Testing: Does this work?

I was asked how I reconcile a couple of precepts this weekend.

I was asked how I reconcile a couple of precepts this weekend. I don't think I did a very good job in person, so here's a better attempt.

Claim 1: Employees should do as little as possible while extracting as much wealth from the capital class as possible.
Claim 2: Agile (and scrum in particular) enable peak productivity.

I think both of these are true.
(1) is about survival; the capitalistic class acts as a leech on the labor class, and the only tool the labor class has to defend itself is to withhold it's labor. By definition, labor as a class produces more wealth than is returned to it by the capital class.

(2) is really about treating employees like adults; when we practice scrum, we ensure it is the employees who define the current scope of work accepted by labor. If employees are pushed to accept more than is actually attainable, they'll burn out. We can also, generally, expect employees to want to take on more due to, in essence, brainwashing.

Really, (2) is about the dumbness of other management styles, in particular top-down hierarchical management where employees are told how much and what to do; this generally leads to disaster.

Which is hard for us to see: we're broken things filled with stockholm syndrome; the capital class keeps us in bondage for there own benefit, with management working to extract that labor.

That's an extreme end of the position; the truth is less violent, but comes from the same place: labor is extracted from the majority of us for the benefit of a few.

So, that's how. I think.

It was recently pointed out to me that Trump may keep the government closed for one obvious, and horrendously...

It was recently pointed out to me that Trump may keep the government closed for one obvious, and horrendously mistaken, belief.

Namely, the (wrong) belief that he cannot be removed if the government is closed.

That's an even better suggestion that my previous favorite one: That all the parts of the government he cares about are open.

My job: learning the revolution

My job: learning the revolution

The revolution took a major step forward yesterday during our retro. I'm very pleased with the team self advocating, and equally pleased that I had a solution waiting to go.

I've read half of iHunt.

I've read half of iHunt.

It reads like a modern-day Apocalypse World or Blades in the Dark.

Both of these would likely make good systems for it, and I can't wait to see the RPG!

When I say something like "I would fight against the use of that particular arbitrary programming structure", it is...

When I say something like "I would fight against the use of that particular arbitrary programming structure", it is not an invitation to school me on why the language that structure is from is sooooo important.

Hey, here's another tax proposal, a little bit harder:

Hey, here's another tax proposal, a little bit harder:

Take all households in the US, divide in half.
If your household is in the lower half, no extra taxes.
If your household is in the top half, pay 10% of the rate above the median.

Take the top half, divide in half.
If your house is in the lower half, no extra taxes.
If your household is in the top half, pay an extra 10% on the amount above the median.

... etc until we get to a 100% tax rate.

Which'd be on the ... I'm pretty sure 5 households out of 10,000 would be within the 100% rate. A maximum annual income.

Fully 50% would be at 0%
25% would be at 10% marginal.
12.5% at 20%
6.25% at 30%
3.125 at 40%
1.5625 at 50%
0.78125% at 60%
0.390625 at 70%
0.2% at 80%
0.1% at 90%
0.05% at 100%

Go ahead. Call me a commie. I'd love it.

In other news: Impeach the mother fucker already.

Ocasio-Cortez is already moving to Overton window.

Ocasio-Cortez is already moving to Overton window.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/01/extremism

From my perspective: She's not yet gone far enough. Here's a potential single tax table. Assume the math is done such that marriage penalty doesn't exist, and kids give a reduction.

1. Under 25,000: You pay no tax.
2. Between 25,000 and 50,000: 10%
3. Between 50,000 and 100,000: 20%
4. Between 100,000 and 250,000: 30%
5. Between 250,000 and 500,000: 40%
6. Between 500,000 and 1,000,000: 50%
7. Between million and 2 million: 60%
8. Between 2 million and 5 million: 70%
9. Between 5 million and 10 million: 80%
10. Anything above 10 million: 90%

Median household income in American is ~60,000, call it 30,000 per person. So, that's $5,000 taxable per person which is $500. Or, $1,000 for a married couple with no kids.

Meanwhile, a household income of $200,000, call it $100,000 per person has a more complicated time: 10% * 25,000 + 20% * 50,000. That's $2,500 + $10,000 = 12,500 per person, or 25,000 for the couple.

And a household that brings in 2 million dollars, call it a million per person? That's 2,500 + 10,000 + 150,000 * 30% + 250,000 * 40% + 500,000 * 50%. That's something like 2,500 + 10,000 + 45,000 + 100,000 + 250,000, or a total of 407500 per member of the family. That's a 40% tax rate on couples making 2 million dollars.

And notice: I could do it without a spreadsheet.



http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/01/extremism

Pet Peeve: Not reading your interlocutors charitably.

Pet Peeve: Not reading your interlocutors charitably.
Even worse: Not even reading your interlocutors.
Worse: Not even pretending to read or understand your interlocutors, and then claiming they must show respect for you.

What absolute garbage. The internet is filled with garbage.

I'm never entirely sure if I have impostor syndrome or dunning-kruger.

For 2019, I want to:

For 2019, I want to:
- Play more games in person
- Read more
- Get That Asshole out of the White House

The first is straightforward, and is already starting. I've started up a Friday Night Boardgames crew, and a Dungeon Crawl. The Dungeon Crawl looks in danger of failure, so I may need to solve that.

The second is being solved through a Kindle. If the last few days are an indication of things to come, I'll go from a couple of dozen books to fifty without difficulty. Additionally, I'll reread the same books less often due as there will always be more books I can get ahold of.

The last is the hardest. I'm not sure how to help with that. I'll continue to donate money to WoC running for office, which seems to've helped in the midterms. There's marches and such, but I have no idea how effective, if at all, those are.

Interesting: I took 94 Lyft rides in 2018, a total of 663 miles traveled.

Interesting: I took 94 Lyft rides in 2018, a total of 663 miles traveled. That's an average of ~7 miles per lyft. The longest Lyft was 26 miles. All Lyft miles are carbon neutral.

We don't have a car, and use Lyft to head over to anywhere not metro friendly. Looks like that happens roughly twice a week.

A lot of my rides I take one way, and then head back with a friend. Sometimes, I grab a carpool and make someone else drive me when otherwise would drive themselves. When this is friends, I try to find ways to recompense. When it is both of us, normally our rides are two ways. That 26 mile Lyft goes out to where some friends live, and likely includes a trip back as well.

So: If we estimate that this accounts for half the distance I'd spend in a car if we had a car, then that'd be 1,200 miles. Which is an insufficient number of miles to own an automobile.

So, good to know. Still probably the most sensible option, unless something strange happens.