Sure, but it's open communication not secret and not anti-competitive, indeed it may stem from competition.
Consider two gas stations on opposite corners. Imagine that they are owned by two people who vigorously hate each other on a personal level, to the extent that they would piss on the other if he were on fire, let alone do anything that might help the other's business succeed or even get ahead. So as soon as one station changes prices on its signs and pumps, the other owner immediately runs out and changes his prices to exactly the same thing. Up or down, doesn't matter. If one lowers prices in hopes to get a bit more volume the other cuts him off but lowering his prices. If one raises prices in hopes of getting a penny or two more per gallon of profit, the other raises his too, lest the other make more money. If one runs some service promotion, the other will match it. Etc.
The word around town is that both stations provide excellent service (neither wants a bad reputation) and both provide excellent value, always a few cents cheaper than other stations in town. So it's obviously a good situation for consumers.
There's no collusion, there's no agreement between them, they are fiercely and vehemently competing with each other but their prices remain in lock-step.
They are blindly following their "algorithm" based on their visceral hatred of each other and their competitive nature.
"As of 2010, the United States had 304,022,000 hectares (751,255,000 acres) of forested lands, a number that represents one-third of the country. Of this area, 25 percent is old growth forest, 67 percent is secondary forest, and 8 percent is tree farms or plantations."
"It is estimated that prior to European settlement, the United States. was 46 percent forested. European settlers quickly harvested much of the available timber for housing, industry, the creation of railroads and to clear land for farming. By 1907, the U.S. forest cover was reduced to 33 percent.
"In the United States, deforestation has been more than offset by reforestation between 1990 and 2010. The nation added 7,687,000 hectares (18,995,000 acres) of forested land during that period. The trend in reforesting areas has been driven by organizations such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Arbor Day Foundation. Reforestation efforts were critical to maintain forest cover starting at the beginning of the 20th century, and they are the reason that there is a net positive trend in forest growth today.
I'll be kind and assume this is a genuine question and not sarcasm.
It is not a possessive apostrophe-s, it is a contraction of "China is".
In English you can use contractions to shorten a word by removing one letter or more and substituting an apostrophe in the same spot. For example, chop wi out of "I will", throw in an apostrophe, and you have I’ll. The resulting word is shorter and faster to say, with only one syllable (sound) instead of two. Similarly, she would becomes she’d and he is becomes he's.
"That is, they may learn to collude even if they have not been specifically instructed to do so, and even if they do not communicate with one another."
I think collusion pretty much requires communication and intent.
Independent algorithms (or people) arriving at the same conclusion from the same data and openly performing actions in their own self-interest without communication is not collusion.
Their actions may look like collusion from the outside, but they fail on most commonly accepted definitions of the word.
E.g. wikipedia
"Collusion is an agreement between two or more parties, sometimes illegal–but always secretive–to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair market advantage. It is an agreement among firms or individuals to divide a market, set prices, limit production or limit opportunities."
I didn't make an argument a few posts ago I just responded to your request for proof of 100% rates. Nor am I confusing effective rate with marginal rates. A hypothetical federal marginal rate of 90% on income over $1M plus a current state marginal rate of 13.3% on income over $1M means a combined marginal rate of over 100% on income over $1M.
The overall effective rate actually approaches 100%, the higher the income is (assuming 100% on income over $1M). E.g., even if we assume a 0% rate for all income below $1M and your $1M + 1 example indeed means that 100% only applies to the last dollar producing an effective rate of 0.09%. But an income of $2M would have effective rate of 50%, $3M would be 66%, $4M would be 75%, $5M would be 80%, $10M would be 90%, $20M would be 95%, $50M would be 98%, $100M would be 99%...
I wonder what the environmental impact report on China rail line looks like? How many "save the snail darter" lawsuits got filed? How many rich people owned ranches along the path and demanded that the line not run through or even near their property?
"VERY few malls -- even in dense urban areas -- can pull off more than 3 stories before the additional floors"
Mod points for Interesting observation. The mall closest to me has two levels and, except for the food court on the lower level, seems to me to have about even traffic on both levels. But! I also notice that the parking lots are skewed. About half of the parking lots lead into lower-level entrances and about half lead into upper-level. Both sides have a decent anchor store, and both sides connect to a fairly major road.
My group uses the food court regularly to avoid the "what do you want for lunch today" situation...
Based on 2107 numbers, if you confiscate all wealth of all 400, you would pick up $2.7 trillion, enough to run the US government for about two-thirds of one year.
Once.
Of course, there's the issue that virtually all of that wealth is in equities, which would have to be sold to covert to spendable dollars, and who are you going to sell $2T of stock to once you've just confiscated 100% of the wealth from the people who could afford to buy it?
California state income tax rate table for the 2018 - 2019 filing season has nine income tax brackets with CA tax rates of 1%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 9.3%, 10.3%, 11.3% and 12.3% for Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, and Head of Household statuses. Adding the 1% millionaire's tax yields a top income tax rate of 13.3%, which does not appear on the official tax rate schedules printed by the state.
Hawaii state income tax rate table for the 2018 - 2019 filing season has twelve income tax brackets with HI tax rates of 1.4%, 3.2%, 5.5%, 6.4%, 6.8%, 7.2%, 7.6%, 7.9%, 8.25%, 9%, 10%, and 11% for Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, and Head of Household statuses. The Hawaii tax rate and tax brackets increased from last year adding back the last three high income earners brackets.
Added to a hypothetical federal rate of 90% a 10.3% or 11.3% or 12.3% or 13.3% or 10% or 11% state rate would tend to work out to 100% or more.
I've seen this happen on interstate where speed limit is 70. I've seen cars ahead of me nearly plow into cars ahead of them because cars ahead of them dropped down to 60 or 65 as they passed a cop parked in the median running his radar. The cop picked a spot where he could radar people coming over the crest of a hill before they had a chance to see him. The accordion effect of that rolled backward until cars farther back basically stopped on the interstate. People coming over the hill had no chance.
"Economists are virtually unanimous in concluding that rent controls are destructive. In a 1990 poll of 464 economists published in the May 1992 issue of the American Economic Review, 93 percent of U.S. respondents agreed, either completely or with provisos, that “a ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available.” Similarly, another study reported that more than 95 percent of the Canadian economists polled agreed with the statement.
The agreement cuts across the usual political spectrum, ranging all the way from Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek on the “right” to their fellow Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, an important architect of the Swedish Labor Party’s welfare state, on the “left.” Myrdal stated, “Rent control has in certain Western countries constituted, maybe, the worst example of poor planning by governments lacking courage and vision.”
His fellow Swedish economist (and socialist) Assar Lindbeck asserted, “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.”
"It was cool that the whole team got to go into the Oval Office. Last time, only about 10 or 15 guys - the team captains, three or four other players, and the coaches got to go," Renfrow said. "This time Trump brought all of the players in, and it was cool seeing that. The whole front lawn of the White House was covered in snow, and there was one 30x30 patch of grass and Trump actually landed right in front of the White House on that green part at 5:40. We were all huddled up around the windows taking videos, so it was pretty cool."
Due to the government shutdown, the President bought fast food for the team, something that Renfrow also embraced.
"I get to tell my kids that I ate a Big Mac in the White House that Donald Trump personally bought," Renfrow said. "I guess with the government shut down they're short on stuff. He said he personally bought all the food."
The team learned about the buffet during the trip to Washington.
"A lot of us were on the bus on the way to Greenville, and we saw where Trump was saying we were going to have McDonalds and Dominos and Burger King, so we were all getting excited about that because we get to tell our kids that we ate a Big Mac and a Whopper in the White House and that's something you can tell everyone forever," he said.
"I loved it. I think it was just like Coach Swinney because he would do something like that. I feel like Coach Swinney talked all year long about we're just raggedy old Tigers so we got some raggedy old food. I don't think anybody was talking about the food two years ago when we went. I can't remember what we had. It's a unique story and something we were a part of, and I think the team enjoyed it."
Like his time on the field, Renfrow enjoyed and savored his time in the Oval Office.
"I think last night on the plane I could sense the excitement of everyone. Like I said before, because everyone got to go in the Oval Office, I think it meant a lot to people because some of the most important decisions in the world are made in that office," he said. "To have Trump to be that hospitable. I was talking to the girl who was kind of in charge and I asked her if this happened often and she was like, 'No, we're completely winging it right now. He doesn't ever do this.' I think he just appreciated what we did and he appreciates Coach Swinney and President Clements as leaders to be able to do that."
They always go to this. But California paying in more than they get back is not a BUG, it's a FEATURE of California being the home of many of millionaires and billionaires who are the targets of the high tax rates demanded by the progressives.
"In January 2017, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office said by several measures California is, indeed, a donor state, but just barely. It receives $0.99 in federal expenditures per dollar of taxes paid."
"The LAO also cites figures from a March 2016 report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. It found the federal government spent nearly $356 billion in California in fiscal year 2014, for salaries and wages, grants, contracts, retirement benefits and other benefits. That same year, California paid about $369 billion in total federal tax -- or about $13 billion more than it received -- according to the Internal Revenue Service Data Book, 2014.
Note that the averages are wildly skewed by the federal spending in Virginia and Maryland, which is basically the paychecks of all the federal employees in D.C.
Bones to berries Veins to vine These tendons to trees This blood to brine Too old she was This woman does leave us, recycled and enshrined in the presence of Him who leads us
What jobs *require* one to live on the Upper East Side? Except for maybe 24-hour on-call building superintendent of an Upper East Side building, in which case I'm pretty sure an apartment is provided.
How many jobs *require* one to live in a particular location?
Convenience is not a requirement. Lots of people commute 1hr+ each way daily.
Sure, charity and goodwill toward man are great things and things we should all aspire to. It's one reason why American are so very charitable.
Americans gave $410.02 billion in 2017. This reflects a 5.2% increase from 2016. Corporate giving in 2017 increased to $20.77 billion—an 8.0% increase from 2016. Foundation giving in 2017 increased to $66.90 billion—a 6.0% increase from 2016. In 2017, the largest source of charitable giving came from individuals at $286.65 billion, or 70% of total giving; followed by foundations ($66.90 billion/16%), bequests ($35.70 billion/9%), and corporations ($20.77 billion/5%).
[nptrust.org]
But being forced to provide for someone never works. Force will always lead to resentment. Charity and force are a toxic mix.
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” Thomas Jefferson
Slashdot Mirror
So you've seen "Demolition Man"...
Ok, sure, fine, whatever.
Sure, but it's open communication not secret and not anti-competitive, indeed it may stem from competition.
Consider two gas stations on opposite corners. Imagine that they are owned by two people who vigorously hate each other on a personal level, to the extent that they would piss on the other if he were on fire, let alone do anything that might help the other's business succeed or even get ahead. So as soon as one station changes prices on its signs and pumps, the other owner immediately runs out and changes his prices to exactly the same thing. Up or down, doesn't matter. If one lowers prices in hopes to get a bit more volume the other cuts him off but lowering his prices. If one raises prices in hopes of getting a penny or two more per gallon of profit, the other raises his too, lest the other make more money. If one runs some service promotion, the other will match it. Etc.
The word around town is that both stations provide excellent service (neither wants a bad reputation) and both provide excellent value, always a few cents cheaper than other stations in town. So it's obviously a good situation for consumers.
There's no collusion, there's no agreement between them, they are fiercely and vehemently competing with each other but their prices remain in lock-step.
They are blindly following their "algorithm" based on their visceral hatred of each other and their competitive nature.
Prices do indeed constitute communication, but they are in the open. Something done openly is not collusion.
https://education.seattlepi.co...
"As of 2010, the United States had 304,022,000 hectares (751,255,000 acres) of forested lands, a number that represents one-third of the country. Of this area, 25 percent is old growth forest, 67 percent is secondary forest, and 8 percent is tree farms or plantations."
"It is estimated that prior to European settlement, the United States. was 46 percent forested. European settlers quickly harvested much of the available timber for housing, industry, the creation of railroads and to clear land for farming. By 1907, the U.S. forest cover was reduced to 33 percent.
"In the United States, deforestation has been more than offset by reforestation between 1990 and 2010. The nation added 7,687,000 hectares (18,995,000 acres) of forested land during that period. The trend in reforesting areas has been driven by organizations such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Arbor Day Foundation. Reforestation efforts were critical to maintain forest cover starting at the beginning of the 20th century, and they are the reason that there is a net positive trend in forest growth today.
I'll be kind and assume this is a genuine question and not sarcasm.
It is not a possessive apostrophe-s, it is a contraction of "China is".
In English you can use contractions to shorten a word by removing one letter or more and substituting an apostrophe in the same spot. For example, chop wi out of "I will", throw in an apostrophe, and you have I’ll. The resulting word is shorter and faster to say, with only one syllable (sound) instead of two. Similarly, she would becomes she’d and he is becomes he's.
"That is, they may learn to collude even if they have not been specifically instructed to do so, and even if they do not communicate with one another."
I think collusion pretty much requires communication and intent.
Independent algorithms (or people) arriving at the same conclusion from the same data and openly performing actions in their own self-interest without communication is not collusion.
Their actions may look like collusion from the outside, but they fail on most commonly accepted definitions of the word.
E.g. wikipedia
"Collusion is an agreement between two or more parties, sometimes illegal–but always secretive–to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair market advantage. It is an agreement among firms or individuals to divide a market, set prices, limit production or limit opportunities."
I didn't make an argument a few posts ago I just responded to your request for proof of 100% rates. Nor am I confusing effective rate with marginal rates. A hypothetical federal marginal rate of 90% on income over $1M plus a current state marginal rate of 13.3% on income over $1M means a combined marginal rate of over 100% on income over $1M.
The overall effective rate actually approaches 100%, the higher the income is (assuming 100% on income over $1M). E.g., even if we assume a 0% rate for all income below $1M and your $1M + 1 example indeed means that 100% only applies to the last dollar producing an effective rate of 0.09%. But an income of $2M would have effective rate of 50%, $3M would be 66%, $4M would be 75%, $5M would be 80%, $10M would be 90%, $20M would be 95%, $50M would be 98%, $100M would be 99%...
We'll need Reardon metal, then, to build all those railroads to be run by TOP MEN, is what you're saying?
I wonder what the environmental impact report on China rail line looks like? How many "save the snail darter" lawsuits got filed? How many rich people owned ranches along the path and demanded that the line not run through or even near their property?
Maybe because China can say "This rail line goes here", can displace anyone in the way and eliminate (to use a kind word) anyone who dissents?
"VERY few malls -- even in dense urban areas -- can pull off more than 3 stories before the additional floors"
Mod points for Interesting observation. The mall closest to me has two levels and, except for the food court on the lower level, seems to me to have about even traffic on both levels. But! I also notice that the parking lots are skewed. About half of the parking lots lead into lower-level entrances and about half lead into upper-level. Both sides have a decent anchor store, and both sides connect to a fairly major road.
My group uses the food court regularly to avoid the "what do you want for lunch today" situation...
And the various levels of state and local governments there seem hell-bent on running in that direction as fast as they can.
Based on 2107 numbers, if you confiscate all wealth of all 400, you would pick up $2.7 trillion, enough to run the US government for about two-thirds of one year.
Once.
Of course, there's the issue that virtually all of that wealth is in equities, which would have to be sold to covert to spendable dollars, and who are you going to sell $2T of stock to once you've just confiscated 100% of the wealth from the people who could afford to buy it?
California state income tax rate table for the 2018 - 2019 filing season has nine income tax brackets with CA tax rates of 1%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 9.3%, 10.3%, 11.3% and 12.3% for Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, and Head of Household statuses. Adding the 1% millionaire's tax yields a top income tax rate of 13.3%, which does not appear on the official tax rate schedules printed by the state.
Hawaii state income tax rate table for the 2018 - 2019 filing season has twelve income tax brackets with HI tax rates of 1.4%, 3.2%, 5.5%, 6.4%, 6.8%, 7.2%, 7.6%, 7.9%, 8.25%, 9%, 10%, and 11% for Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, and Head of Household statuses. The Hawaii tax rate and tax brackets increased from last year adding back the last three high income earners brackets.
Added to a hypothetical federal rate of 90% a 10.3% or 11.3% or 12.3% or 13.3% or 10% or 11% state rate would tend to work out to 100% or more.
I've seen this happen on interstate where speed limit is 70. I've seen cars ahead of me nearly plow into cars ahead of them because cars ahead of them dropped down to 60 or 65 as they passed a cop parked in the median running his radar. The cop picked a spot where he could radar people coming over the crest of a hill before they had a chance to see him. The accordion effect of that rolled backward until cars farther back basically stopped on the interstate. People coming over the hill had no chance.
"Economists are virtually unanimous in concluding that rent controls are destructive. In a 1990 poll of 464 economists published in the May 1992 issue of the American Economic Review, 93 percent of U.S. respondents agreed, either completely or with provisos, that “a ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available.” Similarly, another study reported that more than 95 percent of the Canadian economists polled agreed with the statement.
The agreement cuts across the usual political spectrum, ranging all the way from Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek on the “right” to their fellow Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, an important architect of the Swedish Labor Party’s welfare state, on the “left.” Myrdal stated, “Rent control has in certain Western countries constituted, maybe, the worst example of poor planning by governments lacking courage and vision.”
His fellow Swedish economist (and socialist) Assar Lindbeck asserted, “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.”
[https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html]
"It was cool that the whole team got to go into the Oval Office. Last time,
only about 10 or 15 guys - the team captains, three or four other players, and
the coaches got to go," Renfrow said. "This time Trump brought all of the
players in, and it was cool seeing that. The whole front lawn of the White
House was covered in snow, and there was one 30x30 patch of grass and Trump
actually landed right in front of the White House on that green part at 5:40.
We were all huddled up around the windows taking videos, so it was pretty
cool."
Due to the government shutdown, the President bought fast food for the team,
something that Renfrow also embraced.
"I get to tell my kids that I ate a Big Mac in the White House that Donald
Trump personally bought," Renfrow said. "I guess with the government shut down
they're short on stuff. He said he personally bought all the food."
The team learned about the buffet during the trip to Washington.
"A lot of us were on the bus on the way to Greenville, and we saw where Trump
was saying we were going to have McDonalds and Dominos and Burger King, so we
were all getting excited about that because we get to tell our kids that we ate
a Big Mac and a Whopper in the White House and that's something you can tell
everyone forever," he said.
"I loved it. I think it was just like Coach Swinney because he would do
something like that. I feel like Coach Swinney talked all year long about we're
just raggedy old Tigers so we got some raggedy old food. I don't think anybody
was talking about the food two years ago when we went. I can't remember what we
had. It's a unique story and something we were a part of, and I think the team
enjoyed it."
Like his time on the field, Renfrow enjoyed and savored his time in the Oval
Office.
"I think last night on the plane I could sense the excitement of everyone. Like
I said before, because everyone got to go in the Oval Office, I think it meant
a lot to people because some of the most important decisions in the world are
made in that office," he said. "To have Trump to be that hospitable. I was
talking to the girl who was kind of in charge and I asked her if this happened
often and she was like, 'No, we're completely winging it right now. He doesn't
ever do this.' I think he just appreciated what we did and he appreciates Coach
Swinney and President Clements as leaders to be able to do that."
https://www.tigernet.com/story...
They always go to this. But California paying in more than they get back is not a BUG, it's a FEATURE of California being the home of many of millionaires and billionaires who are the targets of the high tax rates demanded by the progressives.
"In January 2017, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office said by several measures California is, indeed, a donor state, but just barely. It receives $0.99 in federal expenditures per dollar of taxes paid."
"The LAO also cites figures from a March 2016 report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. It found the federal government spent nearly $356 billion in California in fiscal year 2014, for salaries and wages, grants, contracts, retirement benefits and other benefits. That same year, California paid about $369 billion in total federal tax -- or about $13 billion more than it received -- according to the Internal Revenue Service Data Book, 2014.
https://www.politifact.com/cal...
Note that the averages are wildly skewed by the federal spending in Virginia and Maryland, which is basically the paychecks of all the federal employees in D.C.
Baltimore MD is in the Midwest? I'm gonna have to rethink my image of the country...
4 of the top 10 worst and 5 of the top 25 neighborhoods listed in that link are in Baltimore...
Bones to berries
Veins to vine
These tendons to trees
This blood to brine
Too old she was
This woman does leave us,
recycled and enshrined
in the presence
of Him who leads us
Will have to make a return time voyage to stop them.
What jobs *require* one to live on the Upper East Side? Except for maybe 24-hour on-call building superintendent of an Upper East Side building, in which case I'm pretty sure an apartment is provided.
How many jobs *require* one to live in a particular location?
Convenience is not a requirement. Lots of people commute 1hr+ each way daily.
They're already living in an RV. It's not like they're living in the house their father built with his bare hands or anything.
Sure, charity and goodwill toward man are great things and things we should all aspire to. It's one reason why American are so very charitable.
Americans gave $410.02 billion in 2017. This reflects a 5.2% increase from 2016.
Corporate giving in 2017 increased to $20.77 billion—an 8.0% increase from 2016.
Foundation giving in 2017 increased to $66.90 billion—a 6.0% increase from 2016.
In 2017, the largest source of charitable giving came from individuals at $286.65 billion, or 70% of total giving; followed by foundations ($66.90 billion/16%), bequests ($35.70 billion/9%), and corporations ($20.77 billion/5%).
[nptrust.org]
But being forced to provide for someone never works. Force will always lead to resentment. Charity and force are a toxic mix.
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” Thomas Jefferson