if the entire population is afraid to not go see the film?

24/7 Power generation right next door to houses (in my area near WashDC), excessive use of potable water (or wells that might have water table impacts), new substations and high tension lines being proposed to be run right through people's yards, or the local VFW hall (Thank you for your service?) paid for by current subscribers who do not need 7.4 gigawatts/year added capacity to their neighborhood (halted so far) approved by county supervisors over the objections of virtually all residents (except those that are selling their farms to the data centers (where will veggies come from once CA runs out of water?) Holy Crap Batman!!!

then they are background noise, and just for show.

how much one guy can read when not interrupted by TV, the internet, or work. Obviously there was some obsessiveness involved, but still--impressive.

In a free and fair market. A 'rosy' audit could hide fraud, and may result in BK for the business. 2008 should have let banks fail by the boatloads, but the US govt (mostly run by rich guys) stepped in to save the banking industry (mostly run by their rich neighbors.) If one could guarantee that the CEO, CFO, COO, and all members of the BOD felt some present and future financial burden for producing rosy/fraudulent audit reports, then external audits might be more truthful or even unnecessary.

While I agree with you on one level, I worked with a teacher who apologized to me for having to go on maternity earlier than planned (life happens!) just before state test prep was set to begin. I have heard similar stories also from women who thought they were burdening their coworkers (empathy) and the students (many of whom cared little about the test anyway.) We have come to a point when many (especially college educated) are made to feel some level of shame for procreating, or receive some level of income reduction due to lost promotions. I can only speak for my little part of the US, but when procreating becomes something to apologize for, fewer will procreate.

and the CA GDP keeps going up, won't that be better for the people who stay behind? If the top 10% in the US own 2/3 of the wealth, shouldn't Californians be happy they are leaving? (Submitted by an ex-Californian who did not leave due to financial reasons (but understands them)).

Not just humans, but AI electronically pounding your equipment and trying to ruin your life while you sip. Ah, the benefits of technology.

while living in Colombia, the only ESPN I could get was from Brazil. I picked up a bit of Portuguese watching Yankees games (the only team regularly available.) O mundo do deportes! ESPN. That said, a reasonable price should be paid for such services. Wack-a-mole continues.

only then will motivated remediation begin. And by then, it will likely too late for many.

With houses far from commercial areas in most of the US, having a worker stay home means that worker cannot easily go grab a sandwich at a shop, or stop by the taco truck that used to come by the office complex. It may help to convince people to live closer to retail space (like in much of Europe, or the US in 1910) or maybe people will start to make their own lunch. Either way, the banks will lose short term.

When selling to people looking to bet on the latest trend instead of something more secure, oversight was not demanded by the buyers, and an expense for the sellers. All agreed to take the plunge with no safety net. Buyer beware.

A friend of mine (Amazon manager) is pressured to fire the bottom 10% of the team each year. My wife thinks that it is unreasonable, as do I, but I can understand that in a competition for world data domination, suffering slackers is a no go. I do not see how tech companies can be heartlessly cut-throat, and conform to collective bargaining demands at the same time. The future of employee/employer respect is playing out now, and it will be interesting to see who wins.

if history is any indication, a single desktop computer will make it seem slow.

Sometimes technology is not the answer.