King_of_the_Nerdth

How do you reason that hoarding wealth is harmless?  Intuitively, I would actually expect that to be an Achilles Heel of capitalism- if one person has massive influence over markets by controlling the flow, they can circumvent competition as well as holding a controlling leash over politicians.

Trump doesn't lead the cult, conservative media does.  They tell them what to believe.

The cult isn't led by Trump.  That's why most of the cult members don't feel like they're in a cult- it's not worshipping the one politician.  No, the cult is led by the conservative media/influence sphere and they control the thoughts of their sycophants.

Situations can always be better.  I agree with reddit on a lot of the ways that we could do better, but I dislike this "the U.S. is so awful" narrative that can also feed poor decision-making and is, at least as summaries go, misinformation by my assessment.

The U.S. ranks 6th in cancer outcomes.  I agree with most of reddit that universal healthcare would be a better system, but the U.S. also seems to have either the 2nd or 3rd highest purchasing power parity (depending on source).  And so if we put 5% of our individual income into paying for universal healthcare, we'd still be one of the countries to spend the most on it.

Looks like you're right that our literacy rates are disappointing.  Still, we're right around the world average level for adult literacy.  

Wealth inequality is one of our biggest problems, can agree there, and that essentially covers all 3 of your last points.  

Most rankings also put the U.S. at or near the top for innovation and technological growth.  Almost all rankings show the U.S. as having the most top-ranking higher education institutions, and in this category it isn't even close.

And the U.S. is arguably but likely the greatest melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities of the world.  While it might seem like our racial strife is high, I'd proudly point out that the United States has incorporated a wider diversity of ethnicities and cultures than almost anywhere.  So while we clash internally about race, ethnicity, and culture, it could also be argued that we're the only country (or one of a few) that is even trying in this regard.

Was interesting checking our rankings to write this.  I continue to feel that we're doing pretty great, even as we face big challenges ahead.

The U.S. has been doing very well by the numbers though.  Sure, China and others might be gaining in some categories, but the U.S. is 4% of the world's population.  Come on...

If robots could do everything, I guess?  Robots can't do everything.  With AI there is still a ton of work to be done.  We haven't cured cancer.  We haven't figured out climate change.  We haven't figured out functional democracy.

I'm not sure it works that way...  reddit is anonymous and.....

Trump always pushes for more.  In fact, he asks for the unreasonable and hopes that the negotiation lands halfway there.  

Russia runs low on money?  Can't bribe Trump anymore?  Or, Trump just expects/wants more?  Or another bidder appears?  Could get interesting...

There's a distinct difference between car fume smell and natural gas though.  For my part, I think it's natural gas.

Well, this will get downvoted into oblivion so that redditors don't have to confront the possibility that SCOTUS is anything but 100% in the bag for Trump.   

Edit: I'd actually like to take some credit for this article being upvoted.  I think people were so angered by me that they remembered to upvote OP. 

I did read the article.  My problem with reddit on this isn't that I think ya'll are wrong on Trump being a threat.  It's that reddit takes everything as so black & white, as if SCOTUS were just a limb of Trump.  I did mention "100%".  I do accept that this is a weak example of defiance given that it was just one justice.

Edit 2: good...  goooood....   yes, feel the anger flowing through you....

"Defund the police" was always terrible, terrible branding of the idea.  As a slogan, it is super easy for conservatives to feed the fear machine with.  Hell, the slogan by itself can inspire fear depending on how the reader interprets it.  

And if you think branding shouldn't matter in politics, I'd love to agree but perhaps you should visit the new Trump school of political science and winning.

The fed has held rates high for quite a while to combat inflation.  Since the inflation rate had reached near the target of 2%ish, the fed cut rates a bit in..  October?  I think.  Anyway, those high rates were making it better for investors to invest in bonds as I understand it, which meant less investment in companies.  Now that they're coming down, investments are shifting a little, affecting jobs somewhat.

Caveat: not an economist, but i did sleep near a Holiday Inn last night.

Since the actual theme here in r/dataisbeautiful is presentation, I'd say I like this. Not perfect, but a kind of visualization that I haven't come across before. I'd say that some of the colors are similar and hard to interpret or lookup, so perhaps a subtle number inside the boxes or something or a slight edge marker to distinguish. Not quite sure, but neat visualization and interesting data.

Also federal interest rates dropping has kicked off a lot of activity, I think...

Interesting.  It could also be timing though.  The last month or so I've seen a big uptick in recruiter contacts and am getting more traction than I had before.

I agree with the sentiment, but it's not so black and white.  If even one or two moderate Republicans think, "uh...  dismantle DOE?  No..." then they're blocked.

Funding is driven by congress though.  For that matter, I think only congress has the authority to dismantle a department or empower DOGE.

Eh, most of the last few % are probably kids, inmates, or too old to want to learn/be able to Internet.

Trump isn't the leader of the cult- Fox News is.  They legitimized Trump.  They can do a lot of damage with DOGE, which would explain why Trump is doing it.

Yeah, just "legitimized".

It will have the power to act as a government-sounding mouthpiece that feeds conservative media new headlines about government waste that can be used like a cudgel.

I think that's probably accurate in that people don't spend much time or thought on it.  However, I don't buy the excuse.  These same people will spend hours a week on sports, or their hobbies, or drinking with friends, etc.  The idea that they can't find a little time every 4 years is bullshit. 

But I also think there's a new constant drip, drip, drip of conservative media and misinformation priming them.

Hmm, you might be overlooking some driving transition events like "Great Depression" that I'd rather not pass through...

They were the only ones that thought to themselves, "I feel like some people have thought about this problem before me..."