What

-Don’t use “buy now pay later.” The fine print isn’t what it seems.

-The fine print on medical financing, store credit cards, and contactless payment is also not what it seems.

-Payday loans are still predatory, even when offered by your employer

-Rewards programs are an income stream for the companies that run them. The points systems are manipulated so that the house always wins. They depend on people leaving money in rewards accounts and not in interest-bearing traditional bank accounts.

-Electronic payment apps like VenMo are not banks. You don’t earn interest. Your money is not protected.

-Your financial information is not private if your money is not kept in a regulated bank.

-None of this is regulated by the FDIC. Your money is not protected if it is held by a non-bank doing banking business. Our economy is not protected from the collapse of financial institutions that are not banks.

 A third of younger Americans hold their savings on nonbank tech platforms like Venmo

PEOPLE! DO NOT LEAVE YOUR MONEY IN VENMO OR APPLE PAY OR ANY OF THIS SHIT. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO FIND A REAL BANK OR A CREDIT UNION.

If Venmo were to close tomorrow all your money would vanish. There's no insurance or guarantee on any of these things. I know banks aren't great but legit banks will have the "FDIC insured" logo on their doors and websites, which means if my bank goes under tomorrow I still get my money back. Also I guarantee you there is a credit union somewhere in your town, go find it.

Like maybe you think you can turn around and pay it off when you get paid or just ride it out and just deal with the payments, but these entities are created to prey upon desperate people. your payment seems low at first but then you end up short on something else or another emergency happens so you access your line of credit to stay afloat. Then that ding to your paycheck gets bigger and bigger. It is a TRAP. THEY ARE PREDATORY AF.

I am privileged enough to make decent money, but when I was first starting out I had one bad month with medical bills and emergencies piling up and I felt as though I had no other choice. So I got a payday loan. By the end of it, I was struggling to feed myself and keep my lights on at the same time. I couldn't go to the doctor, I lived in complete fear that I'd have another emergency I couldn't afford. Even when I got a promotion it wasn't enough to pay these leeches and live on at the same time. I was having trouble affording medication. I was in a VERY dark place for months with incredible depression and hopelessness that could have led me to something very very drastic.

Over time I was able to borrow what I needed to pay off the loan and I'm still recovering from that financial bloodbath even months later. Not everyone has that support network to borrow money or the credit to approach a reputable entity for a loan to get out from under a predatory loan. I was VERY LUCKY THAT I DIDN'T LOSE MY HOUSING BECAUSE THAT IS A REALITY FOR MANY MANY PEOPLE WHO TAKE ON THESE LOANS.

They do not care about you, they will not work with you. Refinancing is incredibly expensive and opens you up to even more fees. YOU ARE BETTER OFF CALLING YOUR POWER COMPANY AND TRYING TO SET UP A PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT OR PAYING LATE FEES ON RENT OR LETTING A MEDICAL BILL GO TO COLLECTIONS. I know that will ding your credit but if it doesn't happen now it WILL later because suddenly you're in a sandpit of playing money tetris that these companies actively hope that you fall into so that you go back to them for more and more.

The silver winged fiend 🤍

but halfway through he reveals that while researching he stumbled upon evidence that Light might be behind the Kira murders, and then spends like fourty minutes explaining the concept of a shinigami, an hour explaining how he thinks Light used one to commit murders, and then another hour explaining Light's ideology and why the concept of criminals being inherently evil is flawed

If watching this whole video hasn't changed your mind - made you *think* about the humanity of the people you are just callously sentencing to death - then I'm at a bit of a loss. But I do know one thing you don't:

My legal name.

That's right. Before I uploaded this video, I changed my legal name, and have encouraged those in my life to do so as well. Frankly, trying to decide what my new name would be probably pushed back this video's release like, a month.

(Aside: Actually it didn't but we can all just pretend it did, it's way more interesting than the minutiae of real issues that cropped up)

So. Is Light Yagami Kira? I can't say for sure. It turns out, accusing a public figure of serial murder comes with a lot of legal ramifications! You would think I'd have learned by now that talking about people has "potential consequences" like "being sued by extremely litigious individuals. "

I spent a long time thinking how to end this video. The only thing I came up with is that there's no way to judge a person by just a list of actions alone. And yes that includes Light, the wanker. Courts spend weeks and weeks trying to litigate criminal cases and they still get it wrong! So even though I think he may be the actual scum of the earth, I hope I'm wrong. I want to believe that, given the opportunity, he wouldn't take the ten seconds to write down my name and take my life with just a flick of his wrist.

*long beat*

But I still changed my name so don't even think about it you little sh-