Eponymous Hippopotamus

@MichaelAArouet I'll explain it: Big tech companies like Meta, Google, Uber, Spotify, Netflix, etc. Produce nothing and own everything. They control the algorithm that connects labor with consumers. Because of that, labor gets shut out of the profits that they generate.

Anyone with even a basic understanding of economics knows that rent controls reduce housing supply and make housing problems much worse. Why don’t socialists understand that economics is like physics? Only morons would fight its laws.

@CommentNoob @tebohn1962 @WallStreetApes Car-dependent infrastructure comes to mind. The more space we have for cars, the less for people. People need to buy and maintain a depreciating asset as the buy-in just to make a living. 15-minute cities could bring down the price of just surviving. Also, universal health care.

@SeizeToExist @tebohn1962 @WallStreetApes I agree there's a problem. What do you think is the issue? It's not inflation or cost of living. I already showed that it isn't when you suggested it. So what's next on the list? Should it be on the individual or someone else (e.g., employers, gov't)?

American logs into her federal student aid account so we can see her actual loans and payments - She took out a $49,548.74 loan - She’s made 120 payments, paying $25,558.36 - Her current balance is $50,121.33 So after paying $25,558.36, she now owes more than she took out “It's all such a scam”

In 1979, Ronald Reagan secretly plotted to keep American hostages from being released from Iran. This helped him get elected, and he immediately cancelled any long-term plans to stop using fossil fuels. We should have spent the 80s getting off of oil, but we didn't.

@Milajoy Wow, think of all the missiles we could send to the Middle East with that money.

This is what I voted for! D.O.G.E. has finished its clean-up of Social Security & they have remove a whopping 12.3 MILLION scammers from the Social Security system. If each fraudulent person was making just $1800/mo, then D.O.G.E. just saved Americans $22,140,000,000 A MONTH.

@CommentNoob @tebohn1962 @WallStreetApes Half of Americans couldn't budget 3 months with no income. When it's 55% of the population, it's not "Some people are irresponsible," it's a system-wide problem.

@SeizeToExist @tebohn1962 @WallStreetApes Wages are by and large keeping up with inflation. While there are systemic inequities and inefficiencies, most people are able to live within their means. It's a choice.

@tebohn1962 @WallStreetApes How can you live within your means when the cost of living literally goes up faster than your means? The only things that have gotten cheaper in the past 25 years are the so-called luxury goods that all have planned obsolescence.

The average wage went up from $56k to $72k during Trump's first term and inflation was the lowest ever. Good times! Biden wiped out the wage increases and let's not even talk about inflation. Trump has got wages back up over $3k per year so far. It's called living within your means. In the 80s when I was getting out into the world, we never had new cars or these nice apartments and definitely not new houses. I raised two kids, put them through college and had my first home at 47 years old. It's all about "keeping up with the Jones" in today's world.

@Govindtwtt The only way to make it work is to tax data and tax carbon, and use that money for UBI.

Everyone says “AI will take all the jobs.” If that happens… how does this future actually work? No jobs → no income → no spending. So who buys things? Who pays rent? Who keeps the economy moving? What am I missing here?

@ScottPresler If it's so easy to get a government ID to vote, the government should take the burden for it.

I’m just going to say it: Democrats want non-citizens to vote. You know how I know? 186 democrat members of the House voted AGAINST legislation to deport illegal aliens fraudulently receiving gov’t benefits. I mean this in earnest — how could any American be AGAINST deporting an illegal alien that is ripping off struggling American families? The same democrat members of the House advocating on behalf of illegal aliens are the same ones against requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. I can make no logical deduction other than that democrats want illegal aliens to vote in our elections. Continue to call your Senators on behalf of the SAVE America Act. Don’t stop until it’s done.

@tebohn1962 @WallStreetApes What choice did she have? Wages are stagnant, prices are going up, and young people are starting at the bottom. She didn't waste her money on hookers and blow, she needed it to live.

This demonstration is the SCAM! Here's her loan at 7% interest for 120 months. If she had made her full payment she would have been done now. She "chose" to pay less each month, because they will let you, and more interest accrues all along the way. She probably only paid about $300 per month instead of $575 that she agreed to. Stop showing this and lying to people.

@DHSgov Take some responsibility. The Democrats want to fund the TSA, you don't. You're using them as bargaining chips while the Dems are treating them like people with families to support. You have billions to turn schoolchildren into ash, you can find the money to pay the TSA.

🚨The Democrats’ DHS shutdown has already cost our economy $2.5 BILLION. This loss only takes into account the direct impact of the shutdown, including lost paychecks — but the blow will only get worse as security lines get longer and hundreds more flights are delayed or canceled.

@TukiFromKL Great, now who pays for me to live?

🚨 Do you understand what Anthropic just did? > They made an AI that sits on your computer, takes orders from your phone, and does your work while you're gone. > You text it a task.. You go live your life.. You come back to finished work. > A year ago people were arguing about whether AI could write a decent email.. Now it's running your entire machine while you sleep. > Your company doesn't need you online 8 hours a day anymore... They need you online long enough to type a message to Claude. The 9-to-5 got replaced by a text message.

@kwilson717 @TimothyDSnyder They're wearing shoes that don't fit because they are too cowardly to tell Trump he bought the wrong size. That's strength?

@TimothyDSnyder Trump has the strongest cabinet and staff than anyone except Reagan! Plus he listens to his generals and admirals, and lets them fight the war without micromanaging.

He took the greatest military force in world history, lost a war to a middle power in a week, begged the world to save him, and demanded that the media lie about this and everything else. I try, but at a simple human level I do not see how anyone can mistake this man’s almost supernatural weakness for strength. His weakness is something negative, gravitational, so deep that it can draw in a whole country. But only if we fail to see it. Only if we let it.

@FoundationDads @amynicholewilson/why-i-dont-trust-homeschooling-success-stories-69ba668d4ece" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">medium.com/@amynicholewil…

"You aren't qualified to homeschool your children." "Interesting. I need a graduate degree to teach my child 3rd-grade math?" "No, but you need to understand how children learn, different learning styles, and teaching methods." "How about I just get to know my child, and how he learns will become apparent very quickly." "No. You're ignoring classroom management techniques." "...Not sure I need classroom management techniques for my living room." "But you need to be an expert in teaching to teach your children?" "Will that guarantee better outcomes?" "Absolutely not. In fact, in most places, outcomes are getting worse with every passing year." "Sooo...what's the point?" "The point is that I spent time and money on a degree and you can't just go and do things without my approval it's totally not fair."

@davidpattersonx AI is worse than humans at everything. It's better than lazy humans at everything.

By the end of this year, we will cross a line. Autonomous cars, humanoid robots, and AI will become better than humans at everything Human labor will become inferior and obsolete. By 2030, all jobs will be replaced, and we will all be rich.

@TheRabbitHole You sure about that?

Fixed pie fallacy. Wealth is not a zero sum game.

@TukiFromKL This is only a problem because people need money.

🚨 Do you understand what happened in the last 12 hours? > A CEO of a $200 billion company said on camera that 35% of new grads won't find jobs. He didn't even flinch saying it. > Meta made $165 billion last year and is still firing 15,000 people because apparently record profit isn't profitable enough. > Some random guy in Florida sold his entire house in 5 days using ChatGPT. No real estate agent, no commission, no experience. Just vibes and a $20 subscription. > A man in Australia cured his dying dog's cancer with AI after every single vet told him there was nothing left to do. Built a custom vaccine from his couch. > The guy who created Uber and left 300,000 taxi drivers broke is back. Building robots now because apparently ruining one industry wasn't enough. > Tinder wants access to your camera roll. Your drunk photos, your 3am notes app meltdowns, your deleted selfies. They're calling it a "vibe check." > Naval, the man who made hundreds of millions investing in software, just said software is dead. Four words and the entire industry felt it. > And Anthropic removed the limit on how long their AI can think and then doubled everyone's usage for free. Because when the product is addictive enough you give the first taste away. All of that happened today. Not this week, not this quarter. Today. A random Saturday in March. This is worse than you being on meth.

@Landeur If I may offer a second opinion: If instead of working to survive, we work toward fulfilling our passions, we all have better lives. We all benefit from creative endeavors, whether scientific or artistic.

I actually think this is a bad thing. Strife and hardship moulds human beings. Difficulty and adversity brings ingenuity and beauty.

@RockChartrand So these just occur in nature?

Calling food a “human right” doesn’t produce a single calorie. Food exists because someone plants, harvests, transports, sells, and cooks it. Calling it a right just means you’re claiming a right to someone else’s labor. Civilization didn’t industrialize agriculture so people could be entitled to food. It did it so food could be produced more efficiently and traded voluntarily. A right protects your freedom to produce and buy food. It doesn’t entitle you to take it from the people who produced it.

@Milajoy You know what pissed me off? We can Social Security contributions around $100,000. We would never have any problems with Social Security if we increased, rather than decreased, contributions on those who can most afford it.

This should PISS YOU OFF! 3,920,028 illegals were given Social Security and Medicaid in 4 years. If each one of them was receiving $2k/mo that's $1,931,281,856 EVERY MONTH. Whoever set this up needs to go to PRISON. THEY RISKED OUR SENIOR’S LIFELINE.