jhonny

@Empty_America Id say it could be migration of Latinos because of all the jobs now.

Here is an odd map, counties where median age is *falling* on a sustained basis. As you can see, most are in the plains, places that have "bottomed out" after long term population loss and now have highish birthrates. Data is a bit old, there are more now.

@askjussi Maybe suggest the reits for St. Barts?

AI may disrupt many businesses by lowering barriers to entry, increasing competition, and pressuring margins. But AI cannot replicate prime real estate. Housing, warehouses, labs, retail centers, cell towers, and other essential assets remain limited in supply and needed by society. That is why REITs may be major beneficiaries of the AI immunity trade.

@KeturahAbigail @SinbadTheSaiIor In the past id say Michigan, but even there is nice.

@SinbadTheSaiIor Where to lol

Most people hate paying taxes, but when I tell people I don't have a social security number they often respond in contempt. Why wouldn't I pay taxes? I answer this question by sharing a story about Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker who resisted the IRS and won

@KeturahAbigail @IvanaDGreco I wonder if you'd get SSI? Many do with SS#s despite having worked.

@IvanaDGreco My family has been living this way for several generations, so we've already considered these possibilities! Most simply reuse to apply for benefits, however, you are elegible to do so without a SSN in most US States

'Epstein Republicans '

@KeturahAbigail My Dad worked for social security. He came across this a lot. He was pissed off when I had to get the SS# when I 13 or 14. I got it, anyhow your right.

Nobody is legally obligated to get a SSN. My grandpa, father, and I have all been to various IRS offices in order to speak to agents about this. And yes, the Amish pay sales and property taxes, as do I. Those who don't have SSN aren't paying income.

@dferris1961 @Handre Yep

@MartinHonnold @Handre It's the definition of insanity.

Mathematical proof that socialist calculation destroys human welfare emerges from this basic fact: when Soviet shoe factories received quotas measured by weight and volume instead of consumer satisfaction, they did exactly what any rational actor would do under perverse incentives. They mass-produced heavy, unwearable boots in a single size while millions walked barefoot. You can't blame the factory managers. They faced jail time for missing production targets, not for customer complaints that never reached them anyway. Without market prices signaling actual demand for size 8 versus size 12, they optimized for survival under the only metric that mattered to their political overseers. The result? Warehouses stuffed with useless inventory while citizens lined up for hours hoping to find anything remotely wearable. Free market economists call this the calculation problem, and it applies to every good and service under central planning. Prices are information systems that coordinate millions of individual preferences across time and geography. When you eliminate prices through state control, you eliminate the only mechanism that tells producers what people actually want, when they want it, and how much they'll sacrifice to get it. The shoe shortage reveals something deeper about socialist systems: they can hit every statistical target while completely failing human beings. Soviet planners celebrated meeting production quotas while their citizens developed foot problems from ill-fitting footwear. They measured success in tons of leather processed, not in the comfort and mobility of actual people trying to walk to work every morning.

@Empty_America In Mexico and Peru I always gave it to women with or without kids.

I think they have done studies and Asian populations overwhelmingly give the seat to the old lady. Not sure what Americans would do.

@calvinfroedge Its says its cheap, you can buy senators, judges in Guatemala for 20K even less sometimes.

If Israel can buy the most expensive Congressional race in US history for $25M, what does that say about the cost of buying our whole government? It means you can control trillions in spending and the US military for just tens of billions per year That seems way too cheap

@Empty_America I just remember reading about owner abandoning building, then the country, one Swiss owners daughter bought a boat and sailed away and wrote a book.

More from the 1970's "peak crazy." I don't think there is anywhere in the entire NYC metro area that looks like this today. Maybe some homeless camps but that isn't as bad as the buildings themselves being post-apocalyptic.

@Empty_America Yah, it pisses me off. Except AOC,

The reason that types like AOC, Mamdani, Platner, cause such intense seething is that they are "Bohemians." Persons of some privilege who affect an enraging insouciance towards the lower middle class struggle to consume more. Yet then they leap to power over you!

@Empty_America It could be, ive read the books of people who survived training. They used to give you a new identity and French passport with small pension, not sure they still do. Its a tough life.

Is the French Foreign legion the most masculine existing western environment? It's said to be much harsher than even Elite American units in terms of disipline and austere living conditions.

@jeffreytucker Seems true

The conspiracy part of my brain sometimes wonders if one purpose of Covid lockdowns was to fund domestic technological upgrades – stimulus payments to laptops and tablets – and socialize people to digital work to prepare for an AI rollout. The timing fits in any case. wsj.com/tech/ai/the-am…

These are good observations and it seems true .

@Empty_America I think China does similar, and this is probably the future.

Pulte homes has a machine now that can lay the walls of a concrete block house in a single day, they are using it to build row houses. We may see a return to load bearing masonry in this way, as stick framing is very dependent by nature on lots of human labor.

@johnrobb Thats interesting, and could change the power dynamics against America and Europe, I dont know.

A good indication of how quickly a medium sized country can achieve the levels of production needed for drone deterrence.

@Empty_America I dont know, my sisters neighbors are born again and only use Latino crews, id guess not all legal. Id like to see if Americans would really pay more.

I think that quite a few people would pay a reasonable premium for a roofing crew that clearly advertised "Only Legal Workers" or something like that. Have a young American guy in a polo shirt doing client contact, etc. Or maybe they wouldn't but it's an idea anyway.

@JayantBhandari5 I appreciate the comments, I know a few that lived in China, both became well off, starting as English teachers both left as millionaire s one is positive on China the other no. I lean more towards positive. Im outside looking in.

The difference is that Gordon Chang has been consistently wrong. China has grown maybe 2,000% since he started expecting it to collapse. And it has a great future. On the other hand I have been consistently right about India.

@shagbark_hick I vote El Paso or NM whichever works for you. I prefer being close to the border myself.

I'd be curious to know what people would do in my position. If I leave NYS, where should I go? Keep in mind I: - Hate humid heat - Am and will always be a low-earner (low prop. tax more important than low income tax) - Do not fit into "normie" HVAC drywall strip-mall world - Am very Catholic and wish to go to Mass every single day if possible - Am very much a "Yankee" but alternately I do mesh well with Latinos and speak some basic Spanish - Want to be around friendly, well-read, thoughtful eccentrics (esp 'Catholic hippies') - Could do rural or urban, cold-wet or desert climate - Prefer to avoid total reliance on automobiles - Need a place where I can buy a house CHEAPLY (as in, under $100k -- $200k at the absolute most) There are compromises anywhere, to be sure. Thus far I figure I could, in no particular order: 1. Get over my hatred of hot-humid heat and move back to Chalmette, LA 2. Get over my aversion to cars and live in rural NM on the fringes of Silver City or maybe T or C 3. Try out El Paso 4. Pony up big money and try out Coos County NH 5. Try out normiedom in or near Wichita (?) 6. Live in the hood in Steubenville OH 7. Move to Tucson or maybe ABQ 8. Forget all this and just be full-blown nomadic in a boat or a bus Or, of course, I could stay in NYS, though all my friends here are leaving and I'm starting to think the writing is on the wall for me here. What would you do? I get a lot of scattershot advice on this so I figured it'd be interesting to make a thread for it.