#Finance Projects

[bunnithechubs]

Which character is literally stressing out the most right now?

Ironically the men are 🤪 Malcolm is stressing that Angela is going to take half his worth and get paid alimony/spousal support (possibly child support if she’s smart). Dustin has $128 bucks to his name. How tf is he supposed to support her 😅 meanwhile Angela is just like the tide is high but I’m holding onnnnnn.

[the-nothing-maker]

do you have a waitlist for commissions by any chance?

Hi, thanks for asking! I don't usually open waitlists for comms, I open them very sporadically and they take a long time to complete, I always feel a little ashamed asking people to wait for an indefinite amount of time...

Me and @luposlipaphobya are currently working on our next big project with a tentative release in November (and I'm working on smaller booklets of my own 👀) so I don't think I'll be able to take on commissions until December! I'll post something about it once it's there though :D Thanks for the interest!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Union pensions are funding private equity attacks on workers

On October 7–8, I'm in Milan to keynote Wired Nextfest.

If end-stage capitalism has a motto, it's this: "Stop hitting yourself." The great failure of "voting with your wallet" is that you're casting ballots in a one party system (The Capitalism Party), and the people with the thickest wallets get the most votes.

During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese state would bill the families of executed dissidents for the ammunition used to execute their loved ones:

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-the-Chinese-government-makes-the-families-of-executed-people-pay-for-the-cost-of-bullets

In end-stage capitalism, the dollars we spend to feed ourselves are used to capture the food supply and corrupt our political process:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

And the dollars we save for retirement are flushed into the stock market casino, a game that is rigged against us, where we are always the suckers at the table:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/25/derechos-humanos/#are-there-no-poorhouses

Everywhere and always, we are financing our own destruction. It's quite a Mr Gotcha moment:

https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/

Now, anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop. We are living through a broad, multi-front counter-revolution to Reaganomics and neoliberal Democratic Party sellouts. The FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division are dragging Big Tech and Big Meat and Big Publishing into court. We're seeing bans on noncompete clauses, and high-profile government enforcers are publicly pledging never to work for corporate law-firms when they quit public service:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/09/nein-nein/#everything-is-miscellaneous

And of course, there's the reinvigoration of the labor movement! Hot Labor Summer is now Perpetual Labor September, with 75,000 Kaiser workers walking out alongside the UAW, SAG-AFTRA and 2,350 other groups of workers picketing, striking or protesting:

https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/

But capitalism still gets a lick in. Union pension plans are some of the most important investors in private equity funds. Your union pension dollars are probably funding the union-busting, child-labor-employing, civilization-destroying Gordon Gecko LARPers who are also evicting you from the rental they bought and turned into a slum, and will then murder you in a hospice that they bought and turned into a slaughterhouse:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

Writing for The American Prospect, Rachel Phua rounds up the past, present and future of union pension funds backing private equity monsters:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-10-04-workers-funding-misery-private-equity-pension-funds/

Private equity and hedge funds have destroyed 1.3 million US jobs:

https://united4respect.org/press-release/people-who-work-at-walmart-sears-amazon-formerly-toys-r-us-more-join-forces-together-as-united-for-respect-2-2-2-2-5-3/

They buy companies and then illegally staff them with children:

https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20230217-1

They lobby against the minimum wage:

https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Insire-Brands-memo-on-15-wage.pdf

They illegally retaliate against workers seeking to unionize their jobsite:

https://www.hoteldive.com/news/dc-hotel-workers-enlist-us-representatives-to-fight-sofitel-union-busting/650396/

And they couldn't do it without union pension funds. Public service union pensions have invested $650 million with PE funds. In 2001, the share of public union pensions invested in PE was 3.5%; today, it's 13%:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B0vv26VEFmwtfw5ur6dSDMY8NftvZKij/

Giant public union funds like CalPERS are planning massive increases in their contributions to PE:

https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/newsroom/calpers-news/2023/calpers-preliminary-investment-return-fiscal-year-2022-23

This results in some ghastly and ironic situations. Aramark used funds from a custodian's union to bid against that union's members for contracts, in an attempt to break the union and force the workers to take a paycut to $11/hour:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-11-20/pension-fund-gains-mean-worker-pain-as-aramark-cuts-pay

Blackstone's investors include the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS). The PE ghouls who sucked Toys R Us dry were funded by Texas teachers.

Then there's KKR, one of the most rapacious predators of the PE world. Half of the investors in KKR's Global Infrastructure Investors IV fund are public sector pension funds. Those workers' money were spent to buy up Refresco (Arizona Iced Tea, Tropicana juices, etc), a transaction that immediately precipitated a huge spike in on-the-job accidents as KKR cut safety and increased tempo:

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1675674.015

Petsmart is the poster-child for PE predation. The company uses TRAPs ("TrainingRepaymentAgreementProvision") clauses to recreate indentured servitude, forcing workers to pay thousands of dollars to quit their jobs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/04/its-a-trap/#a-little-on-the-nose

Why would a Petsmart employee want to quit? Petsmart's PE owner is BC Partners, and under BC's management, workers have been forced to work impossible hours while overseeing cruel animal abuse, including starving sick animals to death rather than euthanizing them, and then being made to sneak them into dumpsters on the way home from work so Petsmart doesn't have to pay for cremation. 24 of BC Partners' backers are public pension funds, including CalSTRS and the NYC Employees' Retirement System:

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-06-02-days-of-plunder-morgenson-rosner-ballou-review/

PE buyouts are immediately followed by layoffs. One in five PE acquisitions goes bankrupt. Unions should not be investing in PE. But the managers of these funds defend the practice, saying they "facilitate dialog" with the PE bosses on workers' behalf.

This isn't total nonsense. Once upon a time, public pension fund managers put pressure on investees to force them to divest from Apartheid South Africa and tobacco companies. Even today, public pensions have successfully applied leverage to get fund managers to drop Russian investments after the invasion of Ukraine. And public pensions pulled out of the private prison sector, tanking the valuation of some of the largest players.

But there's no evidence that this leverage is being applied to pensions' PE billions. It's not like PE is a great deal for these pensions. PE funds don't reliably outperform the market, especially after PE bosses' sky-high fees are clawed back:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3623820

Pension funds could match or beat their PE returns by sticking the money in a low-load Vanguard index tracker. What's more, PE is getting worse, pioneering new scams like inflating the value of companies after they buy and strip-mine them, even though there's no reason to think anyone would buy these hollow companies at the price that the PE companies assign to them for bookkeeping purposes:

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bstqfcskz9o72ospzlds/opinion/why-does-private-equity-get-to-play-make-believe-with-prices

To inject a little verisimilitude into this obvious fantasy, PE companies sell their portfolio companies to themselves at inflated prices, in a patently fraudulent shell-game:

https://www.ft.com/content/646d00f4-af5d-4267-a436-54fb3bc1697b

What's more, PE funds aren't just bad bosses, they're also bad landlords. PE-backed funds have scooped up an appreciable fraction of America's housing stock, transforming good rentals into slums:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/27/extraordinary-popular-delusions/#wall-street-slumlords

PE is really pioneering a literal cradle-to-grave immiseration strategy. First, they gouge you on your kids' birth:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/27/crossing-a-line/#zero-fucks-given

Then, they slash your wages and steal from your paycheck:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3465723

Then, they evict you from your home:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/05/vulture-capitalism/#distressed-assets

And then they murder you as part of a scam they're running on Medicare:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/05/any-metric-becomes-a-target/#hca

As the labor movement flexes its muscle, it needs to break this connection. Workers should not be paying for the bullet that their bosses put through their skulls.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/05/mr-gotcha/#no-ethical-consumption-under-capitalism

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

[ferret-milk]

¡¡Feliz Día de los muertos!!

[radioapple-tradingcards]

LAST CHANCE! HELP !

In need of FINANCE MOD to help us.

Must be 18 or over to apply. Have a discord account and communicate with all the mods.

Previous experience or knowledge is highly recommended but not necessary. So take a leap and apply!

Mod Guidelines

Mod Application Form

We can't wait to hear from you! 📻WEBSITE 🍎FAQ

Bsky || Twitter || Instagram

Any reblogs are greatly appreciated! @zinefeed  @all-zine-apps  @zine-scene @anizines @zineapps @fandomzines

[crossnamara]

im going to shoot myself. girl what the fuck do you want me to say i literally dont want anything

[natasha-in-space]

Not being on Twitter means missing out on all the drama and being confused as hell with all the same-ish Saeyoung arts with weird comments on them until someone finally enlightens you on what the hell even happened LMAO

Anyways, current-day Cheritz try not to mess up their business challenge (impossible)

[afrotumble]

Zambia and Zimbabwe renew push for $5 billion hydro dam project | Business Insider Africa

[cyberpawn]

🧠

Send a 🧠 (or just say 'Brain!'), to meet a muse that's been cookin' in my brain! Theodore Penn - A Man Excited by beige - Rule Follower to the max

"I suppose my work's been tumultuous as well, only natural for our employers to feel similar shocks, given their partnerships." The Biotechnica Corporate Counsel sighed, his hands wringing behind his back and his clipped nails picking at his cuticles. All of this Relic nonsense...Arasaka's issues affected Biotechnica stock, Arasaka's dramas were felt by Biotechnica as well. While legal counsel, Theodore was no man who sought out conflict. He was not a man who acted upon impulse, he was a man who worked upon plans, who thought first and thought again before acting. While he did not work quickly, his tactics were solid, and his eye to detail is exactly what made him a valuable asset in court.

"It's not every day I have the honor of speaking to Arasaka's Director of Finance." One hand was extended, completely still at an angle of ninety degrees. Rehearsed, perfected, everything it needed to be in order to ensure an air of professionalism. "Theodore Penn. I'm appreciative to know we'll be privy to each other's company, strengthening Arasaka and Biotechnica's bond as they forge a greater path for international security and prosperity."

[kingjongdaes]

the lead up and all the drama from the canadian election lmao

[goldenpinof]

You can tell we’re adults now bc our stalking tendencies are now about their company’s equity

and isn't it more fun than relationships? someone else's money is pure entertainment the moment you understand the value of money. ah, business side of dnp's empire my beloved <3

[radioapple-tradingcards]

LOOKING FOR FINANCE !

In need of FINANCE MOD to help us.

Must be 18 or over to apply. Have a discord account and communicate with all the mods.

Previous experience or knowledge is highly recommended but not necessary. So take a leap and apply!

Mod Guidelines

Mod Application Form

We can't wait to hear from you! 📻WEBSITE 🍎FAQ

Bsky || Twitter || Instagram

[dagasinfilo]

GRAAAAAAGH I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE. i NEED us to get our health and finances sorted so we can get our webcomics going. I CANT!!!!! I NEED TO SEE MY GUYS IN ACTION OUUUAAAAAAAHHHHHHHG

[cryptomadesimple]

🚀 What Is an ICO? (Initial Coin Offering)

An ICO is when a crypto project sells tokens to early investors—kind of like a startup raising money.

✅ Buy in early = Big gains (if the project succeeds!) ❌ High risk = You could lose everything

Before joining an ICO, ask: 🔹 Is the project legit? 🔹 Do they have a working product or MVP? 🔹 Is the team public and transparent? 🔹 What happens to unsold tokens? 🔹 Are tokens locked or can they dump immediately?

🚨 Many scams have used ICOs—do your research!

📩 Ever participated in an ICO? Share your experience! 🔁 Reblog if you’re curious about ICOs!

[tanunigans]

THE FINAL SMURFS OF MY (almost) 3-MONTHS-LONG PROJECT !! 87 smurfs with unique designs (except Mimic, you are a Joker, baby, you can be anything and anyone in a wink.)

These last two are Narrator and Bookeeper (Finance, who I renamed for lore reasons.)

[sohaibsmart]

Amazon execs doubt Microsoft's quantum computing breakthrough

In This Story Final month, Microsoft (MSFT-1.51%) introduced that it created a brand new state of matter for its first quantum computing chip — a declare that Amazon (AMZN-1.15%) is reportedly not offered on. Trump freezes his 25% tariffs on Mexican imports for one month The identical day that Microsoft unveiled its Majorana 1 quantum computing chip, Amazon’s head of quantum applied sciences,…