I got my studio apartment in 2005 after the dot com bust and everyone moved out of Silicon Valley. Since the apartment complex was built before 1978, the city of San Jose limited rent increases to 8% per year (recently reduced to 5% per year). Back then I paid $810 per month, $199 for deposit and got a free microwave oven for signing a one-year lease. My current rent of $1,466 per month is $300 per month below the "luxury" rates that's currently being charged.
You mean 24 million Americans have crappy expensive health insurance that isn't affordable because the deductibles will bankrupt them?
You're confused. Not having an insurance will bankrupt you. A trip to ER could easily be $25K. Under my $2,400 per year policy through my employer, my deductible is $3,000. I could have gotten a cheaper policy with a $5,000 deductible, but $3,000 is what I can easily pay out of savings. Before ObamaCare, I used to pay $6,000 per year for health insurance.
The goddamned 'personal mandate' HAS TO GO AWAY, and IDGAF whether fat lazy people who ruined their bodies get free bariatric surgery and triple heart bypass for FREE on MY MONEY or not, why the hell should I?
Before ObamaCare, I had to pay $6,000 per year or go uninsured. After ObamaCare, I pay $2,400 per year without subsidies and my small business employer gets tax credits to offer everyone better benefits. If the personal mandate goes away, so does my policy. BTW, I haven't been to the doctor in nearly 20 years.
And, no matter, whether Obamacare was based on the Heritage Foundation article or not -- the end result is not what was debated in the article.
The end result included 200+ amendments sponsored or cosponsored by Republicans that went into the final bill. Since the Democrats had enough votes to pass the final bill, the Republicans sat on the sidelines while eating cake. ObamaCare was very much a bipartisan effort.
I think the real concern is that you're spending 35% of your salary on rent, and that's before taxes.
That's the lowest it has been in years. There were times in the past when I had to pay 50% for rent, which isn't unusual in Silicon Valley or other metropolitan areas. But I live a very modest lifestyle.
Ford just announced 1.2 billion USD of investment in 3 plants in Michigan; maybe you're full of shit
That's 130 new jobs. Whee!
The company will invest $150 million and create 130 jobs at an engine plant in Romeo for several vehicles, including Ranger and Bronco, at Romeo Engine Plant in Michigan.
The GP mentioned millenia of dark ages... but the dark ages were actually significantly better for the average human than earlier ages [...]
Except when the Black Death reduced the European population by an estimated 75 to 200 million people in seven years (1346-1353). The world population before the plague was estimated to be 450 million.
A sh!tty poorly thought out, poorly constructed failure of bill based on lies (you can keep your doctor) and bribes.
That's the proposal that the American Heritage Foundation came up with, originally implemented as RomneyCare in Massachusetts, and Obama took a page out of the Clinton playbook by coopting the Republican proposal as his own. Seven years later 24 million Americans have health insurance and the program cost two-third less than estimated. That's success. Failure would be the current Republican proposal to throw 26 million Americans off of health insurance and give the rich a $200K tax break.
I pay $1466 for a studio apartment and make $50K+ per year in IT support in Palo Alto. If I had a car, it would take me 20 minutes in the morning and 45 to 90 minutes in the afternoon. By taking the express bus (one hour each way) for an extra $70 per month, I get read The Wall Street Journal in the morning and an ebook in the afternoon. Why drive when others can drive for you?
His supporters think that he respects them and values them and will do his best to do common sense things that will help them.
Trump wanted to a sign a healthcare bill that would have thrown 26 million Americans off of insurance (a majority of his supporters, BTW) and give the rich a $200K tax break because they were funding ObamaCare for everyone else. Common sense dictates that throwing 26 million Americans off of health insurance is bad idea. Hence, the bill died without a vote in Congress. What part of F and U by the Republicans that you don't understand?
Add in the children, and the variously-disabled, and otherwise incapacitated for work (e.g. incarcerated), and you're probably looking at 50% of the population which will be removed from that 7 billion figure when trying to figure out a labour force pool.
Another way to look at population is through the Social Security program. In the 1930's, there was 19 workers for every retiree, and most retirees on average died within five years of retirement. In the 2030's, there will be two workers for every retiree, and most retirees will outlive their retirement funds by 20 to 40 years. People who aren't concern about outliving their retirements are more likely at financial risk.
The entitlements could be solved easily by passing a law that only taxpayers get to vote so retirees dont get a vote and then abolishing Social Security and medicare and using the money to forgive student loans and fund free college.
Or just eliminate the wage base cap on Social Security taxation. Voila! Problem solved.
Clean code is not required, just cost effective code.
Written by someone who never had to sort through spaghetti code to fix an HTML table for a graphic designer who doesn't give a shit that the widget maker doesn't produce clean code.
Everyone assume robots and automation only affects factory jobs.
Because Trump promised to return manufacturing jobs to the US. His supporters think he will bring back the manufacturing jobs from the 1980's that require little or no education. The trend on the ground says otherwise.
And go ahead and hand code the SQL for that database.
I've hand coded HTML for the last 20 years. If I was still using PHP and MySQL for the backend, I could still hand code SQL statements. Not every widget maker is going to produce clean code. I used to fixed HTML code that Dreamweaver and FrontPage made in the late 1990s.
And if you add in our ageing population that is going to put more demands on entitlement programs, we are so screwed.
The politicians known about this problem since Ronald Reagan. But they like to kick the can down the road. Now time is running out as 2030 is when all the baby boomers are supposed to be retired, Social Security and Medicare will consume two-thirds of the federal budget, and taxes will have to go up as there will only be two workers per retiree to pay for everything.
I am fairly sure third world alone won't be able to maintain our technological civilization.
Considering that our technological civilization is manufactured in the third world, I'm sure the natives will stay calm and carry on. But keep in mind that not all civilizations are technological. Humanity existed for 250K years without computers.
So you are saying our Best Before date is ~2100 followed by a millennia of dark ages?
The population trend has nothing to do with civilization continuing, declining or ending. From one article I've read, the 20th century may have been a statistical fluke that allowed humanity to double twice in one century.
I read a study after the dot com bust that the IT industry would have a shortage of 1M skilled worker by 2030, when the baby boomers are retired and foreign workers return home to build a middle class lifestyle. I went back to school to learn computer programming and switched from video game testing to IT support to take advantage of this trend. We got a shortage in skilled trades (i.e., carpentry, electrical and plumbing) because foreign workers went home after the Great Recession and aren't coming back.
The world population doubled twice in the 20th century and won't even double once in the 21st century. It will peak at 10B and then decline to 6B by 2100. Old people will live in the first world while young people will live in the third world.
When John Deere opened a new factory, it got 10,000 applications for 800 positions. The days of factories employing unskilled workers in the tens of thousands are long gone.
I had a college roommate who went through 20 majors in five years. He finally settled on business because that had the fewest requirements remaining towards graduation. Small group communication, collaborative projects and brainstorming sessions are part and parcel of the curriculum. The pain inflicted on business majors by the instructor is in turned inflicted on coworkers in the business world. As for my roommate, he eventually became a tech writer.
The only brainstorming session I was ever involved in was in Small Group Communications at college. The instructor put me in with a group of Vietnamese students. They in turn nominated me as the group leader because I was the only white guy in the group. I don't remember what the subject was but I did all the work, gave the presentation and the instructor gave me all the credit. The Vietnamese guys were upset that they didn't get any points as contributors to my presentation and the instructor also deducted additional points for their lack of participation.
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How did you find a studio for so cheap?
I got my studio apartment in 2005 after the dot com bust and everyone moved out of Silicon Valley. Since the apartment complex was built before 1978, the city of San Jose limited rent increases to 8% per year (recently reduced to 5% per year). Back then I paid $810 per month, $199 for deposit and got a free microwave oven for signing a one-year lease. My current rent of $1,466 per month is $300 per month below the "luxury" rates that's currently being charged.
You mean 24 million Americans have crappy expensive health insurance that isn't affordable because the deductibles will bankrupt them?
You're confused. Not having an insurance will bankrupt you. A trip to ER could easily be $25K. Under my $2,400 per year policy through my employer, my deductible is $3,000. I could have gotten a cheaper policy with a $5,000 deductible, but $3,000 is what I can easily pay out of savings. Before ObamaCare, I used to pay $6,000 per year for health insurance.
The goddamned 'personal mandate' HAS TO GO AWAY, and IDGAF whether fat lazy people who ruined their bodies get free bariatric surgery and triple heart bypass for FREE on MY MONEY or not, why the hell should I?
Before ObamaCare, I had to pay $6,000 per year or go uninsured. After ObamaCare, I pay $2,400 per year without subsidies and my small business employer gets tax credits to offer everyone better benefits. If the personal mandate goes away, so does my policy. BTW, I haven't been to the doctor in nearly 20 years.
And, no matter, whether Obamacare was based on the Heritage Foundation article or not -- the end result is not what was debated in the article.
The end result included 200+ amendments sponsored or cosponsored by Republicans that went into the final bill. Since the Democrats had enough votes to pass the final bill, the Republicans sat on the sidelines while eating cake. ObamaCare was very much a bipartisan effort.
One is completely kosher with conservative/libertarian/constituional thought. The other is not.
If that was so, why haven't the Republican presented their replacement healthcare bill after seven years of repeal votes?
*crickets*
I better be careful though, or you might get to the second stance of liberalism after taxes, censorship, and threaten to shoot me if I keep posting.
Have I Threatened To Shoot You Today? See my blog post and thanks for the ad revenue!
https://www.kickingthebitbucket.com/2017/03/21/have-i-threatened-to-shoot-you-today/
I think the real concern is that you're spending 35% of your salary on rent, and that's before taxes.
That's the lowest it has been in years. There were times in the past when I had to pay 50% for rent, which isn't unusual in Silicon Valley or other metropolitan areas. But I live a very modest lifestyle.
Ford just announced 1.2 billion USD of investment in 3 plants in Michigan; maybe you're full of shit
That's 130 new jobs. Whee!
The company will invest $150 million and create 130 jobs at an engine plant in Romeo for several vehicles, including Ranger and Bronco, at Romeo Engine Plant in Michigan.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/03/28/Ford-to-invest-12B-in-Michigan-factories/2981490716741/
The GP mentioned millenia of dark ages... but the dark ages were actually significantly better for the average human than earlier ages [...]
Except when the Black Death reduced the European population by an estimated 75 to 200 million people in seven years (1346-1353). The world population before the plague was estimated to be 450 million.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
A sh!tty poorly thought out, poorly constructed failure of bill based on lies (you can keep your doctor) and bribes.
That's the proposal that the American Heritage Foundation came up with, originally implemented as RomneyCare in Massachusetts, and Obama took a page out of the Clinton playbook by coopting the Republican proposal as his own. Seven years later 24 million Americans have health insurance and the program cost two-third less than estimated. That's success. Failure would be the current Republican proposal to throw 26 million Americans off of health insurance and give the rich a $200K tax break.
I pay $1466 for a studio apartment and make $50K+ per year in IT support in Palo Alto. If I had a car, it would take me 20 minutes in the morning and 45 to 90 minutes in the afternoon. By taking the express bus (one hour each way) for an extra $70 per month, I get read The Wall Street Journal in the morning and an ebook in the afternoon. Why drive when others can drive for you?
His supporters think that he respects them and values them and will do his best to do common sense things that will help them.
Trump wanted to a sign a healthcare bill that would have thrown 26 million Americans off of insurance (a majority of his supporters, BTW) and give the rich a $200K tax break because they were funding ObamaCare for everyone else. Common sense dictates that throwing 26 million Americans off of health insurance is bad idea. Hence, the bill died without a vote in Congress. What part of F and U by the Republicans that you don't understand?
Add in the children, and the variously-disabled, and otherwise incapacitated for work (e.g. incarcerated), and you're probably looking at 50% of the population which will be removed from that 7 billion figure when trying to figure out a labour force pool.
Another way to look at population is through the Social Security program. In the 1930's, there was 19 workers for every retiree, and most retirees on average died within five years of retirement. In the 2030's, there will be two workers for every retiree, and most retirees will outlive their retirement funds by 20 to 40 years. People who aren't concern about outliving their retirements are more likely at financial risk.
http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2017/02/17/the-people-least-concerned-about-outliving-their-savings-may-be-most-at-risk-financially/
The entitlements could be solved easily by passing a law that only taxpayers get to vote so retirees dont get a vote and then abolishing Social Security and medicare and using the money to forgive student loans and fund free college.
Or just eliminate the wage base cap on Social Security taxation. Voila! Problem solved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Wage_Base
Clean code is not required, just cost effective code.
Written by someone who never had to sort through spaghetti code to fix an HTML table for a graphic designer who doesn't give a shit that the widget maker doesn't produce clean code.
Everyone assume robots and automation only affects factory jobs.
Because Trump promised to return manufacturing jobs to the US. His supporters think he will bring back the manufacturing jobs from the 1980's that require little or no education. The trend on the ground says otherwise.
And go ahead and hand code the SQL for that database.
I've hand coded HTML for the last 20 years. If I was still using PHP and MySQL for the backend, I could still hand code SQL statements. Not every widget maker is going to produce clean code. I used to fixed HTML code that Dreamweaver and FrontPage made in the late 1990s.
And if you add in our ageing population that is going to put more demands on entitlement programs, we are so screwed.
The politicians known about this problem since Ronald Reagan. But they like to kick the can down the road. Now time is running out as 2030 is when all the baby boomers are supposed to be retired, Social Security and Medicare will consume two-thirds of the federal budget, and taxes will have to go up as there will only be two workers per retiree to pay for everything.
I am fairly sure third world alone won't be able to maintain our technological civilization.
Considering that our technological civilization is manufactured in the third world, I'm sure the natives will stay calm and carry on. But keep in mind that not all civilizations are technological. Humanity existed for 250K years without computers.
So you are saying our Best Before date is ~2100 followed by a millennia of dark ages?
The population trend has nothing to do with civilization continuing, declining or ending. From one article I've read, the 20th century may have been a statistical fluke that allowed humanity to double twice in one century.
We have H-1Bs for that. No worries.
I read a study after the dot com bust that the IT industry would have a shortage of 1M skilled worker by 2030, when the baby boomers are retired and foreign workers return home to build a middle class lifestyle. I went back to school to learn computer programming and switched from video game testing to IT support to take advantage of this trend. We got a shortage in skilled trades (i.e., carpentry, electrical and plumbing) because foreign workers went home after the Great Recession and aren't coming back.
The world population doubled twice in the 20th century and won't even double once in the 21st century. It will peak at 10B and then decline to 6B by 2100. Old people will live in the first world while young people will live in the third world.
I'm sure someone is writing the next app that will create the robot to write the next app.
When John Deere opened a new factory, it got 10,000 applications for 800 positions. The days of factories employing unskilled workers in the tens of thousands are long gone.
I had a college roommate who went through 20 majors in five years. He finally settled on business because that had the fewest requirements remaining towards graduation. Small group communication, collaborative projects and brainstorming sessions are part and parcel of the curriculum. The pain inflicted on business majors by the instructor is in turned inflicted on coworkers in the business world. As for my roommate, he eventually became a tech writer.
If funding grant was involved, absolutely!
The only brainstorming session I was ever involved in was in Small Group Communications at college. The instructor put me in with a group of Vietnamese students. They in turn nominated me as the group leader because I was the only white guy in the group. I don't remember what the subject was but I did all the work, gave the presentation and the instructor gave me all the credit. The Vietnamese guys were upset that they didn't get any points as contributors to my presentation and the instructor also deducted additional points for their lack of participation.
That would be a pissing contest.