Then they were all stolen or vandalized or dumped in creeks for city crews to clean up.
― DAMAGED by Black Flat (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 20 May 2022 17:33 (two years ago) link
I think they pulled a dozen scooters out of Lake Merritt in Oakland in a single month
But the real benefit is for the homeless who break the locks and then have a free bicycle to ride around
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 20 May 2022 17:35 (two years ago) link
I think a lot of the stock market right now is just the helium that's been pumped into it over a number of years finally being let out. But certainly massive increases in basic cost of living expenses are not going to be helpful for a consumer-driven economy.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 20 May 2022 17:38 (two years ago) link
thinking about this snippet from target's earnings report
Target: "Many guests are sharing their uncertainty of the overall state of the economy, but are feeling more positive about their personal finances."— modest proposal (@modestproposal1) May 18, 2022
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, 20 May 2022 17:49 (two years ago) link
I feel like I've seen economists describing that phenomenon before, where stuff like inflation just generally makes everyone uneasy even if they are personally ok
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 20 May 2022 17:57 (two years ago) link
I heard yesterday that Target shoppers come in for the microwave popcorn, but not the microwave ovens... i.e. the higher margin appliance stuff is what's slowing down
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 20 May 2022 17:59 (two years ago) link
it's a self-imposed recession that the fed and GOP will allow to end once the GOP regain power.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, May 20, 2022 1:20 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
recession--if there is one (seems likely to be a soft landing to me)--won't last until 2024 imho
― flopson, Friday, 20 May 2022 19:42 (two years ago) link
From the Federal Reserve's annual report on households:"self-reported financial well-being reached its highest level" since 2013. "In the fourth quarter of 2021, 78 percent of adults reported either doing okay or living comfortably financially." https://t.co/VChSwhUGBR— Arthur Delaney 🇺🇸 (@ArthurDelaneyHP) May 23, 2022
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:41 (two years ago) link
it's (voters' wildly warped perception of) the economy, stupid
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:54 (two years ago) link
"The report draws from the Board's ninth annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, or SHED, which was conducted in October and November of last year before the increase in COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant and other changes to the economic landscape in recent months."
i think some things have changed since then idk
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:57 (two years ago) link
"other changes" -- like the cessation of the increased, paid-monthly child tax credits? defunding SNAP? knocking the added supports out of unemployment insurance?
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, 23 May 2022 19:35 (two years ago) link
I just signed a new electricity contract and my rates doubled vs. last summer. Not sure voters perceptions are warped much less wildly so.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 23 May 2022 20:40 (two years ago) link
yeah but that's texas, right?
― mookieproof, Monday, 23 May 2022 20:43 (two years ago) link
everyone i know talks about struggling compared to last year? the signs are everywhere, numbers of homeless people increasing, lots of messaging about "cutting your spending" etc. i see facebook reels about "savings challenges" and so forth a lot lately. for some reason this federal reserve report doesn't strike me as accurate, though it does serve the useful purpose of being more fodder for the people invested in pushing harder in class warfare.
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Monday, 23 May 2022 20:53 (two years ago) link
when netflix stopped adding subscribers i knew shit was real
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 23 May 2022 20:56 (two years ago) link
Xxxp - for sure deregulation and climate fed into a worst case scenario for me but prices are spiking to a lesser extent everywhere because of natural gas AFAICT and a lot of those places already had higher energy prices than we do.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 23 May 2022 20:58 (two years ago) link
I think that Fed report might be technically accurate for seven months ago but seven months ago might as well be three years.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 23 May 2022 21:02 (two years ago) link
Electric rates are supposed to spike here, too.What I’m dreading is finding out our new property tax rates— apparently they’re up between 16% and 65% throughout the city. All the motherfuckers who moved here from NYC during the first two years of Covid are sure doing their best to turn this city into a yuppie shithole
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Monday, 23 May 2022 21:03 (two years ago) link
A clerk tried to charge me $4.50 plus tax & CRV for a 24 oz can of Coors last week (Total: $5.21), I almost had a heart attack
I found the same can for $2.99 out the door at another shop, but still.. it was a wake-up call
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 23 May 2022 21:17 (two years ago) link
oh i'm sure my electricity bills for the next four months are going to be extremely painful, but at least it's not ercot
― mookieproof, Monday, 23 May 2022 21:39 (two years ago) link
Hey, at least perpetually on the verge of collapse ERCOT is also generating power for almost half of all bitcoin mining in the US!
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 23 May 2022 21:47 (two years ago) link
The fed's attached fact sheet is a little less rosy than Delaney's pull quote
first the thing that no longer exists
The majority of parents received additional income in 2021 through the monthly Child TaxCredit (CTC). Most higher-income parents primarily saved this money, while most lowerincome parents primarily spent it on housing, items for their children, or food.• Three in 10 CTC recipients with income less than $50,000 used the largest portion oftheir credit on housing expenses, just over 2 in 10 spent the largest portion on their child,and 15 percent spent the largest portion on food.• Fifteen percent of adults with income less than $50,000 struggled to pay their billsbecause of varying monthly income. Among parents in this income range, 27 percentstruggled to pay their bills because of income variability.
Rents were up 10+% Jan 22 vs Jan 21, and have continued climbing since
Low mortgage rates resulted in a continuation of the wave of refinancing in 2021, although highincome borrowers were primarily the beneficiaries of this opportunity. The share of renters whohad been behind on their rent in the prior 12 months was higher than before the pandemic.• Nearly one-fourth of all homeowners with a mortgage refinanced their mortgage in 2021.Nearly 30 percent of mortgage holders with an income of at least $100,000 and 16percent of those with income under $50,000 refinanced during the year.• Seventeen percent of renters were behind on their rent at some point in 2021, including 8percent who were behind at the time of the survey in late 2021.
the crypto crash hits middle-income people pretty hard
The survey asked about cryptocurrency for the first time in 2021. Differences exist betweenthose holding cryptocurrency as an investment versus those using it for financial transactions.• In 2021, 12 percent of adults used or held cryptocurrency in the past 12 months, althougha far smaller 3 percent used it for financial transactions, like buying something, making apayment, or sending money to family of friends.• Forty-six percent of adults holding cryptocurrency only for investment had an income of$100,000 or more, while 29 percent had an income under $50,000. Additionally, 99percent of these cryptocurrency investors had a bank account.• Nearly 6 in 10 transactional users of cryptocurrencies had an income of less than $50,000and 13 percent did not have a bank account.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 23 May 2022 23:23 (two years ago) link
Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange founded (and, up until recently, based) in San Francisco, is now rescinding job offers that were already accepted as headwinds continue to impact the tech and crypto industries at large.
In a letter sent to employees and made public Thursday, Coinbase’s chief people officer L.J. Brock said that the company would take back “a number of accepted offers” and “outstanding offers” — just weeks after the company announced that it would be pausing hiring. (That halt will continue “for the foreseeable future,” he added.)
like a sand castle dissolving into the tide
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 4 June 2022 00:12 (two years ago) link
...so are the days of our lives
― THE VEIVET UIUERABOUIU (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 4 June 2022 00:33 (two years ago) link
finally, some good news
New study: Pandemic and remote work could obliterate half a trillion dollars of office value:“We find a 32% decline in office values in 2020 and 28% in the longer-run, the latter representing a $500 billion value destruction.” https://t.co/VFh6CXBnW8— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) June 4, 2022
― towards fungal computer (harbl), Monday, 6 June 2022 20:51 (two years ago) link
aka 'the cubicle glut'
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, 6 June 2022 20:52 (two years ago) link
TURN IT INTO HOUSING
― THE VEIVET UIUERABOUIU (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:05 (two years ago) link
i'm sorry, we're currently only accepting solutions that enrich a select few at the expense of the many
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:10 (two years ago) link
they would rather raze the buildings
― mookieproof, Monday, 6 June 2022 21:11 (two years ago) link
mookieproof otm, there’ll be a few years of stories about developers and owners having done feasibility studies that “prove” it to be “impossible” to convert these buildings into anything other than cubicle farms, with the “impossible” being read as “not as profitable as tearing them down to put up another shopping complex or ‘luxury’ condos”
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:20 (two years ago) link
no more cake in the breakroom
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 6 June 2022 21:26 (two years ago) link
I don’t care if they are new condos at least it’ll add to the supply of housing. All private new housing is “ luxury” when it’s built I’m sure my thoroughly middle-middle class condo community was considered luxury when they were new.
― THE VEIVET UIUERABOUIU (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:40 (two years ago) link
Would love massive public investment in new housing that normal people can afford though!!!
― THE VEIVET UIUERABOUIU (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:41 (two years ago) link
Yeah I'm just so skeptical that any of it would turn into truly affordable housing stock. All of the business parks I've worked in or experienced around here are already in predominantly white, upper middle class suburbs that sure as fuck are filled with NIMBYs and zoning laws that will make sure they aren't filled up with the "undesirables".
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:45 (two years ago) link
I remember reading that office properties are not the easiest to retrofit into housing. IDK if they're harder than converting warehouses into loft apts or anything.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:55 (two years ago) link
I guess so long as it's easier/cheaper than tearing down the building and building new housing, there's a case for doing it.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:56 (two years ago) link
Oh I'm sure they aren't "easy", they condensing of toilets and utility chases in the center of the building (as one example) would probably mean lots of extra plumbing and utility expansion, but I would imagine there must be ways to do it that don't require wholesale razing.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 6 June 2022 21:58 (two years ago) link
interesting part of this dynamic - I'm guessing here - is that the most expensive cities (LA, SF, NYC etc) are probably the ones with the most empty office space, just due to the more privileged workforce that can play hardball with work-at-home demands
And of course these expensive areas are the places most acutely in need of housing stock
But boardrooms to bedrooms? I seriously doubt this will be attempted on any meaningful scale
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 6 June 2022 22:03 (two years ago) link
All I keep coming back to is that architects, developers and landlords have spent decades figuring out how to convert any structure imaginable - barns, gas stations, abandoned theaters, garages, etc. - into profit generating retail spaces. Let's use some of that ingenuity to reverse engineer wasteful office space into affordable housing.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 6 June 2022 22:06 (two years ago) link
Cleveland has been losing office space even before the pandemic because lol Cleveland. In almost every case the buildings have been converted to apartments (but not necessarily low cost ones) or condos or in some cases, little hotels. It’s happened so often that I just expect a building that’s having trouble renting office space to just start converting to apartments.
― brownie, Monday, 6 June 2022 22:15 (two years ago) link
Sorry for double post there.
― brownie, Monday, 6 June 2022 22:17 (two years ago) link
I was going to say that hotels or apartments would probably totally work in an office setting.
― broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Monday, 6 June 2022 22:19 (two years ago) link
they could rebrand them as 'live/work' spaces and just install murphy beds and hotplates right in the cubicles
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 6 June 2022 22:22 (two years ago) link
I think buildings that predate the 1960a are easier to convert, just based on what I see on the East Coast here. A lot of downtown Baltimore’s beautiful early-20th century office buildings are housing now.
― THE VEIVET UIUERABOUIU (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 6 June 2022 22:22 (two years ago) link
Surely the traditional "downtown high rise" is more easily converted and more attractive for occupants, I'd be most interested to see creative solutions to turn sprawling suburban office complexes into walkable mini neighborhoods that are truly affordable and push those ring areas ever further away from car dependence.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 6 June 2022 22:29 (two years ago) link
Yeah, agreed. A crappy 70s office park inside the Beltway in Montgomery County MD turned a long vacant lot into townhouses. There’s no Metro access but decent bus service and you can actually walk to some shopping.
― THE VEIVET UIUERABOUIU (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 6 June 2022 22:31 (two years ago) link
every stock in the S&P 500 is red right now pic.twitter.com/vhrfVc1NIz— Katie Greifeld (@kgreifeld) June 13, 2022
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, 13 June 2022 15:00 (one year ago) link
🐦[every stock in the S&P 500 is red right now pic.twitter.com/vhrfVc1NIz🕸— Katie Greifeld (@kgreifeld) June 13, 2022🕸]🐦
― Antifa Sandwich Artist (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 13 June 2022 15:10 (one year ago) link
Holy shit, forget the S&P -- I looked at biggest gainers on Yahoo Finance:
https://finance.yahoo.com/gainers
There is literally one stock there. Can that be right? Only one stock went up today?
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 13 June 2022 15:28 (one year ago) link