leifaffles

7 ms·

1.
by leifaffles 9y ago
I don't think you're calm enough to have a rational discussion about all the untruths you just stated.
2.
by leifaffles 9y ago
US politics was intentionally designed such that the majority doesn't get its way. It's the single major innovation in liberal political philosophy in the past 500 years. Saying "it's not democratic!" isn't a u
3.
by leifaffles 9y ago
It's actually spelled "gerrymandering". You might have learned that by now if you weren't so busy spreading dumb conspiracy theories on the internet.
4.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Okay, but the same can be said for Media Matters, Sean Hannity, Rachel Maddow, and so on. They're all doing shady shit, but sometimes one of them hits on something useful.
5.
by leifaffles 9y ago
This doesn't mean anything. Which ethics? Which morals? Yours?
6.
by leifaffles 9y ago
They're activists, but sometimes activists stumble on the truth too.
7.
by leifaffles 9y ago
There are existing answers to these questions. It's not a grand mystery. Instead of merely repeating the questions, you should explain why the answers to those questions are wrong. I think you're overly consumed with the political
8.
by leifaffles 9y ago
I honestly don't really think you've thought this out. You might want to understand the existing structure of government before you propose replacing it on a whim. Here are some questions to get you started: * Why is there a Con
9.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Given the track record of social interventions, what if this backfires?
10.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Why is pure democracy a good thing in and of itself?
11.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Why does basically every economist disagree that "capitalism is fundamentally broken"? Is that because they don't "understand the dynamics of how economies work"?
12.
by leifaffles 9y ago
I do. See above comments. I spend $18k per year in a HCOL area. Plenty of room to save $5k in there and still have buffer for expenses that come up.
13.
by leifaffles 9y ago
I mean my living expenses, including rent, utilities, food, transportation, health care, etc, add up to $1.5k per month (or ~18k per year). As in, I could make $25k (at a level where the tax rate is effectively near-0) and still save > $
14.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Coming up with utopian ideas like this are easy. The hard part, which barely gets any discussion is: * How do incentives work? How do you incentivize the production of new wealth? * How does immigration work? You can't have open border
15.
Ask HN: What are the strongest arguments *against* Net Neutrality?
6 points by leifaffles 9y ago|3 comments
16.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Most people make more than $12 an hour, which is great news! Not having kids outside of marriage is something everyone can do as well.
17.
by leifaffles 9y ago
It's extremely rare to make only $25k/year for your entire life. Most people improve their earnings over time. Most people get married at some point. The important point is that even under the most pessimistic assumptions people c
18.
by leifaffles 9y ago
It's extremely rare to live on 25k for your entire life. That's a pessimistic assumption. My point is that even if you do make that for your entire life, you can still get by and build a secure retirement.
19.
by leifaffles 9y ago
I live on 18k/year in a HCOL area. Don't tell me it can't be done.
20.
by leifaffles 9y ago
This is not convincing in the slightest... and a great example of why proponents of basic income need to up their game.
21.
by leifaffles 9y ago
This is true. It's also true that most people tell themselves that very thing to justify buying dumb shit.
22.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Behavior determines successful outcomes far more than circumstances. Saving $5.5k in an IRA every year for 40 years earning 7% ARR is a retirement nest egg of $1.1M dollars. Median family income is $60k, making this 9% of the budget. Even i
23.
by leifaffles 9y ago
Looking forward to Rachel Maddow's monologue tomorrow night on "dark money in politics".
24.
Tim Ferris: “Silicon Valley also has an insidious infection... McCarthyism”(reddit.com)
10 points by leifaffles 9y ago|1 comments
25.
by leifaffles 9y ago
TLDR of this "strategy": "Hey guys. We should have a law against being an asshole." "Nah, people seem pretty nice." "I'll show you, fuckface!"
26.
by leifaffles 9y ago
If activists are willing to intentionally make the world worse to prove a point, then reasonable people start to wonder: "How much of the problem is real and how much of it is inflicted by activists who are willing to burn down the w
27.
by leifaffles 9y ago
I don't think CloudFlare improved its image as a result. We all agree Nazis are bad. No sane person thinks CloudFlare is pro-Nazi. Here's CEO Matthew Price in his own words: "Let me be clear: this was an arbitrary decision. I
28.
by leifaffles 9y ago
"People will do bad things if we don't have net neutrality regulations. Let's show them how it's done by doing bad things ourselves." In what whacky moral universe is this okay? Most parents smack this out of their
29.
by leifaffles 9y ago
If you really believed this overly dramatic "extraordinary enemies" and "extraordinary means" rhetoric, you'd be out there staging a defense of civilization instead of writing dumb comments on Hacker News.
30.
by leifaffles 9y ago
"entire Internet is threatened"? The polite term for this is "concept creep". If the only way you can defend your position is by invoking apocalyptic rhetoric, you might want to pick another hill to die on. Regardless of

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