IOW more countries are going to have to build fabs, first and foremost, because you can't trust anything if you cannot trust the silicon.

It would be great if we got some kind of technology for cheaply making high-end ICs at home like we can with plastic parts now, but it's just not reasonable. At some point you have to trust someone. It's unfortunate, I know.

What he used was emboldening Nazis. The entire reason those people could vote for him is that their views didn't evolve past "the brown people made my life bad".

Point to where I said China good, troll.

Actually as I said in my prior comment this plan requires the states to cooperate. I understand all of that, but it's completely irrelevant.

As long as there are shit states we will have a shit country.

The Epstein files are full of both Democrats and Republicans (and probably every other political party you have heard of). Nobody in power was ever going to push for their release, since it would be full of implications for themselves and their friends. The side *not* in power will push for the release, safe in knowing that it won't happen.

It seems like they are coming up with a fake release now. Purposely-obvious redaction will discredit it and even exonerate those who are shown, and foot-dragging will not be fought at all seriously.

I saw something that might work: make the districts elect 5 representatives, using proportional representation. This would keep the politicians local, which Americans appear to like. This does mean about 5 parties will be in congress, not more, but judging by what happens in Europe it would not be much different, any fringe party is forced to immediately merge with another and there seems to be about 5 already.

I think this also makes gerrymandering very difficult, though it might be best to just outlaw it. Districts are drawn by a computer with the only rule that they be as compact as possible.

Actually it would work if the electoral votes were proportionally allocated in each state according the popular vote in that state. This would actually result in the same winner as the popular vote in every presidential election in history. The problem is not that somebody in Wyoming has 4x the voting power of somebody in California or Texas. The problem is the fact that the winner in a state gets *all* the electoral votes. This means a member of the minority party in California or Texas has -1 (NEGATIVE 1) voting power, in that their existence adds to the population and thus the electoral votes that go to the candidate they are against.

I don't think they're wrong about historical and often religious corruption existing, it's only wrong to appeal to it. We should be improving going forwards, not using the past as an excuse.

The world will never trust America as much as it did (whatever amount that was — but notably including allowing military bases practically everywhere) again without America's governmental structure changing significantly.

No, but it requires all the states to cooperate. GLWT.

The best thing as far as the presidency would really be just to eliminate the electoral college and move to counting the votes directly. We can do that now. Also we should do it with paper. Fuck computer voting.

I'm amused by those who imagine that the laws of physics can be defied merely by looking the other way. It makes me ponder how unbelievably moronic humanity is, how pathetic, and how deserving of what it is come.

How funny. I didn't vote for them because I wanted them. I just didn't want the worst person ever alive to be president, which comes back to what Rosco said above. People who voted for Trump did it specifically because they wanted Trump to do terrible things, which was because they are terrible people. They specifically wanted other people to suffer, because they are suffering, and they think making other people suffer more will make them feel better. This in turn is because they don't know shit, so they are somehow able to believe that punishing people for doing jobs they don't want to do will make them better off.

I don't think for the most part that there are fundamentally, physically "good" or "bad" people, and there may or may not even be fundamentally smart or dumb people, at least not to the extent we think there is — some of those people may just not have learned how to use their brains, and society certainly doesn't want them to learn lest it loses its source of cheap labor. But voting for Donald Trump because you think hurting other people will help you is both stupid and hateful.

I forget where he's from, but it sure reminds me of the result of Reagan's education plan

While what you say is true, I think you're indeed missing the GP's point: that in this market of cheap low quality items, a significant portion of the economic activity is not lead by 'needs' but by 'wants', and those wants are easily manipulated by aggressive marketing.

If that's the case, a reduction of activity in that specific market does not mean a recession nor a reduction in quality of life, as those impulse buys were destined to have little practical use. In this case regulation could result in a more efficient distribution of resources by redirecting that 'waste money' to more useful ends. It can even be argued that such market did not provide an increase in the level of live, as the psychological manipulation to keep the impulse-buy going on has negative mental health effects of their own.

Yeah, when thinking of the typical air fryer market, think "working mom with kids who wants to serve something nicer than a microwave dinner, but doesn't have the time for much prep or waiting". You can get those mailard reactions that microwaving doesn't really get you, nice crisping and browning of the surface that you normally get from an oven, without having to wait for an oven to preheat. I don't think anyone disputes that an oven will do a better job, but the air fryer does a better job than a microwave, which is what it's really competing against. They're also marketed as easy-clean, which again is a nod to their target audience.

How costs build up is really staggering. I'm getting into the business of importing 3d filament. In Iceland, it currently sells for like $35/kg minimum. The actual value of the plastic is like $1. The factory's total cost, all costs included, is like $1,50. If it's not name brand, e.g. they're not dumping money on marketing, they sell it for $3 for the cheapest stuff. Sea freight adds another dollar or two. Taxes here add 24%. But you're still at like $5/kg. The rest is all middlemen, warehousing, air freight for secondary legs from intermediary hubs, and all the markup and taxes on those things.

With me importing direct from the factory, sea freight only, I can get rid of most of those costs. Warehousing is the biggest unavoidable cost. If I want to maintain an average inventory of like 700kg, it adds something like $5/kg to the cost. Scanning in goods and dispatching user orders (not counting shipping) together adds like $2,50. And then add 24% tax (minus the taxes on the imported goods). There's still good margin, but it's amazing how quickly costs inflate.