Favorites October 31st 2023 🎃
This is wild, and earlier in the thread he points out that while non-university graduates make about the same in the US and UK, graduates make 35% more in the US than in the UK. On the other hand, repayments are capped at 9% of income in the UK, meaning that it's more of a tax than a debt. Norway has free university tuition, but there’s still rent, they also have income-based repayment. But this whole thing probably represents a drag on their overall economies.
The whole thread he's linking to is great. Another fact from it that amazed me was that solar panels have not only become way cheaper over the last decade, they've also become 50% more efficient.
To be clear, this is insane because currently investment in the IRS pays off about $2 for every $1 invested because of recaptured tax cheating. But Republicans absolutely love rich tax cheats.
Longer Reads
• Among the many things in Biden's AI Executive Order are improvements to the Visa system so that talented people will be more likely to stay in the US.
Flotsam and Jetsam
– The pace of China's military buildup is terrifying, especially the doubling of the number of nuclear warheads in just a few years. (src)
– Myanmar/Burma conflict continues (src)
– If arab states shut down oil production, it doesn't really hurt the US anymore, we export oil as well. (src)
– Long thread about how California environmental groups spent a bunch of time opposing CEQA reform instead of greenfield development that they say they want to avoid (src)
– People in Iran are furious about a teenager being killed by morality police. (src)
– US Diplomacy managed to convince Israel to unblock communication in Gaza (src)
– While Turkey's monetary policy is still a mess, their GDP has actually been going up quickly (src)
– Some really bad stuff happening on TikTok, an argument in The Information that we really should be moving to block it. (src)
– US Government will offer low interest loans for construction near transit (src)
– Wild* that carbon emissions per capita are lower in places with good transit. *Not actually a surprise (src)
