Literati

I can visualize this so clearly and it feels like a fever dream

Economics is just psychology masquerading as a hard science

Rents are skyrocketing because demand is high and we literally do not have enough housing for the number of people we have in the places they live.

Suddenly dumping more money into the economy would just increase the price bar on that demand, and prices would go up more.

Prices can increase for a lot of reasons, and going up from one doesn't stop them from going up from another.

Is this a US thing I'm too French to understand?

I'd say likely yes to this. It's much easier to centrally govern a more geographically dense and homogeneous country.

In the US we have strong localized government (city/county, state) and the more sweeping Federal government.

And they do submit to central government, that's exactly what the discussion in this article is about- will the central court decide to strike down their local laws?

I feel like it'd make gift giving more difficult, but more meaningful- you would have to give people actually customized things, something you made or something you think they need that they haven't noticed. Harder, but shows more thought than giving generic-consumer-item#528

I know this is a meme, just made me think

I've been a meat eater my whole life, and a well made impossible burger is pretty damn close. There's nothing "not meat-y" about it like I've experienced with beyond meat. I even use it to make my biscuits and gravy now because I can't tell the difference at all in that.

Alternatively, I've met plenty of people who are so desperate to climb the ladder that, even knowing full well their deficiencies, they climb to a level where those deficiencies become detrimental for everyone around them.

If you aren't a good organizer, and climb into an organization centric position, that's 100% on you. If you aren't a good leader and take a coordinating position, that's on you. If you aren't good at lining up blind screws, and you knew that was a core competency for your job when you took it, that's on you. It's not that I expect you to be "smart enough to overcome" whatever you're bad at, but you shouldn't be in positions where something you're bad at, but can't overcome, is a major part of your duties.

At that point, yes, I'm going to be "mean" and directly point out your deficiencies.

Can you tell I had a fun meeting today?