Google's average global income tax rate over the last 10 years is apparently 26%.

Google is an investor in Commonwealth Fusion. I expect this deal isn't about Google actually getting 500 MW in 2032, but a method to a) give CF more money and b) to demonstrate confidence in them. Probably there are some tax advantages over just giving them more money.

Yes, that is Canada's position regarding the US.

Country A is very large and powerful and likes minding other people's business, in many ways.

I'm not sure what you're talking about, but it's not what I'm talking about.

So when Lindsey starts reading from her AmEx-approved script

She's not an AI, she's a script. I suppose if she's a well written script she might be a decision tree.

https://www.oceanoculus.com/ne...

The argument is that some companies that are physically located in country A operate in country B but do not pay taxes there. If they were regular goods or services companies they (or their customers) probably would have to pay taxes through various mechanisms. But because they're "digital services" i.e. advertising on web pages, they don't.

If you want the US to start taxing offshore tax schemes, like Microsoft licensing their logo from an Irish company for 90% of their revenue, it's the same situation.

Or you can just look at it as a tariff on services or personal information crossing the border. A 3% tariff, in contrast to Trump's uh, whatever double digit percent they're at right now.

I think a better approach would be to just require that all Canadians' personal information be required to be stored in Canada, where it could be taxed the normal way. But Facebook et al would scream WAY louder about that.

Law and medicine are advanced degrees.

They're not really. They're professional degrees, just like engineering. It's not typical anymore in the US to go straight into medicine from high school, but lots of schools either require only a year or two of "pre-med" or have "accelerated programs" where you do a bachelor's degree and an MD at the same time. Other professional schools are often similar, requiring some post-secondary education before you can be admitted.

Medical specialization is arguably analogous to graduate studies, although it's more like an apprenticeship, focused on practical learning before professional licensure, and engineering and law often require the same, although law seems not to in the US.

MDs being styled as advanced degrees goes back to when some Scottish medical school decided that their medical graduates were "senior scholars" and should be given the title "doctor" in the 17th century. Which is silly, because "doctor" is Latin for "teacher." Some law schools have jumped on board and give out JDs, which must get confusing because there are also actual doctorates in law.

The first US transcontinental railroad in particular was funded by federal, state and private bond issuances, plus grants of federal land. It was a public-private partnership except nobody had invented the fancy name yet.

Algorithms are absolutely math.

Computer science isn't about "dev debates" or "maintainters." This is precisely what the OP was talking about.

Skipping a best practices calculation because your boss was in a hurry is screwing up. You can, and should go to jail for it. I don't know if the "can" part is true in the US or not. Would explain some things.

You should probably reply to the other guy. Now I've got opinionated Americans telling me the head of your health system (such as it is) should both be an physician and shouldn't be a physician.

You guys might want to start with "shouldn't be a complete nutball" and work up from there.

Apparently the only solution politicians have is to start another sub-prime mortgage bubble.

Well, that would fix the problem. Of course homeowners don't want the value of their largest asset reduced. But easier mortgages, well, that will just increase it right? Oh no, a crash, who could have seen that coming?

I doubt it's on purpose, but it might be the only way to solve the problem.

I didn't see the term "artificial intelligence" in there anywhere, sorry. Not even "intelligence."

They should call a typical 4 year degree in such "Information Systems Engineering" (ISE)

That's possibly even worse.

Computer Science is math.

XX Engineering is processes, best practices and quality control so you don't go to jail for screwing up. And you can go to jail for screwing up.

They should call a software development programs something like "Software Development." E.g.