Altered Carbon is a great little sci-fi show that explores what might happen in such a scenario. According to the writer, the slow accumulation of money making money would trend to infinite, leaving a world that makes what we have now look like an egalitarian utopia by comparison.

In a hypothetical well-crafted treaty (which I agree Russia would never sign) there would be penalties attached to breaking the conditions. Sanction snap-backs, for example.

Should have read the fine print my friend

My brother had a similar thing, and decided to just start shaving off everything and embracing the baldness. He’s been rockin’ the bald look ever since quite happily.

Not much better at all, tbh. The problems are systemic, not individual. Another Zucc or Thiel would step up.

One must imagine sisyphis happy

Not in an image it doesn’t

I had some of that at an extremely early age. Addicted ever since. I still can’t go a day without it without feeling terrible.

The thing they’re worried about is the precedent. The logic is that if the EU can legally decide to confiscate your money as a non-EU state, then your money can be used as leverage by the EU. This means that countries will be heavily disincentivized from making large investments in the EU.

I personally think the fear is overblown and it should be clear to the wider international community that this is happening because Russia is a direct military threat to the EU, but let’s not pretend this isn’t a pretty huge precedent they’re setting.

In a world not run by the rich, for the rich this wouldn’t be an issue. Just tax large corporations over a certain size at a slightly higher rate and redistribute it back down to the poorest, turning it into a loop.

In most EU countries, if there really is a blowup over the budget (much rarer than the US), the old budget remains in place until a new one is negotiated.

It is not bipartisan. The countries that take more than they send (primarily Republican states, I’m led to believe) would absolutely refuse.

Just like “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” (a literally impossible task), the original expression was “a few bad apples spoil the bunch”. In other words, rot spreads and all the good apples become bad apples by proximity.

National leader in this context doesn’t mean president. It just means somebody with clout that people listen to, and can focus public attention on specific issues.

You know what would have helped denuclearization? Giving the Budapest Memorandum teeth. Obama and every subsequent president made some mealy-mouthed “We’ll send a few old guns” to Ukraine, despite the deal being Ukraine gives up their nukes and Russia (lol), the US and UK defend them.

Every other country’s leadership looking at that has reached the obvious conclusion: nothing but nukes that you yourself control will save you against a nuclear power.

I know it’s an autocorrect issue, but “Uber the bus” sounds like the next goal of businesses gutting public infrastructure and replacing it with the gig economy. In other words, very on brand.

We don’t want him. We have enough problems with our own fascists.

Which US politician has been attempting to woo voters on the left, in your opinion?