Long term capital gains are taxed at half the rate of income. So yes, share based compensation is a way to reduce taxes. There is also a line of thinking that having the leadership’s compensation tied to the stock’s performance helps align the interests of shareholders and management.

The foundational principle of Israel is the expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine since they are the chosen people and the land belongs to them.

Of which there are thousands in arbitrary detention waiting to be tried in sham military courts.

In math and (theoretical) physics alphabetical is the presumed norm.

So the solution to forced rebooting is to have to suffer through the ridiculous boot times for windows every day?

You’re right to leave. One should always reconsider any relationship with someone who requires your adherence to their religion

Part of the success of authoritarian religions is that use the risk of ostracization as a tool of control. It isn’t easy to abandon your community, even one that treats you badly. Feeling alone in the world with no support is frightening enough to keep people in line

Or those Dairy lobby ones that talk about how much work they are doing to save the environment. What a crock

Is there any material difference between Edge and Chrome? I’m forced to use either of them for work and as far as I can tell they perform the same

Generally agree, but damaging gas facilities can have undesirable consequences. An extreme methane leak is worse than combusting that gas

Prejudices against the LGBT community are already present in so many people that you don’t need brainwashing. Instead, this is about leveraging and amplifying the existing prejudice for political purposes.

Leaving academia was definitely one of the best choices I ever made for my (physical, mental and financial) health.

I don’t regret doing my PhD, but I definitely spent two years too many on the postdoc treadmill.

From a purely expected return perspective it only makes sense to pay back debts vs investing if the credit spread in the debt is larger than the investment’s risk premium.

For secured debt (like a mortgage) held by someone with reasonable credit the equity risk premium is most likely larger than the credit spread.

The analysis becomes more complicated when you take into account an uncertain income stream to use against the debt. Paying off your mortgage is like buying insurance against the tail event that you lose your house because you can’t make your mortgage payments.

Insurance is generally a negative expected return activity. But the value is in reshaping the outcome distribution. Your average outcome is lower but you’ve flattened out the tail.

As a counterweight to the widening of wealth inequality, rising rates lower the value of essentially all risk assets. So the ones who truly benefit the most are the ones who only acquired their assets after the hiking cycle.

This is partly why there are examples of periods with high inflation that also saw a narrowing of wage inequality. The post-war period in Europe was such an example. In that time the relative bargaining power of labour also helped because the high inflation was met with even higher pay raises. So working people were acquiring new wealth through their wages during a period of sustained low asset prices.

For 2023 wage growth in Canada actually exceeded inflation. I would bet that we’ll see that trend continue this year as well as inflation comes down.

For me personally higher rates have been a net benefit. I have no debt and my capacity to save increased considerably over the period that rates were rising. It’s been great to get better cash yields and to pick up longer dated bonds at generationally low prices.

As we’ve recently learned it isn’t just about oil. It’s about maritime trade more broadly. One of the explicit purposes of the US Navy is to defend maritime trade. The Suez canal and the Persian Gulf are two of the most important maritime trade routes.

I definitely do not value having lifetime access to 99.999% of the media I consume enough to have to deal with hoarding physical copies.

After the elections in 2024 the picture could be different. Putin’s long term strategy has been to weaken NATO by supporting NATO-skeptic parties. Depending on election outcomes there is a real possibility that key members fail to adhere to their Article 5 obligations

Is it maple syrup or a colored and flavored corn syrup?

I don’t get your take. For the same nominal income you pay less taxes. For the same real income you pay the same taxes.The only way you pay more taxes is if your income grows faster than inflation.

For people on fixed incomes or who don’t see pay raises the decrease in taxes paid is actually a benefit. If the tax brackets weren’t pegged to inflation than those same people would be worse off.

It’s almost entirely driven by the services sector, in particular rent. Goods prices had been deflationary for the better part of the fall, but near the end of the year their prices flattened.

The Red Sea issues haven’t really started hitting prices yet, but I think they will start hitting goods and energy pricesin the coming months. I personally think we could likely see inflation starting to increase again unless service inflation comes in