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> the merge of the government and corporations

This is not plutarchy, the direction of control is going the other way.


The other way being corporate managers joining the party to gain market power?

"Corruption, but the other way around" doesn't exist.


This would be pointless to do for one person, and it would be very curious to see a government reject a massive funding stream from a swath of people like this.


Dude what?


Zhang, Yitang’s life at Purdue (Jan 1985-1991) T.T.Moh - https://www.math.purdue.edu/~ttm/ZhangYt.pdf

kind of a wild document to exist...


This doc is insane.

Moh repeatedly:

calls Zhang’s words “fake” and his claim “a lie”;

speculates, without demonstrating it, that Zhang “fooled” professors to get admitted;

says Zhang “failed miserably” and “wasted seven years of his own life and my time”;

alleges that Zhang “wanted to be famous all the time”;

publishes an irrelevant and humiliating story about Zhang not attending his father’s funeral;

says he would not touch Zhang “with a five feet pole”;

repeatedly emphasizes his own generosity, influence, mathematical work and supposed sacrifices.


The world doesn’t need advisors like Moh that are bitter enough to gossip about a family funeral.


He's not dead, but it is bad to gossip regardless.


They are referring to Moh's gossip about Zhang's father's funeral in the above (and Zhang's father is very much dead, unfortunately).


The document says more about the kind of advisor Moh was than the kind of mathematician Zhang is.


Interestingly: "For logic proof, it had been thought that AI could handle all logic problems in the near future, hence logic problems of solving conjectures might not be so interesting in the future."


Ok sure. The Home Secretary just banned new asylum seeker housing near schools and nurseries, fyi.


> No one said anything about "relative to his wealth bracket".

Original post was "modest for a guy like that"


Arguably vacancy taxes are just Georgism with extra steps


If you wanted to switch to Georgism it seems that you'd need to add that and slowly shift taxes into just being the vacancy taxes.

Switching to Georgism overnight seems way too hard to execute.


> Just a reminder "gay panic defense." is still used in court today in the USA

Can you cite a case in the last 5 years?

Can you cite a case in the last 20 years where the jury didn’t roll their eyes?


So why not outlaw it then? Should be easy if it's doesn't get used then there's no reason to have it hanging around right?


Let's outlaw people using deathrays shot from spaceships too /s

Do we need to make a law for every hypothetical thing?


referral bonuses from a few people via who's hiring


I mean the salary difference is a few hundred k, so this all just reads like cope.


> I mean the salary difference is a few hundred k

Yes, for FAANG during Covid and now AI.

But your average SWE? That's more like 130k in the US [1] vs 61k in Germany [2]. In Germany, that's about 3500€ net (after taxes, retirement and health insurance - that is deducted from gross wages here) per month, of which you spend about 1500-1800 on cost of living (in Munich, the most expensive city in Germany by far), so about 1700-2000 in disposable income. You don't need a car because everything is walkable and a flatrate for all public transit across Germany is about 63€ a month.

Let's do the math for the US, California. Net pay is 87k/y or 7250/mo [3]. Of that, subtract ~600$ for a PPO plan (it's still not as good as Germany's default which does not have anything comparable to "in network", but good enough) and ~200$ for an average 2400$/y deductible. A 10% contribution to a 401k, 725$ a month. 2500$ for a 1-br apartment [4]. Now add in 100$ a month for car insurance (VW Golf) and 399$ in leasing rates for that VW Golf, then you're at 2.700$ a month in disposable income. But since you still have to pay half a grand a month on your average student loan [5], whoops, 2.200€ a month in disposable income left.

And frankly, making 200-500$ a month more in disposable income? That is not that much of a difference, particularly once you begin factoring in the "soft factors". Here in Germany, you can't be fired at-will, you'll always have to be paid for at least three months, that's one huge uncertainty off my back. You don't have to fear your kid getting shot (12 children a day die in the US from gun violence), you don't have to fear surprise bills when dealing with medical emergencies, you don't have to fear ICE picking you up and deporting you, you don't have to save up for the privilege of your child attending university because that's free in Germany.

If you're lucky and/or well-connected enough to land a job at FAANG/AI? By all means, go for the US. But for everyone else? Come here to Europe. Life's better here. Especially if you or your children are LGBT - or, given the recent anti-abortion crusade that bans lifesaving healthcare in many states, if you carry an uterus.

[1] https://www.indeed.com/career/software-engineer/salaries

[2] https://www.kununu.com/de/gehalt/softwareentwickler-in-15019

[3] https://www.talent.com/tax-calculator?salary=130000&from=yea...

[4] https://sfist.com/2026/05/28/average-rent-for-san-francisco-...

[5] https://admissions.usf.edu/blog/how-much-college-debt-is-too...

[6] https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/resources/gun-violence-fact...


Why would you use a PPO? The average SWE can be on an HMO. HMO's are fine. I have never once regretted choosing an HMO.

Additionally, you're using the average software engineer salary in the US but then picking California for rent. The article you linked says country wide you'd expect $1950 for renting a 1-bedroom not the $2500 number you are picking for a studio in the bay area.

So you're off by something like $1000 per month (edit: I admit I am simply looking at what I pay for HMO, it's possible that is somehow unrepresentative but I doubt it) by picking the most expensive health plan and mixing up national salaries vs very expensive areas.

The gun violence risk is vastly overblown. The page you are linking to cites a study where gun deaths are being accumulated for ages 1 to 24 years old. Gun deaths are highly non-random and concentrated in older ages and in very specific areas (largely related to gang activity). The average software engineer with family is not going to run into any of that unless they are in the habit of leaving loaded weapons around the house.


Your US figures are using average pay for the whole country but cost of living for one of the most expensive parts of it.


Also add that the German figures don't have student loans, while the US has a monthly cost for them.

Now that may be fair, but anyone looking to move either has or doesn't have student loans and that won't change.


> 1500-1800 on cost of living (in Munich, the most expensive city in Germany by far)

Care to clarify how you came up with that budget? Rent an apartment, pay amenities and buy groceries for 1500 EUR in Munich? Like, the one which is in Bavaria (just in case you have some similarly named city located somewhere in ex-GDR)? I expect some hilarious mental gymnastics TBH...


> Care to clarify how you came up with that budget? Rent an apartment, pay amenities and buy groceries for 1500 EUR in Munich?

My US example only included housing as well, simply because I have zero idea how much Americans pay for food, phones and internet.

In any case, a quick search for apartments in Munich (where I lived until last year) shows you quite a bunch of options (way) below that price range [1].

[1] https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/bayern/muenchen/wo...


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