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Buy payphones and retire

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Re: Buy payphones and retire

#71

Post by the_sleaze_ »

andrewla wrote: post #57

The concept of "passive income" is almost a scissor concept. Or maybe only if you couple it with the categorical imperitive. On the one hand, it's so obviously true that it would be great to have passive income. Draw the salary you're drawing now, with some growth, and not have to work. On the other hand, if everyone had access to this capability then society and civilization would grind to a halt. People make things…

With respect, I think you have it entirely backwards.

(First, "passive income" means "almost hands off, but not entirely")

Progress in technology is making things - better quality, less effort. Amazon Warehouses for example. Just a few years ago they took at least a few dozen people in rotation, now takes a man and a dog - the man to feed the dog and the dog to bite the man if he falls asleep.

Since so much can be done with so little effort it seems natural that if wealth doesn't concentrate at the top then most people would have essentially passive income streams.

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#72

Post by WalterBright »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #47

When I was a kid, we stole a payphone. Those bastards are tough . We whacked on it for an hour, with a 15-lb sledgehammer. When it finally broke open, it yielded about $1.50.

I once had a storage unit, and lost the key to the padlock. The manager said no problem, and we went to the unit. He pulled out a battery operated angle grinder, and cut through the hasp in a few seconds.

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#74

Post by andai »

andrewla wrote: post #57

The concept of "passive income" is almost a scissor concept. Or maybe only if you couple it with the categorical imperitive. On the one hand, it's so obviously true that it would be great to have passive income. Draw the salary you're drawing now, with some growth, and not have to work. On the other hand, if everyone had access to this capability then society and civilization would grind to a halt. People make things…

>If the goal is to have a system where everyone can have passive income, then achieving that goal is the end of the world.

If AI and robotics continue to be developed, then eventually most human labor becomes uneconomical by comparison. At that point, the system provides passive income on a mass scale (UBI) to prevent its own violent destruction. At least, that's the good ending.

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#75

Post by andai »

notatoad wrote: post #65
andrewla wrote: post #57

The concept of "passive income" is almost a scissor concept. Or maybe only if you couple it with the categorical imperitive. On the one hand, it's so obviously true that it would be great to have passive income. Draw the salary you're drawing now, with some growth, and not have to work. On the other hand, if everyone had access to this capability then society and civilization would grind to a halt. People make things…

"passive income", in it's original iteration, wasn't the idea that you could make money by doing nothing. The idea was that you made something or did something that you were uniquely able to make or do, and then the result of your labour would make money for you while you put in minimal continued effort. the version of passive income where you don't do anything productive at all, ever, and just put up some initial ca…

>just put up some initial capital in exchange for even more money back

Isn't that how index funds work?

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#76

Post by andai »

monero-xmr wrote: post #41
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have also heard that vending machine locations are highly contested. You can buy the machine, but you are not going to have the pull to deploy it at the airport. Those contracts were signed long ago.

Or you put it out and a week later someone has bashed it to pieces with a baseball bat

What cultural difference causes this?

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#77

Post by sam1r »

andai wrote: post #75
notatoad wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"passive income", in it's original iteration, wasn't the idea that you could make money by doing nothing. The idea was that you made something or did something that you were uniquely able to make or do, and then the result of your labour would make money for you while you put in minimal continued effort. the version of passive income where you don't do anything productive at all, ever, and just put up some initial ca…

>just put up some initial capital in exchange for even more money back Isn't that how index funds work?

Well, not many index funds succeed, in that same proportionate rate.

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#78

Post by hifromwork »

notatoad wrote: post #65
andrewla wrote: post #57

The concept of "passive income" is almost a scissor concept. Or maybe only if you couple it with the categorical imperitive. On the one hand, it's so obviously true that it would be great to have passive income. Draw the salary you're drawing now, with some growth, and not have to work. On the other hand, if everyone had access to this capability then society and civilization would grind to a halt. People make things…

"passive income", in it's original iteration, wasn't the idea that you could make money by doing nothing. The idea was that you made something or did something that you were uniquely able to make or do, and then the result of your labour would make money for you while you put in minimal continued effort. the version of passive income where you don't do anything productive at all, ever, and just put up some initial ca…

>just put up some initial capital in exchange for even more money back, is always a scam. some people might come out ahead sometimes, but more people will lose than win.

How so? My all-world index funds are doing pretty well. For more risk averse, almost every buyer of USA governmental bonds gets "even more money back" in exchange for the initial capital. I don't think that's a scam either.

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#79

Post by hifromwork »

crooked-v wrote: post #40
hyperhopper wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why are there so few? And containing such a small variety of goods? In Japan anywhere from a busy subway to a remote park, there will be rows of vending machines everywhere, with more varieties of sodas, coffees, soups, ice creams, candies, hell even clothes or meat! And those are just the common types. You're never far from what you want in an automated fashion. Why are we so behind in America when there seemin…

There are many huge contextual differences between the US and Japan when it comes to vending machines, but the most obvious one is that Japan is eminently walkable, while the US is so pedestrian-unfriendly that there's no guarantee that people will even be around your row of vending machines in the first place.

I agree, but in my very walkable european neighbourhood I don't see any vending machines either (except on the train stations, in waiting rooms, etc). Granted, there are small shops every corner, so vending machines don't feel necessary, but sometimes it would be useful to have some.

Re: Buy payphones and retire

#80

Post by potato3732842 »

crooked-v wrote: post #40
hyperhopper wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why are there so few? And containing such a small variety of goods? In Japan anywhere from a busy subway to a remote park, there will be rows of vending machines everywhere, with more varieties of sodas, coffees, soups, ice creams, candies, hell even clothes or meat! And those are just the common types. You're never far from what you want in an automated fashion. Why are we so behind in America when there seemin…

There are many huge contextual differences between the US and Japan when it comes to vending machines, but the most obvious one is that Japan is eminently walkable, while the US is so pedestrian-unfriendly that there's no guarantee that people will even be around your row of vending machines in the first place.

I get that you want to cram your pet issue into everything but that doesn't explain the dearth of product variety in places in places in the US where vending machines are located or the general rarity of them in walkable places in the US.
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