rgifford

11 ms·

31.
by rgifford 4y ago
> who is taking the other side of your order? Literally anyone. Literally any other market participant with interest in longterm ownership. > Your entire argument is "I don't know what they do, and they make money in finance
32.
by rgifford 4y ago
As mentioned earlier: phones and financial services are not similar. The market for consumer electronics hasn't fundamentally threatened the stability of the US government every decade for the past 5 decades. I can pick up an iPhone an
33.
by rgifford 4y ago
Market coercion, regulatory capture, negligence, or any other plain old market manipulation like pump and dump or insider trading or bear raiding, etc. Enron straight up lied to regulators, many of their employees were also plain negligent.
34.
by rgifford 4y ago
Context matters. We were speaking in the the context of financial services. In that context, the past decade has been shooting fish in a barrel. You had to be an idiot to lose money with how index funds performed. Point me to three funds th
35.
by rgifford 4y ago
A recounting of the recent history of US financial markets suggests, at least to me, that these firms have the burden of proof. If they haven't proven legitimacy and societal benefit, assuming fraud is a pretty safe bet. I honestly can
36.
by rgifford 4y ago
CPUs operate due to quantified phenomenon. They're well understood. They've been refined over nearly 100 years. HFTs came into their own over the past decade or so -- during a time of falling interest rates, unprecedented growth,
37.
by rgifford 4y ago
I worry about egg stains on sweatshirts too. Some folks join us with age. Others live life right up to the brim, good for em I say. The world needs all kinds. Reminds me of Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake. It's this race in
38.
by rgifford 4y ago
A majority of Americans think we should interpret the constitution in a modern light [1]. The young, secular, internet-age population are going to challenge the constitution further as the generation of Reagan and American exceptionalism go
39.
by rgifford 4y ago
Many states in middle America receive net federal subsidies while exercising outsized per capita political influence in presidential elections and Congress. You tell me how that's fair or right.
40.
by rgifford 4y ago
> Have you actually read SCOTUS trial transcripts? Because they come across as incredibly sharp people to me even when I don't agree with their views. Yes. Get nine professionals together to write a subject matter document over a ye
41.
by rgifford 4y ago
> If there were broad consensus to change the law as written then presumably the legislature would vote to do so. The legislature does not represent popular interests any more and hasn't for years [1]. This is widely studied and acc
42.
by rgifford 4y ago
> Law is about persuasion... Yep, we have an adversarial, common law system. So we measure our lawyers on their ability to manipulate regardless of the moral or social outcome. I don't think this is a facet of law in general, so muc
43.
by rgifford 4y ago
> However the lifetime appointment of US Supreme Court justices is a purposeful designed feature... It was a feature in a time when white men lived, on average, to the ripe old age of 38. I'm tired of treating anything the founding
44.
by rgifford 4y ago
> Law is amazing and much older than programming... And boy does it show. Recent events have me examining The Supreme Court and American law from a programmers perspective. And let me tell you, there are warts: The Supreme Court is compr
45.
by rgifford 4y ago
The needs of these states are less important. They have fewer people, less productive capacity, less economic output, etc. They are lesser by every metric imaginable. In our nation's bread basket folks love to hold up agricultural achi
46.
by rgifford 4y ago
Passion votes count the same, sure. But impassioned voters advocate for their candidates and get their friends to vote. Lesser of two evils voters don't really care like that. It's the whole reason startups go for natural marketin
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by rgifford 4y ago
9 of those 30 states have more cows than people [1]. When your state is a single dude standing in a field filled with cows, getting the popular vote doesn't say much. 1. https://beef2live.com/story-cattle-inventory-vs-h
48.
by rgifford 4y ago
Don't like most "progress people," don't like most philosophy, don't like most self help. If you have "it" figured out, why is that not enough? All I can see are ulterior motives: a desperate need to feel
49.
by rgifford 4y ago
Can't help but think of Mac Miller's Tiny Desk performance of his song 2009 [1]. Mac started using weed heavily in his teens to cope with the stress of touring. 2009 was a big year for him: two major mixtapes, the cusp of fame and
50.
by rgifford 4y ago
Go back and read the HN thread from the Coinbase DPO [1]. Their valuation was insane then, before the war in Ukraine, inflation, or Omicron. The top comments on that thread shock me. Even at that time I expected every other comment to be ab
51.
by rgifford 5y ago
(1) In context, "wrecking Ukraine" referred to continued actions from a distance (in Crimea and elsewhere). Again, he was wrong. I'm glad previous adminstrations didn't put stock in his ideology.
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by rgifford 5y ago
(1) I'm assuming nothing. In the context of the quote, Mearsheimer was directly stating the impossibility of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia. He has said as much on multiple occasions since. He was wrong. Period. Much of his political
53.
by rgifford 5y ago
"If you want to wreck Russia what you should do is tell them to try and create a greater Russia. It will lead to no end of trouble. I think Putin is much too smart for that." - John Mearsheimer 2015 https://www.youtube.
54.
by rgifford 5y ago
Most Americans don't have money to save or invest. Capital gains functionally rewrites tax brackets. There's lots of ways to make sure that people so rich they don't have to wage earn pay their fair share. We choose not to.
55.
by rgifford 5y ago
People talk about it quite a bit. It hasn't amounted to anything material in my lifetime. If anything just the opposite. I don't think effective tax rates for the uber wealthy have ever been lower.
56.
by rgifford 5y ago
From what I've read the uber wealthy pay an effective tax rate of ~10%. US voters and legislators have set our top tax brackets at ~40%. What is a fair tax rate? I don't know. Less is more IMO. But by the terms we've all agre
57.
by rgifford 5y ago
I doubt we taxed him anywhere near his fair share. That effective tax rates decline with wealth floors me. It also bothers me how cut throat capitalists grow into philanthropists as they become old and vulnerable. Years tax dodging, suppres
58.
by rgifford 5y ago
This is really good advice.
59.
by rgifford 5y ago
... what? Do you have a source here? > The major correlates with high economic mobility Chetty identifies are racial segregation, income inequality, school quality, family structure and social capital. https://www.huduser.gov&
60.
by rgifford 5y ago
> ...we should think about how we can help more people become successful. It's like you're purposefully missing the point. What if most of serious wealth and success is decided at birth? What are the logical consequences of tha

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