#what is mortgage insurance and how does it work

[phantomrose96]

This is a good one to talk about too, because there's often a large difference between landlord-by-choice and landlord-by-force.

Most landlords are probably by choice, and making profit from it. But to make profit as a landlord typically requires some combination of "already have wealth" and "have owned the property for a long time".

What makes landlordship profitable? One or both of:

Cash Flow. aka "money earned from rent" > "cost of owning the home"

Property Value Go Up. If the landlord owns the house for long enough, and the value has gone up, they can cash in on most of that when selling even while eating the closing costs.

And if you only bought your home recently, and don't have established wealth, and need to move due to life circumstances (job loss! sickness! death! can't afford to sell home. have to rent it) neither of those work in your favor.

This is because you can't get a positive cash flow if your mortgage is high! And if you're young, and bought recently, your mortgage is probably high! (Someone who bought 20 years ago is paying a mortgage based on that price from 20 years ago). But a newer home owner is paying a lot in mortgage! Because their home cost a lot! And current mortgage rates are high! (And most of what they're paying right now is interest! Which is money that goes RIGHT to the bank! It doesn't even repay the loan!) Then add property tax. Then add insurance costs. Then add home repairs.

Maybe the family mentioned above is paying a $1,300 mortgage, and $400 in property tax, and $300 in home insurance. Call that $2,000 monthly cost. They have to move. They cannot financially sell it. They need to rent their home. Maybe they CAN rent it for $2,000 and just tread water. But then the dishwasher breaks. Or there's a leak. The water boiler stops working. Anything can happen, which, ABSOLUTELY, is the landlord's responsibility to fix. So now the family is losing money paying for home repairs. For a place they no longer live in and cannot sell.

[How do you avoid this? Be rich. Buy the home in cash!! Have NO mortgage!! Have NO MORTGAGE. If you just remembered to be rich, then monthly home ownership cost is only $700, and rent is $2,000, and that's $1,300 of profit a month, minus some pesky maintenance. You bought in cash so all that money is equity so it's all still yours! You just FORGOT to be rich.]

Now, in the background, even as this family is struggling, maybe their property value DOES increase! That's equity, right!? That's good! Unfortunately equity does not mean anything when you need liquid cash right now. Equity doesn't buy food, unless you take out a HELOC (home equity line of credit) which is, by the way, another loan. Which accrues interest. And needs to be paid back. It's basically digging yourself into a deeper mortgage.

[How do you profit off equity increase? Be rich. If you just REMEMBERED to be rich, then you can easily tolerate a negative cash flow for years and years and years. Losing a few-hundred dollars a month doesn't even bother you. Because when you sell the home many years later with amazing property value appreciation, you get to reap alllll that equity, which is all your money back and more. Closing costs of 6-9% don't even matter much if you sat on a property long enough that it appreciated by 100%.]

At the end of all this, likely most landlords are people rich enough and established enough to have gone into this willingly, and ARE making profit and ARE sustaining their lifestyle off the backs of renters. But it's very much a "the wealth needed to already be there" game to make that profit.

And then there are some percent of landlords who are the "scraped together savings to buy home, life circumstances changed, NEED to move but financially cannot sell house, forced to become landlord at a money loss." And because they owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bank, they're trapped, until maybe Property Value Goes Up saves them enough to be able to sell, and escape.

Actually I have a post I want to make about Property Value.

Which is a topic that comes up a lot in discussions of rich people hoarding wealth, in NIMBY panics, and in the ever-increasing prices of homes. But I don't think we talk much about how the perniciousness of property value goes deeper and basically holds middle class people who own a home hostage.

So to set some context here: in 2025 the median US home sold for $416,000. Say you have a working class family who can't meet median, but who scraped and saved and penny-pinched their way to a $300,000 home.

Typically, when buying a first home, you pay 20% down directly, and take 80% out as a mortgage from the bank. For this family, that means $60,000 of their liquid money (and let's say it took them 10-15 years to save that amount), and a $240,000 loan from the bank.

That's $240,000 in debt the family is. Which will be repaid over 30 years, with interest, at a rate that usually means for the lifetime of the loan, they end up paying back double the original loan.

However this massive $240,000 debt is generally considered "okay" debt to have, because it's backed by the house. If things go truly sour, the bank can take the house (and what's a little homelessness between friends).

That $60,000 the family put down is considered equity, and equity is money you "have", but isn't accessible.

Scenario: Now let's say something happens. Someone in the family loses their job, and the only job they can find requires moving. Or a family member across the country can't care for themselves anymore and so this family needs to move to be closer to them. The family gets divorced. Someone in the family is allergic to material in the home. Someone in the family is being stalked or abused and needs to leave the town. Anything at all, which would require selling the home and moving.

Case 1: The family is able to sell it for exactly what they paid (same property value, no increase or decrease). You would think the math is clean. They are paid $300,000 for the house. $240,000 repays the bank loan. The remaining $60,000 of equity goes right back to them. And they can use it (which took 10+ years to save up) to move across the country and buy a different $300,000 house.

Except no, it does not work like that.

The seller of a home is on the hook to pay commission to their realtor and the buyer's realtor. This is usually ~6% of the home value. They have to pay legal costs. There are taxes. There are miscellaneous costs. It can easily be 6-9% of the selling price of the house.

The bank NEEDS its $240,000 back. So those costs come from the equity. This family is not getting their $60,000 back. They're getting $30,000-$45,000, and now no longer enough money for a downpayment in their move. They're back to renting. Back to penny pinching. They can get by, but homeownership is now out of their grasp once more. Maybe in another 5 years, they'll have enough (unless home prices have increased too much by then) then they'll maybe never be homeowners again.

Case 2: The property value has DECREASED... Family is only getting offers in the $260,000 range.

If the family accepts a $260,000 sale, well $240,000 goes to the bank. This is genuinely non-negotiable. And that leaves.... maybe not enough money to even close on the house. Not enough to pay the realtors and the fees.

That $60,000 is wiped out, and the family is incapable of moving. Never mind losing 10+ years of savings--they're below $0. They don't have the money to close. It's financially impossible to sell. They are stuck with the mortgage. They are stuck with the house. (Maybe they'll rent it, if they can. And now they're landlords by circumstance, which is often NOT profitable when you're not a trust fund baby renting out a totally-paid-for no-mortgage home.) But whatever the case, they cannot sell it. And if the reason for selling was a job loss... well, they can be homeless soon. And if the property value dropped below $240,000, they can be homeless AND owe a bank debt. A $60,000 nest egg wiped completely out, with a bank debt owed on top of that.

So how do people avoid financial destitution when moving?

The most sensible answer is building up equity by paying down the loan--but it's important to know that mortgages are super interest heavy in the early life of the loan. With a 5% interest rate (BETTER, btw, than current rates) this family would be paying $15,460 the first year, and only $3,540.88 is actually chipping at that $240,000 principle. The other $11,919.59 was pure interest to the bank.

So after 1 year, the family went from having $60,000 equity in the house to $63,540.88 equity in the house. This buys a little extra wiggle room when juggling closing costs. But not very much. Even after 3 years, the family has just a little over $70,000 of equity, and just under $230,000 still left on the loan. So if the family has to move for any reason (sickness! death! job loss!) in those 3 years, it's probably financially devastating.

But there is a second answer to avoiding financial ruin: and that is Property Value going up.

Any amount of property value increase is PURE equity. The bank only cares about the amount of money it gave you. If after 3 years, that house is now worth (and can sell for) $315,000 (which is appreciation of only 1.6% a year. Most home appreciation is closer to 3%), that's more equity increase than they got from 36 diligent months of mortgage payment.

If they can sell for $315,000, pay $230,000 of that to the bank, that leaves $85,000. $25,000 goes to paying the realtors and the closing costs and.... the family is back to their $60,000 downpayment. Not trapped. Able to sell. Able to buy a new $300,000 home in the place they moved. Able to just maintain homeownership status.

But wait, if their home appreciated to $315,000, didn't all the other homes do the same, so now $60,000 isn't enough

Smart eye, lad! You've identified why this is a TERRIBLE rat race for the people scraping money together to live, and is ONLY a profitable leisure activity for rich people who sell homes like collectables.

Now because the increase is pure equity, a similar family with decent property value increase can funnel that extra equity into affording to meet the new higher down payment (remember the downpayment is only 20%, so even if the new place is similarly higher in property value, you only need to match that increase 20% for the downpayment). Which gets their foot in the door. But now their new mortgage is higher than the old one. More expensive. More interest.

But there is a losing scenario here--if home property values increased everywhere else, but not where you live. Then this family is back to surrendering homeownership. Because even if they can sell their place, they can't buy the next home.

It forces them to care about their own Property Value increase because, if it doesn't increase while everywhere else does, it traps them.

So what do I mean by all this

If the value of all homes dropped 50% overnight, I assume most people here would celebrate. Affordable homes! Rich people upset and crying! So much to love.

But in reality, that 50% drop would likely continue to mean no home for most of us, because the people who could sell you the homes would be financially incapable.

For the family above with the $240,000 mortgage, that mortgage does not reach halfway-paid-off until year 20 of the 30 year mortgage (remember the interest frontloading). If a family still owes $230,000 in bank loans on a place that can only sell for $150,000, they can't sell it to you. That house is the bank's collateral securing the loan. Their mortgage is underwater. They're trapped. They cannot sell it. You cannot have it.

Something similar happened in the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, and the only people who got out okay were ones who could stay the course, keep making the mortgage payments, and wait it out long enough for property value to recover.

Those who couldn't got foreclosed on. Those who couldn't were left in financial devastation.

So in conclusion?

Banks profit off of mortgages. Rich people profit off of hoarding housing stock and selling it as the property value increases. Real estate companies profit off of home sales. And the regular people, who managed to achieve home ownership, are shackled to the price-go-up system to avoid financial ruin. They're forced to care about their property value because it is the singular determinant of whether they're trapped in place, whether they'll be okay if they lose their job, whether they could move due to an important life event.

It's a profit system for the rich where the cogs are middle class people who could achieve homeownership, running a machine where every single crank locks the poorer and younger generations out of home ownership forever.

[obeymeshallwedateaddict]

Obey me brothers' ages if they were humans (in my opinion)

I saw some wild guesses on Reddit that made my toes curl so I decided to make my own.

(If you do not agree with this that's totally fine. This is just my point of view.)

You can find my work here: Masterlist

---

Lucifer - 33. He’s old enough to be respected, but young enough to still roll his eyes at his brothers’ nonsense. Someone on Reddit said he was 50 — like… no. Yes, he’s mature, but he does not give off “father of fully grown kids who just discovered Facebook” energy. If he were 50, that’d make Mammon 45-ish or something, and there is no way that chaotic gremlin energy is coming from a middle-aged man with a mortgage. On the other side, someone else said 26. Guys, 26?! That’s barely out of university — still Googling “how to do taxes” and eating cereal for dinner. That’s way too young for the man who helps run the Devildom as Diavolo's right hand man. Lucifer screams burnt out oldest sibling in his early 30s, and that’s exactly what he is.

The rest of the brothers under the cut

Mammon - 28 He’s got that “I swear I’m an adult” energy, but you just watched him spend his entire paycheck on sneakers and then ask Lucifer for a loan. 28 is perfect — he’s old enough to know better, but still makes the kind of decisions that have consequences he pretends not to see. Someone tried to put him at 40+ and I nearly fell out of my chair. (Yes he does give off uncle energy but he isn't an uncle!) That’s not the vibe. Mammon is chaos, but with experience — like he’s been the family screw-up for years and has no plans to change that anytime soon. 28 lets him still act like a disaster while technically being a full-grown adult. He’s your lovable mess of a big brother who drives a nice car but definitely has no idea how insurance works.

Levi - 26 Levi is deep in his introvert-gamer-anime-fanboy arc, and 26 fits him perfectly. He’s that adult who has a fully decked-out streaming setup, sleeps at 4am, and owns more figures than pieces of furniture. He’s old enough to pay for a Crunchyroll subscription and feel guilty about it. Anyone putting Levi under 20 is forgetting how cynical and self-aware he is. He’s not a clueless teen — he’s a grown man who just happens to panic every time someone talks to him IRL. 26 gives him enough life experience to be bitter, but still young enough to live in his own little otaku bubble. He calls himself a “shut-in” but somehow always has the latest merch drop.

Satan - 25 Satan’s got that “I read Dostoevsky at brunch and then got into a fistfight with my brother before dinner” energy. 25 is ideal — he’s young, sharp, and constantly teetering between sophisticated intellectual and rage-fueled gremlin. He’s the guy who corrects your grammar in an argument and then throws a chair two seconds later. Too young and he loses that smug, well-read edge. Too old and the petty fury starts to feel less "fiery youth" and more "grumpy professor." At 25, he’s got a bookshelf full of classic literature, a temper problem he swears he’s working on, and probably got kicked out of a book club once for being “too passionate.”

Asmo - 23 Asmo is thriving in his early twenties. He’s the kind of guy who has a perfectly curated skincare routine, a rotating lineup of dating apps, and at least three group chats named “Hot People Only.” 23 is peak Asmo — old enough to have confidence, young enough to still be an absolute menace at parties.Put him too young and he feels like an annoying teenager with a lip gloss obsession. Too old and he becomes that adult who peaked in college and won’t stop bringing it up. But at 23? He’s in his prime — stylish, flirty, probably has a social media following just for his OOTDs, and knows exactly how to weaponize a wink.

Beel - 22 Beel is your gentle gym bro with the appetite of a black hole and the heart of gold. At 22, he’s fully grown, emotionally mature, and the kind of guy who carries your groceries without being asked. He’s not just muscles and snacks — he’s soft-spoken, loyal, and somehow manages to be the only sane one in the house. Too young and he’d feel like the “dumb jock” stereotype (which he absolutely is not). Too old and he’d lose that quiet, youthful sweetness that makes him so lovable. 22 hits the balance — he’s the dependable twin who’d fight for you and share his last slice of pizza. Perhaps if you're lucky.

Belphie - 22 (He came second, and Beel makes sure he knows it with affectionate hair ruffles and smug big-brother energy.) Belphie is that “looks innocent, probably just sabotaged something” kind of guy. 22 fits him perfectly — he’s got that lazy, “don’t talk to me before noon” energy, mixed with just enough edge to keep you on your toes. He’s the sleepy menace who acts like he doesn’t care, but has five layers of complex emotion under that pillow. Make him younger and he feels too bratty. Older, and he starts giving jaded ex-gifted kid energy. But 22? He’s just the right age to be clever, cynical, and slightly dangerous in a “you really shouldn’t trust him, but you still do” kind of way.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Death & Dying

Death - the end of life, a permanent cessation of all vital functions.

Dying - the body’s preparation for death. This process may be very short in the case of accidental death, or it can last weeks or months, such as in patients suffering from cancer.

DEATH PREPARATION

Although it is not always possible, death preparation can sometimes help to reduce stress for the dying person and their family. Some preparations that can be done beforehand include:

Inform one or more family members or the executor of the estate about the location of important documents, such as social security card, birth certificate, and others.

Take care of burial and funeral arrangements (such as cremation or burial, small reception or full funeral) in advance of death, or inform family members or a lawyer what these arrangements should be.

Discuss financial matters (such as bank accounts, credit card accounts, and federal and state tax returns) with a trusted family member, lawyer, estate executor, or trustee.

Gather together all necessary legal papers relating to property, vehicles, investments, and other matters relating to collected assets.

Locate the telephone numbers and addresses of family and friends that should be contacted upon the death.

Discuss outstanding bills (such as utilities, telephone, and house mortgage) and other expenses that need to be paid.

Collect all health records and insurance policies.

Identify the desire to be an organ donor, if any.

MOURNING & GRIEVING

The death of a loved one is a severe trauma, and the grief that follows is a natural and important part of life.

No two people grieve exactly the same way, and cultural differences play a significant part in the grieving process.

For many, the immediate response may be shock, numbness, or disbelief.

Reactions may include:

Shortness of breath, heart palpitations, sweating, and dizziness.

Other reactions might be a loss of energy, sleeplessness or increase in sleep, changes in appetite, or stomach aches.

Susceptibility to common illnesses, nightmares, and dreams about the deceased are not unusual during the grieving period.

Emotional reactions are as individual as physical reactions.

A preoccupation with the image of the deceased or feelings of hostility, apathy, emptiness, or even fear of one’s own death may occur.

Depression, diminished sex drive, sadness, and anger at the deceased may be present.

Bereavement may cause short- or long-term changes in the family unit or other relationships of the bereaved.

It is important for the bereaved to work through their feelings and to not avoid their emotions.

Support groups are often available.

If a person does not feel comfortable discussing emotions and feelings with family members, friends, or primary support groups, they may wish to consult a therapist to assist with the process.

Various cultures and religions view death in different manners and may conduct mourning rituals according to their own traditions.

Visitors often come to express their condolences to the family and to bid farewell to the deceased.

Funeral services may be public or private.

Family or friends of the deceased may host a gathering after the funeral to remember and celebrate the life of the deceased, which also helps the bereaved to begin the mourning process positively.

Knowing how much a loved one is cherished and remembered by friends and family can provide comfort to those who experienced the loss.

Other methods of condolences include sending flowers or cards to the home or the funeral parlor, sending a donation to a charity that the family has chosen, or bringing a meal to the family during the weeks after the death.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Pain ⚜ Bereavement Death & Cheating Death ⚜ Pain & Violence ⚜ Death & Sacrifice

[forsoobado137]

I've been wondering how nations have money. Do they get paid by their bosses? How much do they make monthly or annually? Is it just what the average person makes in their countries? Do they pay rent and mortgages, or have they already been paid off because they're immortal? How do they afford their luxuries and travel expenses? Are they insured? Are they in a lot of debt? If the government buys all of their things, can they be taken away as punishment?

Or maybe they have other part time jobs? Spain does run a café in the anime. And I think he sells merch for that too. I'm not too sure because wouldn't it be a bad look for the gov if the NP of the United States was making minimum wage at McDonald's?

Maybe they do appearance work to make money. Imagine France or Italy on the front covers of fashion magazines. France probably would make a fuckton as a model. And I'm pretty sure there was one strip where America was in a hair commercial.

[mesetacadre]

Full translation under the cut

Trumpism or declining imperialism?

Immediately after winning the elections, the reelected president of the United States, Donald Trump, tested the waters of public opinion with respect to what a priori could be understood as stupidity: annexing Greenland, Canada, retaking the Panama Canal, taking control of the Gaza strip, and lastly, leaving Ukraine in the lurch demanding billions in compensation –closing one front to open another?–. These ideas were interpreted from some media soapboxes as the boastings of an eccentric or fascist president. The problem with this is that annexations and war are not the result of boastings, they're not the delirium of this or that governor; if this was the case, it'd be enough with subjecting them and their advisors to psychological therapy, to placate their most quarrelsome impulses. On the contrary, we speak of necessities and demands of the imperialists as a class, and not because they're greedy, but rather because this is how capitalism works, through competition, the urgency of profits, upholding and widening markets, etc.

To understand this imperialist aggression beyond the psychological profiles loved by TV talk shows, we need to define some data. The USA's GDP increased 2.7% in 2024, more than any other G7 economy, but much less than its main competitor, China. It's important to point out that, throughout the entire Biden administration, China grew more than the USA, and the same can be said about GDP per capita. On its end, the US has a comercial deficit of 900 billion dollars and a negative check balance with other countries. In the debit side of the balance sheets of the biggest US financial and industrial companies there are large bonds and debts with the rest of the world. In 2023 and 2024 an economic recession was averted, the main world economy had a "soft landing" after the pandemic, but not without going through periods of industrial contraction and not without the banking system trembling in the first quarter of 2023, with the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank and other financial institutions.

The defeat of the democrats, without a doubt, was in no small part due to the generalized impoverishment of the north american working class. Inflation also hit the country hard, with an accumulated rise in prices of 21% since 2020. On top of this, mortgage rates rose, health and car insurances got more expensive, and the credit that sustains the middle classes shrunk during the Biden administration; good times for the bourgeoisie, bad times for the working class.

In this landscape, Trump is less the cause or source of determined policies, but rather their personification, as the need of the great US monopolies, consortiums and multinationals to dope their horses in the race against emergent powers. Trump's economic nationalism is, in summary, protectionism increasing the cost of imports and foreign services and the severe USamerican commercial deficit. At the same time, it means the demand of foreign companies to invest in and carry out their activity on US soil. Racism and the frontal attack on class organizations and critical social movements are coupled to this economic program. This is nothing new nor does it signal the beginning of a new era; state intervention in times of crisis or heightened international conflict is as old as capitalism itself. The State is that institutional scheme that, in the face of a market in which private or independent agents compete, "puts order" so ensure the continuity of the market itself. Recall how the great crises in the history of capitalism were solved with warfare and a nationalist and authoritarian governance in the main world economies. The crisis of the 70s was resolved forcing commercial deregulation and labor flexibilization on Third World countries, and on the working class of the imperial core to a great degree: the famous "structural adjustments" of so-called neoliberalism.

Back to the present day, the Trump administration will most likely be continuist with Biden's economic policy, in which economic growth depends absolutely on grants and government subsidies to the great industry and technological companies, guaranteeing the necessary growing investments, backing financial institutions and promoting the offer of a private capital growingly more committed to the "ideal collective capitalist", the State.

Facing the low profitability of industrial capital, the main motor of economic growth, the escape presented to the economic structure of the great power is increasing labor productivity. Perhaps this will help to better understand the alliance represented by Trump and Musk, which is much more complex than a simple alliance between two extravagant character with right-wing ideas. The big technological companies, greatly subsidized and dependant on infrastructure, are fundamental for the modernization of the productive fabric and an international competition spurred on by robotization and automation. The North American imperialist State ensures the control of raw resources, trade routes and guarantees investments with the dollar as the dominant currency. It's important to understand this fully, because capitalism's political economy problems aren't just "technical", such as low profitability or the market's inability to absorb excess population. Class warfare is deployed internationally through the channels of imperialism, with its military, judicial, cultural, etc. implications.

We have multiple examples. The so-called Ecological Transition, or the development and employment of new technologies, are fully incorporated into imperialist dynamics. The necessary technologies for the production, processing and storage of energy require investments, infrastructures and the mass exploitation of every kind of natural resources, not always abundant. The paradox of Green Capitalism, or the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, lies in the fact that its existence necessitates the ratcheting up of the exploitation of human and natural resources of all the peoples of the world, and it's through this deep-seated problem that these territorial conflicts that Trump has brought to the table are understood.

Of course, not all consortiums and imperialist monopolies are prepared to cede its market and resources to the USamerican power. The extension of imperialism through export capital favors the historical emergence of the bourgeois class worldwide, accumulation surfaced new nations in the 20th century that, in a consequent worsening of international competition, made an interventionism necessary from the totality of the imperialist alliances and institutions dominated by the USA, such as NATO or the IMF. This is where coup d'etats, commercial sanctions, judicial processes, even military invasions against nations of all continents fit within the last decades. China's technological transfers to Third World countries or the developmentalist outlook of its partners could result in similar effects in the future.

The emergence of new powers, that is, the restructuring of the imperialist pyramid, has obstructed some of the channels through which wealth flowed to the top of that pyramid, the US, EU, Japan, etc. The rise of Russia, China, India and other regional powers has entailed a greater strategic equilibrium between links of the imperialist chain and a greater interdependency between the countries of the world. The spoils are increasingly disputed between more exploiters. Before this situation, the US seems to look to shorten the value chains, lower the dependency of their capital's circulation and recourses on their competitors, open new commercial routes opposed to the Chinese silk routes and restore the flows of accumulation.

It's commonplace that there is nothing more dangerous than a fatally wounded empire. It's evident that imperialism, as it has been configured up to now, is entering a highly volatile phase. This process will not only happen through tariffs, also through wars and other ways of intervention, reminding us daily that the trees of capitalist civilization grow on a stratum of unpaid mass human labor, environmental plunder and violence. And may no conscious worker doubt that every imperialist in the world will attempt to join that exploitation, regardless of its "pole" and independently of their nationality, religion, skin color or political party.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

New ad goes up for Tesla at a Pollard Row bus stop in London

* * * *

It turns out that having co-presidents is a bad idea.

February 26, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

In a damning exchange, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked,

“Who is the administrator of DOGE?”

Leavitt responded,

“I’m not going to reveal the name of that person from this podium…”

A substantial percentage of the world’s population knows that Elon Musk is the administrator, dictator, ruler, king, emperor, and “Dear Leader” of DOGE. The fact that the White House press secretary was afraid to answer that simple question shows that Musk is toxic—and Trump's advisors know it.

Their fear should guide our political attacks: We must be laser-focused on the GOP’s biggest political liability—the heartless, clueless, dangerous billionaire named Elon Musk, who is ruining the lives of millions of Americans while mocking them by wielding a bejeweled chainsaw on the CPAC center stage.

Blame Musk and Trump—rightfully—for every bad thing that happens from this point forward, for every job lost, every mortgage in foreclosure, every rent payment missed, every medical bill unpaid or medical procedure foregone because of lack of resources or insurance, every campground closed, every pothole that pops a tire, every flight delayed, every case of food poisoning, every new case of measles and bird flu, every beach closed due to contamination, and every disaster in which aid is slow or denied or stolen to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

Blame Musk and Trump until their culpability becomes accepted truth of such irrefutable force that it enters the lexicon alongside well-worn swear words and curses of ancient origin.

[On Tuesday, a BlueSky user (@cyb3sherrie) posted this:

Unsure if related to DOGE cuts, but my father ,a lung cancer survivor, living in rural Arkansas, is being denied care from his lung specialist that is usually covered through his VA benefits. He served his country with honor, and this is how they repay him. HE LITERALLY CAN’T BREATHE WHAT THE ****?

Get ready for more of the same, Elon (and Trump). You own it all.

Later in the day, the White House identified someone as the “acting administrator” of DOGE—a person who seemed surprised by the announcement and who was on vacation in Mexico when the announcement was made. See CBS News, This is who the White House says is the DOGE acting administrator.

Part of what motivated Karoline Leavitt to dodge the question about who is in charge of DOGE is that at least one federal judge is chasing the answer to that question without success. As explained in Talking Points Memo, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has been trying to get to the bottom of who runs DOGE after administration lawyers submitted a declaration suggesting that Musk has no authority to make any decision or direct any government employee. See Talking Points Memo, It’s Taking Judges An Awfully Long Time To Get To The Bottom Of Who’s Running DOGE.

When you are embarrassed to utter the name of the co-president, you know the co-presidency scheme isn’t working—even though it has the salutary effect of giving Trump more time on the golf course and less time to destroy US foreign relations.

But it is worse than merely knowing that Musk has become toxic. At a moment when Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to garner the last two or three votes necessary to pass the GOP budget reconciliation bill, Musk is on the sidelines, cheering on GOP anarchists in the House with snarky, cryptic tweets. See The New Republic, Elon Musk Splits Republican Party Further on Reconciliation Bill.

As The New Republic reports,

“If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better,” MAGA cheerleader Representative Thomas Massie wrote Monday on X. “That sounds bad,” Elon Musk replied, reinforcing the MAGA wing’s opposition to Johnson’s version of the budget, which notably does not include the deep cuts to crucial programs that have huge standard-of-living effects, such as Medicaid—and leaving the budget in a precarious, vote-lacking position.

A GOP representative later replied to Musk’s tweet, saying,

“I hope we’re not going to have this come to whatever is said on X to change months and months of substantive work to actually do this in a deficit-neutral way . . . .”

Welcome to our world, House Republicans. Yes, Musk will try to undo months of careful, painstaking work with a single ignorant, thoughtless tweet meant to be funny.

So, as Trump and Mike Johnson are trying to pass a reconciliation bill against steep odds, Co-President Musk is trying to defeat that same bill. That dynamic makes it clear that Musk is in the dominant position and Trump has assumed the “Putin-bootlicking Position” in his relationship with Co-President Musk.

[As I write on Tuesday evening in London, the fate of the reconciliation bill is uncertain. I will address it on Wednesday evening.]

But having a co-president gets even worse for Trump. In the good old days of Trump's first week of his second term, he didn’t have to answer for the incompetence and screw-ups of Musk’s careless and ignorant actions. Now, Trump is not only blamed for his own ineptitude but is also tagged with Musk’s mistakes—which are abundant.

Musk has bragged about “keeping receipts” of the alleged hundreds of billions of dollars his reckless cost-cutting and mass firings have achieved. He even created a website with a real-time counter that toted the alleged savings. But the “wall of receipts” was so filled with errors that it deleted the five largest line items of supposed savings. See NYTimes, DOGE Quietly Deletes the 5 Biggest Spending Cuts It Celebrated Last Week. (Behind a paywall; used all my gift subscriptions.)

When people realize that the massive pain and suffering inflicted by Musk amounts to a rounding error in the federal budget, they will be even angrier than they are now.

As a sign of the rising resistance to Musk, more than 20 staffers have resigned from Musk’s “DOGE” Department, which previously existed under the name Department of Digital Services. See AP, Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE.

Per AP,

More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, saying they refused to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.” “We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

As bad as Trump is, deciding to compound his own criminality, incompetence, and narcissism with the incompetence, cruelty, and ignorance of Musk is a lose-lose proposition for Trump, Musk, and the GOP.

Trump administration continues to ignore court orders to unfreeze grants

Trump has violated Article I of the Constitution by claiming for himself the ability to withhold funds appropriated by Congress and by shuttering federal agencies established by acts of Congress. Several federal courts have ordered Trump to unfreeze the frozen funds, and Trump's administration lawyers have agreed to comply with the courts’ orders.

Or at least they have claimed they will comply with the court orders. At a hearing on Monday, a frustrated US District Judge, Amir H. Ali, tried repeatedly to force the Trump administration to state whether it had released previously frozen funds—as ordered by the court. Per AP, the following exchange occurred:

“I’m not sure why I can’t get a straight answer from you on this: Are you aware of an unfreezing of the disbursement of funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before Feb. 13,” the judge asked Indraneel Sur, the lawyer for the government. “Are you aware of steps taken to actually release those funds?”

“I’m not in a position to answer that,” Sur said.

Judge Ali ordered the funds unfrozen nearly two weeks ago. The fact that the administration lawyer cannot answer whether that has happened should be interpreted as “No. The funds have not been unfrozen—but I am afraid to admit that fact to you.”

Readers may be tired of hearing this mantra. Still, the fact that Trump has illegally impounded funds in violation of Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution and then refused to abide by a court order compelling him to unfreeze those funds is more than lawless. It is a wholesale overturning of the Constitution, which is a coup. Call it whatever you want, Trump has suspended the Constitution. That is a five-alarm fire.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-fi prompt from royaltrashpanda:

Saw your answer about why car dealerships tend to be in the same geographic area of a city. In my childhood neighborhood, we had a street with like ten used car lots all in a row on five blocks, and I’ve always wondered how that worked. They were much smaller than a standard dealership, and not all of them had repair shops attached. (Unfortunately that area has majorly gentrified and there’s none left on the original five blocks.) Based on your dealership research, what would be your take on tiny used car lots all being on the same five blocks? Also kind of related but not really, have you run into anything in your research about the history of the giant statues of men in suits that used car lots tend to have? If you have, I’d very much like to commission another question later about that topic because I’m so curious and have had no luck researching it myself!

My guess would be that they have a higher profit margin since they can probably leverage purchasing in their favor when buying those secondhand cars (especially from things like police auctions), and they can have a fairly consistent and predictable level of demand (there's almost always a new crop of teenagers getting licenses, without the cash for a brand new model), while the clustering strategy probably works even better when your business model appeals directly to a secondhand market where you might have a wide variety within one lot.

But let's see what the research says.

According to website CarEdge, some secondhand dealerships can have average profit margins as in excess of $4k. Now, that's probably skewed by some secondhand cars being luxury vehicles; there's a reason Carvana is topping that list, and most people do seem Carvana's prices on newer, low-mileage models are actually too high. The others are more like 1.5-2k profit margins, which is still respectable.

Granted, these are large dealership groups, rather than small, privately-owned businesses. Independent used car dealerships are looking at a gross profit margin of something like 10-20% depending on how well people bargain with the dealer, according to website ProfitableVenture. After the costs of owning and running the dealership (wages, mortgage, insurance, taxes, etc), there is about 2-3% left for the owner.

I actually want to quote this paragraph from them, as I feel like it's pretty informative on the issue:

The average amount of money that a car dealer makes per used car today is around $500 to $3,000 per car, with your typical run-of-the-mill used cars selling for about $2,500 to $5,000. Have in mind that profit margins on used cars are narrower than they have been in the past due to more information is available. Keeping profit margins a secret is what allows dealerships to take advantage of customers.

Now, that explains how they stay afloat, but the clustering?

...it really does come down to the same reasons as the regular car dealerships, but with the lens of anticipated costs. If you are a parent helping your teenager buy a used car, because they want your opinion and you're better at haggling than they are, then you want to make sure they get both the best possible deal, and the best/safest car possible... but also, you have work in the morning, and do not want to drive twenty minutes to each used car lot. You want to either be able to look up all the options on the internet, or hop from one lot to the next in the span of two minutes. Even with the internet, you want to do a test drive, no?

You also said that none of those dealerships exist anymore, which means they also predate the internet option. Being small means they had to sell fewer cars to stay open, but also that they didn't have the luxury of being a wide enough selection for people to do a cost-benefit analysis of coming to visit them with the expectation of finding a car when they might be able to see more options at that dealership that's only a block away from the other one. Without the internet, especially, their advertising would be limited to car commercials and newspaper ads.

(My thoughts go to Big Bill Hell's Cars and that Tobey Maguire Spidey scene where the used car from the newspaper is doing powerpoint transitions across the screen.)

So the clustering tactic is even more important, in that case. The only way to get your products in front of eyeballs is traditional media and in person, and it's a lot easier to make 'in person' happen if they're already headed to the neighbor.

[theambitiouswoman]

Heyy

Do you have any advice on starting a real estate business as in just buying and renting out property?

Thanks 🤍

Yes!

**For the record, I have personally done a few flips/rehabs. Apart from that, I knew/know most of the realtors in this city and relating companies as I worked with most real estate/mortgage and title companies here when I had an agency.

First you need to be able to learn the market and research comparables. When looking to buy properties there are important factors to consider to make sure you are not paying overprice for a property as well as that the are is on demand, ensuring it will be easier to rent out the property.

The location of the property and its proximity to amenities like schools, shopping centers, grocery stores, transportation etc. Also that the area is safe.

You also want to look for areas that has future development plans, this will raise the value of your property.

If you have worked with investment companies, you will quickly learn that buying a property that is not in the best condition, a rehab property, could be a very smart play. You want to make sure of course to check the comparables and ensure that the property is underpriced compared to the other homes in the area. Once you rehab the property, it could raise or even surpass the value of the other homes in the area.

Any home that you would look into to buy for renting out should have elements that you intend to upgrade on. There are a lot of reasons for this but the most important one is how it raises your price and potential earnings. Redoing a kitchen or a bathroom can immediately raise the value of your home anywhere from 5-50k. A project that will cost you anywhere from 3-10k on average for a standards nice kitchen depending on your area.

Overall you still want to look at the comps to make sure you are getting a fair deal. Calculate the potential annual rent as a percentage of the properties price. This will give you an idea of the return on your investment. Also make sure that the potential rental income exceeds the monthly expenses. If not it does not make sense.

Check the vacancy rates in the area you want to purchase in, if its high there may be a low demand and not a good area to invest in.

Also you want to think about how easy it would be to sell the property if you need to. In demand areas tend to be more liquid.

So important, to understand the landlord/ tenant laws in your state. Including their rights and eviction process etc. Nothing worst than having a horrible tenant and not being legally able to remove them.

There are a lot of rate plans depending on your specific situation and mortgage rates also vary significantly by state. Make sure to get the best deal for you. Some states a first time can give as little as 1-5% down depending if you are a first time/ entrepreneur etc.

Property insurance is another cost factor to consider when working out your numbers as this varies by area.

Managing a few properties on your own is easy, but after a handful, you may want to consider hiring a property management company to handle these things for you.

I would strongly urge you to get a lawyer to draw up renter contracts.

To grow this business what you want to do, and this is a general overview: down payment for house, fix, rent out, refinance, use refinance to purchase another property and have enough to put into upgrades/repairs on the second purchase and repeat.

I can get into taxes on this too if you want.

[whoslaurapalmer]

still waiting to hear back about the part-time secretary thing, waiting for the final certifications to go through for the call center, waiting to hear back from the mortgage company about the assumption and if it's possible right now (might be OR we might have to wait until november re: a credit history situation) but i gotta call tomorrow about homeowner's insurance (it was CANCELED because well, yes the, policy holder is in fact deceased but the mortgage is still going, i did appeal this through the state and the state was like 'uhh we're sorry but you'll just have to find a new company, this one ain't budging.') but idk if they'll talk to me bc the mortgage is not in my name (although i am on the mortgage in a sense) and i might need like a county deed situation for this and i need to find that out and that might take time but i am on a tight deadline re: the insurance before the mortgage company jams in Bad Coverage (insurance broker from the mortgage company: so you have time to get one, but, uh, yeah, if we forced one into the policy i'm telling you now it would suck. it'd be bad.) so i've been pricing quotes and i found a place i like, i tried to do a local place but they wouldn't let me submit for a quote bc i put in my birthday on the website and it said That Date Is Too Early!! and i was like, '94 is too early?????????? i????????' what's that about. hold on the tv just went black. get it together pluto tv. so i need to get on that bc i have no fucking idea how long that will take and a part of me is very terrified about like, running out of time there, not having enough time to do the right thing although i also feel like i can't call until i hear back about the next step of the assumption bc insurance is concerned with who is on the deed and there's stuff about that christ i just need to make phone calls and find things out and i've gotten better at NOT being scared at making phone calls again bc i am always calling for information and no one can yell at me for that and if they do it says more about them than me! MEANWHILE the special needs trusts are closer to being set up, which is good bc i am concerned about closing costs for the mortgage assumption and if money can be used for that in the first place and just exactly WHAT the trusts can be used for in the first place which is all i have ever wanted to knowwwwwwwww, i need to ask about getting the lawn cut for the summer. i have the money for it Right Now and it's okay to spend kind of an egregious amount on that bc look, if you don't have to cut the grass, that is The most ideal situation. it's worth the money. i need to get some specific boxes back from my aunt bc one of the boxes i gave her has my FUCKING BLOOD WORK PAPERWORK FOR MAY IN IT which i need to schedule anyway. completely unrelated to this but in the vein of 'lulu complains about everything at once and has a habit of putting in silly things as well bc she does have a real concept of what is serious and what is not but also operates on narrative delights, and when she says narrative delights, she means, bathos, which means, Ending On Something Absurd For The Sillies, also she's sure there's a better term for that besides bathos but can't think of it right now,' i have simultaneously gotten better and not better at all at writing porn. i cannot explain it. sometimes you write a great paragraph. sometimes you still write the worst sentence known to man. sometimes in the same piece. i'm shrug emoji-ing at my laptop. AND I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY POSTCARDS!!

ALTHOUGH THE PLUS SIDE OF ALL THIS IS I AM SOMEHOW A LOT LESS STRESSED THAN PREVIOUS WEEKS BUT please call me about the secretary thing. please. well tomorrow is a new day but i also have like two entirely separate loads of dark laundry to fold, for Reasons. the laundry just escapes me sometimes. it's okay though. it's 100% okay. i battled comcast again today about my phone bill (even longer story.) and that was a successful like, hour and a half idk. i am going to get up more on time tomorrow! which means i am going to bed right now!! instead of grumpily staring at porn that won't work. sometimes you just gotta call it and go back tomorrow. well i made that one come full circle, HOW ABOUT THEM APPLES.

[dollsonmain]

After me saying "Been crunching numbers, looking at rent, looking at mortgages, looking at our current monthly expenses and I'd need to earn about $24/hr full time just to be able to afford to pay rent/mortgage, bills, owning a car, and food with nothing left. NO BODY'S PAYING THAT MUCH." on facebook, one of my old high school friends tried to encourage me by saying that I'd qualify for programs like SNAP and might qualify for Section8 housing and if I'm earning $15/hr and work 40 hrs a week no, I wouldn't.

In my state:

LIHTC cutoff is $14k/year

SNAP is $19,578

Section 8 housing cutoff is $29,150 for one person and $33,300 for two, and we'd have 2 adults being myself and my son. I don't know if Son will be able to work since he does have some trouble with being interrupted or being told to do something he doesn't want to do, but a the same time I don't know if he'll qualify for disability due to autism because he's low support needs. The single apartment complex that accepts Section 8 is for elders and full, anyway.

Despite being too much to qualify for assistance, it's still not enough to survive on because our current expenses wouldn't change much considering That Guy doesn't eat at home mostly (he barely eats at all, really) so the grocery bill is mostly Son and me, and has no creative hobbies that cost money outside of the occasional pricey LEGO set and a $60 video game lasts him a few months so I picked an average for the credit card bill:

Mortgage: $2000/mo (1 bedroom apartment rent averages $1500/mo while the least expensive house on the market right now says to expect to pay $2k)

Water: $60

Power: $130

Internet: $90

Phone: $170

Propane: $280

He pays for everything like car-gas, groceries, toiletries, all my pony salon supplies, etc. on his credit card and that averages $1700/mo.

Our car is paid off so we don't have car payments but I would have car payments. No idea how much that would be.

That doesn't include the auto insurance because he pays that direct-pay with the bank, which is $78/mo for 3 drivers on a single sedan.

$54,096/year. He does NOT pay for my dolls other than the occasional cheap playline doll.

What of that could we do without?

We don't go on day trips, go on vacation, buy new clothes when our clothes wear out and if we do it's thrifted or from the discount store (like Goodwill, TJMaxx, Marshall's, or Gabe's), don't go to the salon or barber, eat Taco Bell once a week for $25 and rarely go anywhere else, I don't get my nails done, do them myself, or wear makeup which is a huge expense, don't buy expensive electronics or home theater equipment, don't buy home decor, don't pay for repairs, have low-end cheap computers, wait for our phones to no longer be supported before upgrading, wait for ANYTHING to break before replacing it...

[freestylegenius]

I can’t help you.

I am seriously wondering if I can even help myself anymore.

I am alone, anonymous and naked (at a soul level that is), navigating what appears to be a crisis in midlife.

I was let go from two jobs in one year and can’t seem to land a 3rd interview at any company, regardless of my experience or qualifications. This is after a 30 year career of landing every single job I ever pursued.

I don’t have any family left. Any family members I had healthy relationships with have since passed on and only the toxic ones remain, and we are no-contact. I’m one of those cycle-breakers. It sounds more fun than it is. I chose to not have a family of my own because I didn’t want to recreate whatever dynamic I came from. I am best with pets, without which I probably wouldn’t still be here.

I don’t have any followers here and have few friends in real life. Those I do have just feel like polite acquaintances with whom I can never be my full self with. I am one of the female versions of ‘too much,’ but we all know that ‘too much’ only comes in female flavor don’t we?

Now at the age of 52 I feel rejected from any space I am trying to be in. Might my perspective be skewed? Probably. I do know that trauma and depression can impact one’s outlook, but I can’t help but notice again and again that I am not wanted here, there or anywhere.

I feel broken. That whatever made me successful before doesn’t work anymore. Like the game changed over night. How does one navigate the experience of previously being sought-after, revered and well-paid only to be rejected across the board, both socially and professionally just a few years later?

Where do I go from here? I would love to create my own thing but how do you reinvent yourself and create something from scratch when you have never created anything?

How do you foster your own vision when you have spent 30 years selling someone else’s vision? All I have ever done is chase revenue. My skills are herding cats and negotiating deals. For that, all I have to show for it is a deep-seated feeling of emptiness and a house I can no longer afford to keep.

Now a decade from retirement, I find myself on the precipice of losing everything while inexplicably unable to get myself to do anything about it. I am deeply disillusioned with this game of corporate cruelty and late-stage capitalism and seem to be in a functional freeze that I am now finally just emerging from, slowly.

I don’t know if I can do this anymore. My life is falling apart before my eyes and yet I feel incapable of helping myself. I watch my bank account dwindle towards nothing as if I am simply watching a movie instead of my actual life that I am blowing up in real-time by being a passive observer.

I don’t have health insurance, I am living on credit cards which are almost maxed out and my unemployment benefits run out in two weeks. Next month I will have to tap my anemic 401K just to survive. I don’t know how I am going to keep my house that I was planning to retire in as the mortgage is too high to recover in rent. My previous credit score of 820 is in the wind of better days.

So here I am. To call myself out on whatever shit is fucking up my life. Obviously I’m part of the problem. My entire life is in disarray so it must be me. So let’s figure it out. Nothing is working so let’s put it out on the Internet. What could possibly go wrong?

I commit to documenting the journey, whether it continues on this downward spiral or (please baby jesus) turns into epic rise from the ashes. I know nobody is here and may not ever show up. That’s ok. I may not even allow comments because I’m terrified at how mean the internet can be.

But I will be here. I will show up for myself. And I will keep doing it until I walk myself thru this.

If you want to follow along I could use a friend.

[vidreview]

VIDREV: "Marvel's Defenders of The Status Quo" by Pop Culture Detective

[originally posted december 1st 2022]

this is a good video. it makes a lot of really great points about the mcu and i think you should watch it. but i want to nitpick about one thing.

at around 11:10, the channel's titular detective says of the mcu's villains that

"When we take a look through the pantheon of marvel's supervillains and evil masterminds, we immediately notice that nearly all of them strive to destroy or disrupt the status quo in some way. In short, they seek structural change. Now, granted, it's mostly bad, authoritarian change, but…"

i want to zero in on the use of the word "authoritarian" here. the argument of this video is that marvel superheroes exist only as reactionary forces who defend the status quo rather than try to transform the world as it exists, while the villains are the ones who DO want to change things but in such a violent way that their entire argument is conveniently nullified. i agree with this argument and i think the video does a good job justifying it.

but there's a missed opportunity here in this subtle deployment of "bad, authoritarian," what feels to me like a little slipup of ideology.

why is it that the villains seeking to impose a new order are "authoritarian," but the heroes seeking to maintain the current order aren't? "authoritarian" is a slippery word, we like to use it when talking about dictators saying "kill the minorities" or just, generally, to describe when politicians work against the will of the people. except when it's in america for some reason! american politicians aren't authoritarian because they are, erm, "elected." sure they do things against the will of the people, but they can't just get away with it, there's a whole series of checks and balances and democracy and and and

and yet they get away with it anyway. every single time. no one in san francisco wants the cops to have killer robots, but the city council gave them killer robots anyway. is that not authoritarian? oppressed people in cities across the nation begged for police to be defunded if not abolished, and now they're getting more money than ever. is that not authoritarian? rail workers are currently being forced by the government to accept a contract they don't want in order to avert a strike that could grind the US economy to a halt. is that not authoritarian? is that not the textbook definition of a politician enforcing strict obedience to authority?

this postulated nature of mcu villains to want "bad, authoritarian change" feels of a distant piece with liberals who desperately pearlclutch at the simple verbal utterance of the phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat." but dictatorships are bad! that's when the authoritarians dictate their will and the people just have to do it!

unlike in america where we have to work despite being in the midst of a lethal pandemic. unlike in america where housing is unaffordable, health insurance is tied to employment, and public transportation basically doesn't exist. just because there isn't a single guy standing behind a podium explicitly saying "the cost of entry into american society is a car, a mortgage, and a job at lockheed martin" doesn't mean it's not an authoritarian order. just because no one in charge is out and out saying you have no other choice doesn't magically give you other choices. "freedom of choice" is moloch's favorite song because it sounds so sweet. but everyone i know who had to get off medicaid when they were forced economically incentivized to get a job they didn't want says their employer-provided insurance is worse. a friend who had top surgery scheduled has to start the process all over now!

we live in a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. the ruling class owns the media, owns the means of media production, owns the insurance companies, owns the tech corporations, owns the politicians. our psychosphere is shaped by the messages they allow to spread. isn't it funny how after the george floyd uprisings of 2020 were crushed, mainstream news media all but stopped talking about them and then stopped covering protest at all? isn't it conspicuous that now it seems like all that energy we had has just vanished into thin air? it's almost like the ruling class circled the wagons and refused to acknowledge the widely popular demand for massive systemic change.

but to just cut this down to the final quick, i'm gonna go ahead and suggest that "authoritarian" is a functionally useless term. anyone in a position of power is an "authoritarian" whether they're a federal judge or a postal worker. to pose democracy as the opposite of "authoritarianism" is like saying that rain is the opposite of water. this attitude comes from a deeply entrenched liberal misconception that democracy is what happens when The People choose to make things happen. as opposed to communism, uh, where The People, um

you see what i mean? it's all just uninformed moralizing gobbledygook meant to deliberately obscure the material reality of oppressive systems. there is no conceivable human system which can ever hope to avoid the presence of individuals making choices on behalf of the masses. there will always be people wielding authority, and there will always be malcontents, always be victims, always be the dissatisfied.

this does not negate the simple fact that if we had a dictatorship of the proletariat in america, over a million human beings would be alive today who died of covid in the last two years. and that's to say nothing of the endless swathes of human beings who've been slaughtered on the altar of capitalism through the process of organized abandonment.

we must understand that the status quo is COERCIVELY ENFORCED. the villains of the mcu often come from a working class background, know many who were in the same position, who share common cause with oppressed people. the avengers are rich corporate gods who never even attempt to use their powers proactively to help people. why is it then that the villain's plot is more "authoritarian" than the hero's? this in itself reveals how useless "authoritarian" is as a word, because it dilutes all political conflict to just two guys wielding authority. it treats the entire spectrum of human political reality as if it is a duel between two gentlemen, one of whom is an honorless scoundrel destined to lose for his duplicity. funny how that works!

anyway the video does a good job of explaining why the mcu has no regard for mass movements and its use of "bad, authoritarian change" just happened to jump out at me because i've been reflecting a lot on "authoritarianism" recently and felt like this was a good vehicle for talking about it. anyway go watch that video it's good

[jeppiner]

Ways I save money:

I have lived low income for a very long time and this is how I save money. Personal care: I leave my hair long and put it up if I want it out of the way, only cutting the ends maybe once a year or less. No dye, no "styles", no lotions/potions, no hot appliances. Simple and healthy. I never do mani/pedi unless I do it myself, but no polishes. I only use a one skin moisturizer. Also no make-up. I am 60 and people can't believe how young I look. Shoot if I look that young, why gob it up with expensive bottles and tubes of stuff nobody needs putting MY money into some company's pocket. I need my money. They don't.

Clothing: I only buy what I need and sometimes it is used or given to me as a gift. I wear it until it falls apart. I don't have many clothes. How many shirts can you wear at once? One, right? So how many clothes do you really need. I would say I maybe spend $100-200/yr on clothes, probably most socks and underwear. I have a coat I've been wearing for 40 years. Still looks great because it was a good coat. Laundry is only done when it is dirty. I did buy a small portable washer because the laundromat is a killer. This cost $350 and saves me $900/yr. I dry everything outside on a drying rack or inside on the same rack in the winter. My clothes don't wear out as quickly.

Housing: We rent and we rent less than maybe what we want and then make do. If they approve a mortgage for 200,000, buy a house for 150,000. If you can afford 1000 for rent, only spend 750. You get my drift. Always live under what you can afford because all the maintenance, insurance, taxes, and upkeep will also be less. This way you can save. I seriously have very few cleaning products. A bit of all purpose cleaner (I honestly just dilute ammonia with water) goes a long way. Nobody needs all the potions people create. I have simply used hot water on the floors. How sterile does a floor have to be? You're going to walk on it immediately and it will be dirty again, so really, who cares. I have the same old furniture I have had for years. Decent quality, well taken care of, and its lasted decades. Some of it was my grandmother's or mother's. It still works.

Food: LEARN TO COOK FROM SCRATCH. EAT LESS (I can guarantee most people eat way too much of all the wrong things). FINISH IT ALL AND USE THE LEFTOVERS. I buy stuff on clearance, even fruits and veg and quickly process them, stew them, blanch and freeze them, or whatever is appropriate. I have gotten a whole box of fruit and veg for $5 and not one bit of it is wasted in this way. Beans and pulses are good protein. Learn to cook them. Never buy processed, pre-cooked, out of the box foods. You are paying for someone else to do the work. Make a big batch of something and eat it all week, or freeze the remainder and make something different mid-week. LEARN TO COOK. LEARN TO COOK. LEARN TO COOK. Shop the sales at one store only. What's on sale/clearance is what I am eating this week, but this only applies to fruit/veg, meat/dairy, and simple foods. Junk food on sale still isn't food. If you have to make all your own cakes and cookies, you'll eat less, because you can't be bothered. Don't buy ready made.

Transportation: Buy used, no-fun, and buy cash if you can. Keep it until it literally gives up the ghost. Keep it maintained. If you can't afford to do this, you can't afford a car SO GET RID OF IT. Any place that is within a 30 minute walk, WALK, don't waste the gas. You DO need the exercise. Combine errands or do errands to or from work so you aren't making extra trips. Obey traffic rules at all times, it keeps your insurance low. I have a 2012 Civic and pay under $70/month.

Time: STOP WASTING IT. Take all social media off your phone. Take all shopping apps off your phone. Throw away all advertising that comes into the house immediately. Get ad-blockers so you're not tempted to bloody shop. Your money belongs in your pocket, not theirs. No matter what they tell you, they're not doing you favours. If you aren't in front of a screen, you can cook, do laundry, clean your home, mend, iron, and take care of what is yours so it last longer. GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA THAT WASTES YOUR TIME. The only thing I have is Tumblr and I am on it maybe a half hour every couple of days.

Entertainment: Use the library. Everything in it is free: movies, books, audiobooks, games, stuff, TV shows, printing costs only a few cents and saves you on stupid dried out ink for your printer you rarely use. Play board games or video games. I can rent both at the library. Visit your local pool, park, join a community sports team, take a hike, go to the beach. If it costs a lot, somebody is benefiting more than you. Change your way of thinking. Instead of thinking "a nice dinner out with a few drinks and a show $$$", think instead of going for a walk with a friend/family and maybe grabbing an ice-cream and a coffee at McDonalds or somewhere cheap. You'll have just as great of a conversation and your bank account won't look like a yawning empty cavern.

I guarantee you that I am just as happy as you, and probably, because I have no debt at all, I might even be more happy than you. Think about it.

[amnotaqueen]

He Doesn't Want To Do Anything For Me

My narc husband has double standards and is shockingly selfish. I'm always being berated as a wife and being treated as if my role is to cook for him, have sex with him, and do whatever he asks me to do. He hyper focuses on cooking. Doesn't seem to have any significance that I clean house, do laundry, tutor and care for our special needs son during the day as well as cook. He only focuses on if and what I have cooked. And he is difficult to prepare food for. He doesn't like American food because it is unhealthy. He wants everything made fresh, no canned goods, nothing with preservatives. His meat he likes overly cooked, just about burned. He does not want carbs except for green plantain and this type of wild rice he gets from Nigeria. He loves Nigerian vegetable soup, pepper soup, and other soups from Nigeria. I've attempted to make Nigerian soups and dishes. He may act like he likes it the first time, so I make it again only for him to not eat it. There is always a problem, and he expects me to spend hours and hours in a day, all day, just preparing his breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. He couldn't care less about cleaning, laundry, doing activities with our son, etc. I do the best that I can with my background, time, and energy. I can't make everyday just about making meals my husband wants. My son is a picky eater and I myself do not prefer or want Nigerian foods all the time. He was actually telling his friends that I don't cook when actuality I DO cook but he rejects what I make most of the time. So if you are always cooking food for someone who never likes your food, doesn't eat it, would you keep making their food or would you allow them to prepare their food exactly how they like it so no food goes to waste and you haven't wasted your energy?

My role as a wife is to please my husband no matter what. Support my husband at all costs. I have to do my role. It's my obligation. But he doesn't see himself as having any obligation to me. As a 'Christian' head, he is supposed to provide for his family materially, physically, mentally, and emotionally. He doesn't want to provide a thing for me. There was a time when he got mad at me for disagreeing with him, and he took the credit card from me. He wouldn't put gas in the car that I used. This was when I was not working. I had to stop working because our son was having issues at school. Even though I was not working, he seemed to expect me to put gas in our car. He berated me for not working too, ignoring the reason why I stopped working, as if I were just being lazy.

So he expected me to chip in and help financially, but he never chipped in to help with, say, cleaning the house. He believes I exist to help him but he never raises a pinky to help me of his own initiative.

My husband does not give me an allowance. He does not pay for my nails to be done. He does not pay for my hair to be done. We rarely go out on dates. The only money I spend is on food, gas, groceries, things needed around the house, toiletries. Anything outside of those things like clothes, make up, hobbies, supplements for our son, and treats I have paid for from my own savings or my mom has bought me and my son things. He pays mortgage and car note and insurance which I benefit from. But many husbands take pleasure in being the provider, providing for his wife and children. They want their wives to have nice things, look nice, and feel nice and are happy to contribute financially for that purpose. Not my husband. He wants his money for his own personal agenda.

He tells me I am ungrateful when HE is the one who is ungrateful. I never say thank you, he said, when he never says thank you to me and instead insults me everyday. What am I supposed to be thankful for exactly? Thank you for being resentful for anything you may do for me financially and for berating me constantly?

I can't be tired. I can't get sick. He refuses to help out in any meaningful way. It is I who should help him, not the other way around. He has left me home sick with our son, expecting me to cook and clean and care for our son as usual.

I'm afraid to ask him for anything. I try not to. That's exactly how he likes it.

[gatekeeper-watchman]

It Seems

I readily recognize I don’t know everything, and I don’t pretend to, the thoughts of my critics notwithstanding; but it seems to me that, in their mismanagement, our government is treading a perilous path in these difficult times, rapidly approaching a line in the sand; which, if they cross, will lead us beyond a point of no return.

You might correct me on this, but I believe our country and our people are different from those of other nations. We are different, if for no other reason because we were born free. Personal freedom is ingrained in the minds of every one of us from the very beginning of our great nation–the Revolutionary War; and that inner subconscious belief continues with us to this very day–whether we were born here or immigrated. Freedom is ingrained in our culture–freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and freedom of action limited only by that of others, i.e., my freedom ends where yours begins.

In the beginning, our Constitution approved in 1789, was written and approved behind closed doors by the power elite of the time and given to us, the people, for our approval, effectively telling us we were free. Subsequently, the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments) was added, again increasing our freedom. Further along in history, we decided that the people would elect members of the Senate, once again increasing our freedom. Then, in 1865, slavery was abolished, followed one hundred years later by the Civil Rights Act of 1965. As a nation, freedom is all we know–this is the color of all our glasses.

I mentioned earlier that our government is treading a perilous path. A government of the people exists for only one purpose–only one. That is to manage the affairs of our nation. As the Preamble to the Constitution says, “To form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…..”. Managing the affairs of our nation, in my opinion, does not constitute playing chess with party politics at the expense of the people. I heard former Senator Tom Daschle say on Washington Journal this morning, to the effect that, what our government needs is a good dose of bipartisanship. I contend that what it requires is a good dose of patriotism–patriotism for our nation’s affairs. Rather than the one and one-half days per week, they are now working (they go home on Thursdays and return on Tuesdays), we require them to take care of business and relieve us from our overwhelming stresses, and you can believe–they are overwhelming to all of us. We can use a bit of that Tranquility right now.

Now, having provided the groundwork, I’ll get down to it. Our nation and our people are under immense stress right now. I’ve pointed it out over and over in my several postings to this blog, but I’ll briefly do it again:

1.     We have approximately thirty million people either unemployed–looking for work, employed part-time, or who have given up looking. Our recession may be over, but we are still in depression.

2.     Many, if not millions (I don’t know how many, but too many) are living in cars, under bridges, on the streets, or in homeless shelters. They are living on welfare, securing food from food banks, eating out of dumpsters and food kitchens, or whatever.

3.     Since the 1970s, and more so since the 1980s, the income and wealth of our middle and under classes have steadily decreased right along with their standard of living. The rich have gotten much richer and the poor have become poorer.

4.     As a result of the burst of the housing bubble and the financial collapse of the financial markets in 2008. Millions of our people have lost their homes, are underwater with their home mortgages, and over their heads in personal debt with no apparent way out.

5.     Large corporations (long-standing members of the power elite, our Shadow Government), to increase their profits, have been outsourcing jobs to slave labor abroad, exacerbating unemployment and reducing tax revenues. You call it what you want, but a rose is a rose is a rose. I call it slave labor. Not all, to be sure, but many of our slaves in 1865 lived better than those to whom we are now outsourcing.

6.     On top of all of the above, our nation is saddled with a national debt of $17 Trillion, accumulated over a short period of thirty-three years. A debt so huge that our ability to manage the nation's fiscal policy has been seriously constricted.

7.     Now comes the Affordable Care Act, aka Obama Care. This nation severely needs a healthcare system. Every thinking person knows that. We require a new system to improve the health of our people; and we require a new system to reduce costs (and, therefore, our deficit). The way this system is designed, however, presents severe hardships to far too many of our people who live from one paycheck to another (if they are employed, that is) and employers.

8.     I’m sure there are more sources of stress for our people at this time, but I’ll name one more and conclude this post. There is the stress of the NSA, our National Security Agency. This is a big thing, folks. If you don’t think so, why do you think they kept it a secret? Have you heard the news today? They are even monitoring many of our conversations as we walk down the street. Let’s cut this to the quick. Suppose our government can monitor us this closely. In that case, they are only half an inch away from having the ability to dominate and control us, just as many dictators have done throughout history. Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels would have loved to have some of our security systems. Are you a Democrat? Are you a Republican? Mmmmm……

Now, folks, tell me. Isn’t this more than enough stress and uncertainty? I submit to you that these problems are and/or can be simpler to solve than our government, Democrats and Republicans alike, are making them. They are simple, but they are significant, however. It has to be obvious to all that our people are in turmoil and under heavy stress. It’s a known fact, also, that our people are armed to the teeth, just as is our Department of Homeland Security, which has been buying ammunition for billions of dollars for quite some time. There is a lot of political propaganda on the website, but so also is such with Fox News, MSNBC, etc.–You can sort out the truth from fiction). My point is that, surely, our government doesn’t want to continue its present governance, introducing even more stress points upon our people. Trust in government is the lowest in many years. We don’t want it to go even lower, so let us not let Pandora out of the box. Once she is out, it will be a long time before she gets back in, if ever. Once the first shot is fired, what little democracy we have left will be gone, I believe, forever.

[lunarsilkscreen]

What makes Debt an Asset, or vice versa?

Because your typical person doesn't understand this incredibly "simple" concept.

It's not simple.

Debt is an Asset, if you can sell it for more than what you owe on it.

A credit card is 100% debt, unless you staple the receipts to what you buy. Or only use it for appliance (large) purchases. Using a credit card for food is highly frowned upon. Because you typically can't return food.

If the new phone you just bought can be taken to a pawn shop for more than what you owe on your credit card, then it's an asset. All items that you do not owe money on, belongings, clothes, knick-knacks are ALL assets. Your physical property is all assets because you can sell it for some amount of cash, and not owe anything. (whether or not it's a large amount of money doesn't matter)

So your house is *only* an asset if you could sell it right now for more than you owe.

A car bought brand-new off the lot is *not* an asset. Because it depreciates in value for up to 50% as soon as you drive it off the lot. But it *does* have a warranty on it, and that warranty will get you through a lot. (But if the bank decides to take your car for lack of payment, you don't owe more on it either. Unlike what happens if you purchase a car off Craigslist with your capital one card.)

As long as what you own is.more than the debts you owe, you're in good standing. That's why many countries disallow the taking of personal property without payment. And why taking of property is frowned upon.

And why insurance exists.

So, let's say you buy a house at the very top of the market, and there's nobody you can sell it too because who *can* afford to buy a starter home for 200k dollars? Or a million, depending on city.

Not the question "who in their right mind?" I mean: who do you know that can and would pay for that?

Probably nobody.

That's what makes it debt. A buyer's market is debt. So when the bank takes your home because of the mortgage, you shouldn't owe anything more on it. (It's a good way to print money if you can time the market, take a reverse mortgage on your home, and buy a new home after the market crash.)

But then here comes the real issue: that's one of the causes of inflation. Whenever you create assets that can print more money than what it's worth, and the bank gives a loan that can't be covered, and then cannot recover that money (because it was spent, put into a trust, or used to purchase other non-revocable assets) then that's extra money the bank has printed that is now in the economy permanently.

Because the banks aren't gonna pay taxes on that purchase, after-all, they lost money.

So my question is: How do you control this *kind* of inflation? The math adds up on the banks balance sheets, there's nothing illegal. Shady, but not illegal. And yet it causes A LOT of inflation, which then will cause workers to ask to be paid more money (because DUH, inflation)

And in the process; a lot of personal property will be destroyed or lost, and millions of people will be held back from everything they've worked towards.

And then the Jews and Gays will be thrown back into camps, because who else you gonna blame? The banks? The only bankers I know are Jewish and/or Gay, so it stands to reason banks won't exist without them.

Just like last time.