The problem is that the fatality rate for all medical problems goes up when your healthcare system is overwhelmed and your providers are sick or dying.
Don’t get appendicitis when your local hospitals are setting up tent cities to cope with the demand.
For those who don't know (including me), IFR means Infection Fatality Rate. "applies to infectious disease outbreaks ... [and] represents the proportion of deaths among all infected individuals, including all asymptomatic and undiagnosed subjects."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_fatality_rate
Is anyone (who is paid/lives in the US) concerned about the future value of USD? A lot of my friends are saying I should be investing in cryptocurrencies for future safety, but I don't see those as very stable, so I'm hesitant to put my savings into it.
Cryptocurrency is certainly not a good place to put savings, as its price is way too unstable to be a store of value. If you're unsure about the value of the USD, then traditional investments like gold would probably be a better choice. Like other comments mention, even though lots of money was created for economic stimulus, it's used in such a way that makes it deflationary long-term (as seen by the projected 0.62% inflation rate for this year and only 2.24% next year[1]).
Investing in crypto is always nuts, but especially if you are trying to reduce risk. Don't listen to your friends. Buy index funds, with more into bonds if you really want less risk. You won't ever beat the market on average as a retail trader.
What if you don't need a home, but could realistically finance one? Is there incentivisation in real estate over stable(-ish) equities if you're not looking for a long term home for yourself/family
The only advantage I see is that huge amount of capital you can borrow at a low rate, probably lower than the rate of a weakening dollar, and could potentially turn it into a rental to pull in inflation adjusting income, in addition to your fixed work income. That said, pulling your down payment out of rising stocks to do so may not be the most profitable, but it does serve as a good diversification of asset.
Im not a financial advisor, just a software engineer, but my father is and I've convinced him into buying a second home with me when the right one becomes available (waiting for the supply to open up a bit, we lost our first offer to a cash offer). Key points for purchasing were diversification of assets, pulling out some money from the high riding market before a blue sweep and subsequent taxes, and rates so low that combined with inflation(including assets) the gov is paying you to take out a loan.
They could go also back where they were a year ago and lose half your money. Then enjoy a lost decade of no recovery as the US piles up Japan-style debt. Not making a prediction, just saying what goes up fast can also come down just as fast. For less narrow stock choices, there's whole index funds, both domestic and international. Also bond funds.
There are all sorts of inflation-protected assets you can buy. At a basic level, any durable asset will provide inflation protection. But you could also buy things like Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.
1-10% into crypto is fine as long as you invest in the bluechips (Bitcoin and Ethereum) depending on your risk tolerance. Don't go all in, and dollar cost average.
Wow, that is a fascinating video and such an inspiring spirit of hacking. I'd love to learn more about the electrical engineering side of computer science to be able to do similar experiments.
> A conversation with Laurent Mazare about how your choice of programming language interacts with the kind of work you do, and in particular about the tradeoffs between Python and OCaml when doing machine learning and data analysis. Ron and Laurent discuss the tradeoffs between working in a text editor and a Jupyter Notebook, the importance of visualization and interactivity, how tools and practices vary between language ecosystems, and how language features like borrow-checking in Rust and ref-counting in Swift and Python can make machine learning easier.
My experience in software is pretty different than his, though I find his insights very welcome and quite valuable. I don't really have to build large systems, I work mainly with programs I'd describe as duct tape and wrenches. They're small and one-off, and the main goals are to compose them quickly and arrive at a stable behavior that I can write solid tests for. With ocaml, I think the way I'd write a lot of programs I use python for is roughly the same way, just piping a bunch of crap together and then cramming it into a test harness, but with ocaml I can have type safety and speed and a higher level of footgun to do work with. For me. I do weird work.
If I was a more typical software guy, I'd be able to relate a lot more.
I've had this exact sentiment since the beginning but like you say, I've been shouted at (digitally here on HN and in person) that I don't care about grandmas dying.
> Why doesn't the government have more power to shut things down so we can save my 99 year old grandma on life support from being taken from us in her prime?
Seriously. I know too many people that simultaneously denounce any sign of dictatorial government, but then can't praise loud enough any governor that shuts down their entire state.
