If she hadn’t personally suffered for Trump’s policies, she’d still have the same nasty values.

What’s difficult for me is - now that she’s learned the Leopards-eating-peoples-faces party will happily eat her face - can she extend that lesson to the Leopards-eating-peoples-legs party or the Bears-eating-peoples-faces party. Because if these people have to personally experience each of the obvious and horrible consequences to realize that the next charismatic ghoul is a charismatic ghoul, then we are no closer to a better world.

The main difference is who bears the risk. For pensions, it’s the employer, who has to make extra payments if the pension fund falls behind it projected obligations, or surrender its management to PBGC. That open-ended risk is why most companies have abandoned pensions. For SS, it’s the government (although they do have the power to change their legal obligation). For annuities, it’s the recipient, who will just get less money if the annuity’s investments underperform during the accumulation phase.

If they can drive cars, they can work a trebuchet

SS is a defined benefit administered (and guaranteed) by an independent agent. Pension is a defined benefit administered by employer (or PBGC). Seems pretty similar to me.

Annuity is a defined contribution disbursed formulaically by a company you hired. The only similarity is the regular payment.

Zohran, What is best in life?

“To crush the oligarchs, see affordable housing, and hear the lamentations of landlords.”

In many races, DNC support after the primary is not so important. Remember gerrymandering? How party establishments have generally set up the districts along party lines?

Like I said, it’s been a minute, but BYD isn’t available in the US; looks like Mercedes offers 4 SUV/crossover models starting at $55k and 2 sedans starting at $75k; Kia is all SUV; Hyndai has one sedan and two crossovers. Ford is crossover/truck; GM is all SUVs. More than there were, but non-Tesla sedans are still the exception. I’d love to see BYD in the US. Love to see KEI in the US.

It’s been a while since I looked at EVs, but my (US) experience at the time was that Tesla was one of very few companies offering sedan-shaped EVs. The US market was full of crossovers & SUVs (like Rivian), and that form factor seems antagonistic to many of the things that make high performance, long range EVs: terrible aerodynamics, high body weight, poor visibility… They’re big enough to fill will batteries to compensate for the poor efficiency, but that just raises costs.

Don’t really have taxes at that income level. In the US, ACA pays full insurancne premium (currently, that will change if the billionaire tax cut passes), and ‘wellness checkups’ are $0 out-of-pocket by law. Most of my dinner recipes are around $2.50/serving at 900 calories. I’m able to walk most places I go, but car insurance is $100/month. Don’t feel like dating, raising kids, or making big vacations. I average something around $7-800/month on ‘entertainment’ like video games & hobby materials, which leaves $300-400 savings. $350/month is 10%, which is around 2x the US average savings rate (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT). Savings for emergencies like insurance deductible and for retirement.

But that’s my point: my housing probably isn’t everyone’s idea of ‘comfortable,’ my diet is pretty carb-heavy and probably not everyone’s idea of ‘comfortable.’ I like it, though. It feels comfortable to me; I don’t consciously restrict any of my spending - all the numbers I’ve given you are post hoc analysis. I’ve been doing it for a decade.

I don’t dispute people feeling like they need $150k to live comfortably. Lots of people want kids. Lots of people want to take a nice vacation time-to-time. There’s a massive propaganda machine out there trying to convince everyone that they need just a little more than they have right now to feel good about themselves, and I believe that propaganda starts wearing thin by the time you get to $150k, $200k. They’ve got to live their life; I can only live mine.

That’s what I said: “Comfortable” depends on feelings. Once you know what feels comfortable, then you can quantify.

Well, then I can say that $40k is definitely “comfortable.” That’s $1500 rent, $300/month food, another $200 gas/elec/internet, a thousand left over for odds & ends and another couple hundred saved.

Pretty much my budget in a MCOL major metro.

You can’t define “comfortably” without feeling.

Bibi’s stopped taking his calls.

I think he signed this one just to prove that he can spell his own name right.

Cancer research and Medicaid.

A huge amount of waste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67i4-_sXGcQ Claims $400/year, $35/month.

Lemmy needs a new community: Cops or Criminals? Just pictures of thugs in SUVs & you have to guess whether they’re a cartel hit squad or ICE.

In an election where the margin of victory is 1%, it only takes 1-in-50 racists to throw the election.

Sure, Kamala wasn’t hugely popular with internet Democrats. Sure, running as a centrist annoyed all the people looking for change. The whole Israel thing. Voters overlooked all of that with Biden in 2020, when he wasn’t hugely popular with internet Democrats & came with a 50 year legacy of supporting some atrocious policies.

This is terrible. Those guys make the_best accident reconstruction videos. https://www.youtube.com/user/USCSB

If you’re doing 1-a-day, a rice cooker can be a great simplifier. Throw a measure of rice & your protein into the cooker, some rough chopped veg if you like. 2 minutes prep. While it cooks, make some kind of a sauce - yogurt or mayo make great bases, just add whatever spices you like; gochujang or miso thinned out with some soy sauce, citrus, or vinegar. When the rice & protein is done, pour on the sauce, add some pickled veg if you like. 800-1000 calories, depending on how much fat is in your sauce, one cooking pot, one eating bowl. 20 minutes start to finish.