any advice welcome

1. Don’t go back to Reddit.
2. Read Rule 5 in the sidebar.

Norway exports far more than they use, and petrol prices there are among the highest in the world.

Your idea is to not have insurance. This makes sense for expenses you can cover from your own savings. It makes less sense for expenses you can’t cover from savings. This is why insurance was created, it is a way to pool catastrophic risks where the majority who won’t need it (as much) cover the costs of the minority that does.

For health insurance specifically, it doesn’t make economic sense to not cover the entire population, which is why top economies implement such a system in various ways.

I didn’t really look into what this startup did, but it doesn’t surprise me. Elon Musk has a very similar kind of story, bullshitting his way to being a billionaire. The system is very heavily stacked in favour of dishonest people.

How is this guy a fucking CEO?

Wealthy background. Dropped out, got lucky with a startup and sold his stake for a decent sum, gaining enough momentum to keep failing upward.

The guy is absolutely clueless, which can be mathematically proven on the basis of the fact that he invested in a crypto firm.

Really? Seems I can’t step a millimetre in a doctor’s office without them asking if I’m allergic to anything (turns out that being allergic to stupidity isn’t an issue when it comes to medical treatment).

Life hack: use the one your doctor prescribes.

Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? “No,” says the man in Washington, “it belongs to the poor.” “No,” says the man in the Vatican, “it belongs to God.” “No,” says the man in Moscow, “it belongs to everyone.” I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different.

• Claude in the near future, probably

American voters are doing their part to “help,” crying about “high” fuel prices (less than half of what they are here) when one of the big issues is that undertaxation of petrol has led to underinvestment in alternatives.

Oh my bad, I interpreted the comment as saying it should be a general requirement.

ArXiv uses an endorsement system so that not everyone can post there. However, sometimes dubious “scientists” manage to slip through the cracks, which is why there is moderation for cases such as these.

ArXiv is a place where researchers put papers before they are accepted and peer reviewed (“preprints”). Requiring this would defeat the purpose of arXiv, which is to allow fellow researchers to see material that is not peer reviewed before it is published. Before arXiv, this happened only through informal discussions and meetings during conferences.

No chlorine?

If you think it’s normal that a hotel breakfast buffet (in a very expensive hotel at that) doesn’t serve good bread, I think it underscores my point.

I base that assessment on my experiences visiting the USA, and what I heard from colleagues who lived there.

When I visited (Aspen, CO) the tap water tasted like dirty pool water. I guess it can be better in other areas. The bread was terrible as well, easily the worst I had in any hotel breakfast in any country I’ve visited. From what I understand, Whole Foods has some decent options, but is expensive. You can make your own bread of course, but that’s a more time-consuming option.

Not really financially constrained, but I also don’t spend a lot on groceries as I just don’t like wastefulness. Some tips:

• No alcohol.
• No tobacco.
• No branded products.
• No soda. I drink mostly tap water, though considering you’re American that might not be a viable option.
• I eat quite a lot of bread, though again it might be difficult for you to get edible bread.
• Frozen vegetables are good, decently healthy and easy to buy in bulk.
• Rice and dried pasta are cheap and easy to combine with the above.
• Modest amounts of animal protein, if any. Cheap alternatives include tofu and peanuts.
• Since you’re alone, you can cook for two or three days and save some time and money. One option is to cook for two servings but alternate, so that you eat the second serving 2 days after. That way you don’t have to eat the same thing twice in a row.

Not only “could” it be done, it already exists - though probably not to the degree we could say such societies are “egalitarian” (except in a relative sense).

Get ready for people losing all that was in their wallets.

Sounds like every crypto firm.

Omelette du fromage is actually wrong, it does mean “cheese omelet” but it’s not how you say it. You say “omelette au fromage.” (Funny: the Wikipedia article has a chapter containing an analysis of the various viewpoints on what to drink alongside a cheese omelet.)

What in Germany is called Steuer is not the same as taxes. Taxes are just the sum of your mandatory contributions from your gross income, including contributions for health care, pensions, public broadcasting, etc. Steuer is a part of your taxes.

The cost of “full insurance” is something like €500-1000, no one on Bürgergeld and few on Arbeitslosengeld are going to be able to afford that. Though you’re right that it doesn’t make any sense to have health care coverage tied to your employer when the insurance is mandatory for everyone anyway - that’s a bureaucratic relic from the past.

Health insurers for mandatory insurance in Germany are not private companies but semipublic nonprofits.