- Show:
- Comments
- Liked Comments
On Making Big Bucks and Saving the World
@boringbunny It's not just he poses what he's doing as a "good thing." It is a good thing. Great. It's that he also poses it as the most effective way to help people--that's what I take issue with. Money is important for Changing the World, but so is getting really smart people to spend their time thinking about, analyzing, and working to make change. I'm not convinced that opting to work in a hedge fund and donate to charities to pay these people's salaries is braver or more effective than just opting to spend his life working for change (and for a lower salary). And, as rabbitrabbit pointed out, his method for judging the worthiness of a charity is deeply flawed. (why are all the commenters today rabbit-themed?)
2
On The Great Gatsby is Really About the Housing Crisis
i take issue with the characterization of homeownership for low-income people. sure, exotic subprime loans ruined many people’s lives and the economy too. but that’s not the only way to make mortgage credit available to poor people! example FHA pioneered successful low down payment mortgage lending. plenty of mainstream banks have developed sustainable, non-exotic mortgages since the community reinvestment act in 1973. and there are places, like the self help credit union in durham, who make substantial money doing this without taking major losses. poor people’s reasonable desire (as outlined by stuffisthings) to own homes is *not* what ruined the economy. insufficient consumer protection, speculation, and fraud did. someone who’s “writing a book about homeownership” should know better and stop propagating irresponsible myths.
1
On The TIME Cover is Upsetting, But the Video, Oh God the Video
@stuffisthings he would have done better with the kinks or elvis costello imho.
0
On I Chose the Expensive Private University — And Got the Debt to Go With It
@aetataureate "If it was teenagers acting without any outside guidance then that's one thing, but most of the time there's some kind of parent or guardian involved in the process to try and give them some assistance." That relies on many big assumptions: 1) that there is a parent 2) that the parent is good with money 3) that the parent has made major financial decisions 4) that the parent went to college and is familiar with the process and the options. there are a LOT of kids out there who don't have parents that meet the above criteria, and who may be getting bad or no advice. these are often the same kids who have the least safety net to fall back upon after college, when loaded with debt. instead of college being a leg up, it can drag them back down. it seems like a terrible policy--from a societal perspective as well as for the individual students--to leave the 17-year-olds to their own devices to figure this shit out. and if you're thinking of responding, "well, how many low-income, first-generation-college kids will be applying to NYU?", plenty of for-profit "universities" who target that demographic charge $40k/year. it's insane. also, these universities are tax-exempt organizations, which is insane. they *are* significantly publicly subsidized. apple is not. they have some obligation to the public interest.
1
On When to Leave an Internship
An equally important decision is when to decide to stop interning, period. I had two long, paid internships at a well-known newspaper and radio station in college where I was able to write/produce clips on my own. I still couldn't get a real job in the field (I was willing to go super entry level/rural/whatever, I just wanted health insurance), so I decided to eff journalism if it expected me to be a perpetual intern and take a job at a nonprofit. I don't regret it.
1
On A Conversation With My Dad About His Money and My Lack Thereof
@lalaland Mike Dad
5
On Do You Look Forward to Going to Work?
i am lucky enough to have an interesting job at a young age that's relevant to my interests, and i often don't want to go in in the morning. part of that is that i'm not a morning person and don't want to do much of anything first thing in the morning. i also am very anxious and worry about tasks that need to be done, controversies with coworkers, meetings to prepare for, etc. most of this stuff turns out fine in the end, but i still worry about it beforehand and i think that plays into my antipathy towards going to work. also, it's a difference of stakes. i can't purely enjoy work because the stakes are too high. if i screw up, that affects my livelihood and the people i work for. if i screw up, say, reading a book, no one cares, so i don't stress about my leisure activities while stress diminishes my enjoyment of work.
0
On The Next Housing Bubble
i don’t think you’re fully considering all angles of this. some areas are recovering, sure, but there definitely aren’t bidding wars in areas hit hardest by foreclosures. people’s credit is damaged at the same time banks are becoming extremely conservative in their lending standards, so the alternative to investors buying up single family homes and renting them to families is a bunch of vacant, potentially blighted single family homes. we need policies to make sure the investors are behaving as responsible landlords, but if this is done right, it can help a lot of places until homeownership picks up again (and it won’t, not for awhile). investor isn’t automatically a dirty word, though i understand why people are wary. and, theoretically this will help with rental affordability. rents are rising because homeownership is becoming increasingly inaccessible and the supply of rental housing isn't rising to meet the growing demand. having more rental units on the market should help with that shortage.
1
On Man Alone With Salad
that was beautiful. "I wasn’t in the mood for soup, though." i. do not. understand. those words. soup is forever.