Hacker News Reader

easilyBoredon Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

You're saying that there are only 8 Germans alive who can do it.

and 6 of them have a 99.9% chance of dying within 10 years, given that they are 82+ years old. :)

On a serious note: A lot of immigrants make a lot of money (relatively speaking) right away since they are jack of all trades and are willing /have to learn. Things that a locksmith would charge you $150 and a plumber $200 and an electrician $xxx an immigrant can do all within an afternoon, all for living rent free as superintendent. Probably some rules and codes are bent but who's watching...

easilyBoredon Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

A lot of things are common sense. OK, "this part must go here because it looks like it does X." We just need a little motivation.

Granted, doesn't mean you should rewire your house using YouTube videos

easilyBoredon Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

The idea that the US has a problem with too little accumulation of intergenerational wealth is patent nonsense.

This is different from parent leaving you stock and bonds.

Father dies, leaves company that makes engines to son and $50 million in cash because he has invested most in his company. IRS+State: son, you owe us half+ of what your father left you, or $1.1 Billion. If he borrows half of company's worth that's not going to be a healthy company anymore. So he sells it and selling is not always the best thing for employees.

Edited: If I was made King, I'd look to lower the inheritance to children to say 10% and abolish trusts that fund generations of lazy, spoiled brats living from their great-great-grandfather's money.

easilyBoredon Google accuses Uber of creating a fake company in order to steal its tech

He installed a new operating system that would have the effect of reformatting his laptop, attempting to erase any forensic fingerprints that would show what he did with Waymo’s valuable LiDAR designs once they had been downloaded to his computer. After Mr. Levandowski wiped this laptop, he only used it for a few minutes, and then inexplicably never used it again

To the next Lewandowski: "Damn, my laptop got stolen /lost it" Meanwhile hammertime and drop peaces in tens of different trash boxes. Suspicious, but no evidence to prove anything. Stuff happens.

easilyBoredon Why public lands must remain in public hands

I don't get his outrage, one side will always complain. Depending on the state they could lose or gain rights if the feds transferred it.

But the feds and states are quite separate when it comes to taxes, budgets etc so why shouldn't both own land too?

easilyBoredon The Leaked Fyre Festival Pitch Deck Is Beyond Parody

Meanwhile the UN Refugee agency reported that one of their warehouses had been looted and many of their tents were stolen http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.3122436.14936470...

;)

easilyBoredon The Leaked Fyre Festival Pitch Deck Is Beyond Parody

Well, the pitch deck more or less did offer something different, to be part of something new, to make them think etc.

They undoubtedly delivered.

easilyBoredon John Paulson’s Fall from Hedge Fund Stardom

Yeah, but if he's involved in managing (probably is) his stress level, blood pressure etc must be going through the roof. Obviously he doesn't want to be losing money, at this point it must be about his reputation. My point was that maybe, just maybe he'd be doing himself a favor if he quit and relaxed. Maybe add a few years or decades to his life.

At $7 Billion or so networth he'll be fine, without a job. OK, maybe he might have to skip a meal or two here and there but that's about it :) .

easilyBoredon Apple has a record $250B in the bank

Apple's "burn rate" is about 33BN a year, which means that 250BN would give them ~5-6 years to find a new market in the event of a nuclear holocaust if they kept spending the same with ZERO income.

In your case, that burn rate would go down to $5 billion in a year or two. Apple justifies the burn rate because it's making a killing, when that stops...

Lower the corp tax and they'll repatriate the day after.

easilyBoredon UN report lays bare the waste of treating homes as commodities

They are built with the intention of lying empty and accumulating value, while at the same time, homelessness remains a persistent problem

Yeah and Apple has $250,000,000,000 in the bank and at the same time.... Welcome to inequality in home ownership, stock ownership, money in the bank, education, crime rates etc etc.

easilyBoredon John Paulson’s Fall from Hedge Fund Stardom

The rumor I always heard on Wall Street about Paulson was that he essentially stole the idea of the sub-prime short from other investors

Ideas are a dime a dozen. He put his money where his mouth is. There's no shortage of people talking about China's crash and maybe one day it will. But when and are you willing to invest in that idea?

easilyBoredon John Paulson’s Fall from Hedge Fund Stardom

I understand the chase (or I think I do at--that level) but I wonder: why not buy a huge yacht, some index funds and relax? Go out on top and all. Hand out chicken to housewives in Sub-Saharan Africa or something. And delay a heart attack for as long as possible.

Trying to prove he wasn't lucky that one time I guess.

easilyBoredon How Harvard Business School Has Reshaped American Capitalism

Google had search and used that to prop the rest. Simple.

And Google is making money by removing more and more "free" listings and replacing them ads and their content. Morality aside, eventually they'll lose their effectiveness.

easilyBoredon ESPN Can't Afford to Go on Like This

It pays too much for content and costs too much for consumers.

It paid too much because it could even more for it on resale. Bigger fool. They'll realign as contracts start to expire. Meanwhile they had a great run, until people awoke up to the scam.

easilyBoredon Cafe owners are pulling the plug on WiFi

The real reason they cut it off is seating. Wifi costs practically nothing to them, so if you sit all day with their wifi, your cell plan or solving equations it's the same. Then, they'll find new ways to discourage it.

easilyBoredon Cafe owners are pulling the plug on WiFi

I wonder if people would get the message if a "xx minute maximum time" not was posted. If one person does that, the store can absorb it, but not if 50% do. That $2 they made on the coffee doesn't go far enough.

Or have a section with mini-cubicles, like they have internet access by the minute in third world countries.

easilyBoredon Turkey Purges 4,000 More Officials, and Blocks Wikipedia

Turkey is big and important enough (NATO + bridge with that area) not to care what others think.

Erdogan hates a FB posting or Wikipedia article? Ban them! Of course they aren't going to remove everything that displease an up and coming dictator. I think Turkey was saved until now by military coups.

easilyBoredon Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

Still, better to have them than not. Of course you're not going to walk around with 3 kilo gold chains around or tell people how much gold you got.

easilyBoredon Major Report Prompts Warnings That the Arctic Is Unraveling

Russia is good at causing problems, because they cost relatively little. Russia has no military to fight a protracted war against a "real" country, and definitely they cannot project power thousands of miles away.

Now if they get invaded that's a different story, but other than China I don't see anyone else invading them. If China retakes Siberia, then get ready for nuclear winters.

As Napoleon said the army marches in its stomach, and Russia has a limited amount of money. Russia is behind Canada when it comes to GDP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi... Granted they have a history of weapon production and can squeeze more out of a dollar, but if it looks like war is coming, you'll see everyone spending and catching up.

easilyBoredon Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

It seems the author is smart enough to know all this, so seriously: What's he attempting to achieve here?

Telling the truth. If there's a doomsday scenario USA might refuse to hand you the gold. He's saying that gold not in your hand is not really gold, because when you might need it everyone else will and they have it.

easilyBoredon Why Deutsche Bundesbank had to promise to leave 1200 tons of gold in New York

The same principal applies to states, and that's why they shipped the gold to USA to begin with...to save it from the Russians.

Gold is for when that stuff hits the fan: no one will take your paper money or if they do, you'll need 50lbs of trillion billion dollar bills to buy a loaf of bread. By noon the price will double.

If you're net liquid worth is well into millions, why not have a few hundred gold coins laying around? You might lose money (compared to the stock market returns) but so what. Peace of mind. Never know. All eggs in one basket and all.