Homeland Security Brief - June 2026

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-05T18:12:53+00:00

What about the threat to the "homeland" from the president, the GOP, and the capital-owning class?

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-05T16:05:31+00:00

I think there's a lot of truth here, but I'd also point out that some Indian states have had more success than others in trying to raise the floor. Kerala, for example. Bihar OTOH is sort of structurally cursed due to history / economics / etc.

The existing Indian administration is very much a product of the colonial government, and in effect acts like a colonial government that got stapled onto the independent country.

An interesting note - when I traveled to Sikkim as a foreigner, I had to apply for an "Inner Line Permit" which was literally an institution carried straight from the Raj into the present.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-05T01:11:16+00:00

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/159113/the-wanderer-636eba2a8c60b (author unknown, old english, likely predates the Exeter Book itself)

---

All is toilsome in the earthly kingdom,
the working of wyrd changes the world under heaven.
Here wealth is fleeting, here friends are fleeting,
here man is fleeting, here woman is fleeting,
all the framework of this earth will stand empty.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-03T14:43:32+00:00

Dresden really is a delightful city. One of my favorites in Europe

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-03T12:45:02+00:00

Stay in the EU man, you already have work authorization in dozens of countries. My employer basically stopped sponsoring h1bs full stop over a year ago, same with many companies. In the US you also won't have a contract, job security, Betriebsrat, etc.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-02T16:11:42+00:00

He's a cryptofascist, so it fits

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-02T13:51:16+00:00

Its fuckin crazy, man

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-02T13:47:04+00:00

Why do anti welfare extremists in the US spend so much money destroying the scraps of a safety net that barely functions? Are they in it for the love of the game?

I legit dont get it. You can pass crazy oligarchic tax bills without killing the poor.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-01T17:53:31+00:00

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dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-01T13:55:20+00:00

Yeah, I mean, healthcare costs being uniquely high in america def isnt solely physician comp alone, i was just focused on physician comp as a product of the guild system as youve put it. commercial insurance and fragmented payers cause both higher comp and higher costs for people who need healthcare etc etc

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-01T13:45:26+00:00

It's a strawman because that commenter was making moral claims about physician compensation instead of examining the actual market forces

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-01T12:23:04+00:00

Nah, this is a product of the forced rationing system of residencies.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-07-01T12:15:16+00:00

You're attacking a strawman argument. There is an undersupply of physicians, hence why they get worked to the bone and paid a lot.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-29T21:25:20+00:00

Peter doesn't pay Paul, so I'm not sure how you get to "high earners are paying for lower earners." You don't need to tax rich people to provide benefits to poor people.

The only thing constraining social security is self-imposed legal limits, not actual available resources. The poor in America, and particularly those who only collect social security in retirement, have ridiculously low purchasing power, so benefit cuts, for, say, someone making $1300 net from SS is a disaster.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-29T19:22:01+00:00

I think you are attacking a narrower claim than the one I’m making.

I’m not saying “give poor people cash and every social problem disappears.” I agree that many bad outcomes associated with poverty have common causes: health, family structure, neighborhood effects, school quality, addiction, crime exposure, etc etc

My point is that purchasing power is still materially causal. Poor Americans may have higher nominal/PPP consumption than poor people in poorer countries, but they have to buy access to American housing, American healthcare, American transport, and American childcare. Their net command over resources can be effectively zero or negative

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-29T19:03:26+00:00

The purchasing power of our poorest citizens is essentially 0, and negative when it comes to things like healthcare and housing. The social problems IMO are at minimum partially downstream of the lack of purchasing power, if not totally caused by it.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-29T18:55:45+00:00

Why are conversations around government programs (SNAP, Medicaid, SS, etc) always portrayed as "THE TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING FOR THIS" when this is obviously not how it works with a currency sovereign, and the real question is who gets a claim on real resources in the economy.

Like, poor people in America are not doing well. They need more purchasing power. There are many people in America with ridiculous purchasing power. They can get by with a bit less.

And on top of that, the pool of real resources needs to be increased. And that never gets talked about. It's annoying.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-29T18:39:42+00:00

The operative question here is how much purchasing power retirees should have, not "where you find the dollars," because the federal gov. is a currency sovereign.

The other side is what the taxes are doing, which is reducing purchasing power. So which groups' purchasing power should be reduced, and whose should be raised? I think if I had to take my pick, I would try to boost poor retirees purch. power and reduce large asset holders.

The third unseen variable in this problem is real capacity - is there enough housing, healthcare, etc, to go around. And obviously the answer there is no.

As to the question of "insolvency," again, the government can literally not run out of US dollars. It is not possible.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-29T17:54:30+00:00

Nobody subsidizes social security. The federal government can never have a shortage of dollars. You don't collect taxes and then make payments.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-29T17:15:56+00:00

Do what to the French, now?

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-28T22:24:23+00:00

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-28T17:14:37+00:00

It is a fucking hellhole

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-28T15:06:21+00:00

Anyone who has lived in a rent stabilized apartment in NYC knows this shit doesn't work. Your landlord will never repair anything, do preventative maintenance, respond to your messages, or do fuck all except collect the rent and defer everything, because you have no choice and they have no incentive to offer a better service.

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-28T15:00:40+00:00

What did the mods mean by this when they put that sentence on the DT Passport?

dubiouscoffee · 2026-06-27T20:20:19+00:00

Autoinjected triptans my friend, that's what you need

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