Synensys

Synensys t1_j7fy7ne wrote

The basic idea is that magnetic north moves around over time (magnetic north and the north pole are not the same location). So if your boundary line is defined as a north south line, and you look at a compass to figure out where to put your wall, over time the direction that wall points relative to older walls, will change.

So present day scientists can use the orientation of the walls to track changes in the location of magnetic north pole.

https://theconversation.com/old-stone-walls-record-the-changing-location-of-magnetic-north-112827

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Synensys t1_j3sgb7z wrote

Tech companies (which are overrepresented in the reddit hivemind), which overexpanded based on access to cheap credit and people being at home and not being able to spend their money on IRL stuff. Those times have ended, and so the companies are all cutting back. But other areas that got reduced during the pandemic are expanding still (leisure and hospitality, healthcare, construction, education). . The US added 225,000 more jobs last month.

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Synensys t1_iusu63w wrote

Absolutely. We need a broad windfall profits tax. Not just for energy companies, but for all companies.

The American government, in an attempt to stave off a slow recovery during COVID poured way too much money into the economy, particularly to middle class and rich people who didn't need it. You can argue about the wisdom of this (I think it was probably a good idea, after we underspent post-2008 to be less cautious and its helped - we have super low unemployment and relatively fast rising wages, but even at the time lots of people were saying it was too much or too indiscriminate).

Those people couldn't spend it right away because of the pandemic but are now spending it like crazy. The increase in demand in turn allows companies to raise their profits without having to increase production costs - i.e. they get huge profits.

Unfortunately this is really hurting poor Americans, who while they too got extra money in the pandemic, probably spent it on necessities long ago. So it does make sense for the government to give them some assistance.

But eventually that extra money has to be taken out of the system. When it does, inflation will calm down.

But ultimately rather than letting the profits accrue in the accounts of corporate stock holders and executives, propping up the luxury markets and equities (essentially taking it out of the normal economy), they should tax windfall profits and essentially take back the excess money they doled out in 2020-21.

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