The Off Topic Topic

[DGuller]

Seriously, the US incarceration rate is a big minus.

Not for those of us who aren't in prison.

Some of the stuff being posted in this thread is just pointless.  Like the ranking I see sometimes of the best and worst US states to live in, where often the criteria includes things like percentage of the population who smoke tobacco products or the percentage who are obese.  OK, sure, from a health POV, smoking and obesity are bad for you, but those things are about your behavior, not the behavior of your neighbors.  You can live somewhere where only 2% of the population smoke or are obese, but if you're part of that 2%, you're not any better off than you would be if you lived somewhere where 98% of the population smokes and is obese;  conversely, if 98% of the population in your state smokes and is obese, but you don't smoke and aren't obese, you're no worse off for living there.  Obviously, of course, some metrics do matter regardless of your personal behavior--for example, things like the quality of public transportation and the ratio of medical doctors to population.

Such statistics are proxy variables.  Some people are more predisposed to destructive behaviors than other people, it's a spectrum.  Whether they trigger their self-destruct mechanism or not is in part a function of their environment, which is partly why different environments have different rates of destructive behaviors.  I also think that no man is an island; it's harder to live a happy and fulfilling life when you're surrounded by misery and despair.

[mongers]

Such statistics are proxy variables.  Some people are more predisposed to destructive behaviors than other people, it's a spectrum.  Whether they trigger their self-destruct mechanism or not is in part a function of their environment, which is partly why different environments have different rates of destructive behaviors.  I also think that no man is an island; it's harder to live a happy and fulfilling life when you're surrounded by misery and despair.

This.

That's why I couldn't live in the US, even if a wealthy person, the inequality would get me down.

[crazy canuck]

You can live somewhere where only 2% of the population smoke or are obese, but if you're part of that 2%, you're not any better off than you would be if you lived somewhere where 98% of the population smokes and is obese;

If you live where health care, income level, availability of leisure time and ready access to healthy foods and regulation of unhealthy foods is such that your jurisdiction has only a 2% obesity rate, then those 2% certainly have a better quality of life (even though obese) than the hell hole that has 98% obesity.  The only reason it would get that high is if all the above metrics were shit.

Whooooosh

Yeah, that is pretty much the problem with American denial regarding the how flawed their system is.

[DGuller]

Such statistics are proxy variables.  Some people are more predisposed to destructive behaviors than other people, it's a spectrum.  Whether they trigger their self-destruct mechanism or not is in part a function of their environment, which is partly why different environments have different rates of destructive behaviors.  I also think that no man is an island; it's harder to live a happy and fulfilling life when you're surrounded by misery and despair.

This.

That's why I couldn't live in the US, even if a wealthy person, the inequality would get me down.

That's what property taxes are for.  You pay them so that you can live in places where people can afford to pay property taxes.

[grumbler]

You can live somewhere where only 2% of the population smoke or are obese, but if you're part of that 2%, you're not any better off than you would be if you lived somewhere where 98% of the population smokes and is obese;

If you live where health care, income level, availability of leisure time and ready access to healthy foods and regulation of unhealthy foods is such that your jurisdiction has only a 2% obesity rate, then those 2% certainly have a better quality of life (even though obese) than the hell hole that has 98% obesity.  The only reason it would get that high is if all the above metrics were shit.

Whooooosh

Yeah, that is pretty much the problem with American denial regarding the how flawed their system is.

Whooooosh!!!

He wasn't talking about "the American system."  No "system" anywhere has "only 2% of the population smoke or are obese."

[Valmy]

That's what property taxes are for.  You pay them so that you can live in places where people can afford to pay property taxes.

That doesn't make much sense. Everybody who rents or owns pays property taxes either directly or undirectly.

[Admiral Yi]

That doesn't make much sense. Everybody who rents or owns pays property taxes either directly or undirectly.

He's talking about the McMansion/hovel divide, not the owner/renter divide.

[Valmy]

That doesn't make much sense. Everybody who rents or owns pays property taxes either directly or undirectly.

He's talking about the McMansion/hovel divide, not the owner/renter divide.

Ok but why wouldn't that exist with no property taxes? What do property taxes have to do with that?

[Admiral Yi]

OK, maybe he's not.

[mongers]

OK, maybe he's not.

I think he was imply that if you pay high property taxes, you'll be in a area with other high property tax payers, so you'll not see the poor and disadvantaged people at the other extreme?

[Valmy]

OK, maybe he's not.

I think he was imply that if you pay high property taxes, you'll be in a area with other high property tax payers, so you'll not see the poor and disadvantaged people at the other extreme?

I mean yeah I get the idea that if you are in an area with expensive realestate you will not see people who cannot afford expensive realestate. Though this is not completely true, some of the most expensive places in the country have homelessness issues.

I just did not get how property taxes are the driving force behind that. I mean wouldn't that be true regardless of taxes?

[garbon]

Such statistics are proxy variables.  Some people are more predisposed to destructive behaviors than other people, it's a spectrum.  Whether they trigger their self-destruct mechanism or not is in part a function of their environment, which is partly why different environments have different rates of destructive behaviors.  I also think that no man is an island; it's harder to live a happy and fulfilling life when you're surrounded by misery and despair.

This.

That's why I couldn't live in the US, even if a wealthy person, the inequality would get me down.

As opposed to the UK where no inequality is on display?

[Josquius]

It's bad in the UK.
But it seems worse in the US. Less modesty to be found amongst the day to day wealthy.

[garbon]

It's bad in the UK.
But it seems worse in the US. Less modesty to be found amongst the day to day wealthy.

Well more hypocrisy here. Like Boris tooling about town in his raggedy minivan.

[garbon]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/uk-heading-toward-the-inequality-seen-in-us-nobel-prize-winner-warns.html

As I was saying, UK is no bed of roses for income inequality.