It's the Economy, Stupid!

[Haighus]

I feel like this probably fits in this thread best as it is driven by capitalism and doesn't warrant it's own thread.

Today I found out that orphanage tourism is a thing. What the actual fuck? People travel abroad to go see starving kids and feel good about leaving some pennies there, meanwhile this money flowing in means kids with happy families get trafficked in to said orphanages and mistreated because sad kids get more profits.

Literal misery tourism. I am fucking flabbergasted.

[Disciple of Fate]

Sadly misery tourism isn't all that uncommon. After a natural or manmade disaster, you occasionally hear of authorities closing off the area for disaster tourism. This is just disaster tourism in slow motion. Is it a step up or down from those orphanages kidnapping babies because the adoption racket to Western countries is/was so profitable?

[Haighus]

Jul 20, 2023 5:34:26 GMT -5 Disciple of Fate said:

Sadly misery tourism isn't all that uncommon. After a natural or manmade disaster, you occasionally hear of authorities closing off the area for disaster tourism. This is just disaster tourism in slow motion. Is it a step up or down from those orphanages kidnapping babies because the adoption racket to Western countries is/was so profitable?

I think it is equivalent.

Fuck, large swathes of humanity are depressing sometimes.

[easye]

This is pretty big news....

The U.S. loses its top AAA rating from Fitch over worries about the nation's finances

www.npr.org/2023/08/01/1191481666/fitch-credit-rating-aaa-debt-default-debt-ceiling

Fitch Ratings cut the United States' credit rating by one notch, from the top-rated AAA to AA+, saying rising deficits and political brinkmanship are imperiling the government's ability to pay its debts.

The downgrade comes two months after the Biden administration and House Republicans agreed to suspend the government's debt ceiling in a last minute deal, narrowly avoiding a potentially disastrous federal default.

It marks another rebuke for the U.S., which lost its AAA rating from Standard & Poor's in 2011 in the midst of another debt ceiling standoff. Today, only one of the three major credit ratings agencies — Moody's Investors Service — gives the United States a top-notch AAA rating.

Huh.....

I mean, I lost all faith in these agencies back in 2007 and even prior to that with Enron, MCI, WorldCom and other big scandals, but some people still take these guys really seriously! 

[mdgv2]

Well, it’s official.

For the first time in my 43 years of life, 26 of which has been spent in the workplace? I’ve actually received a noticeable pay rise. Not quite keeping up with inflation, but enough that I’ll genuinely notice it in my pay packet.

[herzlos]

Good stuff. Hopefully it leaves you some left over for plastic crack

[mdgv2]

It is pleasing. As covered before, as a single man with no dependants, I’ve been somewhat insulated from rising prices. But I’ve still felt some of the pinch. This? This should comfortably offset it. Also I really should be changing energy suppliers. Was all meant to go through automatically when I moved in, but didn’t. Previous tenant was a massive dick, and ran up £800 worth of unpaid energy bills. Now that in itself of course wasn’t my problem, but under the rules stuff had to happen before I could switch.

But hey, I’m bang up to date with said bills. So need to get on that!

[mdgv2]

And done. £78 a month, every month, calculated via last year’s usage. Anniversary a reading is given, and I make up any shortfall, or receive a credit if I’ve overpaid. I could have done monthly readings and paid for exact usage, but to be honest a known monthly cost is less stressful. Just need to be sensible with heating when the cold comes!

[easye]

In the US, the only way to stay ahead of the Inflation curve is to constantly be moving to new "higher" roles internally or moving to whole new jobs every two years or so.

Even getting above average reviews and raises you will generally only be at 4-5% increases, with the average being 2%-3%. Obviously, Inflation is normally targeted around 3%, but lately it has been as high as 7% with regional variations. Executives/Management avoid this "issue" by getting Bonus to offset the differences.

I guess enough people stay in role and in the company long enough that are not Bonus eligible that it must work out for the companies to keep their labor costs down.

[easye]

www.npr.org/2023/08/25/1195908947/federal-reserve-jerome-powell-inflation-economy-interest-rates

Fed Chair Jerome Powell warns the fight inflation is far from over

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday inflation is still too high, and he warned that restoring price stability will likely require an extended period of elevated interest rates.

Speaking to a gathering of economists and central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Powell said it's encouraging that inflation has cooled — from 9.1% last summer to 3.2% last month.

But Powell stressed some of the improvement could be temporary, and he reiterated the Fed is committed to getting inflation all the way down to their 2% target.

[mdgv2]

Well I’ve made whilst the going is good, and cleared my Council Tax Bill for this year.

For those unfamiliar, it’s probably the most unfair tax in the UK, as it’s not Means Tested. Nor is it tied to the number of adults in a household, but the household itself. You can pay upfront, or in 10 monthly installments.

As a single sole adult occupant, I get a 20% discount. And it’s still been £112 a month this year, which is shocking. Now, if I had a partner and we shacked up together? We get the same bill, and it’s up to us to divvy the tax between us. If I shared the flat with a partner and another couple? It’s the same bill, split four ways. Hence it’s colossally unfair and makes no allowance for your ability to, y’know, actually pay it.

But having had some flush months between overtime bonus, annual bonus and a generally decent payrise, I’ve blitzed it, leaving me Council Tax free, and so £112 up a month, until April next year. And that’s without factoring in the benefit of the payrise itself which at a rough figuring should be putting £250ish in my pocket.

The good news is that Folkestone Council seems to actually spend it fairly wisely. For a coastal town, we have no issues with seagulls. That’s because the streets are kept clean, and businesses have been issued with Gull Proof Bins and Binbags. So the Shitehawks aren’t used to easy pickings, and fuck off to sea where they fucking belong.

Now to be sensible for the next six months and pay down other debts, incrementally improving my financial health month on month.

[adurot]

Sounds like the same sort of Property Tax that we pay in the states. Assess the value of your home and pay based on that twice a year.

[herzlos]

Aug 3, 2023 9:58:41 GMT -5 easye said:

In the US, the only way to stay ahead of the Inflation curve is to constantly be moving to new "higher" roles internally or moving to whole new jobs every two years or so.

Even getting above average reviews and raises you will generally only be at 4-5% increases, with the average being 2%-3%. Obviously, Inflation is normally targeted around 3%, but lately it has been as high as 7% with regional variations. Executives/Management avoid this "issue" by getting Bonus to offset the differences.

I guess enough people stay in role and in the company long enough that are not Bonus eligible that it must work out for the companies to keep their labor costs down.

It's a bit more nuanced but yeah, standard payrises are really lagging behind inflation at the moment and something will need to be done for places to keep staff. I really should move to a new job and scoop a decent pay rise, but after 20 years I've almost got tenure and there's a lot of inertia. My company pays 2 weeks salary for each year worked, should it make us redundant, which means I'm looking at 40 weeks safety net that I just wouldn't get elsewhere. Of course, they could always change the contract on us and what not. 

It's tough balancing that against more money but having to start again with a probation.

[mdgv2]

At the age of 43, I suspect my Job Hopping days are over.

[herzlos]

Aug 25, 2023 13:33:31 GMT -5 mdgv2 said:

Well I’ve made whilst the going is good, and cleared my Council Tax Bill for this year.

For those unfamiliar, it’s probably the most unfair tax in the UK, as it’s not Means Tested. Nor is it tied to the number of adults in a household, but the household itself. You can pay upfront, or in 10 monthly installments.

It's kind of means tested, in that people claiming various benefits can get it waived, and it's sort of tied to the value of the house so in theory those that are better off will pay more given they'll live less densely in larger houses. Since it's used to provide local services it sort of makes sense there too as bigger houses presumably use more water (in Scotland at least, part of the council tax covers water in/out), more bin service etc.

But the way it's done sucks - the band is based on the value of the house in 1992, or the estimated value for stuff built after that, but it doesn't take into account any work done on it unless you request a review. So someone could have bought a cheap house on land and then extended the hell out of it and still be paying a small band tax.

I also hate the 10 month thing because it makes budgetting a nightmare. I don't know why they don't make it a 12 month thing now that everything is digital.

I'm not saying it's great, there's a lot of ways to improve it, and it'd probably be fairer to drop it entirely in favour of adding 1% to income tax instead.

I'm not old enough to remember Poll Tax though, which seemed a lot less popular.