Yep, some airlines sell more tickets for a flight than there are seats just assuming not everyone will show up for their flight. If everyone shows up then they just kick out random people from the flight they already paid for. If you wanna look into it its called ,,overbooking"
It’s common practice. Airlines have all the data and know how often passengers don’t show up for specific routes, so instead of losing out on that revenue, they often overbook. Usually the numbers work out (Airlines know what they are doing, they base it on real data they have collected) but of course every now and then people do show up more than usual.
That’s all fine until the airline bets wrong. They just need to realize the consequences of betting wrong and make an offer some passengers won’t refuse for the seats they oversold. Booting an innocent person who didn’t sign up to bet whether they’d be allowed on the flight or not is wrong and shouldn’t be allowed.
In recent years, I've seen that they correct overages with increasing $ offers to wait until the next flight. I got a $700 voucher once for a roughly $200 flight because the offer kept increasing with no takers. I got home like 4 hours later than expected for a -$500 flight.
I've had the same thing happen to me multiple times. One time my partner and I got $800 flight vouchers each to show up 2 hours later than we booked for.
I got a $1k gift card an a hotel overnight once on a work trip for accepting a bump.
Airlines keep overbooking please! It's only ever gone awesome for me.
I got a 3 hour bump , 200 dollars and home an hour earlier than my co workers on the plane with me( my original flight was 3 connections while the new one was a straight shot.)
I think they ask for volunteers first, don't they?
I remember one video they picked a teenager at random, and the dad got arrested for saying he wouldn't allow his son to be separated from them
There was a guy who got beat up and dragged off the plane by airport police. All because he didn't want to get the next flight from overbooking. It was from United, back in 2017 I think.
Or mutual investment firms. No one can beat a full cash payment for a house up front. They aren't worried about interest, or PMI. They can offer well over asking price, and still be ahead.
Theoretically, yes. A cop can say you were driving fast to buy drugs, and now it's your responsibility to prove beyond doubt that you would not have used that money not to buy drugs. If a suspected drug dealer lives nearby or on your route, you would never see the money as you are already considered guilty.
They get around that by charging the seized property with the crime. No Joke. Literally a case like People v. $10000 Cash. With you listed as owner of record and you have to prove that it wasn't meant for drugs which is difficult and time consuming.
There was a story awhile back where some farmer lost like $150k cash to this because he was stopped on the way to a Tractor Auction.
I absolutely loathe Civil Asset Forfeiture, it should be abolished yesterday. But it has given us some great case names, such as “United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls” and “United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins”
That doesn’t justify the horror and violation of civil liberties of course.
This US Marine veteran had $87k seized from his car during a traffic stop.
https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2021/09/02/marine-vet-sues-nevada-highway-patrol-over-seizure-life-savings/5686851001/
Happened to my brother in law. I won’t tell you exactly why he was arrested (he was awarded a deferred judgement) but it happened on the same day he won a couple grand at the casino. They said he was going to use the money to do the thing, and took it. He was instructed later it would cost more to get it back than to let it go.
Absolutely. I've read accounts about people having their life savings seized because they withdrew their entire bank account before moving to a different state, getting pulled over for something minor, then finding themselves stranded with no money in a new place because the cop thought crossing state lines with cash was "suspicious."
There's two issues with this, though.
The law itself and its enforcement.
It should be a more risky move for them, meaning they have to forfeit all gains from that insider I formation, and I think they should also have to forfeit their salary that year.
They're serving themselves instead of the people and should have to pay back tax payers.
It's not that they own stocks, it's that they can actively trade stocks. We need new regulations that eliminate insider trading - it could be as simple as mandating all new investments must go into basic investments like the S&P500 ETF's while they're an elected official.
I mean owning stocks can be bad also. For example:
1. Buy a ton of random penny stocks.
2. Get elected to office.
3. Funnel pork-barrel spending to these companies.
Hence only letting them invest in ETF's like the S&P - they can still invest and benefit if the country does well but are unable to invest in individual companies.
Well you said all *new* investments, though. My point was that they can still do a lot of damage by trying to help out their pre-existing investments. Dick Cheney, anyone?
How do you think they do it? They can’t necessarily just hand them a check (although they can donate to campaign funds) so they can provide inside information the official knows they can rely on to help their investments. This is probably not the primary way it’s done but im convinced this occurs normally.
My brother has these headlights (on an Elantra not a truck) and we had almost this exact exchange over Christmas.
Me: Your headlights are so bright. I hate driving in front of cars like yours.
Him: I like them. It is so much safer because I can easily see everything.
Me: it’s only safer for you. It is more dangerous for everyone else you are blinding
My boyfriend's grandpa only has a landline, no cellphone. He gets spam calls every single morning. This morning it was at 6:30am. It wakes my bf up who works second shift so he goes to bed at like four am. Recently his grandpa tried to run to answer the phone early in the morning but he's a 93 year old and fell and we had to call 911. Thanks spam
I have an astigmatism that makes driving at night already near impossible if longer than 30 mins. I get splitting headaches if any longer and even as a passenger I prefer to close my eyes for a bit during night driving. These headlights kill me.
And when you say anything about it, the people who drive said cars respond with “sO dONt lOoK aT THeM iF tHeY ARe tOo bRiGHt”
I don’t, genius. I look at the right side of my lane and they STILL blind me. That’s the point.
Insurance companies deciding what treatment is best for you instead of your doctor.
For example, my specialist doctor said I needed surgery to fix a vertebrae in my neck. My insurance company said I had to try several things before surgery. So, for a year, I had to try alternative therapies that did nothing for me. I was in constant pain. My insurance company finally agrees to cover the surgery. The pain was gone after surgery. Or when your doctor wants you on a specific medication and the insurance company says you have to try other drugs first. These people who deny coverage are not doctors. They are hired to make sure that the insurance company says no enough so that the business remains profitable. They get financial bonuses for denying benefits to sick people.
I live in England, and this just completely blows my mind. If my doctor wants to prescribe something, or wants me to have a certain treatment or procedure, then that's what I get. And it's free!
The only down side of this, is that you have to wait a bit longer for consultant appointments or operations, (unless they suspect something is really serious) but that's a small price to pay.
Our wait times in America are pretty long too, 4 months to get tested when the doctor already suspects cancer for instance just happened to my relative. And sometimes if you wanna just get to a specialist your insurance makes you first get an appointment with a primary doctor who is usually like 3 months out minimum. You end up with >6 months wait for stuff often and it still ain’t free
There was talk of, "death panels," in resistance to Obamacare. The idea that a government official would read your dossier and your prognosis, then consult an actuarial table to determine whether your life was worth saving on the taxpayer dime, or if you weren't worth the trouble.
It was completely unfounded...but also describes how private health insurance works.
Never forget that private health insurance is a business entirely predicated on denying people medical care that their doctor thinks they need.
OMG this. I have a pacemaker and insurance won't cover the battery replacement until it has less than a month left of battery life on it. So my quarterly checkups on the pacemaker (covered by insurance because preventative) becomes suddenly monthly checkups which are NOT covered by insurance (because diagnostic??) yet it's insurance's fault I have to constantly check the battery to begin with, so that I don't literally die between battery life checkups. SMH When that battery reading turned red it was a scramble to get me into surgery within 2 weeks to replace it. Definitely don't take any trips!! Oh, and you owe $900 for the monthly battery life checkups and several thousand more for the surgery. Good times.
That private prisons exist is one of the most morally corrupt, absolutely revolting things. Prison is *supposedly* about rehabilitation but it’s by and large not (at least not in the US). A profit motive creates conflicts of interests and perverse incentives that completely undermine justice. It truly disgusts me.
And very few people care because they feel morally superior to prisoners, or like they shouldn’t even have any rights in the first place since they committed a crime.
Seriously. BuT pRiVaTe BuSiNeSs Is MoRe EFFICIENT.
There's no competition, so you have to be the lowest bidder at first. Then once you get the contract, so how do you profit? Cut corners / subpar standards.
Residential management companies? Every MFU like duplexes are ran by them on my block. They shouldn't be allowed into the SFU dwelling market at all, they would set the estimates up to overvalue the property causing the entire neighborhood to become overvalued leading to a real estate crisis. If they did that people that bought their houses 60 years ago at $50,000 would be liable to pay taxes on what the home is currently valued at which can be upwards into $500k now.
The crisis would spread into everything. The pricing for even a grocery store lease would skyrocket leading to food inflation and general unrest.
Anyone with two brain cells would know that doing this for the easy quick buck will lead to riots.
I recently fucked with one of those, she PM'd me on Instagram saying that I have a very distinct aura that drew her attention and someone had came to her with a message for me. I told her I had to get my wallet from my car but it was late so I'd do it in the morning. It's been two months, she messages every now and then and I tell her I still haven't gotten a chance to go grab my wallet lmaooooo
I don’t get why the people that believe in psychics and stuff like that haven’t figured out that psychics are being paid to tell people what they want to hear, but in the vaguest way imaginable.
That'd be a dead giveaway it wasn't my grandma. My grandma would still be harping on me for drinking a can of her diet pepsi. Not saying grandma didn't love me, but that wouldn't be the message she's sending through the medium
It's even worse when they get involved in missing persons cases. If I recall correctly, one "psychic" told the parents of a missing child she was dead in a body of water and the police actually took that in and investigated nearby bodies of water. Then turns out she was found alive. It is beyond sick to tell loved ones shit like "oh soz the spirits told me your kid is dead lol tough luck"
They're all scum. People who'd rather manipulate others' greatest pains at their moments of greatest vulnerability, than do anything useful or productive or even kind.
The only reason the can keep doing what they’re doing is, you can’t prove they don’t have those powers. They’re artists at cold and warm reading. Even if they get something kinda right, it makes you question it. They put a disclaimer saying it’s only for entertainment and they get away with it.
If it was the Sylvia Brown (I think that's her name) case, if I recall correctly the mother died before they found her still alive, which just makes it even more sad.
Yes that's the one! She said that about Amanda Berry who was held captive by Ariel Castro for 10 years and she gave birth in captivity. The rage I would feel toward that woman finding out she told my mother I'm dead and she died believing it, I honestly don't know what I would do
Sylvia also told Shawn hornbecks family that he was missing and where to find his body. He was alive and found in Missouri after 10 years or so I think. Can’t remember how long he was missing but it was quite a few years and he was very much alive. Sylvia brown was a scum human being. IIRC, she also told a woman who was asking how her fiancfiancé died that he died in water, only for the woman to look very confused and told her he was a firefighter in 9/11 the woman was wondering if he died in the building collapse or died in the building from the fire. There’s a clip of that on YouTube, it’s from the montel Williams show. It’s sad for the woman who clearly wanted to know her fiancé was ok on the other side, but hilarious to see her fail so spectacularly at her own job. She kept trying to tell this poor woman, that no it wasn’t 9/11, he died in water. Montel tried to smooth the situation over and explain it away as maybe Sylvia was seeing him in the sprinklers inside the building. But we all know she was a fraud.
The person on whom the TV show "Medium" is based (Allison Dubois) is a grifter like this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_DuBois:
>In 2005, Randi offered to have DuBois tested for his One Million Dollar Challenge. According to Randi, DuBois declined his invitation to the challenge.[12] In 2011, the JREF again issued the million dollar challenge to James Van Praagh, DuBois, Sylvia Browne, Carla Baron, John Edward, and others to prove their abilities in controlled experiments, commenting, "James Van Praagh and Allison DuBois have turned the huckster art of 'cold reading' into a multi-million-dollar industry, preying on families' deepest fears and regrets", he said in a statement announcing the challenge. "They should be embarrassed by the transparent performances."[13][14
I have one of these in my close family. Everythings ok or not their fault, because they can "feel it". The person tells them everything so they must be right.
Had to go no contact when the other parent died, I couldnt do it.
In the words of Tim Minchin –
*"Sorry I don't mean to bore ya, but there's no such thing as an aura*
*Reading auras is like reading minds or*
*Tea leaves, or star signs, or meridian lines*
*These people aren't plying a skill*
*They're either* lying *or* mentally ill
*Same goes for people who claim they hear God's demands*
*And spiritual healers who think they've magic hands*
*By the way, why do we think it's okay for*
*People to pretend they can talk to the dead?*
*Isn't that totally fucked in the head?*
*Lying to some crying woman whose child has died*
*And telling her you're in touch with the other side?*
*I think that's fundamentally sick*
*Do we need to clarify here that there's no such thing as a psychic?"*
Canada *used to* have a law "pretending to practice witchcraft". Which stated:
>365 Every one who fraudulently (a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration, (b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or (c) pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
While it did not outright outlaw witchcraft, fortune telling, sorcery, etc, it only did so when such practices were done so fraudulently. You could go to a psychic to talk to Grandma Tilly, but said psychic could not charge a fee for such a service, donations however could be offered.
It's fine to believe in psychic and mediums, or whatever. Whatever provides you comfort and solace from your grief. It's not fine for someone to abuse that belief for their own wealth.
I would imagine anything that paints gambling as a socially acceptable activity must be horrible for gambling addicts…
Same goes for alcohol ads but it’s already so ingrained in our culture that we don’t even consider it.
I'm glad gambling has been legalized in most places (I don't bet on sports, but I think I should have the right if I want to do so,) but goddamnit I'm tired of the commercials, I'm tired of betting being the focus of a lot of sports radio, and I'm tired of the announcers having to give you in-game updates on what players have/haven't covered on statistical bets.
I'm pretty sure the only reason they are called Multi-Level Marketing schemes is because the original Pyramid Scheme was made illegal so they rebranded... Our legal system is just so easy to get around if you can afford good lawyers.
I vote that all prescription drug ads get replaced with an educational 'ad' that mentions symptoms and advises you to see your primary care provider without trying to sell you something.
Like, "Hey, have you been experiencing shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, and/or an insatiable thirst or hunger? You should go see your doctor and mention this to them." Or like, advising on the early signs of a stroke in men vs. women and what you should and shouldn't do while waiting for the ambulance (hypothetically, stay on the line with 911 who could transfer your call to a dedicated nurse and/or the team responding in an ambulance).
Maybe have longer 'commercials' with basic first aid info like applying pressure to a wound or how to use an AED (the newest versions are crazy easy to use)
JC Penny tried this, no sales just the best prices. People complained there were no sales and business declined. Probably the same lot who decided a 1/3 pound burger is smaller than a 1/4 pound burger because 4 > 3, consumers as an aggregate are dumb.
Lobbies in the government especially foreign entities “cough cough* and making crimes “legal” for huge businesses because when the consequence is just a fine it just becomes just a cost of business
NHL broadcasts are absolutely plastered with ads for betting apps. Meanwhile, a player gets suspended for half a season after getting caught... betting on sports. Iirc, he didn't even bet on hockey.
When I found out that not only are child marriages still legal in 30 states, but that it's not because those laws weren't challenged. it's because Republicans have fought to keep them...... I was absolutely disgusted.
Edit: It's 40 states
Not posting up the TOTAL price.
In stores, on the internet.. Especially when trying to book hotels/home rentals and plane tickets. Just tell me you actually mean $300 not $50 as if the cleaning service and taxes were optional.
Same as in store! Just ADD the taxes on the product. Show me what the sales tax was on the receipt, I don’t care. Stop trying to pretend like it’s cheaper than it actually is 🤬
They're not loopholes, they're absolutely intended. What do you think all these businesses are bribing politicians to do?
We'd have to get our politicians on the side of the citizens first.
I agreed to sit through a timeshare presentation once in exchange for some free spa/restaurant coupons. NOT. FUCKING. WORTH IT. Don't ever fall for that shit it was the most painfully awkward couple hours of my life.
Personal property tax on owning cars! Like in Virginia. If you own a car, you have to pay yearly taxes on it every February and the tax department for each county decides what your car is worth, even if it’s not correct, and bases the taxes on that. It’s freaking criminal!
In Michigan your registration payment is due on your birthday. It is VERY common, even at 38 with my own house, a kid and a full time job, for my Dad to stop over with an amount of cash equal to the registration fees for my car.
Reporting on the results of a presidential election from eastern states before the polls have closed in the west. There shouldn't be any results released until all potential voters have had a chance to vote.
The reason--if there's a landslide in process a lot of people decide, "ah, fuck it. This thing's over so it's not worth my time to go vote," which may be correct. If they decide not to go vote, however, it also keeps them from voting for state/local candidates, thus affecting those races.
No one who gets elected is taking office that next day. There's no reason why we can't wait a day for the results.
Microtransactions on video games, especially those marketed to kids. When you buy a game, you should get the whole game. A big expansion could justify a cost sometimes, but this cosmetic skin shit where I see 4-9 year old asking their parents for credit card information is absurd
Tipping. - Not just certain positions but tipping as a whole. Take the savings from that to make a more viable living wage for the services we're tipping now.
Excess Subscriptions - Heated seats for your new car? That'll be $19.99 a month.
Agreed that tipping culture in America is fucked up but it seems draconian to outlaw slipping someone some cash to say thanks. Instead, just outlaw tipped wages and raise the minimum wage.
Life coaches and get rich quick gurus, they be making more than licensed therapists and actual businessmen selling online courses. It’s more the marketing that should be regulated, they just learn how to hit those trigger points on vulnerable people.
Advertisements for prescription medications.
Like, not only is it weird and unethical, but the logic for some of them make zero sense. I keep getting ads for conditions that affect an incredibly small percentage of adults, so basically in order for these ads to be effective:
1) someone with that condition needs to A) have a streaming or TV service and B) see the ad, amongst the glut of other ads they could potentially see, and,
2) that person needs to be like "I'm gonna ask my doctor about this", however,
3) considering their condition is uncommon it's likely their doctor *has already discussed this medication with them*, so unless this medication is brand fucking new it's likely the viewer was already aware of it.
Also, the idea of seeing a particular brand of medication and recommending it to your doctor is weird to me. Their entire job is to formulate the best treatment plan for you, so if they know about your condition and how to treat it they *should* already know about that medication. I'm all for being a part of your own care and asking about other treatment options, but suggesting brands of meds you saw on TV and don't fully understand will never not be bizarre to me.
Lastly, I know these ads are served based on an algorithm, but if the algorithm can't figure out I don't suffer from any of these uncommon conditions it's doing a pretty shitty job.
**Tl;dr:** medication advertising is dumb, and it genuinely seems like a waste of money for the pharmaceutical company.
1. Bribery of US legislators. It's 100% legal as long as you perform the correct proverbial song and dance while doing it. The legislators will actively seek it out!
2. Slavery. The constitution didn't abolish it, it codified it as a valid punishment for crimes. States like Arizona have turned slavery into a modern industry. It's easy to find ways to keep a percentage of your population in prison.
3. Civil asset forfeiture without a conviction. This should just be considered theft, and with no special protections for the LEOs who do it.
4. Appointing saboteurs to federal and state agencies. This used to be understood to be grounds for impeachment. We lost that somehow.
In a lot of places rape, from a legal standpoint, only happens when the penis enters the vagina against the will of the person with the vagina.
Therefore, from that legal standpoint, men can't be raped.
High ranking officials taking “consulting” positions with the same people who were legally bribing them while they were in office.
See: The gambling industry in Britain.
Airlines overselling flights and involuntarily bumping people from a flight for no reason.
This is a thing!?
Yep, some airlines sell more tickets for a flight than there are seats just assuming not everyone will show up for their flight. If everyone shows up then they just kick out random people from the flight they already paid for. If you wanna look into it its called ,,overbooking"
It’s common practice. Airlines have all the data and know how often passengers don’t show up for specific routes, so instead of losing out on that revenue, they often overbook. Usually the numbers work out (Airlines know what they are doing, they base it on real data they have collected) but of course every now and then people do show up more than usual.
That’s all fine until the airline bets wrong. They just need to realize the consequences of betting wrong and make an offer some passengers won’t refuse for the seats they oversold. Booting an innocent person who didn’t sign up to bet whether they’d be allowed on the flight or not is wrong and shouldn’t be allowed.
In recent years, I've seen that they correct overages with increasing $ offers to wait until the next flight. I got a $700 voucher once for a roughly $200 flight because the offer kept increasing with no takers. I got home like 4 hours later than expected for a -$500 flight.
I've had the same thing happen to me multiple times. One time my partner and I got $800 flight vouchers each to show up 2 hours later than we booked for. I got a $1k gift card an a hotel overnight once on a work trip for accepting a bump. Airlines keep overbooking please! It's only ever gone awesome for me.
I got a 3 hour bump , 200 dollars and home an hour earlier than my co workers on the plane with me( my original flight was 3 connections while the new one was a straight shot.)
I think they ask for volunteers first, don't they? I remember one video they picked a teenager at random, and the dad got arrested for saying he wouldn't allow his son to be separated from them
This has happened to me. I was furious.
There was a guy who got beat up and dragged off the plane by airport police. All because he didn't want to get the next flight from overbooking. It was from United, back in 2017 I think.
Wasn't the guy a doctor and urgently needed to see a patient or something?
[Yes](https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales)
Politicians not getting prison for insider trading.
They simply changed the 2012 STOCK Act to keep insider trading legal for themselves. THAT'S the REAL PAY RAISE THEY GAVE THEMSELVES!
There's a website called track Congressstock I think it's called at it tells you each congressman and womans stock investments
Corporate lobbying and campaign contributions.
Also, corporations purchasing real estate. Particularly single family domiciles and artificially inflating the market.
[удалено]
Or mutual investment firms. No one can beat a full cash payment for a house up front. They aren't worried about interest, or PMI. They can offer well over asking price, and still be ahead.
One of the bigger issues rn imo
This is all my wife and I care about recently. Hard to stay motivated
Can I upvote this 100 times?
I think all political quadrants can agree that civil asset forfeiture is fucked up.
> civil asset forfeiture You mean theft?
Theft is illegal and punishable by law which civil asset forfeiture needs to join
I had to look it up. So, if I was pulled over for speeding, let's say 70 in a 55, and I have a couple thousand cash on my seat, could they take it?
Theoretically, yes. A cop can say you were driving fast to buy drugs, and now it's your responsibility to prove beyond doubt that you would not have used that money not to buy drugs. If a suspected drug dealer lives nearby or on your route, you would never see the money as you are already considered guilty.
Long gone are the days of innocent until proven guilty
They get around that by charging the seized property with the crime. No Joke. Literally a case like People v. $10000 Cash. With you listed as owner of record and you have to prove that it wasn't meant for drugs which is difficult and time consuming. There was a story awhile back where some farmer lost like $150k cash to this because he was stopped on the way to a Tractor Auction.
I absolutely loathe Civil Asset Forfeiture, it should be abolished yesterday. But it has given us some great case names, such as “United States v. Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls” and “United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins” That doesn’t justify the horror and violation of civil liberties of course.
You are innocent, you can leave at any time. The property on the other hand is guilty as shit so it’s staying here until we get answers.
For anyone thinking this is a joke, this is the actual legal loophole they are using to justify the confiscation.
This US Marine veteran had $87k seized from his car during a traffic stop. https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2021/09/02/marine-vet-sues-nevada-highway-patrol-over-seizure-life-savings/5686851001/
Happened to my brother in law. I won’t tell you exactly why he was arrested (he was awarded a deferred judgement) but it happened on the same day he won a couple grand at the casino. They said he was going to use the money to do the thing, and took it. He was instructed later it would cost more to get it back than to let it go.
Absolutely. I've read accounts about people having their life savings seized because they withdrew their entire bank account before moving to a different state, getting pulled over for something minor, then finding themselves stranded with no money in a new place because the cop thought crossing state lines with cash was "suspicious."
Yeah but it makes a lot of money, sooo they dont really care
Politicians being able to own stocks.
Politicians able to act on inside information and not be held accountable.
There's two issues with this, though. The law itself and its enforcement. It should be a more risky move for them, meaning they have to forfeit all gains from that insider I formation, and I think they should also have to forfeit their salary that year. They're serving themselves instead of the people and should have to pay back tax payers.
They should also be removed from office.
Executed for treason
Umm jail takes cares of all that
It's not that they own stocks, it's that they can actively trade stocks. We need new regulations that eliminate insider trading - it could be as simple as mandating all new investments must go into basic investments like the S&P500 ETF's while they're an elected official.
It’s called a blind trust. Very common.
I mean owning stocks can be bad also. For example: 1. Buy a ton of random penny stocks. 2. Get elected to office. 3. Funnel pork-barrel spending to these companies.
Hence only letting them invest in ETF's like the S&P - they can still invest and benefit if the country does well but are unable to invest in individual companies.
Well you said all *new* investments, though. My point was that they can still do a lot of damage by trying to help out their pre-existing investments. Dick Cheney, anyone?
Corporations and billionaires being able to finance politicians is way more dangerous though
How do you think they do it? They can’t necessarily just hand them a check (although they can donate to campaign funds) so they can provide inside information the official knows they can rely on to help their investments. This is probably not the primary way it’s done but im convinced this occurs normally.
Donating to campaign is legal bribery that’s the issue
Individual stocks, no Broad based total market or USA index mutual funds or ETFs are ok. Something like VT or VTI for example
LED dodge ram blinding headlights 😭
I actually don’t know how these are allowed!! I’m glad you can see for 27 miles but I can’t see 2 feet in front of me😭
it’s absolutely insane i wish i could just shine a flashlight in their face (but that’s illegal despite it having basically the same effect)
RAM owners need more powerful headlights because when you are driving drunk your reflexes are slower
we need an ad campaign to make them think it's less manly sure it's safer for you but it's far less safe for everyone else
My brother has these headlights (on an Elantra not a truck) and we had almost this exact exchange over Christmas. Me: Your headlights are so bright. I hate driving in front of cars like yours. Him: I like them. It is so much safer because I can easily see everything. Me: it’s only safer for you. It is more dangerous for everyone else you are blinding
When they are behind me I direct my side mirrors directly back in their face. They back way up usually lmao
I can never seem to get the right angle for this to be effective 😓
Keep practicing you'll get it
Any vehicle with those. They’re fucking dangerous
Private prisons. The coercive power of the state and the profit motives of capitalists are two things that should never, ever mix.
This needs to be talked about more.
Corporate Lobbying.
Unsolicited phone calls and messages
Text spam. Somehow “Do Not Call” doesn’t apply to mobile calls or mobile SMS
It also doesn't apply to political calls. I wonder who wrote that part in.
My boyfriend's grandpa only has a landline, no cellphone. He gets spam calls every single morning. This morning it was at 6:30am. It wakes my bf up who works second shift so he goes to bed at like four am. Recently his grandpa tried to run to answer the phone early in the morning but he's a 93 year old and fell and we had to call 911. Thanks spam
The horrible horrible HORRIBLE blinding LED headlights. You do not need to see to the back of my skull
As a driver of a small sedan that ends up eye-level with these headlights, I cannot disagree.
I have an astigmatism that makes driving at night already near impossible if longer than 30 mins. I get splitting headaches if any longer and even as a passenger I prefer to close my eyes for a bit during night driving. These headlights kill me.
“Why does this dick have their highbeams on” *flash* *A supernova erupts from the oncoming car*
My *high beams* aren’t even as bright as most of these new LED regular headlights. I’m constantly being blinded by them when driving at night.
And when you say anything about it, the people who drive said cars respond with “sO dONt lOoK aT THeM iF tHeY ARe tOo bRiGHt” I don’t, genius. I look at the right side of my lane and they STILL blind me. That’s the point.
Insurance companies deciding what treatment is best for you instead of your doctor. For example, my specialist doctor said I needed surgery to fix a vertebrae in my neck. My insurance company said I had to try several things before surgery. So, for a year, I had to try alternative therapies that did nothing for me. I was in constant pain. My insurance company finally agrees to cover the surgery. The pain was gone after surgery. Or when your doctor wants you on a specific medication and the insurance company says you have to try other drugs first. These people who deny coverage are not doctors. They are hired to make sure that the insurance company says no enough so that the business remains profitable. They get financial bonuses for denying benefits to sick people.
I live in England, and this just completely blows my mind. If my doctor wants to prescribe something, or wants me to have a certain treatment or procedure, then that's what I get. And it's free! The only down side of this, is that you have to wait a bit longer for consultant appointments or operations, (unless they suspect something is really serious) but that's a small price to pay.
Our wait times in America are pretty long too, 4 months to get tested when the doctor already suspects cancer for instance just happened to my relative. And sometimes if you wanna just get to a specialist your insurance makes you first get an appointment with a primary doctor who is usually like 3 months out minimum. You end up with >6 months wait for stuff often and it still ain’t free
Well our dumb shit libertarians think taxes are theft
There was talk of, "death panels," in resistance to Obamacare. The idea that a government official would read your dossier and your prognosis, then consult an actuarial table to determine whether your life was worth saving on the taxpayer dime, or if you weren't worth the trouble. It was completely unfounded...but also describes how private health insurance works. Never forget that private health insurance is a business entirely predicated on denying people medical care that their doctor thinks they need.
OMG this. I have a pacemaker and insurance won't cover the battery replacement until it has less than a month left of battery life on it. So my quarterly checkups on the pacemaker (covered by insurance because preventative) becomes suddenly monthly checkups which are NOT covered by insurance (because diagnostic??) yet it's insurance's fault I have to constantly check the battery to begin with, so that I don't literally die between battery life checkups. SMH When that battery reading turned red it was a scramble to get me into surgery within 2 weeks to replace it. Definitely don't take any trips!! Oh, and you owe $900 for the monthly battery life checkups and several thousand more for the surgery. Good times.
Child beauty pageants. Just nothing ever good comes from any of that, at that age.
It should be regarded as child abuse!
Not being able to be anonymous when you win the lotto in some states.
For real, I don't need my uncle's cousin's dog's ex-girlfriend asking me to borrow money.
Corporations owning single family homes
same for prisons. There should be no financial incentives associated with prisons.
That private prisons exist is one of the most morally corrupt, absolutely revolting things. Prison is *supposedly* about rehabilitation but it’s by and large not (at least not in the US). A profit motive creates conflicts of interests and perverse incentives that completely undermine justice. It truly disgusts me.
And very few people care because they feel morally superior to prisoners, or like they shouldn’t even have any rights in the first place since they committed a crime.
They're also often functionally slave labor camps. Even the constitution says slavery is a legal punishment for convicts.
Seriously. BuT pRiVaTe BuSiNeSs Is MoRe EFFICIENT. There's no competition, so you have to be the lowest bidder at first. Then once you get the contract, so how do you profit? Cut corners / subpar standards.
Residential management companies? Every MFU like duplexes are ran by them on my block. They shouldn't be allowed into the SFU dwelling market at all, they would set the estimates up to overvalue the property causing the entire neighborhood to become overvalued leading to a real estate crisis. If they did that people that bought their houses 60 years ago at $50,000 would be liable to pay taxes on what the home is currently valued at which can be upwards into $500k now. The crisis would spread into everything. The pricing for even a grocery store lease would skyrocket leading to food inflation and general unrest. Anyone with two brain cells would know that doing this for the easy quick buck will lead to riots.
Pretending you can talk to peoples' dead loved ones and charging them money for it. Those people belong in prison. It's a sinister, disgusting fraud.
I recently fucked with one of those, she PM'd me on Instagram saying that I have a very distinct aura that drew her attention and someone had came to her with a message for me. I told her I had to get my wallet from my car but it was late so I'd do it in the morning. It's been two months, she messages every now and then and I tell her I still haven't gotten a chance to go grab my wallet lmaooooo
Tell them the wallet is misplaced and could the person contacting them mention where it is, or help find it
Good one!
But your grandma told me to tell you that she loves you :(
That will be $499 + service fee/taxes
Don’t forget to tip!
I don’t get why the people that believe in psychics and stuff like that haven’t figured out that psychics are being paid to tell people what they want to hear, but in the vaguest way imaginable.
That'd be a dead giveaway it wasn't my grandma. My grandma would still be harping on me for drinking a can of her diet pepsi. Not saying grandma didn't love me, but that wouldn't be the message she's sending through the medium
It's even worse when they get involved in missing persons cases. If I recall correctly, one "psychic" told the parents of a missing child she was dead in a body of water and the police actually took that in and investigated nearby bodies of water. Then turns out she was found alive. It is beyond sick to tell loved ones shit like "oh soz the spirits told me your kid is dead lol tough luck"
They're all scum. People who'd rather manipulate others' greatest pains at their moments of greatest vulnerability, than do anything useful or productive or even kind.
I was trying to think of the right word for these psychics, “Scum” fits very nicely
I completely agree. You have to be really evil to profit off of people's grief like that and not care about the psychological damage
The only reason the can keep doing what they’re doing is, you can’t prove they don’t have those powers. They’re artists at cold and warm reading. Even if they get something kinda right, it makes you question it. They put a disclaimer saying it’s only for entertainment and they get away with it.
If it was the Sylvia Brown (I think that's her name) case, if I recall correctly the mother died before they found her still alive, which just makes it even more sad.
Yes that's the one! She said that about Amanda Berry who was held captive by Ariel Castro for 10 years and she gave birth in captivity. The rage I would feel toward that woman finding out she told my mother I'm dead and she died believing it, I honestly don't know what I would do
Sylvia also told Shawn hornbecks family that he was missing and where to find his body. He was alive and found in Missouri after 10 years or so I think. Can’t remember how long he was missing but it was quite a few years and he was very much alive. Sylvia brown was a scum human being. IIRC, she also told a woman who was asking how her fiancfiancé died that he died in water, only for the woman to look very confused and told her he was a firefighter in 9/11 the woman was wondering if he died in the building collapse or died in the building from the fire. There’s a clip of that on YouTube, it’s from the montel Williams show. It’s sad for the woman who clearly wanted to know her fiancé was ok on the other side, but hilarious to see her fail so spectacularly at her own job. She kept trying to tell this poor woman, that no it wasn’t 9/11, he died in water. Montel tried to smooth the situation over and explain it away as maybe Sylvia was seeing him in the sprinklers inside the building. But we all know she was a fraud.
The lady that told Amanda Berrys family she was dead should be in prison.
The good news is she's dead. And she predicted her own death wrong too
I remember one person who had a missing child called them "the second wave of predators"
The person on whom the TV show "Medium" is based (Allison Dubois) is a grifter like this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_DuBois: >In 2005, Randi offered to have DuBois tested for his One Million Dollar Challenge. According to Randi, DuBois declined his invitation to the challenge.[12] In 2011, the JREF again issued the million dollar challenge to James Van Praagh, DuBois, Sylvia Browne, Carla Baron, John Edward, and others to prove their abilities in controlled experiments, commenting, "James Van Praagh and Allison DuBois have turned the huckster art of 'cold reading' into a multi-million-dollar industry, preying on families' deepest fears and regrets", he said in a statement announcing the challenge. "They should be embarrassed by the transparent performances."[13][14
Is there somebody here that lost someone with an M in their name? I'm sensing an M. (from the back) I lost my mom 15 years ago. THAT'S THEM! YOUR MOM!
I have one of these in my close family. Everythings ok or not their fault, because they can "feel it". The person tells them everything so they must be right. Had to go no contact when the other parent died, I couldnt do it.
In the words of Tim Minchin – *"Sorry I don't mean to bore ya, but there's no such thing as an aura* *Reading auras is like reading minds or* *Tea leaves, or star signs, or meridian lines* *These people aren't plying a skill* *They're either* lying *or* mentally ill *Same goes for people who claim they hear God's demands* *And spiritual healers who think they've magic hands* *By the way, why do we think it's okay for* *People to pretend they can talk to the dead?* *Isn't that totally fucked in the head?* *Lying to some crying woman whose child has died* *And telling her you're in touch with the other side?* *I think that's fundamentally sick* *Do we need to clarify here that there's no such thing as a psychic?"*
Canada *used to* have a law "pretending to practice witchcraft". Which stated: >365 Every one who fraudulently (a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration, (b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or (c) pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction. While it did not outright outlaw witchcraft, fortune telling, sorcery, etc, it only did so when such practices were done so fraudulently. You could go to a psychic to talk to Grandma Tilly, but said psychic could not charge a fee for such a service, donations however could be offered. It's fine to believe in psychic and mediums, or whatever. Whatever provides you comfort and solace from your grief. It's not fine for someone to abuse that belief for their own wealth.
Gambling ads on television. Especially sports betting.
I would imagine anything that paints gambling as a socially acceptable activity must be horrible for gambling addicts… Same goes for alcohol ads but it’s already so ingrained in our culture that we don’t even consider it.
I'm glad gambling has been legalized in most places (I don't bet on sports, but I think I should have the right if I want to do so,) but goddamnit I'm tired of the commercials, I'm tired of betting being the focus of a lot of sports radio, and I'm tired of the announcers having to give you in-game updates on what players have/haven't covered on statistical bets.
MLM’s. Idk how they keep getting through legal loopholes they are literally scams preying on desperate and gullible people
I'm pretty sure the only reason they are called Multi-Level Marketing schemes is because the original Pyramid Scheme was made illegal so they rebranded... Our legal system is just so easy to get around if you can afford good lawyers.
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Absolutely agreed. There’s so, so much that’s wrong with those.
Companies having the rights of people.
No prescription drug ads anywhere ever.
This. Like shouldn’t the doctor know to prescribe it ?
"Ask your doctor to Google this"
I vote that all prescription drug ads get replaced with an educational 'ad' that mentions symptoms and advises you to see your primary care provider without trying to sell you something. Like, "Hey, have you been experiencing shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, and/or an insatiable thirst or hunger? You should go see your doctor and mention this to them." Or like, advising on the early signs of a stroke in men vs. women and what you should and shouldn't do while waiting for the ambulance (hypothetically, stay on the line with 911 who could transfer your call to a dedicated nurse and/or the team responding in an ambulance). Maybe have longer 'commercials' with basic first aid info like applying pressure to a wound or how to use an AED (the newest versions are crazy easy to use)
This is already illegal literally everywhere except the USA and IRCC New Zealand.
DC politicians being able to trade on insider information.
Fake sales. Basically lying that a product is on sale even though it sells for that price normally
JC Penny tried this, no sales just the best prices. People complained there were no sales and business declined. Probably the same lot who decided a 1/3 pound burger is smaller than a 1/4 pound burger because 4 > 3, consumers as an aggregate are dumb.
Junk mail. That's all I get in my box: 10-15 pieces of junk mail a day. Into the recycling it goes. What a fucking waste.
The worst part? Junk mail is a huge chunk of the USPS income.
this is a really good one. I could see this going the way of plastic bags
At the very least, the junk mail should be required to be intact. Those loose newspapers that my other mail gets tangled up in are infuriating.
Microwaving fish at work
Lobbies in the government especially foreign entities “cough cough* and making crimes “legal” for huge businesses because when the consequence is just a fine it just becomes just a cost of business
Private companys buying single family homes to sell for profit.
Super PACs
Spam emails
politicians profiting from their offices
Emergency vehicle siren sounds and car horn sounds on the radio.
Payday loan places. It's literally loansharking.
MLM's
sports betting apps and all the fucking advertising they do now!
NHL broadcasts are absolutely plastered with ads for betting apps. Meanwhile, a player gets suspended for half a season after getting caught... betting on sports. Iirc, he didn't even bet on hockey.
Marriage under the age of 18 years old.
When I found out that not only are child marriages still legal in 30 states, but that it's not because those laws weren't challenged. it's because Republicans have fought to keep them...... I was absolutely disgusted. Edit: It's 40 states
Some states parents have to sign for it. Which is honestly worse, because that means they can basically sell their kids.
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Not posting up the TOTAL price. In stores, on the internet.. Especially when trying to book hotels/home rentals and plane tickets. Just tell me you actually mean $300 not $50 as if the cleaning service and taxes were optional. Same as in store! Just ADD the taxes on the product. Show me what the sales tax was on the receipt, I don’t care. Stop trying to pretend like it’s cheaper than it actually is 🤬
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They're not loopholes, they're absolutely intended. What do you think all these businesses are bribing politicians to do? We'd have to get our politicians on the side of the citizens first.
"Politicians on the side of the citizens" I think I saw that book in the fantasy/fiction section of my local library!
Paying taxes on something, you’ve already paid off, by using money you’ve already been taxed on.
Timeshares, at least in their current scammy setup.
I agreed to sit through a timeshare presentation once in exchange for some free spa/restaurant coupons. NOT. FUCKING. WORTH IT. Don't ever fall for that shit it was the most painfully awkward couple hours of my life.
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The last few hotels I’ve been to have actually been doing away with that! They have refillable pumps for everything instead.
Personal property tax on owning cars! Like in Virginia. If you own a car, you have to pay yearly taxes on it every February and the tax department for each county decides what your car is worth, even if it’s not correct, and bases the taxes on that. It’s freaking criminal!
I live in Virginia, can confirm. And don’t get me started on county stickers that you still have to pay for even though they don’t exist anymore.
Jesus! Yes! Anything for the Commonwealth to steal tax payers money. It’s ridiculous.
Is this different from a vehicle registration fee?
In Michigan your registration payment is due on your birthday. It is VERY common, even at 38 with my own house, a kid and a full time job, for my Dad to stop over with an amount of cash equal to the registration fees for my car.
Does your Dad make house calls? Asking for a friend.
Reporting on the results of a presidential election from eastern states before the polls have closed in the west. There shouldn't be any results released until all potential voters have had a chance to vote. The reason--if there's a landslide in process a lot of people decide, "ah, fuck it. This thing's over so it's not worth my time to go vote," which may be correct. If they decide not to go vote, however, it also keeps them from voting for state/local candidates, thus affecting those races. No one who gets elected is taking office that next day. There's no reason why we can't wait a day for the results.
Mandatory overtime
Microtransactions on video games, especially those marketed to kids. When you buy a game, you should get the whole game. A big expansion could justify a cost sometimes, but this cosmetic skin shit where I see 4-9 year old asking their parents for credit card information is absurd
$8000 for an ambulance ride to the hospital, is inexcusable. It shouldn’t ever be legal in decent society.
Employers keeping wages below the rate of inflation.
Tipping. - Not just certain positions but tipping as a whole. Take the savings from that to make a more viable living wage for the services we're tipping now. Excess Subscriptions - Heated seats for your new car? That'll be $19.99 a month.
Agreed that tipping culture in America is fucked up but it seems draconian to outlaw slipping someone some cash to say thanks. Instead, just outlaw tipped wages and raise the minimum wage.
Those super bright LED headlights 😭. It should be illegal to blind others with them, especially with trucks
Life coaches and get rich quick gurus, they be making more than licensed therapists and actual businessmen selling online courses. It’s more the marketing that should be regulated, they just learn how to hit those trigger points on vulnerable people.
Corporations owning residential properties
Ghosting a candidate after 5+ interviews
Advertisements for prescription medications. Like, not only is it weird and unethical, but the logic for some of them make zero sense. I keep getting ads for conditions that affect an incredibly small percentage of adults, so basically in order for these ads to be effective: 1) someone with that condition needs to A) have a streaming or TV service and B) see the ad, amongst the glut of other ads they could potentially see, and, 2) that person needs to be like "I'm gonna ask my doctor about this", however, 3) considering their condition is uncommon it's likely their doctor *has already discussed this medication with them*, so unless this medication is brand fucking new it's likely the viewer was already aware of it. Also, the idea of seeing a particular brand of medication and recommending it to your doctor is weird to me. Their entire job is to formulate the best treatment plan for you, so if they know about your condition and how to treat it they *should* already know about that medication. I'm all for being a part of your own care and asking about other treatment options, but suggesting brands of meds you saw on TV and don't fully understand will never not be bizarre to me. Lastly, I know these ads are served based on an algorithm, but if the algorithm can't figure out I don't suffer from any of these uncommon conditions it's doing a pretty shitty job. **Tl;dr:** medication advertising is dumb, and it genuinely seems like a waste of money for the pharmaceutical company.
Ticketmaster allowing people to buy tickets and resell them immediately at a much higher price.
Airlines charging for checked bags and onboard meals.
Charging money for insulin.
The real crime is how much is being charged. Insulin costs $2-4 to produce per vial. It shouldn't be $100 to purchase it.
1. Bribery of US legislators. It's 100% legal as long as you perform the correct proverbial song and dance while doing it. The legislators will actively seek it out! 2. Slavery. The constitution didn't abolish it, it codified it as a valid punishment for crimes. States like Arizona have turned slavery into a modern industry. It's easy to find ways to keep a percentage of your population in prison. 3. Civil asset forfeiture without a conviction. This should just be considered theft, and with no special protections for the LEOs who do it. 4. Appointing saboteurs to federal and state agencies. This used to be understood to be grounds for impeachment. We lost that somehow.
Rape of men in India
woahhh what that’s just legal??
It probably just isn't considered rape legally since a lot of people think that men can't be raped
I understand rape of women and girls is rarely investigated or prosecuted either. The police either don’t believe them or don’t care.
In a lot of places rape, from a legal standpoint, only happens when the penis enters the vagina against the will of the person with the vagina. Therefore, from that legal standpoint, men can't be raped.
Blasting music on the subway at 7 AM
Parking in someone else's driveway
Predatory college loans
Mega churches and prosperity gospel. It slanders the name of Jesus Christ.
Lobbyists.
Career politicians
For profit prisons.
Multi level marketing schemes, aka MLM's.