Difficult considering social security isn’t a tax. Without looking it up my guess is that number rolls up the 14-15% of SS and Medicare taxes so the real number is lower.

Aside from the fact that this isn’t true for people giving up their citizenship (in the US at least), it’s especially not true around the world. Lots of people are born stateless or made stateless during conflict or upheaval.

I actually don’t think that is true. Caitlin Dougherty on YouTube has a video on it though. It’s pushed by funeral directors because it’s a big money maker for them.

I feel like this is the kind of thing everyone overlooks in these kinds of scenarios. Thousands of people are going to be working on the problem. Okay, all our current electronics are fried, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make new ones. All our power plants and water treatment facilities suddenly don’t work… Well, people still have jobs at those places so someone is going to try to fix it. And I think most people sort of know and understand that, at least over the short term. Society doesn’t fall apart after every disaster.

And if it did, you’re probably wrong about how you’d respond or you’re not being creative and therefore are doing what everyone else will do and the resources will dry up and you won’t be one of the lucky few that makes it.

I have a small house I purchased in a neighborhood full of renters. I bought during the low interest pandemic times, too, so my mortgage is less than most people’s rent. If I won the lottery tomorrow I would definitely sell my house for a better one (I make about 30% more now than when I bought, and the only reason I won’t move now is because of the interest rate). So many people have told me that I need to rent this place out rather than sell it. But I don’t have the ability to be the kind of landlord you described and therefore I know I shouldn’t be a landlord at all.

I grew up on a road called Gay. I think my whole childhood would be cancelled.

Lol, I have 8 nibblings. It’s always been a chore.

The EFF is really just about one topic though (privacy on the Internet, for those of you unfamiliar with their work). I’m sure some other orgs have their own topics they have written model legislation for. ALEC writes for everything on the GOP agenda, and I think that’s what OP was getting at - a universal writer. But I don’t think there is one. Perhaps because the Left is very broad in it approaches to stuff, comparatively? So it’s harder to nail down the language everyone would agree on? Or maybe it’s ideological from the Dem party, that they don’t want that kind of centralized writer for issues that have nuance. No clue, this is a really interesting question from OP.

This is one of the best reads I’ve had in a while! Free download everyone, be sure to check it out. Especially people with depression or executive dysfunction that makes it hard to feed yourself.

I am a firm believer in always returning your shopping cart to either the inside of the store or a corral. I dumped a guy over not doing it once 😂

This is my dream too, but I want a retractable roof so I can set up a telescope. Also my house would be in the middle of nowhere so I can see the stars.

Funny, the older I get the more progressive I get. Same for most of the people I know (I’m a millennial). It used to be you got more conservative as you got older but i think the consensus now is you get more conservative the richer you get and well, my generation isn’t getting richer. I think we all just realize how easy it would be to pay the bill if we would just tax the rich.

I don’t hate the idea of some companionship but I have little tolerance for dealing with another person over the long term. I like my life of doing what I want, when I want.

I’m also ace spec with no particular drive to have sex with another person, so that makes staying single easy. I see a lot of people get into relationships because that’s the way they get sex, but honestly, that seems exhausting to me. Sex just doesn’t have that much value to me.

Want to drop some links for where to get started? I only sort of understand what you just said but I like the idea of my own network and it being easier than it seems!

Only very briefly if I really needed the money. I used to work a corporate job and for a while I was a contractor doing data analysis. Those jobs left me feeling like I wasn’t doing anything of value and that was enough to shift me into the public sector, which I enjoy immensely. I’d rather not go back but I could see myself needing more money than is generally on offer in public service.

If I opposed the organization ideologically I’d probably sell plasma before I took a job there. But I don’t have a family relying on me so that makes it easier.

Does this take into account the value of the land? Solar notoriously takes up space so I’m curious how much space you’d need for a solar farm that could produce as much power as Vogtle…

Not too late if we make small modular reactors a thing. Once you build one, every one after it will become cheaper and faster to build. Link 10-20 SMRs together and you could have a plant. Or just put 1 or 2 where they are most needed. SMRs are the future of nuclear, no doubt. But the current big reactors will mostly be around for a while, too.