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Why does electricity stop at 1973? It's been going back up again for the last few years.

If it's so difficult, maybe they could take the easy option and, you know, properly fund the government to build the shared infrastructure on which we all rely by paying tax proportional to their wealth.

Warren Buffet made the largest single tax payment in US history last year. He doesn't play any games.

You mean fund ICE and build some more concentration camps?

Approximately 1% of the federal budget is infrastructure. There are huge advantages to donating to a charity that actually does something productive instead of the federal waste machine.


Or maybe, just maybe, a system that doesn't create massive concentration of wealth won't try to divert people's focus by pitting people against each other and building concentration camps. Governments aren't fundamentally wasteful. In fact, an effective government is an absolute requirement for functioning healthcare, fair wages, consumer protection, and actual public safety that protects all people equally.

This isn't to diminish all the good things charities have done, but charities are fundamentally band-aid solutions to a dysfunctional society. Leaving welfare at the mercy of wealthy individuals as the wealth gap keeps getting bigger and bigger is a losing strategy. It shouldn't be the state of things people should be aiming for.


Cool. Give me a call when our government isn't wasteful and destructive, then we can talk about the relative benefits of taxes versus charity.

Until then, I'm going to look at the real world and conclude that charities do massively more good

Pretending that reality is other than it is nothing short of delusion, living in a fantasy.


Fixing government and taxing the rich is the only solution that addresses the core of the issue. Charities can't close wealth gaps, because they lack the power to enforce laws that ensure fair labor and trade practices. Charities can't stop the healthcare industry from bankrupting sick or injured people, because that too requires enforcing the law. Charities can't stop concentration camps.

Charities do have a place in society and they can do enormous good, but can't compensate for a poor government.

Frankly, the notion that government is fundamentally ineffective and only the private sector can fix things is billionaire propaganda. Billionaires undermine government so they can exploit working-class people with fewer constraints. Then they'd use charity to launder their reputation while pushing their own agenda.

Deriding calls for fair taxes and claiming charities will fix things is wishful thinking at best.



> Yep, for all the moralizing about sports gambling people on HN do, they sure love to prime their children for it.

Can't get through life without gambling at least a little bit.

Even taking out a life insurance policy is making a bet you're going to die before it expires


Although it uses the same technology as gambling, it's for a different purpose. You aren't hoping to die, you are doing risk management for your family.

Watch Ann Droid on the Beeb for a dark but funny prediction of what it will be like wrt to nursing care for the elderly.


I binged watched it and loved it. A humanoid robot like that would be amazing to have when I get older, certainly better than having a son like Michael


Well, there are other reasons. For instance if they've been influenced by Russian agents trying to sow discord.


Haha, got to be the Russians right, EU is clearly beyond valid criticism. /s


C'mon anthropic. Give him a job! :-)


What would an uninsured person do if the tests suggested they needed an medical intervention?


That's a pretty broad question. If you could be more specific in terms of the test results, recommended medical intervention, and patient profile (location, age, income, disability status) then I might be able to point you in the right direction.


I think you gotta be pretty lucky or disciplined with a high income from an early age to be in a position to start unloading risk at 45.

Most folks don't have disposable income after rent and bills until they're 30.


Agree, that advice seems to be targeting folks who have had a 401K since they were 22. Also, I think it is basically saying the point where you start adjusting your stock/bond ratio down. At 40, maybe you have 80% in stocks, and change it to 75% when you turn 45.


Yeah, none to the African, South American, or Asian nations who contribute many of the best players though. And they don't share it around their own countries that well either with all the revenue going to the big 5 and the rest can just go sing.


Hehe, grass is always greener on the other side.


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