#brokerage meaning

[roseband]

....his parents retired w/o a full retirement plan

........and have been going on vacations on credit cards while eating cup noodles to keep up appearances

................cause they thought they could shame us into giving them a 2k a month allowance

.........................cause it's "not fair" my mom retired at 53 w/ cancer, and they should retire at 53 too (she pulled her pension w/ a 20k/year penalty cause her immune system is too bad to be in a classroom)

....and they think we're paying for her retirement cause how can a "single mother" have that much money (which uh, we do sometimes help her with physical things cause mastectomy affected her right arm strength, but she's by far financially independent and i have to pressure her to /not/ give me money)

errrrrr i hope the crash is delayed by two years so his siblings are both adults, but i think this crash out is gonna be hilarious 😂 i feel mean????

like i thought it was his mom lying once they retired uh no....they just decided to stop working without a real plan uh, that's not being retired that's being a bum?

[logarithmicpanda]

I hope the entirety of UPS spontaneously combust

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The CFPB is genuinely making America better, and they're going HARD

On June 20, I'm keynoting the LOCUS AWARDS in OAKLAND.

Let's take a sec here and notice something genuinely great happening in the US government: the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau's stunning, unbroken streak of major, muscular victories over the forces of corporate corruption, with the backing of the Supreme Court (yes, that Supreme Court), and which is only speeding up!

A little background. The CFPB was created in 2010. It was Elizabeth Warren's brainchild, an institution that was supposed to regulate finance from the perspective of the American public, not the American finance sector. Rather than fighting to "stabilize" the financial sector (the mission that led to Obama taking his advisor Timothy Geithner's advice to permit the foreclosure crisis to continue in order to "foam the runways" for the banks), the Bureau would fight to defend us from bankers.

The CFPB got off to a rocky start, with challenges to the unique system of long-term leadership appointments meant to depoliticize the office, as well as the sudden resignation of its inaugural boss, who broke his promise to see his term through in order to launch an unsuccessful bid for political office.

But after the 2020 election, the Bureau came into its own, when Biden poached Rohit Chopra from the FTC and put him in charge. Chopra went on a tear, taking on landlords who violated the covid eviction moratorium:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/20/euthanize-rentier-enablers/#cfpb

Then banning payday lenders' scummiest tactics:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/29/planned-obsolescence/#academic-fraud

Then striking at one of fintech's most predatory grifts, the "earned wage access" hustle:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/01/usury/#tech-exceptionalism

Then closing the loophole that let credit reporting bureaus (like Equifax, who doxed every single American in a spectacular 2019 breach) avoid regulation by creating data brokerage divisions and claiming they weren't part of the regulated activity of credit reporting:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

Chopra went on to promise to ban data-brokers altogether:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/13/goulash/#material-misstatement

Then he banned comparison shopping sites where you go to find the best bank accounts and credit cards from accepting bribes and putting more expensive options at the top of the list. Instead, he's requiring banks to send the CFPB regular, accurate lists of all their charges, and standing up a federal operated comparison shopping site that gives only accurate and honest rankings. Finally, he's made an interoperability rule requiring banks to let you transfer to another institution with one click, just like you change phone carriers. That means you can search an honest site to find the best deal on your banking, and then, with a single click, transfer your accounts, your account history, your payees, and all your other banking data to that new bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights

Somewhere in there, big business got scared. They cooked up a legal theory declaring the CFPB's funding mechanism to be unconstitutional and got the case fast-tracked to the Supreme Court, in a bid to put Chopra and the CFPB permanently out of business. Instead, the Supremes – these Supremes! – upheld the CFPB's funding mechanism in a 7-2 ruling:

https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/05/supreme-court-lets-cfpb-funding-stand/

That ruling was a starter pistol for Chopra and the Bureau. Maybe it seemed like they were taking big swings before, but it turns out all that was just a warmup. Last week on The American Prospect, Robert Kuttner rounded up all the stuff the Bureau is kicking off:

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-06-07-window-on-corporate-deceptions/

First: regulating Buy Now, Pay Later companies (think: Klarna) as credit-card companies, with all the requirements for disclosure and interest rate caps dictated by the Truth In Lending Act:

https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2024/06/cfpb-applies-credit-card-rules

Next: creating a registry of habitual corporate criminals. This rogues gallery will make it harder for other agencies – like the DOJ – and state Attorneys General to offer bullshit "delayed prosecution agreements" to companies that compulsively rip us off:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-creates-registry-to-detect-corporate-repeat-offenders/

Then there's the rule against "fine print deception" – which is when the fine print in a contract lies to you about your rights, like when a mortgage lender forces you waive a right you can't actually waive, or car lenders that make you waive your bankruptcy rights, which, again, you can't waive:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-warns-against-deception-in-contract-fine-print/

As Kuttner writes, the common thread running through all these orders is that they ban deceptive practices – they make it illegal for companies to steal from us by lying to us. Especially in these dying days of class action suits – rapidly becoming obsolete thanks to "mandatory arbitration waivers" that make you sign away your right to join a class action – agencies like the CFPB are our only hope of punishing companies that lie to us to steal from us.

There's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world right now, and much of it – including an active genocide – is coming from the Biden White House.

But there are people in the Biden Administration who care about the American people and who are effective and committed fighters who have our back. What's more, they're winning. That doesn't make all the bad news go away, but sometimes it feels good to take a moment and take the W.

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/2024/06/10/getting-things-done/#deliverism

[zvaigzdelasas]

China plans to cap the annual salaries of financial workers at around 3 million yuan (US$412,460), as the government doubles down on its campaign to eradicate extravagance and hedonism from the industry and narrow the wealth gap amid a persistent downturn in economic growth, according to people familiar with the matter.

The limit will be applied to all state-backed brokerages, mutual fund firms and banks, except financial institutions backed by private investors, the sources said, adding that the information is not meant to be made public. matter.

The measure will be applied retroactively, meaning those who earned more than 3 million yuan over the past few years will probably have to return the excess money to their companies, the sources said.

4 Jul 24

[gretagerwigsmuse]

i don’t know, blame the air force?

summary: in which lieutenant commander bradshaw feels his girlfriend’s wrath after she gets her year end bonus and uncle sam takes a pretty penny out of it

a/n: listen….this is very self indulgent and that’s all i’m going to say. i literally wrote it this afternoon after…well i got fucked by the government in the form of taxes on my bonus. also yeah she’s kind of a brat in this one, but i think it’s a little deserved. rated t for language and suggestive comments 1.2k

It wasn’t often that you beat Bradley home from work, but sometimes on Fridays you would sneak out of the office at lunch and work the rest of the day from home. It typically put you in a good mood and gave you the opportunity to run a quick load of laundry or get started on an - admittedly - rudimentary dinner. Sometimes you’d even go for a dip in your building’s skyline pool.

But that afternoon, you were seething. Properly seething. And no amount of stress cleaning or tanning was going to make you feel any better. Maybe you just needed Bradley to fuck you six ways to Sunday later? Surely the serotonin from a couple orgasms could soothe this particular anger brewing inside of you.

As per every October, you had gotten your year end bonus with your paycheck earlier that day, which always inspired equal amounts of giddiness and angst within you.

The giddiness, of course, because who doesn’t love extra money? It was like found money twice a year. Sure, you worked extra hard for it, many late nights at the office, client site visits, and presentations over the last four years could attest to that. You were up in the air over whether you should add it to your brokerage account or splurge on something? Because again - you worked for it.

But then there was the angst.

The angst because you inevitably lost half of it to taxes. And this angst appeared like clockwork, twice a year, every year, for the last six years you’d been working at PwC. You knew this - it was inevitable.

Except, earlier that morning, you’d been at your desk reading the WSJ with your coffee and had seen a headline. A stupid, annoying headline that had made you purse your lips, realization dawning as you rushed to check your pay stub on workday.

Pentagon Refocuses Spending on Weapons to Deter China

As you read further, you saw that as part of the FY24 budget, the Pentagon was increasing the $30.6B defense budget a further 12% with a focus on missiles, rockets, and - yes - airplanes, specifically for the Air Force.

Uncle Sam was taking 35% of taxes out of your bonus for that? Fuck that.

So, when Bradley came by your apartment later that afternoon, freshly showered after a quick trip to the gym after work, you were steaming. And though it was not Bradley’s fault - not in the slightest - seeing him in that stupid(ly tight), grey, US Navy t-shirt only further contributed to your sour mood.

“Hey!” he called out, letting himself in with his key. You turned your head towards him and hummed, letting out a gruff hi. He toed off his sneakers and left them by the door before coming over to where you were laying on the couch, doom scrolling through Instagram, and pressed a quick kiss to your lips.

He frowned at your tepid response and you felt like a absolute bitch for a moment. “Hey, hey. What’s wrong?”

You briefly glanced at Bradley and then went back to staring - glaring - at your phone. “I’m just in a mood - tired.”

You could see him doing the mental math, trying to figure out if you were on your period, but that wasn’t until next week. “S’okay. We can just hang out and have an early -”

“- Crash any planes today?” the words slipped out before you could think better of it. Before he could even respond, you cut Bradley off. “What’s it matter anyway? They’ll just buy you new ones? Fuck the kids, I mean, they don’t need to eat school lunch? And the Postal Service can cut off Saturday delivery? Hmmmm maybe we should cut Social Security even more? Our infrastructure doesn’t need to be fixed, let’s just let our bridges and roads crumble! Fucking taxes bullshit.”

“Uhhh...”

You got up in a huff and started pacing, getting more and more worked up. “It’s not that I mind paying taxes - well, that’s not totally true. But like? Actually put them towards something that’s going to help people? Not just stupid rockets and missiles and fucking -”

“- Did you get your tax refund or something?”

Bradley was standing next to you, trying to put his hands on your shoulders in what would have been a calming motion had you not been acting completely crazy over eleven thousand dollars.

“It’s October?” you snapped.

“I don’t know?” Bradley shrugged his shoulders, getting a little worked up himself. “Rich people are weird? And your dad seems like he’d know how - nevermind.” You rolled your eyes. “What happened?”

Your shoulders sagged. Fuck, this wasn’t Bradley’s fault. It was that piece of shit House Majority Leader’s, who was so far up Lockheed Martin’s ass he could see -

“I got my year end bonus check today…” you grumbled.

Like you figured, a huge smile lit up Bradley’s face. “That’s amazing - or not?” he backtracked.

“I lost like 35% of it to taxes.”

“Ahhh.”

“And I saw this article in the Journal this morning about the new Pentagon budget and how they’re purchasing these new planes for the Air Force and it just - it’s dumb but it made me mad because I just wish my taxes went to the things that will actually benefit the average American?”

Bradley tucked your hair behind your ear and clucked your chin. “That’s a lot to put on your shoulders, kid…”

“Do you think I’m acting like a brat?” You knew you were, you were just curious if Bradley would say the same thing.

He made a face. “Well,” the word dragged out, “maybe a little…” You hung your head and leaned against his chest. “But it’s kind of valid, I’d be pretty pissed losing all that out to the Air Force, too. But the Navy’s different. They don’t just put anyone in the cockpit -”

“- Oh, really?” You peered up at him. “And how many planes have you crashed, Bradley?”

He pursed his lips. “Like on purpose or -”

You threw your hands up and groaned, eventually making your way over to your bar cart. “- Like on purpose he says! Bradley!”

There wasn’t any ice in the ice bucket, but you didn’t care. You needed something. Anything to take the edge off. You were too annoyed, too fussy - too bratty.

As you poured yourself - and Bradley - a drink, he came up behind you and wrapped his arms tightly around your waist.

“Sweetheart,” he cooed in your ear, “I promise you, I have only crashed three planes on purpose.”

Oh how you wanted to laugh. You leaned back against Bradley’s chest, fully ensconced in the smell of his soap and aftershave. “Hmmm, that’s $195M down the drain. Could’ve fed a lot of kids in Kern County with that money, repaved a lot of roads, too…”

He grabbed the drink you had poured for yourself and took a sip, hissing at the burn of the tequila. “I don’t know about the kids, but I can make it up to you.”

The glass was placed back on the bar cart with a clink and Bradley placed his right hand on your hip, while the left slipped underneath the waistband of your skirt and eventually your underwear. Your whole body sagged against him and you hated how keen you were for this - for him. Apparently you really had just needed to get fucked.

“Such a pretty girl…even if you are a bit of a brat sometimes,” he finished, nipping at your ear. “Hey, kid?” You hummed. “You know if I was an astronaut I would cost the US government even more money, you still sure you want me to go down that route?”

“Shut up and fuck me, rocketman.”

“Can do, hell I’ll even buy you dinner.”

-----------

this was so random so i hope people actually like it??? idk if no one does i never wrote it??

small taglist: @howdysebby (happy early birthday!) @sometimesanalice (thanks for the eyes alexa!) @notroosterbradshaw @ofstoriesandstardust @bradshawsbitch @rae-gar-targaryen @jupitercomet @sunderlust @softspiderling @seasonsbloom @heartsofminds @cloudycluster

[whohasthecards]

Top Gun Coffee Shop plus other stuff AU Idea (Part 1)

Jake moves to California to start a new life and starts working as a barista in a coffee shop.

The shop owners are Iceman and Maverick, who runs it with their son, Rooster, who manages the books and a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. Phoenix is the general manager, and Bob is the other barista/event coordinator.

The coffee shop is a front for the real business of them participating in information brokerage, middle man, forgery, smuggling, and other underworld business.

There are a series of different interesting customers that come in, and the staff are surprised that Jake just rolls with it. They're confused on how stuff doesn't faze him, they think he might already be on to their business, but nope, he's way too focus on making coffee great and learning how to cook pastries.

(A very tall man with a slightly beat down suit and a small scratch on his cheek came in. He was shifting his weight between two feet, making sure that the bag he came in with was hidden behind his back.

"Hello there, welcome to the Top Flight Cafe, where we may not offer flights, but our coffee can send you to the moon, what can I get for ya?" Jake drawled barely giving the man a glance before scowling back at the POS system.

"They don't do flights, anymore? What happen to the shipments?" The man asked confused as he squinted at Jake.

"I dunno, sir, you gotta ask Mr. Bradshaw about that one, but I'm pretty sure we don't do supply shipments ourselves, a truck comes with the flour and all the imported coffee goods," Jake said, shrugging. "All I do is help carry them on my shoulder to the back and count 'em, that's all.

"You guys transport the flour on regular flour bags," the man's voice said incredulously, stressing the word flour too much for Jake's understanding.

"I mean, what else are we gonna use?" Jake asked, raising a brow. "If ya really wanna know, you can call Mr. Bradshaw, but aside from that what can I get for ya?"

"Hey Jake, I'll take this customer back in my office, he's my guy, did you take his order, yet?" Mav said bursting from the back of the bakery as he speed-walked towards the counter flashing an awkward smile between the two of them. "He's new, he didn't know to bring you directly to me," Mav said.

"Not yet, Mav," Jake said.

"Yeah, what do you want, our meeting may take a while," Mav said glancing at the other man.

"Uh huh," the man said, squinting suspiciously, "An espresso would be fine, Mav," the other man, said.

"And I'll have a double shot espresso and an everything bagel with strawberry cream cheese and bacon," Mav said cheerfully rounding the counter and clapping the other man on the shoulder. "Leave the goods on the employee's break room table, me and Sli will catch up, no need to ring him up," Mav said steering the taller man away.

It was comical to see how the much taller man let him.

"I don't want to catch up with you, I wanted Ice," the man name 'Sli' said with a sigh. Almost like he's pouting.

"Tough luck, we're a two in one deal," Mav said as they walked through the back area.

Jake shrugged and made the order. Mav always had chaotic orders.)

---

He's so focused on doing his job, that he manages to miss some telling signs that the coffee shop wasn't just a coffee shop.

("Hey Bradley," Jake says bursting into the managers office, darting forward to the supplies closet without a glance towards his general manager. "Do we have anymore markers? We ran out, and writing with a pen on cups is annoying." Jake said opening the closet widely and rummaging through it.

Bradley immediately muttered something in another language on the phone before hanging up, shutting several folders, and shoving papers down his suitcase and into some of the desk drawers.

"Yeah, buddy, I think they're behind the box of batteries--"

"Found them, thanks, man," Jake said barely even glancing his way as he waved before he went out.

Making Bradley's efforts useless, but better safe than sorry, right?

He really should start putting the supplies closet outside the office.)

---

Javy, Mickey, and Reuben visit Jake and they seem to be wary of the coffee shop. Jake shrugs them off because he's starting to really like the place and the job he's steadily getting good at.

("I don't burn the coffee all the time, anymore, man!" Jake said smiling widely as he handed Javy a cup.

"I'm so proud of you, buddy." Javy said in a deadpan as he sipped his coffee. "Do you know how to froth milk, now?"

"Yeah, Ice taught me during my first day," Jake said smiling brightly.

"Ice, huh?" Payback said muttering to himself.

"Yeah, they apparently have weird nicknames, his is Iceman," Jake said nonchalantly as he wiped down the counter.)

---

Eventually, shit hits the fan. The coffee shop is stormed during regular day hours on a weekday. After the lunch rush where everything has been quiet. Men armed to the teeth burst in, making people drop to the ground as they pointed guns at the few customers that were there.

Jake just continued to wipe down the counter as he calmly walked in front of the register.

"What can I get for you folks today?" Jake said in a bored manner. "If you wanna buy some manners, you gotta get them somewhere else, though, unless you wanna show me ya got some by putting away the guns? These ladies and gentlemen are customers just like ya'll they have the right to be here like you do."

"Jake," Bob hissed tugging the back of the other man's shirt harshly.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, Where the fuck is Iceman, Bobby?" The leader said pointing the gun at him.

"Mr. Kazansky ain't here today, and even if he was, you can't just ask for him easily like you can ask for coffee," Jake drawled.

"Jake, stop." Bob gritted out before facing the antagonists. "He's not going to give in with whatever you guys want, you know. However, if you put the guns down, we can talk about this," Bob said with steel in his voice as he removed his glasses and rested them to the side.

One of the men huffed out a laugh, "You have no leverage against us, Bobby-boy, we have you outnumbered today. All we got to do is to kill you one by one, he's always been fond of his staff. Especially normies like him," the man said nodding in Jake's direction. "He really knows nothing, huh? Unfortunate that his hick brain doesn't have a sense of self-preservation--"

"Rude, I am a delight," Jake drawled, resting his hands on the counter and leading forward. "Buttt that's more of my charmin' personality, you won't find it delightful if I take action. Only I can call Bobert names after all, ya know?"

"Pfft-- what's blondie here gonna do--"

Bob couldn't believe his eyes, he was accustomed to violence. Raised in it by this point, but he never expected it from Jake of all people. And he never expected it to be so smooth, fast, and efficient. By the end of it, all of the armed men were incapacitated on the ground, the leader on his knees as Jake looked down at him and pinched his cheeks together with one hand, staring impassively.

"Considering I'm the one standing here while all your friends are done for," Jake started, voice even and smooth. "It seems like this hick has more self-preservation than you, do," Jake said smiling before delivering a sharp hit to the temple making the man pass out on the ground.

Jake put his hands on his hips and looked upward as if praying to God for strength before pulling out his phone. He looked back at Bob and gestured for him to give him a moment, as he brought the phone to his hear.

"Hey Coyote," Jake said chuckling weakly as he pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a deep sigh. "Seems like I'm back in the game, although, it may have seemed that I never left in the first place," Jake said huffing out a low laugh and shaking his head in disbelief. "I need clean-up crew, now."

---

part 2

[bitchesgetriches]

Hi BGR,

I want to get involved in investing but don't know if I should do a IRA(probably roth bc I'm only 20 and a student/working part time) or if I should just go for a normal brokerage account. Ideally, the money will go towards retirement in the very end, but I'm worried if I'll ever need the emergency funds for something and not be able to access them if they're in an IRA. Thoughts?

Why not both?

Personally, I'd start with a Roth IRA. It's tax-advantaged, which means your money has the potential to go a lot farther. Thought you're right that a non-retirement brokerage account is easier to access in the event of an emergency. So here's your order of operations, precious:

Establish an emergency fund. Here's how.

Open a Roth IRA. Here's how.

Open a brokerage fund and start splitting your investments between it and the IRA. Here's how.

Good luck, precious child!

Did we just help you out? Join us on our Patreon!

[snepril]

Been mulling over an idea that I may or may not make into a story: a world where magic is a known factor, and where magical brokers can offer "Change of Fortune" contracts - essentially the option to trade your current existence for a new one. Everyone knows about it, but it's not often something people actually do - after all, you have to be willing to give up more than you get. So when you wander into one such brokerage, it's really just to kill time. You chat with the broker, and they share some of their past clients stories.

One story in particular sticks with you: someone who chose to become an inanimate object. It's a simple trade, after all - life as a human is definitely more valuable than life as a thing. But why would someone ever agree to that?

...and why can't you stop thinking about it?

At first, you tell yourself it's just a passing fancy, just a silly little thought. You'd never actually go through with it! I mean, if you did, there'd be no going back! You'd be stuck that way for the rest of your life - no, your existence! You'd definitely regret it.

So why can't you stop thinking about it?

[cbsghostsmetasandtrevor]

Season 3 x 5

I'm hoping this one's good but last episode left big shoes to fill...

With that, live reaction below.

Starting off right when they take the body away. Thor is excited about telling the story of watching his body decay.

Jay OMG.

HETTY you're not helping.

Oh, Pete's such a good guy. Laughing at the Donut Holes. LMAO.

LMAO - Trevor "Epic" to his body being found.

YOU DON'T NEED to borrow the money from Isaac. It's YOUR money.

TREVOR! telling on Jay.

Founding Farter???

WHY TREVOR?? You're not helping? (Although I do like Isaac listening to him). 'cause he's right - bad business people.

Trevor didn't go to Warton. He went to Penn.

LOL - no they aren't. I might be able to like this episode.

NANCY! Love the ghost dating.

Carol asking Pete if he's dating someone? OMG.

Hetty/Sass wanting to know what's in her purse. They are hilarious.

DONT LIE AGAIN. (Didn't you learn the last time?). I do like Carol assuming that it's okay to move on and being happy for him.

PETE getting mad about this. "I SERVED MY TIME."

THOR! OMG.

LMAO - Jay is right. BUT OMG Isaac walking in on that.

Nose candy? OMG THIS SASS/HETTY SL. I LOVE IT.

Also you can only touch things when the same person touching it - how does that work for HMONEY????

AWWWW Alberta! DAMN ALBERTA. He was so thinking that.

OH FUCK TREVOR. You put in it a brokerage account.

ALSO why does it take him so long some times and not long other times?? Wouldn't the computer time out??

ALSO "WE KNOW TREVOR."

OMG $200,000 - I love it. WAIT FUCK. OMG Trevor made them ALOT OF MONEY.

NO NO NO. Isaac, it's HER MONEY.

Or Trevor's Money since he did the work.

Trevor's impressed.

OMG Pete - THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T LIE.

OOOOOH PETEEEE.

I'm DYING. This is terrible.

Ohhhhhh, Carol is like "I don't know from experience." Yes, you do.

A cat magnet???

I do like this solution. I mean, like Isaac should realize that THEY OWE HIM NOTHING.

URINATING ON THE FLOOR????

"Isaac's House of Horse Pie?"

YES JAY STAND UP FOR THINGS!

OKay, NOT A REAL PERSON?? That's a bit far.

He did deserve to be stepped through. BUT PLEASE DON'T CAVE.

He took a bath in tomato sauce?

I don't think that's fair to Jay AT ALL.

Unclogging videos?

"In my experience... logistics." Oh, god.

Alberta calling him hot stuff.

I do like that Pete's finally standing up for himself to Carol. I love Pete! He's finally doing it. That he's told her that he knows about the affair (which she should've realized) and that it was all faked with Alberta/Nancy. It also explains why he doesn't say anything about his feelings for Alberta PRIOR to that first episode with Carol even if it was obvious.

OMG Hetty/Sass and Candy. - DAMN. Might be my favorite side plot.

Sass - they choose Higginstoot????

Awww Isaac's Table. For Isaac and his friends.

Love Hetty calling it a terrible business decision.

Isaac- LMAO.

Awwww that was sweet. I do like the ghosts being about to be surrounded by people and smells again - They were missing some friends though. Alberta? Pete? Nigel (his fiancé?)

HOLY SHIT - this is an Alberta fantasy yes? or or is that his power??? I'm Curious WTF.

YOU CAN'T END LIKE THAT!

I'm screaming.

OVERALL Good Episode after all.

Come Talk to Me People!

[moonlit-tulip]

Today, I discovered that the marginal US federal tax rate on long-term capital gains for single filers is 0% given yearly income $47,025 or below. (For 2024; the cutoff-threshold moves with inflation each year.)

This is information which I feel like should be getting a lot more press than it in fact gets, in retirement-planning contexts! And especially in early-retirement-planning contexts. It means that, if one is living reasonably frugally off of one's investments—not even that frugally, necessarily, one can potentially withdraw Actually Kind Of Large amounts of money from one's investments each year while staying under that threshold—one's yearly federal tax-bill will be $0 even when those investments are in ordinary non-tax-protected brokerage accounts, and all the popularly-talked-about dance around accounts with tax-protected growth will thus end up nearly irrelevant.

(Not quite completely irrelevant, because local state/city/etc. taxes mostly don't follow federal taxes in this regard. But those tend to be a lot smaller than federal taxes, and accordingly weigh a lot less on the tradeoff-scales against the downsides of e.g. Roth IRAs not being safe to withdraw from until age 59.5 and suchlike.)

I wish I'd known this years ago, back when I was first starting full-time work and starting to put money away in investment accounts. It'd have let me skip over some in-retrospect-blatant missteps. So I figure I should post about it now, to maybe-if-I'm-lucky save some non-me people from those missteps.

[roseband]

i mean this in all seriousness.....

every bonus and raise i get at work is cuz i taught myself adobe automation tools and javascript for adobe (even though i took cs in hs like, i could not find a class in what i wanted so i just had to self teach it)

but the only reason i self taught that was cuz i was overly obsessed with kpop

so as long as all my savings accounts are where they should be (percentage of income-wise)... so like 401k, emergency fund, down-payment fund.......(which.....are all invested and/or in high yield 4.5% monthly compounding interest accts and are making their own money)

i can just dump all my disposable income into kpop because if i wasn't unhinged about kpop, i would not have this much disposable income lol

i feel like this is 100% an original meaning of girlmath moment tbh

[periwinkle8ball]

Mercury

The one who communicates, it is the Messenger.

Mercury is the smallest planet, closest to the Sun astronomically. Limited in how far it strays, it never moves further than 28 degrees from the Sun. It is considered to be the fastest planet, discounting the Moon’s speedy cycle. Of all the planets, Mercury is seen to have a dual nature, being neither purely feminine or purely masculine. It’s neither benefic or malefic, earning it the reputation of being ambiguous and impressionable. Through its travel through the zodiac, it will retrograde about 3 times a year.

Mercury is one of the two planets associated with the element of Earth, actually considered to be “slightly cold and dry” by astrologers Helena Avelar and Luis Ribeiro. As a result, Mercury would be assumed to be enduring, analytical, and thoughtful.

Mercury rules over the air sign Gemini, both ruling and exalting in the earth sign Virgo. In contrast, Mercury finds Jupiter’s signs of Sagittarius (detriment) and Pisces (detriment and fall) challenging.

Mercury joys in the 1st House, giving that house meaning in the Hellenistic tradition. Keep that in mind when considering Mercury and the 1st House's significations.

forethought and intelligence, strategic actions, practical wisdoms, knowledge, reason, education, writing, speech, messages, connection through language and communication, trust, friendship, fellowship, brothers, younger sons, children and nurslings, youth, play, contest, sports and athletics, numbers, calculations, weights and measures, coins, banking, business and marketing, mercantile activity, commerce, give and take, exchange, trade, brokerage, industrious people, travel, assistance, service and public services, community, teachers, mathematicians, doctors, lawyers, secretaries, printers, scribes, orators, poets, philosophers, architects, temple builders, modelers, sculptors, braiders and weavers, tailors, musicians, augers and diviners, prophets, dream interpreters, astrologers, those who are meticulous, versatility, mental disturbances such as madness, ecstasy, and melancholy, trickery, slight of hand, thievery, deception, rumors, lies. Of the body, the hands, shoulders, fingers, joints, the belly, the ears (hearing), the windpipe, intestines, the tongue.

Traditional 1st House Significations, Mercury’s House of Joy

the beginning of all actions, the overall life of the native, the body and one's appearance, one's physical constitution, one's vital life force, one's character and demenor, the mind and the matters it is concerned with, spirit, and speech.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Apple to EU: “Go fuck yourself”

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/2024/02/06/spoil-the-bunch/#dma

There's a strain of anti-anti-monopolist that insists that they're not pro-monopoly – they're just realists who understand that global gigacorporations are too big to fail, too big to jail, and that governments can't hope to rein them in. Trying to regulate a tech giant, they say, is like trying to regulate the weather.

This ploy is cousins with Jay Rosen's idea of "savvying," defined as: "dismissing valid questions with the insider's, 'and this surprises you?'"

https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/344825874362810369?lang=en

In both cases, an apologist for corruption masquerades as a pragmatist who understands the ways of the world, unlike you, a pathetic dreamer who foolishly hopes for a better world. In both cases, the apologist provides cover for corruption, painting it as an inevitability, not a choice. "Don't hate the player. Hate the game."

The reason this foolish nonsense flies is that we are living in an age of rampant corruption and utter impunity. Companies really do get away with both literal and figurative murder. Governments really do ignore horrible crimes by the rich and powerful, and fumble what rare, few enforcement efforts they assay.

Take the GDPR, Europe's landmark privacy law. The GDPR establishes strict limitations of data-collection and processing, and provides for brutal penalties for companies that violate its rules. The immediate impact of the GDPR was a mass-extinction event for Europe's data-brokerages and surveillance advertising companies, all of which were in obvious violation of the GDPR's rules.

But there was a curious pattern to GDPR enforcement: while smaller, EU-based companies were swiftly shuttered by its provisions, the US-based giants that conduct the most brazen, wide-ranging, illegal surveillance escaped unscathed for years and years, continuing to spy on Europeans.

One (erroneous) way to look at this is as a "compliance moat" story. In that story, GDPR requires a bunch of expensive systems that only gigantic companies like Facebook and Google can afford. These compliance costs are a "capital moat" – a way to exclude smaller companies from functioning in the market. Thus, the GDPR acted as an anticompetitive wrecking ball, clearing the field for the largest companies, who get to operate without having to contend with smaller companies nipping at their heels:

https://www.techdirt.com/2019/06/27/another-report-shows-gdpr-benefited-google-facebook-hurt-everyone-else/

This is wrong.

Oh, compliance moats are definitely real – think of the calls for AI companies to license their training data. AI companies can easily do this – they'll just buy training data from giant media companies – the very same companies that hope to use models to replace creative workers with algorithms. Create a new copyright over training data won't eliminate AI – it'll just confine AI to the largest, best capitalized companies, who will gladly provide tools to corporations hoping to fire their workforces:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/09/ai-monkeys-paw/#bullied-schoolkids

But just because some regulations can be compliance moats, that doesn't mean that all regulations are compliance moats. And just because some regulations are vigorously applied to small companies while leaving larger firms unscathed, it doesn't follow that the regulation in question is a compliance moat.

A harder look at what happened with the GDPR reveals a completely different dynamic at work. The reason the GDPR vaporized small surveillance companies and left the big companies untouched had nothing to do with compliance costs. The Big Tech companies don't comply with the GDPR – they just get away with violating the GDPR.

How do they get away with it? They fly Irish flags of convenience. Decades ago, Ireland started dabbling with offering tax-havens to the wealthy and mobile – they invented the duty-free store:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty-free_shop#1947%E2%80%931990:_duty_free_establishment

Capturing pennies from the wealthy by helping them avoid fortunes they owed in taxes elsewhere was terribly seductive. In the years that followed, Ireland began aggressively courting the wealthy on an industrial scale, offering corporations the chance to duck their obligations to their host countries by flying an Irish flag of convenience.

There are other countries who've tried this gambit – the "treasure islands" of the Caribbean, the English channel, and elsewhere – but Ireland is part of the EU. In the global competition to help the rich to get richer, Ireland had a killer advantage: access to the EU, the common market, and 500m affluent potential customers. The Caymans can hide your money for you, and there's a few super-luxe stores and art-galleries in George Town where you can spend it, but it's no Champs Elysees or Ku-Damm.

But when you're competing with other countries for the pennies of trillion-dollar tax-dodgers, any wins can be turned into a loss in an instant. After all, any corporation that is footloose enough to establish a Potemkin Headquarters in Dublin and fly the trídhathach can easily up sticks and open another Big Store HQ in some other haven that offers it a sweeter deal.

This has created a global race to the bottom among tax-havens to also serve as regulatory havens – and there's a made-in-the-EU version that sees Ireland, Malta, Cyprus and sometimes the Netherlands competing to see who can offer the most impunity for the worst crimes to the most awful corporations in the world.

And that's why Google and Facebook haven't been extinguished by the GDPR while their rivals were. It's not compliance moats – it's impunity. Once a corporation attains a certain scale, it has the excess capital to spend on phony relocations that let it hop from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, chasing the loosest slots on the strip. Ireland is a made town, where the cops are all on the take, and two thirds of the data commissioner's rulings are eventually overturned by the federal court:

https://www.iccl.ie/digital-data/iccl-2023-gdpr-report/

This is a problem among many federations, not just the EU. The US has its onshore-offshore tax- and regulation-havens (Delaware, South Dakota, Texas, etc), and so does Canada (Alberta), and some Swiss cantons are, frankly, batshit:

https://lenews.ch/2017/11/25/swiss-fact-some-swiss-women-had-to-wait-until-1991-to-vote/

None of this is to condemn federations outright. Federations are (potentially) good! But federalism has a vulnerability: the autonomy of the federated states means that they can be played against each other by national or transnational entities, like corporations. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to regulate powerful entities within a federation – but it means that federal regulation needs to account for the risk of jurisdiction-shopping.

Enter the Digital Markets Act, a new Big Tech specific law that, among other things, bans monopoly app stores and payment processing, through which companies like Apple and Google have levied a 30% tax on the entire app market, while arrogating to themselves the right to decide which software their customers may run on their own devices:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/07/curatorial-vig/#app-tax

Apple has responded to this regulation with a gesture of contempt so naked and broad that it beggars belief. As Proton describes, Apple's DMA plan is the very definition of malicious compliance:

https://proton.me/blog/apple-dma-compliance-plan-trap

Recall that the DMA is intended to curtail monopoly software distribution through app stores and mobile platforms' insistence on using their payment processors, whose fees are sky-high. The law is intended to extinguish developer agreements that ban software creators from informing customers that they can get a better deal by initiating payments elsewhere, or by getting a service through the web instead of via an app.

In response, Apple, has instituted a junk fee it calls the "Core Technology Fee": EUR0.50/install for every installation over 1m. As Proton writes, as apps grow more popular, using third-party payment systems will grow less attractive. Apple has offered discounts on its eye-watering payment processing fees to a mere 20% for the first payment and 13% for renewals. Compare this with the normal – and far, far too high – payment processing fees the rest of the industry charges, which run 2-5%. On top of all this, Apple has lied about these new discounted rates, hiding a 3% "processing" fee in its headline figures.

As Proton explains, paying 17% fees and EUR0.50 for each subscriber's renewal makes most software businesses into money-losers. The only way to keep them afloat is to use Apple's old, default payment system. That choice is made more attractive by Apple's inclusion of a "scare screen" that warns you that demons will rend your soul for all eternity if you try to use an alternative payment scheme.

Apple defends this scare screen by saying that it will protect users from the intrinsic unreliability of third-party processors, but as Proton points out, there are plenty of giant corporations who get to use their own payment processors with their iOS apps, because Apple decided they were too big to fuck with. Somehow, Apple can let its customers spend money Uber, McDonald's, Airbnb, Doordash and Amazon without terrorizing them about existential security risks – but not mom-and-pop software vendors or publishers who don't want to hand 30% of their income over to a three-trillion-dollar company.

Apple has also reserved the right to cancel any alternative app store and nuke it from Apple customers' devices without warning, reason or liability. Those app stores also have to post a one-million euro line of credit in order to be considered for iOS. Given these terms, it's obvious that no one is going to offer a third-party app store for iOS and if they did, no one would list their apps in it.

The fuckery goes on and on. If an app developer opts into third-party payments, they can't use Apple's payment processing too – so any users who are scared off by the scare screen have no way to pay the app's creators. And once an app creator opts into third party payments, they can never go back – the decision is permanent.

Apple also reserves the right to change all of these policies later, for the worse ("I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further" -D. Vader). They have warned developers that they might change the API for reporting external sales and revoke developers' right to use alternative app stores at its discretion, with no penalties if that screws the developer.

Apple's contempt extends beyond app marketplaces. The DMA also obliges Apple to open its platform to third party browsers and browser engines. Every browser on iOS is actually just Safari wrapped in a cosmetic skin, because Apple bans third-party browser-engines:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/13/kitbashed/#app-store-tax

But, as Mozilla puts it, Apple's plan for this is "as painful as possible":

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/26/24052067/mozilla-apple-ios-browser-rules-firefox

For one thing, Apple will only allow European customers to run alternative browser engines. That means that Firefox will have to "build and maintain two separate browser implementations — a burden Apple themselves will not have to bear."

(One wonders how Apple will treat Americans living in the EU, whose Apple accounts still have US billing addresses – these people will still be entitled to the browser choice that Apple is grudgingly extending to Europeans.)

All of this sends a strong signal that Apple is planning to run the same playbook with the DMA that Google and Facebook used on the GDPR: ignore the law, use lawyerly bullshit to chaff regulators, and hope that European federalism has sufficiently deep cracks that it can hide in them when the enforcers come to call.

But Apple is about to get a nasty shock. For one thing, the DMA allows wronged parties to start their search for justice in the European federal court system – bypassing the Irish regulators and courts. For another, there is a global movement to check corporate power, and because the tech companies do the same kinds of fuckery in every territory, regulators are able to collaborate across borders to take them down.

Take Apple's app store monopoly. The best reference on this is the report published by the UK Competition and Markets Authority's Digital Markets Unit:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63f61bc0d3bf7f62e8c34a02/Mobile_Ecosystems_Final_Report_amended_2.pdf

The devastating case that the DMU report was key to crafting the DMA – but it also inspired a US law aimed at forcing app markets open:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2710

And a Japanese enforcement action:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Japan-to-crack-down-on-Apple-and-Google-app-store-monopolies

And action in South Korea:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/skorea-considers-505-mln-fine-against-google-apple-over-app-market-practices-2023-10-06/

These enforcers gather for annual meetings – I spoke at one in London, convened by the Competition and Markets Authority – where they compare notes, form coalitions, and plan strategy:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cma-data-technology-and-analytics-conference-2022-registration-308678625077

This is where the savvying breaks down. Yes, Apple is big enough to run circles around Japan, or South Korea, or the UK. But when those countries join forces with the EU, the USA and other countries that are fed up to the eyeballs with Apple's bullshit, the company is in serious danger.

It's true that Apple has convinced a bunch of its customers that buying a phone from a multi-trillion-dollar corporation makes you a member of an oppressed religious minority:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

Some of those self-avowed members of the "Cult of Mac" are willing to take the company's pronouncements at face value and will dutifully repeat Apple's claims to be "protecting" its customers. But even that credulity has its breaking point – Apple can only poison the well so many times before people stop drinking from it. Remember when the company announced a miraculous reversal to its war on right to repair, later revealed to be a bald-faced lie?

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

Or when Apple claimed to be protecting phone users' privacy, which was also a lie?

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

The savvy will see Apple lying (again) and say, "this surprises you?" No, it doesn't surprise me, but it pisses me off – and I'm not the only one, and Apple's insulting lies are getting less effective by the day.

Image: Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil from Brazil (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annelid_worm,_Atlantic_forest,_northern_littoral_of_Bahia,_Brazil_%2816107326533%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

--

Hubertl (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-04_Elstar_%28apple%29_starting_putrefying_IMG_9761_bis_9772.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[the-hinky-panda]

something isn't right babe, I keep catching little words but the meaning is thin

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Four months later finds you and Chibs back in Ireland. You’re picking up three horses which means more tack boxes which means more guns. It worked well enough the first trip, so a second trip was quickly put into motion to return a few months later. He called you a few times to work out the travel dates. You met for drinks to discuss where you were with clients for the horses this trip. Chibs was grateful that a few of those business meetings quickly took a turn to an impromptu dinner where conversation turned to less business focused topics. It makes the second trip to Ireland that more enjoyable. 

You must feel it too because the afternoon of your horse brokerage, you call him while still at the horse stable. The farm owner invited you to the weekly community gathering that is hosted on the property. And now you are extending the invitation to him. He knows what those gatherings are like, the local whiskey, live music, bonfire. They’re nothing like the loud nightclubs in Belfast or the rowdy times the MC tend to have. He wants to make sure you know what to expect from the farm owner’s invite. 

“It’s not gonna be a wild time, luv,” he tells you. 

“Yeah, I’m not really looking for a wild time.” You pause. “Would you like to join us anyway?” 

He bites back a smile at your hesitation, the woman who charges headlong through life. “I’d love to.” 

You text him the address and he arrives just as the first stars appear in the night sky. The barn is lit up, a makeshift bar set up in the tack room. He sees a couple familiar faces, those who are in the know about the gun smuggling but no one acknowledges each other. The farm owner introduces himself, Sean O’Malley, shakes his hand, and points him in the direction of the fire pit. That’s where you sit, a wool blanket draped around your shoulders as you talk animatedly with a couple other riders. 

You’re beautiful, absolutely stunning. The flickering firelight dances across your face and hands, giving you an ethereal appearance. The two girls are listening in rapt attention to some story you’re telling about one of your competitions. You’re smiling, animated…happy. And it’s amazing to see. 

He knows from your conversations you’ve been partying less and less. Your drug use is down to a periodic joint and nothing else. The drinking, that’s been a bit harder for you to get under control but you’re trying. He can see there’s something you’re going to war with, something that you can’t quite get over. He sees it come across your expression like a cloud, darkening that wildfire inside of you from time to time. That is why he’s so pleased to see you as happy as you are at this moment. 

The story ends and the girls are called back to the barn by some hopeful local youths and you’re left alone by the fire. You start to stand up to follow them but you catch him moving towards you. Without fail, as soon as your eyes land on him, a wide smile breaks across your face. You always looks so fucking happy to see him and he has no idea why. 

“Evening, luv,” he greets as he takes the seat next to you on the wooden bench and gives you a brief kiss on the cheek. 

“Hi, Filip,” you respond, your fingers gently brushing against the scar on his cheek. 

He likes hearing his name fall from your lips. He likes feeling your hands on his skin. The way your fingers slip between his and fiddle with his rings. The feel of your skin under his thumb as he traces the tattoo of snaffle bits that circle your wrist like a bracelet. He likes you very, very much. So much in fact, he’s beginning to wonder if there’s something more to these feelings. He still thinks about that kiss from your last trip here, the desire and sheer want of it. There were a few other minor flirtations, hand holding and brief kisses on the cheek, but nothing had the heat of that first kiss. 

You glance over your shoulder, making sure you’re alone, and laugh softly. “We’re getting pretty good at this little covert operation, aren’t we?” 

“So far it’s working well.” He catches your eye, makes sure you’re looking at him, open to hearing what he’s not explicitly saying. “You’re a good partner.” 

You process it for a moment, most likely catching on to his double meaning, and then scoff, giving a small shake of your head. “I don’t think anyone has made the mistake of calling me that before.” 

“Well, that wild reputation of yours is starting to change a bit, now isn’t it?” 

“Sort of,” you hold up your glass. “This is my fourth one.” 

“Some habits are harder to quit than others.” He sighs, taking a moment to gather his thoughts and phrasing. He wants to know what this demon is that is driving you to drink. But you’re a business woman, you won’t give anything unless you get something. He needs to give you a piece of his history in order to get a piece of yours. “I’ve seen the bottom of many a whiskey bottle. Especially after I was exiled from here. Left a wife, a little girl, most of my heart. Life didn’t seem worth being conscious for anymore.” 

“Let me guess, the MC saved you.” 

“No,” he shakes his head. “I saved myself. Woke up one morning tired of being so fucking numb. Couldn’t go back, couldn’t change anything, just move forward. So, I did.” 

You’re staring down into the remnants of your drink, your thumb running along the edge of the glass. “So what if you don’t have anything to move forward towards?” 

Once again, he sees that darkness cloud your face and shutter your eyes. “But you do, luv. You’re making money hand over fist right now. You’re going to purchase that farm, start your business. You’re going to-” 

“I have MS, Filip.” 

He thinks he misheard you. He plays it over again in his mind, keeps replaying it until it settles like a piece of barbed wire in his skin. “MS?” 

“Yeah. I was sleeping all the time for no apparent reason. I had some tingling in my fingers, difficulty holding reins. They found a couple lesions on my spine, small enough to cause the symptoms. Started me on some experimental treatments. That was eight years ago and no new lesions have shown up. I have another scan next week though.” 

Words completely fail him at the moment. He wanted an answer, and he fucking got one. Certainly not one that he wanted to hear, but it snaps everything into perspective. An acute painful perspective. He slips his hand into yours, his thumb running over that familiar tattoo on your wrist. 

“I like you,” you say quietly. “I like you a lot, Filip. I figured you should know what damaged goods you’re handling. It’s only fair.” 

Damaged goods. As if he’s not sitting there with two large facial scars and many more scattered across his body, his dark hair quickly growing more gray each day. He finishes his whiskey and sets the glass on the ground. “If anyone claims they’re not damaged, they’re just trying to sell something.” 

You emit a small laugh. “True.” 

He stares at your entwined hands, your slender fingers in between his. He’s never known anyone with MS but he knows the outcome of the disease. There’ll come a day when your grip won’t have much strength. Where there’ll be a tremor in your fingers. Time can’t be wasted, not when he knows it’s going to run out faster than normal. When he leans towards you with the intention of kissing you, you lean back slightly. He gives you a curious look, you’ve never moved away from him before. 

“I don’t want your pity.” You state it simply, matter of fact. 

A slight smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “Who’s to say you’re not showing this old Scot pity, huh? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly in pristine condition either, luv.” 

That seems to soften you a bit, dropping some of the protective walls you’ve grown used to throwing up with this particular confession. You bring a hand up to the side of his face, the pad of your thumb following the scar on his cheek. That shadow is still there behind your eyes, the weight of your condition now easily recognized. But there’s a soft smile curving your lips and he stares at that until you close the space between you and press those lips to his. 

[saint-ambrosef]

adulthood is finally learning what words like "probate" and "escrow" and "brokerage" mean

[collapsedsquid]

“You can make good money,” Loustalot said. “The job is not rocket science, you know what I mean? It is very, very, very simple. You could get complex about strategies and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, it’s a very simple job. If you can do it well and treat people well and get a good reputation and do a good job, then you can make good money. That’s what kept me in it.” [...] There’s no such thing as a work-life balance for a freight broker. Stine said, while he was a freight broker, his date nights with his significant other were constantly interrupted by calls. “I would constantly have to get up and check my phone or talk to a driver and try to book the load,” Stine said. Those calls aren’t exactly fun, either. Brokers, as middlemen tend to be, get blamed for things gone wrong, even if it’s not their fault.  “When you’re constantly blamed for stuff you can’t control, that’s just not conducive to mental health,” Loustalot said. “That’s probably a huge part of it. That contributes a lot to the stress and turnover and attrition.” The ex-freight brokers I spoke with, like Loustalot, still regularly pull 60-hour workweeks. It’s a hard habit to shake. Stine is the same way.  [...] “That’s why I’m excited honestly around the tech side,” Sharkey said. “I think technology can help with a lot of the bull—-, really actually improve what some of us are doing on a daily basis and stop us from working until midnight some nights.” That’s the kind of management Tschirgi (jokes about Zyn and energy drinks aside) advocates.  “Between nearshoring, technology and AI, [you’re telling me] that we can’t figure out a solution,” Tshigri said. “It’s just the lazy way to do it, and the way it was done in the early 2000s and the way brokerages have been successful. They don’t want to go away from that. “We know we can hire people right out of college, give them all-you-can-drink energy drinks and coffee and beer at the end of the day and rooftop happy hours,” Tschigri said. “There was something fun about that for a couple of years and then you realize that’s not sustainable at all.”

Terrible job but it pays well, but soon the computers will take that job away