NeuroTypical

Heh - two choices: 1-The government will take care of you and make all the decisions. 2-People take charge of their own futures and some of 'em will screw up and ruin their futures. 401ks have been providing tax-advantaged reliable 4-8% returns since they were invented. If you started investing at age 20, and then there's a massive crash when you reach age 65 and your account suddenly dropped 40% in value, you'd still have more money to pull out of it than you'll see back from social security taxes of the same amount over the same timeframe. Investing in the stock market is no more a gambling scheme, than sticking cash in a coffee can, or buying gold, or investing in real estate. Gambling is gambling. There is no risk until you decide to gamble, then the odds favor the house. Having money and doing something with it is not gambling. The risk exists no matter what you do, you have say in increasing or decreasing your risk, but you can't eliminate the risk.

Yep, those are both ideas that could, individually implemented, kick the can down the road for another couple generations. To solve the larger issue, that of a shrinking workforce, a growing retiree base, and a declining population, I'm in favor of doing some sort of privatization. Pretty much any hypothetical math done by any economist all say the same thing: Folks would do far better by investing $$ in the market, than they do by giving it to the government who will 'take care of you' in return. Astronomically better. Of course, we can't just ditch SSI taxes and force younger folks to save, because that would mean all the retired folks' SSI checks would stop. So the solution there would have to be some sort of hybrid system that allows workers (and those entering the workforce) to both invest for themselves, and pay for the old people. Probably also coupled with raising the retirement age. And phased in over decades to ease the shock of transition.

Apparently, she's a character actor (i.e. starving theater kid hungry for gigs), and seems to be having a wonderful time riding the publicity. I just saw her starring in an ad on tiktok. That picture and all the news might be the best thing that ever happened to her career. If she's got a bit of talent, she could ride the wave into greater and greater things.

I think she's not as shook up about it as one might think. She's been quite vocal about the experience, giving lots of interviews.

Yep, Abandoned Wonka Warehouse made it to my tiktok. Don't forget the Oompa Loompa! In other news, I really liked DUNE II:

I'll always be a fan of Peter Boyles, who was an AM radio talk show host in Denver for a lot of decades. I started listening the week before 9/11 happened. He recently retired, but still acts as guest host and does a show on Saturdays. He's in his '80's now, last I heard he still rides his motorcycle to Sturgis every year. Peter was often talking about the professional wrestlers he knew, and how similar the profession was to both circus/carnival performers, and politicians. There are portions of all 3 professions that require genuine skill and competition, a portion that involves deciding how certain things will go ahead of time, and a portion that is 100% an act for an audience. They all involve stakeholders that must be kept happy with your performance. They all involve personalities rising and falling in prominence in a continual churn. He'd meet with wrestlers before and after their matches, as they'd sit in their dressing rooms and talk politics. He wasn't the least surprised that Jessie Ventura became the 38th Governor of Minnesota, based on how often Jessie would talk politics after the show.

And just like that, now I want to eat the rich.

There's still plenty that could be done to save SocSec, but the trick is politicians having the political will to do it. Because the fixes on the table won't be popular, and doing unpopular things cost votes.

The admin team welcomes you to the club.

This is a good forum for any "Mormons seem weird" topics you may have as well. It's possible that your spiritual experiences may lead you to conclude that the CoJCoLDS is Christ's church, and where you should be. If that's the result, there can be a little culture shock, because our church is more than a church, it's a lifestyle. And there are some interesting cultural oddities that come with the lifestyle. Some we can explain doctrinally, others we tend to be embarrassed by.

Hi and welcome Deseretdog!

Heh - well, you can't please everyone I guess. At the risk of going full-blown passive-aggressive, would you say your post here is an example of a sad ego driven persona, or a counter balance to an unhappy/unfulfilled life? From where I'm standing, it's not the heaviness of the subject that's an issue. The only thing that gets threads locked is an abundance of folks abusing the site rules, usually #1-3. LM (head toxic windbag)

Amazing. Whenever I need to feel a little hope for the human race, I go look at what SpaceX's latest milestone.

Yep - I learned about the UK Postal service issue from you @Jamie123!

Fun story: We moderators have a private forum for talking about moderator stuff like account warnings and bans and stuff. We also have a forum open to everyone to talk to moderators about moderator stuff. One time I got those mixed up, and talked in the open forum about a problematic poster, and then the problematic poster saw my post and life was awkward for a bit. Moral of the story: When you skip all the forums except for General Discussion, ya miss the juicy stuff!

I've noticed a slow and steady decline across my favorite 3 LDS-themed message boards (and half-dozen Facebook groups) starting before COVID. One of them is now pretty much totally dead. Thirdhour has certainly slowed a bit, but is still kicking. The trick is to look for all new messages here: https://thirdhour.org/forums/discover/

Thread closed. As a reminder, here are some of the site rules:

It's an interesting dilemma, but one I had to abandon decades ago. It used to bug me that this or that gas station got their oil from this or that nation that occasionally spoke about their duty to kill Americans, or clothing produced in nations that make use of child or slave labor. The mortal, secular rules that govern the earth at this time just make it impossible to participate in civilization without doing occasional business with your enemies. Our church has historical tidbits about making food (and beer) from our own farms only, but I haven't heard anything like that in like a century.

Everyone knows the Jack Chick Tract images of Joseph are the most accurate.

"Go woke, or we will break you"? Nasty stuff.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco... Voters empower cops, reform welfare: Is San Francisco still a liberal bastion? - The San Francisco Standard news

I started paying attention to gold and silver prices in 2010, to see if I could find a way to spot trends and make billions. I'm not a billionaire yet (I'm barely a thousandaire), but here's my chart I made and look at. It tracks the price of 1 oz of gold in coin form, and the price of 100 silver eagles: Fun fact: The Gold Standard got adopted basically because of an accident caused by Issac Newton: Gold standard - Wikipedia

Daniel Peterson has a few personal anecdotes to share about the CoC. It's a pretty interesting read. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2024/03/a-few-more-thoughts-on-the-kirtland-temple-deal.html

@LDSGator you rebel. What will you become after hanging around libertarians?