this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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Was just trying to explain to someone why everything is going to shit, specifically companies, and realized, I don't fully get it either.

I've got the following explanation. The sentences marked with "???" are were I'm lost. Anyone mind telling me, if they're correct and if so, why?

The past few years, central banks were giving out interest rates of 0% or even negative percentages. Regular banks would not quite pass this on, but you could still loan money and give it back later with no real interest payments.

This lead to lots of people investing in companies. As long as those companies paid out more money than those low interest rates, it was worthwhile. But at the same time, this meant companies didn't have to be profitable, because they could pay out investors from money that other investors gave them???

This has stopped being the case, as central banks are hiking interest rates again, to combat inflation???

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[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Because 2013 happened. And 2013 was bullshit. I'm sure Adobe Creative Cloud, iOS 7 and the Xbox One would gladly explain that to you. Oh, and I forgot Vine. I mean, it was really good, but it basically led to Musical.ly, which led to TikTok. YouTube also got rid of the customisable channel page, instead giving us a simple banner instead (I said instead 3 times now). And did I mention fingerprint scanners on phones? I'm sure you all remember Facebook Home. You don't? Well, you're better off not remembering it. Also, they killed Brian Griffin only to ressurect him from the dead all of a sudden. And finally, Office 2013. There's nothing wrong with it, it just looked like garbage.

All of this led to the dystopian lifestyle we're currently living in.

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)
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[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I'm not sure the explanation is true. It basically says that "lots of people" invested in Ponzi schemes. That's usually not the case. Stock returns or dividends are based on the operating profits, not the balance from new investors. It would require that companies deliberately fake their financial statements, and while that probably happens, it's definitely not the explanation for why "everything" went to shit overall.

It's true that the low interest has caused people who have money to place them in investments and that this may have overinflated the value of some companies, or that the money is placed in more risky companies.

The second part is also true. Central banks are increasing the interest rates in an attempt to bring inflation down.

Overall, the idea is right that inflation, interest and investments are tied together, but it doesn't really explain why everything is going to shit.

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

All of the "grrrrrr human nature bad!" people are blissfully unaware for how long ruling classes or even the same lineage of family in areas has ruled over humanity, siphoning off the joy and labor of society for their own diamond back scratchers.

In the modern day, any form of help or assistance that could be used for the well-being of the people is instead commodotized and/or trivialized to maximize profits. Public spaces, works, and goods are all basically non-existent, so your reliance for community is based on local word of mouth or the internet, however an increasingly car dependent society limits the ability of people to have accessible common places to meet up. Social media companies have been taking increasing efforts in making their apps shittier which imo is a strategic move to deplatform minority voices who have been gaining social media presence.

I think for a while the internet was still untouched enough to be a nice escape, but it really feels like every aspect that was a nice reprieve or break from the rest of the world has been invaded.

[โ€“] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago

The world is becoming globalized, and that is (and will continue to) spin the world into chaos, until everyone is treated equally

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