It raises some good points. It’s also said that there is ‘nothing people can do’ about surveillance. For those interested, there is a good documentary what happens if and when someone tries to do somethong about it:

Total Trust

Total Trust is an eye-opening and deeply disturbing story of surveillance technology, abuse of power and (self-)censorship that confronts us with what can happen when our privacy is ignored. Through the haunting stories of people in China who have been monitored, intimidated and even tortured, the film tells of the dangers of technology in the hands of unbridled power. Taking China as a mirror, Total Trust sounds an alarm about the increasing use of surveillance tools around the world – even by democratic governments like those in Europe.

If this is the present, what is our future?

I suppose that’s the mechanism they’re using to centrally manage the economy, by controlling fund transfers to lower levels of government.

I would agree with this view. The local governments are responsible for the majority of spendings (including pensions, health care), but they can barely raise funds themselves.

The central government has already said that the new debt will be forwarded to the local government, and that it will be ‘off-budget’, meaning the money goes to LGFVs. The future will tell us how this ends up, but the risks are high imo given the country’s debt burden is so much higher than in most other countries as you suggested.

Competition aka market economy only works if every player respects the same rules. It’s obvious that this isn’t the case here. TikTok -the ‘Western’ version of ByteDance’s product- isn’t allowed even in China as you will know. So why does TikTok complain if it gets banned in the West, while it seems fine to be banned in China? Isn’t that a double standard?

Also, if we’re talking about competition, then this doesn’t work in a centrally planned economy like China’s. The competition argument coming from a Chinese perspective isn’t valid, as it is the Chinese government itself which rejects exactly this very competition for itself.

The real change in retail pricing might be discrimination pricing (or ‘surveillance pricing’ as it is now called sometimes). Simply speaking, it uses personal data to personalize prices not just for each customer, but also for each customer depending on actual circumstances such as day time, weather, an individual’s pay day, and other data, collected through apps, loyalty cards, …

As one article says, there is One Person One Price:

"If I literally tell you, the price of a six-pack is $1.99, and then I tell someone else the price of a six-pack for them is $3.99, this would be deemed very unfair if there was too much transparency on it,” [University of Chicago economists Jean-Pierre] Dubé said. “But if instead I say, the price of a six-pack is $3.99 for everyone, and that’s fair. But then I give you a coupon for $2 off [through your app] but I don’t give the coupon to the other person, somehow that’s not as unfair as if I just targeted a different price.”

The linked article is a very long read but worth everyone’s time. Very insightful.

I am thinking the same. Must be some sort of Streisand effect :-)

Yeah, and not to forget:

One interviewee admitted to paying for access to a data set. “I bought access to an official archive and altered the data to support my hypotheses.”

… it’s actually about confidence in asking for more upfront

I think this is a good point. I’m wondering whether one reason why men still earn more than women could be that men negotiate more assertively for themselves than.women do because of gender roles that are deeply ingrained in our society.

It could be that girls are still expected (and brought up) to be accommodating, concerned with the well-being of others, while boys are taught how to.compete and being profit-oriented. Are girls and women still considered to be relationship-oriented from an early age, while boys and men are expected to be assertive?

If so, women may feel more uncomfortable negotiating their salaries forcefully over fears of some sort of ‘social backlash’ in the labour market and in the workplace.

I say ‘could’ and ‘may’ and conclude that I don’t know whether that’s reasonable. I don’t know of any research in this field but I am not an expert on gender studies.

(But, yes, I would also assume that pay gaps exist within male and female groups for similar reasons. Not all women and men are alike.)

Addition: To whom it may concern: Just stumbled upon the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in the U.S., they seem to have a lot of research.

After the Trump verdict, most Republicans say they’re OK with having a criminal as president

Last week, Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges in the hush-money case against him. Compared to before the verdict, the biggest changes we found in a post-conviction poll conducted between May 31 and June 2 are in Republicans’ positions on felony, crime in general, and the presidency. They have shifted in a way that puts the verdict in a more favorable light and keeps Trump’s candidacy viable. For example, fewer Republicans think it should be illegal to pay hush money for the purposes of influencing an election than did a year ago, and more now say felons should be allowed to become president than did a few months ago.

Myanmar soldiers cut off tattoos and gave detainees urine to drink, witnesses say

Eyewitnesses told the BBC the village [in the Rakhine State] was subjected to two-and-half days of terror as soldiers blindfolded and beat them up, poured burning petrol on their skin and forced some of them to drink their urine.

Warning: You may find some of the details in this piece disturbing

You can’t make such a decision based on simple financial calculations, not in the least as there is no way to make reasonable predictions in our current market environments. Ask any investment advisor, and they will tell you to buy your home if you can afford it.

This is off-topic: Why is the NYT accessing the camera when going to the linked article?

Trump had 4 years to seriously do it, but nothing happened. It’s just a footnote in his election campaign.

What would we use it for? There aren’t too many use cases imho.

I deleted the most part of the text.

Just a question: Should longer texts not be posted as a principal or is it because it crashes some Lemmy apps?

Israeli activists battle over Gaza-bound aid convoys

Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys […]

Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.

You’ll find a short video embedded in the linked article.

Israeli activists battle over Gaza-bound aid convoys

Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys […]

Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.

You’ll find a short video embedded in the linked article.

I doesn’t seem so given Israeli officials’ statements. But it will have a long-term political impact if Israel ignores that imho. It could lead to a higher degree of ‘diplomatic isolation’ for Israel and its allies for a long time. That’s just my opinion. And there’re arrest warrants, too.

As international support for an independent Palestine grows, here’s what Israelis and Palestinians now think of the two-state solution

With the announcement by Norway and Ireland that they have recognised Palestine as an independent state, and Spain expected to follow suit by the end of May, it appears that international momentum for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is growing.

The concept has long been supported by the US and its allies, as well as most Arab states and the United Nations […] Could things be different under different leadership? To answer this, we need to know whether the Israeli and Palestinian people could be persuaded to accept such a plan. Here it’s worth taking a look at what polling tells us.

As international support for an independent Palestine grows, here’s what Israelis and Palestinians now think of the two-state solution

With the announcement by Norway and Ireland that they have recognised Palestine as an independent state, and Spain expected to follow suit by the end of May, it appears that international momentum for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is growing.

The concept has long been supported by the US and its allies, as well as most Arab states and the United Nations […] Could things be different under different leadership? To answer this, we need to know whether the Israeli and Palestinian people could be persuaded to accept such a plan. Here it’s worth taking a look at what polling tells us.

I (unfortunately) have to agree. There’s a risk that the (far right-wing) Netanyahu government is harming Israel politically in the long run, and right-wing extremists will try to take advantage of that. It’s right-wingers against right-wingers.

The fact that many Israeli people and even some politicians (Israeli minister Benny Gantz openly threatens Netanyahu to leave the government over the PM’s Gaza policy, for example) oppose their own government doesn’t appear to matter, at least for now. People like Netanyahu or Ben-Gvir rule the country, and they are heading in the wrong direction.

I hope that changes, however, as politicians around the globe seem to reconsider their stance over the region. In Europe, Norway, Spain, and Ireland announced their recognition of a Palestinian state as of May 28.

But, yes, that’s not enough. Others must follow.

Just stumbled upon this:

Academic calls for upgrade to sewage systems to protect health

The risk to public health from human faeces in our [UK] rivers and seas will increase without action to create a wastewater system fit for the future, according to Professor Barbara Evans, Leeds’ Professor of Public Health Engineering at the University of Leeds.

The report [led by Professor Evans]says collective action by industry, government, public bodies and the general public is required. It makes 15 recommendations, including: review current bathing water regulations; prioritise maintenance of the existing sewage network; return to collecting widespread data on faecal bacteria; develop a long-term strategy for better designing cities to reduce flooding, and the appointment of a dedicated wastewater champion.

Here is the report (pdf).