#and you can buy one of those cheap

[thosearentcrimes]

ok, so once again I have done a whole bunch of reading for literally no good reason and I intend to make it the problem of anyone foolish enough to follow me

I think the average person is familiar with two basic kinds of payday lending. The first is legal or semi-legal, and involves probably legally enforceable high-interest short-term loans. The APR on these might be in the hundreds or so. The main excuse offered for these is that they provide an alternative to the second kind, which would otherwise be the only option for some people (what an indictment of our society that is). That other one involves fairly obviously illegal terms, APRs that can’t even reasonably be calculated, because there is just a mobster of some description fronting you a couple hundred bucks and then regularly extorting you, not with the threat of legal action but with the threat of violence from his hired thugs.

The way it works in the Czech Republic, you have the preposterous interest rates and obscene functionally incalculable APR and absurd legally nonsensical terms and the blatant extortion, but it’s all legal. The terms might not technically pass legal muster, but they never have to, because the law doesn’t actually exist. Your debt can be passed to an executor (collection agent) with only a formality in the way of legal review. The executor can seize your property, send thugs into your home without notice, garnish your wages without judicial review. The only thing the executor needs is a single court writ initially assigning them to your case, upon nomination for this duty by the debt holder. If the debtor wishes to object to this, as far as I can tell they are supposed to send their appeal to the Executor Professional Association. These thugs do all of this with the full participation of the authority of the state, personified by its police.

As an example, some sample loans I was able to find online have nominal annual interest rates in the hundreds percent, but an APR in the tens of thousands percent. Would these stand up to legal scrutiny? Well, on one occasion an interest rate of 80% was found to be inherently extortionate by the courts. On a later occasion, a different court found an interest rate of 115% not to be extortionate. There’s no consistency, though I think once you hit the several hundreds it would be hard to defend. But the system is set up such that the debt itself does not go through the courts, it goes through the executors. Anyone poor enough to get suckered into a payday loan does not have recourse to the protections of civil law.

Regarding the wage garnishing (which, again, you effectively cannot appeal, and happens automatically), the minimum amount you can be left with per month, from which you have to cover all living expenses and rent, is around $400 equivalent base, plus $160 or so per dependent. Now, money goes further here than in the US, according to the OECD about 50% further, but it’s still incredibly bad. This of course drives people subject to this regime to find less-than-legal employment whose proceeds can’t be stolen.

You might think, well, the people with debts they couldn’t possibly repay can at least resort to bankruptcy. Kind of, perhaps, if they’re very lucky. Bankruptcy proceedings involve basically the same regime of garnishing, over the course of 5 years. After those 5 years, if you have paid off 30% of the amount you owe, you’re probably going to have your remaining debt erased. If not, better hope the insolvency court takes a liking to you. Oh, also initiating bankruptcy costs like $200 initially, and then a solid $40 a month for those 5 years. Good luck putting that money together, hope you manage to hide it from the executor because he will absolutely try to steal it off you.

The previous government decided to tinker a bit with the laws, because the social democrats were in the governing coalition and the communists were providing confidence and supply. They added regulation regarding the maximum allowed penalty interest rates for loans, to the tune of a National Bank interest rate benchmark, plus 8%. What they did not regulate, as far as I can tell (and the way the law is written makes it extraordinarily difficult to tell), is the maximum allowed regular rate for loans, which seems rather more important. Meanwhile, the current justice minister’s wife is an executor, and in his previous offices of state he has directed government collections to her. So I don’t expect much in the way of legal relief from the current government.

#basically all you need to be declared an executor is a law degree #and you can buy one of those cheap #kinda innovative to reduce crime by simply making crime legal I have to grant that

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

those affordable glasses sites only ever tell you how much the frames cost and say nothing about how much the lenses will be 😔 one of the nose pads on my glasses just broke and it's SHARP idk what I'm gonna do

#molly mumbles #I was hoping I had one of those little circle bandaids around and maybe I could cover it with that. but Alas #nothing can be easy!!! 🙃 #any of you guys buy from cheap sites?? how bad was it with the lenses??

[just-some-brainrot]

hyrule: i exhausted my magic but i have pain medicine

twilight: that’s moonshine

hyrule: medicine

twilight: but that’s not the same as—

hyrule: medicine

twilight: i—

hyrule: medicine

hyrule: medicine

#hear me out #at least ONE of all those potions hyrule carries has got to be alcohol #like #what are you gonna do if you can’t buy more potions?? get some cheap alcohol and treat your pain via getting drunk #that’s what you do #healing potions gone?? well shit man have a drink #that’s how it goes #and so i humbly propose: hyrule pissed abt his magic not working decides hey we can at least make things hurt less for twi right? #and boom #out comes the liquor #linked universe #incorrect linked universe quotes #lu #lu hyrule #lu twilight

[bloody-shadow666]

My little mold finally came in the mail so now I have everything I need to start making musubi and now I can eat it all the time again and become a menace to theblocal spam economy

....everything except fucking seaweed

which I forgot to put on the grocery list because I am so smart

#i have little snack seaweeds but those aren't the same #also ftr I COULD make musubi without a mold. its just so much more fucking difficult that way #rice will only stick when you don't want it to I swear #it also came with a little slicer which is super nice #back in hawai'i spam musubi is one of those things you can buy ...pretty much anywhere. corner stores. gas stations. whatever 7 eleven is. #grocery stores. costco. randomly on the street #so I always had this like super readily available cheap source of filling hot protein rich food and I think that would help me to have now

[brightokyolights]

Bro no joke, forgetting that not everyone hates capitalism and then having to try have a reasonable conversation with someone about buying things... *eye twitch*

#to explain we will have person A - person B and then me #so person B is asking me if its ok to buy stuff from ebay - because i am a person that tries to avoid buying from amazon etc #and im like yeah should be because its independent sellers mostly - to be fair though yall. i barely buy anything online because i hate #online shopping. i try to buy things in person instead #anyways insert person A whos like 👁👄👁 oH aRe YoU oNe Of ThOse PeOpLE ThAt DoESNt pUrCHasE frOm AmAzON #yall im sighing just thinking about this conversation omfg its so stupid #anyways queue me explaining that yeah. i try to avoid it if i can because i dont like my money going to some motherfucker who doesnt need #the money (person B pipes in that jeff bezos is on the way to becoming a trillionaire which is Not Good 🙃 . thank you B now i will go on) #A then goes on to explain all the benefits to amazon “what if you want something the next day” i ask if theres really anything you truly #need right away like that. we used to live in times where you would have to wait or find it in a shop. A says “oh but its so cool and #convenient“ and i say sure. because they have the money and grew their business of being more 'convenient' than other businesses #A says “oh but the customer service is so good. if i want a return theyll do it straight away with no questions and maybe even give me #credit too“ and im like yeah. because they can afford to do that. ”sometimes independent sellers are in there too“ ok so buy from them then #If You Must but i can guarantee you mostly dont. not to mentuon theyre probably only on there in the first place because amazon has made it #so its one of the most popular places to use instead of anywhere else #and it went on. i just stopped talking eventually because it eas one of those situations where the other person was not fucking listening to #the point i was trying to make. which is that if you really have to. ok do it whatever. i get that its a bit impossible to avoid sometimes #im not gonna sit here and pretend when ive not been able to get something anywhere else i havent got it from there. but the point is to #actually think about WHY youre buying stuff and WHO the money is going to. because websites like amazon especially have created such a trend #of overconsumption. that you just buy stuff and then buy prime because oh its so cheap and useful and comes right the next day! and you dont #consider why any of these things are true. whos getting fucked over in the process. that you are one of the people getting fucked over!!! #lord i could go on but i shant #point is. genuinely do what you want like deep down i do not care it does not affect me and i know its not so straightforward #but people who just BLATANTLY and actively SUPPORT rich people (forgot to mention A kept talking about how the whole site was smart and that #Jeff was a genius blah blah) can you sit and realise that this whole system and that FUCKING Imbecile of a man are!!¡! a problem!! #i wish i could articulate it better but im leaving it at that #good morning yall xD #le text post

[themoonking]

there is no such thing as a “low maintenance pet”, only different maintenance.

dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, birds, small mammals, et cetera all have different needs, and your individual lifestyle may be better suited to meeting the needs of one more than another. you may be able to properly care for a cat but not a fish, or a fish but not a rabbit, or a rabbit but not a bird, and so on, but that doesn’t make any pet “easier” to care for than another. it doesn’t make any pet need less care and attention than another.

promoting any pet as “low maintenance” leads to neglect at best and abuse at worst.

#fish and cats and probably the worst when it comes to this but in two different ways #fish because people have the idea of a fishbowl or one of those teeny tiny tanks and think that's fine #and combined with how easy and cheap it is to get a fish compared to a cat or a dog leads to people just getting them #without knowing how to properly care for them #*in general* getting a cat/dog is a pretty lengthy process whether youre adopting or buying from a breeder #and typically involves some kind of application and a vetting by the rescue/breeder #but literally anyone can walk into the pet store and buy a fish #and they don't know about getting a filter or a heater and thermometer or even the right tank size for their fish #and they certainly don't know that you need the entire tank set up WELL before getting the fish to properly cycle the tank #and then with cats it comes down to the whole outdoor cat thing and the misconception of cats as 'independent' #and less informed people think 'oh well i can just leave the cat outside all day and all i really have to do is feed it' #and so (1) they leave the cat outside all day (neglect/abuse full stop) and (2) don't own cat toys / cat furniture et cetera #anyway in a perfect world i don't think places like petco or petsmart should be allowed to sell the animals themselves #in a perfect world they wouldn't be allowed to sell fishbowls or those teeny tiny tanks or those tube things for like hamsters and them #but we don't live in a perfect world so :-/ #i speak #animal welfare

[alloverthegaf]

I’m very slowly getting more and more motivated to start writing again... I’ve even been going to the gym regularly, until the last few days where I’ve been sick and hit with tragedy in the same 24 hours lmao

anyway my point is I’m actually starting to feel the urge to start writing again but I really think I’m gonna have to invest in a laptop or something because the idea of trying to write fanfic on a desktop computer out in the open for any and all to see just feels way too weird somehow

#ramblings #I even finally found some laptops cheap enough for me to justify buying one just for writing #but they're chromebooks #and I dunno if using a windows license for Word and shit works on those? #can you tell this is a major stream of consciousness post lmao #non fandom #anyways

[ocpdzim]

if you like to present masc but also like pretty necklaces, or if you need a tie to wear but are tired of trying to tie pain in the ass cloth ties, then you should check out bolo ties. they are not so well known everywhere but they are really cool and come in all different shapes and colors, you can even buy them directly from artists if you have the budget and want a cool unique one, and they’re gender neutral

#i got several new ones recently and i probably shouldnt have bc they were a little expensive but. #i love them so much. #cheapest one i ever bought was $25 but they usually do cost more than that. my usual price range is $100 - $150 for them #which is the sort of thing i cannot buy very often but every now and then i can #if you like. have a lot of money though. you can get an even cooler one thats like. huge or with complicated inlay or fancy silversmithing #i cant afford those though ;o; #the reason the one was so cheap was bc it was by a local artist who used cheaper materials than in most ties #so no precious metals or gemstones. #so it was super cool looking but didnt cost so much. it was steampunk too. its one of my favorites #i saw one i loved but could not afford that was an ELEPHANT. made out of gemstones. an ELEPHANT

[grassbreads]

shopping for older used manga is so fun I just bought Pandora Hearts vol 4 for like $6 and 2/3 of that was shipping+tax

#properly Old stuff can get expensive because it's harder to find #and new stuff is pricey of course #but there's like a sweet spot for stuff from the midlate 2000s-midearly 2010s #where if you don't mind doing some hunting and buying a copy with some wear. you can get things for SO cheap #there's a few series from that era that I'm slowly collecting #pandora and fullmetal and d.gray being the big ones #and every once in a while when I get the 'buy a book' urge #I can look around and find the next vol I need in one of those series on sale for like $3 #saves me so much money lmao #was fantasizing about buying another modao hard copy today #but then I saw that cheap pandora and saved myself like ten bucks #abebooks my beloved <3 #invasion of the frogs

[dailyfigures]

on your poll tags, is furyu really that bad? what makes you say they're a joke? /nm /gen

well they aren't awful but they aren't good either!

first of all their recent prices are a fucking JOKE like literally batshit insane it genuinely makes me really mad. secondly their quality isn't great, usually not bad either, it's just fine. they used to be known for shitty quality but their image has improved a lot recently, most people are content with the figures they receive, however i do still hear about some of their figures having quality control issues.

overall i would say their main problem is that you pay a fucking ridiculous price for a figure that's just nice and nothing more. the price to quality ratio is not in balance at all.

#a lot of people say 'oh i own this figure and it turned out fine' which is great! but please don't use that as an argument to defend an #entire company. #i do own a few furyu figures i like however i know others have had a lot of issues with those specific ones and i definitely got lucky #i do like my furyu figs but i would be hesitant to buy any in the future! maybe for cheap on an auction #anyway you can decide for yourself ofcourse this is just my opinion! #anon #ask #non figure

[sp-bf]

fast fashion is not the brands. its the mindset.

#the amount of shit i get from my hillroad/fashion street buying classmates for buying slightly branded stuff is insaneeeee #so what if i have a hm tshirt. i have been using that for two years now. your 100 rps tshirt that you threw away ina month is morpolluting #im so sick of these 'good' people #like shut up shit up shut up #how can anyone make a tshirt in 100 rupees. how is that sustainable. how much do you think the one who makes it got huh??? #and no its not always the defectice pieces. some yeah. but those actually have some defects. you canNOT get a clothing in that price #they are always like. yeah i brought is for -- i will throw it away in a month or two. #THATS THE FUCKING PROBLEM #AND THE AMOUNT OF TIMES IVE HEARD THEM SAY expensive doesn't mean its good.yeah ok. but cheap means it is bad!!!! #there are expensive stuff taht are bad yeah. i dont go around spending thousands of rupees on clothes. but get something valuable. #make it last you dumbfucks #aaargghh i hate them so much #sorry for venting or whatever

[rockethorse]

Me @ me: Remember - as much as you enjoy building in The Sims 4, you hate actually PLAYING The Sims 4, so there's no point in buying expansion packs based on how fondly you remember the corresponding gameplay from TS2 or TS3 because you'll never actually play with those features enough to justify paying that much, just use CC if you want new build/buy options

Me @ the Sims 4 Black Friday sales: Ok but listen,

#making a new chat post seems like a risky choice given what happened to my last one. but I must speak my truth #also this isn't meant to hate on TS4's gameplay or dunk on the game as a whole I just know I'll always go back to TS2 #so for me personally investing more money in TS4 would be a waste because it's not worth paying for a whole EP just for the build/buy stuff #when the focus of those EPs is on gameplay I won't be using - like I keep getting drawn to cottage living or eco lifestyle ortiny living etc #because we don't have those sorts of features in TS2! and then I'm like. but you're not actually going to play with them in TS4 either #and in theory this is what TS4 kits would be perfect for - no sense in paying for an expensive EP if I only want the objects #when I could buy a cheaper kit that has only objects I'd actually use #BUT. that makes it more difficult to share lots on the gallery because fewer people own the same kits especially the more you use #and so if the only reason I avoid using CC is to make my lots easier to download on the gallery then buying kits would creat the same issue #so just use CC LMAO at least then I can advertise my lots off the gallery like here on Tumblr and people can download it for FREE #but even though I know all this. even though I know it would be a waste of money I really don't have atm #they're so cheap.........................

[sodisco]

I need this pen so bad it's stupid

#the owl house #toh #fountain pens #technically it is a laughable pen design but its not the worst one ive seen #as far as cartoons go its not terrible. it doesnt even have a stub nib #so extra points for having an actual writing tip #technically there are pens that could look like that on the barrel but the cap would have to be really long and basically cover the body #i mean its not impossible theres the kaweco sport which has a full coverage cap #i mean i guess it could be a vanishing nib which is just a click out so it doesnt need a cap but like... #those are extremely expensive #like impractically for a freebie expensive #its not impossible to believe that this coven is giving out fountain pens btw #custom fountain pens are around $30 each but like #jinhaos are a brand for example that has some pens for less than a dollar and im sure somewhere you can buy decal stickers #also theres the fact that fountain pens may be more common in the witch realm and therefore just as cheap as buying freebie pens here #anyways point is i WANT IT

[perenlop]

why is giving family members a small wishlist so much more tedious than it has to be

#me: hey heres my wishlist its in an email can you also forward it #them: yeah sure but uh you cant have anything thats not on amazon bc we dont know how to use other sites #me: wdym its the same process #them: well its more complicated oh my god we are older we dont understand #me: well ok. ill find alternatives where i can #them: wait can you just let us edit our own wishlist with what you want? #me:... why cant you use the one i sent? #them: BECAUSE it is too much ok pls just send a couple of things #(the list only has like 8 things and two are gift cards) #me: well. fine heres two things i really want #them: hm. are you sure you want that? it doesnt cost a lot #me: yes. i dont like asking for expensive things that arent games we have been over this. #them: well put something more expensive on there then we just feel bad getting you a cheap thing bc then we think youre worth less #me: .... ok heres one of those custom pokemon shirts just bc i think theyre neat #them: OH MY GOD THATS SO EXPENSIVE we are not wasting our money on that. #me: ... ok can i have the games then? #them: sure. god why are you so hard to buy for youre sooooo weird about gifts #for extra context: my brothers and cousins ask for over $100 worth of stuff and usually get all of it and more #and its not like im ungrateful either i never snap at them or anything. i usually ask for practical stuff or aesthetics like stickers #when its not books or games... but theyve gotten more passive aggressive lately i think #for my bday most ppl werent weird but my aunt made a big deal out of getting me a $20 sweater i couldnt wear #bc of the texture and size not working for me. and like loudly emphasizing ''OH GOD DONT LOOK AT THE PRIIIICE UGH IM SO MEAN'' #all the while im being polite and thanking her and shes just freaking out at me for ''being hard to buy for'' #and being ''forced to buy me something so gross and cheap'' like it felt like a weird power move #echoed voice

[leatherbookmark]

i have Just noticed that the film i ruined and the two new films i bought have two different packages... one is fujicolor c200, the other is fujifilm 200. both expire in october next year, so it’s not like one simply has a newer design! i know they’re the exact same thing but still. huh

#also it kills me every time that any of those 'cheap' films are called 'cheap' #the other day i saw an article claiming you can buy them for like 12-19 pln per roll. THIS HAS GOT TO BE AN AI GENERATED ARTICLE BECAUSE WH #can we calm down about film photography for a bit. can we pretend we don't care about film so the prices drop again #i'm payin an equivalent of 13 us dollars for a 'cheap' roll my guys #three bucks more and i'd be able to afford a fucking. CINESTILL 800T and we're talking KODAK GOLD or the aforementioned FUJIFILM C200 #found another article claiming one roll of film costs 20-30 pln. *bibi voice* MO... DORI.... TA... I.... #shrimp thoughts

[nexus-nebulae]

i hate getting interested in something that's very not well known bc like i wanna talk to ppl about my silly little dice game that im supremely bad at but nobody will know what half of what I'm saying means

#echos #i had such a good run going 😭😭😭 #i was at like 1500 rolls and i had an AMAZING lottery setup with like three 77777 faces on one die #like. the die came like that it was wild most of the time they just have like five 100s faces #i had a ton of lottery dice and then a ton of numeric 77s dice #and a few clovers in the mix #but then i saw one passive ability and monkey brain saw the word lottery and immediately clicked on it #i fucked myself over SO hard. bc i bought All In which deletes ALL your points unless you get a successful lottery roll #that's good in a REALLY strong lottery setup with like dozens of lottery dice rolling at once #but for me it just absolutely BROKE my setup bc i didn't have enough lottery faces to guarantee i didn't lose it all #and then immediately afterwards i saw a cheap passive upgrade #that said something something 'remove passive upgrade' so i again went monkey brain and clicked thinking i could remove All In #it. it removed ALL of my passives and locked me out of buying future passives #and since my run was relying SO hard on those passives (other than All In. fuck that one) i just lost. like all my point gain #it was so sad to watch #like sad in a funny way like WOW am i bad at this game LMAO #i don't take it too seriously bc of course the kid whose worst enemy is numbers is not gonna be good at. a numbers game. #i just think it's funny to every now and then just watch it slowly crash and burn #i wish Roll had an endless mode i wanna see what fucked up evil numbers i can make when i don't have a roll limit