Clipping the Hedge Fund
Jan. 29th, 2021 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithHere is a rare story about rich people losing. :D Now for the important points...
1) Hedge funds do a lot of harm. We would be better off without them, because it is a gambling problem that hurts everyone, not just the people with a gambling problem.
2) This backlash happened because a bunch of ordinary people objected to a few rich fucks artificially manipulating the system in ways that hurt companies they cared about. So they did something about it. This touches on the original reason why investment was invented: it allows people to pool resources so they can have things nobody could afford individually. Build a marketplace. Buy shares in a trading ship. That sort of thing. Today it can be used to salvage businesses that sell stuff we want or need. This is related to Community Supported Enterprise, just discontiguous rather than local, which is apt for far-flung businesses.
3) We are many, they are few. The inherent flaw of inequality is that it's unstable and vulnerable to attack. By definition, the lower layers must be much larger than the upper layers. Previously, it was difficult to mobilize this mass of potential outside of, say, a revolution. But now we have social media: that makes it much easier.
Congratulations, r/WallStreetBets. You put a new tool in the box. Now it's up to everyone else to notice this and use it again, to block rich fucks from jerking the economy around like an abused dog, so we can defend the businesses that we use.
The economy is just a thing that some people made up. It is what we make of it. As a construct, it has no life of its own. So if you don't like it, do something about that. You have a shiny new tool to stick in it, and gods know there are struggling businesses everywhere. Go tell your friends. This tool only works if enough people apply it together. Kind of like democracy.
1) Hedge funds do a lot of harm. We would be better off without them, because it is a gambling problem that hurts everyone, not just the people with a gambling problem.
2) This backlash happened because a bunch of ordinary people objected to a few rich fucks artificially manipulating the system in ways that hurt companies they cared about. So they did something about it. This touches on the original reason why investment was invented: it allows people to pool resources so they can have things nobody could afford individually. Build a marketplace. Buy shares in a trading ship. That sort of thing. Today it can be used to salvage businesses that sell stuff we want or need. This is related to Community Supported Enterprise, just discontiguous rather than local, which is apt for far-flung businesses.
3) We are many, they are few. The inherent flaw of inequality is that it's unstable and vulnerable to attack. By definition, the lower layers must be much larger than the upper layers. Previously, it was difficult to mobilize this mass of potential outside of, say, a revolution. But now we have social media: that makes it much easier.
Congratulations, r/WallStreetBets. You put a new tool in the box. Now it's up to everyone else to notice this and use it again, to block rich fucks from jerking the economy around like an abused dog, so we can defend the businesses that we use.
The economy is just a thing that some people made up. It is what we make of it. As a construct, it has no life of its own. So if you don't like it, do something about that. You have a shiny new tool to stick in it, and gods know there are struggling businesses everywhere. Go tell your friends. This tool only works if enough people apply it together. Kind of like democracy.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-30 11:58 am (UTC)I like the fact that the politicians are, for once, coming down on the side of the ordinary people... I mean, when you get the likes of Ted Cruz agreeing with AOC, and saying "screw those rich fucks"..
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-30 03:52 pm (UTC)Odd thought I had this morning: Not only do buisinesses get bailouts, but every dang economic downturn I've lived thru has official folks encouraging ordinary folks to spend $. Buy at restaurants, make those down payments for your wedding venue, etc etc. Its not just the /government/ that bails out the economy; the common (hu)man is expected and encouraged to do their part as well .
...aaaand come to think of it, we're expected to bail /each other/ out too: loaning cars and phones and time and money...yet somehow big business doing this is 'an infringement of civil liberties' and the government doing this is 'socialism, evil!'
Thoughts
Date: 2021-01-30 11:27 pm (UTC)Those big shifts are rare, though, which is not a bad thing since they also tend to be very destructive. When rich people lose, they tend to lose big.
Smaller defeats are more often changes in law. It's uncommon for a truly grass-roots movement to upend them -- although it can happen, as in some historic strikes and civil rights movements.
>> Odd thought I had this morning: Not only do buisinesses get bailouts, <<
That is only justified for essential businesses, and even then, should never be applied to foolish ones. The latter should be replaced with something more competent.
>> but every dang economic downturn I've lived thru has official folks encouraging ordinary folks to spend $. Buy at restaurants, make those down payments for your wedding venue, etc etc. Its not just the /government/ that bails out the economy; the common (hu)man is expected and encouraged to do their part as well .<<
It's largely pointless. People can't spend money they don't have. This advice is only valid if the citizens get a stimulus check or other fresh resource. Even then, when the budget is tight, people should only spend money on necessities, not frivolities. Spend your stimulus check on food or car maintenance, not on a movie.
>> ...aaaand come to think of it, we're expected to bail /each other/ out too: loaning cars and phones and time and money... <<
Interdependence is a natural and necessary part of a healthy society. However, there is a limit to what it can accomplish on a personal scale. There is supposed to be a range from individual to family, neighborhood, municipal, state, national, and global scope. Each level should handle problems that are too big for the lower level but with its own reach that don't require a higher level. Problems happen when each level doesn't do its proper share of the work but tries to fob off the responsibilities on someone else. It is especially bad when things that should be paid at a lower level inflate to the point they are no longer affordable and have to get bumped upward. Frex, medical expenses should be paid by the client, because as soon as you separate the sick person from the paying customer, it creates a clear conflict of interest between people who want health care and people who don't want to pay for it.
>> yet somehow big business doing this is 'an infringement of civil liberties' and the government doing this is 'socialism, evil!' <<
Tch. Civilization is all about doing things collectively that we couldn't do individually. People who whine about that are just greedy. And that's an inherent flaw of capitalism: it promotes greed. A gift economy reverses the definitions: rich people are defined by how much they give away, not how much they hoard. No system is perfect, but that one sure quashed unequal wealth distribution.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-01-31 02:49 am (UTC)Define essential.
>>Spend your stimulus check on food or car maintenance, not on a movie.<<
Oh, it gets worse. A restaurant or movie, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get (and enjoy) the service I am paying for at the time - but I've heard advice suggesting people make down payments for things like wedding venues. Who knows when or if there can be a wedding at that venue, in the reserved timeframe? What is the refund policy? What happens if the company folds?
>>Interdependence is a natural and necessary part of a healthy society.<<
I don't mind interdependence; but I do mind being voluntold, being taken advantage of, and hypocrisy.
>>Frex, medical expenses should be paid by the client,...<<
A lot of gov healthcare debates I've had with aquaintences have stonewalled a bit as soon as I mention that "Some people need Gov healthcare - how do you expect someone to pay half a million+ a year for medical expenses, on an average salary?" (I think they see such occurrences as exceptional exceptions, much like intelligent women in 1850. Humph!)
>>And that's an inherent flaw of capitalism: it promotes greed. <<
Pointing out that capitalism leads to slavery and robber barons wasn't working, so I finally told a conservative relative he owed me $1 every time he called me a communist.
Hopefully our discussions will have a little more variety now, and if not, at least I'll get a few laughs!
>>No system is perfect, but that one sure quashed unequal wealth distribution.<<
Well then, I'd wonder what the flaw of a gift economy is!
BTW, I realized the other day that emotional labor is performed as a gift economy in this country - the nicest people are the ones who give their time/money/expertise/blood...and the grouchy person who sits inside and complains is so sad and lonely...
Of course, no one notices/tracks this, as it is largely invisible work done by largely invisible people...
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-01-31 05:18 am (UTC)There are short and long lists. My short list would include things like health care, food, at least one clothing store, and utilities.
https://www.lendingtree.com/business/small-town-business-ideas/
https://www.starterstory.com/small-town-business-ideas
Questions to ask:
Do people really need this, is it good for a healthy life, or is it just a luxury? How much fault tolerance is there? Could another local business pick up the slack if this one closes? If not, where is the next-nearest place to get this good/service? Could most people make/do this for themselves? What will be the likely impact on local economy if it goes under? How integral is this to the town's identity, tourist appeal, etc.?
Losing one clothing store out of six is no big deal. Losing the only music store in the county is a real pain in the ass. Losing the only grocery store on the east side of town creates a food desert and is a PROBLEM. Losing the only health clinic in town, or only big hospital in the county,
will kill some people.
>>I've heard advice suggesting people make down payments for things like wedding venues. Who knows when or if there can be a wedding at that venue, in the reserved timeframe? What is the refund policy? What happens if the company folds?<<
Typically all the risk is saddled on the renter, which I believe is wrong. The reason venues require downpayments is to hold a space so people don't blow them off. For a popular venue this makes some sense. The problem is that the downpayments are often abusively high. The sensible solution is to go somewhere that charges little or nothing to hold and use the space, such as a public park.
>>I don't mind interdependence; but I do mind being voluntold, being taken advantage of, and hypocrisy.<<
I agree. Healthy standards:
* All work is by free choice. Forcing people to work is labor abuse or slavery, and wrong.
* Reciprocity makes healthy relationships. One-way relationships are unhealthy.
* People should give and receive. Nobody should be a charity case or mooched off of.
* Favor-trading builds strong communities through human bonding. It is the foundation stone of civilization. Damage it and everything else suffers. As we are seeing.
I also feel that governments have equal responsibility to ALL citizens. This drives people batshit.
>>A lot of gov healthcare debates I've had with aquaintences have stonewalled a bit as soon as I mention that "Some people need Gov healthcare - how do you expect someone to pay half a million+ a year for medical expenses, on an average salary?" (I think they see such occurrences as exceptional exceptions, much like intelligent women in 1850. Humph!) <<
Nothing should cost so much that people can't afford health care. That is plain bad infrastructure. It is what we have here, and it murders a lot of people, both on and off government care.
The government doesn't give a fuck about you. Veterans get shitty care, for instance, and they of all people deserve the best. Government care might be better than nothing, or worse. Compare government eye care ("You might get glasses in 6 months.") to free market eye care ("Come back to pick up your glasses in 2 hours."). If you think the government doesn't let disabled people die, you've met different disabled people and read different articles than I have.
And what do you think will happen to women's health care if the government takes over? It's already run out so many abortion clinics from Texas that women are resorting to back-alley methods or buying PlanB online. As a result, Texas alone is tanking America's already disgraceful rates of pregnancy/birth related deaths among women and infants.
This is one of many reasons why lots of folks distrust government. So if you make government equal health care, then the already-dismal 33% approval rate of health care is likely to plummet even further. That's a problem, because without health care, troubles spread.
Best statistics I've seen indicate that nonprofits, which separate money from health care as much as possible, outperform both free market and government care.
There are better systems. I'd love to see something like that here. We just aren't building them. What we have is dangerously dysfunctional, but the solutions I see proposed are often just as bad if not worse. It's not like anyone is doing the smart thing and studying functional health systems around the world to pick the best bits. Noooo, because AMERIKKKA IZ NO1. 0_o
I've seen better in other dimensions too. I described a health nexus here.
>> Well then, I'd wonder what the flaw of a gift economy is! <<
It's harder to track. Also, like a barter economy, it relies on people having things that each other want. Still, it was good enough to build entire civilizations with and support a trade network that touched all four coasts. At its height, Cahokia was substantially bigger than London of the same time. (Only a few Turtle Island cultures had cashlike things such as wampum.)
Cash has the advantage of being easy to track and exchangeable for anything. But it only outcompetes gifts or barter if there is enough to meet everyone's needs. Without that, shadow economies spring up and reversion occurs -- which is what we're seeing now.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-01-31 06:22 pm (UTC)So your list is community functionality, akin to medics saving lungs before limbs.
(Big gov seems to have something involving investments/big finance...I must say that I like your idea better.)
>>Typically all the risk is saddled on the renter, which I believe is wrong.<<
Capitalism.
/"Got $ on my mind/I can never get enough"/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FVphMXcm8VY
>>"You might get glasses in 6 months."<<
Try 'We're working on getting an assessment for your obviously developmentally delayed kid, but we can't do that for several months bc paperwork, school registration, etc,...' So cue several months of stabilizing other problems, and patch-solving urgent kid issues with no professional training.
Also, unrelated to the above story, my parent who was a teacher on at least one occasion took my old glasses into school for a student to use until they could get their own.
>>If you think the government doesn't let disabled people die, you've met different disabled people and read different articles than I have.<<
Most folk I know with disabilities have people helping them in some way (supportive but not patronizing); but given that we're all only human and have limited ability to do certain things some of the solutions we come up with are kind of hilariously pitiful. And it's also kind of hilariously pitiful how much stuff gets offloaded onto various social networks.
>>And what do you think will happen to women's health care if the government takes over? <<
I'll betcha that women and queerfolk in Terramagne will set up an alternate healthcare system if they havent already...
>>Best statistics I've seen indicate that nonprofits, which separate money from health care as much as possible, outperform both free market and government care.<<
I should read up on this. Usually I favor socialized medicine, at least as a fallback, bc it seems to be the easiest way to make stuff affordable. (Folk who object to the socialized part are invited to suggest alternate options; so far no one in meatspace has suggested a good alternate.)
And I know the world is more complicated then that...but I'd like to live somewhere that folk aren't asking me how to pay hospital bills a year after the visit...
>>It's harder to track. Also, like a barter economy...<<
Honestly, I see the tracking thing as an asset. (Most gift economy stuff I see is in small-scale social networks anyway.)
And if cash is getting more awkward, the comparative awkwardness/inconvenience of barter would go down. At the very least, we could have two systems and trade off - economic code-switching, if you will.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-01-31 08:01 pm (UTC)Close. Survival and functionality first, then things required for a healthy community. People need public spaces and entertainment, especially over the long term, because without those things society and mental health start breaking down.
That's why some "small town business" idea lists are so much longer. You can batch those. You don't need a dance hall, a sport field, a community center, and an exercise gym all in the same small town -- but you do need at least one place for people to get out of their homes and move around interacting with each other. Ideally, each small town in a county will have different extras: this one has a used book store, that one has a pet store, over here is a makerspace. Then folks can drive -- or even bike, in some areas -- around the county to do different things.
Do take a look at boomtowns in the wild west. They had a very consistent cluster of essentials followed by some other random stuff as they grew. They almost always started with a saloon, a general store, and usually a church. The whorehouse could be part of the saloon or separate. Often the more civilized bits, like a post office and police station, didn't emerge until later. Many things depended on who decided to move in. If you were lucky, you could attract and keep a doctor. If someone knew how to sew, or make ceramic, they might set up a shop. And so on.
Comparing with medics, they have a very unfortunate tendency to make devastating mistakes while pursuing their own interests. This includes saving people who would be better off dying (e.g. drowning victims after 5 minutes under warm water) and not caring how much damage they do in less-visible areas (if PTSD from medical abuse kills the patient 2 months after the bad car crash, you have not actually saved them, just extended the period of suffering). Then other people pay the price. Too much focus on survival at the expense of life quality is a bad thing.
And we see a very similar problem in education, where it turns out that cutting things down to the most essential academics while abandoning art and playtime reduces learning dramatically and causes mental illness sometimes leading to suicide at younger and younger ages. Children need diverse learning opportunities to thrive or even survive.
Of course, I have ulterior resources. After you've led first contact missions or explorations that got cut off, you damn well learn what it takes to keep civilization and sentient beings going over the long term.
>> (Big gov seems to have something involving investments/big finance...I must say that I like your idea better.) <<
I'm happy I could help.
>>Try 'We're working on getting an assessment for your obviously developmentally delayed kid, but we can't do that for several months bc paperwork, school registration, etc,...' So cue several months of stabilizing other problems, and patch-solving urgent kid issues with no professional training.<<
That kills people. There are a lot of physical conditions that can get harder or impossible to treat quickly, where if you start as soon as the problem is noticed, most are salvageable but waiting runs up the rate of disability and/or death. The same is true of some psychological problems. If someone is depressed, that is urgent (needing care the same day or next day) because it could get worse rapidly. Suicidal ideation is an emergency (needing care within minutes or hours) because it threatens life and limb. We already have enough problems with damaging delays; we don't need to go all-government and make those universal.
>> Most folk I know with disabilities have people helping them in some way (supportive but not patronizing); but given that we're all only human and have limited ability to do certain things some of the solutions we come up with are kind of hilariously pitiful. And it's also kind of hilariously pitiful how much stuff gets offloaded onto various social networks.<<
It would work fine if people made mindful distributions of responsibility. Let's take travel, which should be a protected right instead of a paid privilege, as it is necessary to survival in current conditions.
* The national government should be responsible for things like interstate highways, long-distance rail, and high-speed rail.
* States should be responsible for intrastate highways, city-to-city rail, and intrastate transportation for citizens who can't drive.
* Cities should be responsible for providing mass-transit suited to local needs, which might include bus, commuter rail, subway, ferry, etc.
* You can either extend city responsibility in a penumbra around the city, or use the county level, to accommodate people in rural areas.
* Everyone who cannot drive deserves free access to public transportation, which must A) be respectful, and B) provide equivalent service to modes enjoyed by drivers. It is not okay to force blind people to make travel plans 24 hours in advance, which denies them freedoms enjoyed by the sighted and impairs their ability to socialize; nor to leave them stranded, mock them, or otherwise disrespect them.
* Much weight can be taken off the fully public system by developing semi-public options as much as possible -- what's sometimes called microtransit. Every business that sells alcohol should either have a vehicle to drive drunks home or a deal with the local taxi service or saferide for same. Every medical establishment should have a pickup service or connect with a charity that does medical transport, for free, to make sure all their clients can reach medical care reliably. A medium business like a garden center should have a van to pick up elderly customers for classes or make deliveries to disabled customers. Every medium or larger apartment building should have a shuttlebus for community trips. Every large business like an office park should have a fleet of vehicles suited to its employee pool for things like shuttling to the nearest apartment complex or driving staff to training sessions. Neighborhoods or clubs can arrange carshares, bikeshares, barter exchanges, volunteer ride services, and other ways to cover travel for their area or membership. The distribution across much of society reduces the expense to the tax base for fully public transportation, reduces individual need for cars, and promotes social activity thus reducing loneliness and saving money on health costs.
* Individuals should be responsible for deciding what level of transportation they want and can use. They should get a car or a bicycle, learn to use the bus or navigate while walking, etc. They also need to network in their social circle to trade rides when someone's planned transportation breaks down.
A logical and comprehensive plan distributes responsibility over a wide area, according to the resources for each level, and minimizes the tendency for people to try fobbing off responsibilities on someone else. It creates fault tolerance so that small problems don't snowball into big problems.
>>I'll betcha that women and queerfolk in Terramagne will set up an alternate healthcare system if they havent already... <<
Actually that was the supervillains. On a small scale, most good-sized gangs have a "patch room" of moderate medical equipment and at least one member who knows how to handle minor emergencies. You don't really need to hit the ER every time someone needs 3 stitches. On a large scale, Kraken invented the health nexus -- and when they decloaked, Thalassia started out universal health care and education, no poverty or unemployment or hunger. Because the supervillains were fucking tired of getting shut out, so they fixed it.
Also worth mentioning is T-America's distributed health care system. Community clinics and small doctor offices handle routine care and minor emergencies. Hospitals typically have an urgent care entrance for things like migraines or broken arms that need prompt attention but aren't life-threatening. That reserves the emergency entrance for things like heart attacks or heavy bleeding where someone could die if they got lost in the crowd for 5 minutes. Similarly most hospitals have a tiered ambulance service: Advanced Life Support for major problems, Basic Life Support for moderate ones, and Light Transport for "just in case" things or picking up possible alcohol overdoses. That way you aren't mopping out your ALS from a drunk puking in it while a guy dies of a heart attack.
>> I should read up on this. Usually I favor socialized medicine, at least as a fallback, bc it seems to be the easiest way to make stuff affordable. (Folk who object to the socialized part are invited to suggest alternate options; so far no one in meatspace has suggested a good alternate.) <<
There are many alternatives, most people just can't be arsed to study the field they're talking about. I'll give a couple of examples.
* Medieval Hospitalers. Once upon a time, Christian monks decided that leaving sick or injured people to die was bad, and they had been ordered by Jesus to care for the needy. So they invented hospitals. Most monasteries had a large herb garden for making medicines. While religious health care is now far behind other options, at its dawn it was miles ahead of most competition. Plus they didn't charge for it because it was part of their vocation and they took vows of poverty. That system worked for centuries.
* Planned Parenthood. Some women got together and said, "Gee, it really sucks that women can't get decent health care from men, have their lives ruined by unwanted or dangerous pregnancies, and don't even get included in medical studies. Let's fix that." They created clinics where women could get some basic health care, all kinds of reproductive care and advice, birth control supplies, information about domestic abuse, and so on. They lobbied hard for the right to have an abortion, to use birth control without a husband's permission, and for medical studies to include women in testing new drugs or procedures. This made an enormous difference to many women. The very fact that it empowers women is why PP is so often attacked by men -- from banning clinics to bombing them. Men are literally willing to commit mass murder to keep control of vaginas. Also, most PP clinics use a sliding scale of prices so more women can afford to go there. It varies whether the clinic can afford to offer a no-charge option for the poorest women, but most of them at least give out free condoms if nothing else.
Planned Parenthood is a good example of a modern system that is nonprofit / nongovernment, works to improve public health, and could easily be expanded to cover more territory. If nutjobs weren't trying to murder their way to total control of vaginas. >_<
Frankly, I think the ghastly statistics for black people indicate that people of color need their own hospitals again. We used to have segregated hospitals and it sucked. But now we have unified hospitals where doctors let black patients die. Black people are more likely to be sent home with a heart attack. Black mothers and babies die 3x as often as white ones. They never get as much pain care. Money and status are no protection against this death and destruction. What is? A black doctor! So we need enough of those that every black patient who wants a black doctor can have one, to avoid needless suffering and death. And we need a way to fund that which isn't based on local wealth, since black people typically live in poor areas.
>> And I know the world is more complicated then that...but I'd like to live somewhere that folk aren't asking me how to pay hospital bills a year after the visit... <<
I agree. If healthcare isn't affordable, it is not accessible. If it ruins people's lives, it is worse than useless. A large portion of bankruptcies involve people who had health insurance and it screwed them. One round of predatory financing is enough to teach most people to avoid anything they can't pay out of pocket, and then doctors bitch that women don't come to the ER with heart attacks. Why would they? They just get sent home with Motrin and a huge bill. Nobody needs that.
>>And if cash is getting more awkward, the comparative awkwardness/inconvenience of barter would go down. At the very least, we could have two systems and trade off - economic code-switching, if you will.<<
That's exactly how it works. Cash outcompetes older systems as long as it's plentiful. The less there is, the less competitive it is. Every situation that is cash-poor or absent spawns alternative economies. I actually set up a complete framework of this for A Conflagration of Dragons, in which the dragons hoarded most treasure, so each of the Six Races developed a different replacement economy.
You can read about alternative economies and community currencies.
https://documents.uow.edu.au/~/bmartin/pubs/01nvc/nvcp12.pdf
https://www.treehugger.com/philosophies-challenge-gdp-arbiter-human-well-being-4853531
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency
Best postapocalyptic currency anywhere that has them: tampons!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_money
https://tradebank.com/what-is-a-barter-exchange-and-how-can-it-increase-your-cash-flow/
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-02-01 03:32 am (UTC)Summed up as:
1) You are responsible for the you can hold/provide for.
2) Do the best job that you can for what is yours.
>>Actually that was the supervillains. On a small scale, most good-sized gangs have a "patch room" of moderate medical equipment and at least one member who knows how to handle minor emergencies.<<
I'm half-tempted to suggest that most moderately-sized organizations (condo complexes, churches) should have something like this, or at least something that can be converted to this. (Heck; I'm also half-tempted to set up a convertible-to-a-patch-room if I've ever got a house/household larger than myself to worry about.)
>>Medieval Hospitalers<<
I have actually thought that churches should perhaps step up a bit re: public toilets/showers and other such societal amenities. I do think that you shouldn't force your religion on folks coming to you for help - that's just rude.
>>Planned Parenthood<<
Will have to look into this...
>>And we need a way to fund that which isn't based on local wealth, since black people typically live in poor areas.<<
Hmmm...I recall a system where everyone in the community gave some tiny amount of cash for a wedding...which would be repaid should the giver ever get married. That added up. maybe something like that could work - it seems similar to early insurance or the modern GoFundMe donation campaigns.
My only other idea would be to have some sort of monastery-hospital or equivalent...
Though the thought does occur to me: if the community social fabric is functional; you might mostly need to pay for the specialists. A lot of stuff could theoretically be provided by the families, local church, etc. (I think there are countries where a relative will go to the hospital to provide non-specialized care. Ha! wouldn't it be hilarious if people in America tried that 'to lower our medical bills'!)
>>One round of predatory financing is enough to teach most people to avoid anything they can't pay out of pocket, and then doctors bitch that women don't come to the ER with heart attacks. <<
I learned from /stories and logic/ about dealing with debt.
Other problem: Calling Emergency Services makes things worse. We usually hear about it with cops and ICE, but calling for someone who can't afford the hospital bill might be just as bad.
>>Best postapocalyptic currency anywhere that has them: tampons!<<
I so want to see a postapocalyptic story where a team of women goes around saving lives by teaching people how to clean water and dig latrines...while the immature Manchild they're somehow dragging all over creation keeps whining about the menial work and gets squicked out about bartering tampons and girl stuff!
[whining] "But why do I have to do the laundry?"
"Because you refused to help deliver the baby, and youre the only one who got any sleep last night! Now less whining and more working!"
...overall a neat inversion of the standard action hero running about guns-a-blazing, saving lives by shooting people before riding off into the sunset with a ditzy and scantily-clad woman...
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-02-01 04:05 am (UTC)1) You are responsible for the you can hold/provide for.
2) Do the best job that you can for what is yours.<<
3) Work together for projects nobody could accomplish alone.
>> I'm half-tempted to suggest that most moderately-sized organizations (condo complexes, churches) should have something like this, or at least something that can be converted to this. <<
Most places like that need a first aid room, which is a step down, because they expect to deal with skinned knees or bellyaches rather than knife wounds. At a mall or other large facility, it should be a two-part space for mental and physical first aid; or three if you want a separate waiting room. That's usually in the mall office suite.
Two important things:
1) Scale the size and complexity of first aid to its target audience. A mall just needs fairly basic stuff. A gym needs more due to sport injuries.
2) Refine the tools and supplies for the types of complaint commonly presented at that facility. A home improvement center has to contend with nail punctures and things dropped on feet; a park will have people getting blisters and splinters.
>> (Heck; I'm also half-tempted to set up a convertible-to-a-patch-room if I've ever got a house/household larger than myself to worry about.) <<
Most households only need a home first aid kit suited to the typical complaints of its members, and a corner of the bathroom or kitchen to work in. A big or busy or wild household may indeed need more. An intentional community needs a first aid room if not a patch room, and a big one needs a clinic.
Happily, many companies that offer a large array of first aid equipment sell variations that say how many people it's designed to treat, for how long, under what conditions. Car, Home, Sport, Wilderness, and Work Site are a few thematic types. Sizes range from 1 person to over 100.
>>I have actually thought that churches should perhaps step up a bit re: public toilets/showers and other such societal amenities.<<
That would help. I feel that malls and other large public facilities should also have a family restroom and showers, for free. In general, free public showers and toilets are a necessity for a clean populace. (Ancient Greeks and Romans would be appalled by the filthy conditions of modern America.) It is ridiculous to bitch about poor people being dirty or peeing in the street if no proper facilities are available.
>> I do think that you shouldn't force your religion on folks coming to you for help - that's just rude. <<
I agree. I love Pastafarians: the food is the sermon!
>> Will have to look into this... <<
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/get-care/our-services
>>Hmmm...I recall a system where everyone in the community gave some tiny amount of cash for a wedding...which would be repaid should the giver ever get married. That added up. maybe something like that could work - it seems similar to early insurance or the modern GoFundMe donation campaigns.<<
That's an interesting approach.
I know that historically, when America had boom wages, some villages pooled funds to send over a man. He worked until he repaid the village, then sent more money home to bring over his family, while the village funded the next man.
In Terramagne, a health nexus works by creating as large a pool as possible. Providers buy in and make their services available to the membership. Members buy in and get whatever they need from the providers. If a farmer buys in, the medics can prescribe fresh vegetables! If the gym buys in, doctors can prescribe exercise. And so on. Because everything in the system is covered, there's no fighting over who can have what, and thus privacy is protected because someone's boss, insurer, or government isn't snooping in their health records and maybe hurting them over it. So that promotes honesty instead of people hiding things from fear of abuse.
>> Though the thought does occur to me: if the community social fabric is functional; you might mostly need to pay for the specialists. A lot of stuff could theoretically be provided by the families, local church, etc. <<
Exactly. Do everything at the lowest level where it can reasonably be done. Reserve advanced facilities and specialists for the difficult cases.
Another reason life is so much more expensive now is that, without past supports that have eroded -- extended families, neighborhoods, lifelong jobs, social clubs, churches -- people have to pay for things they used to get for free from friends and family. Or they do without, which is bad in different ways. If kids can be dropped off with a grandparent or aunt, they build social ties, learn new skills, and the parents get time to rest and romance. If it costs $30 for a babysitter, the parents rarely go out, the kids learn less, and the relationships suffer.
>> (I think there are countries where a relative will go to the hospital to provide non-specialized care. Ha! wouldn't it be hilarious if people in America tried that 'to lower our medical bills'!) <<
Those are mostly bad countries that let people suffer if no relative is available to care for them. That's a problem.
>> I learned from /stories and logic/ about dealing with debt. <<
Go you!
>> Other problem: Calling Emergency Services makes things worse. We usually hear about it with cops and ICE, but calling for someone who can't afford the hospital bill might be just as bad. <<
The ambulance alone is often $1000 or more, which is far out of reach for most people, and often not covered even if they have insurance.
What's worse is when communities bundle all emergency services into 911. If you call for an ambulance, they might send police or a firetruck instead, and vice versa. That means anyone who avoids ONE emergency service can no longer access ANY of them. And then everyone pays the price because the bad guys don't get caught, diseases spread, people die of treatable causes, and fires jump to other houses. >_<
>> I so want to see a postapocalyptic story where a team of women goes around saving lives by teaching people how to clean water and dig latrines...while the immature Manchild they're somehow dragging all over creation keeps whining about the menial work and gets squicked out about bartering tampons and girl stuff! <<
Tomorrow's theme is "Cultural Differences." That would be perfect. I also think my audience would love it. By all means, save this and prompt it in the fishbowl!
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-02-01 05:43 am (UTC)A rule of thumb I heard was 'stock what you know how to use,' with the possible addition of fancier stuff like CPR masks that could be handed off to anyone in the vicinity who knows CPR.
I have wondered why folks never seem to declare the 'master suite' with attatched bathroom 'the infirmary suite'... especially in a large house or with a large family.
>>... a large array of first aid equipment...<<
I have a home, purse and car first aid kit, all of which I assembled myself!
Note: an everyday carry first aid kit is useful for everything from 'I need some tape,' past 'wear these gloves so you don't get paint on your nails,' and on to the intended use of 'someone's sliced their finger open and I'm apparently in charge, d***it.' Mine fits in a small plastic ziplock bag.
>>It is ridiculous to bitch about poor people being dirty or peeing in the street if no proper facilities are available.<<
Start pointing out that people would usually prefer, int the absence of facilities, to 'do their business' on the street instead of in their pants. Especially if they don't have a change of clothes availible.
Related, I think stores might have better luck finding out about clogged toilets and other embarrassing restroom mishaps if they put up a fine/needs service sign on the door. (Let's face it, whoever reports it is assumed to have messed it up.)
>>That's an interesting approach.<<
It was one of the stories in Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I found the book interesting.
>>Do everything at the lowest level where it can reasonably be done.<<
Resource triage. In the days of yore, for volunteering:
1 get everyone up-to-date on very basic stuff (shopping, talking to people, handling emergencies)
2 automate everything you can (reference resources, cheat sheets)
3 help with basic stuff (run-of-the-mill red tape, explaining how stuff works)
4 if you must delegate upstairs, try to be as efficient as possible (details, do we have all the neccesary papers...)
I have a half-formed story idea where a the Friendly Local Subculture manages to deal with a huge influx of folks by...throwing a potluck party, and putting people up in their disaster bunker/community center. And the official government doesn't notice until they need to find some of the folks being housed, fed, and entertained.
>>...and the relationships suffer.<<
I don't envy the problems of the 1800's, but I do envy the fact that when my grandfather was a little boy, he went to these big family reunions with 50-100 people and everyone knew each other and were happy and glad to see each other, and he could have fun playing with a passel of cousins his own age.
>>Those are mostly bad countries that let people suffer if no relative is available to care for them. That's a problem.<<
Fair enough point.
I still wonder if it might make an effective protest against hospital prices (if one could do it without getting in the way). Come to think of it, when my grandparent was in the hospital with a broken bone, an aunt and uncle were basically living at the hospital for a few days.
>>The ambulance alone is often $1000 or more, which is far out of reach for most people, and often not covered even if they have insurance.<<
And official policy is often to call, rather than say drive someone to the ER, because of liability issues. (Source: first aid classes and that one time I had to call 911 for a diabetic emergency where I was volunteering, which is how I learned that they had a policy for that sort of thing.)
>>What's worse is when communities bundle all emergency services into 911.<<
On the surface it is sensible (if the cop is 2min away and the ambulances are across town...) but if you can't call one group...
I guess that means I get to be the face person for dealing with Emergency Services, oh joy. (I have the looks and the accent they'll pay attention to, and a lot of the people I spend time with don't.)
>>By all means, save this and prompt it in the fishbowl!<<
I actually have some other ideas for this storyline as well, but they'll keep for tomorrow!
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-02-02 03:18 am (UTC)What you or someone else in your group knows how to use; stock for the people you have. If you expect to need something you don't know yet, learn it.
>> I have wondered why folks never seem to declare the 'master suite' with attatched bathroom 'the infirmary suite'... especially in a large house or with a large family.<<
Because you have to go through the bedroom to get there, which is awkward. The common bathroom, unless tiny, is a better choice. Kitchen is another option. Ideally, you want a smooth floor, a sink, and space to move around.
>> Related, I think stores might have better luck finding out about clogged toilets and other embarrassing restroom mishaps if they put up a fine/needs service sign on the door. (Let's face it, whoever reports it is assumed to have messed it up.) <<
Good idea.
At one point, we were meeting somewhere and someone accused our group of having left the bathroom locked with nobody in it. We dealt with that by fetching an employee every time we left and making them verify the door was open. They got tired of that pretty fast and quit bothering us.
I have a half-formed story idea where a the >>Friendly Local Subculture manages to deal with a huge influx of folks by...throwing a potluck party, and putting people up in their disaster bunker/community center. And the official government doesn't notice until they need to find some of the folks being housed, fed, and entertained.<<
Good idea! You should write that, you'd be good at it.
>>I don't envy the problems of the 1800's, but I do envy the fact that when my grandfather was a little boy, he went to these big family reunions with 50-100 people and everyone knew each other and were happy and glad to see each other, and he could have fun playing with a passel of cousins his own age.<<
Yeah, I miss that too. America has gone from extended families to nuclear families to broken families and singles. The result really is not working well. It turns out that loneliness is as lethal as obesity or cigarettes.
>>And official policy is often to call, rather than say drive someone to the ER, because of liability issues. (Source: first aid classes and that one time I had to call 911 for a diabetic emergency where I was volunteering, which is how I learned that they had a policy for that sort of thing.)<<
Official policies are routinely abusive. The problem is, they work once per victim. Someone burned by a $1000 ambulance bill will almost certainly avoid ambulances in the future and will probably tell the horror story to encourage others to avoid it also.
Another example is fire safety advice which often says to abandon your home if there is even a small fire. What happens then? You become homeless and society wants you to die. Better to fight for what you have. Better training would include how to tell if a fire is small enough to fight, how to do that, and when to retreat. Better support would be victim relief funds, counseling, and help recovering from a fire.
So much advice skips the steps where you decide what to do, it tries to force people to make a predetermined ethical decision. But that way lies "just following orders." If people don't develop their decision-making skills, they don't decide, or they make bad choices, and that snowballs into disaster pretty fast. The more decisions society takes away from people, the less safe everyone becomes. Just look at all the bitching about how useless college students are now. It's not their fault they were abused and imprisoned and forcibly prevented from having a life or learning skills. They are blamed for it, but society pays the price.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-02-02 06:06 am (UTC)I'm thinking more 'can be converted to a long-term infirmary': Grandma broke her hip, or quarantining kids with chicken pox from kids without, etc. I know that a separate bathroom can be very convenient when caring for someone who has mobility issues, needs a lot of medical equipment, shouldn't be around other people and so on...
I'm pretty sure a sufficiently large family would occasionally have contagious illnesses or long-term injury that might warrant the possibility of a more specialized area...
Brief patchups would usually do better in a kitchen or common bathroom.
>>Good idea! You should write that, you'd be good at it.<<
Thanks! Encouragement is nice!
Further food for thought:
-Why does nobody ever seem to have a heart attack, anxiety episode, or broken bone when being kidnapped by the Evil Overlord?
-Evil conquerors ask about kings and weapons, not about cultural dietary restrictions or what kind of toilet people know how to use...which causes interesting problems. ("Okay, what do we do with 100 pounds of opened canned fish?")
>>Better training would include how to tell if a fire is small enough to fight, how to do that, and when to retreat.<<
My rule of thumb is 'If the fire is bigger than you, run!' Of course, even if it is smaller, you should be yelling for everyone who /isn't/ fighting the fire to GTFO and call 911.
And we need a better way to deal with
'All my stuff [including ID] got burned in a fire.'
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-02-02 06:41 am (UTC)That typically is handled with a first-floor master bedroom with ensuite. It used to be a common feature, fell out of fashion for decades, and is now returning. And it has a lot of other uses if you don't need an infirmary.
>> Thanks! Encouragement is nice! <<
I love encouraging other creative people to do more stuff.
>> Further food for thought:
-Why does nobody ever seem to have a heart attack, anxiety episode, or broken bone when being kidnapped by the Evil Overlord? <<
Oh, I have written variations of that.
I have one I'd like to do in Terramagne about a superhero who died of an untreated injury because his kidnappers were just that incompetent.
>> -Evil conquerors ask about kings and weapons, not about cultural dietary restrictions or what kind of toilet people know how to use...which causes interesting problems. ("Okay, what do we do with 100 pounds of opened canned fish?") <<
Yeah, but I find it hilarious when they ignore local advice and get bitten on the ass, sometimes literally.
For years, people in India and Africa had warned scientists about spitting cobras and nobody believed them. Then one day a team ran screaming out of the bush, "The cobra spit at us! The cobra spit at us!" "We told you so."
That's never going to stop being funny.
>> My rule of thumb is 'If the fire is bigger than you, run!' <<
Good rule. Also if it's spreading fast.
>> Of course, even if it is smaller, you should be yelling for everyone who /isn't/ fighting the fire to GTFO and call 911. <<
Get out, yes. Call 911? Well, that depends. Do you even have fire coverage? A surprising number of places do not. If you do, is it free at point of service or do you have to pay; and if it costs, can you afford that? If you can't afford it, then you may be better justified in exerting all possible effort to fight the fire, and only calling help if you determine you cannot put it out. Because once they're called, usually you can't cancel and are out the money whether you wind up needing them or not.
It is not a well-designed system in many areas.
>> And we need a better way to deal with
'All my stuff [including ID] got burned in a fire.' <<
Absolutely.
Humans have devolved to really nonrational levels. They laugh at ants carrying a live ant out of the hill if it smells like it's dead, but modern society is exactly like that. Without the paperwork -- whatever anyone demands of you -- there is no way to participate in society and nobody has to help you. They can just let you die.
This is a severe safety issue because a leading tactic in human trafficking and domestic abuse is to take away a person's papers. They might as well take a selkie's skin. O_O If people really cared about stopping those things, they would instead say, "It doesn't matter if you have papers. Get yourself out and come to us. We will punish whoever stole your papers, and get you new ones if we can't find the old ones." But they don't. They support the abusers instead. So that runs up the rate, which is hard on everyone.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-30 06:41 pm (UTC)But Game Stop is fundamentally doomed and this is probably not going to save them for one big reason: the CEO and board really don't want to save it. They want to milk what little is left out of it then pop their golden parachutes.
They closed 460 locations last year. They're highly leveraged in malls, and malls are dying. And there's the basic problem of so much game content is being distributed online, so what's the point of going into a brick and mortar store? You're not going to buy State of Decay 2 or 3 or whatever in a store because you have to download it.
Their purchase of the Think Geek stores was widely viewed as a bad idea. They were beautiful stores, but they carried material that needed to be seen in person. The stores were wonderful to wander through and admire, and I spent some fair coin in them. But if there's one thing you can say about every Game Stop store that I've seen, it's that they are SMALL. There's just no way you can carry Think Geek merchandise in them, and you can't afford to expand the stores. So you move Think Geek online, and now you're competing against the entire internet of geek merchandise. You're going to fail to distinguish yourself against that crowded universe, guaranteed failure.
Absolute waste of money.
So all this stock manipulation is going to achieve is prolong the death of Game Stop and give more money to the board and stockholders.
In the end, the chain is still going to die an unpleasant death. No more money is going to go to the employees, they're still going to make $12-15 an hour. No more merchandise is going to go into the stores, they've been slow to stock new titles for years.
The board and the CEO want it to die.
Total kudos to the people demonstrating that Wall Street is nothing to respect. But Game Stop is moribund, and what they are doing is not going to change that unless they can somehow manage a total board takeover, and then we'll see if they're up to the challenge of running a nation-wide multi-million dollar company that is tipping over the precipice.
Two salient points from the article
Date: 2021-01-30 06:54 pm (UTC)Other important things to keep in mind, though: the hedge fund survived the experience. I opined elseblog that it was like jumping off a cliff and breaking both ankles and a few ribs rather than being incinerated in the fireball the car was about to become, but survive it did. Second, and more important, the hedge fund closed out their positions on Wednesday, which was before I heard about any of this -- and probably a lot of other people, too. (That's a general rule, by the way: by the time one has heard about a financial exploit, it's too late to get on board -- and getting on then just helps pay off the peope who heard about it before then. And that's how the rich get richer.) And because the success of the exploit required hanging on to the stock until the hedge fund's positions were resolved to obtain the desired effect, there are now a bunch of people who bought during the run-up at prices ranging from very overpriced to insanely overpriced -- and aren't going to be able to get rid of at anything like what they paid for it, because the artificial demand that cranked up the price is gone now, and the number of people who actually want to own part of GameStop's business isn't really very big. Those buyers, some decent percentage of which weren't thinking about that, are also going to wind up getting hurt.
Re: Two salient points from the article
Date: 2021-01-30 07:33 pm (UTC)Re: Two salient points from the article
Date: 2021-01-31 02:51 am (UTC)And if enough people choose to lose in a way that makes the win inconvenient or unpleasant...
Re: Two salient points from the article
Date: 2021-01-31 04:41 am (UTC)Re: Two salient points from the article
Date: 2021-01-31 08:28 am (UTC)