> Removed warrant canary (we still have never received a NSL or FISA order, but we are removing this language now to avoid a future situation where we receive one but are not permitted to remove the statement from our policy)
yeah, is that more believable? Maybe, I cannot tell.
What is ownership and how is it true? This is philosophically on the deep end, as the evil powers can seize your wallet just as easily and you may have no (legal) recourse, https://xkcd.com/538/
Seriously if I own a traditional asset within the current legal system (e.g. stocks, bonds, real estate), "the system" can help me protect and enforce my ownership rights, if you're in good social standing. In crypto "the system" cannot help you as much.
However if you are in bad social standing, the system can seize the wallet or the stocks easily.
> I don't know anything about 401(k)s but do they really operate on some foundational condition of less-profitable investments and higher fees?
The (HR person of the) employer chooses what to allow in a 401k. Normally you have a dozen funds or so available. And the choice by the employer doesn't necessarily align with the employees interests, as the high fee funds would love to send you that amazon gift card, whereas the low fee funds wouldn't even reach out to you. ;-)
back then I used to watch all the videos of https://millcomputing.com/docs/belt/ as that seemed promising, but they seem to be stuck in the hardware production and writing a compiler for that architecture.
They try such a thing in Germany by having different rates of VAT (~sales tax) for different products. Basics (such as food) being on the lower rate, and luxury items on the higher end.
Not sure if it actually works well or is overly complex nowadays.
Australia uses GST (essentially same as VAT) but everything that is deemed essential/basic is GST free. It's a standard 10%
of course other items incur additional taxes/fees/rates ("luxury cars" also have a 33% tax on top of GST)
Fwiw I think having a standard simple consumption tax + a monthly negative tax is the way to go. So like everyone gets $150/mo from the govt to offset taxes on food or whatever, for example, but then everything could be taxed at a flat rate.
VAT always has felt overly complicated to me. At least everytime I try to look at and understand it. It feels like it's a potentially good solution but calling it VAT will cause issues.
From a consumer perspective VAT as implemented in Europe much simpler than sales tax in the US. The price advertised is actually the price you pay.
As a business it’s really not that much more complex. Add VAT to all the invoices you send out. Keep track of how much was charged to you by your suppliers. Pay the difference to the tax man.
> Removed warrant canary (we still have never received a NSL or FISA order, but we are removing this language now to avoid a future situation where we receive one but are not permitted to remove the statement from our policy)
yeah, is that more believable? Maybe, I cannot tell.