|
One thing that milk article makes me think about is how things fare for students that are mildly lactose intolerant. The article says that students can get a non-dairy option with a doctor's note but even ignoring how much it sucks to place the burden on the student to go out and get a note just to get a different drink at lunch, if a student is only mildly lactose intolerant they may not even realize it and thus wouldn't even think to ask a doctor about it. Of course that wouldn't guarantee that they'd drink something besides milk if they had the option but it's certainly very possible that some would pick the non-dairy milk option of their own accord if they could get it without jumping through a bunch of hoops.
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 23:43 |
|
|
haveblue posted:…yes? Do you think greed only happens once you reach a certain bank balance? To a degree, yeah! The ultra-wealthy behave completely differently from the vast majority, and a lot of it is because they are completely shielded from the consequences of their greed. They don't have to worry about not being able to afford rent, they don't have to worry about their kids getting chopped up in a meat factory, they don't have to worry about toxic sludge getting dumped in their water supply. And when they get caught doing these things, they just pay a fine. Honestly it's kind of absurd to claim that every human being is going to be equally rapaciously greedy no matter what.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:15
|
|
|
Slashrat posted:I'm not talking about donors giving money when they aren't allowed, but politicians funnelling campaign funds, which I understand have restrictions on how they can be used, into their own private bank accounts, which seems to be what was going on in this latest news story. There's lots of legal things you can do to really enjoy your contributions more than necessary (stay at nicer hotels, serve nicer food at events, etc.) but, you can't just use campaign money for personal things. There is nothing that stops you from using your campaign money to stay in the nicest hotels whenever you are campaigning or flying private plans or catering your events with the nicest food. People do those all of the time, but the very dumb or very greedy people are the ones who try to use them for personal expenses and almost always get caught. When Santos first filed his quarterly FEC disclosures earlier this year, basically everyone thought that he was doing something very suspicious and was going to get caught. Duncan Hunter spent thousands on Steam games and taking his mistress out. They are very dumb, very greedy, or think they will never get caught because they are very smart (but, if you see point #1, they are actually very dumb). George Santos has not really done anything over the last 8 months or so to establish that he is anything other than very dumb AND very greedy. He didn't even do a good job of even trying to cover his tracks. He just kind of assumed that lying to the feds is like lying about your mom dying during 9/11 and nothing can happen to you for doing it. Basically... Doctor Yiff posted:The thing to know about a lot of these power hungry assholes is a decent chunk of them also aren't very smart or know how to not get caught. You can definitely use campaign donations in ways that indirectly benefit you (especially if you are running a major campaign like a Presidential campaign or Senate campaign as a glorified press tour with no intention of winning and you have donors willing to throw millions of dollars at you *cough* Ron Paul *cough*), but you can't just deposit them into your bank account. It's very illegal, very easy to track, and very dumb. But, a certain percentage of people can't resist trying to do it. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 14:20 on May 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:16
|
|
|
Fister Roboto posted:To a degree, yeah! The ultra-wealthy behave completely differently from the vast majority, and a lot of it is because they are completely shielded from the consequences of their greed. They don't have to worry about not being able to afford rent, they don't have to worry about their kids getting chopped up in a meat factory, they don't have to worry about toxic sludge getting dumped in their water supply. And when they get caught doing these things, they just pay a fine. Honestly it's kind of absurd to claim that every human being is going to be equally rapaciously greedy no matter what. There have been studies essentially showing that rich people have less empathy and do not really see strangers as people. Like, that's just a fact.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:26
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1656288111796666371quote:Santos is in custody in the federal courthouse. He was charged with 7 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and 2 counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. via @NYTimes Are we finally at the start of the "find out" phase?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:31
|
|
|
DarkCrawler posted:Most of human existence, not history. Can't really amass wealth beyond what you can carry as a hunter gatherer, and what is the point when wherever you go will have more stuff than you can carry, anyway? After agriculture, permanent settlement and land starting to have worth, I don't think anyone would have refused to have more of it. And until you get to industrial revolution and corresponding further major improvements in agriculture, there are also severe limits on how much can be accumulated.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:33
|
|
|
New inflation report is out. Mostly surprisingly good news, but a few potential problems on the horizon. Highlights: - Inflation down to 4.9%, falling faster than expected and down from the high of 9.1% This is the first time inflation has been below 5% in the last two years. This also means real wage growth will likely be increasing for a third month in a row. - Food prices have risen 0% in the last two months and only a small amount in the previous month, finally reversing the trend of constantly rising grocery prices. However, prices are still about 8% higher now than they were a year ago. They have stopped rising, but still remain elevated. They need to remain stable or rising slower than overall inflation for many more months until they experience effective price deflation. - Housing prices still continue to rise and are still well above average inflation. - Electricity prices and transportation are also rising much faster than inflation. However, electricity has been slowing down dramatically. Back when the Ukraine war first broke out and inflation was around 9%, almost half of all total inflation was caused by electricity and energy prices. That percentage is way down now. - Biggest potential problems: Housing, transportation, and electricity are now the largest drivers of inflation. Those are also the areas with the biggest challenges for reducing prices. There's a lot of reasons to assume that housing prices will stay sticky and elevated even when overall inflation is going down: A) Housing takes a long time to build. B) There are still lots of people and interest groups with strong incentives to prevent additional housing for financial or personal reasons. C) The current interest rate environment also makes it much more expensive and risky to build homes to sell without a buyer, which will likely be an additional burden on increasing production. There's also a lot of reasons to assume electricity prices may remain sticky and inflated even when overall inflation is going down: A) Energy prices are volatile and could spike for various reasons even after falling for a while. B) China and India still plan to dramatically increase their energy usage and car ownership rates in the short-term and that will drive up demand. C) Transitioning to green energy sources and electric vehicles will still be more expensive than fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, so that could increase electricity prices. Since the biggest remaining sources of inflation are also the areas likely to be the "stickiest," it means that the last ~3% reduction in inflation to get back to the Fed target of 2% may be harder to achieve than the previous 4.2% we have already reduced. https://twitter.com/jsblokland/status/1656275972793024514
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:40
|
|
|
Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:There's lots of legal things you can do to really enjoy your contributions more than necessary (stay at nicer hotels, serve nicer food at events, etc.) but, you can't just use campaign money for personal things. There is nothing that stops you from using your campaign money to stay in the nicest hotels whenever you are campaigning or flying private plans or catering your events with the nicest food. People do those all of the time, but the very dumb or very greedy people are the ones who try to use them for personal expenses and almost always get caught. When Santos first filed his quarterly FEC disclosures earlier this year, basically everyone thought that he was doing something very suspicious and was going to get caught. Duncan Hunter spent thousands on Steam games and taking his mistress out. They are very dumb, very greedy, or think they will never get caught because they are very smart (but, if you see point #1, they are actually very dumb). https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/13/george-santos-finances-raising-questions/11031759002/ Santos' financial filings had dozens upon dozens of finance charges that were exactly one penny below the required reporting threshold and they were for completely ludicrous things like exactly $199.99 for parking in a facility that did not charge $0.99 for anything. It was very dumb, very greedy, and very very VERY obvious. At some point other people who generally do not want to go after their social class peers get forced in to it by the very dumb people not even bothering to put on the mask.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:41
|
|
|
It's honestly kind of impressive how blatant he's making his gift. If he had just put in random numbers below the filing amount, no one would have batted an eye.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:45
|
|
|
BDawg posted:https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1656288111796666371 I hope serving one term in the House was worth it
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:46
|
|
|
BDawg posted:https://twitter.com/FPWellman/status/1656288111796666371 Santos is basically accused of three different things: 1) The campaign finance stuff that he was using for personal expenses and everyone said was going to get him prosecuted as soon as he released his FEC disclosures. 2) Just an unimaginably dumb move where he took advantage of the lowered documentation requirements during the expanded unemployment during Covid-19 to claim unemployment payments while he was employed in a different state. quote:an unemployment insurance fraud scheme: Prosecutors say that in June 2020, in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Santos applied for government assistance in New York, even though he was at the time employed by a Florida-based investment firm and drew an annual salary of $120,000 3) Lying on his financial documents and disclosure to Congress. Another completely stupid and avoidable crime.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 14:48
|
|
|
Comesy option: Santos invokes the "anyone can move for a vote of no confidence" provision while incarcerated, paralyzing the House . . .and forcing Biden to mint the coin!
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:00
|
|
|
Is there any rules that require the coin to be physical money and not a Biden NFT ape?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:03
|
|
|
Clarste posted:There have been studies essentially showing that rich people have less empathy and do not really see strangers as people. Like, that's just a fact. Exactly. I dont think anyone would say that Elon Musk is an example of normal human behavior. Like yeah, i understand the point that a worker coop could pursue unsustainable profit regardless of any consequence. But 1) i never claimed that worker coops are perfect, and 2) there are plenty of democratic ways to deal with that problem.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:03
|
|
|
Ah, I got Santos and DeSantis mixed up in my head. I was having trouble squaring the stupidity of the crimes with the the achievement of becoming Governor of Florida. Even though the latter doesn't seem much smarter, I'd think politicians at that level would at least be surrounded by
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:09
|
|
|
haveblue posted:…yes? Do you think greed only happens once you reach a certain bank balance? Lol this is bullshit. If the greed of the “worker” in this case directly resulted in all schools in the state to be underfunded to poverty conditions, you are saying the worker will still want more money?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:16
|
|
|
Does this bring Republicans down to +3 in the House, or is Santos allowed to cast votes from jail?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:18
|
|
|
Pleasant Friend posted:Does this bring Republicans down to +3 in the House, or is Santos allowed to cast votes from jail? He's not in jail right now. Even if he is found guilty, he won't be in jail for a while. They would still have to go through the court process.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:33
|
|
|
Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:He's not in jail right now. Even if he is found guilty, he won't be in jail for a while. They would still have to go through the court process. Is he not? The tweet says he's in custody and I assume will be until his hearing later. If he's considered a flight risk (doesn't he have a Brazilian passport?), they might just keep him.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:36
|
|
|
Pleasant Friend posted:Does this bring Republicans down to +3 in the House, or is Santos allowed to cast votes from jail? Bob Menendez stayed a vote-casting senator after he was indicted for fraud, bribery & making false statements (although he stepped down as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) so I'm guessing Santos will still have voting rights, especially since the House is led by the GOP right now. And yeah, Santos isn't in jail or prison, lol.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:37
|
|
|
Santos is quite literally criminally stupid. What is his deal exactly, is he legitimately just a pathological liar?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:38
|
|
|
White House officially confirms they are considering invoking the 14th amendment for the first time. He also says that nobody on his staff has been "studying the coin issue," which seems to imply that it has been ruled out. Still says that Congress needs to act and any emergency actions or court battle would be damaging to the U.S. and the world. Reiterates that they will not negotiate over the debt ceiling, but says that they will negotiate with Republicans about the budget at the end of the year because they control the House. But, it will only be over the budget for the next fiscal year, like all budget negotiations have been, and not until the debt ceiling has been dealt with. Strongly opposes any short-term lifting, but doesn't rule it out entirely. https://twitter.com/BrendanPedersen/status/1656068837345746946
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:40
|
|
|
If he's "in custody" he's behind bars. He might get out once and if a bond is set. His bond hearing should happen ASAP if it hasn't already.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:41
|
|
|
BDawg posted:Is he not? The tweet says he's in custody and I assume will be until his hearing later. If he's considered a flight risk (doesn't he have a Brazilian passport?), they might just keep him. He's in custody to get bond and schedule his next court event. He isn't being held pre-trial. It would be incredibly unusual if he was deemed a flight risk and jailed without bail for the entire pre-trial period because of fraud.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:42
|
|
|
That goofball is my congressman. I'm in a constant state of disgust to think that con artist 'represents' me. I surely hope he does the right thing and resign, but I know that he won't.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:45
|
|
|
syntaxrigger posted:Lol this is bullshit. I'm saying it's human nature to want more than you have right now and people aren't going to automatically choose social consciousness over bettering their own family's lot in life just because they're middle class or have some shares of their employer You guys seem to be arguing that the rich are an entirely different species from the non-rich and that it's not possible for one to become the other regardless of how much money or opportunity they have access to, which just strikes me as very strange, idealistic, and ahistorical
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:47
|
|
|
Cimber posted:That goofball is my congressman. I'm in a constant state of disgust to think that con artist 'represents' me. I surely hope he does the right thing and resign, but I know that he won't. You have to admit though that he represents the sort of generalized cursed aura that permeates the North Shore
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:50
|
|
|
Failed Imagineer posted:You have to admit though that he represents the sort of generalized cursed aura that permeates the North Shore I'm on the south shore, but yeah, I think he represents the area pretty accurately.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:55
|
|
|
Harold Fjord posted:Is there any rules that require the coin to be physical money and not a Biden NFT ape? yes, it specifically has to be be a physical coin made of platinum quote:The Secretary may mint and issue platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 15:56
|
|
|
syntaxrigger posted:Lol this is bullshit. I have difficulty seeing how workers could realistically be offered that choice in such a clear and unambiguous manner that they couldn't reason, justify, or cognitive dissonance their way out of seeing it as a binary choice. But as long as there's private schools they can buy their way into with all that extra money, sure. Anyone who's ever dealt with a white suburban parent knows that there's plenty of people out there who'd gladly burn down the entire public school system as long as their own kids get a decent education, and plenty of them have day jobs.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:03
|
|
|
haveblue posted:I'm saying it's human nature to want more than you have right now and people aren't going to automatically choose social consciousness over bettering their own family's lot in life just because they're middle class or have some shares of their employer First of all, youre going to need to provide more evidence for this claim beyond just a vague appeal to "human nature." Second, you're still ignoring the critical difference that I pointed out, which is that the ultra wealthy dont have to deal with the consequences of their greed. Third, youre continuing to conflate two different concepts - the desire to have a more comfortable life, and the desire to have literally all the money in the world. There is a gulf of difference between what the vast majority of people want, and having hundreds of billions of dollars and still wanting more. Like, i for one would be perfectly satisfied with a couple million bucks. But maybe im some kind of freak who defies human nature 
Fister Roboto fucked around with this message at 16:12 on May 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:09
|
|
|
Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:White House officially confirms they are considering invoking the 14th amendment for the first time. All this talk about the 14th makes me think that the dems believe the Republicans are going to shoot the hostage and default on the debt.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:20
|
|
|
Not sure if anyone else has seen this but it's raw footage from Jan 6 released yesterday that shows that the person who was operating the camera feed that day did a good job trying to capture the face of everyone who was in the room. The vibe is so goddamn weird, like a big city bus terminal late at night after a sporting event. Cops flood in at the 35 minute mark and bring the torpid event to an end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCL4TyqbNZw
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:20
|
|
|
Fister Roboto posted:First of all, youre going to need to provide more evidence for this claim beyond just a vague appeal to "human nature." Second, you're still ignoring the critical difference that I pointed out, which is that the ultra wealthy dont have to deal with the consequences of their greed. Third, youre continuing to conflate two different concepts - the desire to have a more comfortable life, and the desire to have literally all the money in the world. There is a gulf of difference between what the vast majority of people want, and having hundreds of billions of dollars and still wanting more. Are the workers at a worker owned coal mine going to decide that their income isn't worth the negative externalities of coal mining and shut it down without government intervention? If yes, can you provide one example of that happening in the real world?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:24
|
|
|
Meatball posted:All this talk about the 14th makes me think that the dems believe the Republicans are going to shoot the hostage and default on the debt. Either that, or calling their "bluff"/reminding them that there are options outside of their horrible bill.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:25
|
|
|
Meatball posted:All this talk about the 14th makes me think that the dems believe the Republicans are going to shoot the hostage and default on the debt. Why wouldn't they? The Republicans have been doing everything they can to cause economic and social disruption, whether it's undermining the regulatory state, or intentionally running deficits by cutting taxes while refusing to budge on military spending. It's what they, create problems to complain and campaign on then do everything in their power to exacerbate and prevent anyone else from addressing said problem. They spent decades flooding the streets with guns which naturally results in more gun related crimes and sows a general sense of dread and hopelessness. The ultimate goal of which is to scare enough people that they accept authoritarianism just to bring an end to the chaos. A global financial crisis caused by them torpedoing the full faith and credit of the United States of America would result in a disruption that would work to the benefit of authoritians worldwide. In fact I'd argue that the reason why they made sure that their bill is a non-starter for the Democratic Senate or President is because default was always the goal. So yeah it's a more that reasonable to be concerned that the Republicans do plan on shooting the hostage so that they can then campaign on the chaos it caused.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:32
|
|
|
James Garfield posted:Are the workers at a worker owned coal mine going to decide that their income isn't worth the negative externalities of coal mining and shut it down without government intervention? If yes, can you provide one example of that happening in the real world? Who said anything about there being no government intervention? I already said that there were many different democratic means to deal with this issue.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:34
|
|
|
Fister Roboto posted:Who said anything about there being no government intervention? I already said that there were many different democratic means to deal with this issue. Right, because that problem is the same regardless of who owns the mine. Having workers own the mine doesn't mean there isn't an incentive for the mine to produce as much coal as possible, the workers also choose more money for themselves over social consciousness.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:42
|
|
|
Skex posted:Why wouldn't they? I don't think any of them legitimately want default as an outcome in and of itself. They want unpopular spending and tax policies and those are difficult to implement unless you have large majorities in congress and control of all three branches of government. They just think that surely nobody else is going to be crazy enough to let them shoot the hostage, so they can get what they want without any cost. It has only worked once in 12 years, but it did sort of work that one time and there is no actual cost to trying again (and likely a significant cost for them politically if they don't at least try).
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 23:43 |
|
|
They’re going to take all eight of his passports, right?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2023 16:44
|
|
