michpoch

These professions are a core of the middle class. Maybe some of the most successful could be called upper-middle class, if they also had a large inheritance?

But a regular software dev or a GP is the perfect representation of a middle class - having enough money for comfortable life, travel, owning a house, new car, leisure activities and having money for investments.

If one can’t afford these (all at the same time) - it is not middle class. Middle class is not a “median - average salary class”, by a long shot.

> but that middle class and lower class Americans were much more likely to have Android devices.

An iPhone would be a very minor expense for a person from middle class (lawyers, doctors, sofware engineers…).

I imagine for working class or poor people Android vs iPhone could be a real concern financial though.

> For any expats, I was curious what your pathway was to getting overseas?

So... any expats? Or Americans moving overseas? Or people from the USA moving to EU countries? These will be wildly different scenarios.

For me it was signing a work contract in Switzerland and moving there from an EU country. The path to get that job was by finishing a good uni and having some work experience already while studying. Not sure this helps you much...

Yes, that’s seems rather low even? Plus that is basically almost included in their budget - 30 USD for electricity is already there.

> Also, while I agree that $40 is cheap to me, it's also an additional 10% on their budget.

They already have 30 USD per month for electricity in their budget. All year long.

> which is more than half the size of my suburban home)

How much space you need for a single person? 30-40 sqm (300-400 sqft)? That’s more than you need.

Sure, middle of winter night you might need a bit more heat, but then in June you’ll be using close to none.

At these electricity prices bothering with wood might not be worth it. If you get some, that’s nice, but otherwise just insulate the house well and you’re golden.

At 4 cents per 1kWh heating will not be an issue, even with regular resistive heater. It’s almost free electricity.

You could run a 1.5 kW heater 24/7 for roughly 40 USD a month. Just make sure the space is well insulated and not too large - but we’re talking about basic living, so that should be easy.

> No offense, but it kind of shows with every product by that company I've touched over the years.

You still have code review process which will be done by the owner of that space and someone with the language fluency.

> Until recently, Telegram operated without a clear monetisation strategy, funded largely by Pavel Durov’s personal fortune

Well, that is an extraordinary business model indeed

Right, but how do you track carbon in imported goods?

„Only” track imports?

It's trivial to implement auto fuel tax - it's already in place in most of developed countries.

Ok, let's assume you do. Let's tax all fuels 300% in the US. Now all manufacturing stops as your production costs are all over the roof. Everything is imported from countries that do not have these taxes.

What problem was solved here? None.

This is already done, in Europe most of the fuel costs are taxes.