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I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

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Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#21

Post by eterm »

viraptor wrote: post #15
msrenee wrote: post #13

I'm missing the logic of the second 10k. He had already exceeded the limit. Why did he think that doing it again would change the outcome? It looks to me like he was going to get the extra $25 returned to him and have 10k in bonds. It's definitely vague though.

They thought they exceeded the limit by trying to send $10000+$25, so given that the $10000 was coming back, they expected that they're again $9975 under the limit.

That's an odd interpretation of the refund. The email clearly states,

> "A refund of the excess purchase..."

So they'd be refunded the excess, i.e. $25.

Putting another $9,975 through just feels like being "too smart".

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#22

Post by roenxi »

> They're zero-risk bonds...

To qualify this, there is zero risk that the technical letter of the agreement won't be honoured.

Lending money to the US government is very high risk right now. Simple person metrics like debt to GDP indicate they're currently fighting a bigger war than WWII, and the trend-line says they are losing. If you lend the US government enough money to buy a sandwich there is a real risk that at the end of the agreement they'll return an amount of money that won't get you a sandwich.

It doesn't matter that they say "inflation protected" on the tin. Exactly what happens there is uncertain, it is quite likely that there will be games played with inflation figures. Or a simple haircut of how much money they owe ("we did owe you $100, now we owe you $75. Law says so.").

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#23

Post by ZephyrBlu »

ataru wrote: post #14

If I ever feel an urge to try out test cases on banking apps, hopefully I'll think of this story and stop.

This is what gets me. I would *never* send $10k just to see what happens in that scenario. Why would I want to risk that something goes awry???

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#24

Post by notch656a »

beaconstudios wrote: post #17
Guthur wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it must be satire, or maybe someone straight out of uni and still waiting for the reality check.

Is the US government really that bad? I hear Americans complain about it all the time but from my experience in the UK the government is mostly competent most of the time.

It's vast and unpredictable.

Example: Two weeks ago I re-entered US as a citizen. Several people ahead of me smoothly went through the border control line. I was 'randomly' chosen for inspection by border patrol, an agent fabricated a story that a dog alerted, and I was forcibly strip searched where yet another agent fabricated he saw a 'plastic baggy' coming out of my ass. This 'evidence' was used to cuff and shackle me and drive me all over the state, while the government failed to find a doctor to anally probe me against my will. A warrant was even written by a crooked agent testifying this absolute bullshit. Government incompetence cost me 16 hours of my life, cuffed and shackled and mocked by doctors and agents publicly in waiting room of multiple hospitals. After two agents examined my feces to make sure there were no 'drugs' I was released, sans the discharge paperwork that was stolen from me and sans the affidavit of the testimony the agent wrote which he conveniently neglected to hand to me when he served me the warrant.

Will you end up like the guy in front of me, smoothly going through, or will you end up cuffed and shackled while agents try to get you anally probed. It's anybody's guess.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#25

Post by xiphias2 »

msrenee wrote: post #13

I'm missing the logic of the second 10k. He had already exceeded the limit. Why did he think that doing it again would change the outcome? It looks to me like he was going to get the extra $25 returned to him and have 10k in bonds. It's definitely vague though.

He didn't understand the email, and thought that buying the bonds wasn't successful.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#26

Post by viraptor »

eterm wrote: post #21
viraptor wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They thought they exceeded the limit by trying to send $10000+$25, so given that the $10000 was coming back, they expected that they're again $9975 under the limit.

That's an odd interpretation of the refund. The email clearly states, > "A refund of the excess purchase..." So they'd be refunded the excess, i.e. $25. Putting another $9,975 through just feels like being "too smart".

You could interpret the "excess purchase" as the excess amount (so $25 refund) or as the excess purchase transaction (so $10000 refund).

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#27

Post by OJFord »

eterm wrote: post #21
viraptor wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They thought they exceeded the limit by trying to send $10000+$25, so given that the $10000 was coming back, they expected that they're again $9975 under the limit.

That's an odd interpretation of the refund. The email clearly states, > "A refund of the excess purchase..." So they'd be refunded the excess, i.e. $25. Putting another $9,975 through just feels like being "too smart".

I found that ambiguous, could either read it as the excess amount or the entirety of the purchase that resulted in excess balance.

But anyway it just shows more UX issues - if it's the former then why didn't the balance update to show $10k; in either case why does it accept the payment before checking? It should just say no you've hit your limit this year, or you've already subscribed $25 this year you're limit is $9975.

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#28

Post by SpaceL10n »

roenxi wrote: post #22

> They're zero-risk bonds... To qualify this, there is zero risk that the technical letter of the agreement won't be honoured. Lending money to the US government is very high risk right now. Simple person metrics like debt to GDP indicate they're currently fighting a bigger war than WWII, and the trend-line says they are losing. If you lend the US government enough money to buy a sandwich there is a real risk that at…

The I-bond guarantees a return rate at inflation or higher. You're saying you expect negative inflation this year?

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#29

Post by Blackstone4 »

SpaceL10n wrote: post #28
roenxi wrote: post #22

> They're zero-risk bonds... To qualify this, there is zero risk that the technical letter of the agreement won't be honoured. Lending money to the US government is very high risk right now. Simple person metrics like debt to GDP indicate they're currently fighting a bigger war than WWII, and the trend-line says they are losing. If you lend the US government enough money to buy a sandwich there is a real risk that at…

The I-bond guarantees a return rate at inflation or higher. You're saying you expect negative inflation this year?

I think they are saying official inflation figures can be manipulated to be below real inflation

Re: I accidentally loaned all my money to the US government

#30

Post by roenxi »

SpaceL10n wrote: post #28
roenxi wrote: post #22

> They're zero-risk bonds... To qualify this, there is zero risk that the technical letter of the agreement won't be honoured. Lending money to the US government is very high risk right now. Simple person metrics like debt to GDP indicate they're currently fighting a bigger war than WWII, and the trend-line says they are losing. If you lend the US government enough money to buy a sandwich there is a real risk that at…

The I-bond guarantees a return rate at inflation or higher. You're saying you expect negative inflation this year?

I'm saying that he's lending money to the people who write & interpret the rules, and those people do not intend to pay their creditors back in real terms. Indeed, they have probably crossed a practical threshold where they cannot pay back the real amount.

It doesn't matter what the rules say right now, his wealth is at risk. They can and do change the rules sometimes. They can change what the word "inflation" means. Maybe someone legislates that inflation is 1% now for paying back I-bonds, I dunno. This is risk, it could happen. Something is going to happen, the debt situation is unprecedented bad. Will that something affect these bonds? It is possible.

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