Latest Posts by moneylinksme - Page 7
Asking Black Millionaires How They Got Rich
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My financial advise for you in the current climate and impending recession is to invest in cats instead of things like the stock market or real estate, cats have more value since they can purr, give you cuddle and kisses, also they are cute.
Bitcoin can only process about seven transactions per second. (Visa does something like 1,700 per second, and claims they are capable of 24,000.) Having so many different miners in the system race to verify the same transaction creates a gigantic amount of wasted time and energy. And, as transaction chains get longer and the networks get bigger, verifying transactions gets more difficult, which has led to an arms race for processing power. Bitcoin miners are partly responsible for the computer-chip shortage that has made it difficult to get new cars, computers, and PlayStations. By one calculation, Bitcoin consumes more electricity than Finland. An individual transaction produces about half a ton of carbon dioxide. Bitcoin has probably undone all the reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions produced by the adoption of electric vehicles.
You know, the entire US economic system is so messed up and so is a lot of your views of it (and I mean on both sides, I also include myself in this since I often don't realize until I *really* think about it) but like. Let's start by talking about taxes. There was a post going around lately that was like
Anyways this is not true. You can deduct INTEREST on mortgage from your taxes. Not mortgage itself. And for renters, in 23 states you can do the same. It's meant to be an offset for property taxes, which, in case you didn't know, are INSANE. Like my family pays more taxes on our house and property then on THE ENTIRE REST OF OUT TAXES, and we're in the top tax bracket. They don't tax you nearly enough on your ACTUAL INCOME but tax you way to much on your property and stock. It's basically based on, if you sold everything right now, what would we then be able to tax you. It's not measuring how much you make on a year to year basis, it's measuring how much you managed to save up over a long period in order to buy your big household a home that has enough space for everyone. It's definitely possible with housing/property taxes for them to cost so much that you can no longer afford your house and land, that you reasonably worked and saved up for. That's kind of unfair. Especially if you bought it when housing was cheap, and since the value on such things has gone up, so have your taxes. You weren't spending an insane amount of money on it. But now it's worth about 1.1 million and you've gotta move out or pay taxes on that. That's a thing that happens.
And meanwhile, a mega rich person who loves the city and therefore doesn't bother with a lot of land is taxed less than the moderately well off person in the previous example.
So the tax system is messed up, people need to pay more based on their actual income and less based on their homes.
Oh another thing with taxes is you know how charitable donations are tax deductible? Yeah only to a certain amount, meaning that there is no incentive for rich people to donate the proper amount given their income. Yes, I think they should give regardless of whether they're going to be rewarded for it, but people who hoard THAT MUCH money are selfish, and they're not going to. My family is not even that rich (dad worth something in the 10s of millions) but the amount we give (no big deal for us) is ALREADY well above the amount you can deduct from taxes. And we don't mind, but the super rich? Do you think they're going to go out of their way to support causes with anything more than petty cash and not be rewarded for it? They're not.
Ultimately, they shouldn't have such extravagant amounts of money in the first place, since they didn't work for it. My dad, which I mentioned previously, works 10+ hours a day, often including weekends. That's real work. His field is high paid and he in particular is high paid since he's the only one who can do what he does, and he gets extra for INVENTING most of the things his companies are based on, which he, you know SPENDS TIME STUDYING AND WORKING ON AND CREATING. He's not making tons of money just by owning something. That's wrong. All that excess cash should be going to the people who actually do the work.
And I think for the most part everyone acknowledges this, but y'all talking about killing the 1% doesn't realize how broad the 1% is. That includes doctors, lawyers, high level computer scientists, that WORK for their living, and are not exploiting you. Who you're looking to target is the owners, the people who hoard billions or trillions of dollars in wealth. Do you even know how much a trillion is? Let's say you take a rich person worth about 10 million. Ok how much more does someone worth a trillion make? They make 100,000 times more. What can you afford these days with 10 million? A nice house, decent cars for the household members that drive, some land, the ability to not worry about medical bills and to pay for college, plus a bit extra to save or give to charity. How nice. A lot of people don't have that privilege. What about 1 trillion? There is not a house in existence that will make a dent in your finances. You could send your children to any college they want for their whole lives and not make a dent in your finances. You could buy companies on a whim with almost no consequence. It's not right. It's especially not right when other people have trouble paying for both rent and groceries.
If we redistributed the 8 richest people's wealth (the 8 of them have more money than the poorest HALF of the planet combined), you all could afford a home, food, a good education, and have a reasonable amount left over.
And this is why, even growing up rich, I'm such a communist. It is not a fever dream for us ALL to be able to live, comfortable, reasonable lives. The current wealth in the world redistributed, and suddenly everyone could live like I do. It isn't lessening the average person's quality of living. For the vast majority of us, communism done right is nothing but an upgrade. Yeah so a fistful of billionaires and trillionaires will be really upset. They'd still have enough to live comfortably and yet they're the ones who own so much they can effectively block any progress in this direction. It's pure selfishness.
The Snowball Effect
"When you have to save someone, they're usually in a scary situation. You understand their pain... and want to save them." – Roronoa Zoro
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Nature and Scope of Macroeconomics- A Complete Guide
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that focuses on the study of the economy as a whole. The primary objective of macroeconomics is to develop models and theories that explain the determinants of key economic indicators and provide insights into how policymakers can influence them.
Here are some key aspects of the nature and scope of macroeconomics:
1. Aggregates and Averages
2. Economic Growth
3. Business Cycles
4. Employment and Unemployment
5. Price Level and Inflation
6. Monetary and Fiscal Policy
7. International Economics
8. Economic Policy Analysis
14 March 2023, Tuesday.
Today was a rough day. I've fallen a bit behind on my test schedule and the stress is killing me. Literally woke up and had a meltdown. On top of that my family keeps scheduling other things to do and it's so frustrating to have to follow everyone else's agenda at the cost of my time and sanity.
I solved a lot of tax questions today. Tomorrow I will revise a bit of gst law and do both a taxation test as well as a costing test.
Besides that, I started reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It was recommended to me by a friend along with all sorts of trigger warnings, but I'm looking forward to taking my time with it.
Miss Cat looked so comical sitting in a empty yogurt container, that I had to try and capture that. She's more than doubled in size in the last four months.
-G
The 2008 financial crisis made clear why the financial sector must be brought under public control. Cryptocurrency and “decentralized finance” aren’t special — they’re just more of the same privatization and deregulation masquerading as high-tech “solutions” we’ve seen in other industries. Unregulated, privatized financial markets pose the same risks to the public whether or not they are “on the blockchain.”
5 March 2023, Sunday.
I practiced more questions from taxation today. I'm a little behind on my unit test schedule, but I think I'll be able to bring it back on track by this weekend.
It's interesting to attempt questions from tax, and I have pretty decent conceptual clarity, but making sense of the madness and not missing out on any calculation is such tedious work.
-G
Some of Europe’s top fintech firms are starting to crumble as investors question their true valuation. Asset manager Schroders has cut the value of its stake in financial “superapp” Revolut by 46%, according to a filing on April 17 that threatens Revolut’s title as the UK’s most valuable fintech. The writedown suggests the London-headquartered firm is now valued at about $17.7bn (£14.2bn), which is substantially less than the $33bn it was valued at in a funding round last July. Revolut has been criticised for the late filing of accounts, EU regulatory breaches and corporate culture. It has also been waiting two years for regulators to approve its UK banking license. Schroders has also marked down its stake in Atom Bank by 31%. Meanwhile, Allianz is selling its stake in struggling fintech N26 at a heavily-reduced price, according to the Financial Times, while buy-now-pay-later firm Klarna has seen its valuation tumble from $45.6bn to $6.7bn.
30 ways to make real; money from home
Making money online from the comfort of your home has become increasingly accessible with the growth of the internet and digital technologies. In 2023, there are numerous realistic ways to earn money online. Here are 30 ideas to get you started:
1. Freelance Writing: Offer your writing skills on platforms like Upwork or Freelancer to create blog posts, articles, or website content.
2. Content Creation: Start a YouTube channel, podcast, or blog to share your expertise or passion and monetize through ads, sponsorships, and affiliate marketing.
3. Online Surveys and Market Research: Participate in online surveys and market research studies with platforms like Swagbucks or Survey Junkie.
4. Remote Customer Service: Work as a remote customer service representative for companies like Amazon or Apple.
5. Online Tutoring: Teach subjects you're knowledgeable in on platforms like VIPKid or Chegg Tutors.
6. E-commerce: Start an online store using platforms like Shopify, Etsy, or eBay to sell products.
7. Affiliate Marketing: Promote products or services on your blog or social media and earn commissions for sales made through your referral links.
8. Online Courses: Create and sell online courses on platforms like Udemy or Teachable.
9. Remote Data Entry: Find remote data entry jobs on websites like Clickworker or Remote.co.
10. Virtual Assistance: Offer administrative support services to businesses as a virtual assistant.
11. Graphic Design: Use your graphic design skills to create logos, graphics, or websites for clients on platforms like Fiverr.
12. Stock Photography: Sell your photos on stock photography websites like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock.
13. App Development: Develop and sell mobile apps or offer app development services.
14. Social Media Management: Manage social media accounts for businesses looking to enhance their online presence.
15. Dropshipping: Start an e-commerce business without holding inventory by dropshipping products.
16. Online Consultations: Offer consulting services in your area of expertise through video calls.
17. Online Surplus Sales: Sell unused items or collectibles on platforms like eBay or Facebook Marketplace.
18. Online Fitness Coaching: Become an online fitness coach and offer workout plans and guidance.
19. Virtual Events: Host webinars, workshops, or conferences on topics you're knowledgeable about.
20. Podcast Production: Offer podcast editing, production, or consulting services.
21. Remote Transcription: Transcribe audio and video files for clients.
22. Online Translation: Offer translation services if you're proficient in multiple languages.
23. Affiliate Blogging: Create a niche blog with affiliate marketing as the primary revenue source.
24. Online Art Sales: Sell your artwork, crafts, or digital art on platforms like Etsy or Redbubble.
25. Remote Bookkeeping: Offer bookkeeping services for small businesses from home.
26. Digital Marketing: Provide digital marketing services like SEO, PPC, or social media management.
27. Online Gaming: Stream your gaming sessions on platforms like Twitch and monetize through ads and donations.
28. Virtual Assistant Coaching: If you have experience as a VA, offer coaching services to aspiring virtual assistants.
29. Online Research: Conduct research for businesses or individuals in need of specific information.
30. Online Real Estate: Invest in virtual real estate, such as domain names or digital properties, and sell them for a profit.
Remember that success in making money online often requires dedication, patience, and the ability to adapt to changing trends. It's essential to research and choose the opportunities that align with your skills, interests, and long-term goals.
The Disruptive Potential of Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and DLT
Cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) have been disrupting industries and challenging traditional business models since their inception. These technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way we do business, interact with each other, and even govern ourselves. In this blog post, we will explore the disruptive potential of cryptocurrency, blockchain, and DLT.
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, is a decentralized digital currency that uses cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Cryptocurrency has the potential to disrupt traditional financial systems by providing a more secure and transparent way to transfer value. Cryptocurrency eliminates the need for intermediaries, such as banks, and can help reduce transaction fees and increase financial inclusion.
Blockchain
Blockchain is a distributed ledger that records transactions in a secure and transparent way. Each block in the chain contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, creating an immutable record of all transactions on the network. Blockchain has the potential to disrupt a wide range of industries, including finance, healthcare, and supply chain management. Blockchain can help increase transparency, reduce fraud, and improve efficiency.
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
DLT is a type of database that is distributed across a network of computers. Each computer in the network has a copy of the database, and any changes to the database are recorded in a transparent and immutable way. DLT has the potential to disrupt a wide range of industries, including finance, healthcare, and government. DLT can help increase transparency, reduce fraud, and improve efficiency.
Disruptive Potential
The disruptive potential of cryptocurrency, blockchain, and DLT is significant. Here are some of the ways that these technologies could disrupt traditional industries: Finance Cryptocurrency and blockchain have the potential to disrupt traditional financial systems by providing a more secure and transparent way to transfer value. Cryptocurrency eliminates the need for intermediaries, such as banks, and can help reduce transaction fees and increase financial inclusion. Blockchain can also help reduce fraud and increase transparency in financial transactions. Healthcare
Blockchain and DLT have the potential to disrupt the healthcare industry by providing a more secure and transparent way to store and share patient data. Blockchain can help increase patient privacy and reduce the risk of data breaches. DLT can also help improve the efficiency of healthcare systems by reducing administrative costs and improving supply chain management.
Government
DLT has the potential to disrupt traditional government systems by providing a more secure and transparent way to store and share data. DLT can help increase transparency and reduce fraud in government transactions. DLT can also help improve the efficiency of government systems by reducing administrative costs and improving data management.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency, blockchain, and DLT have the potential to disrupt traditional industries and revolutionize the way we do business, interact with each other, and even govern ourselves. These technologies offer a more secure and transparent way to transfer value, store and share data, and reduce fraud. As these technologies continue to evolve, we can expect to see more innovative solutions emerge that have the potential to disrupt traditional industries even further.
Hi, I'm mid 20s just now trying to build credit. Do you have anything that's like, explain like I'm 5, cause I really don't understand and I'm feeling like I'm playing catch up with my life. From picking a card, to actually building it?
Okay, so building credit sounds super complicated, but I promise that it's not. A lot of the complicated things, like calculating your credit score, are done by other people. Your job is to spend money so responsibly that it impresses the people doing the calculations.
Building credit is very important these days, and no credit score is even worse than a bad credit score. It is important to have a credit card, even if you don't need to borrow money and you have enough. This is so that one day, if you have a $20k medical emergency, or you want to buy a house and you need, like $500k, your bank trusts you enough to give you the money you need.
Credit is something (usually money) that you borrow for something. The example we'll use for this post is money being borrowed to pay for something. Your credit score ranges from 300 to 800, and as long as you're above 700, you have nothing to worry about.
Interest is the money you pay on top of the credit you borrowed. If you borrowed $100 in credit with 10% interest, that means that you will pay the person back $110. The interest depends on so many factors such as how much money you are borrowing and who you are dealing with. So there is no set number.
There are four types of credit:
Revolving Credit - Like a credit card, where you get a certain limit of credit every month. If you use that credit, you can pay it back within that month with no interest, so just the amount of $ you borrowed and nothing else. If you don't, it'll roll over to the next month and you'll have an interest added on top of it.
Charge Cards - They are like credit cards, but you can't roll the credit onto next month. You have no choice but to pay what you borrowed in full that very month. This isn't as common these days but some banks might still offer this option.
Service Credit - When you pay for a month-long or annual service, like a bill. You get that service continuously, but you have to pay for that at a certain point. Think of it like Spotify Premium. You'll probably pay once a month for that, but you can enjoy unlimited music with no ads all month long. The same applies to rent and gym memberships.
Installment Credit - This is where the big money comes in. You use these for student loans and mortgages on your house or car. Assuming you have a good credit score, you might be interested in buying a house. The bank will pay the seller the money they need, and you'll have an agreement with the bank to pay them a certain amount, with interest, every month. The bigger the monthly payment, the smaller the interest, and vice versa.
The reason why everyone is so scared of credit is that if you don't pay your credit on time, the interest starts to pile on, and your credit score plummets. So, if you have an emergency tomorrow and desperately need to borrow money, the bank won't trust you so they won't give you the money you need.
But don't worry! It's not that hard to keep a good credit score! All you have to do is practice the following smart financial habits:
Get a Starter Credit Card. You will probably have a low credit limit, like $500 on it, maybe more, maybe less. But using that card is the first step towards building a credit score. You can set up your account to automatically pay your card in full every month.
Don't Spend What You Don't Have. If you're going to use the credit card, use it for something you were already going to get, like gas for your car. Make sure to pay the card back that day, or automate payments with your online banking accounts. Depending on which bank you're with, they should have an online guide on how to do that, but it's usually done through your credit card settings.
Spend Below 30% of Your Credit Limit. So if your credit card has a limit of $1000, you shouldn't spend any more than $300 a month, and make sure you have enough money in your connected checking account to pay that amount off that month. Some people swear that the magical spending number is 7%, so $70 on a $1000 credit card.
Only Get Loans if They're Unavoidable, and Pay Them Back ASAP. In a perfect world, you'll have enough money that you don't need to borrow a loan. Unfortunately, sometimes you have no choice, like with student loans. Your best bet is to agree on a monthly payment option that is as high as you can comfortably pay with low interest. This way, you pay it back faster and with less money wasted on interest.
To be completely fair, most of what I learned about credit was from the Bitches at @bitchesgetriches so if you have more detailed questions, I cannot recommend them enough.
💋
Max Gustafson
* * * *
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
March 12, 2023
Heather Cox Richardson
At 6:15 this evening, Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg announced that Secretary Yellen has signed off on measures to enable the FDIC to fully protect everyone who had money in Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, and Signature Bank, New York. They will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13. None of the losses associated with this resolution, the statement said, “will be borne by the taxpayer.”
But, it continued, “Shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected. Senior management has also been removed. Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law.”
The statement ended by assuring Americans that “the U.S. banking system remains resilient and on a solid foundation, in large part due to reforms that were made after the financial crisis that ensured better safeguards for the banking industry. Those reforms combined with today’s actions demonstrate our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors’ savings remain safe.”
It’s been quite a weekend.
On Friday, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed in the largest bank failure since 2008. At the end of December 2022, SVB appears to have had about $209 billion in total assets and about $175 billion in deposits. This made SVB the sixteenth largest bank in the U.S., big in its sector but small compared with the more than $3 trillion JPMorgan Chase. This is the first bank failure of the Biden presidency (while Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that he had not heard of any bank failures during his father’s presidency, there were sixteen, eight of which happened before the pandemic). In fact, generally, a few banks fail every year; it is an oddity that none failed in 2021 or 2022.
The failure of SVB created shock waves for three reasons. First, SVB was the major bank for technology start-ups, so it involved much of a single sector of the economy. Second, only about $8 billion of the $173 billion worth of deposits in SVB were less than the $250,000 that the FDIC insures, meaning that the companies who had made those deposits might not get their money back quickly and thus might not be able to make payrolls, sparking a larger crisis. Third, there was concern that the problems that plagued SVB might cause other banks to fail, as well.
What seems to have happened, though, appears to be specific to SVB. Bloomberg’s Matt Levine explained it most clearly:
As the bank for start-ups, which have a lot of cash from investors and the initial public offering of stock, SVB had lots of deposits. But start-up companies don’t need much in the way of loans because they’ve just gotten so much cash and they don’t yet have fixed assets. So, rather than balancing deposits with loans that fluctuate with interest rates and thus keep a bank on an even keel, SVB’s directors took a gamble that the Federal Reserve would not raise interest rates. They invested in long-term Treasury bonds that paid better interest rates than short-term securities. But when, in fact, interest rates went up, the value of those long-term bonds sank.
For most banks, higher interest rates are good news because they can charge more for loans. But for SVB, they hurt.
Then, because SVB concentrated on start-ups, they had another problem. Start-ups are also hurt by rising interest rates because they tend to promise to deliver returns in the long term, which is fine so long as interest rates stay steadily low, as they have been now for years. But as interest rates go up, investors tend to like faster returns than most start-ups can deliver. They take their money to places that are going to see returns sooner. For SVB, that meant their depositors began to need some of that money they had dumped into the bank and started to withdraw their deposits.
So SVB sold securities at a loss to cover those deposits. Other investors panicked as they saw SVB selling at a loss and losing deposits, and they, too, started yanking their money out of the bank, collapsing it. Banks that have a more diverse client base are less likely to lose everyone all at once.
The FDIC took control of the bank on Friday. On Sunday, regulators also shut down Signature Bank, based in New York, which was a major bank for the cryptocurrency industry. Another crypto-friendly bank, Silvergate, failed last week.
Congress created the FDIC under the Banking Act of 1933 to restore trust in the American banking system after more than a third of U.S. banks failed after the Great Crash of 1929, sparking runs on banks as depositors rushed to take out their money whenever rumors suggested a bank was in trouble, thus causing more failures. The FDIC is an independent agency that insures deposits, examines and supervises banks to make sure they’re healthy, and manages the fallout when they’re not. The FDIC is backed by the full faith and credit of the government, but it is not funded by the government. Member banks pay insurance dues to cover bank failures, and when that isn’t enough money, the FDIC can borrow from the federal government or issue debt.
Over the weekend, the crisis at SVB became a larger argument over the role of government in the protection of the economy. Tech leaders took to social media to insist that the government must cover all the deposits in the failed bank, not just the ones covered under FDIC. They warned that the companies whose deposits were uninsured would fail, taking down the rest of the economy with them.
Others noted that the very men who were arguing the government should protect all the depositors’ money, not just that protected under the FDIC, have been vocal in opposing both government regulation of their industry and government relief for student loan debt, suggesting that they hate government action…except for themselves. They also pointed out that in 2018, under Trump, Congress weakened government regulations for banks like SVB and that SVB’s president had been a leading advocate for weakening those regulations. Had those regulations been in place, they argue, SVB would have remained solvent.
It appears that Yellen, Powell, and Gruenberg, in consultation with the president (as required), concluded that the collapse of SVB and Signature Bank was a systemic threat to the nation’s whole financial system, or perhaps they concluded that the panic over that collapse—which is a different thing than the collapse itself—was a threat to the nation’s financial system. They apparently decided to backstop the banks to prevent more damage. But they are eager to remind people that they are not using taxpayer money to shore up a poorly managed bank.
Right now, this appears to leave us with two takeaways. The Biden administration had been considering tightening the banking regulations that were loosened under Trump, and it seems likely that the need for the federal government to step in to protect the depositors at SVB and Signature Bank will make it much harder for those opposed to regulation to keep that from happening. There will likely be increased pressure on the Biden administration to guard against helping out the wealthy and corporations rather than ordinary Americans.
And, perhaps even more important, the weekend of panic and fear over the collapse of just one major bank should make it clear that the Republicans’ threat to default on the U.S. debt, thus pulling the rug out from under the entire U.S. economy unless they get their way, is simply unthinkable.
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
Welcome back to personal finance with Kakuzu. In this essay, I will be explaining the complicated relationship between crime syndicates and the paper stock market with all us shinobi are used to. For this essay I'll also be....
"The worth of a treasure is not measured by its price, but by the dreams it inspires." – Monkey D. Luffy
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Ambitious people with no direction dig for gold, poor people complain about the price of the shovel, while the wealthy are selling the shovels.
SELL THE SHOVEL.
Manifesting Money
Remember that money is a tool. It can be used to build many feelings such as confidence, gratitude, and joy. But it's not the source of these things. You are.
Money is like a toothbrush. You use the toothbrush to brush your teeth so they can be healthy which results in what you're actually looking for, a confidence boost.
Notice how both money and a toothbrush are used to get a result but they aren't the focus nor the end goal.
When manifesting money, focus on why you have it. It'll be easier to feel abundant this way.
Personally, I use my riches to invest in my lifestyle, the people and things that I love, and my career. Thinking about the impact my wealth has on my life provides me with a much fuller experience of abundance than simply thinking about a number in my bank account does.
[Notice how I speak of my wealth in the present tense.]
Create beautiful things,
A
Private equity ghouls have a new way to steal from their investors
Private equity is quite a racket. PE managers pile up other peoples’ money — pension funds, plutes, other pools of money — and then “invest” it (buying businesses, loading them with debt, cutting wages, lowering quality and setting traps for customers). For this, they get an annual fee — 2% — of the money they manage, and a bonus for any profits they make.
On top of this, private equity bosses get to use the carried interest tax loophole, a scam that lets them treat this ordinary income as a capital gain, so they can pay half the taxes that a working stiff would pay on a regular salary. If you don’t know much about carried interest, you might think it has to do with “interest” on a loan or a deposit, but it’s way weirder. “Carried interest” is a tax regime designed for 16th century sea captains and their “interest” in the cargo they “carried”:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#carried-interest
Private equity is a cancer. Its profits come from buying productive firms, loading them with debt, abusing their suppliers, workers and customers, and driving them into ground, stiffing all of them — and the company’s creditors. The mafia have a name for this. They call it a “bust out”:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/02/plunderers/#farben
Private equity destroyed Toys R Us, Sears, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and many more companies beloved of Main Street, bled dry for Wall Street:
https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-06-02-days-of-plunder-morgenson-rosner-ballou-review/
Keep reading
So "charitable" donations from billionaires were BS all along? Economics rant incoming.
I've been looking up how to set up a charity trust, like the kind hella rich people use, because I've got this dream of buying land someday and turning it into a public park / food forest that stays public and has maintenance and taxes covered?
But hoooooly shit, just reading up on the kinda of charitable trusts you can set up??? Insane. The #1 person benefitting from that "charity" is the person who donated. It's legal tax evasion, a way to hold investments without paying taxes on them, and get payouts for yourself for a long ass time before a charity ever sees a dime.
Like literally I think I figured out how someone could take a million bucks, put it in one of these tax sheltered trusts, invest and pay themselves 3 million bucks over 40 years, and only leave 200k of it to charity? While still following the letter of the law. No, even better, donating twice as much money to charity as the law requires, far sooner than it actually requires. I'm never again reading an article like "billionaire donates millions to charity" the same way again. ("Billionaire legally turns millions into more millions for himself and his family, who will have to give a few hundred thousand dollars to charity after he and his kids die?")
Like giving money to "charity" through these trusts? Well, that means a way of investing some of your money while avoiding paying income or capitol gains taxes, and every year getting a payout (like up to 50% of the assets in the trust, re-assessed annually as they grow - and 50% is more than most investors would choose to withdraw annually anyway? So it's really just a tax sheltered investment.) (Not even getting into the fact that art is one of the investments you can have, and art valuation is verrry subjective? So you get an art assessor saying the art you bought at 1million is now worth 5million? Okayyy)
So.... If you put money in, and invest it in stocks? Or more cynically, apartment buildings? You can have tax-free paychecks TO YOURSELF, as your investment grows and you can take money out of that investment till you die. Then, if the date you chose to give the leftover money to charity hasn't happened yet? Your kids (or other beneficiaries) get that paycheck.
Like holy shit. When you see billionaires donating lots of money to charity? They could (and probably are) donating it to their damn selves, and kids, while legally evading taxes. It ain't selfless, it's a fuckin moneymaker for THEM.
Now I really get this saying i heard from a corporate accountant I went out with - "a good tax lawyer will ask you how much you want to pay in taxes" ... And what the fuck. Didn't realize how goddamn literal that was.
(Also fun fact I learned from her - most tax laws on the books were lobbied for by a single corporation to give themselves a tax loophole above other companies, and after it becomes law, it has the strange effect of other companies mimicking the financial model of the first, once they catch on, to exploit the same loophole. So there's a huge incentive to make tax laws as confusing as possible - so the competitor businesses don't catch on to the lobbyist businesses secret loophole. And taxes won't get easier or fairer without legislation against corporate political lobbying)
Like even the kinds of tax-sheltered investments that "normal people" know about like IRAs and 401ks are just the tip of the iceberg when you think about how, the more money you have, the less taxes apply to you. Not to mention the whole way the idea of "investment" is really just another word for skimming the profits off another person's labor.
I'd always heard people cynically say that billionaires only donate for the tax deduction, but I thought it meant "don't pay taxes, and give the money to charity" not "don't pay taxes, and invest the money, and make money for yourself and your children tax free"
anyway I don't think I'm gonna make a trust, gonna just keep on giving the food not bombs crew cash because they actually do something with it?
(also if any of y'all nerds think I'm misunderstanding shit, I might be? I'm very much not an economics nerd, just trying to learn and getting p cynical about what I find)