[luffapi]

Wealth inequality is bad in part because the wealthy then control policy and have wide ranging impact in the day to day lives of those who are not wealthy. It’s a centralization of control.

The rate of incarceration is largely due to the war on drugs. There’s nothing just about it.

I’d take NHS (despite its flaws) over my >2k /month health insurance any day of the week.

[throwaway894345]

> I’d take NHS (despite its flaws) over my >2k /month health insurance any day of the week.

Would you also take the 40% reduction in post-tax, post-healthcare, post-retirement pay?

I actually favor a stronger social safety net and I agree that we need to reign in inequality (because an egalitarian society of very wealthy people and very poor people strikes me as completely infeasible in the same way that a prosperous socialist or communist country is completely infeasible), but that will almost certainly mean the professional class is worse-off. Reasoning soberly about tradeoffs is imperative IMO.

[luffapi]

> Would you also take the 40% reduction in post-tax, post-healthcare, post-retirement pay?

Yes, and I have! What I missed most when not living in the US:

* variety of everything

* large appliances

What I missed least:

* driving/car culture

* overwork

So sadly I found I was actually a typical “consumer” who wants things that are pretty crappy for the environment (except for the car thing). I was fine with getting paid less than I would in the US because as a senior technologist, I was making way more than most of the locals and the economy was tuned to their pay.