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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • 10%.

    • Chance he runs for vice president and wins, with the presidential candidate resigning promptly: 5%
    • Chance he cancels or significantly delays election: 3%
    • Chance he successfully refuses to leave office after election using force: 2%

    Here are all the ways that doesn’t happen:

    • Chance he dies of natural causes: 70% - it’s about one in three per year for a man in his early 80s, which would give us 1-0.66^4 = 81% for four years, but he has access to the best possible medical care
    • Chance he runs for vice president and wins, with the presidential candidate promising to resign promptly, and is betrayed: 10%
    • Chance he attempts to cancel or delay the election and fails: 10%
    • Chance he refuses to leave office after election and is removed: 10%

    These things have a less than 1% chance:

    • Constitutional amendment
    • Supreme court allows him to run for a third term in violation of the unambiguous text of the constitution






  • That’s probably not true, but hard to calculate.

    The previous time I looked, which was a while ago, federal fuel tax revenue in the USA and federal highway expenditures were about equal. Since then, fuel tax revenue has fallen behind highway spending; the required increase to even it out would be modest in absolute terms - something like 15 cents per gallon. States each have their own taxes and budgets, of course.

    As for the road damage each car causes, it increases (roughly) proportional to the fourth power of vehicle weight. Semi trucks and similar heavy commercial vehicles cause almost all of the traffic-induced road wear, and passenger cars contribute very little. It’s likely the fuel taxes paid for a passenger car (even a relatively large one) are several times its marginal impact on road maintenance.