gadders

I quite like the Zvi Mowshowitz's substack: https://thezvi.substack.com/

He mixes in other stuff you may not care about, and the volume is quite high but I find it an interesting read.

The counter argument of "If we put minimum wage up, everyone will be richer" is "What happens if we massively increase it?"

"Reductio ad absurdum (Latin for "reduction to absurdity") is a valid argumentative technique that disproves a statement by demonstrating that its logical conclusion leads to an absurd, impossible, or contradictory result."

Well it should be both, no?

That sounds like an amazing way to stop people taking risks to start companies.

What about the chap that mortgaged his house to rent a factory and buy a widget maker and employs these people? What % should he take?

Well, I guess there are two parts of it:

1) Raise the floor for everyone

2) Work to make sure that the path for talented (however you define that) people to go from low earners to high earners is as simple as possible.

As much as I think you can't raise minimum wage indefinitely, I kind of agree with this a bit as well.

I would be in favour of some sort of mechanism that ties "Number of your employees needing additional benefits to survive" (Universal Credit in the UK) to "How much in profits you can give to shareholders". Even an annually published official list of "inadequately paying companies" would be something.

I don't go on Reddit, but you seem to still have people on here who are hard of thinking and believe that increasing the minimum wage has no second or third order effects.

Yes, agree. I only really know about office work. If people are giving it to their blue collar employees as well, that's great.

"We set the bar at half of what a typical American household earns. "

Yeah, relative income isn't really a good measure. You want to raise the floor for people, not (necessarily) narrow the gap between rich and poor.

But if they made the minimum wage $1m/year then we would all be rich! /s

A lot of people in the UK (with professional jobs) top up their state health provision with private medical insurance provided by their employer. This isn't a bad mix.

Yeah, it's a hard problem at their scale. It's almost you need an App Store++ where someone trusted verifies apps.

The android store is the same. Jump through loads of hoops, fill in tax information for a bunch of countries, dox yourself, etc etc.

I'm finding it hard to reconcile a) how difficult the process and b) the load of absolute garbage apps that are out there.

Also - James Prinsep - decoded the ancient Brahmi script, unlocking a lot of Indian history.

And as an English person, it pains me but I should mention a lot of the Empire was run by random Scots people as well. They should share the credit/blame.

I think it's a bit rude to claim India has gone dark. It seems like a pretty vibrant economy.

The finding was annulled.

He actually thinks global warming is happening and man made. He just demonstrates that the cure in some cases is worse than the disease.

"By Bjorn Lomborg"

From the article: "The founders Nico and Emily ... have been recognised by Forbes 30 under 30

UH OH

Have you got evidence for otherwise? He does appear to have 3-4 security people, driver etc.

"While gas accounts for 93% of wholesale electricity prices, those wholesale prices are only around 40% of bills. Ofgem’s breakdown of bills includes the costs of the Capacity Market (“CM”) and Contracts for Difference (“CfD”) within wholesale costs and not policy costs. Policy costs include the Renewables Obligation (“RO”), Feed in Tariffs (“FiT”), Energy Company Obligation (“ECO”), Warm Homes Discount (“WHD”), Green Gas Levy (“GGL”), Network Charging Compensation Scheme (“NCCS”) and Assistance for Areas with High Electricity Distribution Costs (“AAHEDC”). Moving CM and CfD costs from wholesale to policy costs would reduce the share of wholesale costs in the final bill to 42% and increase policy costs to 14%."

"Prior to 2006, the margin between retail and wholesale electricity prices was broadly stable at 3.88 – 4.79 p/kWh with an average of 4.23 p/kWh (2006 money). Had this margin been maintained in the subsequent years ie the costs of the energy transition not been added to bills, households would have saved £130 billion in 2006 money (£218 billion in today’s money). In contrast, some estimates suggest that the UK spent an additional £75 billion as a result of the 2021-23 gas crisis.

So despite what people say about high gas prices being responsible for high electricity prices, this was only true for late 2021-23 – for most of the past 25 years, something other than gas prices has been driving electricity prices higher."

https://watt-logic.com/2025/05/19/new-report-the-true-afford...

And paying people to not generate electricity

But essentially there no countries with high renewables and low energy cost: https://nypost.com/2025/05/07/opinion/cheap-solar-and-wind-i...

"The Exemption Rule: Parliamentary ethics rules generally require MPs to register financial interests and "personal benefits" received in the 12 months before taking office. However, Farage and Reform UK have leaned on the exemption for strictly personal gifts "which could not reasonably be thought by others to be related to membership of the House" or his political activities"

Personal security would come under that.

I mean you may not agree, but it's an arguable case.

How do international high energy costs single out the UK and make our energy costs the highest?

>Clean, renewable power is a way out of the mess.

Yes, can't wait until it exists.

I imagine they would do what Labour have had to do with Andy Burnham, and get some no-name MP in a safe seat to resign in exchange for a promise to get in the House of Lords later or some other reward.

>But also...Binface conjugates Latin to Sky News

He studied Classics at Oxford. He'd be in trouble if he couldn't.

I think Farage and Reform/Restore have a solution to this:

From The Atlantic: "The [UK's] output per person is now only just above that of Mississippi, America’s poorest state - and that slight lead is only achieved thanks to London. Outside the capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s"

This is what happens when you import low-skilled migrants (and their extended families) who are a net drain on the economy.

I think they're also against Net Zero, which is causing all the high energy costs.

The OP seems to think that putting your arm at that angle turns you into a nazi. I think he's been watching Father Ted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLNMSTQnSyk

I think it was conservatism of its time. You can ret-con it with 2026 morality and say it was wrong, but then it was the Conservative austerity government that legalised gay marriage.