#Economic Indicators Understanding

[mariocki]

"We should stop thinking in terms of 'compensatory education' but consider, instead, most seriously and systematically the conditions and contexts of the educational environment.

The very form our research takes tends to confirm the beliefs underlying the organization, transmission and evaluation of knowledge by the school. Research proceeds by assessing the criteria of attainment that schools hold, and then measures the competence of different social groups in reaching these criteria. We take one group of children, whom we know beforehand possess attributes favourable to school achievement; and a second group of children, whom we know beforehand lack these attributes. Then we evaluate one group in terms of what it lacks when compared with another. In this way research unwittingly underscores the notion of deficit and confirms the status quo of a given organization, transmission and, in particular, evaluation of knowledge. Research very rarely challenges or exposes the social assumptions underlying what counts as valid knowledge, or what counts as a valid realization of that knowledge."

- Basil Bernstein, Education Cannot Compensate for Society, in Education for Democracy (2nd ed., 1972)

[thevagueambition]

I actually managed to find the wages as set by the collective bargaining agreement and in the interest of citing my sources, it can be found here

For people over 18, it's 136.74 DKK/hour, ie $19.78

For people under 18, it's 82.16 DKK/hour, ie $11.88

(The weird decimals is because these are monthly wages rather than hourly ones)

It's also worth noting that the usual tax rate in Denmark is around 45%* which, while I don't understand US taxes enough to say by how much, is higher than the US tax rate. I support high taxes ofc, it just complicates the wage comparison a bit in this case.

The price of a Big Mac is 49 DKK ie $7.09 according to here, here, here and here. Places that list a lower price seem to either be out of date or are calculating the price based on if you buy it as part of a menu.

*Technically it's 8% to the labour market + 12.16% to the state + somewhere between 22.5%-27.8% to the municipality, which adds up to 42,5%-47,8 (x). Whenever somewhere lists 37% as the common rate, that's because they're not including the first 8% since that technially works a bit differently.

[petite-ursus]

Also, I started (and fully binged, ope) Home Economics this past week and both Hannah Hart AND Anna Akana are in that show??? Big win for the og youtbers.

Me seeing them appear on my tv screen:

[financemarketworld]

Top 10 Things to Know Before the Market Opens

The stock market is a dynamic ecosystem influenced by a myriad of factors ranging from economic indicators to geopolitical events. Understanding the current market trends and being aware of crucial information before the market opens can significantly impact investment decisions. In this article, we’ll delve into the top 10 things investors need to know to navigate today’s stock market landscape effectively.

Read more

[cosmicpuzzle]

1st House Lord in Houses

1st lord in 1st House

You have had a very supportive environment in early youth and a happy childhood. In other words, your life started in a good way. You feel strong and confident and command respect wherever you go. You may have good leadership abilities and have a strong sense of purpose and personal direction. Your health is excellent, and your lifespan is likely to be a long one. You have a good mind. You have may more than one steady relationship in your life.

1st lord in 2nd House

This is an indication of a mind that is very inclined towards education and scholarly pursuits. You are good at expressing yourself and you might prove a good public speaker. You are honorable and you respect the traditional religion. You will have a good family life and wealth comes easily to you. You tend to do good things for other people.

1st lord in 3rd House

This shows that you have strong initiative, courage and valor. Your desires and motives are strong and so is your willpower and most of your ventures will meet with success. You are likely to have sisters and brothers which you will benefit from. Generally, you will try to solve your own problems independently. You may be good with your hands, crafty and possibly artistic. You are likely to enter into new activities frequently, and they interest you as long as you can experience interesting challenges in them.

1st lord in 4th House

Your personality is pleasant, and people appreciate your sensitive and gentle side. The relationship with people you is close with is particularly important to you, and the way you relate to your life. You have a particular desire to be comfortable, physically, economically or mentally. When you achieve this level of comfort, you feel a great sense of happiness. You have strong connections with your roots. You have a good mind, and that will help to gain an educational degree successfully. You will do a personal effort to get yourself a good house and place to live, and sooner or later get a great home. You like driving a car and coming home after a trip is always a warm experience.

1st lord in 5th House

You are an intelligent person, who has a particular interest in learning and education. You have good moral values, and will enjoy good relationships with bosses, authorities, or other people with power. You may experience significant grief with regards to your eldest child, otherwise you can expect several children. You have a tendency to be overbearing with them. You will be able to provide great support and income to your partner. Your temper may be a little hot, especially if your intelligence is challenged.

1st lord in 6th House

This indicates that your life feels like a struggle sometimes. You may however develop good problem-solving skills. The ability to overcome obstacles can bring you wealth and success. There is a tendency to attract opponents in life and you may suffer from confrontations with others. You will eventually learn how to deal with this and reduce the level of challenges to a degree where you enjoy them. You may have some health problems or help others with theirs.

1st lord in 7th House

You will have strong desires, particularly towards the opposite sex. You may marry early in life and have more than one relationship. In any case it is very important for you to have very personal one-to-one relationships. You are a person with many desires, which makes you restless and sometimes makes you act with less moral awareness. You are an outgoing person, and you will do quite a bit of travelling.

1st lord in 8th House

With the lord of the 1st house in the 8th house you may have strong insights into the workings of life and understand things that are hidden to others. One of your biggest challenges is your sense of vulnerability which makes you feel like hiding and avoiding any kind of confrontations. Your life seems to go through a series of transformations, giving you deep insights but also makes you wonder sometime how long you will be able to deal with it. Your health will give you repeated concerns. The beginning of your life was probably quite turbulent.

1st lord in 9th House

You were born with life on your side. You are lucky and fortunate and likely to have strong moral values and be devoted to your teachers and your religion. You may be popular, eloquent and respected, harboring a strong sense of purpose.

1st lord in 10th House

This makes you a respectable individual who is likely to get a great success in life and enjoy happiness on all levels. Reputation is a very important factor in your life. Having a strong sense of purpose and direction in life you set your goals high. Your professional achievements and reputation are the essential criteria for your happiness and self-actualization.

1st lord in 11th House

You will have many opportunities in life while you have a strong desire to succeed. You are bound to utilize your creativity to achieve your goals. You have a good ability to earn money.

1st lord in 12th House

This combination indicates that you might have a difficult start in life, either in terms of health or circumstances. You don't want to be too much out in the open in society, at least not in an overt way, perhaps behind a mask. Your pleasures are mostly fulfilled in seclusion, and you may have a deep interest in spiritual development. You may have attraction for secluded places, hospitals, jails, or "unknown" places or far-away countries.

For Readings DM

[ldknightshade]

morality: a character creation guide

creating and understanding your oc’s personal moral code! no, i cannot tell you whether they’re gonna come out good or bad or grey; that part is up to you.

anyway, let’s rock.

i. politics

politics are a good way to indicate things your character values, especially when it comes to large-scale concepts such as government, community, and humanity as a whole.

say what you will about either image; i’d argue for the unintiated, the right image is a good introduction to some lesser discussed ideologies… some of which your oc may or may not fall under.

either way, taking a good look at your character’s values on the economic + social side of things is a good place to start, as politics are something that, well… we all have ‘em, you can’t avoid ‘em.

clearly, this will have to be adjusted for settings that utilize other schools of thought (such as fantasy + historical fiction and the divine right of kings), but again, economic/social scale plotting will be a good start for most.

ii. religion + philosophy

is your oc religious? do they believe in a form of higher power? do they follow some sort of philosophy?

are they devout? yes, this applies to non-religious theist and atheist characters as well; in the former’s case… is their belief in a higher power something that guides many of their actions or is their belief in a higher power something that only informs a few of their actions? for the atheists; do they militant anti-theists who believe atheism is the only way and that religion is harmful? or do they not care about religion, so long as it’s thrust upon them?

for the religious: what is your oc’s relationship with the higher power in question? are they very progressive by their religion’s standards or more orthodox? how well informed of their own religion are they?

does your oc follow a particular school of philosophical thought? how does that interact with their religious identification?

iii. values

by taking their political stance and their religious + philosophical stance, you have a fairly good grasp on the things your character values.

is there anything they value - due to backstory, or what they do, or what they love - that isn’t explained by political stance and religious and/or philosophical identification? some big players here will likely be your oc’s culture and past.

of everything you’ve determined they value, what do they value the most?

iv. “the line”

everyone draws it somewhere. we all have a line we won’t cross, no matter the lengths we go for what we believe is a noble cause. where does your character draw it? how far will they go for something they truly believe is a noble cause? as discussed in part iii of my tips for morally grey characters,

would they lie? cheat? steal? manipulate? maim? what about commit acts of vandalism? arson? would they kill?

but even when we have a line, sometimes we make exceptions for a variety of reasons. additionally, there are limits to some of the lengths we’d go to.

find your character’s line, their limits and their exceptions.

v. objectivism/relativism

objectivism, as defined by the merriam-webster dictionary, is “an ethical theory that moral good is objectively real or that moral precepts are objectively valid.”

relativism, as defined by the merriam-webster dictionary, is “a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them.”

what take on morality, as a concept, does your character have? is morality objective? is morality subjective?

we could really delve deep into this one, but this post is long enough that i don’t think we need to get into philosophical rambling… so this is a good starting point.

either way, exploring morality as a concept and how your character views it will allow for better application of their personal moral code.

vi. application

so, now you know what they believe and have a deep understanding of your character’s moral code, all that’s left is to apply it and understand how it informs their actions while taking their personality into account.

and interesting thing to note is that we are all hypocrites; you don’t have to do this, but it might be fun to play around with the concept of their moral code and add a little bit of hypocrisy to their actions as a treat.

either way, how do your character’s various beliefs interact? how does it make them interact with the world? with others? with their friends, family, and community? with their government? with their employment? with their studies? with the earth and environment itself?

in conclusion:

there’s a lot of things that inform one’s moral compass and i will never be able to touch on them all; however, this should hopefully serve as at least a basic guide.

[ellynneversweet]

Right???

El’s absolutely a pessimist who would take the worst case scenario numbers and assume those are the most accurate, but where is she getting these numbers from? Scholomance history textbooks? Wizard newspapers? Wizard puberty pamphlets (she gets one)? Who is producing these texts (enclavers, presumably) and why? To push that the scholomance and enclaves are the best and only solution for survival, so that any ends to build any number of enclaves justify the means?

I mean. It makes sense for El to be an only child, because her parents were star crossed lovers and her father died before they could produce a second baby (and Gwen had stepfather trauma and little El probably scared the piss out of any wizard man interested in Gwen). It makes sense for Orion to be an only child, because he was turned into an eldritch abomination in the womb, which sort of indicates his parents aren’t super broody and sentimental, and he was high needs in a very specific way, and maybe Ophelia did some damage to herself in whatever ritual she used. You can make the case that it kinda makes sense for Liu, because she was born before the official end of the one child policy (2016), although in practice that policy had softened dramatically in the 2000s so if you paid a fine or were an ethnic minority or a rural family or had a disabled child you could get around it, so I don’t see how wizards aren’t falsifying paperwork like they do passports. Because 1. we know from Liu’s grandmother that magically extending out fertility has a cost and 2. she is supposed to come from a big family, and I’m sorry but one uncle and two cousins do not a big family make. You can also make the case that Aadhya’s parents were so traumatised by her sister’s death that they didn’t want another baby after she died, but it makes less sense for them to have a five year age gap between baby one and baby two, and a three year age gap between baby two and the non-existent baby three, assuming their cultural values are for large families. You can make the case that Liesel is an only child because she’s illegitimate, because we don’t know when her mother was cursed, so maybe her mother was in a similar situation to Gwen’s, but in a less lovelorn way (and we also don’t know if she has half siblings on her father’s side).

But it makes no sense for Chloe, Alfie, Magnus, or any of the enclave kids to be only children. Given Alfie is Alfred, descendant of Sir Alfred, we might reasonably assume he is his family’s oldest or only son and has younger siblings coming through the Scholomance.

But okay, let’s play this out some more. Financially, wizarding parents have no disincentive to not have children because they’ve hacked the mundane economic system and can magic themselves up a do-nothing, moderately well-paid job and forged banknotes, so long as they don’t do so to a degree that it makes life difficult for the enclaves (who do stock and housing market manipulation instead). They do have a housing security issue, because although they can and do buy mundane housing, that’s no protection against mal incursions (and, off topic, I am massively and continually enraged that cost of living estimates deliberately exclude housing costs, at least in Aus, which is just lying with numbers). We know that some of the Beijing enclave kids offer to give up their places to Liu’s clan, so maybe those born into enclaves are only granted replacement-level inheritance of enclave spots, and there’s a risk that your third, fourth, fifth child have to become indie wizards, join another enclave, or you or they have to pay for enclave space for them in an expansion or a new satellite/outpost enclave.

Then there’s the question of when the population boom El mentioned happened. We know that modern enclaves are only modern by the standards of ‘made after the golden stone enclaves were destroyed’ so that covers iirc two or more thousand years, well before Industrial Revolution. But, the building of the Scholomance itself happens in the late IR, and contributes to the population boom. And it’s stated that enclaves, while safer than out in the wild, are still not particularly safe places for teenage wizards to be. We know the methods of modern enclave building have been industrialised (see: the mana brick stamper), and that the Scholomance was built in flatpack form in Manchester, and that modern enclaves have skyscrapers, so, possibly the IR contributed in that enclaves have a footprint area and found themselves suddenly able to build up when previously they’d been limited by building out.

We also know that magic doesn’t produce reliable contraception, that they go to science for that, and while forms of contraception have been around forever, reliable contraception that is minimally impactful on a woman’s body (ie, actually holeproof condoms, cervical caps that aren’t made of half a hollowed out lemon, the pill, IUDs, abortifacients that aren’t moderately likely to poison the woman taking them) starts in the 1960s. And on a related note we know that wizard healers who aren’t Gwen with her speciality of spiritual healing tend to go to medical school post-Scholomance and use a presumably more effective and mana-efficient blend of scientific knowledge and magical boosters, which indicates there also might be a greater survival rate among the very young and very old (since Scholomance students don’t have access to doctors, mundane or wizard), thereby increasing the population but also increasing the average age of the population.

So…we might say that the population boom took place between the mid-twentieth century and the 1960s, and by the 1970s the same cultural issues were coming into play in the magical world as in the mundane world — an existing population boom putting strain on resources, the ability to choose when and if to have kids pointing prospective parents towards a quality over quantity mindset, women’s lib (Deepthi’s parents wouldn’t have planned to send her to the Scholomance even if they could have got her in at the age when she predicted she would go, because she was a girl, while in El’s era the head of the most powerful enclave, New York, and her prospective heir are both women), and an aging generation with limited sympathy for the young except as a resource they can extract. Maybe even a sort of environmentalism in which mals (produced by humans) are a stand in for pollution.

In conclusion: ???

Also, the TFR in the scholomance books does not…make sense. Or possibly all the characters we meet are massive outliers for not having 6-10 siblings to account for what’s apparently a population boom in a population with a 20-80% child mortality rate. Or possibly El’s an outlier in just about every way possible (or possibly it got handwaved away by Ophelia’s speech about the increase in the mal population and the corresponding increase in mal attacks). Speaking of Ophelia, what a terrifying evil matriarch, I love her and want all the fic about her.

[specialagentartemis]

I’ve increasingly seen the take that Gurathin, being the only one of the PresAux group originally from the CR, understands SecUnits better than the others and understands corporate greed and underhandedness and violence better than his idealist space socialist leftist colleagues… which always rings odd to me, because it’s well established that Mensah and Pin-Lee understand what they’re dealing with as intelligent, savvy professionals!

Mensah is the Planetary Administrator of Preservation; she is very nearly the President of the Whole Planet. It’s hard to believe she could get there and be regarded as a good leader of a small planet with neither military nor economic power in the galaxy and remain unaware of how the Corporation Rim works and how to deal with them to keep her polity safe. The company executives presented Murderbot to Mensah directly in their pitch for why the team needed to take a SecUnit; her multiple objections to this indicate that she does, in fact, know how unethical (and likely dangerous) SecUnits are.

Pin-Lee, meanwhile, is a corporate lawyer; she’s described as CombatUnit-like, and based on the fact that she went not only with this scientific survey but also with Mensah at the end of Network Effect on this short-notice and desperate chase across the galaxy, seems to be the go-to person to deal with off-world legal issues. Murderbot notes early on that being under the Company’s surveillance seemed to affect her more than the others. It’s pretty reasonable to assume that’s because she knows what shit companies put in their contracts, and what they do.

They aren’t naïve leftists who don’t understand how the Real World works, they are well-too-aware of the abuses and surveillance and callousness of companies!

(Ratthi watches Sanctuary Moon, evidently a CR production—Preservation aren’t isolationists. The whole Preservation backstory is of a community’s escape from callous, profit-driven corporate abandonment of their grandparents’ generation to die. I would think Preservation people would be, as a society, aware and very wary of CR corporations.)

Their trust they place in Murderbot in All System Red is very likely influenced by Preservation’s cultural values of dignity, support, freedom, responsibility to each other, bot citizenship, all that good stuff—but it’s certainly not blindly, naïvely unaware of alternative possible perspectives. And that’s why it’s powerful: they’re making a conscious choice, measuring its actions and its rights as a person against the propaganda and fear, that Murderbot deserves that respect and dignity and freedom and trust as a person and not just as an arm of untrustworthy corporations.

(And like. Also the fact that “Gurathin is from the CR” is not explicitly canon, either. We don’t know where he’s from originally; the CR is a reasonable interpretation, certainly, it fits the facts, but it’s still an interpretation that fans have to make rather than actually being text. And I think in these discussions that ought to be remembered too. )

[maxdibert]

Pretty messed up how some people are fans of a creepy and obsessive guy who didn’t care if a man and a child died just so he could get the girl.

Alright, let's break this down, anon, because there's a lot to unpack here.

I think I've mentioned this in several posts already, but I'll repeat it: Severus owed James Potter NOTHING—no compassion, no empathy, no mercy. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. James Potter was a rich, popular brat who abused his social and economic capital to torment a poor, unsupported boy for seven years just because he didn't like him from the moment they met on the train to Hogwarts, and from that moment on, he had it in for him. He was a terrible bully who used his friends to join in on that nasty bullying. So if Snape didn’t care that he died, well, Snape had every right to feel that way. Do you go to victims of domestic violence and tell them they should feel sorry for their abusers? No, right? Well, this is the same thing. James was an abuser, Severus was his victim. Severus did more than enough by not telling Voldemort to torture him to death with Cruciatus, because I would have. Honestly, I don't understand why Snaters always bring up the whole "James was dead and Snape walked over his body" as if it were some horrible thing when, hello! You're talking about an ABUSER being dead, mate. Of course, he walked right over his body—what surprises me is that he didn’t throw a party.

Harry had to die. I know this sounds terrible, but it’s basically what the prophecy indicated. He was a target that Voldemort wasn’t going to let slip away, his fate was sealed. And yes, it’s unethical. And yes, it’s immoral. But the truth is that wars are unethical and highly immoral, and horrible, monstrous decisions are often made. Harry was not an option—asking for mercy for him was pointless because there wasn’t going to be any.

I don’t think Severus ever believed that if James was out of the picture, Lily would go to him or anything like that. I mean, they hadn’t spoken for five years—about six by that time. Severus NEVER harassed or stalked Lily. The only time he went after her was when the whole SWM incident happened, and he tried to apologise. Once she made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, Severus respected her decision, and as far as we know from canon, they never interacted again. So, I don’t think, after six years of not talking, with his supposed former best friend having married and had a child with his personal bully, Severus had many expectations of them ending up in any sort of romantic relationship. I think, quite simply, that Lily always represented the only good part of his childhood—the only happy memories, the only moments of peace amidst the hellish violence he endured at home. I believe this was crucial for someone like him, whose childhood and teenage years were marked by violence, and he wasn’t willing to let the one good thing in his life end up murdered.

I agree that Severus is highly obsessive, but haters tend to frame this in a derogatory way, referring to his "obsession" with Lily, and I think it needs some clarification. Yes, Severus is obsessive, and he’s terribly immature at times, and he overreacts enormously when confronted with something that really triggers him (just look at how quickly he loses his temper with Sirius, for instance). This is obviously because he’s someone who never had the opportunity to grow up normally or develop cognitively as he should have, because his whole life was marked by violence. His home life was violent, and at school, he endured violence, and then at 20 years old, he handed his soul over to Dumbledore’s cause and had to work for nearly two decades at a school that was the epicentre of many of his traumas. He literally had neither the spaces nor the environments needed to heal and grow into a functional adult, and you can clearly see this in his behaviour. I’ve always said Severus is more of a diva than the cold, mysterious character people often make him out to be in fanon. To me, he’s someone who, on a personal level, hasn’t been able to grow emotionally in a healthy way and doesn’t know how to manage certain situations, especially those tied to his emotional issues. That said, I also don’t think he was romantically and/or sexually obsessed with Lily. I do think he loved her or was infatuated with her in his youth—first love, crush, whatever. But I don’t believe his need to avenge her death was due to romantic or obsessive love. I think it’s more about his obsession with repaying his debt to her. Severus always felt partially responsible for Lily’s death, and that’s where his obsession lies: it’s not that he’s obsessed with her, per se, but with the fact that he feels guilty for what happened. He feels, in some way, responsible for the death of the one person who showed him kindness, affection, and care during his childhood, which made her the most important person in his life at one point. And guilt often leads to obsession, much like grief that is not properly processed, and I don’t think that kind of obsession is creepy. I think it’s a very human kind of obsession.

Lastly, I don’t find Severus creepy at all. Why is he creepy? I mean, Harry was running around with his invisibility cloak, spying on everyone. The Marauders had A BLOODY MAP that allowed them to track everyone at Hogwarts 24/7 like some kind of magical GPS. Is Severus really the creepy one here? There are literally Animagi who turn into animals to spy on people—I have to laugh at the whole creepy argument.

That being said, if you’re going to come into my DMs to complain about Severus, at least bring some convincing arguments because it’s a bit tiresome hearing the same nonsense over and over again.

[elysiansparadise]

Hi @elysiansparadise! i have uranus in the 2nd house in my natal chart and i still don't fully understand what does it mean to me. Can you pls explain what does uranus in the 2nd house mean? :)

Hello love! Of course I can explain it.

Uranus in the 2nd house

When it comes to money, these natives may have some instability at some point in their lives. One of the lessons that these natives have over time is change management, in life they can experience certain things that cause them to have to improvise with situations, which leads them to create this ability to work under pressure or work effectively with the resources they have. They can experience very drastic changes in their lives, whether in their lifestyle, economic or even housing. One of their best qualities is their adaptability both to situations as we mentioned above, such as in front of people or simply to flow in a certain way with life. And although it is difficult to take them by surprise, one of the things they crave is to be able to feel that they no longer have to be nervous about possible changes. A conflicting desire for new things but the nerves of losing everything that has cost them to build. This position of Uranus helps a lot to obtain income unexpectedly or from various sources, as well as having various methods to manage and control your finances. Many of these natives can dare to work for themselves and invest their money in their own business. They tend to prefer to manage their finances on their own, manage their own expenses and not need others to keep track of their money coming in and going out.

It may be that at their earliest ages, self-esteem has been an issue with which they experienced an imbalance, leading them to have a very changing opinion of themselves. As they grow, natives learn to embrace their authenticity and genuinely value themselves, that is, not wanting to prove anything to anyone, simply focusing on themselves. There is nothing they value more than their independence, doing things their own way and authentically, they will always seek to go after what they want and become what they want without comparing themselves to other people in the process. Many of them may seek to achieve or do things on their own, because only in this do they find true satisfaction, this being one of the indicators of a problem in relying on others or accepting help from others. If Uranus is making tense aspects with the Moon, Saturn or Sun, they feel that they cannot rely on financial support from their family, especially financial support.

Although they recognize the importance of money, there are many other things that they value more than that, having a personality slightly more detached from money than the average population. Many of them are capable of leaving a job where they are not comfortable, whether due to dynamics, tasks or environment, regardless of the pay. They are not characterized by being selfish people with their resources, they are always willing to lend a hand to friends, people who feel they need it or causes that they find worthwhile. Many of them can receive financial support from friends or have friends with a more stable economic situation. They are interested in finding ways to make their hobbies and talents profitable. They tend to invest a lot of their money in things related to their hobbies, interests, video games, electronic equipment, or things that other people don't find as much value in as they do.

-> Go back to the masterlist

[loving-n0t-heyting]

so this is going purely on very superficial familiarity, but on my understanding both cuba and kerala

had the commies come to power in the late 50s with decisive popular support—a revolutionary movt w genuine mass legitimacy in cuba, electoral success in kerala

implemented the exact kinds of economic populist policies you would expect of commies coming to power with large popular support: robust social services, large scale deprivatisation and decommodification, pursuing high levels of employment, etc. have maintained this political power more or less continuously since

in large part bc of the previous point, to this day enjoy living standards along several metrics to compete w wealthy 1st world countries despite much much lower per capita gdp and other common economic markers

...and yet western liberal devt economists, editorialists, etc will enthuse over the revolutionary potential of the "kerala model" as a source of future lessons and inspiration, while the same class consistently performs the obligatory gnashing of teeth about the horrors of cuban socialist tyranny. obviously there are salient differences btwn the two socialist projects, but the big selling point for the kerala model—low average income, but high marks on several standard-of-living indicators like life expectancy and literacy—is in fact glaringly apparent in cuba to anyone who has spent 10s looking at the relevant statistics with eyes unclouded by liberal cope

it is not difficult to point to factors present in cubas history, but not keralas, that would lead commentators to deliberately inure themselves to the plain facts in this manner. but the discrepancy is still pretty amusing

[triviallytrue]

last few months of economic sentiment seem like a massive vindication of the housing theory of everything. unemployment is low, inflation has come down, wages are up more than inflation, wage increases are concentrated among the lowest waged workers, unions have won a series of crucial victories thanks to the tight labor market...

except housing affordability is really bad and keeps getting worse, and this is what everyone cares about. unemployment could stay at 3% for ten years and no one would care as long as rent eats a massive chunk of your income and home ownership in a city remains inaccessible to all but the top income brackets. housing affordability is understandably more important to people than almost every other economic indicator

[punkpandapatrixk]

🍀Lady Luck on Your Side ♦︎ Timeless Pick A Card

There is no economic system that’s perfectly perfect. Whatever system you’re in, what’s wise to do is make the best out of all streams of possibilities viable within that system. Transcend above the stupidity and strike your Lucky 3 (Jupiter’s number LOL)🍄

In Astrology, the Lady Luck is represented by Mother Jupiter—the planet of expansion and good luck. The thing about luck, Love, is that you can’t plan around it. You can only prepare yourself and your resources the best you can and then gamble it all away. Gamble your fucking Life away at big endeavours that you know your Soul intends for you. Have faith in your divine abilities, bitch~🐞

If you fail, you learn!🐌

You are a Luck Magnet for as long as you believe in yourself. Be confident in that the essence of your beingness is enough for manifesting all you’re meant to see manifest in your lifetime🍀

Jupiter Sign: the psychology with which you philosophise shit

Jupiter House placement: areas of Life most blessed by the grace of Jupiter’s expansion

Planets in 9th House: indicate a need to expand beyond a simpleton mindset!!

‘The secret is not to chase the butterflies but to take care of your garden so they’ll come to you.’ – an old proverb

SONG: Baby Face by Sakamoto Maaya

MOVIE: Cruella (2021)

[PAC Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 3]

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Pile 1 – Patiently Revealing All Your Glorious Petals

lucky money (insights into lucky career opportunities) – Knight of Pentacles Rx

I’ve got to say your opportunities are the most unique here, and very likely quite challenging in that you must have patience. Lady Luck says that the path most suited to your lucky money involves your being a ghost. Hustling in secret, hiding your plans and spiritual truths from everybody else and treading very carefully on the way towards your goal. This could take many years! For many of you, this could be the loneliest path because nobody around you seems to understand your visions, or the intuitive nudges you know your Higher Self is directing you towards🛴

You were put in environments where most people don’t understand you (or they simply don’t share your visions) because your Higher Self intended for you to exercise navigating adversaries. This was part of your Soul’s scenario, you know. Stormy seas make the best sailors, kind of scenario. In that sense, you’ve been met with many uncomfortable situations, even dangerous and painful encounters and goodbyes to advance your evolution. Fear not, for you have not lost but gained valuable perspectives what will ensure good karma returning to you when you’re older🎆

For the majority of you reading this, your Jupiter will begin to really shine a light on your real lucky career path after you’ve graduated your first Saturn Return. Typically, by the time you’re between 29 and 33, things will get that much clearer and you’ll regain your motivation (if you’ve lost it at some point) and feel really glad you’ve made it thus far. The future accessible to you will begin to feel astonishingly clear and you will be excited but still need to work on that patience LMAO

lucky daily (ways to increase luck every day) – Page of Wands

Having said all of that, many of you reading this may feel quite frustrated at the idea that you’re only gonna get your successes at a later age. Especially if you’ve survived your first Saturn Return and you’re only beginning, you may have felt quite like a loser in comparison to these 20-somethings already achieving so much in Life… But, who’s to say all of that is gonna last? Sometimes, people gain a lot at a young age only to have all of that swept away by the time motherfucking Saturn returns to get them LOL Well, that, too, is part of their spiritual evolution, so~🙏🏻

Remember that you’re not in a competition with anybody or even Destiny itself. To increase your luck daily, Jupiter is saying: enjoy every single day you get to make progress on your true ideal career. Whatever it is that you’re doing right now, and if you aren’t yet where you envision yourself to be, you can still enjoy every single step you manage to take on a daily basis to get you closer to where you want to be. You’re learning and gaining momentum, aren’t you? All these little steps matter in the grander scheme of your Higher Self’s orchestration to bring to your doorstep all that you deserve📦

Of all the piles, I have a strong feeling your manifestation is the most guarded by the Higher Realms. You’re meant to go through hoops and learn to prepare yourself very well so that you could build a strong foundation that is sure to have longevity. The thing you’re meant to do, to have, to express, to create and build, unlike many, many others who need to learn through gain and loss of the very things that matter to them, is going to be yours forever once you establish it. The whole idea of unlocking achievements in accordance to age is pure scam. You are safe and perfectly on time🎯

lucky strike (big blessings you’re destined to obtain) – Knight of Wands Rx

Let me let you in on a secret. Mental clarity/health is absolutely paramount to your success story. Plenty of young people get crowned with massive successes without having a strong foundation of morality or empathy, and least of all, spirituality. For example… How many times have we heard tragical Hollywood stories where young celebs/influencers became the IT girls/boys very early on only to crumble and get shattered by the time they’re in their late 20s or early 30s? (Saturn freaking Return!) All because they’re so out of touch with reality🤷🏻‍♀️

Not saying they’re terrible seeds per se, but perhaps it was their environment/upbringing what didn’t allow them to bloom beautifully the way you are with your emotional and spiritual maturity. Whatever career choice you have in mind, know that when you’re finally established there, you’re going to be so based, so grounded in reality that everybody is going to have immense respect for you for the things you say and contribute to your cause📢

Your lucky break may indeed require a slow, careful planning, all behind the scenes, too. You are meant to develop in the fog and mists, away from the beady eyes of those who might seek to trample over everything you’re building. Nobody would ever guess what your next lucky chapter would look like! But you do. You do so well because you’re working on it every day, diligently and resiliently. Maybe you don’t know yet, but Lady Luck is visiting a lot sooner than logically expected hahah And when she carries you through those winds of change…🥂

DESTINY SERVING TEA🔻💙

mother Jupiter on your side (message from Jupiter) – Red Astronomer (Johannes Kepler)

merging with your Higher Self (the weight of destiny) – Priestess of Clarity

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Pile 2 – Resiliently Growing in the Mud

lucky money (insights into lucky career opportunities) – 2 of Cups Rx

Harmony is definitely integral to your spiritual sanity. You’re not the type of person who can thrive in a dog-eat-dog industry. When people are ugly to each other at the workplace, it fucks most of your brain’s functions up. This coldass capitalistic system doesn’t suit you; and if you can’t seem to catch up, it’s not because you’re a failure, but because you’re wired towards a more high-vibrational existence. An existence where people’s interactions are generally pleasant and—in some instances—beautiful💞

There must be some significant Libra/7th House or Pisces/12th House placements in your birth chart that are pulling you towards creating harmony in your work environment. Being surrounded by ease and beauty is of paramount importance to your optimal functioning. If you’ve ever experienced some kind of a professional heartbreak from betrayal/cruelty by co-workers or bosses, that environment ain’t where you belong, and it is perfectly safe for you to eject yourself from that hellhole. There are better things more suited to your Style🌈

Lady Luck says you may be more suited to working alone until you establish yourself enough to make collaborations with others who are quite similar to you in terms of their general politeness and delightful visions for the world. Wow that’s a longass sentence. For example, a vibe I’m getting is a small business owner selling whatever beautiful and creative things you can produce on your own. Even if not selling, you could have, for example, a YT channel showcasing your real-time painting or any other interests/talents you may have and get money from rolling ads🎞

lucky daily (ways to increase luck every day) – 6 of Cups

If you’ve ever had frustrating, or even painful, experiences in the corporate world—whatever the setting may be—that whole ordeal was truly teaching you the importance of working with just a small circle of trustworthy individuals to move forward with. Integrity is crucial in your daily choices. Sharing ideas and stories with kindred spirits is the way to go in your case. That you never betray your own purity, that you don’t give in to selling your Soul to the Devil, that you never let yourself kowtow to the System…

All of these brave decisions are what’s going to be favoured by the Lady Luck. In different scenarios this endeavour may take some time, but don’t fret, because for most people, accessing the Power of Jupiter does take some maturing. It does take some experiencing, some intel-gathering, some philosophising over many, many things that are eating away at your sanity. The moment you become clear about those wrong things is the moment you regain control over your daily choices🍭

You may want to look at what your 6th House sign and placement entail for your healthy habit-building~ You’re a bit of a Faery Soul, an Elven Soul, or maybe a Mermaid Soul; you’re gentle and more sensitive than most Humans. Maintaining harmony and balance in your everyday Life is key to increasing your Luck daily. You’re spiritual and creative, and so, if you allow yourself to indulge in soulful activities as part of your money-making endeavours, Lady Luck is going to gladly visit you every day~🌬

lucky strike (big blessings you’re destined to obtain) – 5 of Wands Rx

It isn’t to say that you’re meant to only live a secluded, hermit lifestyle. As mentioned earlier, you could benefit from working alone when you’re just starting on your passion project. You’re more suited to working solo and figuring things out yourself as you build a livelihood that’s generally pleasant every day~🌌

When you’ve raised your vibrations enough and be super charming and confident because you’re making money by living authentically, you’re going to become a magnet for amazing, one-of-a-kind, kindred spirits who are just as unconventional as yourself. You’re going to be glad because your connections and relationships are going to be exciting without stupid dramas. This in itself could lead to amazing collaborations with those who share similar visions as yourself🌉

You are definitely amongst those convention breakers who will show others that operating on nothing but the spirit of competition in the professional world is dumb as fuck. People thrive when they collab with those of similar tastes and minds. When all’s said and done, you’re meant to have a Life of ease and a lot of cheer with unique individuals living high-vibrationally interesting lives, carving your own alternative existence~💠

DESTINY SERVING TEA🔻💛

mother Jupiter on your side (message from Jupiter) – Green Astronomer (Nicolaus Copernicus)

merging with your Higher Self (the weight of destiny) – Priestess of Inspiration

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Pile 3 – It’s Like You’re Growing Money on Trees, My Goodness!

lucky money (insights into lucky career opportunities) – Page of Pentacles Rx

It’s clear you’ve done some heavy shadow work, maybe it’s only begun quite recently; but for some, this may have been ongoing for quite a number of years. Whatever the case may be, and however old you may be, there’s this feeling that you’re starting over. You’re just beginning to live again. This time around, you’re living on your own terms; you’re feeling, ‘This is who I should’ve always been!’ And you feel incredibly glad, for the most part😶

It’s perfectly normal to feel sad sometimes, after all, a lot of shit you’ve faced. For quite some time, you totally bought the hustle culture—the thing about it was that you were ludicrously hard on yourself. I sense a majority of you reading this are Millennials? Or perhaps older Gen Zs. Anyway, your expectations on yourself were hurting you so much. After some shadow work, you realised da problem wasn’t you; it was the System. You were scammed big time🤬

Thus you quit a whole industry and began cultivating your own Art. This is the spiritual pile for sure. I sense many of you reading this resonate with being a Lightworker, Starseed, or a Mystic even. You could be doing tarot readings yourself; running a blog channelling cosmic messages from higher beings; some could have a YT channel dedicated to New Age spirituality or esoteric occult knowledge; and some could even be a detective or in the investigative field. WHOA. If you’re not already doing these thing, Spirit Guides are saying you would be very blessed by the Lady Luck if you thrust yourself into these types of work😘

lucky daily (ways to increase luck every day) – 5 of Pentacles Rx

Whoa… do I need to give you any advice or anything? Bitch, you cracked the code! You’re practically a master manifestor at this point in your Life. I sense some of you reading this may not resonate just yet but you’ve literally transcended far above the need for money. Right now, if you allow yourself to calm down, you’ll realise you could just sit down every day and money grows on your trees~🌳

You’ve quite become an embodiment of your Higher Self, and that Oversoul of yours knows you’re unlimited. There is no more lack in your subconscious, let’s just put it that way. Now your conscious, your logical brain, just needs to adjust to this new paradigm (if not already) and you will be effortlessly attracting the means to afford all that you need to move forward. With 5 of Pentacles in reverse—namely a trauma card—Spirit Guides are saying you’re in a healing phase right now🧸

If—IF—certain days you feel tired, fatigued, drowsy for an entire day, and just unmotivated to work even on something you’re passionate about, please know this is your body still recuperating from the adrenal stress caused by long years of having to hustle or simply having a hustle mindset. You’re not doing anything wrong and you’re not failing, OK? Your intelligent body is just telling you it’s safe to slow down now. It’s perfectly good to sleep aaallll day and just feed and clean yourself for 5 consecutive days if that’s really all you can do to maintain mental and spiritual balance. That spiritual balance is what’s going to effortlessly manifest all the abundance you’re so deserving, so don’t be afraid of ‘missing’ some work days~🛌

lucky strike (big blessings you’re destined to obtain) – 4 of Cups

There is a sense of stability that you’re going to manifest pretty soon in your Life (if not already LOL). In some regards, this stability could even feel rather boring, uneventful, just because you were quite used to having a lot of chaos in your previous chapter of Life. But this stability will serve as a big ‘rehab period’ for you to truly shift your paradigm. And then, once you manage to get all your ducks in a row in your new paradigm…🦆

Pretty soon you’re gonna see everything in your Life move quite fast. If by any chance you’ve resonated with this: ‘I feel like everything has changed so much, yet nothing seems to have changed at all…’ please know this is actually yourself slowing things down so you don’t manifest another set of stressful unfolding of events! This was preordained by your Higher Self! Hahah…

The reason for this is that at this point in your spiritual evolution, you’ve become really particular about high-quality manifestations you’re willing to entertain within the construct of your own Reality. So much so that you simply won’t entertain the manifestation of good opportunities if it’s going to be stressful. NO STRESS is a big part of your magick. This concept literally goes beyond just material things; pretty soon you’ll see that you’re only manifesting high-quality experiences, environments, encounters, and even Love🦢

DESTINY SERVING TEA🔻💜

mother Jupiter on your side (message from Jupiter) – Gold Alchemist (Roger Bacon)

merging with your Higher Self (the weight of destiny) – Priestess of Intuition

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

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[PAC Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 3]

[Patreon] [Paid Readings]

[tanadrin]

At the risk of sounding profoundly ignorant, is it possible that 'traditional' economic indicators aren't actually good indicators anymore?

This gets brought up a lot, perhaps as a way to achieve synthesis between the two sides of the argument, and while I understand the intuitive appeal, I don't think it works in practice. I think the term "economic indicators" maybe makes people think of very indirect measures that only loosely correlate with aggregate wellbeing. But what would it mean for numbers like "median real income" and "unemployment" and "labor force participation rate" and "household savings" and "household debt" to no longer be "good [economic] indicators"? How much money you are making (in real terms), how much debt you have, whether you have a job or not--these are, at least when it comes to mere material and economic matters of the sort we are trying to measure--among the most direct measurements we can make.

Yes, when we're talking about large data sets, these numbers will always be an aggregate, and will tell a story about general trends. A nation of hundreds of millions of people can be phenomenally prosperous, and still have millions who struggle. I think one reason Stancil gets pushback is because people imagine he is glib in the face of those millions who still struggle, but he isn't, really. And neither am I! But another contingent will fall back on the millions who still struggle as proof that things can't be good, as if aggregate increases in prosperity are somehow not real if they are not perfectly uniform, and I think that's wrong, too.

(There are narrower versions of this synthesis, like that rising house prices in particular somehow broke consumer sentiment, and I think that while stronger they also suffer from the problem of having some mysterious threshold effect that only kicked into gear in 2022, and they seem like a sort of ad-hoc modification that is still too wedded to the assumption that consumer sentiment must be absolutely reflective of real conditions. I don't think that's true. Aggregate opinion is wrong about a lot of things. Aggregate opinion of Republicans was already somewhat divorced from economic performance. Aggregate opinion on crime has always been wildly out of whack. Aggregate opinion on other issues can sometimes track real conditions and sometimes be totally insane. There is no reason why we must assume a priori aggregate opinion is always correct, except as a cudgel against our ideological opponents, and frankly I think it's much more interesting to ask why aggregate opinion might go off kilter.)

[ciceroprofacto]

we need to collectively start shaming people for talking about anything related to economics a LOT more. if someone starts talking about inflation, ask them to explain what that is. interest rates- who controls that- more importantly, how? to what end? what are tariffs supposed to do? how do labor and wages effect supply and demand? what is a market? a job market??

literally no one actually knows anything they’re talking about AT ALL, and if someone’s telling you they can accurately predict what’s going to happen they’re plain lying. real experts will admit there are major flaws in the data feeding several key models and indicators. even with perfect data collection methods (impossible to achieve), we still wouldn’t be sure of anything. that’s not how economic controls work.

the average person has less than zero economic literacy and I mean less than zero because they’ll insist on talking about it anyway and that shit has a negative impact. when they do it, make them look stupid- ask them to break it down like you’re a child, keep asking for more clarity, go deeper. ask for their sources, ask for their sources sources, ask if they were educated in economics and where and in what focus. Fucking grill them. and when they can’t demonstrate real comprehension, ask them why they’d vote based on something they don’t actually understand.

[cosmicpuzzle]

8th Lord periods for each Rising sign- Part 1 ⚠︎

8th Lord periods whether it is dasha or bhukti can be challenging. Let's see the possible issues faced by each rising sign during the 8th lord dasha or bhukti.

Note that you need to know your dasha schedule to know when you may face these issues.

Aries Rising : Mars is 8th lord and also the ascendant lord. So, Mars periods can be intensely transformative for aries risings. They may go undergo some surgery, possible accidents and also major identity changes. This can be almost like a rebirth for them.

Taurus Rising: Jupiter is the 8th lord and also the 11th lord. Jupiter can bring major changes in one's social status and finance. There may be sudden gain of wealth as well as sudden loss of income. The taurus rising may have issues with taxes as well. There may be problems through friends and elder siblings.

Gemini Rising : Saturn is the 8th lord and boy it's not an easy period for Gemini natives. Saturn is naturally a malefic so the suffering can continue for long as opposed to short moving planets like sun moon Mercury venus Mars. Saturn is also the 9th lord. So gemini rising may face issues with their fathers mentors gurus elders bosses and their university education (if it's the right age). Saturn may give struggles in understanding as 8th and 9th lord. There may be spiritual transformations but that comes from a long period of struggle penance and discovery. Saturn can also indicate burning of bad karmas through health issues.

Cancer Rising : Similar to gemini rising, saturn rules their 8th house but it rules 7th house simultaneously. So cancer rising may struggle in marriage relationships in laws and business partnerships. Saturn may also bring economic problems to the spouse. Saturn may bring chronic health issues as the 8th lord. Saturn may also bring problems in inheritance.

Leo Rising : Jupiter is the 8th lord and its also the 5th lord. Jupiter can bring issues with children for Leo rising. In extreme cases there can be loss of children (even while giving birth or just after). Jupiter can bring issues with finance, investments and cause loss in speculation but can also lead to gain in these. Overall Jupiter can give mixed results.

Virgo Rising: Mars is the 8th lord and its also the 3rd lord. Mars is a difficult planet for virgo rising. Mars can bring conflicts with in laws, siblings (especially younger), and neighbours. Mars can bring problems with marriage as well. Mars can bring some accidents as it rules 3rd house of travel and linked to 8th house. Overall, this can be a very difficult period for Virgos.

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