The USD is not losing its status as the world’s reserve currency anytime soon, especially not to China.

Sounds like a good idea tbh

And you think companies would market their product ethically if heroin was to be even less regulated and more widely available?

Remember when we pretty much did hand out opioids to anyone who asked for them, and even though it was literal doctors and pharmacists handing them out it resulted in an opioid epidemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and ruined families across the country? But yeah the problem is that we didn’t give people easy enough access to heroin

You’re thinking more of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); Patriot Act applies more to domestic agencies such as the FBI. But yes, Title 1 FISA gives the government authority to intercept US-based intelligence from foreign agents/powers operating in the US and the FISA amendments act section 702 gives the government authority to issue warrants to US companies to intercept foreign intelligence. It doesn’t require a back door so to speak, but google can’t just say “no, we’re not giving our records over” if they have them. But if the NSA wants a way in for whatever reason, it probably won’t matter if the company has implemented end-to-end encryption or not.

Source?

Thank you omg. People seem to think life expectancy directly measured the efficacy of a country’s healthcare system, and while that’s certainly a part of it, it’s not the full story. Car crashes, fried foods that cause heart disease, overdoses, homicides, suicides, etc all play info life expectancy. You could have the best hospitals and doctors in the world, but if your citizens are constantly getting into car accidents or eating unhealthy diets their entire lives, it’s still going to drag down your life expectancy.

Did you read the bottom paragraph at all? I addressed that and very clearly stated those expenses had to be factored in too.

Excellent point. I don’t want tired, overworked people with guns on the street either. And especially if they have families or just value fee time (I know I sure do), that’s a deterrent

Again, I don’t know NYPD’s specific pension numbers or how specifically they budget, but like most pensions it’s not just a bank account, it’s invested. It’s not just a flat bank deposit that never grows. And not every officer is going to stay for 20-25 years. Some may stay for 10 and then move to Long Island, for instance.

Well, I don’t know NYC’s exact figures, but let’s say we live in RandomCity and pay our officers $20/hour, which would be $30/hr for overtime. We have two choices: we can either hire a third officer, or ask our two officers to take 2 extra shifts a week. Let’s see the monthly costs for each:

Officer A

Base pay: $3200

Overtime: $1920,

Officer B

Base Pay: $3200

Overtime: $1920

Total monthly cost: $10,200

Total hours worked: 56 hours/week + 56 hours/week = 448

————————————

Officer A/B/C

Base Pay $3200 x 3

Total: $9600

Total hours worked: 480

Over the course of the month, by having officers take overtime rather than filling a position, we’re actually spending more money and getting fewer hours worked. Sure, there are other expenses related to personnel - health insurance, pensions, etc. But even on a tiny scale of 2-3 officers, we’re already seeing savings of almost $1000/month and an extra 40 hours of street patrols. Now multiply that to fit NYPD’s personnel numbers of over 30,000 and as you can imagine, those savings will probably grow insanely larger. Another issue is those missing hours add up - somebody has to patrol or do paperwork or respond to calls. So those officers might have to pick up 3 extra shifts a week now. And the disparity and savings grow and grow. Overall it just doesn’t make a lot of fiscal sense to keep shoveling overtime money out, because it typically results in less efficient work for more money

I’d assume 100% of it lol. I don’t know when cities are going to realize that overtime is far more expensive than just hiring additional employees; maybe it’s just a political Will thing or something

While my first inclination was to think it’s odd to expect silence in New York City of all places lol, it sounds like this is a neighborhood-wide issue and law enforcement is not taking noise complaints and illegal parking complaints seriously at all.

If the citizens of a town in California wanted to refuse to recognize gay marriage, it’s “undemocratic” for the state to circumvent that? I mean sure, by some definition it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s illegal or wrong for legislation to pass if residents of a city disagree with it

I mean, the religious comment was stupid, but this puts Nashville more in line with other large cities and makes sense. Chicago’s ridiculous number of aldermen has absolutely hindered its performance, and there’s no reason Nashville needs 3x the councilmen of cities like Boston and DC with even fewer people under its jurisdiction. And plenty of cities with minority-majority populations that are located in blue states also have vastly smaller city councils than Nashville’s (which has 40 members), so I just don’t buy that this is some racist, undemocratic power grab

>minding their own business

I mean aren’t they from this area…? If you live here it kind of is your business

That’s what I thought too, but does it reverting back at the end make sense?? I’m no data expert so maybe exponential does work that way but that really threw me off hahaha

Why does the X axis go +2, +4, +8, +2…?

I literally just said all I wanted for them was to leave the “thank you” part out, which is what your last sentence said? What do I disagree with you on?

Oh no I agree! I’m not saying they need to lambast him but thanking him for his service seems a bit unnecessary too lol

Is anyone gonna talk about the fact that after his arrest, the city council thanked him for his service…? Like what? I don’t care if he built the city from the ground up, why tf would you say that to somebody who just got indicted on 56 counts of CP possession??

Take a random 10hr shift. Let’s say you get an 80% markup on your coffee, so while you charge $1.00 for it, you only paid .20c for actual coffee, and make .80c per cup. On a regular 10hr shift, you sell 200 cups of coffee which means you made $200 in revenue and $160 in profit. Well, not exactly. You pay your barista $11/hour, so now you actually made $49 in profit.

Now imagine you only mark it up 50% (.40c). You sell the same amount over the same shift. You’ve now made $80 in revenue and are already not making a profit because of payroll alone. And this isn’t including rent, utilities, supplies, etc you also have to pay. This is obviously extremely simplified but the point is that you have to make enough from the goods being sold to cover all expenses, not just enough to replace the goods. Coffee shops are not pulling 80% of revenue as profit; in reality, it’s probably more like 3-7% at best

Good for you, I didn’t say I never got my money back, I said Amex made it a lot easier. I don’t understand why you’re talking as if I’ve never had a credit card or bank account and can’t be trusted to speak out about which companies I find easier to work with.

I’ve had much rougher experiences with other banks getting money back.

Cool graphic! I’m surprised Amex collects so little in card fees honestly. Proportionally speaking. Either way, Amex is by far the best credit card issuer imo, especially if you have disputes, cause they’ll always take your side and have amazing customer service