Yeah I do OS installs for other people all the time but my main PC is a hot mess and I run a bunch of problematic software including VR. I’ll probably end up setting up a dual boot of Win11 & Linux and avoid Windows as much as possible. But I will procrastinate because I already use both OS’s on other PCs so I know what to expect. I’ll put it off as long as possible, hoping they postpone. Never do today what you can put off til next year :)

This sounds like October’s problem.

I’m actually semi prepared for this. My shit paying job is working for a non-profit that distributes food to people who need it, and honestly those who work there have the first access to the resources if they are in dire need. If all of that were to fall apart, and it could, my history is in working in food service and frankly I can get a food service job as well as anyone else. I’m super qualified. It might pay shit, but if anybody can do it I can and somebody will be doing that job as long as any jobs exist.

If the economy collapses completely and there are no jobs, I’m kind of prepared for that too. I’ve got a .22 rifle with a suppressor and a crap load of ammo that I can feed my family with for at least a couple of years feeding on squirrels and cats and dogs and fuck it humans if I have to. Not that I want to eat any of those things but damn it I’m going to survive. I’m not someone who advocates poaching or breaking laws, but when it comes to survival everything goes out the window. I know how to garden too. I have crazy amounts of filtration capability for water also, not to mention you can just boil it and as long as we’re not dealing with irradiated Fallout water, I’ll be fine. I could live the next year just in a quarter of the camping gear that I own, no matter what the weather. Birds make good eating too. If everyone’s money becomes completely valueless, I’m better off than most.

Most of Oregon hates Portland these days, and I grew up in Portland. But I don’t think secession would be up to a vote, it would be decided by violence like it always has been. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be successful, but I think Portland would still be burned to the ground.

Oh I can see it. I just don’t give a fuck.

As a guy with nothing, I really couldn’t give much less of a shit about retirement accounts and the ultra rich losing money. And I already make shit wages and live on almost nothing. The only thing that is going to really hurt is the continued hyperinflation.

California’s food industry relies heavily on water from out of state, if those rivers dried up because flow got restricted to a trickle, it would be bad for their industry. None of this would happen without violent conflict though. Remember when the north burned the south to the ground? That is our historical precedent for how to respond to secession.

We’ve been heading there for a long time and much of the rest of the world has been feeding into the two-sides divide. It’s easier to see when you already loathe both sides for different reasons. But the US has been a powerhouse many would love to see taken down. Generations of work towards that are paying off, and the US working class will suffer the most.

Exactly this. US citizens can’t trust them.

I read that, and there was a link for more information on how it is applied but it just sends you each country’s main tax organization website where there is no obvious information on VAT. I’m left with questions, like is VAT applied to all transactions, or only to imports from other nations?

Can someone explain the VAT tax? We don’t have VAT here, I’ve heard of it but never had it explained but I’ve Heard it makes American vehicles more expensive in places like Germany.

Edit to say thank you for the responses, very helpful

Not a lot of people were making $60k in 1985. And yes, wages today have absolutely fallen behind. I’m not even making $60k now.

Yeah my 15yo son is running an early i7 with DDR3 and a 1660ti at 1080/60 and he plays Roblox and chats with his friends on Discord, watches YouTube. He doesn’t care about upgrades at all and never spends money or buys games or anything.

It’s total BS but it’s not like the previous administration wasn’t doing the same thing to a lesser degree. It’s documented. It’s one of 100 reasons I left Reddit 1 1/2 yrs ago. Propaganda and content manipulation sucks no matter who is pulling the strings. It goes way farther back too.

I will take your windows 10 PC and give you a keychain made of DDR2 RAM in trade.

It might be higher than 99%. But not quite 100.

I did the cigar thing for about a year. After that I went to a pack of cigarettes a month. About a year of that and I finally quit. I smoked for about fifteen years but I haven’t smoked tobacco in over fifteen years.

I did that once.

I just hit my fifties. This life is too short. Or too long. I keep going back and forth on that.

21 years