OT: Hurricanes Lounge XLV: Y2K Twenty-Four Years Later

[DaveG]

Oh I’m with you. Im a fall/winter person so I’m in my glory aside from shoveling snow. I ski a lot and started volunteering my medic “skills” at a local resort for a free pass so…..bring it.

yeah this is something I miss about being back up north, probably the main one. I have zero doubts I could trade my skills with brewing into a season pass for a case or three if needed.

 

[bleedgreen]

yeah this is something I miss about being back up north, probably the main one. I have zero doubts I could trade my skills with brewing into a season pass for a case or three if needed.

I get paid comp tickets too, your brewing skills would absolutely get some day passes out of me.

 

[WreckingCrew]

I just miss snow. I’ll probably regret saying that, since driving in the stuff in NC is literally the worst thing ever, but it never really feels like winter without. At least, IMO

Agreed, I enjoy a nice peaceful snowfall, instead of what we've had the last 2 years which is 32F and raining...that's truly miserable weather

 

[Lempo]

I get paid comp tickets too, your brewing skills would absolutely get some day passes out of me.

Are we so close to nuclear holocaust now that we better start listing our barterable skills just in case?

 

[DaveG]

Are we so close to nuclear holocaust now that we better start listing our barterable skills just in case?

I mean never hurts to find those with useful skills for when the shit hits the fan while simultaneously hoping it doesn't

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

I mean never hurts to find those with useful skills for when the shit hits the fan while simultaneously hoping it doesn't

I’d better start making antibiotics at home…

 

[NotOpie]

@NotOpie in relation to my last response to you about not calling them "entitlements", I did the following analysis last night based on my Social Security Statement.

Assumptions:
1) The SS taxes I paid and my employer paid since the start of my first full time job goes into my own account vs. being sent to the gov't. Call it a 401Ks. This is 12.4% of income up to the income limit.
2) 5% investment return, but for simplicity sake, only compounded annually.
3) Do not take money out until 67. Although my contributions have ceased, the account will still get 5% return. I'm still quite a few years from that age so it will continue to grow for many years.
4) At age 67, take the amount in the account and put into an annuity using a 3% return and running for 20 years (which is 10 years beyond the average life expectancy of a male in the US). I wouldn't take out an annuity, but it's easier for this analysis.
5) Compare that to my Social Security statement where at age 67, I take social securing and my wife takes it based off of mine at 50%.

The analysis? The annuity would be paying me 33% more than Social Security in year 1.

I realize it's more complicated because of taxes on investment earnings and taxes on Social Security, but it exemplifies that these aren't "entitlements". The fact that the gov't is inept at handling money is the real issue, not the people receiving the benefits for money we all paid into the system.

@Boom Boom Apathy There is nothing that you say that I disagree with. I merely use the "shorthand" term entitlements because that's what the government refers to them as and, dammit, I paid in for years and years. So no matter how shitty the government is at managing money, I'm still entitled to "that money".

Now all of that said, I also did a calculation of my return if I invested my SS funds into low risk stock and bond funds and came up with the same conclusion. In fact, I believe my monthly checks would have been about 140% of what my projected SS will be (assuming retirement at 68).

In fact, way back when, George W. Bush floated a social security reform plan that would have allowed you to steer a portion of your social security into other investment vehicles, I was all for it. My recollection is that they did the appropriate actuarial calculations, offered the option to opt in to the private investment component, and would allow people to stay on traditional SS. Of course he was demonized and it was never even seriously debated.

In the end Social Security is a rapidly deflating Ponzi scheme and I feel for all of us. As I said, our elected representatives are too chickenshit or just too "hold on to my power" to do anything about it. Every day that goes by ensures the reform will have to be more painful for all.

 

[skipnjump]

It's early November and it's 81 degrees outside. There are people outside jogging in bike shorts. It's bizarre.

And my family members in Colorado had snow yesterday...

I just miss snow. I’ll probably regret saying that, since driving in the stuff in NC is literally the worst thing ever, but it never really feels like winter without. At least, IMO

I agree. I'm from Indiana originally and I just miss a good snow.

 

[Unsustainable]

We got about six inches of snow last night up to now, still going and it’s 26 degrees. Not buying it’s a warm winter yet! It’s our second snow and I think there’s more coming.

Snow huh?

 

[bleedgreen]

Snow huh?

Sometimes my youth is so humiliating. Leaving us with “a licky boom boom down”……

I’m glad I don’t have kids to explain that to.

 

[DaveG]

Sometimes my youth is so humiliating. Leaving us to with “a licky boom boom down”……

I’m glad I don’t have kids to explain that to.

Nah, see, that's where I make sure the exposure is stuff like Talking Heads, Pixies, Tribe Called Quest, etc. flat out gaslight and lead them to believe all the embarrassing crap is just a fever dream.

 

[Lempo]

"Yes, son, it did exist, but we ruthlessly mocked it at the day. And it only sold double platinum because everyone wanted to laugh at it."

 

[Derailed75]

@Boom Boom Apathy There is nothing that you say that I disagree with. I merely use the "shorthand" term entitlements because that's what the government refers to them as and, dammit, I paid in for years and years. So no matter how shitty the government is at managing money, I'm still entitled to "that money".

Now all of that said, I also did a calculation of my return if I invested my SS funds into low risk stock and bond funds and came up with the same conclusion. In fact, I believe my monthly checks would have been about 140% of what my projected SS will be (assuming retirement at 68).

In fact, way back when, George W. Bush floated a social security reform plan that would have allowed you to steer a portion of your social security into other investment vehicles, I was all for it. My recollection is that they did the appropriate actuarial calculations, offered the option to opt in to the private investment component, and would allow people to stay on traditional SS. Of course he was demonized and it was never even seriously debated.

In the end Social Security is a rapidly deflating Ponzi scheme and I feel for all of us. As I said, our elected representatives are too chickenshit or just too "hold on to my power" to do anything about it. Every day that goes by ensures the reform will have to be more painful for all.

I find irony in the fact that SS was set up because the Government thought we were too stupid to be able to save or invest our money properly, so they decided they would do it because ya know they have shown how good they are at handling expenses.

 

[bleedgreen]

Nah, see, that's where I make sure the exposure is stuff like Talking Heads, Pixies, Tribe Called Quest, etc. flat out gaslight and lead them to believe all the embarrassing crap is just a fever dream.

I so tried that with my nephews….and it was utter failure. They’re students of pop culture and love exploring the worst of it around me, and associating me with all of it. While never listening to the pixies unless it pops up in a game they’re playing. Mind you one of them loves kpop and the other is trying to be a musician and being of his generation can’t write a song longer than a TikTok video while refusing to learn anything about actual music because he doesn’t want his “creativity” shaped and shackled by theory. He wants to transcend.



Skip to about 1 minute to get the joke immediately, or breathe in the entire brilliant musical sequence. I often use the quote “oh….lightbulb!” from this same scene.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Let's focus up on the important things.

What games have you played over the last 7 months?

Yakuza 0
Yakuza 1
Yakuza 2
Yakuza 3
Yakuza 4
Yakuza 5
Yakuza 6
Yakuza LAD Ishin
Yakuza LAD Gaiden
Yakuza LAD
Yakuza LAD Infinite Wealth
Judgment

 

[Svechhammer]

Sometimes my youth is so humiliating. Leaving us with “a licky boom boom down”……

I’m glad I don’t have kids to explain that to.

Lol man if you're worried about having to explain that, imagine trying to explain WAP

 

[Lempo]

Lol man if you're worried about having to explain that, imagine trying to explain WAP

It wasn't a bad idea but the mobile phone technology quite wasn't there yet and the UI just was too cumbersome.

 

[Derailed75]

Yakuza 0
Yakuza 1
Yakuza 2
Yakuza 3
Yakuza 4
Yakuza 5
Yakuza 6
Yakuza LAD Ishin
Yakuza LAD Gaiden
Yakuza LAD
Yakuza LAD Infinite Wealth
Judgment

Because I'm cheap and waiting for either discounts or the bugs to be worked out of the latest blockbusters I replayed State of Decay and and currently knee deep in State of Decay 2. Really looking forward to SoD3

 

[hangman005]

I mean never hurts to find those with useful skills for when the shit hits the fan while simultaneously hoping it doesn't

Is being large enough to feed a large family for a month when we resort to cannibalism considered a skill

 

[HisIceness]

I did not win the presidency, I will try again in 2028

 

[tarheelhockey]

And of course Red Dead II is a damn masterpiece. It's not easy doing a prequel, but they knocked it out of the park.

Red Dead II was such a good prequel that it created even greater demand for another prequel.

That seems like a pretty rare thing in any kind of media. Prequels usually fall a little flat, and even the good ones don’t typically leave people clamoring for more. Whereas Red Dead II leaves the audience going “don’t stop now, I gotta know what happened before this!”

 

[tarheelhockey]

I find irony in the fact that SS was set up because the Government thought we were too stupid to be able to save or invest our money properly, so they decided they would do it because ya know they have shown how good they are at handling expenses.

SS started in 1935, there was nothing ironic about people thinking private markets weren’t trustworthy.

 

[Derailed75]

SS started in 1935, there was nothing ironic about people thinking private markets weren’t trustworthy.

The irony is that the government run SS was supposed to be safe and keep us from blowing/losing our money.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The irony is that the government run SS was supposed to be safe and keep us from blowing/losing our money.

And unfortunately, they are partially correct. Only 54% of households in the US have a 401K or IRA and of that 54%, the average balance for those age 55-64 is $244,750.

Clearly, for those who don't make as much and are struggling to make ends meet, it is harder to put money away for retirement, but I also believe that if you gave that 12.4% from Social Security to every person in the workforce, many people would just spend it on eating out, video games, DoorDash, latest tech gadgets, etc.. and the 54% and $244K numbers wouldn't have changed much.

 

[Derailed75]

And unfortunately, they are partially correct. Only 54% of households in the US have a 401K or IRA and of that 54%, the average balance for those age 55-64 is $244,750.

Clearly, for those who don't make as much and are struggling to make ends meet, it is harder to put money away for retirement, but I also believe that if you gave that 12.4% from Social Security to every person in the workforce, many people would just spend it on eating out, video games, DoorDash, latest tech gadgets, etc.. and the 54% and $244K numbers wouldn't have changed much.

Very possible but at least the people would be wasting the money they earned not the government