#free market and prosperity

[moreconomics]

"The Austrian School of Economics: A Solution to the World's Problems?"

The Austrian School of economics is a heterodox economic theory that emphasizes the role of individual subjective value, entrepreneurship, and the importance of markets in the allocation of resources. It is distinguished from other economic schools by its emphasis on the dynamic and entrepreneurial nature of economic activity, and its view that the economy is constantly evolving and adapting to changing circumstances. The Austrian School is also characterized by its commitment to methodological individualism, which is the idea that social phenomena can only be understood by examining the actions and motivations of individual actors. This emphasis on the subjective experiences and preferences of individual actors is also reflected in the Austrian School's commitment to the subjective theory of value, which holds that the value of a good or service is subjective and determined by the individual valuations of those who exchange it.

One key aspect of the Austrian School is the concept of the business cycle, which refers to the regular fluctuations in economic activity that occur over time. According to the Austrian theory of the business cycle, these fluctuations are caused by the expansion and contraction of credit by banks. When banks expand credit, they make it easier for individuals and businesses to borrow money, which can lead to an increase in investment and economic activity. However, this expansion of credit can also lead to an unsustainable increase in the demand for goods and services, which can result in a misallocation of resources and the emergence of malinvestments. When the credit expansion eventually comes to an end, the demand for goods and services can suddenly drop, leading to a contraction in economic activity and a corresponding drop in the supply of money and credit. This process of credit expansion and contraction can lead to the regular fluctuations in economic activity that are characteristic of the business cycle.

One important concept in the Austrian School of economics is that of economic calculation, which refers to the process by which individuals and businesses make decisions about how to allocate their resources in the face of scarcity. According to the Austrian School, market processes are the most efficient means of economic calculation because they allow individuals to make decisions based on their own subjective preferences and valuations, and provide information about the relative scarcity of different goods and services through the system of prices. When prices are allowed to adjust freely in response to changes in supply and demand, they provide a clear and accurate signal about the relative scarcity of different goods and services. This allows individuals to make informed decisions about how to allocate their resources and optimize their utility.

For example, if one good is experiencing a shortage and its price is higher than another good that is not experiencing a shortage, an individual may choose to purchase the good that is not experiencing a shortage even if they prefer the good that is in short supply. This is because the higher price of the good in short supply reflects its relative scarcity and the individual may be able to obtain more utility by purchasing a greater quantity of the good that is not experiencing a shortage. This process of resource allocation through market prices promotes the most efficient use of resources and contributes to economic growth and prosperity.

The Austrian School argues that subsidies and other forms of market intervention can distort prices and undermine the ability of the market to perform this crucial role in resource allocation. By distorting prices, subsidies can create artificial shortages or surpluses of goods and services, leading to misallocations of resources and inefficiencies in the economy. This can ultimately undermine the ability of the market to promote economic growth and prosperity.

Money is just another good among many in an economy, and like any other good, it is subject to the laws of supply and demand. When the supply of money is increased or decreased, this can have a significant impact on the relative prices of other goods and services in the economy, as well as on the level of economic activity. The Austrian School of economics argues that the state's control of money and its regulation of private alternatives can distort market processes and undermine economic prosperity. By monopolizing the supply of money or over-regulating private alternatives, the state can manipulate the money supply and interfere with the proper functioning of the market. This can lead to misallocations of resources, economic inefficiencies, and ultimately, a lower standard of living for individuals and businesses.

One way to promote economic stability and prosperity is through the denationalization of money, a concept posited by Friedrich Hayek and embraced by many Austrian economists. This idea refers to the proposal that money should be privately produced rather than issued by a central government or bank. The Austrian School argues that private money would be more stable and less subject to manipulation by governments and central banks, and would therefore be more effective at promoting economic stability and prosperity. One way in which private money could be implemented is through the concept of free banking, in which banks are free to issue their own private currencies while also subject to no special regulations beyond those applicable to most enterprises.

Free banking is a monetary system that has the potential to promote greater competition among banks, leading to better quality currencies and a more stable financial system. In a free banking system, banks have an incentive to issue currencies that are widely accepted and maintain their value, as this would increase the demand for their currency and their profits. To achieve this, banks must demonstrate the reliability and trustworthiness of their currency to the public. One way that banks can do this is through a practice called "note-dueling."

Note-dueling is a practice that occurs in a free banking system, in which banks attempt to gather up as much of their rivals' outstanding notes as possible in order to demonstrate the strength of their own currency. This process can be thought of as a form of market discipline, as it incentivizes banks to maintain reasonable reserve ratios in order to be able to honor their promise to redeem their notes for gold or other specie when requested. Competition among note issuers led each bank to try to demonstrate how solid and reliable it was relative to other banks, and this competition effectively regulated the specie reserves held in the banking system. If a bank has a large specie reserve relative to its outstanding note issue, it is better able to honor this promise and maintain the confidence of the public in its currency. On the other hand, if a bank has a small specie reserve relative to its outstanding note issue, it may be at risk of facing a liquidity problem if there is a high demand for note redemption. In this case, the bank may not have enough gold on hand to meet the demand, which could lead to a failure in the bank that did not have enough specie reserve relative to its outstanding note issue.

The Cantillon effect is a phenomenon in economics that refers to the way in which changes in the money supply can have unequal impacts on different parts of the economy. Named after the 18th-century economist Richard Cantillon, the effect suggests that the first recipients of new money tend to benefit the most, while those who receive the new money later on tend to be disadvantaged. This is because the first recipients of new money are able to use it to purchase goods and services before prices have had a chance to adjust to the increased demand, which can lead to higher prices for these goods and services. This can lead to a transfer of wealth from those who receive the new money later on to those who receive it earlier, contributing to economic inequality.

Many Austrian economists advocate for the denationalization of money and the implementation of free banking as a way to mitigate the potential for the Cantillon effect and promote economic stability and prosperity. In a system of free banking, banks are free to issue their own private currencies and compete with one another for customers. This competition can help to ensure that the supply of money and credit is more responsive to market forces and less subject to manipulation by governments and central banks. One aspect of this competition is the process of "note dueling," in which banks attempt to gather up as much of the outstanding note issue of their rivals as possible in order to demonstrate their own reliability and stability. By allowing the market to play a greater role in the supply and demand of money, the Austrian School argues that free banking can help to promote economic stability and reduce the potential for the Cantillon effect to contribute to economic inequality.

In conclusion, the Austrian School of economics offers a unique perspective on economic theory and policy that emphasizes the role of individual subjective value, entrepreneurship, and the importance of markets in the allocation of resources. The theory of the business cycle explains how the expansion and contraction of credit by banks can lead to fluctuations in economic activity, and the concept of denationalization of money proposes that money should be privately produced rather than controlled by the state. The idea of free banking, in which banks are free to issue their own private currencies, is one way in which this concept could be implemented. The Austrian School argues that these ideas have the potential to promote economic stability and prosperity by allowing the supply of money and credit to be more responsive to market forces and less subject to manipulation by governments and central banks. By respecting the role of the individual and the market in the allocation of resources, the Austrian School offers a unique and valuable perspective on economic policy.

[esoteric-chaos]

Spring Equinox Masterpost- Spoonie Witch Friendly

Art Credit: Anastasia Catris

The Spring Equinox, also called the Vernal Equinox or Ostara, is usually celebrated between the 21st of March in the Northern Hemisphere (In the Southern Hemisphere around September 20th or 21st)

In 2024, Ostara and the Spring Equinox land in the Northern Hemisphere on Monday, March 19th.

The Spring Equinox celebrates the arrival of spring. Celebrating balance, growth, and new beginnings as Winter has finally ended.

Spring Equinox Correspondances

Colours

Light Green

Lavender

Sunny Yellow

Light Blue

Pastel Pink

White

Herbal

Lemongrass

Daffodils

Tulips

Violets

Apple Tree

Cherry Blossom

Primrose

Birch tree

Hyacinths

Dandelion

Garlic

Ash tree

Jasmine

Edibles

Honey

Salad greens

Spring veggies

Fresh berries

Mead

Herbs

Eggs

Seeds

Bread

Edible flowers

Quiches

Custards

Maple

Animals

Hares

Baby Chicks

Snakes

Robins

Bees

Butterflies

Phoenix

Ram

Crystals

Fluorite

Moonstone

Silver

Aquamarine

Clear Quartz

Amazonite

Symbols

Bonfires

Flowers

Rabbits

Eggs

Seeds

Baskets

Flowering or Tree Buds

Lambs

Birds

Spiritual meanings

Purification

Cleansing (removal of stagnant energy)

Growth

Transition

Motivation

Balance

Birth

Good fortune

Kindness

Joy

Fertility

Scents

Coconut

Citrus

Floral scents (rose, lilac, jasmine, etc)

Herbal scents (rosemary, basil, mint, etc)

Gods / Goddesses / Spirits

Eostre –  (Anglo-Saxon)

Aphrodite - (Greek)

Gaia - (Celtic)

Gaea - (Greek)

Venus - (Roman)

Athena - (Greek)

Aurora - (Roman)

Eos - (Greek)

Isis – (Egyptian)

Freya - (Norse) 

Persephone - (greek)

Cybele - (Roman)

The Green Man - (Celtic)

Odin – (Norse) 

Osiris – (Egyptian)

Pan – (Greek)

Thoth – (Egyptian)

Adonis – (Greek)

Apollon –  (Greek)

Apollo - (Roman)

Need some suggestions to celebrate? I've got you covered.

High energy celebrations and ritual

Deep cleaning of the hearth and home

Nature hikes

Visiting farmers markets

Making preserves

Create a fae garden

Create a seasonal altar

Abundance/Prosperity ritual

New beginnings ritual

Low energy celebrations 

Wear pastels

Create flower crowns

Light a candle with scent correspondence

No spoon celebrations 

Opening a window

Journaling Prompts

Keeping hydrated

Drink floral tea

Rest

How you celebrate the holiday does not matter. You can choose to do any activity that feels right. These are only suggestions and remember that you're enough no matter what.

Also please note some stuff is UPG. A great book is Year of the Witch by Temperance Alden for honouring the celebrations and if you wanted to work more seasonally. It's not Wiccan-based and has plenty of resources for every witch.

Feel free to post how you celebrate in the comments or reblogs!

Want to see more of my posts? Check out my Wheel of the Year Masterpost or my Main Masterpost.

[machineheraldbabe]

arcane, populism, and why viktor is the odd one out (yet again)

as a piltover-anti, a silco criticizer, and a pacifist, i am very very interested in how arcane presents not just the political undertones of both topside and the undercity, but the characters/dialogue through which they communicate those undertones. allow me to use some political science bro lingo to air out some thoughts.

long, long post incoming.

there are 2 ideological struggles at war throughout s1 (and i can predict that the struggle will carry over into s2): neoliberalism and populism - in their broadest terms since we're talking ofc about a fictional show dealing with surface level political machinations. by neoliberalism, i mean a focus on the social, political, and cultural structures of a polity (piltover, for our purposes) refocused into a strictly economic vacuum. and by populism i mean a unifying belief that the existing political systems of a polity fail to adequately represent their constituents, so the masses choose to rally around a specific gripe or issue, i.e., class discrimination, xenophobia toward immigrants, etc. this, in turn, forms a populist party or movement. an applicable example i can think of would be Nasser's Egypt in the 1950s.

*i know these are weighty topics with very real world implications! i just want to separate the theory to apply to our favorite fictional world.

the political struggle in question is put forward immediately by piltover, who, though presented as a technocratic state, embodies crucial neoliberal ideals emphasized especially by up-and-coming counilor mel medarda, much like how fresh-eyed american economists blew up the economic scene in the 1980s with a revival of capitalist, free market enterprise. take how she seizes the advent of hextech, for example:

she quickly sees hextech's potential yet not from the solely intellectual standpoint that jayce and viktor do - for her, it is profitable, literally and in terms of international relations. her goal is for piltover to prosper, but she has no rose-colored glasses on; prosperity means capital gain, and she's willing to override piltover's political and social systems to achieve her goal. an important caveat is that she draws the line at ambessa medarda's progression into militant authoritarianism, which deserves a whole post of its own!

piltover's populism moment will come later. first, let's unpack silco, who is probably arcane's most blatantly political figure, and a masterclass in the merits and failures of left wing, class-based populism.

silco, having been spurned by the classism and xenophobia that piltover's elite proliferate, and assisted by his rampant shimmer operation, fills the vacuum that vander's pacifism opened up. though silco's methods are unilaterally cruel (argue with the wall), the undercity clearly invested faith in him at some point, especially as vander's credibility as a guiding figure wavered over the years. he was fighting alongside vander for zaun's right to exist as their own independent body. in other words, he was uniting the undercity toward a common cause because the existing political system failed their constituents. to quote councilor shoola: "they may not be our preferred constituents, but they're still our people."

the track record of populism in our real world frequently ends in the ruin that silco himself brought upon the undercity. the kingpin is too dedicated to self-preservation, sees himself as too central to the movement, which prevents both compromise and/or a necessary armed revolt (insert your own politics about self-determination here). see italy's right wing populism party, Lega Nord, as a real-time example of this phenomenon.

but arcane makes an interesting plot decision with jayce, a very unexpected and "unwilling" contributor to piltover's abrupt dip into right wing populism. the showrunners love foils!

in arcane lore, i think it's safe to say that jayce's moniker "the man of progress" is pretty tongue-in-cheek. both he and viktor have a bemused tone about it in the run-up to his speech, and jayce is taken aback by heimerdinger's insistence that he deliver said speech. but the glowing, savior-esque imagery can't be ignored, nor can jayce's quick switch into his councilor role, no matter how reluctantly he makes it.

jayce is confronted by 2 forces that he seeks to combat in his quick tenure as councilor: internal corruption and an ineffective governing body. the latter goal is inspired almost solely by viktor, playing into jayce's naivety as a fresh-faced political figure, but this will be especially important to note later on. the innocence he offers up to mel is quickly erased, transformed instead into an uncomfortable - and inexperienced - militancy:

important in the bridge scene to my analysis is the populist "out group," or the designation populists give to those whom they actively oppose, and this opposition serves as their basis for organization. in this case, it's the undercity (keep this in mind for viktor's role!!).

jayce's combined frustrations at the unrest in the undercity and the council's (namely heimerdinger's) refusal to act, to both save viktor and to deal with the undercity's looming violence, motivates him to act like silco for a short time. unsatisfied with the status quo, he unites a likeminded individual, vi, along with the enforcers, to undercut the political system he feels is unable to represent its constituents or act in an effective manner. however, UNLIKE silco, jayce's realizes the inevitable cost the method of violence has and refrains in the end. he returns to the council and capitulates to some of silco's demands in the name of a peace piltover and zaun always thought impossible.

jinx's complete undoing of this underscores the failures of populism, especially as an extended movement over time. she wasn't accounted for. it's common sentiment at this point that she didn't attack the council for political gain. she was not invested in zaun's independence. she did it out of her and silco's twisted parental bond, and thus undid piltover's brief instance of compromise and compassion.

so...where does viktor fit into all this? and what are his implications for neoliberalism vs. populism in season 2?

viktor is neither wholly within nor wholly outside the populist outgroup - though jayce unintentionally shoves him back there in the pivotal bridge scene. furthermore, viktor also makes use of piltover's technocracy. he seems to have had a "raise yourself up by your bootstraps" history in arcane, contrary to left wing populist insistence that neoliberal ideals make this impossible.

this compounds as a double alienation for viktor, who also is straddled with the complications of his disability. a lot of his story is searching for a fellow in arms, if you ask me, and he had that with jayce until the pendulum swung, hence his return to singed.

if we stop there, viktor represents the failing of these 2 very flawed political ideologies. he fits nowhere and arcane uses him adeptly as a symbol of the failings of binaristic ideologues and systems. but let's speculate some more!

i'm convinced that viktor, due to his ambiguous 3rd party role in the story so far, will be one of the central villains (if not THE villain, if you allow me to be admittedly hopeful/biased) in season 2. consult the innumerable very well written theory/meta posts about the subject for more details, but one piece of evidence i want to focus on is this inherent physical, cultural, and ideological separateness that is innate to his character.

can we see him allying ever again with piltover, knowing that there's a split incoming? even without outside knowledge of league lore, singed's damning prediction ("if you take this path, they will despise you") cannot go unheeded. alternatively, then, can we see viktor allying with the supposed jinx-as-revolutionary side? no. personally, i see him as becoming increasingly unwillingly to compromise his a) immediate survival; and b) his ideals, especially after being endlessly sidelined in his attempts to express them in acts 2 and 3. he's also just a loner, guys.

there's some controversy on this point, but i'm convinced that the finger-printed cultists/followers we saw in the s2 trailer are devoted to viktor. starting with the shimmer addict he touched in the teaser, he is accruing a following all his own. and since noxus is here, touting their authoritarian militancy to replace piltover's outdated liberal ideals, nothing that jinx's revolution OR viktor's following does can be apolitical. to organize and to fight is survival under s2's raised stakes.

there aren't any binary spectrums when it comes to political theory in my opinion, so i am prepared to witness viktor introduce an entirely separate totalitarian narrative into arcane. where it will surely lack in militancy, it will make up for in its domination of the arcane. my biggest speculation is that, as they always do, piltover will fold and compromise at the last minute, perhaps yield to noxus, and invest wholeheartedly in taking down viktor's BBEG cultist regime. and by isolating his narrative repeatedly in s1, the writers planned this out expertly.

even if i'm wrong about viktor as third party, i like to think my observations still stand about the specific and qualifiable political divisions between piltover and zaun. the biggest hole this leaves for me is the question: will arcane ever take a stand? they seem very averse to making a blatant political statement, but i think their pervasive anti-police thread makes it clear that we're not meant to sympathize with piltover yuppies or their seasoned, jaded councilmen. let me know your thoughts!

also, as a jayce fan and a fan of arcane's overall story, none of this is meant as a CRITIQUE of him, mel, or silco. as silco said, "we all have our parts to play." i believe arcane's very greatest strength is their archetypal storytelling, and these distinct character roles are crucial to the success and vibrancy of the story.

if you read all the way to this point - ily <3

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A taxonomy of corporate bullshit

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

There are six lies that corporations have told since time immemorial, and Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen's new book Corporate Bullsht: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America* provides an essential taxonomy of this dirty six:

https://thenewpress.com/books/corporate-bullsht

In his review for The American Prospect, David Dayen summarizes how these six lies "offer a civic-minded, reasonable-sounding justification for positions that in fact are motivated entirely by self-interest":

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-10-27-lies-my-corporation-told-me-hanauer-walsh-cohen-review/

I. Pure denial

As far back as the slave trade, corporate apologists and mouthpieces have led by asserting that true things are false, and vice-versa. In 1837, John Calhoun asserted that "Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually." George Fitzhugh called enslaved Africans in America "the freest people in the world."

This tactic never went away. Children sent to work in factories are "perfectly happy." Polluted water is "purer than the water that came from the river before we used it." Poor families "don't really exist." Pesticides don't lead to "illness or death." Climate change is "beneficial." Lead "helps guard your health."

II. Markets can solve problems, governments can't

Alan Greenspan made a career out of blithely asserting that markets self-correct. It was only after the world economy imploded in 2008 that he admitted that his doctrine had a "flaw":

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/greenspan-admits-flaw-to-congress-predicts-more-economic-problems

No matter how serious a problem is, the market will fix it. In 1973, the US Chamber of Commerce railed against safety regulations, because "safety is good business," and could be left to the market. If unsafe products persist in the market, it's because consumers choose to trade safety off "for a lower price tag" (Chamber spox Laurence Kraus). Racism can't be corrected with anti-discrimination laws. It's only when "the market" realizes that racism is bad for business that it will finally be abolished.

III. Consumers and workers are to blame

In 1946, the National Coal Association blamed rampant deaths and maimings in the country's coal-mines on "carelessness on the part of men." In 2003, the National Restaurant Association sang the same tune, condemning nutritional labels because "there are not good or bad foods. There are good and bad diets." Reagan's interior secretary Donald Hodel counseled personal responsibility to address a thinning ozone layer: "people who don’t stand out in the sun—it doesn’t affect them."

IV. Government cures are always worse than the disease

Lee Iacocca called 1970's Clean Air Act "a threat to the entire American economy and to every person in America." Every labor and consumer protection before and since has been damned as a plague on American jobs and prosperity. The incentive to work can't survive Social Security, welfare or unemployment insurance. Minimum wages kill jobs, etc etc.

V. Helping people only hurts them

Medicare will "destroy private initiative for our aged to protect themselves with insurance" (Republican Senator Milward Simpson, 1965). Covid relief is unfair to people that are currently in the workforce" (Republican Governor Brian Kemp, 2021). Welfare produces "learned helplessness."

VI. Everyone who disagrees with me is a socialist

Grover Cleveland's 2% on top incomes is "communistic warfare against rights of property" (NY Tribune, 1895). "Socialized medicine" will leave "our children and our children’s children [asking] what it once was like in America when men were free" (Reagan, 1961).

Everything is "socialism": anti-child labor laws, Social Security, minimum wages, family and medical leave. Even fascism is socialism! In 1938, the National Association of Manufacturers called labor rights "communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism."

As Dayen says, it's refreshing to see how the right hasn't had an original idea in 150 years, and simply relies on repeating the same nonsense with minor updates. Right wing ideological innovation consists of finding new ways to say, "actually, your boss is right."

The left's great curse is object permanence: the ability to remember things, like the fact that it used to be possible for a worker to support a family of five on a single income, or that the economy once experienced decades of growth with a 90%+ top rate of income tax (other things the left manages to remember: the "intelligence community" are sociopathic monsters, not Trump-slaying heroes).

When the business lobby rails against long-overdue antitrust action against Amazon and Google, object permanence puts it all in perspective. The talking points about this being job-destroying socialism are the same warmed-over nonsense used to defend rail-barons and Rockefeller. "If you don't like it, shop elsewhere," has been the corporate apologist's line since slavery times.

As Dayen says, Corporate Bullshit is a "reference book for conservative debating points, in an attempt to rob them of their rhetorical power." It will be out on Halloween:

https://bookshop.org/a/54985/9781620977514

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/27/six-sells/#youre-holding-it-wrong

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Salaried employees who work long hours for low pay aren’t finding much sympathy among Republicans on Capitol Hill.

GOP lawmakers filed a resolution in Congress on Wednesday that would block the Labor Department from extending overtime protections to millions of salaried workers, a key workplace reform pursued by President Joe Biden.

Under federal law, only certain workers have a right to time-and-a-half pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. Currently, salaried workers must earn less than $35,568 per year to be automatically entitled to the overtime pay.

A new rule from the Labor Department, finalized in April, would raise that salary threshold to $58,656 per year, bringing an estimated 4 million additional workers under the law’s protection. Employers would then have to pay those workers a premium when they work additional hours, whereas now they don’t have to pay them anything at all for that time.

But the GOP lawmakers have filed what’s known as a “resolution of disapproval” under the Congressional Review Act, which, if passed and signed into law, would nullify the reform.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) sponsored the resolution in the GOP-controlled House. Forty Republican colleagues have joined him as co-sponsors as of Friday. No Democrats have signed on to the legislation.

GOP Sen. Mike Braun (Ind.) is leading the companion legislation in the Senate, where Democrats hold a threadbare majority.

Republicans have used the Congressional Review Act to kill progressive reforms before, most notably at the end of Barack Obama’s presidency.

This particular effort has slim chances of succeeding, since the legislation would face a Biden veto threat if it managed to pass both chambers. And regardless of the maneuvers in Washington, Biden’s overtime reforms face the possibility of being blocked in federal court. But the resolution still helps show where both parties stand on a key economic issue — worker pay — in an election year.

Business groups have come out strongly against Biden’s overtime rule and have opposed similar reforms for years, claiming they would force employers to cut jobs. But giving more employees overtime protections is popular among voters, much like the idea of raising the minimum wage.

The Labor Department estimates the reform would transfer $1.5 billion a year from employers to employees in the form of higher wages. The benefits would go disproportionately to workers who are women and people of color, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

But Walberg called the overtime changes “burdensome” in a statement and claimed it would lead to inflation.

“Small businesses, nonprofits, and colleges across America will now be looking at bottom lines, and then make the tough decisions to lay off valuable staff or force salaried workers into hourly positions,” he said.

Braun argued that overtime decisions should be left to the bosses. “If the free market sets the price of labor, opportunity and prosperity are the result,” he said.

Overtime protections in the U.S. stretch back to the Great Depression, when the right to time-and-a-half pay was first enshrined in law. The idea was to prevent employers from overworking their employees, and to spread more work around during a time of high unemployment. If a company would have to pay a premium to work someone overtime, the thinking went, then the employer might choose to hire another worker to cover the additional hours.

But the law has gone long stretches without being updated, and so fewer employees as a share of the broader workforce now enjoy overtime rights compared with decades ago.

The Labor Department said when it announced the proposed reforms that it was trying to rectify “outdated and out-of-sync rules” that leave many low-paid salaried employees — retail store managers in particular — working lots of extra hours with nothing to show for it.

[simply-ivanka]

Harris and the First Amendment

The Supreme Court rebuked her use of lawfare in California.

By The Editorial Board -- Wall Street Journal

We keep looking for an issue, any issue, on which Kamala Harris differs with the Democratic left, but we keep coming up empty. That includes her party’s use of lawfare against political opponents, as an episode while she was California Attorney General reminds us.

Ms. Harris made headlines a decade ago by threatening to punish nonprofit groups that refused to turn over unredacted donor information. She demanded they hand to the state their federal IRS Form 990 Schedule B in the name of discovering “self dealing” or “improper loans.” The real purpose was to learn the names of conservative donors and chill future political giving—that is, political speech.

Her bullying came amid the Internal Revenue Service’s notorious targeting of conservative nonprofits; Wisconsin’s probe of GOP donors; Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s intimidation of donors to the American Legislative Exchange Council; and a campaign of harassment against donors who supported California’s Prop 8 (which banned same-sex marriage).

Free-market nonprofits challenged the Harris dragnet, suing the AG’s office in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta in 2021, the High Court ruled 6-3 that the AG’s disclosure demand broke the law. The Court pointed out that a lower court had found not “a single, concrete instance in which pre-investigation collection of a Schedule B did anything to advance the Attorney General’s investigative, regulatory or enforcement efforts.”

The Court said California’s claim that it would protect donor information lacked credibility, since during the litigation plaintiffs discovered nearly 2,000 Schedule B forms “inadvertently posted to the Attorney General’s website.” It noted that the petitioners and donors faced “threats” and “retaliation.”

The Supreme Court said Ms. Harris’s policy posed a risk of chilling free-speech rights, and it cited its 1958 NAACP v. Alabama precedent, which protected First Amendment “associational” rights. Ms. Harris is citing her experience as state AG as a political asset, but the Bonta case is a warning to voters that she’s willing to use the law as a weapon against political opponents.

Lawfare has failed as a political strategy against Donald Trump while undermining public confidence in impartial justice. Ms. Harris’s record suggests she’ll continue down this abusive road.

Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the August 5, 2024, print edition as 'Harris and the First Amendment'.

[elbiotipo]

I mean, I gotta read Imperialism The Highest Stage of Capitalism but the dominance of the United States isn't ideologically based on "capitalism" as their defenders understand it. The United States doesn't really give a damn about free enterprise, free markets, trade or democracy. It is concerned with maintaining it's material prosperity and dominion.

The expansion of the capitalist hegemony is basically the expansion of the US Empire and it's suboordinates. Indeed, the Usamerican Empire is the largest empire in history. The United States has attacked and subverted democracies and capitalist countries too, as well as supported fascist and other dictatorships as it is known, because the main goal of the US Empire is to maintain it's own dominance. They do not tolerate equals, only subordinates.

This isn't because Usamericans are inherently evil or anything. Their ruling capitalist class, with the tacit consent of many, are defending their own interests and their way of life. And so they will continue and justify their dominion over the rest of the world. This is the way of empire.

It corresponds to the exploited people of the Global South then, and the workers of all over the world, to resist this empire and to build the socialist alternative that will replace it. This is the historical moment we are living in.

[hana-no-seiiki]

a little more on midnight darling yans (go check out the tag for them - they’re all basically college based ones) but with a professor! reader.

professor! reader who’s on the younger side. actually the youngest prof in their region and very accomplished for their age.

the only problem is that they’re an absolute whore and regularly sleeps with every faculty member. and i mean every faculty member.

(janitor got his back blown too)

they haven’t crossed the line and done the deed with a student yet but from the amount of ppts they get which include increasingly detailed and accurate tid bits about them and their escapades (+ pp) makes them think they kind of have to at this point to maintain peace and prosperity.

there’s definitely a club just named after them. perhaps a new building funded by one of the more affluent students.

…

maybe even a course just named [y/n]ology

they have to switch up their routines everyday otherwise the swarms of people gets worse than it already is. it’s normal to see a bunch of students and faculty hanging around the classroom theyre in (and if your classroom has a window like mine does in uni there are literally people whose face are smooshed against the glass just staring at you)

the uni definitely uses you in a lot of their marketing. it works a bit too well on the first year and almost little to no students have other subjects as their first choice. tons of em try to shift to your area regularly. it’s pure chaos.

when classes are cancelled there are literally hundreds if not thousands of people rioting just to let it continue so they can see you again.

you get free food and transportation every day. people already know where you live whether you were careful about it or not. but you often use some yans to combat the ones that try to take you in your home.

as for the food, people often scramble to have a thing they either bought or cooked in your mouth. you used to eat those until you fed one to your co-worker who in turn got drugged.

also cause there have been cases of semen and god forbid period blood being found in your food offerings.

life is going good. you plan on going to teach abroad soon. you don’t know how well your uni will take it however…

[zhongrin]

𒆙 the god of commerce

part 3/8 of ⎡∞ / 𝟔 𝟎 𝟎 𝟎 ⁺⎦, a zhongli 2023 birthday event

© zhongrin | 2023  ✼  no repost・translations・plagiarism of any kind・ai data mining. rebloggers get a free cup of tea ♡

𖧷 tags ┈ gn!reader, crack, fluff, a sprinkle of angst, this time you’re both a humanboss and a humanfailure (tf is a gn term for girlboss and girlfailure help)

𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓊 ❬ masterlist ❭ 𐫱 𝓂𝑒𝓂���𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅 ❬ taglist ❭

𝑜mbré dark brown fading to gold was rex lapis’ most favored hair color, and most shop owners would use this fact on top of their god’s bright amber eyes to describe him on his ‘past visitations’, in an effort to try and pull customers into their establishments. having the god of commerce’s approval was a most effective marketing strategy, after all; who would doubt their beloved deity’s judgment when he was the one who had the idea to build a city by the harbor which was steadily getting more and more prosperous with each lunar moon that passed?

and for such a small restaurant owner such as yourself, the decision to put a little slogan next to your shop’s humble sign - claiming how rex lapis couldn’t get enough of your signature dish - was a no-brainer move. it brought in curious customers, and your little shop was located in a not-so-strategic location anyway, so what were the chances of an incognito rex lapis stumbling upon your slightly skewed business ethics, right?

riiiight.

you felt a lump of nervousness in your throat as this particular customer stared down at you with his amber eyes with gold and the slightest red lining his pupils — you sure hoped that was a natural color and not indicative of his anger.

“so you’re the shop’s owner?”

“yessir. i mean god. i mean. um.”

how do you politely address a god to their face? you had no idea. you weren’t educated enough to know and you never thought you had any reason to need to know.

thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind your lack of reverence. instead, his lips seemed to curl upwards.

huh. maybe he didn’t notice my little lie and was just here for a good meal?

“and you started this business, yes? your shop’s name does not ring any bells.”

“well… yeah, uh… my dad was a peddler and mum was a greengrocer, so. yep.”

“ah, i see, i see,” his voice was deep and calming, and you were about to gesture towards the wooden menu to allow him to choose a dish when his next words made you feel like you’d been hit with a petrifying spell — just like the ones the storytellers on the streets would narrate, “then pray tell, do remind me at which point after your establishment’s founding, have i ever said that i was… in your own words - ‘infatuated’, by your so-called signature dish? you see, if my memory serves, it has yet graced my tastebuds.”

fuck.

“ahaha… w-well…… you see…… about that…….,” you coughed and averted your eyes guiltily, trying to rack your brain on how to escape the divine punishment you were sure about to receive, and the effort came out in a jumble of words, “…. look, mister- uh- god. i gotta be able to feed myself somehow and i didn’t think it would hurt anyone but okay fine sorry i was so so wrong but if i let you dine for free will you consider not flattening me and my poor shop with your stone pillars? please? oh great archon?”

rex lapis’s fingers snapped open his folding fan, and for a moment you swore you saw a flash of a smile before the intricately drawn paper covered the lower half of his face. you also swore you saw mirth dancing beneath the elegant lines of his raised eyebrows and the way the corners of his eyes formed a gentle crinkle. this observation, though it might have been the works of your distressed imagination, made you dust your deflated courage off the ground.

“h-how about this,” you proposed, gesturing towards the kitchen, “give me a chance to make the slogan a reality. i promise you i’ll serve one of the best dishes you’ve ever eaten!”

“…. very well,” the immortal chuckled, “your determination and resilience is admirable. a chance is something i am willing to give.”

oh, blessed be rex lapis.

a few minutes of mental breakdown in the kitchen and a series of anxiety-filled food preparations later, you returned to his table with a tray full of side dishes and the main course, steaming hot and still bubbling inside the heated clay pot. you had no money to serve him his favored osmanthus wine, but you do have freshly dried osmanthus flowers, so as he observed the feast, you poured him a fresh brew and placed it right beside the little ornamental vase housing a single yellow hibiscus. you would have silently prayed to your god in the hope that the food was to your guest’s taste, but seeing as how the very same holy being was also the source of your anxiety, it seemed akin to washing coal.

the god of wealth gently picked up the wooden spoon and dipped it into the hot broth, before his lips closed around the utensil.

…..

a thoughtful hum rose from the back of his throat.

you half expected him to turn up his nose in disgust, but you were surprised to see how he repeated the action, as if trying to savor the taste with utmost diligence. it was only when he had properly sampled each of the ingredients inside the soup, he finally lifted his gaze to meet your gaze across the table.

“what a complex, rich flavor,” was his comment, “what is your secret?”

flabbergasted, you nearly spilled your entire cooking process and the detailed recipe like a sinner confessing their transgressions in order to beg for forgiveness - but you managed to refrain yourself at the last second. you did, however, let the rush of dopamine take over the forefront of your mind.

a proud smile not unlike a freshly bloomed glaze lily lit up your expression, “sorry, but i’m not selling my trade secrets! not even to rex lapis himself, hehe! uh- well, maybe if i die with no children or if i don’t have anyone who wants to continue the business, i might tell you- but! for now, it’s a secret!”

“ah, the farseeing mind of a businessman,” he nodded, “fair enough. i suppose it means i have to frequent your shop if i ever crave such delicacy.”

“ha! told you you’d get addicted!” you grinned cheekily, watching him elegantly continue to enjoy the cuisine, “… should i pack one up for you to take back home- palace- uh, wherever your godly abode is? as a birthday present?”

morax felt his temporary mortal vessel heat up, warmer than the indulgent food within his stomach, warmer than the sunny radiance of your smile.

“you need not try so hard, i never had the intention of ‘flattening’ you and your shop for a fairly harmless attempt at dishonest advertising. however, i must implore you to not take such risks moving forward.”

“…. alright, alright, sorry……,” you scratched your cheek sheepishly, “but i’m glad the great rex lapis actually liked my cooking! if you ever decide to stop by again, i’ll feed you other things,” you flashed him a cheerful grin, and unbeknownst to you, the geo archon felt his chest quake.

quickly shaking himself out of his stupor, your patron nodded in approval.

he did eventually learn the secret recipe of your infamous slow-cooked bamboo shoots soup. the handwritten recipe card was tucked neatly within the letter your apprentice-turned-next-owner had given him after your passing. inside it, you had penned down both an abstract yet also tangible step-by-step instructions; quality and care, time and patience, meticulousness and attentiveness.…

yet none of your successors, not even the ones who turned it into a pavillion and the leading beacon of one of the distinct cooking styles that represented liyue, could recreate the same taste of the very dish you cooked for him that day.

…. ah. but of course.

it was only natural, seeing as how he could not see your smile across the table as he ate anymore.

𖧷 𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅 ❬ taglist ❭ ┈ @abyssmal-skies | @hamdehlesmis | @depressivecomforts | @sunnshineflxwer | @yuutasbabe | @queen-belial | @stygianoir | @silentmoths | @niktwazny303 | @dustofthedailylife | @marina-and-the-memes | @mixed-kester | @lordbugs | @anonymousficreader | @shizunxie | @ansy-tea | @irethepotato | @sassy-cat-in-town | @syrenkitsune | @smokipoki | @cakeboxie | @crystalflygeo | @ciexuvia | @illaasya | @celestewritestoomuch | @pams-comfortzone | @spidermanluvr444 | @ourstrawberryclouds | @ryuryuryuyurboat

[odinsblog]

Zuckerberg says he's a Libertarian. What's that?

A new profile of mega-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg in last week's New York Times identifies America's richest millennial — he owns one-fiftieth of all millennial wealth in the U.S. — as a libertarian.

Privately, Mr. Zuckerberg now considers his personal politics to be more like libertarianism or classical liberalism, according to people who have spoken to him recently. That includes a hostility to regulations that restrict business, an embrace of free markets and globalism, and an openness to social justice reforms, but only if it stops short of what he considers far-left progressivism. Zuck, of course, isn't the only one.

It's high fashion across the GOP to claim your libertarian credentials. Ron and now Rand paul turned it into a money-making scam, and most all of the Putin caucus in the GOP love to talk up libertarianism, as do multiple right-wing billionaires. Senator Mike Lieber claims himself a libertarian and has for years.

We see it writ large in the rhetoric of Republican members of Congress and conservative pundits who argue that shutting the government down is a good thing because most government functions are unnecessary or woke. So let's take a look at how libertarianism would work out in America and where it came from in the first place.

Generally speaking, libertarians don't believe in democracy, which they say is mob rule and should be replaced by the magic of the market. Or at least the magic of people made rich by the market place, running the country's essential services.

Here's the one question that always stops libertarians dead in their tracks when they come on or call in to my radio TV program to proclaim the wonders of their political ideology: Please name one country, anywhere in the world, anytime in the last 7,000 years, where libertarianism has succeeded and produced general peace and prosperity.

There literally is none, nowhere, not a single one.

It has never happened, ever.

If it had, that country would be on the tip of every libertarian's tongue, the way democratic socialists talk about Norway or Denmark, where the full-on social democracy and regulated capitalism experiment has succeeded for generations.

—Thom Hartmann: But where did all this ‘greed is good’ as a political philosophy that Zuckerberg is now embracing start?

[tylermileslockett]

Theseus #7 (the Black Sail) Theseus, still heartsick from the loss of his new love, journeys back to Athens to reunite with his father. But in his grief, Theseus forgets his father’s order; to change the black sail of his ship to white, signaling that he has survived. King Aegeus, seeing the black sail and becoming overwhelmed with despair at the death of his son, leaps from a cliff to his death into the sea. And forever after, in honor of the king, the sea there has been known as the Aegean Sea. Theseus, being the heir, is crowned King of Athens, and his reign ushers in a period of prosperity, political unification, and the creation of the Panathenaea Festival and Ismeian Games. Theseus is credited with implementing Synoecism; political unification of the surrounding twelve Poleis (city-states) of Attica (region of surrounding peninsula countryside towns) to the centrally unified city-state of Athens. This unification paved the way for the seeds of political democracy. During this time the Athens became more diverse with the acceptance of foreigners and strengthening of the maritime trading port.

         The Panathenaea was an annual festival to honor Athena; patron goddess of Athens. There was a large procession through the city, cutting through the Agora (central public square for markets and assembly) ending at the top of the Acropolis (elevated hill citadel) where animals would be sacrificed and a lavish embroidered robe offered to Athena in the Parthenon (temple for Athena). We can still see the festival figures of the procession carved upon the frieze of the Parthenon. The festival also included competition games, horse races, epic poetry, and musical contests performed in the Odeon (small, roofed theatre with acoustics.) The Ismeian Games were athletic games and musical contests held in Corinth every two years, in honor of Poseidon.

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[moreconomics]

"Liberty and Prosperity: A Cliodynamic Defense of Libertarianism"

Libertarianism is a political philosophy that advocates for individual liberty and the protection of individual rights, including the right to own private property and the freedom to engage in voluntary exchanges without interference from the state or other external authority. Proponents of libertarianism argue that this approach is best able to promote individual flourishing and social prosperity. In this essay, I will use cliodynamics – the study of long-term historical dynamics using statistical and mathematical models – to argue in favor of libertarianism.

One of the key arguments in favor of libertarianism is that free markets and individual liberty lead to greater economic prosperity and social well-being. Cliodynamics provides support for this view through its analysis of the long-term consequences of different economic and political systems. For example, a study by economist Peter Turchin and his colleagues used cliodynamic models to analyze the relationship between state intervention in the economy and social instability in pre-modern societies. They found that societies with greater levels of state intervention in the economy tended to be more unstable and prone to conflict, while societies with more limited government intervention and a greater reliance on market forces tended to be more stable and prosperous (Turchin et al., 2010).

Other research has similarly found that societies with greater economic freedom – as measured by indices such as the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom – tend to experience higher levels of economic growth and development (Gwartney et al., 2020). This is likely due to the fact that free markets allow for the efficient allocation of resources and the creative destruction of old technologies and business models, leading to innovation and economic progress. In contrast, government intervention in the economy can distort prices and create inefficient resource allocation, leading to slower economic growth and development.

In addition to its economic benefits, libertarianism also promotes social harmony and cooperation. A study by sociologist Joseph Tainter and his colleagues used cliodynamic models to analyze the long-term consequences of different forms of governance on social cohesion and cooperation (Tainter et al., 2014). They found that societies with more decentralized and voluntary forms of governance – such as those found in traditional tribal societies – tend to be more cohesive and cooperative, while societies with more centralized and hierarchical forms of governance tend to be more hierarchical and prone to conflict. This suggests that libertarianism – which emphasizes decentralization and voluntary cooperation – may be more effective at promoting social harmony and cooperation than more centralized and hierarchical forms of governance.

In conclusion, cliodynamics provides strong support for the view that libertarianism – with its emphasis on individual liberty and free markets – is the best political philosophy for promoting economic prosperity and social harmony. While there may be other factors to consider in determining the appropriate balance of individual liberty and state power, cliodynamics suggests that a greater reliance on market forces and voluntary cooperation is likely to lead to better outcomes for both individuals and society as a whole.

References:

Gwartney, J., Lawson, R., & Hall, J. (2020). Economic freedom of the world: 2020 annual report. Fraser Institute.

Tainter, J., Turchin, P., & Turner, E. (2014). Sustainability and collapse: An integrated history and future of people on earth. University of California Press.

Turchin, P., Currie, T. E., Turner, E. A. L., Gavrilets, S., & Hall, S. J. (2010). War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies. Journal of Peace Research, 47(6), 719-726.

[worldsewage]

Salmonid holidays??? 👁👁

Salmonids are very religious, I’ve got yet to get into Salmonid/Inkling/Octarian religion— but they’ve got Multiple Gods and hell of ways to celebrate their ideas. Let me run through a few of the very popular “day off” holidays that aren’t “splatoween” or the sort.

This holiday— festival, rather— lasts a week, and usually begins with a holiday that is known as “fishing day” and celebrates when (religiously) the first clutch of Salmonids began to walk on land, this holiday resembles the travel across the ocean and is represented by a week long celebration across the main streets to act as “the river”. Usually chick (baby/young) salmonids who are in school get the week off this holiday. It’s definitely one of the more prevalent ones…I’m sure half of the Salmonids who celebrate wouldn’t be able to explain the history behind this holiday, they’re just here for all the fried squid.

This holiday is celebrated late September.

In Salmonid religion, they have many gods, BUT, the “devil” type figure in their religion is a giant squid that would pull salmonids deemed “unworthy to ascend” (ie transform in the HOMERUN) into the depths, essentially killing them and preventing them from reincarnation or reaching heaven. Eating squid— while a main part of this holiday— is in general symbolic of prosperity. It’s common to eat squid in celebrations before salmonids get sent to Run.

Inkling Membrane is sold nearly everywhere, it’s hard to come buy and is cheapest to buy and eat during this time. This is literally Inkling and/or salmonid flesh that gets washed onto shore after salmon runs that gets washed, dried out into gummies and jerky respectively, and sold with honey as a snack.

This is another music centric Festival... Celebrating the dead Salmonids who have completed their life cycle via reproducing and dying in the home run.

They believe the “transformation “ they undergo is to prepare them to — when they die — swim up the waterfall in the afterlife to reach the salmonid equivalent of “heaven”, as the common Salmonid forms aren’t strong swimmers. They believe these forms are traits gifted down from the gods, blessing them with the necessary strengths to go to heaven— the more good you do the more “blessings”. (Of course this is all religion, there is no scientific backing, this is just an allusion to the wacky and strange forms salmonids take on when they grow into “bosses” and “kings”.)

(Not relevant to the holiday, but in Salmonid religion, you will keep reincarnating until you climb the waterfall to Paradise.)

Traditionally, high rank Salmonids would cook great feasts TWICE, one for the people, and one encased in gold, they believe this is how they are able to send food to the gods. Nowadays, food is encased in a honey-like caramel, which they believe the gods in heaven will mistake for gold, and bring to heaven. They do this to gift “meals” to relatives who have gone on Homeruns and have died, this is a way to honor and keep them fed, even in heaven.

Sometimes, mementos, wood carvings, flowers, toys, etc— are encased in resin or amber or honey to mimic “gold”, so they will bring them to their relatives. Salmonids will leave out change (which is typically gold colored) at the front door and it’s common practice to visit neighbors or relatives, take the change, and to leave gifts in turn, (traditionally to incentivize the Gods to do the same, letting them know it’s free to take, Salmonid Gods are comparable to animals with a vaster understanding of knowledge that they loop around to being almost aloof and childlike because they are so beyond common Salmonids.)

Much like Anawm’Ghri Adaroi — this holiday is an outdoor market / parade centric holiday where you get to dress up in traditional garbs and have fun.

(This holiday, is NOT related to the Great Turf War, it just coincidentally overlaps with the end of the Great Turf War, salmonids consider this victory worth celebrating solely because warfare is symbolic of going to heaven (due to its relation to the battles Salmonids face during Runs.) with that said, they probably wouldn’t have romanticized this as such a large holiday if not for Inklings celebrating shoving the Octarian underground lmao. They celebrate it more feverishly East in more Octarian Communities as a sort of ‘anti-inkadian holiday’ because it’s Salmonid Centric, and less Inkling Centric.)

Is a holiday about rebirth and in general celebrates the homerun, this holiday is sort of comparable to a potluck, and is more so a stay at home get together with your family— this event is usually hosted by Salmonids of your family name who are set to Run later in life (ie wealthy / influential salmonids), these events are usually large and grandiose and are all about eating and drinking. Visiting your extremely important name holders isn’t a requirement, but chances are SOMEONE in your family name will be incredibly influential— and it’s fun to attend for the hell of it.

There’s usually a few party games for this holiday, but the main idea is releasing lanterns into the sky to symbolize “lighting the path home.”

This Holiday takes place late November, and no vegetables are served during this holiday, you’re intended to eat light rice in the morning and wait until night— then it is all Alcohol and Meat. If u don’t feel like shit the next day (whether you drank or not) then you’ve celebrated wrong.

[reaper2187]

Ningguang x female reader

In the bustling harbor of Liyue, where the aroma of spices mingled with the scent of the sea, Ningguang stood at the highest point of the Jade Chamber, gazing out at the horizon. Her elegant figure was silhouetted against the setting sun, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of Liyue's prosperity and safety. Yet, amidst the responsibilities and concerns, there was one thought that lingered more persistently than the rest: Y/N.

Y/N, a traveler who had captured the heart of the Tianquan herself. Intelligent, courageous, and kind, Y/N had become an integral part of Ningguang's life, both personally and in her work to maintain Liyue's stability. The two had met during one of Y/N's adventures, and what had started as a chance encounter blossomed into a profound connection.

Ningguang sighed softly, her usually stern and composed expression softening as she thought of Y/N. She turned away from the window, her robes rustling as she made her way to the chamber's grand staircase. As if on cue, a gentle knock echoed through the chamber.

"Come in," Ningguang called, her voice steady and welcoming.

The grand doors swung open to reveal Y/N, her eyes lighting up as they met Ningguang's. She stepped inside, the flickering candlelight casting a warm glow on her features.

"Ningguang," Y/N greeted, her voice filled with warmth and affection.

Ningguang's lips curved into a rare, genuine smile. "Y/N. It's always a pleasure to see you. Come, sit with me."

They walked together to a plush seating area adorned with luxurious cushions and a low table set with fine tea. Ningguang poured a cup for Y/N, her movements graceful and practiced.

"How was your day?" Ningguang asked, handing the cup to Y/N.

Y/N took a sip, savoring the rich flavor before responding. "Busy, but fulfilling. I helped some merchants resolve a dispute at the market and assisted the Adventurers' Guild with a particularly troublesome commission."

Ningguang nodded, her eyes never leaving Y/N's face. "You always manage to bring order wherever you go. It's one of the many things I admire about you."

Y/N blushed at the compliment, her heart swelling with affection. "Thank you, Ningguang. That means a lot coming from you."

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, the weight of unspoken words hanging in the air. Ningguang reached out, her hand gently covering Y/N's.

"Y/N," she began, her voice softer now, "I've been thinking a lot about us lately. About what you mean to me."

Y/N's breath caught in her throat. She looked into Ningguang's eyes, seeing a rare vulnerability there. "Ningguang… I feel the same way. You've become so important to me. More than I ever imagined possible."

Ningguang's grip tightened slightly, her thumb brushing over Y/N's knuckles. "I want you to know that whatever happens, you have a place here. With me. In the Jade Chamber, in Liyue… in my heart."

Tears welled up in Y/N's eyes as she leaned in, her forehead resting against Ningguang's. "And you have a place in mine. Always."

Ningguang closed her eyes, savoring the closeness, the intimacy of the moment. "I've always been cautious with my heart, Y/N. But with you, it feels right. It feels like home."

Y/N smiled through her tears, her free hand coming up to caress Ningguang's cheek. "You've given me a home too, Ningguang. In more ways than one."

They stayed like that for a while, basking in each other's presence, the world outside forgotten. Eventually, they pulled apart, though their hands remained intertwined.

"Stay with me tonight," Ningguang whispered, her eyes pleading. "Let's forget about the rest of the world, just for a while."

Y/N nodded, her heart pounding with love and anticipation. "I'd love nothing more."

They spent the evening together, sharing stories and laughter, the bond between them growing stronger with each passing moment. As the night deepened, they found solace in each other's arms, the weight of their responsibilities and the world's demands fading away.

In the quiet intimacy of the Jade Chamber, surrounded by the soft glow of lanterns and the gentle hum of the night, Ningguang and Y/N found a sanctuary in each other. Their love, forged in the fires of adventure and adversity, was a beacon of hope and joy, a testament to the power of connection in a world that often seemed overwhelming.

As they drifted off to sleep, wrapped in each other's embrace, they knew that whatever challenges lay ahead, they would face them together. For in each other, they had found not just a partner, but a kindred spirit, a love that transcended the ordinary and touched the very essence of their souls.

And so, under the watchful gaze of the stars and the serene calm of the Jade Chamber, Ningguang and Y/N dreamed of a future filled with love, adventure, and the unbreakable bond they had forged.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

'We buy ugly houses' is code for 'we steal vulnerable peoples' homes'

Tonight (May 11) at 7PM, I’m in CALGARY for Wordfest, with my novel Red Team Blues; I’ll be hosted by Peter Hemminger at the Memorial Park Library, 2nd Floor.

Home ownership is the American dream: not only do you get a place to live, free from the high-handed dictates of a landlord, but you also get an asset that appreciates, building intergenerational wealth while you sleep — literally.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/11/ugly-houses-ugly-truth/#homevestor

Of course, you can’t have it both ways. If your house is an asset you use to cover falling wages, rising health care costs, spiraling college tuition and paper-thin support for eldercare, then it can’t be a place you live. It’s gonna be an asset you sell — or at the very least, borrow so heavily against that you are in constant risk of losing it.

This is the contradiction at the heart of the American dream: when America turned its back on organized labor as an engine for creating prosperity and embraced property speculation, it set itself on the road to serfdom — a world where the roof over your head is also your piggy bank, destined to be smashed open to cover the rising costs that an organized labor movement would have fought:

https://gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-damned-high-520f958d5ec5

Today, we’re hit the end of the road for the post-war (unevenly, racially segregated) shared prosperity that made it seem, briefly, that everyone could get rich by owning a house, living in it, then selling it to everybody else. Now that the game is ending, the winners are cashing in their chips:

https://doctorow.medium.com/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom-bfad6f3b35a9

The big con of home ownership is proceeding smartly on schedulee. First, you let the mark win a little, so they go all in on the scam. Then you take it all back. Obama’s tolerance of bank sleze after the Great Financial Crisis kicked off the modern era of corporations and grifters stealing Americans’ out from under them, forging deeds in robosigning mills:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-breaks-down-93-bln-robo-signing-settlement-2013-02-28

The thefts never stopped. Today on Propublica, by Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon bring a horrifying, brilliantly reported account of the rampant, bottomless scams of Homevestors, AKA We Buy Ugly Houses, AKA “the #1 homebuyer in the USA”:

https://www.propublica.org/article/ugly-truth-behind-we-buy-ugly-houses

Homevestors — an army of the hedge fund Bayview Asset Management — claims a public mission: to bail out homeowners sitting on unsellable houses with all-cash deals. The company’s franchisees — 1,150 of them in 48 states — then sprinkle pixie dust and secret sauce on these “ugly houses” and sell them at a profit.

But Propublica’s investigation — which relied on whistleblowers, company veterans, court records and interviews with victims — tells a very different story. The Homevestor they discovered is a predator that steals houses out from under elderly people, disabled people, people struggling with mental illness and other vulnerable people. It’s a company whose agents have a powerful, well-polished playbook that stops family members from halting the transfers the company’s high-pressure salespeople set in motion.

Propublica reveals homeowners with advanced dementia who signed their shaky signatures to transfers that same their homes sold out from under them for a fraction of their market value. They show how Homevestor targets neighborhoods struck by hurricanes, or whose owners are recently divorced, or sick. One whistleblower tells of how the company uses the surveillance advertising industry to locate elderly people who’ve broken a hip: “a 60-day countdown to death — and, possibly, a deal.” The company’s mobile ads are geofenced to target people near hospitals and rehab hospitals, in hopes of finding desperate sellers who need to liquidate homes so that Medicaid will cover their medical expenses.

The sales pitches are relentless. One of Homevestor’s targets was a Texas woman whose father had recently been murdered. As she grieved, they blanketed her in pitches to sell her father’s house until “checking her mail became a traumatic experience.”

Real-estate brokers are bound by strict regulations, but not house flippers like Homevestors. Likewise, salespeople who pitch other high-ticket items, from securities to plane tickets — are required to offer buyers a cooling-off period during which they can reconsider their purchases. By contrast, Homevestors’ franchisees are well-versed in “muddying the title” to houses after the contract is signed, filing paperwork that makes it all but impossible for sellers to withdraw from the sale.

This produces a litany of ghastly horror-stories: homeowners who end up living in their trucks after they were pressured into a lowball sales; sellers who end up dying in hospital beds haunted by the trick that cost them their homes. One woman who struggled with hoarding was tricked into selling her house by false claims that the city would evict her because of her hoarding. A widow was tricked into signing away the deed to her late husband’s house by the lie that she could do so despite not being on the deed. One seller was tricked into signing a document he believed to be a home equity loan application, only to discover he had sold his house at a huge discount on its market value. An Arizona woman was tricked into selling her dead mother’s house through the lie that the house would have to be torn down and the lot redeveloped; the Homevestor franchisee then flipped the house for 5,500% of the sale-price.

The company vigorously denies these claims. They say that most people who do business with Homevestors are happy with the outcome; in support of this claim, they cite internal surveys of their own customers that produce a 96% approval rating.

When confronted with the specifics, the company blamed rogue franchisees. But Propublica obtained training materials and other internal documents that show that the problem is widespread and endemic to Homevestors’ business. Propublica discovered that at least eight franchisees who engaged in conduct the company said it “didn’t tolerate” had been awarded prizes by the company for their business acumen.

Franchisees are on the hook for massive recurring fees and face constant pressure from corporate auditors to close sales. To make those sales, franchisees turn to Homevana’s training materials, which are rife with predatory tactics. One document counsels franchisees that “pain is always a form of motivation.” What kind of pain? Lost jobs, looming foreclosure or a child in need of surgery.

A former franchisee explained how this is put into practice in the field: he encountered a seller who needed to sell quickly so he could join his dying mother who had just entered a hospice 1,400 miles away. The seller didn’t want to sell the house; they wanted to “get to Colorado to see their dying mother.”

These same training materials warn franchisees that they must not deal with sellers who are “subject to a guardianship or has a mental capacity that is diminished to the point that the person does not understand the value of the property,” but Propublica’s investigation discovered “a pattern of disregard” for this rule. For example, there was the 2020 incident in which a 78-year-old Atlanta man sold his house to a Homevestors franchisee for half its sale price. The seller was later shown to be “unable to write a sentence or name the year, season, date or month.”

The company tried to pin the blame for all this on bad eggs among its franchisees. But Propublica found that some of the company’s most egregious offenders were celebrated and tolerated before and after they were convicted of felonies related to their conduct on behalf of the company. For example, Hi-Land Properties is a five-time winner of Homevestors’ National Franchise of the Year prize. The owner was praised by the CEO as “loyal, hardworking franchisee who has well represented our national brand, best practices and values.”

This same franchisee had “filed two dozen breach of contract lawsuits since 2016 and clouded titles on more than 300 properties by recording notices of a sales contract.” Hi-Land “sued an elderly man so incapacitated by illness he couldn’t leave his house.”

Another franchisee, Patriot Holdings, uses the courts aggressively to stop families of vulnerable people from canceling deals their relatives signed. Patriot Holdings’ co-owner, Cory Evans, eventually pleaded guilty to to two felonies, attempted grand theft of real property. He had to drop his lawsuits against buyers, and make restitution.

According to Homevestors’ internal policies, Patriot’s franchise should have been canceled. But Homevestors allowed Patriot to stay in business after Cory Evans took his name off the business, leaving his brothers and other partners to run it. Nominally, Cory Evans was out of the picture, but well after that date, internal Homevestors included Evans in an award it gave to Patriot, commemorating its sales (Homevestors claims this was an error).

Propublica’s reporters sought comment from Homevestors and its franchisees about this story. The company hired “a former FBI spokesperson who specializes in ‘crisis and special situations’ and ‘reputation management’ and funnelled future questions through him.”

Internally, company leadership scrambled to control the news. The company convened a webinar in April with all 1,150 franchisees to lay out its strategy. Company CEO David Hicks explained the company’s plan to “bury” the Propublica article with “‘strategic ad buys on social and web pages’ and ‘SEO content to minimize visibility.’”

https://www.propublica.org/article/homevestors-aims-to-bury-propublica-reporting

Franchisees were warned not to click links to the story because they “might improve its internet search ranking.”

Even as the company sought to “bury” the story and stonewalled Propublica, they cleaned house, instituting new procedures and taking action against franchisees identified in Propublica’s article. “Clouding titles” is now prohibited. Suing sellers for breach of contract is “discouraged.” Deals with seniors “should always involve family, attorneys or other guardians.”

During the webinar, franchisees “pushed back on the changes, claiming they could hurt business.”

If you’ve had experience with hard-sell house-flippers, Propublica wants to know: “If you’ve had experience with a company or buyer promising fast cash for homes, our reporting team wants to hear about it.”

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: A Depression-era photo of a dour widow standing in front of a dilapidated cabin. Next to her is Ug, the caveman mascot for Homevestors, smiling and pointing at her. Behind her is a 'We buy ugly houses' sign.

Image: Homevestors https://www.homevestors.com/

Fair use: https://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property

[nardo-headcanons]

National Holidays in the Ninja Villages + Bonus

I've had this idea in mind for a while, and now I finally got to write it down. Feel free to use these for your own works. Please tag me so I can read em all! <33

Iwagakure: The Lunar Lights of Gratitude The moon has a special place in the heart of every Iwa citizen. To them, it is a part of the earth, now observing its mother body from space. So naturally, the spectacle of a blue/super moon is a special occasion in Iwagakure. To honor and greet the moon, which is actually called "daughter" in the earth country's language, large fireworks are organized every new moon after a blue moon. As previously established, the earth country's firework industry is the largest, which Iwa shinobi are very proud of. Lighting the sky on fire and turning night into daytime is the Iwa way of giving back some of the light that the moon gives us at night.

Kirigakure: The Moonshine Sea Festival Despite the rivalry between the land of earth and the land of water, there is one thing they have in common, which is their spiritual connection to the moon and space. To water country citizens, especially the fishermen, the moon is a protector and guardian of the night, along with the stars. They strengthen the their connection to their biggest source of both faith and fear: the sea. The special climate in the water country, combined with its great biodiversity give a great habitat for biolumescent plankton, turning the sea itself into a starry night sky. It is one of the only pieces of culture that has been preserved, since the celebration itself was founded by the water country's union of fishermen, who don't belong to a particular clan with a kekkei genkai; most of the kekkei genkai wielders in Kiri have been wiped out, along with their culture, traditions and religions.

Sunagakure: Winter's Return The wind country is often ravaged by agonozingly hot summers, sand storms and heat waves are not a rarity in this country. While foreigners might groan and roll their eyes at the thought of the return to cold, foggy winter days, in Sunagakure it is a day for celebration. On the day where the sun stays for the longest, in the middle of the year, a large celebration is held across the nation. The way it is celebrated is different from family to family, and every Suna family is convinced that their way is the right one. Typically, markets are closed the whole day, and any missions rank B or below are halted for the day.

Kumogakure: Whale Festival of Generosity During winter, whales can be found emigrating along the lightning country's coast line, towards the land of iron. This holiday once came to be to celebrate the whales emigration towards a more prosperous habitat to mate and provide enough food for their young - a truly generous gesture. Over the years, many kumo shinobi have forgotten the old tale behind this festival, and it has turned into more of a mere gift giving occasion. And yet, it is widely popular and celebrated throughout the whole country.

Konoha: Cherry and Plum Blossom Viewing In Konoha, Hanami is annually celebrated. It is a custom celebrating the transitionary nature of cherry and plum blossoms blooming in spring.

BONUS: Uchiha Clan Honoring one's ancestors and traditions is of high importance to the Uchiha. Every year, on a clear fall night, the whole clan gathers together to light up little candles using their katon. The tealights are arranged in the Uchiha crest and left to light up the night and the clan share the evening together eating dinner, drinking hot tea and praying at the nakano shrine.

That's all, folks!