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US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

themoneyillusion.com

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Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#211

Post by kelnos »

withdavidli wrote: post #143
Afforess wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is more of the same sanctimonious toxicity. You don't know me. I already donate to act blue. I already go to political rally's. I already help get friends to go vote. I already am a member of local political groups. I am still not represented. No state or federal ballot I have ever cast has counted. Please don't tell people that they would ever deserve our current leaders. People deserve safety, stability, and b…

Disclaimer that I use similar remarks to the quote you disagree with. This is with the understanding that the price that needs to be paid will literally take lives at times, and that there is little to no fairness at who bears that cost. That being said, you seem to be quite active politically and doing more than most in this arena. At what point do you give up and move to where you think you'll be represented? This…

> Disclaimer that I use similar remarks to the quote you disagree with. This is with the understanding that the price that needs to be paid will literally take lives at times

I guess it's easy to make those kinds of remarks when you know you won't be the one paying that price, huh?

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#212

Post by kelnos »

Fricken wrote: post #203
JSavageOne wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can rise up and fix the system and get the leader you deserve No individual can just "rise up and fix the system".

A clusterfuck of 300 million individuals, getting the leaders they deserve. You can't organize. You can't think outside the system that abuses you. A tiny cabal of openly corrupt individuals can push you all around. You got the leader you deserve.

> You got the leader you deserve.

Repeating it over and over in every post you make doesn't make it true. It just shows your callous disregard for humanity, which isn't likely to win you much agreement.

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#213

Post by kelnos »

james-mcelwain wrote: post #119
dannyw wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not just the Stanford study: antibody studies everywhere, from New York to Sweden to Italy are showing similar results. The “criticism” on those studies are more hypothetical and not universal. It’s like “this study could be wrong because X”, and “that study could be wrong because Y”, but there are more than enough now to draw statistical conclusions. The difference between 20% (NYC antibody positives) and herd…

I'm not sure the criticism is just "hypothetical." My roommate just received an antibody test and was told by the provider that the error bars are so wide on positive results that it's basically only useful to confirm that you haven't had it. Maybe they're just hedging, and sure that's anecdotal, but I think we need more evidence before drawing a strong conclusion. I hope you're right.

From what I've read, the false positive rate on most of the antibody tests available in the US is high enough that you'd be just as well served by flipping a coin.

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#214

Post by moeadham »

s5300 wrote: post #135
flipgimble wrote: post #99

This article has an unexpected resonance for me after several weeks of pandemic lockdown. Just three months ago I would have laughed it off. Now I am increasingly pissed off. In the US, but I see reflection of this in Europe as well, has allowed irresponsible puerile imbeciles to be elected. These people play games with wealth and power, with no regard to the lives and well-being of the society that pays for it. I di…

Quite tired and ill right now so I'm unfortunately not going to be able to write this out even slightly well... but for some reason, I want to post the thought anyway so I will. (Note: I'm a U.S. citizen) In short: As an engineering student with quite severe chronic illness that also got fucked over by abusive parents/a broken home I couldn't escape even with scholarships... I simply can't come to the moral conclusio…

I think your sentiment is understandable given the state of affairs. Have you spent time reading about past societies that have undergone collapse?

While it may seem daunting, changing the system before a point of no return would historically be the right move.

Historically, the most likely outcome of your strategy is a shift towards more oligarchs and feudalism.

Have a look at Russia, Iraq, China (post ww2), etc.

I don’t think there is any reason to be optimistic about “drastic change” being change for the better. It very well can go both ways, and historically tends to the worse.

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#215

Post by kelnos »

dannyw wrote: post #116
glangdale wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Luckily, Bay Area and LA residents travel to China a lot, so we already had substantial herd immunity by February 1. Ummn, what? This sounds like an entirely made up factoid, and certainly isn't supported by the dashboard. The estimates of how many people in a population have to have had COVID-19 are very high. Even if you buy the Stanford study, which is itself controversial, the estimated numbers for how many hav…

It’s not just the Stanford study: antibody studies everywhere, from New York to Sweden to Italy are showing similar results. The “criticism” on those studies are more hypothetical and not universal. It’s like “this study could be wrong because X”, and “that study could be wrong because Y”, but there are more than enough now to draw statistical conclusions. The difference between 20% (NYC antibody positives) and herd…

> No, we don’t have herd immunity, but enough that the rate of infection is slowing.

The rate of infection is slowing because of shelter-in-place orders. Suggesting we're to the point of developing herd immunity is completely baseless and improbable.

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#216

Post by Feuilles_Mortes »

zimpenfish wrote: post #204
taylorhou wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump 2020 only since it seems not enough people think we haven't learned sht and hell, think we are somehow a better country because of him. Let it burn and maybe AOC can start with a clean slate in 2024.

> Let it burn That may well be ok for you to say but thousands of people have already died as a direct consequence of Trump's presidency. Hundreds of thousands more have been penalised for their race, beliefs, sexuality, etc. Generations to come will suffer because of the regulations they're undoing and the courts they've packed with Federalist wingnuts. Have some compassion, c'mon.

Thousands in the Middle East died from Obama's presidency. At a certain point you start to think that the "lesser of two evils" strategy just shifts the playing field to be ever-increasing in its evil across the board.

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#217

Post by majewsky »

JSavageOne wrote: post #167
mrexroad wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yet in 2020 I still have to pay TurboTax to help file my taxes because the U.S. government is too incompetent to make it as easy Normally I’m all about Hanlon’s razor (assume stupidity before malice), but given the absurd amount TurboTax spends lobbying against any meaningful simplification you can’t fully pin place this on gov’t incompetence.

Lobbying definitely plays a huge role in this, and the system there needs to change as well. But ultimately TurboTax doesn't vote on laws, politicians do. By blaming TurboTax, you're alleviating politicians of their personal responsibility.

I don't think GP was blaming TurboTax. They were arguing for blaming this on government malice instead of government incompetence (i.e. the reverse of Hanlon's Razor).

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#218

Post by T-A »

piva00 wrote: post #192
nickff wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people dislike the 'easy verify and submit' system of taxes, because they think it basically hides taxes from the public. There are similar objections to employer deduction of taxes. Additionally, the current system of many different taxes on different things makes it very hard for a voter to understand what their total tax burden is (especially if there are VATs which are included in prices). For these reasons,…

How can "easy verify and submit" hide taxes from the public? Here in Sweden I receive my tax form pre-filled in a digital mailbox (basically a PDF of the tax form I'd get through snail mail on a website), I can see on the first page the total amount of tax paid, how much I owe or will receive as tax return and then another section with more details about interest I've paid, how much of that was deducted from my taxes…

https://capx.co/swedens-great-tax-hoax-a-story-of-fiscal-ill...

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#219

Post by T-A »

swampthing wrote: post #174
s5300 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only issue I do have with leaving is the war thing. The past few years, I've really been telling myself we're probably at the point that China really does have the U.S. militarily beat if it comes down to it... but despite how many of us HN'ers are aware of some frivolous military budget spending (like literally doing something, tearing it down, and doing it again to spend the budget) - some of those hundreds of…

In what way does China have the U.S. beat from a military standpoint? I am no expert, but as far as I know, the U.S. military is still far stronger.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-army-navy-specialre...

https://www.usip.org/publications/2018/11/providing-common-d...

Re: US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M

#220

Post by celticninja »

kelnos wrote: post #209
celticninja wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"many people dislike"... Could you find even a sizeable proportion of the population that felt this way? as with the re-open states protests these things are easily gamed by interested parties and it takes a vocal minority, which is amplified by media voices, such as Fox news, where it aligns with their owners beliefs to make it seem more of an issue than it is. having taxes included in the price when I buy something…

I get what you're saying, but you're essentially doing the same thing as the person you're replying to: you're asserting, without evidence, that, if there's some group of people who want taxes to be more in-your-face, then it must be a small, vocal minority. I agree that the parent should provide sources to back up their claim, but you must do the same if you want to be taken seriously.

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f...
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