• tyo_ukko@sopuli.xyz
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      6 days ago

      It’s legit crazy how financially illiterate top executives can sometimes be.

      In a company I worked for, they decided to stop using on-prem systems and move them to cloud servers. I made a rough calculation on a coffee break with colleagues that the move increases costs by roughly 10 times. It was unbelievable and all we could do was laugh.

      Some 4 months later it was announced that the cloud systems are to be decommissioned due to costs and employees have to find a way to do the same things on their laptops (which will be upgraded if needed). I still cannot wrap my head around it, there must have been some nasty politics or absolute numeral illiteracy going on in the background.

      • mig@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I worked in the title insurance industry around 2005, data entry. So I saw thousands of mortgages being issued every week, and my job was to data enter mortgage details and data enter the research showing clear title of the property.

        I was 19 years old and renting a studio apartment and even I was shocked that every. Single. Mortgage had an adjustable rate or balloon rider on it. Reading the terms of those I was thinking how the hell will any of these people make their mortage payments in 4 or 5 years?

        When I would talk to people older than me with homes and investments they would get genuinely upset and tell me I couldn’t possibly understand, the banks know what they are doing. Ok.

      • xxce2AAb@feddit.dk
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        6 days ago

        nasty politics or absolute numeral illiteracy

        Or kickbacks from the cloud service providers.

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            6 days ago

            I’m currently wearing my entirely-unsurprised-face. Look, I’m never going to be an advocate of the dystopic post-capitalistic hellscape of Cyberpunk, but there’s something to be said for a Militech-style severance package.

            “I was hoping to reach Anthony Gilchrist on this number,” said Faraday tentatively.

            “I’d tell you that I regret to inform you that I just executed Mr. Gilchrist in his office for violations of corporate policy five minutes ago,” replied Meredith Stout smugly, “but then I’d be lying.”

            “About executing him?” asked Faraday cautiously.

            “About regretting it.”

    • FoxAlive@lemmy.zip
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      7 days ago

      I would be dramatically less upset if I was surprised. Its painful to of shouted this from the rooftops for what feels like years now, only to be dismissed so easily. What males it even more painful is its the same idiots that where so desperate for nfts to work because their lives are so pathetic the only way they can see it improving is yoloing it on some tiktok fad they just learned about a week ago.

      The same people that are desperately defending ai on every turn desperately need it to work because they have taken full bait on the scam. They probably bought some 10k course from the PDB podcast or something like that on “how to get rich quick with ai for dummies” and then wasted 7.5k in tokens to make a web wrapper that sends all user input to Claude and does literally nothing. All their retirements are getting fucked by ai and they probably dumped all their personal savings into ai stocks. Literally the whole american economy is held up by a scam and instead of looking at death in the eye people rather claim ignorance and get mad and upset when you point out the truth.

      I rapidly flip between “everyone is just misguided and have been intentionally deprived of good information”, and “oh god the stupid people are running the planet, they are lesser beings who only prevent progress.” And that usually just depends on my mood.

      I just don’t understand how practically every business in recent times has operated on this model, and its not just obvious to everyone that this is the new scam to siphon money out of you instead of a real grass roots business that has actual real proven thing.

    • Scuba8291@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I think they saw it coming as well.

      There is a song playing, fewer chairs than people running and it is about to stop. They want to earn money and hope they are not the last one to sit.

      They are playing a game and they know it

    • Doom@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      They saw it coming. This is a legal bank heist. The ultra rich rob the banks then will cry poverty (to big to fail) and demand to be rescued only rob the banks again another day. This isn’t the first time they’ve pulled this scheme, it won’t be the last. As long as it keeps working they’ll keep doing it.

  • nerdo@lemmy.zip
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    7 days ago

    Kick out fascists

    State seizure of big tech, ISPs, and utilities

    Require reeducation for conservatives

    End citizens united

    Expand Supreme Court, house, and senate

    End first past the post and require proportional representation

    Eliminate presidential pardons

        • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          The power required to kick out fascists, seize businesses or do any of that stuff can really only come from a socialist revolution. There’s no way the capitalists will let you vote for it, that’s for sure.

          • tyo_ukko@sopuli.xyz
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            6 days ago

            Read the history of Scandinavian socialist democracies to see how policies such as free healthcare and education can be achieved by voting.

            I’ve read the history of the USSR and China, and those revolutions did not achieve anything close to similar. So… Yeah…

            • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              Social welfare is not socialism. And also, the only reason Scandinavian countries got social welfare was through massive civil unrest and threatening a worker’s revolution. The welfare was the compromise. They are still capitalist members of the imperial core who fund their welfare through exploitation of the global south.

              Also, maybe read histories of the USSR and China that weren’t written by capitalists. They tend to lie about socialism, like a lot.

              • tyo_ukko@sopuli.xyz
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                6 days ago

                Social welfare is not socialism

                Frankly, I don’t care about socialism. I care about free healthcare, education, welfare etc.

                And also, the only reason Scandinavian countries got social welfare was through massive civil unrest and threatening a worker’s revolution.

                Ok, let me educate you a bit here, as I’m actually from one of those countries. In Finland, there was a civil war in 1918 between the reds and the whites. The reds lost big time and the country went to pseudo-fascist mode for almost 2 decades. I’m saying pseudo-fascist, because there was a coup attempt to go full blown Nazi at around 1930. It failed.

                During WW2 the country united against the USSR, as almost no one wanted to have any part of that disaster. After the war (and in fact also a bit before IIRC), everyone understood that leftist parties have to be allowed in politics to prevent another civil war, and so leftist policies started to enter legislation. You want to know why? People fucking voted. Now you’re going to argue that the threat of the civil war was the key, but it only allowed the left to enter the game. After that people fucking voted. People need to fucking vote.

                They are still capitalist members of the imperial core who fund their welfare through exploitation of the global south.

                This is as tiring as having anyone slightly leftist in the US being called a communist. The USSR exploited the shit out of Eastern Europe, somehow that doesn’t count because imperialism is a boogey man.

                Also, maybe read histories of the USSR and China that weren’t written by capitalists. They tend to lie about socialism, like a lot.

                Nah, I’d stick to something trustworthy. Did you know they had to smuggle information about gulags out of the USSR? Why? Because they didn’t want to acknowledge them. I wonder how trustworthy their history writing is…

                • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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                  6 days ago

                  You are so steeped in propaganda that you refuse even to look at information outside of the capitalist bubble. Capitalists even have a material incentive to lie about socialism because it is the only thing that threatens them, yet you still believe their lies. I despair sometimes that humanity will ever be able to throw off their chains.

            • psycholocomotor_no2@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              6 days ago

              Nordic countries are so stable because they import raw resources and cheap consumer goods (which are underpriced because of financial imperialism) from mainly Africa, China, and Russia, and then export monopoly priced machinery, processed goods, and weapons. They literally could not develop if not for the EU getting rich from neocolonialism in Africa.

              The main exports of Scandinavian social democracies are cars, industrial machinery, petroleum products, and weapons (mainly Sweden, which is actually one of the world’s largest arms exporters, which are being used currently in mainly Ukraine and Yemen against Ansar Allah). While they import everything under the sun from the global South. Consumer-based, highly financialized economies are not socialist.

              • tyo_ukko@sopuli.xyz
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                Sure bub, I know the history.

                Finland, for example, was broke as hell after being on the losing side of WW2. Did not receive any aid from Marshall plan. Did not receive cheap resources from Africa either. What saved Finland was that the USSR, thanks to it’s terribly ineffective system, was unable to produce decent products, so Finland could sell absolutely everything there in exchange of cheap oil. So communism worked for Finland, not so much for the people of the USSR.

                Consumer-based, highly financialized economies are not socialist.

                I’m happy to let you define what’s socialist and what’s not. I care more about what countries offer (close to) free healthcare, education and social safety nets.

                Edit: you could have also indicated when you edited your replies. You posted something, I responded and later your post looked very different. Not cool, man. Not cool.

                • psycholocomotor_no2@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  so Finland could sell absolutely everything there in exchange for cheap oil.

                  You are literally describing how imperialism works. Exploiting the USSR after its industry was destroyed after WW2, after they literally invaded the USSR as an ally of Germany no less, and getting its oil for cheaply in exchange for expensive consumer goods afterwards. You are literally describing what I said. And yes, Finland and most of Europe got a return on their investments in Africa.

                  I’m happy to let you define what’s socialist and what’s not.

                  Socialism is when the working class is the ruling class.

        • FoxAlive@lemmy.zip
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          6 days ago

          To expand on that chuds will really take to this if you just throw words in like “america first” or “for the people”

          2026 has kinda fucked up their brains and they sometimes confuse nationalism with socialism. They still love nationalism so you just work off of that. Once they learn its socalism after they already agreed to it’s already in their head as a good idea and have a harder time walking away from it. If there’s one thing they are bad at its self reflection and admitting they are wrong, so just get that brain worm in there.

          If you say you’re making a workers party already you lost majority of the country. If instead you just say we are fixing the country and kicking out Israel and giving the money back to Americans for an american first country, then you got a lot of confused conservatives on your side who are bitter. I’ve unironically heard conservatives say they’ll vote for aoc to “punish” their own party. So things are weird right now and potentially in a advantageous way.

        • psycholocomotor_no2@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          I mean, like you’re literally arguing for like the lib cultural revolution, and restructuring of the government, which definitely requires some sort of takeover, why shouldn’t it be working class? You’re only like 12 steps away from being a Maoist.

  • Jiral@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Is this finally the crack, or will they manage to paper over it and keep the bubble growing even further?

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    8 days ago

    Gen-X, having lived through 1987 (Black Monday), ~2000 Dot-Com Bubble burst , 2008 global financial meltdown, and the 2020 COVID-19 crash:

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        Neither did the vast majority of Gen-X. The cocaine 80’s is peak Boomer shit.

        EDIT: I was born in 73. Started uni in 90. Let’s say you wanted to ride that mid 80’s wave, you should have been in the workforce by 84, that puts you born ~63. By the majority of lists, Gen-X starts on 65.

        • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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          8 days ago

          Yeah. I went to school with rich kids who were suddenly worried about whether daddy could pay for college after that 1987 crash.

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            8 days ago

            Yeah, 1988-1996 was pretty bad. It was my computer hobby that saved my life. No idea where I’d be today had I not turned my side hustle into a career.

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              8 days ago

              I guess I was “lucky” in that I was too poor to be directly impacted my the market back then. But I was young, energetic and at my peak looks-wise, so I can’t shit on that era too much.

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            8 days ago

            dad bailed on us for good that winter. left mom and us kids with nothing. he spent several years globe-trotting with his flavor-of-the-month mistress.

            • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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              7 days ago

              I’m sorry that you had to experience that. I hope you all eventally survived and thrived.

        • 13igtyme@startrek.website
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          8 days ago

          Many kids had part time jobs in highschool. Plus that still directly impacted kids graduating into a good vs bad economy. Younger Gen x, sure. But it still benefits older and mid Gen x.

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        Most of us were coming of age in the 80s and working at a grocery store if at all.

    • FinishingDutch@lemmy.world
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      As a 44-year old who lived through all of those once-in-a-lifetime events (you also forgot 9/11) just once in my life, I’d like a boring decade where nothing happens.

      Between the wars, politics, global terror, economic upheaval and the general state of things… I’m really fucking tired boss.

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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      8 days ago

      True, but as what happend in the dot com bubble, the middle and lower classes will pay. If you lived in a tech area during the bubble burst then, you’ll know how bad this is going to be worldwide.

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        So what to do if I suspect a bubble is coming? Sell my investment funds and keep fiat? Buy gold? Buy merchandise to sell later? Buy real estate?

        I have no idea how to prepare.

        • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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          If you see risk being very high, make low risk investments: high yield savings accounts, CDs, bonds.

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              8 days ago

              On the real, I’ve heard the used CD market is making a massive comeback. There’s something to be said about physical media in the age of internet becoming more and more scary.

          • HurricaneLiz@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            Yeah, I’m fully disabled and dependent on my 80 yr old aunt working almost full time to provide housing for me in her home. When she dies I’ll be homeless again. So crying seems appropriate 😭

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          8 days ago

          Unless you’re retiring in the next 5-10 years, it’s probably best to stand pat or shift some % out of large-cap funds to mid-caps. But the old adage usually holds true: “time in the market beats timing the market.” In other words, pulling it all out is way harder to get right than just leaving it in.

          (Your choice- I am not a financial advisor)

        • Goodeye8@piefed.social
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          8 days ago

          Depends how wealthy you are. If you’re wealthy and even remotely intelligent this is where you make even more money. Wealthy people will diversify, they’ll sell some of their tech stocks and put it into anything not related to AI. Be it oil or manufacturing or agriculture etc. Then they liquidate those stocks (or loan against them, depending on how wealthy we’re talking about) to buy up tech stock when they’ve crashed. You then wait a few years and make money.

          If you’re not wealthy enough to do that put your money into something stable, like bonds. If you want to be sure you won’t lose money (in the sense that the amount of money you put in won’t go below what you put in, it can still lose value due to inflation) your bank probably offers term deposits where you let your bank reserve your money for a few years and in return they guarantee something like a 2% annual return on your deposit.

          And if you’re not wealthy enough to do that… You’re pretty much fucked. Learn to cook and enjoy cheap meals, start budgeting right now, forget enjoyment and hope you don’t get fired.

        • anonymouspl@piefed.world
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          8 days ago

          Not financial advise but I personally decided to keep my money in MSCI World ex USA ETFand some gold + Stoxx 600. For now it seems my strategy is working. Will see where we go from here

            • then_three_more@lemmy.world
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              7 days ago

              Opposite to long term debt.

              Long term is mortgages, loans with fixed terms.

              Short term is credit cards, pay day loans, overdrafts, stuff like klana etc.

              Get those cleared so that the money you earn stays as yours and you’re not paying interest on debt. Once that’s done the money were paying to other people can go into high interest savings so you start earning interest on it, and act as a buffer to stop you going back into debt in the future

        • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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          8 days ago

          Gold not silver small portions is ok, bonds because different types are liquid govt backed interest, real estate is always good they don’t make more land, staying liquid is ideal. The most money is made during down turns if you buy right. Don’t time the market it’ll never happen. Instead grow steady of buy whole under valued assets.

      • BuckFutter@timeyak.com
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        8 days ago

        Ohh absolutely, it was devastating to watch, and then to see corporations being bailed out because they were too big to fail. The big question is, is this really the start of a serious crash where the circle jerk of circular money pumped between 4-5 megacorps comes to an end, or do things really go crashing down from here. You need sanity to stabilize…the nuts have spun off the lugs that were holding the wheels of the economy to the hub…i think one wheel just wobbled a little…

        • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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          I hope you’re not excited for that to happen is what I’m saying. Even if you’re not American, you will feel this.

          • BuckFutter@timeyak.com
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            8 days ago

            Ohh absolutely not excited at all. Its a pending shitshow…I didn’t vote for any of this and have already cast my vote to have all these idiots removed from office.

        • shalafi@lemmy.world
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          There won’t be an AI bailout as with the auto industry and banking. AI hate is bipartisan and no national-level politician is dumb enough to throw public money at them. They’re not a huge employment/manufacturing concern like autos and they’re not the backbone of our financial system.

          (And once again, I love your lug nut analogy, spot on!)

          • BuckFutter@timeyak.com
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            8 days ago

            Greetings again 👋

            Yah I agree, I don’t think it will be a traditional bailout like the auto industry though which was forgivable loans, I think it’ll likely come in the form of additional stock purchases by the US government, which is wild when you think about it.

            They’re not a huge employment/manufacturing concern like autos and they’re not the backbone of our financial system.

            No but they (AI companies and those claiming to be one including chip companies) directly influence the stock market, and this administration is having its day manipulating the hell out of it making a ton of money along the way. So if there is a way for the to make money on it, it will absolutely happen. Also the chip companies have national defense interests and so it’ a similar scenario as the DOD’s mission can not ever be hampered lol. The line must go up lol.

            Ha! And thank you.

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              8 days ago

              One sticking point, Trump can’t spend that kind of money and he’s about to lose the House and possibly the Senate.

          • OwOarchist@pawb.socialBanned
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            AI hate is bipartisan and no national-level politician is dumb enough to throw public money at them.

            Trump loves him some AI bros, though. And could easily “justify” dumping shitloads of public money into them because using AI in the military (bad idea in the first place) makes AI a “national security priority”.

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              Trump can’t spend that kind of money. Despite Congress bowing to him, they still hold the power of the purse.

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                If they actually opt to use it. Which is a big fat fucking if.

                Also, Trump might just steal it from somewhere. (Where has all that Venezuelan oil money gone?) And who’s going to stop him? The Supreme Court has already ruled that he can do basically anything he wants.

      • BuckFutter@timeyak.com
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        8 days ago

        You would assume so…but who knows. We have a wanna be dictator at the helm in the US that has the mental capacity of goldfish, so fiscal responsibility isn’t exactly this administrations forte!

          • BuckFutter@timeyak.com
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            8 days ago

            It is quite possible, the giant hiring spree during covid and immediately after was never going to last unfortunately. Maybe after the midterms things will change in a positive direction.

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                Ahh good point, it is certainly a method that works for them since they really don’t have much else to campaign on.

              • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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                8 days ago

                While that has worked in the past, I don’t think it’s gonna fly this time.

                Optics matter and right now GOP are far more all in on AI, it’s also Cheeto’s halfway point, things crashing badly with Dems having some power won’t look like it’s the Dems in control.

                The fact that the economy took a bad turn right when he came into office is an association that most people won’t forget.