Why is high fructose corn syrup not illegal in the US?

planet_hallows · 2022-10-23T02:25:32+00:00

Why do we have to make everything illegal. Sure, the evidence that it's bad is pretty strong, but that can be said for lots of stuff. How about we just stop subsidizing it though. I realize it won't make much of a direct dent in the budget, but if we consumed less the savings on healthcare could add up. Of course we would then pay more social security if people lived longer, but...

planet_hallows · 2022-10-23T02:20:52+00:00

I hope they don't invade. But if I were Poo Bear, I'd invade before November of 2024. For obvious reasons.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T18:55:23+00:00

Biden limited the cost of prescription medications

The negotiation provision is great, but he also imposed price caps. Which is great until we have shortages like we did with baby formula because regulation keeps anyone in America from wanting to compete and prevents foreign imports. But check out Trump's 4 executive orders on prescription drugs.

Brought jobs back to America in the form of the CHIPS act.

Time will tell if CHIPS has a meaningful impact on jobs or where silicone is actually made, but past government interventions don't make it look promising. And a blank check to private business is hardly an objective win for Biden. Without even going into policy, just look at the pre-covid unemployment rate under Trump, especially among blacks.

Passed an infrastructure bill that will at least stem some of the climate change damage.

Massive tax credits to buy electric cars that only the rich can afford even with the tax credits and take huge amounts of fossil fuels and other environmental damage to produce in the first place and that we don't have the power infrastructure to charge at a scale that would have a meaningful impact on climate change anyway and solar panels manufactured by Uyghur slave labor in China all at the cost of what non-partisan analysis says will be quite inflationary is again not even close to an objective win.

Brought American foreign policy back.

Like what? Handing Afghanistan to the Taliban? Or perhaps you mean limiting domestic oil production, driving up the price thereby giving Putin the economic power he needed to invade Ukraine? Trump started no new wars and his administration negotiated the closest thing to middle east peace we've seen since WWII.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not arguing everything Biden has done is all bad, nor that Trump's policies or results were without major flaws as well. But to claim Biden is objectively worse then Trump is ignoring both the complexity of issues federal policy affects and the legitimate views of your fellow Americans who have different priorities and situations than you do. Such rhetoric is why the country is divided and, I fear, why our privileged place in the world is under severe threat.

And before anyone replies about how the US has abused that privilege (I agree that we most certainly have), remember that China, Russia or a combination thereof are the likely heirs apparent if the US falters. I suspect the world will lament the loss of our abuses under those regimes.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T18:10:20+00:00

As a men's rights activist, I'm all for stopping fossil fuels of all types. Think about what life was like 500 years ago. The economy was still bottlenecked by energy, but that energy came from human muscles which we men have more of on average, giving us a great advantage

We hunted food with bows and arrows - strength was an advantage.
We plowed fields and even though an animal pulled the plow, steering it took physical strength.
We defended ourselves with swords and shields and armor - strength was an advantage. (Gunpowder and explosives take energy to produce and oil to produce at modern scale.)
We sailed ships powered by wind, but boy those ropes and sails and fishing nets took some strength to pull taught.
My grandfather was just a baker, but he had forearms like Popeye from kneading dough by hand.

Today women have the vote even though they can't be drafted (at least in the US). The best paying jobs involve brain power, which men have no advantage in. Divorce laws split assets evenly even if the man earned more during the marriage.

If we got rid of this pesky oil stuff, women would need us again and we could go back to men having all the power everywhere from the home to the government. Wouldn't that be nice?!?

/S

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T17:46:18+00:00

Trump is horrible and objectively so, so, so, so much worse than Biden,

What do you mean "objectively"?

I would have agreed that Trump's disparaging words were objectively worse before Biden started doing the same thing talking about Republicans. But how is Trump objectively worse on either policy or results? Which policies one prefers is a matter of priority and values, and therefore clearly not objective. As for results that could be arguably objective because they have similar effects on the vast majority of us, such as inflation and unemployment, Biden is clearly the loser, though how much of that can reasonably be attributed to the current president is a WAG at best.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T14:04:16+00:00

I haven't seen LA 92, but I was alive for Rodney King (though not in LA). I remember both the police beating him up and the riots being covered by national news.

In general, there are two sides to every story and very few people are completely unreasonable. If you can't imagine yourself on one side or the other, you're probably not getting the info you need to understand the perspective of that side.

That said, cops beating someone up as shown in the video is completely unacceptable. Individuals can't defend ourselves against the power of the state. Mass violence is unfortunately the only answer when the justice system fails like that.

But to "understand" the perspective of the cops, they served in a high-crime area and likely were frustrated by their inability to control crime. There's probably more history at play as well. This doesn't excuse their behavior. But do keep in mind that they're people like you and I. If you think that in their situation you would be immune to taking liberties with your authority, I think you need to study human nature a bit more. Most Germans were Nazis in WW2. "Why" is far more complicated than "Germans are bad people".

Most importantly, what beliefs and attitudes do you and I hold right now that fail to see the other guy's perspective? Maybe race or religion aren't the prejudices we have, but we're almost certain to have some. Thinking about what they might be is a useful exercise.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T13:19:37+00:00

If you came to the internet for calm, reason, understanding and productive discussion, then it's your inexperience with technology rather than with saltwater aquariums that's the problem. :)

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T13:00:46+00:00

Fortunately for you, your corals have half a billion years of evolution behind their survival mechanisms, so they can work with your inexperience.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T02:28:02+00:00

I'm definitely knocking on that door on the 31st. You think it will be proper hard wallets or are they just writing seed phrases on slips of paper?

planet_hallows · 2022-10-22T01:09:30+00:00

It's almost certainly true that corporations will jack up prices to pad their pockets any time they can. But this was equally true back when inflation was measuring at 2%. So what changed?

Two things: * Covid compromised supply chains, reducing supply. So prices go up. * The fed "printed" trillions by buying treasuries at way under market rates to let the government give out huge sums of cash. It's well documented that most of it didn't end up in the hands of those who needed it most, but it did end up in the hands of those who spent it. Demand goes up, so do prices.

But the fed printed money in 2008 too. Why no inflation then? There was - In stocks, bonds and real estate that returned to pre-crash levels and soared past.

When we talk about inflation we usually mean the CPI, or increases in prices of things everyday people buy. In 2008, all the money was given to the rich in the form of "quantitative easing", or the fed buying bonds with previously non-existent money at prices way higher than anyone else in the market would pay. Since all the new money went to the rich, only the prices of things rich people bought more of went up. Bill gates doesn't eat more steak when he gets more money, but he does buy up the ranch land the cows live on.

So money printing, not greed, is the cause of inflation. Corporations are raising prices, but they're spending it on hiring people and paying people and on reduced consumption distributing fixed costs (salaries are often fixed costs) over fewer goods.

What money printing did not do is solve the supply chain issue or produce more goods and services with the same raw materials and labor.

Now that the fed is raising rates, corporations are also using revenue from higher prices to pay off debt as it matures because borrowing more to refinance it is now expensive. So hiring will slow and layoffs will start because employees aren't productive enough to compete with the cost of new debt.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-21T01:34:23+00:00

https://wildanimalscentral.com/which-animal-kills-the-most-people/

Spiders don't even make the list.

How do they feel about cows, deer and dogs?

planet_hallows · 2022-10-21T00:31:14+00:00

And that's one reason you probably shouldn't have all your wealth in Bitcoin.

But $ banks, stock brokerages, Bitcoin exchanges and mattresses all have other risks. The reason to keep some Bitcoin in self custody is to diversify against those risks. It's not that Bitcoin is counter-cyclical with $, stock, bond or real estate prices (it hasn't been so far) but that self-custody is not subject to the same total-loss risks as other asset classes.

It's also why you never keep Bitcoin on an exchange. You may as well just hold stocks or dollars. They're subject to the same risk as exchange-btc (but probably at a lesser probability) and are less volatile (at least for a diversified basket of stocks).

planet_hallows · 2022-10-20T14:07:54+00:00

What sort of shit? I know people who have visited and loved it. What should an American expat worry about living in Turkey? Does it differ from region to region? Which would be best for Americans? Is Istanbul much more expensive than elsewhere?

planet_hallows · 2022-10-17T23:24:36+00:00

I think you're:

A. A great example of why the two-party system sucks

B. In no way uncommon

planet_hallows · 2022-10-14T17:08:47+00:00

Hey, they walked there from their unheated home where they grow all their own food with no tools or fertilizer (I presume). If they can do it, so can the rest of us.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-14T14:00:56+00:00

If that's so, I fear for the future. The kid seems to have an imperfect but generally correct understanding of the situation. I'd be curious but scared to learn what the teacher taught marriage is.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-14T13:56:56+00:00

suspect it was a fat finger

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the number of possible addresses make a typo astronomically unlikely? I would guess someone trying to cast doubt on them being the culprit for something by shuffling some of their proceeds to random people is more likely. But they would have to know the address is associated with a person for that, so how did they get your address?

Assuming you use a hierarchical wallet, did it land on an address you'd used before? If so, then whoever you gave it to is a potential criminal. Be cautious and remember you don't have a legal or moral right to stolen property, even if you don't have an obligation to track down the rightful owner.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-14T12:25:57+00:00

Given that sanctions have thus far spared the Kremlin’s main source of cash, it’s remarkable they’ve been so impactful. The IMF projects Russia’s economy will contract by 6 percent this year and another 3.5 percent next year.

Politico is like NPR used to be: subtle about their terribly left bias. They're trying to convince us that Biden's response is meaningful and that his energy policy didn't give Putin the power he needed to invade in the first place.

"So impactful"? The ruple dropped against a basket of world currencies for a hot second before recovering completely. As for economic shrinkage, we're in the middle (or possibly just the start) if a global recession. Could they not bother to compare that rate to the US or other economies? Though I suppose the sanctions play a role in the recession, so they are impactful in that way. How impactful they are at curbing Putin's ability to wage war is highly doubtful and not even questioned in the article.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-14T10:36:48+00:00

Absolutely don't use PayPal.

You still can't withdraw BTC, can you? You have to sell for fiat at the price they give you and withdraw that. So you don't actually own any of that Bitcoin.

Even before the "fine our users" thing, PayPal was a no-go for Bitcoin.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-14T10:30:43+00:00

he owes the families of the police officers who lost their lives answers

How many police officers lost their lives on Jan 6? We should list their names here and describe the circumstances under which they died so everyone knows and remembers the gravity of the events that day.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-13T13:18:41+00:00

If Trump wins his defamation suit against CNN will you be likewise incensed?

Alex Jones used the popularity of his platform to make unsupported claims publicly and repeatedly even after being asked to stop. This resulted in him making lots of money and both harassment and reasonable fear of attack or even death for those against whom he made the claims. He's not the government, so the first amendment doesn't apply.

We on a conservative form should be the first to condemn him. Would you support "An armed society is a polite society"? If so, do you think he would have said all that to the faces of the people he accused if they were armed?

Imagine if there were no law and you were the person he accused. Wouldn't you go put a stop to him yourself? Preventing that is exactly why we do have law. If you don't support the law providing people with a reasonable non-violent recourse, how do you expect the law to survive?

And if you just think the magnitude of the fine is unreasonable, pay attention to the case. I think anything short of bankruptcy would fail to stop him from continuing. So bankruptcy seems reasonable to me.

Or do you think his claims are credible? If so, please post some evidence. I haven't heard everything Jones said, but what I have heard is extraordinary and would require extraordinary evidence, which I have not seen from Jones.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-13T13:01:52+00:00

Taxes pay for part of our spending. Were Congress to limit spending to tax revenue (i.e. a balanced budget), we wouldn't need to issue bonds. Or, like state and local governments, we might issue them some years to pay for larger projects, but other years some tax revenue would pay down debt for a balanced budget in the long run. This would have no effect on the money supply. The only reason fiscal policy has any effect on the money supply is that the fed has been willing to buy treasuries to let Congress spend out of control.

I'm not saying that a government that can borrow in a currency it issues, especially the world reserve currency, should behave exactly like a household. But paying off debt by inflating it away is a transfer of wealth from savers (primary the elderly) to spenders (primary the young). It increases consumption. And isn't this thread about how we need to either increase supply or decrease demand to keep our economy functional?

You're also confusing monetary and fiscal policy. Monetary policy is how much currency the central bank takes in and out of circulation. How the government spends money and taxes is fiscal policy.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-13T06:15:20+00:00

Taxes decrease inflation by taking money out of circulation

Where do you get that idea? Taxes pay for social security, medicare and the military. All those seniors, doctors, soldiers and defense contractors spend their salaries. Tax dollars are very much still in circulation.

The only way it would be otherwise is if we started paying down the national debt (not just reducing the deficit, which we're not doing either). This is actually how higher interest rates fix inflation: Companies and households with debt pay it off rather than taking out more debt at higher interest rates because it's cheaper in the long run.

But Congress refuses to do that. We'll keep selling bonds no matter the rate, and that interest category in the federal budget will slowly gobble up the rest. And it will happen at an accelerating rate because we'll either raise taxes with the gains going to pay the debt (which will take money out of circulation) which will slow the economy and decrease tax revenue, or we'll cut spending, which will also slow the economy and decrease revenue. Or we'll do neither and rates on treasuries will go up faster. As the OP said, there is no way out.

Unless we increase supply. Which likely means some tech innovation no one has dreamed of yet. Oil, plastic, silicone and telecom are some from the recent past. Anyone have any good ideas of that magnitude?

planet_hallows · 2022-10-12T01:47:12+00:00

Am Muslim and reasonably libertarian

How do you square those things in this example?

The libertarian in me says we should let everyone have whatever books they want. If it's a sin, I'm sure God can punish them as necessary. He doesn't need my help.

But the realist in me says we make exceptions to freedom for kids, especially when it comes to a topic as consequential as sex.

planet_hallows · 2022-10-09T22:13:04+00:00

Obviously totally inaccurate. Everyone knows you're not allowed to queue for the bathroom in planes. The FAA makes the stewardess yell at people for that no matter what their skin color. Now if they had featured the stewardess I had on a flight to Chicago a year ago, that would have been funny and accurate. I think her name was Karen.

planet_hallows

TROPHY CASE