Category Archives: Wondering

Gimme Some Fresh Ideas!

Posted by anachostic on July 29, 2025 No comments

You know how some companies are just so far into the suck that there’s not really any harm in trying something different? Well, I feel eBay is one of those companies. They just exist. There’s no "innovation", there’s no drive, there’s no reason to use them, other than the reason that they’ve always had. And that marketspace has been going to other competitors for some time now – primarily Facebook marketplace. I mean, it’s hard to compete with free listings, right? The only thing FB Marketplace doesn’t offer is transaction settling. You have to do your own deals with cash or Venmo or even… PayPal! Yeah, the old eBay company.

So anyway, if I worked at eBay and there’s nothing else to lose, this is my idea. I’m not going to say it’s the best idea or even that it’s a good idea. But it doesn’t seem like they have any ideas right now, so they should be happy with whatever I can offer.

Let me start by saying I don’t have a huge problem with eBay. I’ve bought on it, I’ve sold on it. And my idea would make things better for sellers and not buyers. But sellers have been leaving for some time because the fees never stop climbing, and nothing else is changing. So here’s an option that a seller could choose to utilize on their auction listings: Bidding War.

Here’s the trick I live off when I’m buying on eBay. I think I’ve posted about it before, saying that other people were dumb for not doing what I do. So this new option would defeat my strategy. What I do is pre-determine the highest amount I am willing to pay, then make that bid like 5 seconds before closing. I don’t make the bid early, because another bidder could slowly peck away trying to find the upper bound of my bid. By bidding with only 5 seconds left, other bidders would not have enough time to inch up their bids more than once before close. Why people do the incremental bids is beyond me. Set your max and bid it!

So anyway, when Bidding War is enabled, the last bid will extend the closing time by whatever parameter you want. 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes. So that gives people that were just outbid a chance to get back in. This is more like a real live auction, where the auctioneer is bouncing between two people trying to find out who is going to tap out. And you know what, that’s the excitement of an auction. It might only happen a couple of times at a live auction, but how many times do you think it could happen on a worldwide platform?

So then we create another area of eBay – The Gallery, where you can see auctions that have ended up in a bidding war and you can watch it unfold in real time, with a live reaction chat scrolling beside it, maybe. And once it’s done, it moves right on to the next exciting listing. If the idea becomes a hit, maybe it would be a non-stop stream of auction drama to watch.

And that’s the simple pitch, but the gory implementation details would need to be addressed. What protections are there from bad actors jumping in and bidding a product up to a million dollars? Well, what’s to stop people from doing it now? And it has been done on listings that have gone viral, so it’s more than a mild concern. As part of your profile, you can set some minimum parameters of who can participate in a bidding war. Number of years on eBay, minimum feedback score, number of previous purchases, whatever. And this doesn’t totally exclude new users. Someone new to eBay can still participate up to the point the listing enters a bidding war. To participate in the bidding war, you would have to set a max bid before it starts, then you are not able to change it. However, users who do meet the standards can continue to up their bids once the war starts. See, that’s how it defeats my strategy. I believe that will prevent abuse once the listing potentially goes viral or attracts a lot of attention from the gallery.

The goal of this option is to increase the profit for sellers, which means eBay makes more money. They could probably offer a discount on fees for a listing with Bidding War enabled because they expect to make more overall from the higher sell price. The secondary goal is to create excitement and get people back to the site, maybe as watchers, maybe as participants.

What ever happened to those scam auction sites where you pay to bid and if you don’t win, you lose everything you had bid? Those also had the time extension per bid, but that was just to suck more bids from the people who thought they were getting a good deal. This actually has a bit of fairness to it.

So there you go. Just another idea for a company that has nothing to lose.

Growing Up With Less To Say

Posted by anachostic on July 26, 2025 No comments

Although it would seem to be a reflection on my posting frequency on my blogs, it’s actually sort of a metaphor for something I noticed in a band I recently found. A few months ago I picked up an album by a group called Happy The Man, and I thought it was music by a different artist who also had an album released under the name Happy The Man. As it turned out, it was nothing of the same music. The music I was looking for was soft of synth-y new age. Ironically, what I purchased was a kind of music I did like immensely – progressive rock.

The 70’s group Happy The Man only had a couple albums on a major label. I had purchased the second. And it was not long ago that I found the first album and quickly bought it as well. It was, as most debut albums are, a little more raw and disjointed, but still something I enjoyed a lot.

As is typical of my musical habits, I had to know everything I could about this new band I found. The part that interested me, and the point of this post, is that the consensus was the second album was not as good as the first. Now me, hearing the second album first, held a slightly different opinion. Now having listened to both albums to excess, I can see how the critics came to their decision. And here’s where I want to reflect on it.

If you know prog music, you know it’s some really busy shit. A lot of people can’t handle it because it’s sometimes really difficult to follow. in fact, there’s some prog groups I can’t get into because they make stuff that’s just beyond what I can follow. Happy The Man isn’t like other prog bands that play out a song for 12-15 minutes, though. Their stuff is pretty compact and easily digestible. But in that short amount of time, on their first album, they go all over the place, with sections that jump back and forth. That’s part of the excitement of prog is that the players can turn on a dime, keep the beat, switch tempos and time signatures and typically play very quickly.

But on the second album, there’s still the shorter songs, but less frequent twists and turns. And those that wanted more of the first album were disappointed. But here’s the key: the band grew up. They got more mature. And when that happens you worry less about how much you say and care more about how well you say something.

And I get that. My earlier compositions were very similar. I had many different sections all put together in a stream of madness. I had a lot of things I wanted to say and I needed to get them all out in one song. For a different example, see Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Tarkus. The number of things said just in the first movement (Eruption) with changes every 1 or 2 bars, is mind-blowing – if you’re into that stuff.

But when you’ve done all that, you find you want to begin making a big picture that’s cohesive. You take one theme and build it, embellish it, do variations on it, all in the same song. Looking at a melody from many different angles. That’s what a lot of classical composers did and it lets the listener relax and move with the changes instead of getting shocked by change after disjointed change. And that’s how Happy The Man’s second album is. They wanted to say one thing very well. And on top of that, they avoided making it tedious by keeping the songs a manageable length.

And when you take this "saying one thing" metaphor to another level, you can apply it to more modern trace and groove music. In these instances, they are saying one thing over and over with small colorations here and there. The intent and result is like repeating a mantra, as one would do during meditation. At least that’s my interpretation, because I can’t tolerate much of that music because I need active listening music.

So when you listen to music, especially when you listen to an entire album of an artist, consider what they are trying to say and how they are saying through the length of the songs and the number of sections within the songs. Especially the closer. Does it repeat and fade out over a long time, trying to lull you into a trance or does it end with a bang, trying to be the grand finale of a fireworks show?

Numbers Keep Going Up

Posted by anachostic on March 22, 2023 No comments

As everyone is painfully aware, the cost of everything keeps going up. And one day I wondered about credit card rewards. We still get the same percentage in rewards, but we’re spending more, so we’re getting more rewards. But I guess it’s a wash because everything still costs more. Unfortunately, the cost of rewards has also gone up. I used to be able to get a $200 gift card for 20,000 points. Now it costs 25,000 points. That sucks. but anyway, I’m sure I’ll get there quicker with the way everything is going.

So anyway, Capital One has been bugging me that I should apply for a credit limit raise. That’s probably about due because with everything costing so much more, my credit utilization is actually affecting my credit score. I had considered researching another card, and I still might, but just to get these guys off my back, I figured I’d have a try. It was a quick and simple form, but I much prefer to imagine I was talking to someone about the increase, because the end result is much funnier that way.

So Mr. Anachostic, if that’s your real name, why do you want a credit increase?

Well, shit costs more now. But you don’t want to hear that, so… my credit line does not meet my long-term needs.

I see. And tell me about what you do for a living.

I’m a programmer.

Uh huh. So big money man. And what do you pay for your mortgage, Mr. Warbucks?

$720.

I think you made a typo. No one pays $720 for a mortgage.

I do. Same house for almost 20 years. Never upgraded.

Well, well. This sounds all good then. So, how much did you want to increase your limit to, sir?

Uh… I didn’t think I really had a say in that. I’ve been at $10k forever. Hmmm. Well, if you’re going to ask, how about $20,000?

$20,000? No, we can’t do that. That’s just way too much. We can make you a lesser offer, though. How about $19,500? Is that sufficient?

I’ll make do.

Thank you sir, and enjoy your new credit line.

Work-Life Dynamic

Posted by anachostic on July 23, 2021 No comments

I was recently thinking about a job interview I had a bit ago and I was sort of regretting that I didn’t go off on this topic when offered the chance. I had a different story handy that I used and while that seemed to work, I felt this one would have made a better impression. I feel like I’ve talked about it before, but that might have been to other people over some related conversation. But anyway…

Recently, there’s been a spike in discussions about work and labor, partially about wages and benefits, and some about having to work at all. The idea of universal basic income, deca-millionaires and the inequality around all of that is a good discussion to have, but it doesn’t address business concerns at the moment. And it doesn’t answer the question they are asking right now: why should I hire you?

I have a couple answers to that. Before I start, let me say that I do software development for a living. I have done it for over 30 years. Saying that is both a pro and a con. To my benefit, I’ve been through a lot and have a lot of experience. To someone who doesn’t see it that way, I am writing 30-year old code, which is not what modern businesses want. The answers have to emphasize the former and dispel the latter.

To begin, the way I see things, there are two types of people that are probably getting interviewed. You have people who program and you have programmers. No, I think I’m going to try and make this story industry-agnostic. So, said another way, you have people who "do it" and you have people who "live it". Doesn’t matter what field it is, are you getting someone who will do as they’re told and get the job done, or do you want someone who will take ownership of the task and make it their mission to get it done? There’s actually no wrong answer there; there are places for both types, and as I am of the latter type, if that’s not what the company wants, it’s not going to go well for either of us.

The cliche phrase, "do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life" can be true only if your employer allows that to happen. While people who "do it" will wait around for guidance or instructions to do things, those who "live it" will actively push to make the job interesting and rewarding, because the challenge comes with the lifestyle. The "lifers" will be seeking out these challenges all the time, on and off the clock, because that’s part of living the profession. The "doers" will switch off their business lives at the end of the day. That’s not to say that the "lifers" are doing company work off the clock, they’re just building their skills in general and if they can apply it to their work, that’s just a benefit – for both employee and employer.

Again, it doesn’t matter what profession or "level" you are, this will benefit you. If you are in housekeeping and you spend your time reading and learning about efficiency and new techniques for sanitation and you suggest those things to your employer, maybe you’ll get to do them, maybe you’ll do them anyway. But you are showing initiative, and maybe that’s the key word in this entire story.

The word "initiative" triggers some memories I have of people’s rants that employers are demanding initiative or criticizing that someone lacks initiative, and the employee argues in return, "You’re not paying me for that. You pay me for the training, and I’ll do it." That is a valid viewpoint for someone who is a "doer". It suggests that they are not in a field they enjoy. I think that’s fine. You can be competent without initiative. You probably won’t go as far, nor will you be as happy, but that’s the trade-off for being able to have two lives.

For a "lifer", the new skill being learned isn’t as much about having a bigger toolbelt to move to a new job or to demand more pay, although those are certainly perks for doing it, it’s about controlling your environment. You know, another cliche. If you don’t like where you’re at, change it. Of course, you also have to get used to a lot of rejection. This isn’t your company and you don’t make all the decisions, but coming up with potential solutions for problems is a life skill that will never not pay dividends. And if you’re in a company that has a supportive management, you’ll be noticed. If you’re in a company that has a backstabbing management, you’re in a better position to go to a better place.

So in summary, those would be my two arguments: that I am a "lifer" in that I am constantly applying and honing the skills of my profession, and that I will constantly be advancing new ideas to the company for our mutual benefit. I would hope that there are more like me out there, but I know that I have only ever worked with one other person that I know practices and learns outside of work. That’s not a good ratio.

Look At What You Can’t Have

Posted by anachostic on May 18, 2021 No comments

Every once in a while, I do a little "worst-case" scenario and determine how little I need to get by in case of, you know, the worst case scenario happening. It’s not overly complex, it’s basically reviewing my budget and seeing how things have changed for better or worse since the last exercise.

One of the line items is the mortgage. Almost 5 years ago, I refi’d into a 15-yr loan with a better rate and I’ve been paying a minimal extra amount on the loan each month. So one of the things if shit really hit the fan is I would attempt to refi it back into a 30-yr so I could reclaim some of the money I’d budgeted to that bill. I suppose some people might consider pulling out the equity in the house and surviving on that until things got better, but this is just the way I think. Don’t give up ground, even if your progress has been slowed.

So anyway, I brought up a mortgage calculator and like a lot of nice, friendly forms, this one had nice sliders to adjust the values. The page loaded like this.

Well, I’m not getting a 330k loan, now or ever. So I dragged the slider down. And when I did, something crazy happened. The house picture changed.

Fucking ouch. What a punch in the gut. When you load the page, the site is setting your expectations with "this is what your house will probably be like" and when you eventually say, "I can’t afford that payment," you move the slider and the site says, "Well, now you’re looking at this kind of house." No stairs. No ornamental shrubs. Even the tree is wimpier, suggesting you’re just a beginner. And while that may be true, it’s not as encouraging as it should be. Don’t focus on where you will be, focus on where you are right now – smallsville.

But I’m not looking for a loan even in that area. The calculator doesn’t go where I need it to go, but I tried.

Jesus. 100k and this is all you get for it. Well, at least it’s a two story place, which I suppose might be better than what I have. But the point still stands, getting two sad reminders of where you are, not where you’re going. Of course, once you are faced with the reality, who isn’t going to dream a little and peek over the fence to see the greener grass? It’s human nature. If you feel bad, feeling worse is the easiest thing to accomplish. Drag, drag, drag.

Nice. Bigger garage, columns, bigger tree, fireplace. But I really want to feel bad.

Sigh. Ok. That’s enough.

No Problems, Only Opportunities

Posted by anachostic on April 18, 2021 No comments

What Millennials Can Learn From Gen X’s Money Mistakes

You can consider me a sucker for any article on generational warfare, especially one that involves mine. So when an article immediately says I’m making mistakes with my money, I’m doubly interested.

I feel I’ve made this clear in other posts, but I really do feel sorry for generations after mine. While the generation preceding me couldn’t care much about anything other than itself, I am embarrassed at what has been left for the younger ones to clean up, fix, or just try to survive through. My whole generation is too small to have made any political impression or enact any meaningful change, but I’ve been waiting for the next major cohort to flex its muscle, and I expect we see things the same way.

Anyway…

This article says its a collection of advice from financial experts who want Gen Y to do things differently from Gen X – "Break the chains of financial norms that were enshrined as gospel in the last century." Here’s the truth that overshadows the entire article: The financial norms are not norms anymore because the entire economy and financial markets got fucked. But that’s not a problem. Don’t focus on that problem. Don’t bother trying to solve the problem (as if you could anyway).

The term "gaslight" is used way too frequently and usually inappropriately. I’m not going to use it here, but it feels some would. This article is more of the more traditional, "blowing smoke up your ass" flavor.

Point 1: Gen Y should focus on Roth accounts instead of traditional retirement accounts. I’m not going to argue particulars, this advice can go either way. I just want to point out that Roth IRA’s were created in 1997. It’s not like there was a lot of information on the benefits of a Roth at the time. And now, given time, experience, and income growth, I now contribute 100% to post-tax retirement accounts. Because Gen X makes all the financial mistakes.

Point 2: Gen Y should give up on whatever used to be the idea of financial success. Let me get that exact quote.

"…millennials need to reconsider the entire concept of wealth, success and financial freedom – particularly as it applies to standards that were set in a different time"

It shouldn’t take much cynicism to deduce that "a different time" means "a better time". What example of change was provided?

"Are we sure we want a 30-year mortgage on the largest house we can possibly secure financing for to go along with our student loan debt and auto loan? … Maybe a used RV and a WiFi hotspot are more appealing than a 2,000-square-foot ranch."

And now I want to really punch someone. I’ll give you this much. Buying the biggest house you can get financing for is a financial mistake, worthy of the title of the article. But to suggest that Gen Y should just literally give up on the concept of owning a house to live in a depreciating asset and have them consider that move financially savvy? That is an even bigger financial mistake. One that a future article will use comparing Gen Y and Gen Z.

And there’s a real trigger: "student loan debt". Something my generation didn’t have to worry about, at least not to enslavement levels of debt like today. Maybe a used RV is not so much "more appealing" as it is "the only option". I’m not saying lower your expectations, I’m just saying to refine them.

Point 3: Accept that shit sucks. Deal with it. I would really have to copy the whole text of the two paragraphs to do justice to what is being bullshitted. Remember, the problem the article is hiding is that the economy absolutely sucks. Gen Y started a revolution by creating "the gig economy". You know what the gig economy has done? It has resulted in workers being exploited and cheapened, with no redeeming benefits. And no benefits at all. For every success story on a gig worker, you have a thousand who are working themselves to the bone just to get by.

The Gen X life story? "Get a college degree. Land a job. Buy a house. Invest for retirement someday." Their take on these universal desires? "It’s a flawed model." IT’S A FUCKING FLAWED MODEL. I got my job with a Associates degree in an unrelated field. Gen Y (and Z now) have to have Bachelors degrees to get entry level jobs. They can’t get any job paying well enough to buy a house or to invest for retirement someday. WHOSE MODEL IS FUCKING FLAWED HERE?

So the explanation for being flawed is that it doesn’t align with Gen Y’s priorities: "experiences over possessions, and prioritizing purpose, innovation, and flexibility". And I’m going to say again, these priorities are due to the fact the world is garbage. They are compensation for having nothing else. When your world is so dead that you simply want to experience as much happiness as possible as soon as possible because you don’t expect things to be getting better in your lifetime, that’s a problem. When you demand flexibility because you know you can’t trust any institution for stability, that’s a problem. As far as purpose and innovation, Gen X had that as well, only it wasn’t something we had to demand, it was simply allowed. That’s a problem.

This romanticizing of renting for life and RVing and being mobile and nomadic, that’s a symptom of the times. It’s a necessity to survival. You really don’t think that if circumstances were the same now as they were 20 years ago that a whole generation would behave so differently? If anything the nomadic lifestyle would be taken up for pleasure. If the promise of technology had not been stolen by a few obscenely rich, powerful people, we’d all be living a utopian life.

For the boomers who were flower children until the end and look around with sadness at what they were unable to sustain, I will be a nerd who will die lamenting how the Internet was supposed to bring enlightenment and knowledge and was reduced to conspiracies and trolls. Gen Y, ponder well what legacy you wish to leave unfulfilled to the world.

All Good Things Must

Posted by anachostic on March 2, 2021 No comments

be made more difficult.

To be honest, T-Mobile has been an excellent company for me. I’ve always had decent service and they’ve never really let me down. Some of their promotional offers have been really interesting as well. It was a long time ago that they offered one share of T-Mobile stock for free to all subscribers. I regret not taking the time to claim that offer now. "Free is free" and I didn’t take it. Shame on me.

One of their other excellent offers was a checking account with 4% interest. Absolutely unheard of when it came out and is still unbelievable today. Granted, it’s only 4% on the first $3k in the account and 1% on everything over that. But even so, 1%? How sad is it that their base rate is still higher than everyone else? When I signed up, I had no idea how they could afford to do it and all these years later, I still don’t know how they can keep it up.

Well, that time has come. I’m sure there are a lot of money-wise people out there that are stocking $3k in that account and nothing more. In order to qualify for that 4% max rate, you have to have a $200 deposit every month into the account. Of course, people are going to people, so you can be absolutely assured that lots of people keep $3k in the account, then have an automated $200 deposit in each month and a corresponding $200 withdrawal every month as well. Totally worth it for 4% interest on $3k, I’m sure.

A bank isn’t going to make any money that way, I understand that. And so, it’s come to this. A new change in the way you qualify for the max interest rate. Again, I get it. The alternative is they just stop the offer altogether and then it’s just another nice thing ruined by people.

So anyway, what’s the change? Instead of having the $200/mo required deposit, you now have to make 10 purchases with the check card each month. This is logical as the bank would get a transaction fee for each purchase and those fees would pay for the bonus interest. Makes sense to me. The thing I don’t like is the way they are selling it to their customers. They say:

We understand making a monthly deposit may be tough and we want T‑Mobile MONEY to work for you. So, eligible customers will soon earn 4.00% APY* by using your T‑Mobile MONEY card for daily purchases like groceries, gas, or shopping online.

They understand making a monthly deposit may be tough. But it’s easier to make 10 transactions in a month. If you’re making 10 transactions in a month and not making any deposits, now that’s tough. But that’s where we’re at, I guess. Also, it’s a little irksome that to qualify for a higher interest rate, you have to lower your balance with 10 purchases. But, it’s their game and their rules.

I just wish they would have been honest with the reasons. I thought TMo used to have a slogan, "Straight talk", but it seems that’s another company. Why can’t they just explain it in reality and not need to spin it?

So that’s that. Now, what does this change cost the users? Here’s my plan. I normally get a drink from RaceTrac when I get takeout from certain restaurants. It’s $1.07 each time. So, RaceTrac now gets my TMo transactions. It’ll cost me a little over $10 to earn… wait, what? $18 in interest? Well, it’s not like that, exactly. I would be spending the $10 on another card regardless, so the math actually comes out that I would be losing interest on that $10, or 10 cents. Ugh, wait, not 10 cents. It’s 1%/12 months, so actually .0833%… 0.8 cents a month. I fucking hate math.

Now, if you were below the $3k balance and earning 4% on your whole balance, the numbers are a little worse. So to maximize your money here, you need to keep $3k in your account, plus whatever monthly fluctuations you have to keep you over that threshold. And for the people who automated $200 in and $200 out, now it would be a modification of maybe $20 in and $20 out via purchases each month. Same game, new rules.

Nobody Is Winning

Posted by anachostic on November 17, 2020 No comments

As far as I can tell, this is a shit year for everyone, and I don’t mean that in a blanket sort of way. It seems everyone is getting dinged here and there very specifically. I mean, yeah, there’s this global thing going on that everyone is getting hit by, but some people are getting hit by it in a more direct way, or in an absolute direct way.

But that’s not everything that’s going on. All the other things, whether minor, major, or catastrophic, are happing, too. And some are direct and some are specific. I certainly don’t want to classify whatever things I’ve been having happen to me as the same as someone who’s been through more than one of the, what, 30+ tropical storms this year, or wildfires, or earthquakes, or god knows what else. But with everything that has been happening and we still have a month and half left to go in the year, I’m just out of fucks.

My gripes as of lately, as I’ve implied, are minor. They’re just annoyances, but in a year where all you hear about is shit, it’s enough. A flat tire here, internet going down multiple times after years and years and years of rock-solid stability. It just seems like everything is coming to an end. Maybe I wouldn’t have even given those issues a second thought in another year, but there is no good news to really balance it out. Everything is bad.

And now we have half the country pissed off they can’t be as openly racist as they want and the other half is pissed that the other half exists.

I don’t even know where I was going with this post, but it’s relevant to the times.

The Modern Apartment Life

Posted by anachostic on October 30, 2020 No comments

I had a dream last night which gave me an idea that was very much in the spirit of the times. It’s no secret that the world we live in is the most unfair, inequitable, selfish, and greedy in generations. So, why not capitalize on it? So here’s my idea. Obviously, I couldn’t do anything like this for multiple reasons, not the least of which is morals. But if I was of that exploitive bent, I think this might actually work.

What’s hot right now? Renting. Why? Because no one can afford a house, even though rent is pretty much a house payment anyway, but for lots of other reasons, people can’t get a house. So, being a landlord is good. What’s even better is having high-end apartments, because even if people can’t afford to have a house, they still don’t want to have to live in, ugh, an apartment building. Temporarily displaced millionaires and all.

My design is a high-story building. Not like 30 stories high, just a moderate 10-12. It has a multi-level parking garage enough to house 2.5 cars per unit. 2 cars per unit, some overflow guest parking, and renters can pay for additional spaces. On the top floor of the building is a gym with inspiring views, and a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Obviously, there is a resort-style pool and small dog park. Library, meeting/conference/party rooms, you know. All the stuff. So we’ve established this is a luxury apartment complex that’s essentially like living at a vacation resort. The rent doesn’t have to be outrageous, just in line with the amenities. The gatekeeping and exclusivity comes from a different source – the deposit.

To have a lease in this complex, you have to make a deposit of $20,000. Jaw-dropping, yes. Believable in this day and age, yes as well. Only the first one to do this will seem weird, then when it works, it will become normal. It’s happened over and over. Who would have thought people would be buying $1,500 phones?

Now obviously, this is a deposit, so you’ll get it back when you leave. I don’t know a lot about the rental industry, but I assume a rental company holds a percentage of the deposits they take in and uses the rest for working capital. It would be unlikely that there would be a mass outflow of tenants that would result in a "run on the bank", so to say. But that sort of working methodology just doesn’t sit right with me. That money is never yours and it’s a one-time boost, unlike the recurring inflow of rent payments. So in my business, the deposits are always 100% off-limits for business use.

So what do you do with that money? 120 units each with a $20k deposit is almost $2.5 million dollars. Well, you invest it! You put it in some safe income-bearing investment and the additional income from that investment is used to operate the business. Investing 2.4M with a 4% return will provide almost $100k a year, without compounding. Let’s consider what rent could be for such a high-end apartment. $1,500/mo? That would be $180k/mo in rental income, then an extra $8k/mo in investment income. That’s like having an extra 5 units paying rent.

And you know, the $20k deposit is still perfectly on point with the times. It keeps the "undesirables" out. So you’d have to have impeccable credit as well as a large hoard of cash to get into this building. And the exploitation of the tenants, even beyond what’s normal for rentals, is that the business gets to use the tenant’s capital for their own use. Shit, they could even sell it as a benefit to their renters, saying, "your deposit will be held securely so when you are ready to graduate to homeownership from renting, you’ll have a great source for your house’s down payment." Obviously ignoring the fact that the deposit is locked in a zero-interest account, while the apartment business is collecting the interest.

That just modern life in these dystopian times.

How That’s Done

Posted by anachostic on October 14, 2020 No comments

I’ve kept my mouth relatively shut for the last few years on this topic, but I’ve been thinking a lot about this specific thing and I felt I should get it out and in writing before I either forget it or it becomes irrelevant. Hopefully the latter happens first.

There’s this guy you have heard of, Donald Trump. Without really saying how I feel about him, I just want to explain this thing he does that is so dangerous. I know it’s way too late to change anyone’s minds for the upcoming election. And I rather doubt anyone under his sway will actually have their eyes opened by this explanation, but it never hurts to try.

There are countless examples of people parodying a Trump response to a question. A lot of them are spot on, usually rather funny, and also sad in their accuracy. I think a lot of people focus on the rambling, delusional aspects of the responses, which is a mistake. I don’t think Trump is stupid, like mentally stupid. He does things very intentionally.

I’ve read some analysis of his verbalisms, but nothing that really focuses on what is really trying to be accomplished with them. The best thing I have read is that he uses a long string of phrases that don’t really form a cohesive statement, but each one has a small nugget of something you want to hear and those pieces are what you focus on and ignore the rest. That way, everyone gets something of what they want out of the spew. That is probably accurate, but I have another observation, and I’ll provide a very simple, commonplace example. It’s believable, for sure, and when you see that technique can be applied to just about any question, hopefully you’ll never listen to his answers the same way again.

Here’s the hypothetical journalist question and Trump’s answer:

"Meteorologists are saying it’s not going to rain tomorrow. Do you think it’s going to rain?"

"Absolutely! 100%! It absolutely will rain. They say it’s not going to rain. They went to school for years and years and have all these degrees and they say it’s not going to rain. It should rain! Don’t you think? That would be beautiful. We need the rain. You know, all that school, all that, they don’t know. They say it won’t rain. Maybe it won’t. But it should rain. I’m sure it will. And that will be great for everyone. It would be a real shame if it didn’t. It would be bad for everyone."

And what do people get out of this babble? If it doesn’t rain, they get mad at the scientists because it should have rained. That was the right answer even though science says it won’t happen. The question was asking for a simple opinion and what we’re given is a statement on how we should feel about it. "It" being one specific viewpoint. In this case and in many cases, the viewpoint is in opposition to the scientific facts.

I have read many times that conservatives are not driven by logic, but by emotion. Not only in political topics, but in their entire lives. If it feels correct, it is correct. The problem with that is it is much easier to make someone feel a certain way than it is to make them think and understand a certain way. And that is what Trump (and many other con men) can exploit.

Let’s break down that long answer to the question.

"Absolutely! 100%! It absolutely will rain." – Start off with complete confidence and speak in absolutes. There is no place for disagreement here.
"They say it’s not going to rain. They went to school for years and years and have all these degrees and they say it’s not going to rain." – Attack the opposition. Even though they are correct, they need to be painted as the bad guys. Vagueness – using They and Other People – is perfectly fine. Be specific if you can, but an unknown enemy has advantages as well.
"It should rain! Don’t you think? That would be beautiful. We need the rain." – Why should we hate the experts? Explain it. Exploit feelings. You need to feel why you should be angry.
"You know, all that school, all that, they don’t know. They say it won’t rain." – While people are agreeing with the good things you said, say something bad about your opponent. Your mind is still saying "yes" and that "yes" will continue into the next statement. This is actually a well-known sales tactic. They get you to agree to anything ("It’s hot out today"), then carry that agreement into further conversation.
"Maybe it won’t." – This has two excellent benefits. You get an out if you’re wrong, because you can say you never said absolutely, and you inject a feeling of disappointment if the experts are right.
"But it should rain. I’m sure it will. And that will be great for everyone. It would be a real shame if it didn’t. It would be bad for everyone." – Don’t focus on your backpedalling, focus on the benefits of your answer, despite the fact you are wrong.

To summarize: Make your claim, attack your opponent, appeal to your audience, use agreement against your opponent, suggest you might be wrong – but that would be bad, restate your claim with the benefits.

If you don’t want to absorb all of these bits, at least take this: If you hear someone making a speech and they ask a question that sounds like it should be rhetorical, go on alert. They are trying to create agreement between something obvious and something you need to be convinced of.

Anachostic