The attempt to excuse them is part and parcel of the new, hip, establishment HN.
There is a very strong pro-law-enforcement mentality that has suffused HN in the last few years, primarily due to the heavy influence of popular law-enforcement apologists like rayiner and tptacek.
No, the consensus of scientists who actually study this is pretty strong, and supports the parent's post. Jayman has collected a nice sequence of citations on the matter, most of which are peer-reviewed:
You missed the OP's point. Most of us unknowingly commit major crimes in the course of our day, just given the sheer volume of statutes arrayed against us.
OP is referring to when prosecutorial discretion permits "the powers that be" to use this fact against people who fall into disfavor.
It's amusing that you think an entity that needs to borrow more in order to service its existing debt is somehow not insolvent, and thus already in inevitable default.
Side note: peak oil is still very much a thing. Enhanced recovery and fracturing of source rocks bought us about another 15 years, but the Seneca cliff is still there.
The stock market on the other hand, indicates the overall health of the country.
I think the parent's ultimate point is that no country (by which I mean under the same constitution, monetary system, or de facto political arrangement) has lasted longer than a few hundred years.
Even if everything seems economically fine right now and for the foreseeable future, at some point all countries and their associated economies go away and are replaced by something else entirely, at which point the stock market index within said structure goes to at or near zero.
You just need to take a longer time horizon than "when I retire".
It should be pointed out that traditional merchant gateway providers (larger, with more resources) are WORSE than stripe in this regard. Prior to stripe, we used cybersource. It was a support disaster, to say the least.
You are likely not a Stripe customer, because this is patently false. They forward all disputed charges to you and give you a window to provide evidence that the dispute is invalid.
There is a very strong pro-law-enforcement mentality that has suffused HN in the last few years, primarily due to the heavy influence of popular law-enforcement apologists like rayiner and tptacek.