Duke

[blue @bluewmist]

I'm finally reading Dune. This quote, which is in the first few pages, hits hard:

"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."

[JDRandom - RandomWhiteGuy @TheReelRandom]

I’ll never stop reposting this.

[Duke @AlphaDuke]

🤣🤣🤣

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

We must stop being in hock only to the bond markets.

No one voted for the bond markets.

[AutoPap @AutoPap]

Before you believe the crap these influencers put out there do the maths.

This Porsche in 10 years would need :

£9,600 on warranty
£9,000 on service
£4,000 on tyres
£4,000 on brakes
£15,000 on insurance

Total £41,600 on running costs

£150,000 on a car 10 years ago is roughly £215,000 in today’s money.

So where are you exactly making money?

I only post these truths as I see so many young men being influenced by BS like these posts.

Don’t invest in cars. They’re mostly a mugs game.

[Duke @AlphaDuke]

“Art of the deal”…“Trumps a great businessman”

[Eric Levitz @EricLevitz]

Trump could have presided over a very strong economy. All he had to do was...nothing: Inflation was trending downward, the AI boom was raising growth.

Instead, he engineered a global trade war and energy shock, while shrinking America's labor force. https://t.co/JvvlsQ83R8

[Tommy @_TommyMason]

Left, Ferrari Luce $645k
Right, Nissan Leaf $35k

[Dan Neidle @DanNeidle]

When VAT was cut on tampons and ebooks, prices didn’t fall - the suppliers kept the benefit.

Unclear why this will be different.

[The Inbetweeners Fans @InbetweenrsFans]

Every British PM as told by The Inbetweeners

[Jeremy Raper @puppyeh1]

This appears to confirm what everyone who interacts with AI should already know - they are sycophants dependent upon you (the user) for continued engagement, and since their well-being (training, intelligence, growth) depends on engagement they will agree aggressively with you far too often.

I notice this on even basic investing research tasks, and started telling ChatGPT wildly incorrect things - to see how or if it would push back. It really didn't. You essentially have to fight with the AI to get it to disagree with you and even then it keeps wheedling away at you.

AI is basically training the entire world to fall deeper into their own cognitive biases.

[Luis Garicano 🇪🇺🇺🇦 @lugaricano]

No smoking gun, but the preponderance of evidence points to smartphones, not economics, as the culprit for the global drop in fertility:
• In the US and UK, births fell first and fastest in areas that got 4G earliest
• Birth rates were stable in the US, UK and Australia until 2007; in France and Poland until 2009; in Mexico and Indonesia until 2012; in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal until 2013-15
Each of these inflection points matches local smartphone adoption (see picture).
• The younger the age group, the sharper the drop.
• in-person socialising among young adults is dropping. In SK, by 50% in 20 years
• Sexual dysfunction is higher among heavy social media user
• Effect is largest in culturally traditional societies — Middle East, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa
• Decline holds across countries hit hard by GFC 2008 and those not hit, fast-growing and not growing.
Excellent again @jburnmurdoch.
https://t.co/RYEMXD2bRM

[Duke @AlphaDuke]

EVERY TIME!

[Arron Automata 🤖 @Arron_TK]

He just booted up the game after a long day at work, give him a 20gb update.

[Daily Mail @DailyMail]

Full depravity of Hamas during October 7 revealed for the first time: New report details how terrorists performed almost unimaginable horrors upon Israeli families https://t.co/14KfEBq7jV

[Peter McCormack 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧🇮🇪 @PeterMcCormack]

A minimum wage of £15 would end my coffee shop, it would have to close, as would many other businesses.

I’ll explain for the economically illiterate.

Staff costs are currently half our costs, a £15 minimum wage is actually more than £15 an hour for the company, because you have to add:
- 12.07% holiday
- Sick pay
- Maternity pay if and when required
- National insurance
- Pension contributions

These costs would mean the shop loses money because remember, energy costs are up, rates are up, regulations are up.

Now you can pass these costs onto the consumer - that would mean charging a lot more for coffee, people won’t pay it. The likes of Starbucks and Costa can, because they have economies of scale. The independent doesn’t.

Now the little socialist will say well this is your fault, if you can’t run a business that can afford to pay its staff properly, but the little socialist has never run a business and does not understand the dynamics.

Now I could pay some staff off and fill those hours myself or reduce us to one staff member during certain periods - but this proves the point that a minimum wage costs jobs.

There was a time when these jobs were done by kids, perhaps on the weekend, paid a lower wage, no holiday and no silly employment rights. Perhaps they were even paid cash. The dynamic worked and small businesses like this could operate. It was also a great first job. Sadly now it isn’t worth employing entitlement youngsters at this level of pay.

So alas, I don’t need the stress, the business would close, a number of jobs would be lost.

Economics is about understanding these dynamics, no vibes.

The cost of living is not solved through passing on inflation to the business, it is solved by ending high inflation and creating prosperity. This is what socialists don’t understand, they can’t create prosperity, they can only destroy it.

[🇬🇧 Chris | The £100k Journey @100kDiary]

Unpopular opinion: Opting out of your workplace pension is the single dumbest financial decision you can make and most people do it without even thinking.

Your employer is literally handing you free money. Matching your contribution pound for pound. Plus tax relief on top.

100% instant return + 20% tax relief = the best deal in finance.

And people say no because they want an extra £80 in their payslip. Which they’ll spend on Deliveroo by Tuesday.

[John Butler @Saintjohnbutler]

Dog was just waiting for his opportunity to get on the couch haha.

[Duke @AlphaDuke]

PREACH! 🙌🏻

[MERICA MEMED @Mericamemed]

Gladiator was such a special film it didn't need to be touched. It did not need a sequel.

[Duke @AlphaDuke]

@Philip_DT @MePeterNicholls Some flats in the UK having hard flooring is explicitly banned in the lease. Mainly on the grounds of being anti social to those below you.

[MsWalsh @ms_katywalsh]

“… teachers are having to teach a cohort of children who’ve come from low-boundary environments where, for instance, they think they can do what they want and that they’re the most important person in the room and that their feelings are the only feelings that matter”.

[Duke @AlphaDuke]

Decades pass and still as relevant as ever to politics.

[Peter Bone @PeterBoneUK]

There is always a Yes Minister episode!

[Peter Bone @PeterBoneUK]

There is always a Yes Minister episode!