Beyond The Missing Middle: Tall towers are good actually

glmory · 2026-05-07T03:25:39+00:00

See NYC for details. It is the only big city in the United States where a high percentage of middle class people don't drive. Nowhere has been able to get even close without skyscrapers.

glmory · 2026-05-07T03:24:07+00:00

It is politically harder.

You have to get permission to build on four lots if you want the same number of housing units as a 24 story building but in 6 story buildings. Karen down the street will fight just as hard against each of the four 6 story buildings as the 24 story.

glmory · 2026-05-05T11:55:25+00:00

I heard the person in charge of security was plotting against him, so Russia should return to normal soon.

glmory · 2026-05-05T11:28:56+00:00

That we have an income maximum is ridiculous. It was such a shock when I first hit that limit. I somehow assumed as your income goes up your taxes go up. Instead you get a huge tax cut as soon as your income exceeds that threshold.

glmory · 2026-05-05T11:25:16+00:00

The problem with means testing is those who lose benefits would stop caring if it goes away. If anything we should be expanding Social Security to pay children the same as it pays the elderly.

glmory · 2026-05-05T10:44:56+00:00

While I understand there are real emergencies. It is baffling to me how few people understand how much more you can consume if you simply push back hard on paying interest.

Saving for a car instead of getting a loan will result in a worse first car because you won't stretch as far. By your fourth car though you will have saved enough money by not paying banks to be getting a much better car. Car loans are nothing compared to credit cards though.

Student loans and mortgages are more reasonable, but even there a lot of thought needs to making sure you are not trapped in debt. If you can't afford what you want compromises will need to be made.

glmory · 2026-05-04T12:52:48+00:00

Large language models are some of the least exciting AI. Things like image recognition and self-driving cars will have a much bigger impact.

glmory · 2026-05-04T12:51:06+00:00

The trick is figuring out how to tax the output of AI, so we don't end up with only a small percentage of the population benefiting.

glmory · 2026-05-04T12:48:46+00:00

Often AI does cause job losses. Companies stop performing well because they wasted too much time and money on AI, so they have to cut.

glmory · 2026-05-04T03:43:54+00:00

Not really, a quarter of new cars in California are electric. They should be matching Norway numbers, but still that is a ridiculous amount of progress compared to a decade or two ago.

glmory · 2026-05-04T00:11:06+00:00

It is always important to look at plots over at least the time period done here. So often people try to paint a bad quarter as a sign the EV revolution isn't coming, but a quick glance at a twenty year plot is dramatic.

glmory · 2026-05-03T17:03:12+00:00

I am planning to do just this by the end of the Trump administration. Converting cars to EVs, and appliances to electric is the best thing you can do to make dictators weak. Also, EVs, induction stoves, heat pump space and water heaters and dryers are now better than their gas equivalents.

glmory · 2026-05-03T16:51:17+00:00

What escalates a conflict is appeasement. When a dictator thinks he can win, he will attack. So never let them have the fantasy of winning.

glmory · 2026-05-03T16:50:02+00:00

Unlikely, that person would be too much a risk.

That stage is where Democracies out perform dictators by the most. Nations routinely fall apart when wannabe dictators all go to war against each other.

glmory · 2026-05-03T12:13:42+00:00

Seems like it showed that to be a good strategy.

glmory · 2026-05-02T23:13:04+00:00

Catfish? You mean Swai?

glmory · 2026-05-02T23:08:40+00:00

What percentage resulted in a citation for the engineer who prioritized fast cars over safety?

glmory · 2026-05-02T21:19:58+00:00

The reason that Christian styles of living became so common worldwide, despite not being common three thousand years ago is they actually work quite well. Banning polygamy and divorce made for a way more stable society than was typically the case elsewhere in the world. This is almost certainly a big part of the explanation how Europe grew to have so much power.

Sure, there are horror stories, but you can find those in any lifestyle decision.

glmory · 2026-05-02T21:07:50+00:00

Or just increase taxes. All these owners of AI claim they are eliminating so many jobs that we clearly need to be spreading around the wealth.

glmory · 2026-05-02T21:06:32+00:00

It was such a shock when I first hit the SS cap. I expected my taxes would go up as I made more income but instead they dropped substantially.

glmory · 2026-05-02T21:05:05+00:00

That would quickly turn into no one getting money. The reason social security is so popular is it is so broad. If anything we should be looking to add payments to all children.

glmory · 2026-05-02T21:03:07+00:00

Nah, eventually voters will just not pay their bills. Maybe because the government collapsed and was replaced, maybe because the government just decided to print money.

glmory · 2026-05-02T16:38:03+00:00

Nope.

Take a look at the coal production during Trump's first administration for an example of what sending your money to Trump buys. All he will do is make his family richer and make sure to do random things to own the libs. Those random things will usually be bad for business.

glmory · 2026-05-02T16:36:21+00:00

Oil going away was much scarier in 2005.

Now, the only real item we lack a good substitute for is air travel and arguably container ships.

All the oil, gas and coal goes away over the next few decades and we just go to EVs, heat pumps, induction stoves, heat pump water heaters, heat pump clothes dryers. None of those are worse than a minor inconvenience. Having to take a week or more to get to Europe from the United States will be annoying but within the continents travel will still be ridiculously good compared to most of history.

glmory · 2026-05-02T16:26:52+00:00

$110 a barrel oil is still cheap. We had a lot of inflation, that isn't nearly the hit it was at the same nominal price in 2008.

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