I have different expectations depending on whether you worked 10 or 40 hours. The _reality_ is that you and your employer need to come to an agreement on expectations.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder...

Trump hasn't been following convention, but that doesn't mean he's wrong. We also can't just assume he's right. Having the 3 branches hash out a balance is perfectly reasonable and confirms the system is working as intended.

The most solid explanation is in this part: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Fascist_as_a_pejorativ...

What's your proposal here? Should I be forced into the office because it increases the chances I'll buy coffee instead of making it at home?

Macro economic changes are always painful. This is a gross simplification, but cities exist because of an economic network effect based on proximity. Network effects tend to be somewhat stable because they tend to change slowly, but they do change.

>You really don't see the value of New York beyond its office buildings?

I like to visit NYC a couple times a year, but absolutely don't want to live there. If the number of people who physically work there goes down, so will the reasons it's nice to visit.

I don't think I can properly explain my thought process here, but I do think of big cities as anachronistic and little inhuman. All those nice things in a city depend on a large number of lower income people being forced to live there by economic opportunity. That's not necessarily bad but frequently lower income residents don't get to enjoy the services they provide.

I say anachronistic because as people increase in economic freedom, their desires adjust and they frequently move, e.g. everything else being equal people will choose a 700 sq.ft. apartment over a 180 sq.ft. apartment. If the ratio of high income to low income residents shifts too far in either direction, cities go through a painful re-balancing process that may or may not land on it being good or pleasant (by some subjective standards) place afterwards.

Why do you say that? What do you mean by "healthcare"?

Food is much more fundamental than healthcare but isn't really provided by any nation state. Where do you draw the line between what the state provides and what citizens are responsible for? How do you pick that line? Why is your opinion worth any more than another random persons?

That was strongly discouraged long ago when I was in school. Completely unheard of when my daughter was in school. Sounds like you're grasping at straws here; standardized test scores are pretty terrible but you're suggesting kids are able to think more critically now that they can't do arithmetic?

No, it doesn't.

I agree with the words, but don't think they mean what you think they mean :)

People like to belong and be part of the "in" group so tend to think their views are more popular than they are.

The truth is that based on actual sales numbers, Tesla is just fine: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/02/business/tesla-sales-q4/index.... Growth is slower, but that's true for EVs in general and there is a lot more competition than there used to be.

There's just no evidence that car shoppers care about Elon. I'd say avoiding Tesla's because of Elon's personality is the irrational take anyway. Don't buy them because they aren't built very well, don't not buy them because he's a jerk.

Reminds me of when Dove tried to sell a "man scrubbing tool" because someone in marketing thought men were too stupid to buy loofahs.

Tesla's just have terrible UX. Quit making excuses.

I bought a 2021 Range Rover with all the safety features of a Tesla. It has sophisticated software with a big touchscreen but it also has knobs for the normal stuff. I was comfortable using the car immediately and found cool new features for a couple weeks. It was pleasant getting used to it.

I completely agree with this, but at the same time I paid for Global Entry. It feels ok to me since it's really a government program that helps with a government requirement.

I find CLEAR offensive because of the way it blurs public/private boundaries.

The most poor are completely and totally helpless to change things.

It's the group between those extremes that sign up for CLEAR; as a group though they could push for removing the need for CLEAR.

I don't think so. I'd describe a midlife crisis as more of a fear you don't have enough time to do what's next. I've always wanted a Ferrari; if I don't get it now, when will I? I discovered bouldering in my 40's and hate the fact that I can never be competitive; if only I had started 20 years earlier... at this point, every year limits how much time I have left for those new adventures I haven't discovered yet.

I think Uncle Joe just complains because he's crabby.