• SippyCup@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I actively called my retirement plan manager and spent several hours on the phone, just trying to make sure they didn’t spend a bunch of my money on the space X IPO. They did, and I lost about 4000 dollars in one day.

      If I pull it out, I lose 30% instantly. Not to mention it’s retirement value goes away entirely. Switching to another manager is pointless because they did exactly the same thing.

      That was MY money, that I OWN. If I have absolutely no say in how that’s being spent, how in the holy name of fuck do you expect us to influence elected representatives, that are being bought and paid for with those dollars by someone else?

      The game is over, they’ve won. It’s time for crime.

      • OnyxRex@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        I have some basic understanding of finance (and I mean basic), so take this as an observation rather than investment advice. If your retirement plan allows you to change your asset allocation, and you have a high-conviction thesis that a significant market event is about to occur, it may be worth temporarily rotating from a growth-oriented allocation into a more conservative allocation to reduce downside exposure.

        Under normal circumstances, attempting to time the market is a bad idea, and financial advisors or plan managers will usually push you away from doing so. However, there are rare situations where it’s clear as crystal what’s happening. In those cases, reducing equity exposure and increasing allocations to lower-volatility assets for a short period may be a reasonable risk-management decision.

        Using the recent SpaceX-related market activity as an example, I find it difficult to believe that any fund with a genuinely conservative mandate would have maintained meaningful exposure to assets directly affected by that event. A conservative portfolio, by definition, should prioritize capital preservation over aggressive growth and generally avoid concentrated exposure to higher-risk investments.

        You generally can’t tell them, “I don’t want this stock,” when dealing with index funds, but you can get yourself out of the fund entirely while it’s poisoned. Unfortunately, my company was changing providers right when the SpaceX shit was happening, and I couldn’t make the change myself.

        I haven’t been keeping up with the bond market but last I heard it was it’s own shit show so I’m not really sure anything is ‘safe’ these days.

      • moustachio@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Retirement accounts are a scam. It’s important for people to learn this, and stop contributing to them. It’s not a “benefit” to give all your money to corrupt Wall Street shit heads…

        • SippyCup@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I opened this expecting to ask where to put the money instead, fully expecting to be told to buy gold.

          I’m glad to see that conversation has already happened.

          There are far better commodities to invest in. Gold is probably one of the worst. But good luck with that

            • SippyCup@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              I mean, it’s not a straw man. it’s genuinely a weak investment. But no, other people exist and they had that conversation before you or I could her here.

        • tmyakal@infosec.pub
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          2 days ago

          A tax-advantaged account that (typically) grows faster than inflation and includes additional compensation that my employer would not otherwise give me is a scam? So where should I be putting my money instead?

          • moustachio@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            It grows faster until they use it as a bailout for rich fucks. You should make your own investments; it’s your money and you should have full control of it. Any system that doesn’t allow that is wall steet holding your money hostage, and a scam.

            • tmyakal@infosec.pub
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              2 days ago

              Gold has lost nearly 12% of its value in the last six months. There’s no reason to think that trend will spontaneously turn around.

        • OnyxRex@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 days ago

          Not entirely a scam in theory. Though we are currently in a period of unprecedented corruption that is so complicated and complete that it might as well be. Even 5 years ago, I would have attributed certain actions to protect the market as an attempt to protect everyone. The systems in place are such that if a stock company fails, it creates far-reaching market upsets across industries worldwide. Essentially, if something fails, it takes everyone down with them.

          The fix would be the state taking control of those industries to allow them to stabilize. Unfortunately, most state actors are also tied economically to those systems. That is, they’re corrupt as fuck and don’t care about people, but their own money and status.

          So retirement funds and entitlements weren’t entirely a scam, but they are mostly so now. I doubt I will see a dime of mine if I don’t use it soon for school, expating, or buying a house. I certainly won’t see it when I retire.

    • gwulgg@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Even when you have a headline and article clearly blaming a specific person, you find a way to blame others. Incredible

  • demizerone@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I would say let him waste his money but Americans are fucking stupid and they watch political ads and say “oh I’ll vote for that guy cuz I saw him on TV”.

    We deserve all that we get. Now they’re going to have drones that hunt you down if you speak out against the fascists. Don’t believe me? Look up Israeli death calls in Lebanon.

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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      I mean, he’s allowed to spend money. The illegal part was offering money to vote Republican.

      As to why no arrest, because this county’s a sham. These midterms are so incredibly important, and it’s kinda like, will they be tampered with, will they not be, wait and see! America loves drama and reality TV, and now we’re all on the show.

      • krisevol@lemmus.org
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        2 days ago

        I don’t think paying them to vote Republican was the issue either. I think he’s being sued because the lottery was rigged

      • moustachio@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        If these elections are so important why haven’t people formed militias as a backup plan for if any fuckery happening?

        Do we care about elections, if we’re not willing to do anything about them cheating brazenly in them?

        • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net
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          Because the people buying guns and forming militias are the one’s in masks abducting citizens for not looking white enough

          • moustachio@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            You know the rights to buy guns and form militias is something everyone has the right to do. People need to stop waiting for someone else to save them and start working to protect themselves and communities.

            • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net
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              I’m well aware, also painfully aware that anyone doing so without the state doing their best to either label them as domestic terrorists or insert their own agent provocateurs to cause the kind of incident that would make the public label them as such, don’t currently exist, thanks to the panopticon making it the easiest thing ever for the powers that be to dismantle their entire organisation.

            • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              I mean, you raise a point, but good luck doing anything and trying to stay off the radar of national security. They’ve got 25 years of experience spying on American citizens under the guise of stopping terrorism. If I go out and try to form a militia right now, I’m not voting in the next election.

              I think familiarizing ourselves with decentralized methods of communication is an important step to take right now. Hopefully not necessary.

    • Bakkoda@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Money. Plain and simple. America belongs to the rich and will continue to until it’s bag enough for everyone to start committing crimes.

  • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Wasn’t this the same guy who said he was going to take a step back from politics to focus on running his businesses like he was supposed to?

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      I’ve worked with/for assholes like this before. The same types who whine about people being “political” if it goes even slightly against some conservative thing. They view it as being “neutral” to just uphold conservative things - it’s only “political” if it even has a whiff of not being pro-Republican/conservative…

      I’ve even heard managers that have policed conversations at work as being “too political” later saying they were going to vote for Trump because he’s “pro-business” or whatever the fuck. Yeah, like saying you are going to vote Republican is not political, JFC.

    • pastaq@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      You know that meme from the office where Pam is told to find the difference between two pictures?

    • BillyClark@piefed.social
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      3 days ago

      It’s so blatantly bullshit that it even makes Wikipedia sound stupid:

      The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Citizens United sparked significant controversy, with some viewing it as a defense of American principles of free speech and a safeguard against government overreach, and others criticizing it for reaffirming the longstanding principle of corporate personhood,and for allowing large corporations to wield disproportionate political power by allowing them to spend unlimited amounts of money to support their chosen political candidates, provided the corporations were technically independent of the campaigns.

      Ah yes, what a great “safeguard against government overreach,” to give corporations unlimited power. You can’t overreach if you don’t really exist!

    • osanna@lemmy.vg
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      lol. you think the democrats will send him to prison? good joke, you should be a comedian!

      • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        No, I don’t think so at all, but depending on whether the Democrats field a reasonably progressive candidate, there’s at least a slim chance. If not, and it comes down to the usual corporate Democrats—who, contrary to the will of the voters, clearly call the shots at the DNC—there’s no chance from the get-go.

        For the Conservatives, however, this chance does not even exist in the first place.

        So the Democrats are still the lesser evil, because the conservatives are not only many times more corrupt, they’re also completely unscrupulous in their inhumane actions.

        With a Democratic president, at least, it would still be possible to engage in dialogue on the international stage. A conservative, on the other hand, represents exclusively the interests of organized crime, as the current regime demonstrates day in and day out: It commits horrific war crimes, does nothing but enrich itself and its billionaire financiers, openly threatens even the U.S.’s former allies with armed force, and is doing everything in its power to replace international law with the law of the jungle.

        These people are the scum of humanity. The conformist, greedy opportunists among the Democrats are certainly despicable as well, but even they are no match for the absolute monsters currently ruling the country.

        Look up the term “Dark Enlightenment” —this far-right, inhuman “theory” is the foundation of what conservatives stand for and what they are working exclusively to bring about, since it benefits the billionaires and would give them absolute power without any restrictions. Should they continue to succeed in this, it would have enormous, negative consequences for other, still somewhat functioning democracies around the world.

        In short: A democratic president would definitely be the lesser evil—for the world as well as for the U.S. Anything that weakens the current regime is absolutely desirable.

        • osanna@lemmy.vg
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          I agree there. Even if they don’t send him and his cronies to prison, it’d still (hopefully) be a net benefit to have the Democrats in power. At least better than the shit peddling repubes.

          • Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml
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            2 days ago

            What about if you live in Iran, Lebanon or Gaza? Seems like there’s not much difference who sits in the big chair to people not inside the empire.

    • Whostosay@sh.itjust.works
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      Lol I know thats off the cuff, but it’s significantly less than even that.

      It’s .001, even the difference in your mistake is a significant amount to everyone else. That’s 100 dollars vs 1 dollar. And that’s just the math error.

      In this case it’s a FUCKING TRILLION DOLLARS VS 100 MILLION DOLLARS.

      No one in the history of fucking anyone should ever have anything close to either amount. But it’s key to understand that those amounts differ by 999,899,999,999 dollars.

      I’ve never seen a billionaire bleed, but I’d fucking love to.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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        0.01% is 1% of 1%. 1% of a trillion is 10 billion, 1% of 10 billion is 100 million. The original was actually correct

        • Whostosay@sh.itjust.works
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          I did 10b times 100 and got 1.E12, kinda odd considering 1T fits. But if e12 means 12 zeroes, you may be right.

          All that said, I’m still angry, and never was upset at op

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    And it’ll work too. Money talks in the old usa and people are being squeezed so hard right now you can buy their loyalty for very little. A perfect storm. I remember hearing as a kid that you don’t have to be rich to be the president but no one ever added, but you need rich people to become president.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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        Money helps, but it doesn’t GUARANTEE an election.

        That’s going to be MAGAs problem - they think they can win with money alone, flooding the airwaves and mailboxes with crude propaganda, rather than ideas. Nothing from the insane amount of past propaganda has come true, and things have only gotten much, much worse, and EVERYONE sees it, and EVERYONE is unhappy about it.

        MAGAs have made the fatal mistake of believing their own propaganda, getting high on their own supply, so their ads disparaging Socialism are actually going to work against them, and be some of the DemSocs best promotion - “You don’t want any of that FREE Socialist healthcare do you?”

        And voters are going to to think, “Well, I can’t afford the expensive MAGA health care, so I’ll give it a try.”

        Always remember: MAGA talks a good game, but they are ALWAYS bluffing. Every one of them are virtuosically incompetent, and fuck up literally EVERYTHING they do, and they will fuck up this election, too. The Dems just have to be ready to take full advantage of every inevitable MAGA mistake that is surely coming.

        These people are STUPID beyond words. Exploit that RUTHLESSLY and MERCILESSLY.

    • Cherries@lemmy.world
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      It will only work if the Democrats put up a bad candidate. A good candidate with good policies can defeat billionaire money, like in NY or WI, but a bad candidate with bad policies, like Kamala Harris, can easily waste a billion dollars.

  • jaykrown@lemmy.world
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    It’s amazing how much this guy wants a revolution. You can’t keep taking power away from the people without repercussion.

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    3 days ago

    If El-Sayed wins the Michigan primary, they’re gonna pour so much money into the general that Michigan will become like the 3rd largest economy in the world.

    • SippyCup@lemmy.world
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      The American party, started by a white African American Nazi immigrant emerald mine trust fund grifter, who makes bad cars and launches rockets.

      Yeah that… That kinda tracks honestly.