USA Politics

Yeah, Suzie Orman. I do not like her the way she presents herself and Saturday Night Live plays off of that well. But much of what she suggests makes a great deal of sense.

US schools used to teach Home Economics and it was cut because in reality it was to teach girls how to manage a house while their husband was out at work.

They should bring this back and teach about personal debt, IRAs, Health Insurance, CDs, investment accounts, etc. People seem clueless about this stuff. Otherwise the zillion check cashing places and rip offs like Rent-A-Center would not exist. You see people spend hours picking out what TV they want and seconds looking at what it will really cost them.

I read one thing where Rent-A-Center sold a fair amount of video game consoles as rent to own. They total cost of a $350 console ended up being over $1500 if they made the minimum payment ... that is fucking nuts.
 
We have some of those places here. They're ridiculous. You can get a tv for only "15/week" which works out to about $60/mo. The guy who I know that works there says the price their weekly rates so they make 3.5x the price of the device on the weekly payments over a 3 year term.
 
Even cash checking places charge a lot for payroll checks (personal checks are more) between 1 and 4% ... I do not get why people would not open a bank account. You lose up to 4% of your money and you get no value from it. On top of that, you are probably paying bills with Money Orders or Western Union and getting nailed with similar percentages on that end.

Bank accounts can generally be found for free
 
Yeah, a conspiracy to create a safe place to put your money and possibly earn interest off of it and avoid stupid fees :)
 
Yeah, I know. I've told him. He actually has accounts open with three banks and moves his money around from bank to bank every month to make sure it's "hidden".
 
bearfan said:
Yeah, Suzie Orman. I do not like her the way she presents herself and Saturday Night Live plays off of that well. But much of what she suggests makes a great deal of sense.

US schools used to teach Home Economics and it was cut because in reality it was to teach girls how to manage a house while their husband was out at work.

They should bring this back and teach about personal debt, IRAs, Health Insurance, CDs, investment accounts, etc. People seem clueless about this stuff. Otherwise the zillion check cashing places and rip offs like Rent-A-Center would not exist. You see people spend hours picking out what TV they want and seconds looking at what it will really cost them.

I read one thing where Rent-A-Center sold a fair amount of video game consoles as rent to own. They total cost of a $350 console ended up being over $1500 if they made the minimum payment ... that is fucking nuts.
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I did see Kristin Wiig do a great impression :). I couldn't agree more about Home Ec. Knowing how to run a household, whether you rent or own IS vital. Specially if you ever want to move out of your parents' basement. I get that interest is how banks and these places make money, but if there is anything my ex girlfriend from hell was right on was when she advised me to NEVER make minimum payments. if anything to always try to AT LEAST pay twice that. Kinda like when you buy a car only an idiot pays "sticker price."

LooseCannon said:
My roommate believes banks are a conspiracy.
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So you saw the video I posted ;) One thing that bothered me about it it said that Andrew Jackson "defeated" the central bank. It was my understanding that Jackson had two things on his agenda as president. Allow EVERYONE to vote AND to destroy the Central Bank. Knowing he didn't have time to do both he focused on the voting issue and not fully getting what he wanted on the Central Bank.
 
I have and will continue to educate my own kids about this. Minimum payment is a perfect example, even if you can only pay a few dollars extra, it really pays off.

I put money for their college funds in investment accounts and I talk through them why I picked what funds/stocks/CDs and I show them what I put away in my HSA and IRA/401K.

I think they have seen the power of compounding interest to the point where my son is actually saving up extra money this summer to pay for as much of next semester as he can on his own so the money I put aside will last longer/he might have extra when he graduates.

But, every kid needs to learn this stuff. It is one of the things of most value that a High School could teach kids and they fail to do it. There are always some that will (not out of necessity) spend it as fast as they can make it. But at least some will get the hint that if you skip an iPhone version when you are 21, you could have thousands of dollars when you retire with that iPhone money
 
Bradley Manning found 'Not Guilty' of aiding the enemy.

Today Judge Denise Lind announced her verdict in the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the young solider under prosecution for his alleged leaking of classified documents to the Wikileaks organization: not guilty of ‘aiding the enemy.’ Manning was found guilty on lesser counts, for a total of 19 charges. Four of those had been plead to lesser infractions. Though Manning manged to avoid the heaviest charge set against him, the book was tossed and squarely hit him.
According to early reporting, Manning was found guilty of five counts of espionage. The sentencing portion of this trial now begins. Both the prosecution and the defense are expected to call as many as two dozen witnesses.
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I think that is right for Manning. I have some mixed feeling about him and Snowden. In the case of Snowden, I think it is good that be brought the NSA activities ... but I think he crosses the line when he stars spitting out details and other classified info. The public has the right to know IMO what is happening, but not the specifics of how it is happening

Same with Manning, if there were specific things that should be brought to light, that is good. But doing a massive data dump is counter productive and he should be punished for that.
 
I kinda agree. I think charges like 'aiding the enemy' and treason etc are ridiculous and shouldn't be brought up in the first place. Snowden shouldn't have reached the point where he was forced to leave the country. Manning shouldn't have been put under solitary confinement. These cases should be handled differently IMO.
 
I think the case against Manning is stronger than the one against Snowden ... I also think if Snowden had kept his mouth shut after the initial story, he would still be in the US
 
I'm not entirely sure. The problem with Snowden is that he brought info directly to the papers and such, whilst Manning went through a third party (Wikileaks) who edited it. There is an implicit trust of the fourth estate in politics, for better or for worse. I am reluctant to call either man a traitor - I am certainly sure that both have broken rules. Certainly conflicted as well.
 
bearfan said:
The public has the right to know IMO what is happening, but not the specifics of how it is happening
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I don't think he could have done one thing without the other. If you only say things without really showing, the US government would probably have denied the activities. Now they can't say he's a liar.
 
bearfan said:
Same with Manning, if there were specific things that should be brought to light, that is good. But doing a massive data dump is counter productive and he should be punished for that.
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I am glad he gave an uncensored view of the action of US troops. Especially the footage from Iraq shows such horrible activities that these had to be shown.
He'll get punished, but it was for a good cause.
 
Forostar said:
I don't think he could have done one thing without the other. If you only say things without really showing, the US government would probably have denied the activities. Now they can't say he's a liar.
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You can .... by either describing the process in general terms or if you have proof show a sample of the end result. Neither would reveal the details of the technology.

For example, I think anyone who knows anything about it assumes they are using some Hadoop-like system to try to match data pairs ... you could say that, but not say exact technical details
 
Forostar said:
I am glad he gave an uncensored view of the action of US troops. Especially the footage from Iraq shows such horrible activities that these had to be shown.
He'll get punished, but it was for a good cause.
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For that, I have no problem. My problem was just doing a mass data dump, some of that should not have been released
 
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