ithinkinstereo's comments

In any case, the comparison to Chernobyl and 80s USSR is pretty off-base, wouldn't you agree?

One advantage of a centralized top-down system is that when an issue becomes sufficiently prioritized at the top, everyone below falls in line. The primary advantage here is speed and the ability to see through long-term plans. You see this in China's rapid rise in certain industries/technologies, and of course, in their response to the 2019-nCoV epidemic.

> In a localized bottom-up system, politicians advance their career by currying favor with voters by distributing handouts, like farming subsidies, tax cuts or artificially low prices.

I agree with this statement, generally, but there are many exceptions. Speaking only about politicians the US, at a certain level, further career advancement is also very dependent on currying favor with superiors (sometimes, even more so than currying favor with constituents, especially if one has national and not just local ambitions). This is equally true at the national level--see: the internal politicking within the DNC and RNC in terms of fundraising, toeing the party line, etc. to receive endorsement and campaign funds--as it is at the local level--see: "machine" politics like in Chicago, where advancement is equally, if not more, predicated on currying favor with your local party leadership and senior city politicians than it is with voters. Or course, this problem (in the US, at least) might also just be the results of our two-party dominated system, where party-endorsements trumps almost everything else when it comes to getting votes. To your point though, this can be overcome if you curry enough favor with the local voters (Trump himself vis-a-vis the RNC is a good example of this).

The comparison is also off because the day-to-day living situation on the ground (for the average citizen) is totally different from _both_ a political and economic perspective.

However, I disagree that this is solely unique to China. You see it in the west too. The water crisis in Flint, MI springs to mind.

Footage of Ukrainian flight going down: https://mobile.twitter.com/mehrdadt1987/status/1214756444421...

From PPRune, these are supposedly pics of the crash site: https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1085x464/p...

Debris looks scattered which would indicate an in-flight breakup and would lend credence to the rumors spreading online that the plane was shot down.

Also of note: the plane was delayed by an hour and Tehran had icy conditions this morning. I wonder if the plane was de-iced prior to takeoff, or if it was de-iced, perhaps it wore off by the time it took off?

In any case this is all wild speculation; hopefully better details emerge soon.

This really reminds me of Iran Air 655 that was accidentally shot down by the US in ‘88. I hope this doesn’t lead to any further escalation of current tensions. RIP to all of those onboard.

In the US, you'll want to avoid Southwest, American, and United.

If going the contractor route--and if the pay is six 000s+--I would highly recommend getting an LLC and all the great tax benefits that provides. Easily adds 5-10% (if not 20%+) to your bottom line.

2) No FTE associated benefits (health insurance, 401K, etc.)

3) Easier to terminate

4) (Arguably) Can grind harder

Hopefully, some of the recently laid-off employees can get re-hired as 1099-contractors. Sometimes working as a 1099 can actually be more lucrative (sometimes much more) than being a FTE.

I think the frustration here with the management fees is that it's out of alignment with the staff size (lots of departures) and operational expenses (recently moved to tax-free Texas, just minimizing costs even further).

Individual contractors and small teams (<10) will likely go back to working from home or out of cafes.

Larger, enterprise teams will have more, and better, options and may cut expenses by downgrading to cheaper accommodations either via less "hip" direct competitors (Regus) or taking on cheap/discounted leases directly.

Visiting sketchy sex-related businesses or doing drugs is pretty par for the course in both Eastern and Western business culture as a form of trust-building between parties.

I can definitely see the level of "sketchiness" increasing as you climb the power ladder.

You can definitely choose how stuff is transported to you. One example is to purchase more locally sourced / produced goods.

1) In their prospectus they claim that 44% of all rides start/end in low-income areas. [a]

2) One of the key arguments they make in their fight against recent NYC regulations to raise the minimum pay for drivers is that raising prices directly leads to a fall in revenue (demand). [b]

So a large % of their users are price-sensitive, but raising prices cuts demand. A difficult path forward for reaching profitability indeed.

[a] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1759509/000119312519...

[b] https://blog.lyft.com/posts/2019/3/16/tlc-rules-impact-on-ly...