USCE 2023: Please let them shove a camera up your butt

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE 2023: Please let them shove a camera up your butt

«‹›797 »

Agents are GO!: Dec 29, 2004

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Price caps don't directly lead to a rise in prices, but they do lead to a drop in supply or a black market. Based on what Nixon did in the 70's, price caps on consumables can generally stabilize prices short-term, but run into problems if they are implemented long term. Nixon also froze wages during that period to make sure inflation didn't rise.

For things like rent control or non-consumable assets, it makes it much harder to move because it effectively increases the cost of moving somewhere else if you don't stay in one place to compound your rent controlled savings or you potentially lose real value on an asset when you exchange it under a cap.

For housing specifically, the problem is that there aren't enough houses for all the people who want to live in a specific area. Even if you implemented price caps, then you would have to forcibly relocate people to accommodate everyone in a high demand area. Or you'd have to use non-price methods of exchange like being assigned a place to live through a centrally organized distribution process, mandatory roommates, or forcibly relocating people if supply doesn't also increase.

There's plenty of houses in places like Youngstown, Ohio and plenty of room in the country, but people don't want to forcibly relocate to less dense part of the country or increase density in high-demand areas.

I had this crazy idea but what if we made more places cool places to live? Like investment in the public goodHAHAHA sorry, I know.

Edit: This dumb snipe brings dishonor upon myself, my family, and the entire Klingon Empire. Here's a picture of my cats to make up for it.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 00:45

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 23, 2024 16:34

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Agents are GO! posted:

Redeemed.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 00:52

Ms Adequate: Oct 30, 2011; Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling

Agents are GO! posted:

I had this crazy idea but what if we made more places cool places to live? Like investment in the public goodHAHAHA sorry, I know.

Edit: This dumb snipe brings dishonor upon myself, my family, and the entire Klingon Empire. Here's a picture of my cats to make up for it.

Honor upon your felines! They are mighty hunters, worthy of fighting beside Kahless!

# ? Dec 2, 2023 01:11

zoux: Apr 28, 2006

From yet another outlet puzzled by the strange gap between perceptions and reality.

Everywhere else in the world the soft vs hard indicators are following each other like normal. This is something unique to the US. This isn't a "oh I'm trying to say the economy is good when it's bad" I'm saying, look how closely sentiment matches the quant data in other countries: if the indicators are up, sentiment is up, if they're down, sentiment is down, they track almost 1:1. That's why everyone is baffled.

A lot of it is republicans lying about the economy because of partisanship reasons, I guess. Anyway, for some reason we're the only country in the world where the hard and soft indicators are completely disconnected, it didn't start until the pandemic ended, and this is a further confounding variable. The only thing I can think is that we had a much more generous economic support package than anyone else (?) and giving all those people all that money, they got used to having a bunch of disposable income because they were receiving straight free money while spending way less because of the NPIs and now everyone's just mad that they don't have a bunch of extra money?

e:
yeah a lot more

So maybe check and see what's going on in Singapore

zoux fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Dec 2, 2023

# ? Dec 2, 2023 01:37

VikingofRock: Aug 24, 2008

On real estate being a racket: my wife and I are trying to buy a house from a family member's trust. That trust stipulates a buying price, so all we need is someone to draw up the papers and help us with the title transfer. We've been trying for a month to find someone who will do this for less than a few percent of the selling price of the house, which is a crazy amount of money given the price of Los Angeles real estate.

It's insane how much people are charging compared to the amount of labor involved. It absolutely feels like a racket to us.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 01:52

shame on an IGA: Apr 8, 2005

VikingofRock posted:

On real estate being a racket: my wife and I are trying to buy a house from a family member's trust. That trust stipulates a buying price, so all we need is someone to draw up the papers and help us with the title transfer. We've been trying for a month to find someone who will do this for less than a few percent of the selling price of the house, which is a crazy amount of money given the price of Los Angeles real estate.

It's insane how much people are charging compared to the amount of labor involved. It absolutely feels like a racket to us.

are you talking to realtors because that sounds like a lawyer job

# ? Dec 2, 2023 02:14

VikingofRock: Aug 24, 2008

shame on an IGA posted:

are you talking to realtors because that sounds like a lawyer job

We've been talking to both realtors and lawyers. It feels like everyone involved in real estate does this sort of thing.

We're probably just going to try to do it ourselves, and get a lawyer to review it.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 02:29

Devor: Nov 30, 2004; Lurking more.

shame on an IGA posted:

are you talking to realtors because that sounds like a lawyer job

100% lawyer job

I think I paid about $500 for a sales contract written up by the one-man title company/lawyer combo I used at my home purchase. If you know anyone who has investment properties ask if they would recommend their lawyer/title company (depending on how your state typically structures this stuff). Namedrop your buddy when you call the lawyer because the lawyer wants to know you're not a deadbeat who found them on google.

VikingofRock posted:

We've been talking to both realtors and lawyers. It feels like everyone involved in real estate does this sort of thing.

We're probably just going to try to do it ourselves, and get a lawyer to review it.

Oh god don't try to do this. The lawyer will charge you 3x as much to review your contract than to just use their boilerplate contract where you choose which addendums you want

# ? Dec 2, 2023 02:34

BabyFur Denny: Mar 18, 2003

zoux posted:

So maybe check and see what's going on in Singapore

Same as everywhere else?
GST has been increased and we get another increase next year. Inflation is still high. Rent is extremely expensive. Public housing construction is only just catching up from the covid delays, so ppl need to wait up to four, five years for their own home.

Don't really know where that 29% number is supposed to come from.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 02:36

Ogmius815: Aug 25, 2005; centrism is a hell of a drug

Freakazoid_ posted:

Something people aren't aware of is the government could just set price caps on things.

Would be nice to have some rent control.

Oh gee wiz just regulate prices huh? I wonder why nobody ever thought of that before?

# ? Dec 2, 2023 02:49

Agents are GO!: Dec 29, 2004

zoux posted:

So maybe check and see what's going on in Singapore

They've got a very healthy "getting rid of Barudak's coworkers" industry.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 02:56

Alkydere: Jun 7, 2010; Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.

Re: Real estate chat. I really have nothing other than my parents have witnessed one of the few ways to keep a home from moving in the Austin realty market.

Someone bought the home next door because they wanted to tear it down and build their dream home. Only the new owner found out they didn't have the money. So they went back and put the home back on the market with minimal (if any) upkeep. They're asking a reasonable price (for the bloated market) but are demanding any buyer build a home according to their designs.

I'm assuming that someone going "I'll sell you the lot if you promise to build my dream home on it according to my plans" is exactly as bonkers as it sounds to those with more real estate experience? The family's been chortling about it for months.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 08:13

Nervous: Jan 25, 2005; Why, hello, my little slice of pecan pie.

Sir Lemming posted:

Good. He's such a liar I'll bet amber wasn't even the natural color of his energy.

It's probably a cowardly, piss yellow with specks of grey and red interspersed throughout.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 08:15

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

zoux posted:

From yet another outlet puzzled by the strange gap between perceptions and reality.

Everywhere else in the world the soft vs hard indicators are following each other like normal. This is something unique to the US. This isn't a "oh I'm trying to say the economy is good when it's bad" I'm saying, look how closely sentiment matches the quant data in other countries: if the indicators are up, sentiment is up, if they're down, sentiment is down, they track almost 1:1. That's why everyone is baffled.

A lot of it is republicans lying about the economy because of partisanship reasons, I guess. Anyway, for some reason we're the only country in the world where the hard and soft indicators are completely disconnected, it didn't start until the pandemic ended, and this is a further confounding variable. The only thing I can think is that we had a much more generous economic support package than anyone else (?) and giving all those people all that money, they got used to having a bunch of disposable income because they were receiving straight free money while spending way less because of the NPIs and now everyone's just mad that they don't have a bunch of extra money?

e:
yeah a lot more

So maybe check and see what's going on in Singapore

Yeah it feels large degree due to political polarization. I remember seeing a similar overnight perception shift even before covid too:

There's no way anything actually changed instantly but it doesn't really matter.

By all accounts the US seems to be doing relatively great. Not only are the nominal inflation numbers better, it seems there's significant nominal and real wage growth. The data had been posted before, but also anecdotally I hear about people getting 30-40% raises. My last increase was 5% and we had like 18% inflation last year here lol.

I'm sure there are huge long term structural issues, no full communism, etc, but grading on a "real world" curve, the US seem to be getting out of this about as well as possible.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 09:49

zoux: Apr 28, 2006

As an aside, jesus Christ the UK really hosed their poo poo up

# ? Dec 2, 2023 15:57

BougieBitch: Oct 2, 2013; Basic as hell

Agents are GO! posted:

Edit: This dumb snipe brings dishonor upon myself, my family, and the entire Klingon Empire. Here's a picture of my cats to make up for it.

drat must be nice to afford living in a featureless cream-colored void.

On the consumer confidence indicators - that actually brings up a possible alternative explanation. What if the "bad economy" that voters are referring to is the GLOBAL economy, or at least the USD-denominated economy?

It is one factor that is different between the US and other countries to a meaningful degree, and a fair number of people actually do interact with economies of other countries in their daily life - you have families of immigrants sending money home and people working at US-based companies with international employees for starters. Obviously the US isn't the only place with immigrants or international coworkers, but I do wonder if there is some potential value in examining data breakdowns by more demographic factors like that, which can be harder to track

Edit: the political polarization thing may also matter a bit, but it isn't new even according to your own chart - there's just a persistent 25% of naysayers or yeasayers or whatever that effectively restrict the possible range out outcomes for polling to 15-85% and that's baked in. The world economy DID experience a significant disruption that still hasn't been remediated and it makes some sense to me that it would be the case that perceptions of "recovery" might lag more for the world's reserve currency.

That chart is also weird AF though, I guess we are looking at "real GDP relative to index date" or something and "the poll response we have had when previously at that ratio to the index"?

BougieBitch fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Dec 2, 2023

# ? Dec 2, 2023 16:06

daslog: Dec 10, 2008; #essereFerrari

Polling has become a joke. It's become impossible to get a random sample and people that actually answer the questions use the opportunity to air their personal grievances.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 16:36

Stabbey_the_Clown: Sep 21, 2002; Are... are you quite sure you really want to say that?; Taco Defender

BougieBitch posted:

Edit: the political polarization thing may also matter a bit, but it isn't new even according to your own chart - there's just a persistent 25% of naysayers or yeasayers or whatever that effectively restrict the possible range out outcomes for polling to 15-85% and that's baked in.

That may be the case for the world in general, but it's clear from the wild swings that the polarization in the U.S. is having an excessive impact on polling results. I suspect that the cause of that is the right-wing propaganda machine which has made it normal to reject facts which don't fit with preferred political beliefs (and the mirrored response on the left is a reaction).

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:00

Mid-Life Crisis: Jun 13, 2023; by Fluffdaddy

Those darn republicans and their lies they all believe. Nothing like me no naw gee golly shucks

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:09

Bwee: Jul 1, 2005

Mid-Life Crisis posted:

Those darn republicans and their lies they all believe. Nothing like me no naw gee golly shucks

Yes, correct

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:19

BougieBitch: Oct 2, 2013; Basic as hell

Stabbey_the_Clown posted:

That may be the case for the world in general, but it's clear from the wild swings that the polarization in the U.S. is having an excessive impact on polling results. I suspect that the cause of that is the right-wing propaganda machine which has made it normal to reject facts which don't fit with preferred political beliefs (and the mirrored response on the left is a reaction).

Literally the quoted chart showed that Democrats went way up and way down in directly the opposite manner of Republicans at the elections of Trump and Biden, and this is only showing party-identified responses. Additionally, the gap in perceived/actual economic conditions is only since 2021 while the polarization predates that, it isn't sufficient as an explanatory variable unless you can show that 2021 specifically is some kind of turning point in terms of the number of people who identify as Republicans or something.

The partisan bias in both sides evens out, that's what I mean by naysayers and yeasayers - it isn't the same people with the cynical/Pollyanna attitudes at every point in time, it's the boosters and haters for the current political leader regardless of party

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:33

Mid-Life Crisis: Jun 13, 2023; by Fluffdaddy

BougieBitch posted:

Literally the quoted chart showed that Democrats went way up and way down in directly the opposite manner of Republicans at the elections of Trump and Biden, and this is only showing party-identified responses. Additionally, the gap in perceived/actual economic conditions is only since 2021 while the polarization predates that, it isn't sufficient as an explanatory variable unless you can show that 2021 specifically is some kind of turning point in terms of the number of people who identify as Republicans or something.

The partisan bias in both sides evens out, that's what I mean by naysayers and yeasayers - it isn't the same people with the cynical/Pollyanna attitudes at every point in time, it's the boosters and haters for the current political leader regardless of party

Forcing literally everyone into their homes to not socialize as they once did and forcing them to use captured media to communicate instead may change peoples outlook on society as it�s biased through the lenses they were forced to look through

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:37

TheDeadlyShoe: Feb 14, 2014

Mid-Life Crisis posted:

Forcing literally everyone into their homes to not socialize as they once did and forcing them to use captured media to communicate instead may change peoples outlook on society as it�s biased through the lenses they were forced to look through

No different than any other country; none of whom show the same disconnect.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:39

Mid-Life Crisis: Jun 13, 2023; by Fluffdaddy

TheDeadlyShoe posted:

No different than any other country; none of whom show the same disconnect.

Freedom of the press isn�t mainstream elsewhere. Opposition was a minority and not a 50% demographic

Plus two party nonsense

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:42

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

TheDeadlyShoe posted:

No different than any other country; none of whom show the same disconnect.

If anything we had less of a lockdown than most other places.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:50

Xiahou Dun: Jul 16, 2009; We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.

Mid-Life Crisis posted:

Freedom of the press isn�t mainstream elsewhere. Opposition was a minority and not a 50% demographic

Plus two party nonsense

Okay, let�s repeat the question but only for the other countries with a free press, which is still a lot.

Why the disparity?

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:51

Mid-Life Crisis: Jun 13, 2023; by Fluffdaddy

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

If anything we had less of a lockdown than most other places.

Right. You had a group of people who worked through it and ignored it all and another group who doubled down on government hand holding. Elsewhere had more of a singular experience.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 17:55

Aztec Galactus: Sep 12, 2002

Neither Trump nor Biden forced anyone to stay inside. Lockdowns were all at the state or local level and in many places did not happen at all

# ? Dec 2, 2023 18:15

Bar Ran Dun: Jan 22, 2006

Mid-Life Crisis posted:

Those darn republicans and their lies they all believe. Nothing like me no naw gee golly shucks

The Republicans are revolutionary romantics and incoherence is essential to their rhetoric.

Yes there is clear difference with a causal reason. All of the right wing groups internationally have this same character. They all are appealing to broken myths of origin and are attempting to restore broken myths by violence.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 18:18

Failed Imagineer: Sep 22, 2018

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

If anything we had less of a lockdown than most other places.

The US effectively never had a lockdown. Maybe hard for some people to believe but undeniable if you compare actual measures taken to those anywhere in the EU, not even going for more authoritarian examples

# ? Dec 2, 2023 18:23

the_steve: Nov 9, 2005; We're always hiring!

Failed Imagineer posted:

The US effectively never had a lockdown. Maybe hard for some people to believe but undeniable if you compare actual measures taken to those anywhere in the EU, not even going for more authoritarian examples

Yeah, we had suggestions more than any meaningfully enforced measures. Too many people who thought we could compromise with the virus so that we could still go to Applebee's, or overgrown children running around with the chin diapers and making it a point to breathe through their mouth as loudly as possible to prove a point.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 19:06

single-mode fiber: Dec 30, 2012

I think the main takeaway from that chart is that Republican voters take almost no information into consideration in their perceptions of the economy except for "us good, them bad." Their opinions shift entirely along party lines and only changed with the numbers on the stock market (December 2018 saw a rather steep and protracted market selloff, often 3% per day, which is that little wiggle upwards of Republicans thinking the economy is worse). Democrat voters display some level of partisanship, but they didn't instantly flip from one extreme to the other upon Trump's inauguration, but more of them were clearly having their opinions formed by actual information rather than just the bad vibes of their political party not being in control. Plus, this goes along with a mountain of other evidence of how Republican voters are largely low information, selfish, with a high degree of partisan loyalty, compared to Democrat voters.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 19:08

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

George Santos is filing at least four ethics complaints about financial irregularities and so on. I guess the guy really is a poster, report spamming after a ban :v:

e: against other NY republicans

Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Dec 2, 2023

# ? Dec 2, 2023 20:35

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Eagerly awaiting his DEAR MICHAEL post and flameout

# ? Dec 2, 2023 20:47

Nervous: Jan 25, 2005; Why, hello, my little slice of pecan pie.

Google Jeb Bush posted:

George Santos is filing at least four ethics complaints about financial irregularities and so on. I guess the guy really is a poster, report spamming after a ban

Kind of him to let us know about the stuff we missed.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 21:01

Zoeb: Oct 8, 2023; Dislike me? Don't spend $10 on a title. Donate to the Palestinian Red Crescent or Doctors Without Borders
https://www.palestinercs.org/en
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

Google Jeb Bush posted:

George Santos is filing at least four ethics complaints about financial irregularities and so on. I guess the guy really is a poster, report spamming after a ban

e: against other NY republicans

He can go back to his career as the star of Hannah Montana and producing Broadway shows.

# ? Dec 2, 2023 22:10

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

A few days late to the topic, but:

New Zealand to ban mobile phones in schools

quote:

Mobile phones will be banned in schools across New Zealand, conservative Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Friday (Dec 1), as his fledgling government looks to turn around the country's plummeting literacy rates.

New Zealand's schools once boasted some of the world's best literacy scores, but levels of reading and writing have declined to the point that some researchers fear there is a classroom "crisis".

Luxon declared he would ban phones at schools within his first 100 days in office, adopting a policy trialled with mixed results in the United States, United Kingdom and France.

The move would stop disruptive behaviour and help students focus, Luxon said.

"We are going to ban phones across New Zealand in schools. We want our kids to learn and we want our teachers to teach," he said.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/new-zealand-ban-mobile-phones-schools-3958226

# ? Dec 3, 2023 19:12