cavscout43

cavscout43 t1_jbjfhon wrote

Reply to comment by Josquius in [OC] The world's biggest banks in 1988 by Solid-Tea7377

China's issue is more complex:

  1. They're aging much faster than they're growing wealthy as a country
  2. Their wealth inequality is vast. Japan is still in the top 15 for median household wealth (the US is 20 something by comparison)
  3. A lot of the key metrics from China are opaque, smoothed, and questionable. Unemployment rates, for example are always 4-5% per government reports. Regardless of macroeconomic factors like recessions or economic booms. Those have multiple times been called out since they don't include rural or migrant workers, and some reports have suggested double-digit unemployment rates are common year to year.
  4. China is still in the Middle Income Trap. The question is if enough of the wealthy urban coastal cities can generate enough to balance out the much more impoverished rural interior as a whole, and if they're willing to do so.
  5. In contemporary history, the only countries to truly achieve high income status have done so with (relatively) liberal democracies, representative governments, and promoting progressive societal policies of various flavors. China is trying to break ground as a truly authoritarian police state wielding state capitalism strategically, and leveraging police/surveillance state technology to the fullest. To what outcomes very much remains to be seen. If they're successful, we may see far more iron-fisted style governments supported by, and emulating them. If they fail, it may be evidence that you can't turn a highly controlled society into a wealthy one, such as Singapore, at any real scale.
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cavscout43 t1_jbg0wk1 wrote

Reply to [OC] The world's biggest banks in 1988 by Solid-Tea7377

Japan Takes Over the World is very much an 80s/90s trope, that was rooted in perceived reality. From action comedies like Back to the Future Part II where future Marty's boss is Japanese, to Die Hard in Nakatomi Plaza, to large swathes of Bladerunner looking like a Japanese/American hybrid future....the future was expected to be Japan.

Few saw the systemic economic problems looming, the demographic time bomb ticking down, the growing asset bubble, and so on. Japan in the early 90s had a significantly higher GDP per capita than the US.

In '91 geopolitical analyst George Friedman predicted there'd be a shooting war by a weak and threatened US trying to contain an all powerful Japan. Now, Japan is #28 or so in GDP per capita, down below Kuwait and Taiwan. Their population dropped by over half a million last year.

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cavscout43 t1_j2dtfhp wrote

Reply to comment by Angrmgnt in Wild bears population size across the US and the EU. The US has 340 000 wild bears (300 000 Black bears, 33 000 Brown/Grizzly bears, 7 000 Polar bears). The EU has 15 500 wild bears (zero Black bears, 15 500 Brown/Grizzly bears, zero Polar bears). 2008-2022 data 🇺🇸🇪🇺🗺 [OC] by maps_us_eu

Yeahhh. Very much bear country in all the national forests here.

Even easy hikes along the edges of Medicine Bow are riddled with aspens covered in bear claw scoring. And those are like 5 miles from the nearest towns, not at all remote.

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cavscout43 t1_j1qjopy wrote

Reply to LPT: If driving in a snowstorm and your GPS suggests taking a faster route, don’t do it if it takes you off the Highway. Backroads are usually last to be cleared of snow and you could get stuck! by Bradiator34

This isn't a blanket rule. Upstate NY with 4' of lake effect? Sure.

In the Rockies where the interstates are a death trap of semi trucks, and lost Texans/Californians? Side roads all the time. Flip it to 4x4 and drive in the snow. Better than crosswinds, ground blizzards, and sheet ice whilst dodging idiots on the interstates (which themselves close regularly 6 months a year)

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cavscout43 t1_iy61k80 wrote

Reply to comment by pancak3d in A job interview ended because I refused to tell them what my current salary was and what my salary expectations were. Is this normal? by RepresentativeError8

My total comp is "what the job is worth to me." Easy commute, remote work, <40 hours a week typically, good culture, etc. Those can all have a subjective value tacked on to them at my discretion if they want to know my current comp / what it would take for me to hop ship.

Recruiters are usually idiots. just walk the dog, give them what they require to get you in front of the hiring manager, and don't think twice about the game you have to play.

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