alightinthefire

so, the basic idea of investment was once upon a time, "i need money to start a business." "i will give you money to do that, if you give me some of the profits" "okay."

the stock market allegedly simplifies that process, and allows for massive amounts of people to invest in a company, and get profits, and a small share of voting power, in return. crowdfunding! yay!

except. except. people dont actually invest in companies in order to see that business flourish. they dont even KNOW what all theyve invested in because banks do all that shit now. the "stock" is just a really weird form of currency, and the rich assholes consolidate and do weird shit to still have all the voting power. the investment isnt for the investments sake, its with the hope that Number Go Up in the future, creating this stupid fucking infinite growth or bust problem we're running into.

(quote from the videos used in my accounting course)

I AM BITING AND SCRATCHING AND HURTING THE FINANCIAL SECTOR SO MUCH. HATE KILL KILL KILL.

WHY THE FUCK DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN.

"invest in a company, and you will get a share of the profits and voting power in how its run" is literally the most straightforward way to crowdfund a company under capitalism. "buy and sell random shares as the market fluctuates, never touching the companies you are investing in" is fucking nonsense garbage.

also if the original intent was still the primary way of making money on the stock market, that would help curtail the infinite growth problem, because "my shares give me like $200 a year" is a good deal! you don't need to wait for the stock price to change, you just...get money from the company! because you own part of it! you won't get RICH off of it unless you happen to strike gold, but it's a solid return on investment model. SOME people would still choose the risky "give me no dividends for now, i think this company is gonna get BIG" option, but companies with a steady business would still be very attractive to the majority i think. as it stands now though, why would you EVER bother with a steady company, when you can trade literally minute to minute if you want? so we incentivize being sensational over doing anything WELL. fucking. make stock mean anything again PLEASE.

It's the Cat's (1926)

[letterboxd | imdb | youtube]

Director: Dave Fleischer

Studio: Inkwell Studios

You Know IT’S REALLY SUMMER When… (MAD #162, October 1973)

so to clarify, i dont watch nostalgia critic, i just watch doug talking normally about modern movies he just watched.

its mostly habit, ive been watching the guy for like 15 years. the thing is that doug as himself is a guy who has watched a lot of movies and does have two decades of forming opinions on them. he has an extensive familiarity with tropes, cliches and stories and has like, ideas and opinions on them that feel wholly his own. He is from another time of fandom and geekery, in many senses he is still a relic from the mid 2000's so it is very fascinating to hear his opinions on things like the amazing digital circus or the knights of guenevire.