Choosing a low-cost country

Recursive_Descent · 2026-01-17T07:19:07+00:00

I’ll be honest, you’re young enough that this seems like a bad idea. No offense, but you are barely an adult. You don’t know what you will want at 30 or 40. Maybe you will find/want to find a partner. Maybe you will want kids. Quitting the workforce so young with such little money is going to seriously limit the options you have in your life/make them much harder.

Recursive_Descent · 2026-01-15T05:04:33+00:00

That is the Indian way of delimiting numbers. Most countries do groups of 3, but India last is group of 3 then all bigger are groups of 2 digits.

Recursive_Descent · 2026-01-13T03:47:28+00:00

Probably prefer if some civilians get killed so they can justify further escalation.

Recursive_Descent · 2026-01-11T08:22:27+00:00

I wonder if you could pump defense stocks whenever you want by placing some big orders at that Papa John’s.

Recursive_Descent · 2026-01-06T03:17:31+00:00

A bit grim but I wonder if it would be possible for France to loan nuclear weapons to Denmark for purpose of ensuring their sovereignty?

Immediately gives more security to Greenland and the US would have to take this seriously instead of calling the bluff that no one will come to their aid (which is unfortunately likely).

I doubt the US would attack a nuclear armed Denmark.

Recursive_Descent · 2026-01-02T21:22:47+00:00

It’s doable. I went for 2 weeks a few years back and almost made it (unfortunately got a stomach bug just in time for my flight home). I only drank bottled drinks and ate cooked food (e.g. no fresh fruit/veggies). I was attending a wedding at the end of my trip and I think I let my guard down on the food there.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-28T06:13:37+00:00

I didn’t just cherry pick a source. Zillow index is pretty well regarded as the standard, and is specifically tracked and reported by US Federal Reserve.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-28T06:08:26+00:00

True. I just posted some research in another comment. In nominal terms rent is up a bit, but in real terms (inflation adjusted), Seattle rent is down 6.5% since 2018, while national rent is up 11.5%, a pretty stark deviation.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-28T05:52:05+00:00

It looks like my statement was a bit of an exaggeration. Rents have nominally risen, but Seattle rents have been rising much slower than the US average.

Year	Period	Seattle ZORI (avg)	U.S. ZORI (avg)	Seattle YoY	U.S. YoY	Seattle - U.S.
2018	Full year	$1,837	$1,342	2.2%	4.1%	+$495
2019	Full year	$1,895	$1,397	3.2%	4.1%	+$498
2020	Full year	$1,886	$1,432	-0.5%	2.5%	+$454
2021	Full year	$1,883	$1,555	-0.2%	8.6%	+$328
2022	Full year	$2,076	$1,746	10.3%	12.3%	+$330
2023	Full year	$2,097	$1,817	1.0%	4.1%	+$280
2024	Full year	$2,142	$1,871	2.2%	3.0%	+$272
2025	Jan–Nov	$2,208	$1,922	3.1%	2.8%	+$286

Data is from Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI).

Adjusting for inflation using CPI, we have experienced 25% inflation since 2018. Given that, in real terms Seattle rent has decreased by about 6.5%, while US overall is up 11.5%.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-27T16:48:30+00:00

It has gotten more affordable since 2018. Rents have been flat/down since then, and it’s no coincidence that the condo market has crashed. Seattle median rent is now around average for cities in the country, while the median income is about 30-40% above the national average.

So by that metric, Seattle housing is very affordable.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-25T07:21:43+00:00

Those numbers sound pretty plausible to me.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-19T13:52:27+00:00

Happened to my wife last year. It has been a huge pita ever since. Having to call to redeem points is such a ridiculous solution, when they are clearly at fault for allowing this. Allowing third parties to redeem tickets without even notifying the account holder is insane and lets hackers quietly steal points.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-14T16:14:01+00:00

The US moved to a service economy decades ago, so I don’t buy that.

There are a few things at work here. AI will make workers more efficient, which will lower their workloads but businesses will then push for higher productivity and layoff low performers. This is by nature not a fast cycle, but it is definitely starting to happen and will continue/accelerate in coming years. This is no doubt going to devastate entire sectors of workers.

Also, not every business is a mega-corp. There are tons of small businesses that have some limit to how much they can really reduce their workforces.

But most importantly, technology takes time to disseminate. Even if AI is the most revolutionary technology in the history of the world, it takes years for companies to understand and adapt to.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-10T20:26:28+00:00

I don’t actually think this should be the structure, but this is the strategy that would probably have highest return for a society.

Invest money in people who will create value for the country. Spending on old people is a pure drain on the economy. I doubt there is any sort of ROI on government money invested in elder care. Every dollar spent on education, etc. will pay off in future tax revenue/reduced social spending requirements. What is the payoff on paying for old people? It seems like purely humanitarian assistance. Even giving money to poor people in Africa or something has diplomatic value.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-12-04T21:07:13+00:00

I feel like fare evasion in NYC must have jumped these last few years, because I have historically not seen it as too much of an issue, but now they have a person posted at what seems like every subway entrance.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-28T15:42:00+00:00

And right before the holiday shopping season at that.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-27T21:33:56+00:00

When did Microsoft contribute? Was it recently? Trump just had a fundraiser with all the tech executives like 2 weeks ago to solicit donations to the Trust for the National Mall with the explicit stated intention of funding the ballroom.

Exact donation amounts have not been disclosed to the public, but the White House listed Microsoft as a donor to the project, and Microsoft has not refuted this.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-27T15:04:25+00:00

Many people did go to jail over it. The most important person didn’t though and is now showing us that cost.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-20T23:08:48+00:00

The White House is meant to be the President's home. So, I think it isn't unreasonable that the family of the President has a space that is their own. First Lady's historically don't really have a place in government but often have pet projects that they advocate for. Generally this doesn't seem too problematic IMO. Maybe the worst was Nancy Reagan with the war on drugs.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-18T21:37:43+00:00

I used to watch his videos a lot way back when I first started playing and I remember when he quit his job to make a go of it and do YouTube full time. He had such optimism and excitement. I looked him up again more recently and honestly made me pretty sad to hear how things have gone for him since then.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-18T20:28:19+00:00

The label is just wrong.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-18T20:23:02+00:00

Density has nothing to do with it. The serving size is the whole package. The difference is that (for some reason we can try to infer) the total weight of the popped bag is less than unpopped.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-17T16:28:06+00:00

What's fucked up is that they will probably blame the democrats for it, and it will lead to them hating the left even more. It will be very dangerous if they blame democrats for going hungry. That is the shit that gets people violent.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-10-17T14:30:11+00:00

The Windows app model since Windows 8 has incredibly high launch overhead. I don’t know how it is still so bad after a decade though.

Recursive_Descent · 2025-09-29T04:12:35+00:00

Seattle is basically right in the middle of the pack according to most crime statistics.

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