Most Americans came here after slavery ended, so no they’re not. If you can trace the “proceeds” of slavery anywhere, it’s not the pocket of some Polish guy whose parents got here in 1920, or some German American from the Midwest or some Appalachian. It’s to places like Harvard and the banks, insurance companies, etc., that Harvard graduates end up working at.
The Chicago suburb that I live in right now was debating a quota system to prevent Black families from moving here within my own lifetime, and was until the late 1990s spending tax dollars to subsidize apartments being held vacant for white families. The harm these programs attempt to correct wasn't in the distant past.
I can answer this, but first I want to understand better why it matters. It's deliberate, de jure harm inflicted on Black families regardless of the purported and actual benefits to white homeowners.
Because the original statement was that white people are gaining advantage because of the sins of our fathers. Most of us remember our lives and know this is not true, unless you think growing up poor with parents that couldn’t even afford school for their kids is an advantage.
Apparently not because these are the hottest days in sf history:
1. September 1, 2017 – 106 degrees
T-2. June 14, 2000 – 103 degrees
T-2. July 17, 1988 – 103 degrees
T-4. September 2, 2017 – 102 degrees
T-4. October 5, 1987 – 102 degrees
T-6. September 14, 1971 – 101 degrees
T-6. May 30, 2001 – 101 degrees
T-6. June 14, 1961 – 101 degrees
T-6. September 16, 1913 – 101 degrees
T-6. September 8, 1904 – 101 degrees
T-11. October 4, 1987 – 100 degrees
T-11. September 8, 1984 – 100 degrees
9 of the next 10 days in Dallas would be on that list. 3 days from last year in Seattle would be in the top 5 days on that list.
We are comparable to the extremes of a coastal eastern city, with significantly lower temperatures between the peaks. There’s not many places in the US that have never seen 106.
As for water, 80%+ of it in California is used for food that is exported elsewhere.
Strawberries in December in New York are much more at risk than humans in CA.
As for fires, nowhere in the world is safe from that, as this summer is proving.
The liabilities are the same currency and the same amount in 2023 and 2033. They’re solvent.
The asterisk is that the liabilities are generating interest, but this is fine because (one very safely assumes) that’s covered by the interest on the long-duration assets SVB bought.
Interest rates have risen since those long-duration assets were purchased.
Depositors now expect higher interest rates which cannot be covered by those assets. They will withdraw their deposits and move them to a bank that can offer higher interest rates.
That would make sense for climate change, but the context of this thread is a discussion about AI. Why would that be evidence of an existential threat from AI?
You might wanna check out some of jason hickel’s writings in the topic. As someone from such a “place with a lot of poverty” I’ve always chafed at the idea that capitalism (and thus colonialism) led to an improvement in living conditions, when really it meant mostly murder and looting.
Capitalism and colonialism aren't the same thing. Yes, capitalism can include exploitation. So can any system. But the world thankfully has moved beyond colonialism. And capitalism as an economic system has greatly improved standards of living in many parts of the world such as Asia since then.
Competition in its recognizably modern form only recently became the foundational organizational system for civilization, and civilization “won” because (in part) a) it generally has no problem deploying incredible levels of violence and coercion, against people and the environment, and b) it promotes continuous population increase, even beyond what may be sustainable.
There’s about a million places to source this, but I might start with something like James C. Scott.
even if that were the case, the only place you're getting prolonged proximity to a (relatively) fixed group of people is your workplace? that sounds super not good.
