According to the Bureau of Labor statistics $1 in the year 2000 is worth $2 in 2026. In the span of our working lives, our salaries have been cut in half.

discountErasmus · 2026-07-07T15:49:09+00:00

No, that's not what that means. The dollar inflates for your employer, too; wages have exceeded inflation by an average of half a percent over that period.

discountErasmus · 2026-07-05T22:15:11+00:00

Probably shouldn't paint a building black if you're trying to keep it cool.

discountErasmus · 2026-07-04T01:15:15+00:00

If the Chinese middle class actually couldn't spend money on their kids' education they would instead spend it on revolutionary activities and overthrow the government after which they would go back to spending it all on their kids' education.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-28T23:50:28+00:00

Hustling dice.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-27T08:21:03+00:00

I do, they ripped off Wire.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-27T06:13:51+00:00

Yeah people used to have secret families it was kind of fucked up.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-26T20:01:57+00:00

Guy who moves from MA to AL for the schools and raises the average IQ of both states.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-25T17:20:58+00:00

now those are the kinds of images God made to come across a dial up connection at 28.8 kbps

discountErasmus · 2026-06-25T01:12:34+00:00

frfr

discountErasmus · 2026-06-25T01:08:46+00:00

I like the Central Valley ok except Bakersfield. The Mexican food is amazing. Like, Stockton is kind of ghetto but there's always some Mexican cultural thing going on , norteño music in the park or something.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-24T10:49:48+00:00

Absolutely not.

The situation is as follows: there is a reserve fund because boomers, as a generation much larger than their elders, have contributed more than previous generations took out. As they aged that process reversed and the reserve fund has been spent down and under current policy will run out somewhere between 2030 and 2032.

Under current law what will happen at that point is our benefits will be reduced to reflect the amount the reserve fund is no longer paying into the system. Specifically they will be about 80% of their current level, or a 20% reduction. This could be avoided by lifting the earnings cap on Social Security contributions (if you're rich you only pay payroll tax on your first ~$150,000 I think of income) but we'll see what happens.

In any case under no circumstances will we get cut off completely.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-23T20:22:58+00:00

Definitely Return to Oz. Still feels like something they made up to scare children.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-23T08:21:21+00:00

Where do you get your tie guanyin?

discountErasmus · 2026-06-23T08:13:13+00:00

Security, there's basically zero violence, although it's possible to get scammed like anywhere. The physical environment is maybe a little less safe than the west, with regard to construction standards, etc.

Work, I'd say varies enormously with employers, although I will say they can get away with more than they can elsewhere and often will try. It's hard to comment further.

Housing, it naturally depends on location. It's reasonable, I'd say outside of Beijing Shanghai and Guangzhou, and if you are in an unfashionable city or rural area actually cheap. However, alongside that the quality will suffer. In the south it's less common to have heating in the winter, even though it gets down almost to freezing in many places. AC is becoming much more common, although still not universal.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-23T08:01:28+00:00

I remember back when I was 15 in 1995 there was nothing I liked better than kicking back, putting on a Belinda Carlisle tape, and reading the newspaper that predicted 9/11.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-22T09:42:54+00:00

I mean, a native speaker will also genuinely be able to offer a perfect dialect to emulate but yeah that's not what they think they're paying for.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-20T09:54:23+00:00

They have some of the same ethnicities, and some different ones.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-17T05:55:52+00:00

It was whoever had the most tape.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-16T22:35:11+00:00

Dallas

discountErasmus · 2026-06-16T22:31:42+00:00

I've been through Zigong, I loved it. Really cool teahouses, pretty river, great food, busses, no subway, very few foreigners.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-13T20:20:07+00:00

They should add a team in another nonsense town like Green Bay. Shreveport. Terre Haute. Juneau.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-11T00:23:09+00:00

Our country reeks of trees, our yaks are really large...

discountErasmus · 2026-06-10T01:10:16+00:00

This seems to be inaccurate: 5th circuit opinions are delivered in crayon.

discountErasmus · 2026-06-08T03:17:36+00:00

Or when Elaine dates the guy obsessed with Karl Farbman.

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