tmnvix

Convenience is often more important than the traditional price vs quality tradeoff. Water is free. The convenience of bottled water is worth a lot. Apple's "it just works" was marketing gold that recognised the importance of convenience relative to price and performance (something many, many 'computer enthusiasts' never understood).

SaaS will survive. We pay a lot for convenience. You'll never go wrong appealing to laziness ;)

But the more serious risk, Mr Lipsky notes, is that countries’ pursuit of payments sovereignty may one day mean various regional systems become incompatible. That would increase financial fraud and sanctions evasion.

A risk from the US point of view, but for many states, this is quite the opposite - these developments are in large part aimed at removing the risk of US financial abuse in the form of unilateral sanctions.

An interesting take on the relative differences of manufacturing (and purchasing) an ambulance in the US and China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JcCISp5S64

I keep thinking about that (so far anonymous) company that blew 500 million dollars worth of tokens in a month

First I've heard of this. Do you know any more or could you maybe point me to a source? Kind of astounding if true! Agree that it would be very interesting to know what kind of output they got for all that effort.

I wouldn't be surprised.

There are people who think it's a good idea to aircondition service station forecourts. I find the irony of the situation tragically absurd. There's a little of that in the comment you are responding to.

Not a non sequitur. I was responding to this specifically:

In the longer one, you need building and renting out shelter to be reasonably profitable, so that people do it.

We don't always have to consider the apparently very fragile and fickle motivations of investors. Social housing can and has worked very well in many cases.

I would continue to bet on it going up in most markets since the conditions which made prices increase have not changed.

I think they have. As mentioned above, the past 40 year trend of declining interest rates appears to be at an end. It was the most significant factor in rising prices in my opinion.

Darwin was said to have a circular path in his garden that resembled a trench it was so well-worn.

The 96 million members of the CCP and the entrepreneurs incentivised to make decisions based on the policies they introduce?

Who are the decision makers in western democracies?

I'm being slightly facetious - there are many answers to these questions.

The one that actually matters to me though is "do the people that are making the decisions do so in the interests of society?" Not in my 'democracy', that's for sure.

And good for the people of China presumably.

If I remember correctly, US per capita CO2 footprint is around 14 tonnes (this includes industrial activity). Average US driver of an ICE vehicle produces around 4 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Personal choices matter.

If you care about the environment, BY FAR the most important thing you can do is reducing your carbon footprint.

And by FAR the most effective way to do that for the average person is to drive less.

Most people have no idea how far they need to drive to produce 1kg of CO2 (even though it's widely advertised alongside fuel efficiency).

Ha! You would be right. My mistake.

Exactly.

Which, when you think about it, shows that the 'Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb' argument for this war is not exactly the true motivation (not to say that the US and Israel really don't want them to have a bomb).

This war is about trashing Iran. Adding it to the string of other failed states in the area. It would be more honest for Trump and Netanyahu to say that the motivation for this war is to ensure that Iran becomes a state that is incapable of developing the bomb (i.e. a failed and fractured, or weak and compliant).

It's worth remembering that the Iranians have as yet never claimed that the strait is mined. They have said that it may be. A lot of reporting misses this and assumes (perhaps deliberately) that the presence of mines is a fact.

But of course Iran doesn't need mines to enforce the blockade. They have drones and missiles that can be operated safely from 100's of kilometres away. They have anti-ship sea-skimming missiles. Not to mention the very large fleet of small armed fastboats.

Just to be clear, Iran has been accused of the attack.

No. But I would tell anyone involved in a genocide to. In my opinion that now includes the US and UK.

Others will have different opinions, obviously, but this is mine.

Makes you wonder if less public debt and less focus on growing cash crops to service that debt might actually make for a more comfortable 'simple agrarian life' overall. Even if this meant lower GDP.

I've often thought there's something wrong with the way we put a simple dollar figure on poverty. Less than $3 dollars a day with or without easy access to land, shelter, and fresh water?

We don't know all the reasons, but I can guess one. Debt.

And yes, debt can be 'good'. But just as for people, if you are poverty stricken, debt will almost invariably not be.

Who actually benefited from taking on the debt?

Plenty in NZ. The police use the wagon. They used to use GM/Holden vehicles but at some point they became the worse choice (reduced headroom in the rear seats amongst other reasons).

What is the equivalent of the ATTO 1 in the US? Does that choice even exist?

Except for the example in the article where the warning failed and an exiting passenger doored a cyclist resulting in brain injury.

Don't forget the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader - the man who issued a fatwa against Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.

It makes you think that ultimately, this is not simply about nuclear weapons. It is really about ensuring there is no possibility of a strong non-vassal state in the region (with the obvious exception).

I agree that having other people smoking nearby can be unpleasant, but you might find some comfort in Sir Richard Doll's opinion on second hand smoke - that the risks were politically and publicly exaggerated beyond what the epidemiological evidence clearly supported.

Personally - aside from the smell - I have no concerns about people smoking near me outdoors or even in very well ventilated areas. I understand though that for some people (such as asthmatics) it can be a real problem that goes beyond simply being unpleasant.

and then the 1847 economic crisis ... the world in the mid-1800s was much less financialized so the consequences in absolute terms were less pronounced than a similar bubble-collapse would be today.

And yet 1848 was a very interesting year! Revolutionary even.

Are home prices rising because people have fewer kids (and therefore more to spend on housing) or are people having fewer kids because house prices are rising (and therefore less to spend on kids)?

Maybe a false dichotomy? My suspicion is that home prices rise because more credit becomes available (and not only homes prices but the price of other assets). If you think about it in broader terms this explains what happens to the fruits of our increased productivity - lenders extend more credit as productivity rises thereby claiming the benefit for themselves. The working person is still stuck with a 40 hour week because despite being more productive they have more debt to service.

Trump may be a violent moron, but this goes back further. US sanctions and intimidation of Iran and Venezuela has been supported by both parties when in power. It's a US regime thing, not a party/administration thing (that stuff is for the mugs who believe they have a democracy).

I agree. But also, on a broader note, I have no desire to introduce node for the sole purpose of some css niceties.

Coming back a couple of years later to a broken build system when you just want to change a colour is no fun.

One theory is that control over Venezuelan and Iranian oil is a means of constricting Chinese economic competition.