
If you want a TLDR; style take-away, the last paragraph is a good place to start: > "Responsible actors in civil society have a mandate to aggressively detect and interdict fraud. If they do not, they cede the field to irresponsible
270.
by nickff 8mo ago
There are many non-standard screw diameters and threads. They are often implemented for particular requirement-driven (you may want deeper threads to increase strength or vibration-resistance) or regulatory reasons (certain tariffs kick-in

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