Their parents forgot to teach their kids the story about the Star Bellied Sneeches (a Dr. Seuss classic).

Credit cards? There's already a "relief" plan in place for credit cards: settlements. Without help and a little smarts/gumption, debtors can negotiate a 70%+ elimination (if not higher) of their CC debt without bankruptcy, etc. The price? They 1) need to get a wad of cash to pay the remaining balance off at once, 2) tolerate harassing phone calls until #1, and 3) accept horrible credit for 1-2 years. After that, you can get credit cards again. Seven years after the settlement date, that past indiscretion is 100% purged from your credit reports, as if it had never happened.

Auto loans? They have repo men and tow trucks cleaning those messes up. Then you have no credit (cards) for a while. The solution: Use cash and debit cards.

Home loans? Even easier to resolve: Sell the house, or walk away. if your house has equity, all the easier.

NONE of those are in the same league as nearly inescapable student loan debt. Even a coffin doesn't expunge it if there's an unfortunate cosigner... Student loans are the worst debt this side of borrowing from Vinny the Finger down the street.

1) Flat fees would go way up to take inflation into account. That'd make getting loans that much harder, and thus slow or completely stall out the economy. 2) "governed by votes from the people". This still won't eliminate the basic, human nature of greed. Nor would it address the real issue: the growing lack of accountability in our economy. The top C-level jobs, the bankers, etc. are all getting better at dodging accountability for their "sins". Until that's resolved in a meaningful way (i.e. corporate leaders can be charged for their company's bad behavior), the economic pain would remain.

Because $300 is still a lot of money for millions of people in the USA.

The only solution for you is for marketers to know so much about you that they can target ads specifically for you. You have to completely give up any semblance of personal privacy. At that point, however, you would get the exact ads you want.

I have never seen a group that is so concerned about what genitals another person might have.

You mean other than the trans (and the diversion/inclusion community) themselves, right?

And let's not pretend that this was an incendiary topic manufactured by the right. It's a human/biological response to a movement that viscerally, deeply disgusts them (because it cuts at the core of who people are). And no, you're not more enlightened because you have a different view on the topic. You may want to listen to them a little more and try to understand them - rather than mocking them as fringe nuts.

1) 5% is actually a statistically significant amount.
2) 5% * the world's browser-using population == Tens of millions of unique users. Ignore that many potential customers at your own risk.

(Do /. commenters even try to think before commenting anymore?)

You mean the bargain basement registration fee of $50.75? Yeah, I saw that. I apologize for not reflecting that extra $50.75 in my totals.

I think that the, "EV cars weigh more," argument is bogus. EVs are no heavier than common trucks or SUVs.

From the outside looking in, however, Texas EV owners are being entitled babies on this issue.

First of all, $200 annual registration fee isn't punitive; It's actually deeply discounted compared to other states. In Arizona in 2021, my new $45K car's registration fee was ~$750-$800 out the door, and for 2022 it was ~$665. Fees go down as the car depreciates, but you don't come anywhere near $200 (let alone $50.25) a year until the car is just about ready to replace. OTOH, $200 (hell, even $400) is a STEAL for any new car - especially expensive EVs!

And secondly, this isn't some corporate/political conspiracy. The revenue issue for highway construction/maintenance is real. Tax burdens should be equally shared, and EV owners are knowingly taking advantage of the current system (not paying gas taxes). This closes that loophole, and they're clearly bitter about it.

Have the feds already forgotten the antitrust actions of Microsoft (with IE in Windows 98) just 25 years ago? Why does an American company have to fear European regulators before they make the right changes?

Corporations have to be constantly monitored and regulated 24/7 to keep monopolistic behaviors at bay. And it feels like D.C. is at best drunk at the wheel.

I get having copyright protection, but resources like the IA are needed to fill the digital gaps between copyright protections and market realities. IP owners own huge blocks of copyrights, but it's not profitable for companies to keep literally EVERYTHING they own available online so a majority of works of art are lost forever while those owners sit on them as an asset (or liability) on a balance sheet.

Study of one case in point: I recently went online to find the Rankin/Bass, animated version of The Return of the King I hadn't seen since my childhood to show my family. The IA was the only legitimate place online I could find it to stream.

This digital availability gap should be addressed by copyright law, including rolling back that 95 years to at least within a human lifetime.

Per Janet Yellen, there's no corporate bailout. This instead looks more like helping customers with deposited funds, lines of credit, etc.

I wouldn't have covered above and beyond the $250K insurance limit for individual customers (people need to appreciate the FDIC coverage), but otherwise this looks like it's on the up and up - an extreme rarity in the banking industry and government intervention.

Based on him already saying it was "created" we know where he stands

Or, based on him saying a word that left it ambiguous enough for an outside observer on Slashdot with their own biases (a lack of trust in authorities) to reveal where THEY stand.

In other words, saying "created" most likely wasn't some Freudian slip.

Both are taken out of your pay as a "tax", which makes it the best thing for the tens of millions of Americans who will never try to save any money.

Because of those mandatory payments (~18-20% of gross pay), so far I have ~$400K and growing in a relatively healthy pension fund. It'll pay over $4K/month in a few more years. And the monthly SS check coming someday (assuming D.C. leaders don't raise the eligibility age to 100 years to "fix" it) is gonna be required when I start pooping my pants again.

Without those plans for the last few decades, I wouldn't have saved jack squat. Like a majority of Americans, I wouldn't have had the discipline to set any other money aside. Hell, I only have $1000-$1500 saved for an emergency and some equity in a home I still owe over $200K on (equity is worthless until you sell).

And I have a math degree. I have known how interest theory works, etc. But I NEEDED those mandatory withdrawals or I'd be toast. (Burnt toast if my wife ever left and took half -- I'd be fucked into next Tuesday...)

The "pay yourself first" is the best advice you can give yourself. It's just 10% of your income - just like paying "a tenth" tithe to your Christian church, per the Bible (Abraham did it, etc.)

We all forget to do it, however, because we put it last. And if you're already behind the eight ball in debt, there's extreme pressure to pay that debt off first.

Then all of a sudden you're 50 years old and saying, "It's too late. Now what? I hope Social Security is still around in 15 years..." (which it won't be like it is today).