peterbecich

13 ms·

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by peterbecich 1y ago
GOP and Dems have been nearly evenly matched for years in Congress now. There was no prospect of dramatic legal overhaul i.m.o., let alone any new Constitutional amendments. Graph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_di
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by peterbecich 1y ago
If I remember this article correctly https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/retirement/the-401-k-ro... , the summary is some peoples' 401k accounts are not invested in the stock market. Rather the money sits for
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by peterbecich 1y ago
Agreed, and the full NixOS is unnecessary for the developer shell feature and Direnv
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by peterbecich 1y ago
I doubt the reasons are that rational. It also correlates with greater consumer spending.
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by peterbecich 1y ago
It is a privilege to attend college and learn there. It exists on a different plane than strictly meeting job requirements; I think it is unfortunate when people reduce it to merely that. Young people are under a lot of pressure and these s
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by peterbecich 1y ago
In California we have a 2023 law AB 645 which allows speed cameras in a few major cities. Unfortunately, implementation is going slowly: https://cal.streetsblog.org/2024/12/05/speed-camera-pilot-pr...
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by peterbecich 1y ago
I agree with you the true landslides were Nixon, Reagan, FDR, etc. The absence of electoral landslides in recent years implies both parties are better tuned and optimized now. Their data collection to enable a "winning campaign platfor
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by peterbecich 1y ago
> I don’t think we should make policy specifically to cater to the part of a voting constituency (the willingly ignorant) The voters are free to vote for whoever they want for any reason. The burden is on the candidates to win them over.
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by peterbecich 1y ago
The mass asylum policy of Biden's term contributed in a significant way to this negative effect: Trump's re-election
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by peterbecich 1y ago
Another example is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer caused by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora
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by peterbecich 1y ago
There is a statistic that the average teenager gets 240 smartphone notifications a day: https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/study-average-te... Young people have more time ahead of them than anyone. Consequentl
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by peterbecich 1y ago
I'm not a lawyer but my reasoning is this: - as far as I know, double taxation by any given entity (Federal Gov) is unconstitutional - a given dollar is taxed once as income. A federal wealth tax on the remainder of that dollar would b
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by peterbecich 1y ago
I'm not a lawyer but I do not consider a property tax to be the same thing as a wealth tax. If I own a house or condominium in San Francisco, at a fundamental level I do not own the land or space the residence is sitting on. "Owne
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by peterbecich 1y ago
Agreed. For the revenue tax activists want from billionaires, it would necessitate a wealth tax, which I believe is unconstitutional. The non-profit tax exemption fight is about "income taxes" which billionaires already have to pa
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by peterbecich 1y ago
Have you checked the FEMA Flood Map? https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps A.f.a.i.k. it is part of the calculation.
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by peterbecich 2y ago
You raise an excellent point that US corporate tax evasion is exaggerating the trade deficit. However, from the perspective of winning US elections, I think it does not change the issue that the trade deficit falls more on de-industrializin
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by peterbecich 2y ago
I disagree it is caused by sub-urbanization or zoning. Housing tracts are built with schools. I would argue the primary cause is an attempt at "school optimization"; the choice to attend the "better" school over the clos
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by peterbecich 2y ago
Could Ukraine maneuver around Trump by instead signing a minerals deal with UK+EU? Better to give the $600b (optimistically) to friendly allies. The problem is UK+EU does not have equivalent defense contractors. US gets what it wants as wel
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by peterbecich 2y ago
In my opinion it is a populist movement, and we should accept this hard truth. Trump is in office due to "manipulation" to the same extent that any speech is manipulation. He is a salesman and has sold his vision for the country s
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by peterbecich 2y ago
If the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail is completed, it would be reasonably convenient to live in the Central Valley and commute to San Francisco ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki&
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by peterbecich 2y ago
I will add, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Intersta... was created to "convert" the Electoral College into a popular vote. The only way that can happen is if several red state legisla
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by peterbecich 2y ago
Restructuring the elections, congressional seat allocation, etc. would require Constitutional amendments. Unlikely to happen. It is baked in the cake that individual votes are weighed unequally between the 50 states of the Republic. The onl
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by peterbecich 2y ago
I would prefer to live in a world where all the cars are small. Taking your example of a corner clip, the larger car would fare better; the smaller car will spin more. There is no better description than "arms race." I understand
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by peterbecich 2y ago
I would think tire wear is a function of both weight and torque. The worst offender would be a Hummer EV.
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by peterbecich 2y ago
Agreed about SUV culture. American consumers demand giant cars. It is a safety arms race and also cultural preference.
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by peterbecich 2y ago
There was a large discussion about city-owned utilities yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42975492 Personally I thought this was the best comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42985484
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by peterbecich 2y ago
Yes, that plan was ridiculous. A highly paid worker living efficiently in a small condominium would be heavily penalized. Meanwhile someone living in a McMansion with a lower salary would effectively have a lower bill per kWh. It is best as
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by peterbecich 2y ago
I find it interesting that at a certain time in Los Angeles, a segment of society could afford a craftsman cottage house, but not afford an automobile. This was the prime era of the Pacific Electric streetcar suburb, say around 1890-1920. T
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by peterbecich 2y ago
i.m.o. a different, significant factor is excessive testing for protection against malpractice lawsuits
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by peterbecich 2y ago
Agreed. For instance, 99% of people including myself cannot prove to themselves that vaccines are safe. The full explanation of vaccine safety down to the lowest level would be beyond my understanding. Trust in the authority figure is requi

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