What do you just not give a single fuck about that so many people try to make you give a shit about? ( kbin.social )

Stocks, Investing, Gambling, Bitcoin .etc

Look, I'm not a fucking broker or a hustler, okay? I don't care that you keep running around telling me or others to go waste our time and money to put into markets that can be incredibly unpredictable. It is all about luck, chance and risk. Things most wouldn't want to put themselves on the line over even if they were down next to nothing. They'd rather buy lottery tickets.

Son_of_dad ,

The economy.

I'm a laborer. When the economy is bad, my cost of living goes up and the price of food goes up.

When the economy is great, my cost of living goes up and the price of food goes up.

The only people affected by a positive economy seem to be the people wealthy enough to have stock portfolios and large shares in corporations. It doesn't affect me as a laborer in any positive way ever.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

So, two points.

First, I'd encourage anyone to save. And as a place to keep savings, the market has done pretty well as to long-term returns. Having money in a portfolio isn't incompatible with working for a living.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/10/31/what-would-happen-if-you-invested-100-a-week-in-th/

Let's take a hypothetical investor named Annie as an example. At 25 years old, Annie has just landed her dream job as a chef, with a starting salary of $30,000 per year. She knows she may never make considerably more than that, but she doesn't care -- she loves her job! She also loves the idea of eventually retiring, though, and because the restaurant she works at doesn't offer pension or retirement benefits, she knows she's going to have to make that happen on her own. Living modestly, she's able to set aside an extra $100 per week, putting that money into an S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.70%) index fund that conservatively returns an average of 9% per year.

How much will Annie have at the end of just 30 years? Incredibly, somewhere around $790,000.

Surprised? This is even more surprising: If Annie can keep finding that extra $100 per week for another 10 years, she'll be sitting on roughly $2 million at the end of that 40-year stretch.

If she retires at 65, and you figure 2% inflation and use their 9% pre-inflation return, those savings generate a post-inflation maybe $140,000/year for her to live on without cutting into the portfolio in real terms.

But, okay, second, set investment aside. Let's just say "does the economy matter"?

Like, if there's a recession, GDP contracts. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people look at that and say "Well, that's just some abstract number. It's got no effect on me."

Inflation, on the other hand, clearly causes prices to rise.

I was looking at a poll from a bit back talking about how most people -- especially in Germany and the US, two of the three countries polled -- deeply dislike inflation. They would much rather have a recession than see high inflation.

In general, economists are going to go the other route. They'll say that recessions are really bad.

So, during Biden's (and Trump's, during COVID) time in office, a number of policies were made (not necessarily by them) that tended to avoid recession, but encourage inflation.

Polling shows that people were unhappy with Biden on the economy, because high (well, as the US goes) inflation showed up during his time in office.

Biden kept quoting figures that are generally considered to be very positive. Low unemployment, for example. But...there was that inflation.

When GDP drops -- and a sustained decline in GDP is what constitutes a recession -- it's indicating that there's less economic activity going on. What that tends to represent is a lot fewer people working -- a lot of layoffs. Companies going under. Maybe furloughs or reduced hours, in some cases. The impact there is that a lot of people have their income go away or be cut, a lot of things get upended.

With inflation, on the other hand, wages are sticky, tend to take a while to catch up, but do catch up. There aren't huge job losses. Things more-or-less keep moving along as they were.

I don't think that Trump or Biden would have acted wildly different on the matter. You could swap their periods in office, and both would have followed their recommendations, which would have been to favor policy that encouraged inflation and avoided recession, though then the inflation would have shown up when Trump was in office. They're not doing it because the economists advising them have some special love of having Americans pay higher prices, but rather because they'd consider that preferable to a recession and the problems that accompany that. Also, neither drives the Federal Reserve, which is what adopted an important chunk of that inflationary policy. In the absence of the pandemic, neither would have wanted inflation -- it's not that high inflation is desirable, just that it's preferable to the alternative of recession.

Son_of_dad ,

You lost me at "save". Save what? Pocket lint? Nobody has the funds for savings anymore. I used to put aside a few hundred bucks a month 10 years ago. Now I can't even afford my entire month's expenses, let alone save any money.

ameancow ,

Yeah also stopped there.

The commenter above was making that very point, that it's so worthless to give us financial advice and knowledge of the economy when a large portion of Americans are scraping together their last nickels to pay their water bills or their electric bills and not always both. Most people don't have a savings that can withstand a minor home emergency or health problem, investing or saving with intention is almost impossible for millions of people.

The funniest part here is that the commenter got a lecture about the economy anyway.

colforge ,

Save WHAT? The gas station takes their bit so I can get to work. The grocery store takes their bit so I can eat to have energy to work, and so I can feed my child. The phone company takes their bit so my boss can keep in touch with me when they want to. The insurance companies take their bits so I can say that I’m insured and have the right to drive, and to put myself deeper in medical debt if anything goes wrong. The landlord takes his bit so I can have a roof over my head. Disney takes their bit so my kid can have her favorite movies and shows on demand because that’s one thing I can give her. And now my coin purse is empty until my employer gives me my bit again. Where do the savings come from, oh wise one?

knightmare1147 ,

Whenever I hear the word 'economy' I replace it with 'rich people's yacht money.' I feel that clarifies a lot of my opinions on the matter.

doctortofu ,
@doctortofu@reddthat.com avatar

I do that too, but I use "rich fucks" - also works!

snownyte OP ,
@snownyte@kbin.social avatar

That's quite frankly how it's designed. Capitalism favors no one but those that have built it and continue building on it.

ouRKaoS ,

Celebrity gossip.

I have no idea how so many people are so invested in the lives of famous people, and all of the "Did you hear that so-and-so and some-other-jackass are having a baby!?" Is so boring...

I'd rather mow my lawn with fingernail clippers.

burrito ,

Hopefully Green Bell G-1008 nail clippers. They're significantly better than any clippers I've used before. They'd make the mowing process much better.

hactar42 ,

Like the saying goes:

Everything I know about the Kardashians I learned against my will.

fart_pickle ,

Political correctness.

surewhynotlem ,

See, I don't get this one. You were taught a language. Languages change over time. Some words are new, some fall out of favor. Why be stubborn about it?

fart_pickle ,

It's not about how you talk. It's about what you talk about.

WindyRebel ,

So what you’re saying is you just don’t give a fuck about other people? That’s what political correctness is trying to do is show some empathy from those that historically haven’t gotten much.

To your point, it does go overboard many times when it probably doesn’t need to. For example, LatinX vs Latino and/or Latina.

fart_pickle ,

I think you didn't understand my answer. Let me give you an example. If I say "I like oranges more than apples", normal people will think "ok, this guy likes oranges more than apples". But modern, progressive people who care about political correctness will call me applefobic.

People got too sensitive growing in the secure bubbles and when exposed to a real world with a real science, statistics and opinions get offended over nothing.

WindyRebel ,

I understood your point. It is covered in my “go overboard” part. I agree that people not supporting something doesn’t mean that you’re always something-phobic.

A phobia is an extreme or irrational fear and just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s always irrational. Perhaps misguided or misjudged, sure but not always irrational.

ma11en ,

Sounds like you might be a little racist, sexist, ....?

fart_pickle ,

Why?

ma11en ,

Tell what you want to talk about not silly examples like apples and oranges.

fart_pickle ,

I will but first answer my question. Why, according to you I might be a little racist, sexists?

ma11en ,

Because you are reluctant to say, and pretending you're upsetting people's sensibilities when discussing apples.

ameancow ,

People scared of being kind to others are scared of doing it wrong and being embarrassed.

Yeah there are deeper issues at work but a large, large percentage of comfortable people raging against equality and equity are far more concerned about mis-gendering someone and getting laughed at, or mispronouncing a foreign word, or not understanding an accent, and getting publicly humiliated for it.

If this seems like a really childish motivation to create an entire movement to push back on healthy initiatives for people to be good to each other, then yes, you are right, it is childish and most people are children. Think back on the last time you saw a toddler performatively act angry and throw a fit when they get chastised and you will understand the entirety of the conservative pushback against progressive social movements.

ameancow ,

I hope you understand that was just a word that politicians slapped onto the idea of empathy and kindness because it goes against an agenda, right?

You're doing exactly what people with agendas wanted, which is blanketing everything from just not being racist all the way through the micro-issues you will never be concerned with, under one, giant, dismissive label.

It's anti-intellectualism, they want you to stop thinking and be less concerned with things. Be a machine, drink your beer and consume your walmart. Don't care or be compassionate or ask for others to be treated with respect. That's all [insert bogeyman word that changes every decade].

Don't adopt other people's terms mindlessly, think for yourself.

user224 ,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Newly released music.
I have access to internet, not just decades, but centuries of music. Why should I need to know the songs released this year? It's just a drop in the ocean. I don't need to have the newest music right away.

Similarly with new movies.

Drummyralf ,

No need indeed. I guess many people most of the time enjoy the anticipation more than the actual product they consume. Anticipation can be a fun "hobby" within a hobby for people.

ExtraMedicated ,

My boss is pushing the AI stuff pretty hard lately. I just want to write my own code.

dkc ,

AI for me as well. I’ve played with it a little and it’s kinda fun. Every company is pushing AI now including in areas where it doesn’t make any sense or is many years away from being useful. I’m also seeing a lot of developers being assigned to use AI without any directions on what to use it for.

I’m far enough along in my career I don’t need to worry about being replaced by AI. If it’s ever good enough to take my job I’ll be happily retired writing software for fun and living my life without AI. I just don’t have any interest.

Cheskaz ,

While I understand that others have different priorities with phones, I've never quite understood why Lemmy is so enraged by the absence of a headphone jack...

I prefer wireless headphones. When I had wired headphones I used to regularly yank my phone off the counter when cooking, or try to walk away from my desk while tethered by a cord.

If I did ever need to use wired headphones, using an adapter isn't that big a deal to me. Although I'd probably have to use a magnetic adaptor so that when I inevitably forget that I'm connected to it and walk away, my phone/entire desktop doesn't come with me.

slazer2au ,

Bluetooth beacons are a thing. You can effectively track someone through a store to the point where you can recreate their steps all the way down to the product level.

Also, wireless headphones are just another thing to keep charged and are uncomfortable to fall asleep when wearing while the dongle means I can either charge or listen.

I get that removing the port helps with waterproofing and one less hole to clean and yea, it is 100% a personal choice.

Chee_Koala ,

I agree that the difference is small, but it feels like enshitification and an anti consumer choice to me and that frustrates. Typing this from my jackless phone 🤳. I have DAC dongles everywhere.

Alexstarfire ,
  1. Adaptor is extra
  2. My car only supports music via aux port
  3. I already have wired headphones
Futtyklam ,

Usb-c to aux, not sure if there is a similar chord with the apple chord, but it was only a couple of dollars and works with my aux car jack.

glitchdx ,

It's not the jack itself, but rather what it represents. The ability to simply and easily do what you want with a device you paid potentially thousands of dollars for, and it was taken away for no better reason than to save a few cents, or mimic a more successful company that wanted to save a few cents. Similarly, easily swappable batteries. The battery is likely the first component in a device to die, and when it does fuck you, buy a whole new phone. I used to never put my phone on a charger; I had two batteries and I'd just switch them out every morning, easy and simple. That feature was taken away by greedy megacorps who refuse to make a product that I actually want to buy, instead I have to settle for a worse product that costs more than it needs to and does less than what its replacing.

PenisWenisGenius , (edited )

If rather replace a $5 pair of earbuds every year or so than a $30 pair of wireless earbuds that lasts a year if you're lucky and only works if you remembered to charge them. Also, I hate Bluetooth because its unreliable and a pain in the ass to get stuff to actually connect. It takes 1 entire second to plug an audio cable into an audio port. You can't beat that.

lord_ryvan ,

Even if you don't use wired headphones, others shouldn't be forced to share your lifestyle if they have another preference. This is just selfish

monsterlynn ,
@monsterlynn@kbin.social avatar

Renting forever. Yeah, I'd like to own a house, sure. But on the other hand, I don't have to remove snow from my place, I don't have to pay a repair guy to fix stuff when it's broken, don't have to mow the lawn, or maintain the swimming pool. If I have problems with my neighbors, I can complain to management and they'll handle things discreetly without singling me out or involving me.

I suppose it depends on where you live, and what you're paying, but while it's not entirely ideal, it's also not awful.

JoshuaFalken ,

Seems like you're describing renting in an apartment complex or similar. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison to owning a single family home.

Not that you've raised bad points. Renting does have the benefits you've described, though lawn care in my experience is hit and miss. The issue is getting these benefits must cost something. So long as having them doesn't mean the rent is double the mortgage, then it's worthwhile.

Otherwise, renting is just another more expensive option for all the people that can't afford the upfront cost of getting into the housing market.

Miaou ,

Which country? In France and Germany tenants are expected to do all of that by themselves. On top of financing their landlord's cocaine, of course.

Edit: actually in Germany it's often the opposite, landlords will tell you about how difficult it is to own a place while sucking your blood off. Shitty country

Valmond ,

When stuff breaks, in France you call the owner and it's his duty to repair.

Swimmingpool I guess it's like cleaning the toilet or the fridge, it's your job :-) as for annoying neighbours, either you try to wait it out, you contact them or call the cops.

Something like that, it delends a bit whete you are in France.

Miaou ,

Je doute que ton proprio vienne changer un joint de plomberie, et la maintenance de la chaudière est à la charge du locataire, étrangement.

Valmond , (edited )

Effectivement, mais quand la chaudière claque, c'est à lui de le changer.

Edit: usure normale bien sûr.

thorbot ,

I shovel the driveway when it snows, takes 20 minutes and is good exercise. I don’t pay a repair guy to fix stuff, I do it myself. I mow the lawn once a week and it’s a nice chance to get outside for half an hour. I don’t maintain a swimming pool since I don’t have one. If I have problems with my neighbors I make them brownies and talk to them. And all the money I pay into my mortgage is going into an asset, not some other fuckstick’s pockets.

snownyte OP ,
@snownyte@kbin.social avatar

One would love renting because they've managed to find the sweet spot that is an area where things are relatively quiet and peaceful. Management actually cares. Tenants keep to themselves. Things are relatively retained in condition.

But if you're living in a complex opposite of that, yeah you'll hate everything about renting. Tenants who make you wonder how they scrounge enough money to pay monthly rents with how they behave. Management who you wonder how they keep their jobs with how they handle things and allow said problematic tenants to come rent from them. You'll be getting e-mails of management telling you "oh, package room has to be monitored now because package theft is now a problem" or "we'll be closing the pool down for the rest of the season because children and tenants can't behave"

And just a bunch of other issues.

treadful ,
@treadful@lemmy.zip avatar

Guns. I don't give a single shit about them either way. I don't have much interest in owning them. I don't think a ban would be effective. I don't think the US national argument about them is going to ever be resolved. Miss me with all that shit.

j4k3 ,
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

I think people are too dumb to realize places in the rurals must have them. Like in Alaska, it isn't optional with those bears.

I've come across a black bear while hunting small game and was very close in dense brush. People that have never experienced that kind of interaction lack the relevant info to have a say. While at the same time, after moving to Los Angeles for a couple of decades, owning guns here is for people with mental issues. One law can not cover all situations; it is impossible to federate. It is used as a distraction topic to avoid legislating reasonably against the loopholes of the oligarchy. It is the same reason why the news cycle camps on an election long before it is a relevant issue; there is no pressure to create reasonable legislation that would stop the privateers.

atro_city ,

One law can not cover all situations

Not all, but most. The goal isn't "banning guns", it's regulating them more strictly. If you want to get a gun, you should be mentally sound, know how to maintain it, secure it, and shoot it safely. It's the same with cars in many places on this planet: you need to go through about 60-100 hours of training, prove you're able to handle it, and know the theory around it. You can't just show up to a car show, buy a car and ride off with it without a license.

Whether you want to protect yourself from bear, shoot at birds on your farm, feel safe in your home in the middle of the city, or collect guns to never shoot them, you still must have a license to own it.

surewhynotlem ,

Guns should be as hard to get as cars. There ya go, I did it.

VARXBLE ,

You absolutely do not need a gun for black bears lol. If a situation can be handled with a loud noise, a gun is not required.

Grizzlies are obviously another story.

j4k3 ,
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

You try startling one from 10 feet away in a blind brake.

Drummyralf ,

Easy, you just loudly proclaim: "I COME TO REASON!"

Track_Shovel ,

Right there with you in stocks and Bitcoin. Computers and coding not far behind. I sound like a luddite but I have no reason to be interested in this stuff.

I also don't get a shit about pop culture icons or influencers.

It's nice under this rock, where I live. Nematodes are great company

apfelwoiSchoppen ,
@apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world avatar

Subscription music services.

leaky_shower_thought ,

electric cars.

I know that there's one benefit that they do help with the carbon footprint, but factories (law-exempted for some reason), personal jets, yachts and cruise ships make me feel this personal contribution is moot.

there's also the fact that most electric cars are shipped with privacy invasive data collectors most of use didn't ask nor pay for.

mundane ,

Electric cars don't have more data collection than other modern cars. They all collect your data, regardless of the energy source.

This needs to be regulated.

leaky_shower_thought ,

yes, all new cars today have the telemetry.

if only elecric non-"smart" cars we're a thing.

dogsnest ,
@dogsnest@lemmy.world avatar

Vinyl records....reprise!

Like holy fuck! I was buying that shit in the 60s, 70s, and 80s!!

Snap, crackle, pop, wow, flutter, echo, overruns, skips.....

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

So, I am not a vinyl fan, and do not own any. And I agree that the "quality argument" about vinyl being analog and thus being higher fidelity is pretty senseless. But a couple of points:

Vinyl avoided the loudness war

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

The loudness war (or loudness race) is a trend of increasing audio levels in recorded music, which reduces audio fidelity and—according to many critics—listener enjoyment. Increasing loudness was first reported as early as the 1940s, with respect to mastering practices for 7-inch singles.

Modern recordings that use extreme dynamic range compression and other measures to increase loudness therefore can sacrifice sound quality to loudness. The competitive escalation of loudness has led music fans and members of the musical press to refer to the affected albums as "victims of the loudness war".

Because of the limitations of the vinyl format, the ability to manipulate loudness was also limited. Attempts to achieve extreme loudness could render the medium unplayable. Digital media such as CDs remove these restrictions and as a result, increasing loudness levels have been a more severe issue in the CD era.

I'd guess that audio recorded with the expectation that it would be played on vinyl is probably optimized for that format

Same idea for old headphones or amplifiers or whatever. I don't know specifics.

LCD and LED displays, in 2024, are pretty much across-the-board better than CRTs in 1990. But a lot of old video game emulators try to reproduce artifacts that resulted from low display fidelity of CRTs. Scanlines. Blurriness. Blooming. Curvature of display. Even a bit of color fringing or the like. That's because the game was designed to be played on the system in question (or one closely approximating it). The art very frequently looks better, less jagged.

I have magnificent MIDI soundfonts that can make any MIDI audio played on my computer sound vastly more realistic than it does on old, 1990s computer synth hardware or on something like a Super Nintendo. But the music can sound much worse, because the artists were designing the soundtrack with an eye to making it sound pleasant on hardware that had the characteristics of the time.

Album art

Vinyl records were not very space efficient. But that meant that artists had a huge amount of space to create album artwork compared to CDs.

That's not something that I'm personally into, but some people really are.

Now, all the above being said, I don't own vinyl or a turntable and have no interest in ever getting one. But there are some arguments that I can understand for why people may prefer them.

MacedWindow ,
@MacedWindow@lemmy.world avatar

Having kids

slurpinderpin ,

Add getting married to that for me. I enjoy not being legally bound to another human

BadNewsNobody ,

"Babe I really love you. Like REALLY! What could possibly make our relationship better? OH I KNOW! LET'S GET THE GOVERNMENT INVOLVED!!!"

nilloc ,

You can get a deal on taxes and healthcare if you live in the US, it’s literally why my wife and I married.

We’re still happy like before and It’s been 19 years.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

stocks...incredibly unpredictable

The long-run performance of broad index funds can be pretty predictable.

empireOfLove2 ,

Of course, but the people who are constantly talking about "Stocks" and "The Market" are usually constantly trading, wheeling, dealing, doing all sorts of shit and then trying to brag about how smart they are cause they're "hustling" while... barely keeping up with or not keeping up at all with those broad index funds you already mentioned.

confusedpuppy ,

I've had stocks in a couple forms over my lifetime and after a while, both times I have pulled all my money out.

The first time was shortly after the 2008 crash. All those reassuring words my investing manager person told me were simply sweet nothings. I decided that taking the hit of losing half my money was a life lesson and used the remaining half to go travel and live a life for myself. That investing manager later went on to have a covid party out of defiance for masking requirements, caught covid and died. Felt good knowing my stranger-danger alarms were working even if I didn't understand my decisions fully at the time.

The second time I simply put my money into a low risk, government stock option for a few years. After watching global leaders fumble the handling of a global pandemic, I lost faith my own government to have my best interest in mind. I pulled my money out again.

I personally feel super uncomfortable allowing other people to make money off my money that I am risking. Even if it is low risk. It make me feel exploited.

Ultimately, I decided I don't need my money to work for me because I don't even want to work. I hate the concept of money. To me, money just disconnects us from community and nature.

If you are curious to how I live, it's with very little. I spent a number of years of my life living out of a 34 liter sized backpack. Living minimally while making sure what I owned had meaning, purpose or intention transfered over to when I finally started settling into a certain location.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Cookies and web trackers.

I don't give a shit if they collect usage data. It's actually more annoying now with the laws requiring a popup notice to opt in or out of them.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

I think that the idea that the EU might have had behind the cookie popup mandate wasn't to actually provide any useful information or options on a per-site basis, but to make users more aware of the amount of tracking occurring.

On an individual website standpoint, I agree with you -- the cookie popup law is obnoxious, and does a poor job of solving a technical problem that is better solved by just not retaining cookies. In fact, not retaining cookies -- a better approach, since I don't have to worry about whether the website is actually doing what it's saying -- exacerbates the cookie popups, because it ensures that a site cannot track you to remember whether it has already shown the cookie popup, so makes it do so all the time. Plus there were already long-existing technical options for a browser to automatically tell a website not to track the user, like P3P, that aren't disruptive from a UI standpoint. I'm just saying that I'm not sure that providing a user a way to avoid tracking on an individual website is actually the goal.

On a related note, though...generally-speaking, I don't care much about EU regulation insofar as it doesn't affect me. People in the EU can do what they want, and if they want to place restrictions that affect people in the EU, fine, whatever. I start to have a problem, though, when websites present cookie popups to me. I'm not in the EU. Now, in fairness, they do seem to have tamped down on that somewhat -- some European websites that used to show them to me seem to have stopped. But I still do get them from the occasional website.

tries a few

Like, thelocal.it is still doing it, for example. France24 doesn't appear to be, though, and I'm pretty sure they used to.

It was especially obnoxious for European websites that had some localization feature for everything but then had the cookie pop-up hardcoded to whatever was locally used of the eight million European languages out there. So the entire website would be presented in English to me except the one popup that you have to click through before seeing anything else, sometimes has extra buttons, and is in Dutch or something.

Miaou ,

I didn't read the whole comment, but absolutely nothing prevents a website from using a cookie to store that you don't want tracking cookies. Whatever source told you otherwise did a good propaganda job.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

Nobody told me that -- I even specifically addressed it in the comment that you are responding to:

In fact, not retaining cookies – a better approach, since I don’t have to worry about whether the website is actually doing what it’s saying – exacerbates the cookie popups, because it ensures that a site cannot track you to remember whether it has already shown the cookie popup, so makes it do so all the time.

Miaou ,

My bad I misunderstood what you meant

Still this is what DNT is for but no one honours that, and it's not the EU's fault

atro_city ,

Do you shit with the door open in public toilets? You have nothing to hide after all and don't require privacy there.

Alexstarfire ,

What about chocolate chip cookies?

ma11en ,

You can get a plugin for Firefox that will do that for you.

Drummyralf , (edited )

I hear ya.

I use Superagent extension in Firefox. I have it set to automatically declines all cookies. Works great about 70% of the time, which saves you 70% of cookie popups.

Also works on mobile, where popups are even worse to navigate.

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