#(self fulfilling prophecy and vicious cycle in one)

[robertreich]

How Wall Street Priced You Out of a Home

Rent is skyrocketing and home buying is out of reach for millions. One big reason why? Wall Street.

Hedge funds and private equity firms have been buying up hundreds of thousands of homes that would otherwise be purchased by people. Wall Street’s appetite for housing ramped up after the 2008 financial crisis. As you’ll recall, the Street’s excessive greed created a housing bubble that burst. Millions of people lost their homes to foreclosure.

Did the Street learn a lesson? Of course not. It got bailed out. Then it began picking off the scraps of the housing market it had just destroyed, gobbling up foreclosed homes at fire-sale prices — which it then sold or rented for big profits.

Investor purchases hit their peak in 2022, accounting for around 28% of all home sales in America.

Home buyers frequently reported being outbid by cash offers made by investors. So called “iBuyers” used algorithms to instantly buy homes before offers could even be made by actual humans.

If the present trend continues, by 2030, Wall Street investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes.

Partly as a result, homeownership — a cornerstone of generational wealth and a big part of the American dream — is increasingly out of reach for a large number of Americans, especially young people.

Now, Wall Street’s feasting has slowed recently due to rising home prices — even the wolves of Wall Street are falling victim to sticker shock. But that hasn’t stopped them from specifically targeting more modestly priced homes — buying up a record share of the country’s most affordable homes at the end of 2023.

They’ve also been most active in bigger cities, particularly in the Sun Belt, which has become an increasingly expensive place to live. And they’re pointedly going after neighborhoods that are home to communities of color.

For example, in one diverse neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wall Street-backed investors bought half of the homes that sold in 2021 and 2022. On a single block, investors bought every house but one, and turned them into rentals.

Folks, it’s a vicious cycle: First you’re outbid by investors, then you may be stuck renting from them at excessive prices that leave you with even less money to put up for a new home. Rinse. Repeat.

Now I want to be clear: This is just one part of the problem with housing in America. The lack of supply is considered the biggest reason why home prices and rents have soared — and are outpacing recent wage gains. But Wall Street sinking its teeth into whatever is left on the market is making the supply problem even worse.

So what can we do about this? Start by getting Wall Street out of our homes.

Democrats have introduced a bill in both houses of Congress to ban hedge funds and private equity firms from buying or owning single-family homes.

If signed into law, this could increase the supply of homes available to individual buyers — thereby making housing more affordable.

President Biden has also made it a priority to tackle the housing crisis, proposing billions in funding to increase the supply of homes and tax credits to help actual people buy them.

Now I have no delusions that any of this will be easy to get done. But these plans provide a roadmap of where the country could head — under the right leadership.

So many Americans I meet these days are cynical about the country. I understand their cynicism. But cynicism can be a self-fulfilling prophecy if it means giving up the fight.

The captains of American industry and Wall Street would like nothing better than for the rest of us to give up that fight, so they can take it all.

I say we keep fighting.

[cheesesoda]

calling you out based on your favorite triplet!

it’s ya girl back at it again with the call out posts

cw: mentions of mental health issues, sexual trauma, and EDs

nick: if you’re a nick girl/boy/person, i get the feeling you’re the oldest. you sometimes tend to feel sorry for yourself and then you feel bad about feeling sorry for yourself and it becomes a vicious cycle. you probably have either dealt with body image issues or an eating disorder (idk every nick person i’ve met has dealt with that). you’re probably pretty insecure and you constantly compare yourself to all your friends and it’s tearing you apart. you have a hard time accepting compliments because you simply don’t believe them. i think there’s a lot you don’t talk about but then you blame others for your secrecy and feel bad for yourself, as if they just don’t understand. maybe try letting people in and let them have a shot at trying to understand you. you’re not an enigma.

songs you remind me of:

prom queen by beach bunny

not strong enough by boygenius

idontwannabeyouanymore by billie eilish

sippy cup by melanie martinez

orange juice by melanie martinez

tv by billie eilish

matt: if you’re a matt girl/boy/person, you’re probably the quietest one of the group. you possibly grew up without many friends and you often feel left out or unseen. you were the quiet kid and never really talked. you’re very nurturing and you try to take care of all your friends because you want them to know you see them. you’ve most likely dealt with mental health issues (specifically anxiety and/or depression). you tend to overthink a lot and you probably have a lot more to say than you actually say. you were probably the one who walked on the grass, the one who was the photographer but never in the photo, and the one who sat alone at lunch. as a kid, you went unnoticed but now you’re not. as a result, you end up purposely excluding yourself from your current friend group(s) because it’s what you’re used to and then you end up isolating yourself but you don’t realize that you’re doing it to yourself. i hope you’ll see that people do notice you and they do care about you. you’re not invisible.

songs that remind me of you:

the archer by taylor swift

chosen last by sara keys

letter to my 13 year old self by laufey

nobody by mitski

afraid by the neighbourhood

everything i wanted by billie eilish

chris: if you’re a chris girl/boy/person, i think you grew up too quickly. you probably had to start looking out for yourself at way too young of an age and now you have a hard time accepting nurturing and loving treatment. i get the feeling that you were sexualized from a young age too and you probably have some sexual trauma. as a result, you act hypersexual because it’s what you’ve been made to believe you’re supposed to be. people don’t take you seriously, probably because you are the funny one or the pretty one but you’re actually very observant and analytical. you notice things most people don’t. you’ve often been the butt of the joke in the friend group so now you make fun of everyone else before they can make fun of you. you might come off as mean but i think you’re just scared of being vulnerable. you definitely have commitment issues which probably stems from your childhood trauma (including but not limited to family issues). you end up getting yourself into dangerous or unhealthy or self destructive situations because it’s what you’re used to and you think it’s what people expect from you. you don’t have to follow your self fulfilled prophecy. you don’t have to be what others tell you that you are.

songs that remind me of you:

goddess by laufey

labyrinth by taylor swift

safeword by tv girl

don’t miss me by claire rosinkranz

brand new city by mitski

first love/late spring by mitski

[cogentranting]

The way they played into the existing Jon and Jordan dynamic with Jon's powers is really an interesting set up.

Because Jon's powers coming to him very naturally makes a lot of sense, whether because they're coming in later or just because of something in line with his natural athleticism. And then you get Jordan's little bitter comment about everyone thinking Jon will be better with them, followed by Sam indirectly kind of expressing the same sentiment (not to Jon and Jordan. but he said it).

What's most interesting about that is that it IS Jordan's anxiety and insecurity talking, but its also kind of true. Jon in many ways is emotionally more equipped to handle it. In many ways Jon is more mature. And what Sam said about Jon being a natural leader--I'm not sure to what extent that's true of Jon but its certainly more true of him than it is of Jordan. But it's all sort of vicious cycle because Jordan's insecurities are a lot of the times the reason why Jon is more mature, more of a leader, more patient, more considerate. The more Jordan's fears and insecurities eat away at him, the more those fears drag him down. And the more in his head he gets about "Jon is better than me, people like Jon more" etc. the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Being the one with powers has for a while been a sort of double-edged sword because it gave him something to be confident about, but because it was sort of this achievement and comparison-based sense of self worth it was sort of gas on a fire and caused a lot of his worst moments of being entitled and petty and whatnot. And now Jon has powers too, and that's an interesting thing to make Jordan reckon with.

[greatcelestialhieroglyphs]

Backslide, Vignette, Snap Back, and Oldies Station are so desperately important to me.

For the past few years, I’ve been struggling with a self-destructive habit that I haven’t been able to break. Even though my family has been super loving and understanding, I keep feeling like THIS time is going to be the time that they get fed up and give up on me for good. “Do you think that now’s the time, you should let go?” I feel like I’ve asked that question a thousand times. And the repetition, which sounds (to me) like he’s TELLING the person he’s talking to that they should let go. They SHOULD get tired of me. My self-destructive habits are hurting the people I cared about. I should have fixed it for THEM if not myself, I should have loved them better.

Vignette just sounds like a relapse to me. The way Tyler sings “Man, it’s been a long night” and “Where do I go from here?” are so filled with exhaustion and desperation. The mental image of people he cares about finding him in the woods, covered in bites, as someone finding you after a relapse and seeing what you’ve done to yourself.

Snap Back is. just. Sometimes you can FEEL your resolve getting weaker, you can FEEL yourself buckling under life’s pressures and going to familiar coping mechanisms. You want to be stronger, to have more resolve, but you’re so freaking tired and it feels inevitable. After all, it only takes ONE weak moment. You have all day to relapse. You have all night. You have all week. Can you REALLY stay determined that long? You’ve done this before. You know you can’t.

(And this line of thinking is inherently self-defeating. You’ve relapsed so many times that you’ve lost faith in yourself. You don’t have faith in yourself, so you can’t win. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy.)

And at the end, when you’ve tried everything and said everything to the people you love as they’re sad and angry and worried and afraid and proud and everything else over the years… “I’ve run out of excuses for why I am this way.”

Finally. Oldies Station. Because life is going to keep coming, and you’re probably going to relapse. You’re still learning to deal with fear and pain without hurting yourself in the process. But you’re still here.

“Make an oath, then make mistakes. Start a streak you’re bound to break.” This philosophy is one I’ve been trying to adopt for years. No matter how many times you relapse, you NEED to keep fighting. There is so much freedom in staring again, KNOWING you’ll probably fail, but putting your all into it anyway. Because sometimes, your all isn’t enough. Whether that’s because life is too hard or you’re too weak doesn’t really matter. That’s not what you need to be focusing on. When darkness rolls on you, when you’re filled with grief and shame and whatever emotions plague you in a vicious cycle, you push on through.

You get better. You get stronger. It’s so slow, but it happens. You’re still here.

And when you do relapse again, you may be disappointed, but you can feel yourself on the come up even when you’re at a low point.

You fell into a backslide yet again, but you don’t quite mind. And isn’t that the goal of healing?

Peace?

[atopvisenyashill]

one thing i remain baffled by is how they decided to portray jace's visit to winterfell. they made cregan's voiceover the opening sequence of the entire season yet gave us next to nothing to explain why he gets so involved later on. it's almost like they treated the north's appearance as fan service. i understand them deciding that the accounts we have are inaccurate or biased, but if none of that was cregan's motivation then what WAS? any ideas where they're going with him???

okay a few things

yes objectively they're just treating the entire northern plot and i would argue the bulk of the riverlands arc as fan service. i think this is bad writing that came about due to the short seasons - they've talked a bunch about how hotd is more "intimate" it's about this One Family but that's just like,,,,, not true! For one thing, there's THREE different families here lmao (Targaryens, Velaryons, Hightowers) but for another even despite some of the annoying fixation on Only Targaryen Kings that F&B has, every section is about that king's COURT not JUST about the Targaryens in it and the dance specifically is about a LOT of different people. but they just prioritized the king's landing/dragonstone story lines over everything else to the detriment of every other story line so now the north and riverlands, which is INTEGRAL to the ending of the dance, is reduced to like, that unnamed prince of dorne cameo equivalent in got s8 instead of being an entire story arc in and of itself.

i think even more specifically, this season likely WAS supposed to be the same amount of eps (10) as last season but then the strike happened. they could see it was about to happen and figured they had eight scripts mostly finished so they prioritized those and are going to tack the last two eps onto the front end of season 3. this is a wildly different show but grey's anatomy did something similar with seasons one and two - they had scripts for 16 episodes of the first season but the network said they're only getting 13 episodes, so they tacked the last three onto the front of season two, so season two was like 27 episodes. the thing about that is that the "finale" of season one is still REALLY good as ending point (that "meredith i'm so sorry" "you must be the woman that's fucking my husband" is just an amazing goddamn ending to a season) so it really worked as the finale ( i honestly didn't realize it wasn't meant to be the finale until a few years later). vs this is so clearly not the finale they were gearing up to and i would bet real money on the first two eps of next season being FULL of action and ep 2 being very obviously the finale we were meant to get, and probably features the winter wolves.

beyond strike/production interference which i do think is the main issue...........the hater's take is that this is a self fulfilling prophecy wherein the main show refused to prioritize the Stark storylines (completely changing and utterly destroying both Sansa and Bran's arcs, forgetting about Rickon for years on end, turning Arya and Jon into standard Action Heroes instead of a conversation on the harm being forced to be The Action Hero takes on a person's psyche, stealing Catelyn's entire arc and giving it to Robb then cutting them both off at the knees anyway) because they thought the Lannisters and Dany were cooler, getting that sweet sweet merch money because the Lannisers and Dany have name brand recognition, then prioritizing them more in the story because that's what the fans want, then justifying it because its what the fans want, but the reason the fans want it is because they cut the Starks to begin with, etc etc. Vicious cycle here until we get the poor Cregan actor doing his best Kit Harington impression and nothing else. They obviously aren't the only people to get that treatment (see DORNE see GREYJOYS) but it's like...this is one of the main three families in this series, reduced to nothing because they're "boring." They're only boring because these bitches cut every single aspect of their story out of the goddamn show! "north story is boring" sorry but if you think the winter wolves are boring and claim you like asoiaf because it's "real and gritty" i think maybe you don't actually like the "real and gritty" parts of the story at all, i think you just want to see a hot person with a shitty blond wig kill people on a dragon. unfortunately, d&d did only want to see that lmao and that's the world we're stuck in now.

[follows-the-bees]

While I'm mad about Dead Boy Detectives and how much queer media is canceled (any streaming media really), the self fulfilling prophecy of it is exhausting. There's an entire season of a show starring Jeff Goldblum and other incredible actors that's a modern telling of Greek Mythology and there has not been ANY advertising for it. (It is called Kaos.)

All this money is spent on one season of a show, none on advertising, then they release it to no fanfare, say the numbers aren't there, and cancel cause no one is aware of it!!

This vicious cycle is exhausting.

Also, I know people are dissuaded from watching new stuff because it will get canceled, especially those shows with queer people, POC, stories that aren't palpable to the " white conservative middle America" demographics. But don't let them win, don't let them only make IP. Watch those shows that artists spent years making.

Also sign the petition for Dead Boy Detectives.

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

thinking abt ur validar post because i actually thought about that a little in my stupid werewolf fic. I had to really sit down and be like "what the fuck would people even FIND attractive about this guy enough to have a baby" and I didnt wanna just use the occult angle and it hit me that Validar isn't self-caring because he hates he's not the vessel he wanted and yeah he definitely IS the equivalent of That Parent. You know the one. What I'm saying is maybe there's a commentary to be made here abt how the Plegian people and him in turn felt so dehumanized in general after a point even the extremist sects of Grimleal were better bc well, if you become food for Grima/BECOME Grima's body then you're useful and good and righteous. What gets me is Plegia isn't poor, either, but its poor in sustainability outside the ocean... idk, a lot of food for thought with Validar here. I didn't expect to think abt him in FEH so deeply but here we are.

Honestly it's kind of embarrassing how much I HAVE deeply thought about Validar. I've been wanting him to get into FEH for a long time now. A lot of his lines in Awakening are so poorly written that it's hard to make sense of him as a person. But even though you can't really argue that he's in any way sympathetic in the text... For me at least, there's no such thing as a completely unsympathetic villain, and I can't help feeling sorry for both him and the other members of the Grimleal...

I mean, yeah, when Aversa explains that Plegia suffering under Gangrel was useful because it drove the people to worship, I think we ARE supposed to feel bad for the common people. But I think it's easy to fall into a trap of trying to distinguish those ordinary citizens from the evil, manipulative leaders like Validar just a little bit too much. Aren't they all trapped in the same vicious cycle, in the end?

Over the course of the game, we occasionally fight some Grimleal enemies who are... really just nasty, and not supposed to be given a second thought at all. But I can't help but be moved that they call out to Grima with their dying words... "Master Grima... my life force... is yours..." (Chalard, Chapter 8). "Lord Grima... Rain down... retribution..." (Jamil, Paralogue 6).

The Grimleal... love Grima. Even Validar loves Grima. Aversa says he's everything she knows of love, but she also doesn't presume he loves HER, so of course it's his devotion to Grima that she sees. Notably, it's this form of love that makes her content to die for him.

So I end up feeling deeply moved, even though (or more accurately, BECAUSE) the entire philosophy behind the Grimleal is so horrific. The deep despair these people must feel in order to see salvation in the form of humanity's destruction... It's NOT just "hee hee powerful dragon will make me powerful" because these people, including Validar, do not presume that they are special and going to survive. Even the leader of the Grimleal is nothing. Grima alone is everything.

And... okay I talk a lot about the symbolism of Grima's name meaning mask, which I love so much, but lately I've also been thinking about the meaning of their Japanese name, Gimurei—from Norse, Gimlé, referring to the place where the righteous will dwell in happiness after Ragnarok, which will stand "even when both heaven and earth have passed away." So... yes, I do think that for the Grimleal, giving their souls to Grima is a way of becoming righteous. The world is cruel and ugly but Grima will make it right :::)

(Of course, because they believe Grima is the only answer, no one does anything to make the world they have any better. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. One that Grima is drawn into as well. When this is what they wake up to, what are they supposed to do? If they don't destroy the world, they will be letting a LOT of people down.)

[kaylor]

absolutely need to be a hater for a minute. "I was so ahead of the curve that the curve became a sphere" is easily one of her worst and clunkiest trying-to-be-clever lyrics. just saw it in a cutesy gifset and was mindblown that people enjoy that line bc I hate it with my whole heart lol

you're si right. it's sooooo clunky. i enjoy what (i think) it means but the execution is so poor. and the whole "fell behind all my classmates" is just like, girl stop talking about school you are thirty. it's just such a nauseating sentiment "i was the cleverest girl in school and now i'm sad" like as a bona fide hater of anyone who calls themselves a gifted kid I can't standdddd this type of self pity. and she's also straight up not "ahead of the curve" in the popular sense of the phrase anyway!!! like this is a woman who chases trends like her life depends on it. i only like it if you take it to mean "i was doing really well for my age and stayed on top of things but ended up in a vicious cycle/self fulfilling prophecy" which , yeah, true! she is trapped in the fame machine cycle! but the line is still fucking clunky

[tobiasdrake]

~I'm mis~behav~ing! To the volcano I was expressly told not to visit.

There's a strange crystal jutting out of this mountain. I'm sure it's not important.

So this is Torment Peak. Bit of a misnomer since we are at the base of the mountain but okay. We've got a mysterious door that only Solstice Warriors can open.

Pardon, that not even Solstice Warriors can open. My mistake.

Don't really see what the big deal is if everything's locked down. Doesn't really warrant a "STAY AWAY FROM THE DANGER ZONE" command.

Unless he thinks I'm a determined little shit who will keep banging her head against a brick wall until it caves in. Which. Fair.

In any case, I guess we should go check out the Sacred Grove now.

Also, there's a giant tower in the ocean with a crystal. Bet you money that crystal, like, beams light onto the prism and then Something Something.

That is a very large mechanism and I want to see it active. For shits and giggles.

I am ready, at long last to make paths through water. This has to be what my prophecy was about. I'm pretty sure we fulfilled Garl's back at Malkomud and Zale's dragging his feet on accepting lunar supremacy but this has to be my moment. Let's go!

Right after story time.

Is this about the Botanical Horror? I was wondering what the hell that was.

Sounds like Death needs to lower her fucking standards. She has reaped the lives of every living thing that has ever been on this planet and not one of them, not one was ever good enough for her?

Staring at the magnificent beauty of nature like, "EHHHH, 6 out of 10." Needing scientists to fabricate a shape that's impossible to occur in nature before you'll deign to call it pretty is the very epitome of unrealistic beauty standards.

Hold up, why is Death's magic wicked? It's a natural part of the life cycle.

Maybe this was all in good fun. I mean, the botanist was trying to prank Death. Maybe Death pranked back.

Oh goddammit, is this the Celestial Willow again? Does every part of this world have telepathic compulsion flora!?

That has to be a trap. I don't buy that Death would have woven an enchantment that bestows immortality to others.

Yep, that's a trap alright. So instead of counter-pranking the botanist, Death counter-pranked everyone.

Botanist: Let's do an immortality experiment. I'm gonna make a flower so pretty that even Death will refuse to claim its life. Death: Funny. I'll raise you the Instant Regret Rose! You guys want immortality so bad, huh? How much are you willing to utterly destroy yourselves to get it? Let's find out! It's like a contest except that the only way to win is to make peace with mortality and stop trying to cheat me.

But unfortunately, there are others. Some people would take the existence of such a thing as a self-imposed challenge. Not even for the immortality. Once you've put a pain flower out into the world, there are people, especially men in their late teens or early twenties, who are going to make it a contest of pride to see who can hold the pain flower the longest.

Just. Because.

I. Kinda. Want it.

Not for myself. Of course not. But it's an eldritch flower that causes irreversible lasting harm to anything that touches it. If there was a way to weaponize that....

Like, I wouldn't dare wrap any part of my staff in it. Do you know how often you touch yourself with any given part of a bo staff? Both on purpose and by accident? There is no safe location anywhere on this thing for something so vicious as the Instant Regret Rose.

But if we could make. Like. A jabby stick or a club or something with the rose on the end? We could really fuck some people up with that.

See? It was a prank. One that I'm sure must have been absolutely hilarious from her perspective.

"Wicked magic." That's fucking rude, Teaks.

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

Album: Merlin, by Dutch band Kayak; genre: progressive rock; 1981

I can't say that I fell in love with the music, it's too 80s, perhaps; but the lyrics, it's a lovely Arthurian poetry. Feeling very inspired by it. There are: Merlin-centirc, proto-mergana, two passionate gwencelot and one absolutely fabulous armor song that finishes the album and the legend.

The cycle follows the classic legends: Merlin is a prophet (interesting that the BBC writers chose to tie their Merlin and Morgana so close, passing his legendary seer ability to her), a King's enchanter and protector, and, in the end, a lonely madman in the Crystal Cave. He willingly self-fulfills the prophecy he has seen: he decides to let Uther indulge in his vicious love for Ygraine; it's just meant to be in order to let King Arthur came to this world.

"Bard of the unseen, I'm Merlin, the child of the light, my power can strike people blind, I'm Merlin, the sorcerer in the black robe."

Then it moves to Arthur and the Sword in the Stone. Merlin directs Arthur to his destined throne and promises greatness, peace and unity.

"Arthur holds Excalibur, the invincible weapon, to fight the wrong and serve the right, I know he'll make it happen."

However, just at this moment of light and hope, Merlin is aware the end already walks in their shadow. He knows about Arthur's past sin and his greatest forbidden love – his sister.

"There's a scar from his past which he'll bear till the end, like a curse it will last, his own blood wants revenge."

Afterward, the Album leaves Arthur to the knights and Grail, and tells a story of Merlin's tragic love and betrayal. Here we see how the BBC writers reworked the legends of Niniane/Viviane, these Morgana's incarnations, bringing them back to mergana narrative. Merlin teaches the Lady of his heart magic, and she turns this gift against him (we were deprived of this exact trope in the BBC, but The nightmare begins can count to an extent.) She even becomes a Seer instead of him.

"My future is yours, sweet lady of the lake (mind Morgana and Avalon), you betrayed me, stole my power (Morgana literally did it in TDOTD), when I put all my trust in you, could not see you through. (From S1 to S3). I'm buried alive, shut in this cave of darkness, there's no escape here from my grave, my skills can't save me (TDOTD-2) There's a reason that I'll never know, I couldn't follow why you had to go."

Kayak's Merlin cycle then moves back to Camelot and presents us with two perfect gwencelot songs, made from Lancelot's point of view. One can be understand as a courtly love, Arthur takes his next quest and Lancelot and Guinevere are left together;

"Now he's gone, is it wrong or selfish to stay? The magic returns wherever you call my name; tranquil but glowing, you're like a distant star, I'll show you my feelings now that we've come this far."

The other is a post-Camlann gwencelot, post Arthur, where Lancelot begs Gwen not to leave him. The strongest and bravest knight says that he needs his Queen's protection.

"Can't afford to lose, I couldn't live alone, I want you around, because I need your protection."

The darkness is drawing, Arthur is dying and Morgana comes to take him to Avalon. "Love's aglow" is a very beautiful duet with a strong but gentle Arthur's voice and Morgana's mysterious echo. Arthur's farewell forgiving song to the world. Every line is so profound and fitting for any version of armor. I like how Arthur's "take the blame, feel no (shame)pain" can either be "I take the blame, you, feel no pain" or "we take the blame, I feel no pain(dying)".

"There was a time I could freely breath the air

No matter where I went, you would always be there. Passion came, I could not defend myself from you. Did we dance and did we had the same dream of fame? Feel no pain.

Carry me when I feel so tired I would almost fall.

Finally losing the fight we'd hoped to win, climbing too high, too late to turn back and too far for cover, tell me

Did we touch and did we play the game; take the blame, feel no pain.

I can't believe the things you'd said, what happened to the dreams we'd had? A frozen heart; still deep inside, love's aglow. Now should we take it as it is. What lesson did we learn from this:

Though many dreams are lies untold, I see a world as pure as gold, out there.

And after everyone and everything is dead, only Merlin remains:

You'll move with the winds, and confide in the sea,

The madman of the forest, just a ghost of what you once have been. You're nothing but a wanderer obsessed by your dreams.

[theangelshavethephonebox]

Thinking about the self-fulfilling prophecy of pain that is companions in doctor who. The Doctor had a granddaughter who liked Earth, so when they had to leave their home, where else were they supposed to go? He probably picked a random time, spinning the co-ordination wheel on his rusty new console, landing wherever it took them. Picked up companions from that time, then when he lost them, he went a few years in the future to avoid their past selves, but stayed in roughly the same time, because it was their time, and it mattered to Susan, so he stays there because it reminds him of her.

Then he picks up new companions from there, loses them, few years in the future so it's far enough to avoid paradoxes whilst close enough to remind him of Them. The ones he's lost. The ones who left him like he left Gallifrey. Like he left Susan. And this keeps happening, trapping him in a vicious cycle of picking companion after companion, just in memory. Living in shadow after shadow, stuck watching the effects of a broken heart, broken in the same place, again and again.

I don't know, I'm just thinking.

[violet--stardust]

The absolute, single best thing I did in my life was fixing my sleep schedule, and getting out of relationships where I needed to fuck up my sleep schedule to spend time with partners.

It skewed my life in a way that greatly diminished the opportunity to have other connections. Them being my main connection and source of happiness was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It always worries me when I see posts about "hehe trans women bad sleep schedule because time zones" (one of those is what inspired this post) because the difference in the quality of my life has been immeasurable.

The sleep health benefits are obvious, but less obvious was the improvement to every other part of my life. I formed out of desperation, and built dependency on itself in a vicious cycle.

I don't know if anyone really cares about this rambling, and I'm kinda telling on myself a little here. Not everyone is the same as me and everyone's situations are unique. But if it reaches a single entity in a similar situation and prompts them to think a bit harder about this, I'll be happy.

[kandoros]

Even if you're pretty sure that your vote won't matter (me, for example, in South Carolina, voting for Harris/Walz), you still need to FUCKING VOTE.

If you sit out this election because you know your candidate won't win, then they'll lose by one vote more. And then you'll have even more 'reason' not to vote next time.

But if you vote, even if you're sure it won't matter, then your candidate will lose by one less vote. And maybe in the next election some more people will think "maybe there's a chance" and get off their asses too.

You can either have a self-fulfilling prophecy of a vicious cycle, or you can get things to change one step at a time. The only way to get from red to blue is by going through purple.

Because I remember disinformation being spread around the last few elections and I’m sure assholes will bring it back:

YOU CAN’T VOTE ONLINE.

YOU CAN’T VOTE FROM YOUR PHONE.

IN MANY STATES THERE ARE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR BALLOT.

DO NOT WEAR CAMPAIGN GEAR TO THE POLLS.

DO NOT TRY TO PERSUADE PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE AT THE POLLS.

DO NOT ENGAGE IN ANY KIND OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE AT THE POLLS.

NO ELECTION IS EVER A SURE THING, EVEN IF YOU’RE IN THE BLUEST OR REDDEST OF STATES.  IF SOMEONE TRIES TO TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN SIT THIS ONE OUT, THEY ARE EITHER IGNORANT OR MALICIOUS.

VOTE.

[sunoflegend]

🗒 & any four others you wanna answer :D

🗒 — what is/are your favorite genre(s)/theme(s) to write?

oh for genres. hm. i really enjoy like, high stakes and angst? i don't get to write them as often, and it can be a bit draining so i do like it in moderation, but i Love writing it. as for themes.. there's a lot. i love vicious cycles and self fulfilling prophecies :).

🖊 — any tattoos?

hehe this is for me. i got my first few tattoos a few days ago :] i got a little star cluster on my shoulder arm area, a lemon on my leg and like. a simple little window with a sun peeking out of it. they didn't really hurt that bad and i plan on getting a few more eventually!

🎁 — what have you accomplished in the rpc that you’re proud of?

unfortunately it was on fucking twitter roleplay of all places but there was one time me and a group of friends kept an rp event going strong for like 3 months in a row and actually finished the whole plotline and well. that's the most dedicated bit of writing i ever did on that website and i still think about it so there's that.

🍦 — favorite ice cream flavor(s)?

hit them with the obscure as fuck ice cream flavor. there's this place around where i live that makes like. weird ice cream. and they do seasonal ones. and the one i really liked they aren't doing anymore is fluffanutter pie. i miss her so much she was pb and marshmallow </3.

🍝 — favorite food(s)?

tikka masala. i love you tikka masala. i love curry and soup i would kill for a good curry or soup.

[mikeo56]

How Judge Mira and Rich Bastards Like Kyle and Nicole Ball Priced You Out of a Home

Rent is skyrocketing and home buying is out of reach for millions. One big reason why? Wall Street.

Hedge funds and private equity firms have been buying up hundreds of thousands of homes that would otherwise be purchased by people. Wall Street’s appetite for housing ramped up after the 2008 financial crisis. As you’ll recall, the Street’s excessive greed created a housing bubble that burst. Millions of people lost their homes to foreclosure.

Did the Street learn a lesson? Of course not. It got bailed out. Then it began picking off the scraps of the housing market it had just destroyed, gobbling up foreclosed homes at fire-sale prices — which it then sold or rented for big profits.

Investor purchases hit their peak in 2022, accounting for around 28% of all home sales in America.

Home buyers frequently reported being outbid by cash offers made by investors. So called “iBuyers” used algorithms to instantly buy homes before offers could even be made by actual humans.

If the present trend continues, by 2030, Wall Street investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes.

Partly as a result, homeownership — a cornerstone of generational wealth and a big part of the American dream — is increasingly out of reach for a large number of Americans, especially young people.

Now, Wall Street’s feasting has slowed recently due to rising home prices — even the wolves of Wall Street are falling victim to sticker shock. But that hasn’t stopped them from specifically targeting more modestly priced homes — buying up a record share of the country’s most affordable homes at the end of 2023.

They’ve also been most active in bigger cities, particularly in the Sun Belt, which has become an increasingly expensive place to live. And they’re pointedly going after neighborhoods that are home to communities of color.

For example, in one diverse neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wall Street-backed investors bought half of the homes that sold in 2021 and 2022. On a single block, investors bought every house but one, and turned them into rentals.

Folks, it’s a vicious cycle: First you’re outbid by investors, then you may be stuck renting from them at excessive prices that leave you with even less money to put up for a new home. Rinse. Repeat.

Now I want to be clear: This is just one part of the problem with housing in America. The lack of supply is considered the biggest reason why home prices and rents have soared — and are outpacing recent wage gains. But Wall Street sinking its teeth into whatever is left on the market is making the supply problem even worse.

So what can we do about this? Start by getting Wall Street out of our homes.

Democrats have introduced a bill in both houses of Congress to ban hedge funds and private equity firms from buying or owning single-family homes.

If signed into law, this could increase the supply of homes available to individual buyers — thereby making housing more affordable.

President Biden has also made it a priority to tackle the housing crisis, proposing billions in funding to increase the supply of homes and tax credits to help actual people buy them.

Now I have no delusions that any of this will be easy to get done. But these plans provide a roadmap of where the country could head — under the right leadership.

So many Americans I meet these days are cynical about the country. I understand their cynicism. But cynicism can be a self-fulfilling prophecy if it means giving up the fight.

The captains of American industry and Wall Street would like nothing better than for the rest of us to give up that fight, so they can take it all.

I say we keep fighting.

[truck-fump]

How Wall Street Priced You Out of a HomeRent is skyrocketing and...

New Post has been published on https://robertreich.org/post/751016595351109632

How Wall Street Priced You Out of a HomeRent is skyrocketing and...

How Wall Street Priced You Out of a Home

Rent is skyrocketing and home buying is out of reach for millions. One big reason why? Wall Street.

Hedge funds and private equity firms have been buying up hundreds of thousands of homes that would otherwise be purchased by people. Wall Street’s appetite for housing ramped up after the 2008 financial crisis. As you’ll recall, the Street’s excessive greed created a housing bubble that burst. Millions of people lost their homes to foreclosure.

Did the Street learn a lesson? Of course not. It got bailed out. Then it began picking off the scraps of the housing market it had just destroyed, gobbling up foreclosed homes at fire-sale prices — which it then sold or rented for big profits.

Investor purchases hit their peak in 2022, accounting for around 28% of all home sales in America.

Home buyers frequently reported being outbid by cash offers made by investors. So called “iBuyers” used algorithms to instantly buy homes before offers could even be made by actual humans.

If the present trend continues, by 2030, Wall Street investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes.

Partly as a result, homeownership — a cornerstone of generational wealth and a big part of the American dream — is increasingly out of reach for a large number of Americans, especially young people.

Now, Wall Street’s feasting has slowed recently due to rising home prices — even the wolves of Wall Street are falling victim to sticker shock. But that hasn’t stopped them from specifically targeting more modestly priced homes — buying up a record share of the country’s most affordable homes at the end of 2023.

They’ve also been most active in bigger cities, particularly in the Sun Belt, which has become an increasingly expensive place to live. And they’re pointedly going after neighborhoods that are home to communities of color.

For example, in one diverse neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wall Street-backed investors bought half of the homes that sold in 2021 and 2022. On a single block, investors bought every house but one, and turned them into rentals.

Folks, it’s a vicious cycle: First you’re outbid by investors, then you may be stuck renting from them at excessive prices that leave you with even less money to put up for a new home. Rinse. Repeat.

Now I want to be clear: This is just one part of the problem with housing in America. The lack of supply is considered the biggest reason why home prices and rents have soared — and are outpacing recent wage gains. But Wall Street sinking its teeth into whatever is left on the market is making the supply problem even worse.

So what can we do about this? Start by getting Wall Street out of our homes.

Democrats have introduced a bill in both houses of Congress to ban hedge funds and private equity firms from buying or owning single-family homes.

If signed into law, this could increase the supply of homes available to individual buyers — thereby making housing more affordable.

President Biden has also made it a priority to tackle the housing crisis, proposing billions in funding to increase the supply of homes and tax credits to help actual people buy them.

Now I have no delusions that any of this will be easy to get done. But these plans provide a roadmap of where the country could head — under the right leadership.

So many Americans I meet these days are cynical about the country. I understand their cynicism. But cynicism can be a self-fulfilling prophecy if it means giving up the fight.

The captains of American industry and Wall Street would like nothing better than for the rest of us to give up that fight, so they can take it all.

I say we keep fighting.