smeg

The Netherlands is more water stressed than...anywhere?! Freshwater management is insane here because we have so much of it.

Google originally claimed to be privacy focused, too, until the incentives to enshittify became too great.

Use open source if you want privacy.

For now. Don't worry, they'll put it in other places.

Enshittification comes for everyone and everything.

Because all media is owned by right-wing ideologues or the wealthy who are coordinating messaging together as a class?

She will be immediately handed a golden jetpack from the typical Silicon Valley scammers.

Investment opportunities will be limited for the same reason. And most US financial institutions will either close or severely limit your account if they get the hint that you don't live in the US.

He's pandering to religious morons. He's dumb, but not that dumb.

Less funding for crumbling highways, bridges, and roads. But keep driving! We won't rethink public transit or automotive dependency. We won't spend the money more wisely or make transportation more efficient. Nope, keep feeding the gas dependence to justify more oil wars!

American here (who lives in Europe). America has a system of sales tax, where tax is collected by the specific state at the point of sale. Sometimes, the municipality collects sales tax as well.

The US does not have VAT, where tax is added cumulatively along the production or supply chain. As long as the manufacturer is selling to an intermediate (a retailer or distributor), they pay no tax for producing the item (although they will pay a tax on their total corporate revenue, real property the business owns, etc). If they sell directly to the consumer, they must charge sales tax.

The sales tax is not listed on the price of the item. The reasoning is that the sales tax is not being charged by the retailer - they are only collecting it on behalf of the government. So the retailer only presents the price that they collect. Also, with the advent of internet sales, the price can vary based on the buyer's location because sales tax is based on state and municipality; for internet purchases, the taxes are displayed on the checkout screen. This is the same in retail settings - the clerk will tell you the final price being charged to you.

States with higher sales taxes tend to have lower (or no) state income taxes. States with lower sales tax tend to have higher state income taxes or have higher taxes on other goods (like gasoline) or government services (higher fees). Or some combination thereof. Certain categories of goods are exempt from sales tax - groceries (unprepared foods), some medicines, and in a few states I believe women's menstrual products.

Taxes and tariffs are applied to manufacturers and distributors only for international import and export.

My opinion: I think not displaying the full price is deceptive. I think not taxing VAT along the supply chain is a regressive behavior that places more of the burden of funding society onto the individual taxpayer while leaving corporations with lower tax bills. The US consumer is a bootlicker and repeater of corporate propaganda, so none of this will ever change.

Firm says public health is bad. Public health uploads patient data to firm's platform. Firm's platform will conclude that public health should be privatized.

Can we not get rid of the politicians who actively believe in harming the population on behalf of corporate profits?

Rule: Chinese firms get to rip off all of your IP.

AI slop