The jewelry and industrial value of gold is minimal to its reserve value. Vast majority of gold is in form of bars sitting in national vaults. Zero intention of ever using those bars for jewelry/industrial applications.

Bitcoin’s advantages over gold include

1. proof, security, and cheapness of reserves including greater protection from war pillage.
2. Cheaper and secure transactions. war, piracy, shipwreck proof. Divisibility is also a transactional advantage.
3. wealth escape options, including banking/sovereign failure and sanctions.
4. Cryptographic applications and protocol extensions including layer 2. But other crypto networks depend on bitcoin.
5. Better “tokenomics” than gold. Mining supply of gold increases when prices rise, and also attracts jewelry owners to trade in their jewelry for it to be melted. New reserves always possible finds.
6. Points 2 and 3 also make for faster and more secure banking system settlements. You don’t need to rely on counter party bank not declaring bankruptcy for next 3 days.

Bitcoin is mostly USD backed?

No. You can buy bitcoin miners in bitcoin. Electricity costs are always charged in local currency.

There will never be a default on US debt unless it’s by choice. US debt is in US dollars, which the US makes. There will be inflation. Goods may end up being exchanged in another national or international currency someday. It won’t be Bitcoin.

QE worked last time because China helped QE by also buying up US bonds. A much larger QE with US at war/tariff war with whole world will put USD at a credibility crisis, if not in next recession then the one after that. Fractional banking is the real ponzi scheme, and a banking crisis, a property collapse that causes bank collapse. Colonial currencies are not an option to escape USD devaluation, unless they free themselves from servitude. Chinese policy has so far not embraced strong currency value. Bitcoin will always be protection from financial collapse/decline.

If gold was missing from US reserves, they wouldn’t admit it.

The value of bitcoin is that no one can just print as much monopoly money politically.

temporarily increase the price so tech-bros (re: Elon) can sell at a massive profit.

Actually it is similar to gold reserves (bitcoin is better) without advantaging competitor nations that have gone in on gold reserves already. There is an energy/mining motivation aspect as well as a populist widespread participation.

In terms of “real purpose”, US debt can grow much more unsustainably, and there is something to fall back on when a default occurs. The tech bros that helped Trump do want to use other crypto projects for fintech and other innovation, rather than pump it and dump it.

Kim Kardashian?

Not American. Ghandi’s mission was to give “untouchables” caste some human equality. Technically, women’s/lgbtq movements were peaceful. Unlike US/Israel first oligarchy, there is complete/absolute media loyalty for it, in a way that the British Empire is harder to defend as benevolent to Indians. The support for oligarchy’s wars and supremacy is unconditional. If we don’t give them everything we have then China, Russia and Iran will win, and you all nod along.

No. Failing to praise all US empire efforts to diminish China is “letting China win”. There cannot be a “some good some bad” view on China. “all bad only” is allowed.

Juror #2

Thought provoking in that everyone who wants to convict is “because he’s a piece of shit, whether or not it is unlikely he did it”. How do you tell people they are pieces of shit themselves, without them reactively thinking you are? Is the big thought experiment this film provokes.

relatively original, and troubling focus with A24/neon cinematography quality. Definitely a must watch movie. Even if you hate it.

Having no economic value does mean only corruption pretends nuclear energy to have economic value. Another dishonest, but bribed by defense instead of utility operator, motive is weapons.

There is an honest exception of a small town in Arizona (lack of water). They admit their power project costs are astronomical for nuclear compared to solar alternative, but the permanent jobs provided by a nuclear plant raise property values and taxes a bit. This too, no matter how honest the motives, is corruption in obtaining other people’s money to finance a project for local jobs and property values.

Ohio corruption scandal was over nuclear industry bribes. All nuclear projects are publicly funded, and because they are categorically uneconomical, and delay any impact on global warming for 15 years, they are lobbied for by fossil fuel competitors. Boondoggles based on disinformation necessarily require political body to be corrupt and in on it, rather than just stupid.

100% of nuclear funding is political bribery. It is unbankable and uninsurable. Through bribery, cost+ funding can be obtained. More bribes = more covering of cost and time overruns.

If what you mean by “political resistance” is that bigger bribes are needed to overcome unpopularity, that is a tiny fraction of the bribery amount. Elected officials do blatantly destructive and unpopular acts all the time. The rate of approvals has little to do with project costs once approved.

there’s no active commercial molten salt reactors.

Experimental ones were all shut down within 5-10 years because corrosion makes them uneconomical to repair.

Fukushima’s case, which is the last significant nuclear incident in past 13 years

Zaporizhzhia (shutdown with IAEA concerns but may not fully report any emission releases) in Ukraine has military attacks against it, with intent of fundraising and politically blaming a disaster on the side that weapons providers, and the media they own, love to hate. Our media normalizes civil war as a response to Netanyahu not having his favorite ruler appointed.

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The only completed attempt in last 25 years in US (Vogtle), cost over $15/watt. Before fuel, operations, security, waste disposal plan, and no insurance.

Turnkey (containers full of batteries) systems in China are under $100/kwh. A possible imported cost of $100/kwh.

5gw of solar and 19gwh batteries would have higher capacity factor than nuclear, use same transmission infrastructure size, and cost $7/watt. Where winter production is not enough to fill batteries, the batteries can still be charged by wind or peaker plants that can run a bit more efficiently for a continuous time over a day instead of in bursts.

Last government talked about reunification the same way US talks about a 2 state solution in Israel. He talked about this without occupying US approval as a long term goal. Yoon is full US puppet that wants war. Logic is similar to everyone who thinks a war on Russia is a bad idea can only be paid by Putin.

A city in a country under rather strict tech embagos

Chinese tech is not embargoed and, despite less cool videos, actually widely deployed.

Russian military has a pretty cool weapon. Armoured minitank packed with explosives that drives into buildings and then detonates. It is usually accompanied by a small camera air drone that provides visual info, on where to drive the minitank, or at least is there to show off the destruction.

That is a higher level of dystopia. But, self driving food delivery mini vehicle technology will become a tool of the resistance to the genocidal extermination of unneeded labour pool.

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If you mean 50% tax bracket for the poor, yes it is a poverty trap. UBI is an improvement over welfare and employment insurance because it doesn’t trap people into not working due to high clawbacks. There is also administration and annoyance savings from not policing/applying for benefits.

Guaranteed minimum income plans are either a 100% tax, when literally, all get a minimum income of say $20k, if you earned less than $20k, you don’t keep any of those earnings. Practical, still left of center plans do change this to a more modest 50% clawback rate similar to welfare/EI. The most famous NIT proposal had a 50% tax rate on the lowest income. That is the exact same as the flawed GMI plans.

NIT is paid to workers and non workers alike. As is UBI. The maximum NIT refund you get is at 0 earned income. When you earn income, your refund is lowered. That starts at $1 of income.

An NIT refund comes from the IRS, while UBI can come from IRS or another department. They are still highly related concepts. Other than the most famous NIT proposal has a 50% tax rate on the lower incomes, and frequenly left leaning politicians, instead of UBI propose Guaranteed Minimum Income, with tax rates of 50% to 100% on the lowest incomes.

Sensible UBI plans use normal tax rates with higher rates on upper incomes if needed.