anonymous5133

It would have never been built simply because the uber rich property owners would never let it be built. They would just stall it out long enough to prevent it from ever being built.

I think you hit the nail on the head and we already know what is going to happen when the elections start coming up. This high speed rail project is going be every talking point by the republicans as a shining example of progressive projects/reforms gone disaster. I hate to say it but they'll be right.

The whole HSR project from the very beginning was a complete disaster. We should have known better but progressive arrogance got the best of us. At least newsome was smart enough to kill it off before we dug the hole deeper.

For those wondering how amazon is able to do this it is from using excess stock-based compensation deductions and accelerated depreciation deductions. They also have $600 million net operating losses being carried forward and $1.4 billion in tax credits resulting from R&D spending. The operating losses and tax credits can be carried forward to future years but eventually they will run out of them.

The pollution issue can be solved by simply regulating polluting businesses or just banning them.

Because we've already spent those tax dollars by allocating them to some spending program. In other words, we can't stop taxing corporations and based on current sentiments going around....the taxes on businesses are only going higher.

I agree it is stupid to tax businesses due to how international our economies are getting. Foreign companies can ship product into the USA but pay no taxes in the USA so they get an economic advantage by being in the lowest taxed country. The only tax they pay is import taxes.

Could go either way. If they are smart then they use any money raised in the IPO to create new products or services to grow the business. If they are stupid then they just take the existing customer base and figure out ways to extract more cash out of them by doing the things you mentioned.

I don't think you get it. For big companies like amazon they realize that the key to competing against traditional retail is to get the package to the customer as fast as possible. The faster the better. Amazon already has same day delivery but just imagine if there was a service that provided you the item within 60 minutes....and even better yet just imagine if during non-peak hours this service was even free? That's the direction we are going.

We are already going that route due to people stealing packages from front doors....People are buying package lock boxes.

The headline is flat out false. You can see Netflix financials here:

https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc_financials/quarter...

They paid 15 million in tax for 2018.

I don't care if you think tax avoidance is wrong. I am still going to maximize my life around avoiding taxes and I feel absolutely zero remorse for doing it.

Double taxation is unethical.

lol yes there is. If investment income is taxed at 50% (top federal bracket + top state income tax rate) then who in their right mind is going to risk their capital? lol, I know I absolutely wouldn't.

The reason it is like that is because the United States wants to encourage business activity in this country, so they make businesses have preferential tax systems.

but I agree with your overall statements - the rates and tax system for personal individuals is ridiculous and it gets worse the more income you make. For me personally, I intentionally took a demotion (and pay cut) because it isn't worth the sacrifices you have to do to get the higher salary. More stress, more responsibility, more extra unpaid overtime you have to work, more headaches etc. SIGNIFICANTLY MORE. Then what is the reward for all this extra headaches....you get 50% of the pay raise. So I said forget about it. The extra money isn't worth it if you only keep 50%.

I have this app installed on my phone. When you sign up you purposefully have to get consent from an adult to sign up as a minor.

I use the app. It is $20 amazon gift card.

I have the app installed on my phone. I have it installed because I want the $20 amazon. I don't know if I really "need" the $20 amazon but it is 100% passive once it is installed. You literally need to do nothing. Every month they send you $20. I would not uninstall it even given the privacy concerns.

If you guys are so concerned about it then create something that puts cash in my pocket. I'll gladly run whatever app you want on my phone if you pay me.

I have this app installed on my phone and I have chosen to have it installed by choice. I am getting paid $20 amazon per month to have it installed.

Why do I do this? Because I enjoy making side hustle money with my phones. This research app in particular is very useful to me because it is 100% passive. If you are concerned with privacy you can always just use a crap side phone to run the app.

Open source textbooks could theoretically be better than paid but generally speaking the big problem is that there usually isn't enough people to actually "care" for the book so to speak. Eventually the original writers lose interest and move on. For other open source books...they end up only becoming half written....and then turn into abandonware....see wikibooks.

You could solve the problem with something like a wiki but I've seen that usually results in quality problems. It isn't like a wiki article where all the results can basically see what has been written. With a wikibook though...you need all writers to basically know where stuff has already been explained...otherwise you just get a bunch of people explaining x here and then other people explaining the same thing in a later chapter.

No, our economic system does not rely on lots of consumers. It relies on people spending money. 1,000 people spending $1 is equivalent to one person spending $1,000. It is the dollar amount of spending that is important, not the total amount of consumers. Another key economic metric is the velocity of money...or how fast money goes from one person to the next. The faster the velocity of money...the better because we assume that when people trade...both are made better off through specialization.

automation could also do the opposite....liberalize and spread technology. Imagine a world where owning an "advanced" production robot costs $500-$1,000. Right now people view automation technology as being very expensive but if you look at trends in automation technology the price of that technology is actually declining so even small businesses can utilize the same technology as the mega corporations of the world.

This is the reason why everyone should use privacy.com.

No need to cancel anything. You just shut down the payment card that is paying for the service lol. Once they see your card getting declined they will just close the account.

Bigger companies aren't going to buy up smaller production that is not efficient. The smaller production just goes offline and gets scrapped. Solar panel production is at the point where you need to be doing economies of scale to really churn a profit at it.

You guys need to read up on what happens when a government subsidies something. The subsidies allows inefficient producers to stay in business and it also results in over production....which is what pushes the price artificially low. Once the subsidies end. The weakest go out of business and only the most efficient producers stay in business.

This has been a big issue in accounting, specifically public accounting. You are basically paid a salary and then you basically become a slave to the firm. You put up with lots of BS because you don't want to get fired or passed up for a promotion. The reason it is like that is because the partners of the firm get a cut of everything you produce...so the more you produce...the more they get. They quickly realize they need to figure out ways to keep you working more and more.

Millionaire...Zimbabwe made me an overnight trillionaire!

Like I said, it is the baseline rules not an absolute. There will always be exceptions to every rule but the baseline rules still hold true. Most people who are successful have the traits that sam is talking about.

Also lets think about where sam even got these ideas from...he basically sits down with a bunch of other YC partners to discuss what they've notice as being "success traits". I don't think sam is just pulling these ideas out of his head so he can write a best selling "success in a box" type of book.

I've read a lot of Sam's work and I think he is 100% spot on and honestly I would consider him to be one of the few people giving advice on startups that is just the straight up truth about how to be successful. You need to have a genuinely good idea, convert that idea into a product that people love and monetize it (eventually). Execution on this is hard of course but if you do manage to do it then you will be successful.

It just plays into the classic class warfare theory that seems to be common these days.

It basically boils down to essentially being if you are successful then it directly because of your privileged class...not from your hard work or skill. If you are unsuccessful or poor then it is because the privileged class is holding you down and preventing you from being successful.

In the end though it only hurts those who believe in it because those who believe in it also believe that it is a waste of time to work hard, be innovative etc because it will only lead to failure. So they never try. People also use it as a way to justify why they are poor or unsuccessful...not their fault...it is the privileged that made them poor! Their other political views will mainly focus on "economic justice" like more regulations on successful businesses, higher taxes for the rich, welfare programs for the poor (basic income basically a dream come true in their eyes) and so on.

Seems to be a very popular view these days among young people.

Your mentality is the mentality of failure...as in why bother trying because the odds are stacked against you. I see this very common among peers and ultimately...it only leads to failure. So why even bother having this mentality? You are better off having optimism that success can be achieved.

In regards to Sam's advice. His advice is correct but people are interpreting it too strictly. Sam's advice is basically the baseline rules...as in you need to do this stuff AT LEAST to have a chance at being successful. This writing is not "do this stuff exactly and you will be successful 100% guaranteed".

The truth is....execution is the hard part and that's why most people fail. Building an amazing product that people love is hard. It really comes down to that...but if you want to be successful then that's what you need to do.

There is nothing stopping any private organization from making free tax filing software.

What about if the best teachers are basically AIs that are so good that you can't even tell it is an AI.

Look up google duplex to see what I am talking about.

There is software being developed that does the same thing though. I've seen a technology being demoed where the student is basically able to ask questions to the instructor (which is just an algorithm). As more and more students use the software...a database of questions gets created which is then used to modify the course and to also create new answers to the question. Overtime, the course gets better and better through a sort of continuous improvement system.