Obviously everyone knows there are costs. It’s free (at the point of use) but almost noone needs the brackets to be explicit. The point being that it’s more efficient and you continue to get it even if you have no “gross income” because we’re not monsters.

Also how many countries have a “fixed percentage” with literally no allowances or brackets. I can’t think of any.

Nah this is just whataboutism. We all agree that the highest severity issues are access to heathcare/nutrition/sanitation/education in developing countries or among the homeless etc. That doesn’t mean we are suddenly not allowed to talk about anything else.

Do you do this in real life?

Colleague: “hey did you catch the game this weekend, boy I hate being a jets fan”

Blarghly: “that’s rather gauche, don’t you know there’s major food insecurity in sudan”

It has the intellectual weight of a parent trying to cajole their toddler into eating.

Yeah, again this is just semantics, a 401k in British English is 100% a pension. A UK defined contribution “workplace pension” is just a tax sheltered retirement account until it is annuitized, which is common and sensible but not necessary. The annuity is technically a totally different product, offered by life insurance companies (who interestingly with reference to above conversation would typically hold very little equity exposure backing it). Brits also call the equivalent to the social security retirement benefit the “state pension”. It’s a catch all for assets you use in retirement. Whether that’s used to fund an investment drawdown product or a life annuity or just taken out and splurged on a Ferrari makes no difference.

About half of the US population is enrolled in a pension even today…

https://www.unpri.org/private-retirement-systems-and-sustainability/private-retirement-systems-and-sustainability-united-states/5990.article#%3A~%3Atext=The+US+is+the+world's+biggest+funded%2Cactive+(working)+members+and+10.3+million+retirees.

Not true of UK defined contribution, you can do what you want just like a 401k, though it may be disadvantagous for tax purposes.

It’s pretty normal in British English to use pension as a synonym for retirement account, though I can see why you don’t like that.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bigot

It’s mad given that Scotland technically is quite pro-renter. You just can’t enforce anything so landlords have learned not to give a fuck. A friend viewed a tennament they were trying to let with no kitchen (as in no cooker fridge or sink). Like something out of trainspotting.

Thiiis. The insiders need to laud the goals of protesters and the protesters need to ease off on the “complicit” insiders a bit. We are on the same team, and the combination of approaches is more powerful. Disagreeing on methods is fine, you pull, we push, momentum baby.