Nobody is "buying" anything. These are donations to a private, for-profit corporation, in the hopes that said corporation will send a phone, if they can and do end up making them.
Ah, fuck it. I really thought that this whole Kickstarter donation thing would go away once people wised up, but I suppose that these donation scams are much like multi-level marketing and other scams... for every people who figures out that it's a scam, there are two more that get sucked into the stupidity. I really wish that I had less of a conscience so that I could take advantage of all of these suckers. It's got to be the simplest, most lucrative scam in history, as far as I can tell.
The fact that there were any profits at all show that price increases are not necessary. For a company to be "profitable" means that all of it's bills are paid. A company that is profitable doesn't *need* to raise prices. That's pretty straightforward. Sorry, but I can't explain it any simpler than that.
I never suggested a company should not make money. I said that your premise, that you apparently pulled out of thin air, that companies had to raise health insurance rates because of Obamacare, was wrong and I proved it was wrong.
The health insurance companies' profits are directly related to insurance cost. Profits = income - expenses. The primary income of a health insurance company are insurance premiums.
A company that is profitable doesn't have to raise prices. They may *want* to raise prices, but they certainly don't have to. "Obamacare" hasn't forced a single health insurance company to raise prices, because they're all still very, very profitable.
I personally pay the health insurance for more than 20 people. I'm very aware of rising costs. I'm not aware of any connection between the Affordable Care Act and the price increases, though. Link, please?
Obamacare is progress, and that's a good thing. There's too much money involved to suddenly shut down the private health "insurance" system. This is a good first step. After Obamacare, it'll be easy to eventually migrate everybody into Medicaid or Medicare, and it'll be finished.
Personally, if I could afford it right now, I'd make sure to get myself one. I always wanted a linux phone with decent specs and without the risk of having to flash stuff everywhere and/or making clumsy chroots inside Android to have my favorite tools ready.
Well, then you should consider buying one once somebody makes one. This isn't a way to purchase a phone. This is a way to donate a large amount of money to a for-profit, private company.
'The unavoidable conclusion from this study is that US households buy too much cheap plastic shit
The article doesn't list all of the items in their "study", but it does mention spoon rests, cases for phones, jewelry organizers, and shower curtain rings. The only thing on that list that I'd actually use are shower curtain rings, and I'm still using the same metal ones that I bought 20 years ago.
At the end of the day it's "I'm barely hanging onto mine, fuck the world".
Oh, please. You have at least a computer, Internet access, and some kind of credit/debit card, and you're ordering entertainment that gets shipped to your door.
Keep up the selfishness... Keep buying the cheapest crap from the cheapest place possible, without regard for where you're spending your money, and this is what you get. After all, there's "free shipping", right?
Welcome to the another manifestation of the culture of "I've got mine. Fuck you."
Actually, I'd say that it's not so much age, but background. The less educated, those with less demanding careers, use their phones as mini-computers like you say. They don't have anything to do with real computers, so they're happy with a shiny little toy computer. Those with demanding careers and those who are more educated, generally have and use actual computers, extensively. Those little things are not in any way replacements for actual computers, assuming you're doing something more important than absorbing some kind of entertainment. I don't know a lot of entrepreneurs or scientists or other productive, useful people who can use their phone to do their jobs.
"Apps" blah blah blah blah. I've got a couple of Windows Phones, and I really don't care about "apps". I use it to get stuff done, and it's much easier to get stuff done than people who have to go through their laundry list of "apps" on the other two devices. Windows Phones will become more popular once the "app" fad is over, and people (growups who aren't geeks), as a whole, decide that they're tired of dicking around with their phones all the time.
No, it's not like an actual transaction. In an actual transaction, there's an agreement. This is just a gift. A gift is when one party gives something to the other party without anything expected in return. Do you really not know this...?
You "purchased" an item. By giving them money for the laptop, they have a legal obligation to give you a laptop. Crowdsourcing is not "purchasing" anything. It's a donation, in the hopes that whoever you donated the money to will give you something in return.
I find it shocking that a web site (this one) with so many smart people having discussions can, at the same time, also be host to so many people who don't understand the basics about how money works. We've got crowdsourcing, bitcoin...
Slashdot Mirror
Nobody is "buying" anything. These are donations to a private, for-profit corporation, in the hopes that said corporation will send a phone, if they can and do end up making them.
Ah, fuck it. I really thought that this whole Kickstarter donation thing would go away once people wised up, but I suppose that these donation scams are much like multi-level marketing and other scams... for every people who figures out that it's a scam, there are two more that get sucked into the stupidity. I really wish that I had less of a conscience so that I could take advantage of all of these suckers. It's got to be the simplest, most lucrative scam in history, as far as I can tell.
The fact that there were any profits at all show that price increases are not necessary. For a company to be "profitable" means that all of it's bills are paid. A company that is profitable doesn't *need* to raise prices. That's pretty straightforward. Sorry, but I can't explain it any simpler than that.
I never suggested a company should not make money. I said that your premise, that you apparently pulled out of thin air, that companies had to raise health insurance rates because of Obamacare, was wrong and I proved it was wrong.
The health insurance companies' profits are directly related to insurance cost. Profits = income - expenses. The primary income of a health insurance company are insurance premiums.
A company that is profitable doesn't have to raise prices. They may *want* to raise prices, but they certainly don't have to. "Obamacare" hasn't forced a single health insurance company to raise prices, because they're all still very, very profitable.
You should do some reading before you consider calling people "stupid", kid.
I personally pay the health insurance for more than 20 people. I'm very aware of rising costs. I'm not aware of any connection between the Affordable Care Act and the price increases, though. Link, please?
It's a technical problem. Not a structural problem.
And no, many if not most people cannot afford to see a doctor without government intervening to regulate the "health insurance" industry right now.
I'm glad to see it's not working,
What's not working? The parts that are implemented are working just fine.
And why would you be glad? You want people to not be able to see a doctor? Really?
Your idea is to force private companies to operate in a manner dictated by the government. What's the point of the private company at all?
Obamacare is progress, and that's a good thing. There's too much money involved to suddenly shut down the private health "insurance" system. This is a good first step. After Obamacare, it'll be easy to eventually migrate everybody into Medicaid or Medicare, and it'll be finished.
Capitalism doesn't fix everything.
Personally, if I could afford it right now, I'd make sure to get myself one. I always wanted a linux phone with decent specs and without the risk of having to flash stuff everywhere and/or making clumsy chroots inside Android to have my favorite tools ready.
Well, then you should consider buying one once somebody makes one. This isn't a way to purchase a phone. This is a way to donate a large amount of money to a for-profit, private company.
'The unavoidable conclusion from this study is that US households buy too much cheap plastic shit
The article doesn't list all of the items in their "study", but it does mention spoon rests, cases for phones, jewelry organizers, and shower curtain rings. The only thing on that list that I'd actually use are shower curtain rings, and I'm still using the same metal ones that I bought 20 years ago.
The world is fucked up, and I can't single-handedly fix it....You're probably just as full of shit as the rest of us.
Speak for yourself. Sorry you feel that way.
So in other words, "I've got mine. Fuck you".
Right.
At the end of the day it's "I'm barely hanging onto mine, fuck the world".
Oh, please. You have at least a computer, Internet access, and some kind of credit/debit card, and you're ordering entertainment that gets shipped to your door.
You're part of the problem.
Amazon doesn't win on price, they win on selection.
In other words, "I've got mine. Fuck you."
The real problem is wage disparity between the people running the place and the ones on the bottom rung.
No, the real problem is all of y'all on the bottom rung are stepping on each other to try to get up, and you just don't care.
Exactly.
"I've got mine. Fuck you."
Keep up the selfishness... Keep buying the cheapest crap from the cheapest place possible, without regard for where you're spending your money, and this is what you get. After all, there's "free shipping", right?
Welcome to the another manifestation of the culture of "I've got mine. Fuck you."
Actually, I'd say that it's not so much age, but background. The less educated, those with less demanding careers, use their phones as mini-computers like you say. They don't have anything to do with real computers, so they're happy with a shiny little toy computer. Those with demanding careers and those who are more educated, generally have and use actual computers, extensively. Those little things are not in any way replacements for actual computers, assuming you're doing something more important than absorbing some kind of entertainment. I don't know a lot of entrepreneurs or scientists or other productive, useful people who can use their phone to do their jobs.
You do realize that you're "donating" to a privately, for-profit company, right?
"Apps" blah blah blah blah. I've got a couple of Windows Phones, and I really don't care about "apps". I use it to get stuff done, and it's much easier to get stuff done than people who have to go through their laundry list of "apps" on the other two devices. Windows Phones will become more popular once the "app" fad is over, and people (growups who aren't geeks), as a whole, decide that they're tired of dicking around with their phones all the time.
A pre-order is very different from a donation.
No, it's not like an actual transaction. In an actual transaction, there's an agreement. This is just a gift. A gift is when one party gives something to the other party without anything expected in return. Do you really not know this...?
You "purchased" an item. By giving them money for the laptop, they have a legal obligation to give you a laptop. Crowdsourcing is not "purchasing" anything. It's a donation, in the hopes that whoever you donated the money to will give you something in return.
I find it shocking that a web site (this one) with so many smart people having discussions can, at the same time, also be host to so many people who don't understand the basics about how money works. We've got crowdsourcing, bitcoin...