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I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

mrmoneymustache.com

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Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#81

Post by zhoutong »

mseebach wrote: post #40

Uhm, he kept the links on a "recommends" page. And when Chase pulled the referrals, he removed them from that page which "After stripping out all the Chase stuff, my credit cards page is looking a little bare these days". What does it tell us about his impenetrable integrity when his recommendations are predicated on the recommended product paying him? Surely Chase can't keep him from recommending the card - that wou…

It looks like the customers can only get the cash rewards when they sign up using the referral links. This is actually sort of price discrimination because the people who directly sign up with Chase usually don't apply because of the rewards. Without the benefits there will be no point to recommend that credit card any more.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#82

Post by mibbitier »

speg wrote: post #12
metronegative wrote: post #9

Not being familiar with this guy's work, what's so honest about getting in bed with credit card companies and feeding them more signups? Selling lead generation for credit cards seems a little dishonest to begin with.

Presumably his readers are smart enough to get a deal. He mentions using Google Calander to cancel cards before fees kick in. So I assume he's not selling his readers down the river, but helping them 'hack' the system.

Yeah I would advise against that. Last time I checked, your credit score will plumet if you do that sort of thing.

If you pay off your debts without paying any interest all the time, you're pretty much a terrible person to lend money to.

The credit card companies also rely on the fact that however organised people thing they are going to be, a good amount of them slip up. Once they have credit, maybe they dip into it, then can't repay it all, or they miss the interest free deadline etc.

Please stay away from credit cards everyone :)

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#83

Post by phaus »

repsilat wrote: post #74
jaysonelliot wrote: post #70

Freedom of speech doesn't mean no one can ask you to change what you say, or that you never change your words to please anyone. It's a very specific concept from the United States Constitution that relates to the government forcing you to refrain from saying things that you want to say. Freedom of speech is the kind of thing that comes up when a government agency puts warning labels on record albums, news media are p…

> It's a very specific concept from the United States Constitution This is completely incorrect, and it's a little insulting to the users here who aren't American. Freedom of speech is a value with broad applicability. The United States Constitution enshrines a right to free speech as a limitation of government power, fine, but they don't have a monopoly on the idea. Relative freedom of speech is a characteristic of…

I'm not disagreeing with your statement about credit card companies, but to me it is hilarious that American credit card companies and banks still honestly believe that the customers think of them as brands which represent the epitome of honesty, integrity, and family values.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#84

Post by tallanvor »

repsilat wrote: post #74
jaysonelliot wrote: post #70

Freedom of speech doesn't mean no one can ask you to change what you say, or that you never change your words to please anyone. It's a very specific concept from the United States Constitution that relates to the government forcing you to refrain from saying things that you want to say. Freedom of speech is the kind of thing that comes up when a government agency puts warning labels on record albums, news media are p…

> It's a very specific concept from the United States Constitution This is completely incorrect, and it's a little insulting to the users here who aren't American. Freedom of speech is a value with broad applicability. The United States Constitution enshrines a right to free speech as a limitation of government power, fine, but they don't have a monopoly on the idea. Relative freedom of speech is a characteristic of…

The blog post is from an American blog, so noting that specific concept of freedom of speech from an American point of view is perfectly fine in this case. And in the American concept, freedom of speech is a constitutional concept regulating what the government can do to individuals.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#85

Post by einaregilsson »

anthonyb wrote: post #15
mschalle wrote: post #3

Integrity > money

Is this where I point out that this happens all the time, even on HN? And you very rarely hear about it? One of my submissions got flagged by the mods last night, I'm assuming purely because my project is called "Shithead". (Am I going to change the name? Hell no :) )

What is the project? Is it the card game Shithead, or something else?

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#86

Post by drostie »

repsilat wrote: post #74
jaysonelliot wrote: post #70

Freedom of speech doesn't mean no one can ask you to change what you say, or that you never change your words to please anyone. It's a very specific concept from the United States Constitution that relates to the government forcing you to refrain from saying things that you want to say. Freedom of speech is the kind of thing that comes up when a government agency puts warning labels on record albums, news media are p…

> It's a very specific concept from the United States Constitution This is completely incorrect, and it's a little insulting to the users here who aren't American. Freedom of speech is a value with broad applicability. The United States Constitution enshrines a right to free speech as a limitation of government power, fine, but they don't have a monopoly on the idea. Relative freedom of speech is a characteristic of…

Those words were indeed ill-considered; the concept dates at least into the English Bill of Rights about a century before the US one -- and of course it was also a value in the French revolution.

However, the point of the comment you're replying to still stands. If I merely say "We will only maintain a business relationship if you stop saying X, Y, and Z," then turning down that business relationship is not a free-speech issue. My sending you money to change the way you speak is not an abridgement of your freedom of speech, because accepting it is purely voluntary. It might be a matter of "selling out" but it's not a matter of "freedom of speech."

Cf. the FunnyJunk/Oatmeal debacle happening right now, where there was a tangible legal threat: "Take down your blog post or I will sue the crap out of you. Oh, and pay me thousands of dollars."

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#87

Post by lusr »

gfodor wrote: post #4
PythonDeveloper wrote: post #2

Awesome article. Kudos for sticking to your guns, and I hope your revenues skyrocket, even though credit cards are the worst financial decision anyone could ever make. I'd rather YOU make money on their bad decisions than Chase or Citi.

Saying credit cards are bad financial decisions is like saying getting a drivers license is a bad safety decision. Beyond the fact that you can use credit cards to your financial benefit, simply getting the card has no consequences whatsoever. (Unless you buy into the 'you must keep a balance to maintain good credit' myth.)

While I think credit cards have great benefits (see stevenwei for an excellent summary), getting the card does have a consequence in my experience: every card I've ever had has an annual maintenance fee (perhaps not the case in the USA?).

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#88

Post by alan_cx »

Instinctively I know I must have misread or misunderstood something, but...

"$4000 a month is about twice the amount it takes to pay for my entire family’s living expenses. It’s also enough to pay the mortgage on a $900,000 house, "

How does $48000pa pay for a $900,000 mortgage? Old skool was 3x your income. Pre-crash, 5x was possible. This is 20x (ish).

What blindingly obvious point have I missed?

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#89

Post by Someone »

alan_cx wrote: post #88

Instinctively I know I must have misread or misunderstood something, but... "$4000 a month is about twice the amount it takes to pay for my entire family’s living expenses. It’s also enough to pay the mortgage on a $900,000 house, " How does $48000pa pay for a $900,000 mortgage? Old skool was 3x your income. Pre-crash, 5x was possible. This is 20x (ish). What blindingly obvious point have I missed?

This: You are using the "what should my income be for banks to give me a mortgage" figure, not the "what does a mortgage cost" figure. At 5% interest, a mortgage on $900,000 costs $45,0000 a year on interest.

Re: I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech

#90

Post by anthonyb »

Karunamon wrote: post #68
anthonyb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this where I point out that this happens all the time, even on HN? And you very rarely hear about it? One of my submissions got flagged by the mods last night, I'm assuming purely because my project is called "Shithead". (Am I going to change the name? Hell no :) )

You basically have to tell me about this project now, because anything that can give me an excuse to say "Yeah I tried out this thing called 'Shithead'" with a straight face to my friends has to be SOME kind if nifty :)

Here's the submission in question: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4141253
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