hvb2

The leaving part is not the issue, as you try to immigrate into a country you're subject to the rules that country sets. You're always free to not immigrate into that country (this is not about asylum).

The issue here is that, if you just left the country to do everything the country asked you, you are now in limbo.

For how long? No one can tell.

Does this mean you lose your job? Maybe.

And when you decide it's no longer worth it, you might even have issues getting back in to get your stuff...

Retraining your people CAN be done without it being so disruptive, they chose not to.

So for those that don't know, it's quite common for a visa renewal to be required to leave the country. Depending on the visa, you might have to do this every year.

So just imagine, having a normal job in the US and you're asked to leave to renew your visa and this stuff happens.

That's no more appointment, not even a new date and you're now very likely unable to work and possibly can't even enter the country to get your belongings if you were to leave.

Just 'putting a pause' on people with existing appointments with no answer for when they might resume is.... Inhumane

> Courts sided with the feds.

After how many years of making it through the court system? Because 5 years of delay all but guarantees that the potential builder is no longer interested.

> And who was complicit in creating that state of affairs?

Financial institutions? Because the issue is getting a loan for say 8 billion that you might start repaying 10 to 15 years from now assuming it all pans out.

As much as you want to blame people for this, I don't think that's really the biggest reason. Most projects don't even get off the ground as the political will to back it is missing.

> Why did this technology not trickle down from the nation state to the enterprise and eventually the everyman

Uh, the cold war, nuclear proliferation etcetera. And I would argue that makes a lot of sense, even today.

Speaking for NL, yes it's mortgages. And those come with monthly payments towards the principal in pretty much all cases. Also, those being mortgages the rates are like 5% or so, not over 20%. Soll

After 30 years, people generally speaking own their home and that's their biggest chunk of wealth. So basically, yes a high debt to income ratio, but it's building towards wealth and its not high interest debt either.

> Otherwise, you're giving up 1-3% discount.

I would be curious what percentage of people actually qualifies for a card with over 2% cashback especially without a monthly fee. My guess is that that percentage is very low.

High earner/spender, sure but that's not most people

You do realize that the problems you raise were not even remotely an issue when this was designed?

You're blaming the engineers who designed this with 100 years of hindsight.

Every solution can be improved over time as conditions evolve. Yours included.

The biggest blocker to nuclear in most places is that it needs the backing of a country in order to be built. The financial risk is just to big.

Pair this with their decade+ timeline and you have a mix that means that it's a long term goal. Us as voters have made long term goals unfeasible, we mostly run after what was in the news yesterday.

> No Chinese company will register in this farce.

What makes you so sure? It really depends on enforcement but your Chinese company sure isn't going to just drop Europe as a market.

I don't think he was badmouthing China at all. He's basically using different words to make the exact same point you're trying to make.

When there's no real accountability, in a reasonable timeframe, it's much easier to plan long term.

It's the same within companies. When the CEO assumes he'll be around for 5 years, should he shoot for the 10 year goal and reduce outcomes in the early years? Or does he just optimize for the next 5 years, thereby neglecting the long term goal?

He didn't create an LLC he's a 'stichting' which is basically a non profit with a specific goal to achieve.

He doesn't want to create an LLC because he doesn't want anyone to question his motives.

Also this is the Netherlands not Germany :)

> You are naive if you think the government will act altruistically.

It's funny how a large swath of America in their opinions has already given up on the concept of America. Government by the people, for the people?

> How can you say that with any amount of certainty?

Because direct file is just the messenger. If you don't understand what's in it, then who prepared it didn't matter does it? You put as much trust in you tax preparer as in direct file.

The only way this is not true is when you actually review everything they've done, at which point you might have done it yourself. And let's be honest, with the US tax system, you need to be an expert to file anything nonstandard.

> But that doesn't mean we need to bend over backwards and give the IRS massive new powers to accomplish that goal.

They don't get new powers through this, it's just another option for filing.

So with this being killed, you can sleep better at night and the lower income people will suffer as they can go back to being overcharged by tax preparers for filing the simplest of returns. I guess that sums up murica pretty well.

> has consistently abused its power for at least a century more power in the service of that goal. [1]

That's mostly presidents and their party abusing the executive branch, although it's all allegations.

You must really like this current administration, really raising the bar on what retaliation is.

TLDR, this is not for you. No one is forcing you to use it. The people that did use it were apparently happy with it.

> Tax preparers at least have incentives to compete with each other on price and quality of service. They also often guarantee return accuracy.

> He lawyered up and spent thousands of dollars fighting it. He was ultimately successful, but his subsequent distrust of government was entirely merited.

So your friend filed himself, or his tax preparer didn't back him up?

The US tax code is very complicated and claiming deductions seems to be a national sport. I'm sure there are plenty of deductions taken that might not be illegal but questionable.

However, your example here wouldn't be what this service was aimed at to begin with. If the bottom 90% or so of filers can use this because their incomes are simple (paycheck, some savings, standard deduction) why would that need to be done by a tax preparer?

> You really see no problems with such a system?

I do not because it won't be a black box anymore than your tax preparer is a black box. Again, think of this as for the simple returns. If you claim standard deduction and have only a W2, it will only be a black box if you're unable to do the simplest of math.

> Arguments of the form “everybody else is doing it, can’t be that bad” are not compelling, in my opinion.

Counter argument being, if the rest of the world does it differently, shouldn't that mean there might be some reflection needed?

For your slavery example, that's why it's no longer a thing?

> The government entrenches its power by implementing programs that hand out benefits at the cost of your liberty. Those benefits are always popular, and the loss of liberty is only realized after it is far to late to ever get it back.

I'm going to make a guess that you've never lived outside of the US.

> But hey, the government claims people saved an average of $240 a year and 6 hours of tax preparation time because of this system. What a smashing success!

If it means that the lowest incomes now get their $1000 dollar credit and get to keep it, I think that's a lot of money for a lot of them.

> once you factor in that a lot of sites have the Stripe JS code on every single page

That's rarely a hit to origin though? That's mostly cached at the browser, if not at the CDN.

It's still here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49325888

> The biggest issue with Direct File is the conflict of interest created by having the government who benefits from your tax payment also prepare the return for you.

The amount of distrust in the USA is truly bonkers. What about the conflict of interest for the tax preparers, actual companies with profit as a motive wanting nothing more than to pretend it's all complicated.

As the document says, the government prefilling your return is commonplace in many countries. And it actually makes sense when they already have the data. Less work for the taxpayer, fewer mistakes resulting in fewer cases in need of investigation. Everyone wins here...

> This risk is particularly high given that the program was intended for and marketed to low income filers who typically rely on their tax preparer as an advocate to ensure their tax payment is as low as legally possible.

Over 30% of returns don't even owe federal taxes [1]. So when they file, and get a $1000 credit, it's really crappy to then have to pay $100 or so of that to a tax preparer.

> to make it politically unpopular to shut down

So the government doing something people like is... Bad?

1: https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page/who-doesnt-pay-incom...

The problem with a company stockpiling food (or other basic need like water) in times of scarcity is that it has no obligation to distribute it evenly. This is fine for luxury items, but when it's basic needs, it gets really ugly quickly.

> Ideally that someone who is very, very motivated to get it right and make it happen. Those big corporations charging extra are going to keep people fed.

They (a corporation) are motivated, by profit. Meaning some people will remain fed because they can afford it. The rest will not be fed. I simply don't think that's ethical.

Because what the US produces is just a kind of oil. Not all oil is the same, IIRC the US produces mostly light crude.

Releasing barrels lowers the price but it's obviously only a temporary measure.

I think it's a story as the cease fire with Iran is about to run out

The world is bigger than your relatives.

I'm sure he was referring to already food insecure places. The rich countries will have food available, probably at elevated prices.

In places where there's actual famine people will do crazy things to get their hands on food.

> parents will always be shitty. They are an impediment to children's health society must work around.

The health of kids with parents is infinitely better than those without. Just saying

> basically trying to distract from his dodgy dealings with crypto bros and convicted fraudsters.

No, so he can say that the voters have spoken and that they don't care.

It seems to be that it's common belief in right wing parties that winning an election means all cases against you are dropped. They aren't, unless you get elected president of the US. But I think that's where they're all getting it from.

Let's presume this is a company, who would you say should take the fall for this?

The CEO will have to talk about it and manage the fallout. What else are you looking for.

Also, at this point we have no idea how they got in, until we know I think we should withhold judgement. Unless you consider yourself responsible if someone ever gets into a system you manage with a zero day.

Security is not an exact science, it's a trade-off between sensitivity of the data and the cost of protecting it whether you like it or not

In the article I read about this it appears that they only found out now. They apparently launched an investigation and discovered the breach after being contacted by the hacker

I'm not sure that's relevant if you aren't paid so might self to feed yourself.

Also 30k USD is a lot of money everywhere except for in the US

But at least he's responsible. And we accept that humans make mistakes.

However, when the mistake is made by the replacement that cost one of your community members their job for a few pennies gain...

The bar for these systems is higher than the bar for humans.

What specifically are you looking for? If you start from the premise that it runs as you right now, then that's something you can easily improve upon.

Start by mounting just your repo and passing in the keys for the agent. Take it from there, it's like software engineering, you iterate.

When you run into issues you expand the tools in the container available to it.

You could just look for isotopes from the atmospheric nuclear tests that were conducted? Doesn't need to be a reactor I would assume?

You could but the customer seems to want as fast of a charge as possible...

Having driven an EV for over 10 years, I don't see why. There's plenty of places where you have the time but still.

It's more in general, with self/autonomous driving. In the waymo case the company owns the cars and all, which makes it more clear.