2026 Mid-Term Elections

[ZiprHead]

Was it Musk's idea to create an electric roadster?

Frankly, a library card and access to the science fiction section is where most of his "ideas" came from.

Ideas are more than just "electric car" or "rocket".

Look at why SpaceX is utterly eating the competition: the Muskrat didn't set out to build the best rocket. He set out to build an inexpensive rocket, sacrificing a lot of performance on less than the best technologies--but despite having to burn a lot more fuel per pound delivered they're vastly ahead on price per pound delivered.

Are you saying Musk designed the rocket???

 

[Derec]

So who said anything about a chunk of land in this situation? We're talking about extremely wealthy individuals who are paid in stocks specifically to avoid income taxes.

Why do you think stock-based compensation is not taxed?

 

[Derec]

Are you saying Musk designed the rocket???

He set the strategic direction of Falcon rocket development for example.
And, of course, he invested money to make it happen.

 

[Derec]

Bullshit. What creates monopolies is allowing mergers that reduce competition and innovation.

Technically monopolies mean that there is no competition because there is only one player.

Note that some industries require an oligopoly because the requirements for capital investment make the existence too many independent players not feasible. Cars for example. Or aerospace.

If it is bad for media—and it is very bad indeed—it is bad for other businesses as well.

That's what antitrust laws are supposed to be about. But, again, healthy competition is not incompatible with existence of billionaires. Especially since a billion dollar is worth a lot less than even just 10 years ago. $1G today is worth about $728M in 2016.

 

[Derec]

A better idea would be to make education much more affordable for all degrees. Back in the olden days public universities were actually well supported by public tax dollars.

Everything in life requires tradeoffs. Yes, I think more support of public universities by the federal and state governments would be a good idea. But we should not waste taxpayer money. How many of which degree should be thus supported? We do not need an unlimited number of English or history or business administration majors. The number of degrees offered, including advanced degrees, should be based on the society's needs. And we need to get away from this idea that everybody should be able to go to college even if they barely passed high school and require remedial math and English classes. That only needs to dumbing down of college education. I've seen it at a local "university" here - unproctored online exams even in supposedly "in person" classes, skipping sections of curriculum so it , all to make passing easier because a large part of their student body (probably the majority) has no business pursuing college education.

That’s why people my age could go to university on money earned from summer jobs and could be supported ( albeit at subsistence level) by the university while they earned Ph.D.s.

That is still possible with GTA/GRA stipends. But this also raises the question, how many PhDs do we need to train in different disciplines?

Do you know how hard it is for universities to recruit American educated Ph.Ds to teach and do research? Not that I believe all or even most university profs should be American but I don’t think that parents will be thrilled when their kids are learning American history from someone born not in the Americas.

Are you saying that there aren't enough history PhDs from the US? A few years ago we had a thread where the opposite was argued - that there were many humanities PhDs that they could not find tenured positions and had to make to being part-time adjuncts.
Surely, if a field is such that the main use of a PhD is to teach that same field on a tertiary level then the number of new PhDs trained should reflect that.

Actually, I know that is true because I have friend not born here but who earned their PhD from a prominent t American University and definitely some students pushed back against learning about US government from someone who was ‘only’ a naturalized citizen.

Really? Where is he from?

I realize it’s cool with all the conservatives to denigrate any degree that isn’t hard science or math or computer oriented but look at the Doge kids and see what happens to kids who have no background in liberal arts, especially language, history, art, literature, sociology and psychology. Those are what make life worth living for most people. Otherwise you just have a bunch of ignorant little sociopaths running around breaking everything.

I am not a conservative, nor do I denigrate those degrees. They are definitely needed, as learning about those things is part of a well-rounded education. But we need a limited number of those degrees. That's just a fact. There are only so many history PhDs needed for teaching American History before or after 1877 to undergrads so they meet their graduation requirements for example. There are two ways to regulate how many new PhDs are made - either you cap the number of PhDs directly, or through restrictions on how much student loans are available for those degrees.

 

[Jarhyn]

The thing is, work invariably and at a bare minimum requires the subsidization of the equipment to do that work.

This is not abstract, this is a physical fact: don't do the thing that makes the equipment keep going, equipment stop going, no work gets done by equipment.

When that's a human labor position, that means paying, at a bare minimum, what it takes for that person to live whatever share of their life covering that position costs them.

If any less is provided, specifically and especially for the human, this is an unacceptable outcome.

It does not matter what you think their contribution is "worth".

It does not matter how many other people could do the job or how easy they are to replace.

If you spend a cent less than that, you are saying that your work is worth more than the sustainability of a human life.

 

[Derec]

That single person making $40k isn't paying a lot of tax in the first place.

Without children and tax credits they allow you to claim, it is a good chunk. More than somebody making far more, but with children would have to pay.

We are below replacement. Lots of immigration or more children per couple or big problems down the road.

We should only strive for replacement, not continuous growth, as that is unsustainable on a finite land mass. Right now, US population is still growing.
How well do these bribes work to influence people to have children? Especially when many people struggle to find a partner to begin with.

 

[Derec]

Bolded is unsubstantiated by the figures. We have no idea what their cash flow was.

There is no reason to assume it is more than the declared income. If somebody claims these people are using BBD, then they should offer some evidence for it, not some handwaved "well they could use it, so let's just assume they do".

 

[Derec]

Just because they don't declare it to be taxable does not mean they do not consider it to be income. It's either income, outgo, or stagnation. There are no other choices.

[citation needed]

 

[Derec]

I see college students in Target at the beginning of the semester and a few before Christmas break. Otherwise? No. They don’t really bring any retail to this town except perhaps more vape shops? There is very little retail in town aside from places like hardware stores. Restaurants? Not so much although I don’t go to pizza places ( hubby makes great pizza at home) or burger joints (ditto). Plenty of bars, some of which cater more to the college crowd and some which are definitely townie dive bars.

So basically, these college students frequent local businesses and spend money, but they tend to be different places than the ones you frequent. And all that spending adds to the economic base of your town, which looks less and less Bumfuck-like.

In my hometown, it is under 30 miles from a large city which helps drive rents.

So it's basically an outer ring suburb. Looks even less Bumfuck-like. On the scale of Atlanta, your town is basically Duluth, and nobody would call Duluth "rural".

 

[Derec]

Looks like Trump's endorsement of the corrupt Ken Paxton will give the Dems another senator.

Dems should have nominated a moderate. Instead, the primary was a choice between left and ratchet (Jasmine Crockett) vs. lefter and cringe (James Talarico).
Do you really think self-hating musings like this will play well in the Lone Star state?

 

[Derec]

There are speed limits because it is safer if everyone drives at approximately the same speed as everyone else.

A driver can assess how fast he can safely drive in given conditions; But he cannot assess, nor influence, how fast everyone else on the road can drive in those conditions.

Except that speed limits are also set on rural highways with very little traffic.
And them being necessary does not mean that they are not too low and mostly chosen to drive revenue collection, not for safety.

 

[Derec]

And that's a rebuttal?

Yes.

The looters came by night, using the protests as a distraction.

That they came by night does not mean that they did not protest before.

The protesters were pointing them out, but the police didn't care.

Even if this is true, it does not show that protesters and rioters/looters/arsonists were separate groups. Some of the protesters were keen on more violent tactics, and other protesters disagreed. Not all protesters condoned the violence, but that does not mean that the violent ones were completely separate from the other protesters, or that they did not share the basic ideology of #BLM.

In the few cases that the rioters were prosecuted, and the media shared their stories in more detail, we see that the rioters were indeed part of the protests.
Man charged with arson in attack on Seattle Police Department's East Precinct

Federal law enforcement authorities said David-Ptts arrived in Seattle three days before the protest. After marching with the group in downtown, he was seen on video compiling trash and repeatedly lighting it on fire and feeding the blaze with more combustible materials over an 11-minute time frame captured on camera, federal officials said.

I.e. protester turned arsonist.
He used education to escape a violent childhood. Today, he wants to help kids in similar situations

Betts said he spoke with his friends about how it felt, as Black men, to watch Floyd die this way. They agreed something needed to be done. Betts attended a peaceful protest in Champaign-Urbana a few days later but was disappointed by its impact.
“It’s like we wasn’t being heard, or we wasn’t really displaying how we actually felt,” he said.
After the protest, Betts voiced his frustrations to his brother in Chicago, who sent him pictures and videos of riots taking place there. Then a thought crossed his mind: A riot would be more impactful than a peaceful protest.
The next morning, Betts said he impulsively created a flier that contained a photo of a burning cop car and the words “Black Lives Matter RIOT.” He included a location, Market Place Mall in Champaign, and a time, 3 p.m. He encouraged people to bring family, friends, posters, bricks and bookbags.
Betts posted the flier on Facebook and put his phone away. When he checked it a few hours later, he was shocked to see that he’d received hundreds of notifications from the post. He hadn’t expected the post to receive any attention, and he had mixed feelings about it.
“I felt inspiring, or I felt like I was being heard, opportunity to make change,” he said.
Betts arrived at the mall just after 3 p.m. and estimated there were more than 150 people present, including supporters, counter-protesters and reporters. He didn't notice any police. Once he gave the “A-okay” to the crowd, he said people started running into the mall, vandalizing and looting stores. Initially, Betts felt proud for having initiated the riot, and he even gloated about his role in it while it was happening. In a moment of excitement, he grabbed toddler outfits from Old Navy but dropped them after realizing what he was doing.

I.e. protester turned riot organizer and looter. The people who heeded his call also probably attended the earlier protests.

During George Floyd Protests, 2 Lawyers’ Futures Went Up in Flames

In New York, peaceful protests turned into confrontations with police. Throughout the weekend, demonstrators clashed with officers in Union Square in Manhattan and outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, resulting in injuries and hundreds of arrests.
On May 29, according to court documents, Mr. Mattis had been drinking throughout the day as he exchanged despairing messages over the murder of Mr. Floyd with friends, including Ms. Rahman, who were mobilizing to join a protest. That evening, Ms. Rahman, who was 31 at the time, met Mr. Mattis after he made stops to buy supplies, including gasoline, and joined a swell of protesters in Brooklyn.
Shortly after midnight, with Mr. Mattis at the wheel, according to court filings, they drove in a tan minivan to a police precinct in Clinton Hill. After trying to persuade a bystander to throw a bottle that she was holding, Ms. Rahman got out of the van herself, walked toward an empty police patrol car that had already been damaged by protesters and threw the Molotov cocktail through its broken window before fleeing.

With these two former lawyers, it is less clear whether they participated in any peaceful marches etc. before deciding to make Molotovs. But it is clear that their motivation was anger over the George Floyd killing, and that they are not a separate group that is just using protests as cover. The reporting also makes it clear that protests turned violent rather than some other, unrelated group engaged in violence.

 

[Derec]

Was it Musk's idea to create an electric roadster?

Not by himself, but I am sure he was involved.

Frankly, a library card and access to the science fiction section is where most of his "ideas" came from.

Why exactly?

 

[Derec]

Why not? It's reported to be a widespread (and effective) practice.

The reports I have seen talk about it in a rather vague way. Or do you have some more concrete reporting on it?

In any case, there is no reason to assume that e.g. Bezos borrowed money to supplement the average of $150M per year of declared (and taxed) income over those five years. At least I do not see any reason to think that. Do you? And no, "well, why not?" is not a reason.

I also wonder how much interest they're actually paying. The back might prefer Elon's IPO business to interest on a margin loan..

I would not touch Elon's IPO with a 10 foot pole. He is not the same Elon as during the Noughts. And while SpaceX itself has a lot of potential, he shackled it to his far more speculative AI business.

 

[Derec]

Thank you for pointing out my inaccuracy but the point still stands. Why should a middle class person pay a higher rate ( real or effective) than a millionaire or a billionaire?

Capital gains vs. regular W2 income is one reason. Unfortunately there are no tax brackets that address really high incomes. I think that should change.
Another is charitable donations. It reduces taxable income and Buffett tends to be generous with his money.

We have a progressive tax system precisely because those who earn more benefit more from society and should pay more for that benefit. And because they can.

And progression stops in the middle six-figures.

 

[ZiprHead]

Just because they don't declare it to be taxable does not mean they do not consider it to be income. It's either income, outgo, or stagnation. There are no other choices.

[citation needed]

Examples of other choices needed.

 

[ZiprHead]

Was it Musk's idea to create an electric roadster?

Not by himself, but I am sure he was involved.

Greenlighting and money is not the same a creating.

Frankly, a library card and access to the science fiction section is where most of his "ideas" came from.

Why exactly?

Name anything he's financed that someone else has already thought of and published.

Have you seen his Starlink commercial? It includes an old B&W film of long dead Arthur C. Clarke talking about instantaneous global communication.

You really think of him as a hero, don't you.

 

[Jarhyn]

Was it Musk's idea to create an electric roadster?

Not by himself, but I am sure he was involved.

Greenlighting and money is not the same a creating.

Frankly, a library card and access to the science fiction section is where most of his "ideas" came from.

Why exactly?

Name anything he's financed that someone else has already thought of and published.

Have you seen his Starlink commercial? It includes an old B&W film of long dead Arthur C. Clarke talking about instantaneous global communication.

You really think of him as a hero, don't you.

While I broadly agree with most of this (that Melon Husk has contributed next to nothing), in the best cases and severely detracted from the potential results in others, I do have to point out that it IS a skill being able to see "technology X that does not exist is just Technology A and technology B, both of which DO exist, put together in a way C that other technologies are already married; thus to get X, I must put A and B together in way C"

That is still a skill, and arguably an important one.

That said... Elon seems rather bad at it.

 

[ZiprHead]

Was it Musk's idea to create an electric roadster?

Not by himself, but I am sure he was involved.

Greenlighting and money is not the same a creating.

Frankly, a library card and access to the science fiction section is where most of his "ideas" came from.

Why exactly?

Name anything he's financed that someone else has already thought of and published.

Have you seen his Starlink commercial? It includes an old B&W film of long dead Arthur C. Clarke talking about instantaneous global communication.

You really think of him as a hero, don't you.

While I broadly agree with most of this (that Melon Husk has contributed next to nothing), in the best cases and severely detracted from the potential results in others, I do have to point out that it IS a skill being able to see "technology X that does not exist is just Technology A and technology B, both of which DO exist, put together in a way C that other technologies are already married; thus to get X, I must put A and B together in way C"

That is still a skill, and arguably an important one.

That said... Elon seems rather bad at it.

Oh, I agree he's skillful in that sense. I do not agree he deserves the hero worship he is given, and worse yet, expects.