I’m in my 30s so I should be used to this by now, but this shit is getting so stressful guys. I have no savings, my checking account is drained every month with rent, and if there’s ever a serious emergency I have no safety net, I’m legitimately fucked. I’m one unplanned expense away from absolute ruin. Those in the same boat as me, how do you deal with this?

  • Xhieron@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Crime. That’s the answer. I don’t suggest or recommend it, but people who genuinely can’t survive or achieve any meaningful quality of life while participating in the social order will violate it instead. Some people shoplift; others engage in elaborate plots to rip off their landlords and creditors, but there’s no squaring the circle. I’m not in the same boat, but I’ve been there, and it’s only a stroke of good fortune that kept me from a very different road.

    • FredericChopin_@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      I have the same view. People commit crime as they feel they’re not benefiting from the “social contract”, as in it pays to be a civil member of society. Well if you’re not getting what you need then you have to get it elsewhere and hence crime.

      I regularly tricked the scales on supermarkets by scanning similar weight items and bagging the expensive thing whilst scanning the cheaper one. Or claiming orders didn’t arrive so I could get it again and then return one. Same for order something expensive and saying they sent a cheaper version. Sony XM4 for cheap for example.

      To even more elaborate and long winded scams which I won’t detail here.

      Like you, I have had some lucky breaks and I am doing better now, but I will still take what I can from massive corporations as in my eyes, whether right or wrong, they do it to.

      Give people a chance at a life and they won’t be criminals. Well most won’t.

      • Koraboros@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Why are you ordering Sony XM4s if you’re “broke”? Sounds like you’re just a scumbag who wants to justify being a scum bag to society.

        • ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          If I didn’t have a laptop or the money to buy one, I’d steal one because I wouldn’t be able to make money without one. Is a laptop a human right? No, not even close. Am I able to feed myself without access to a computer? Not really, no.

        • instamat@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Lol how does that make him a scumbag to society? He’s not hurting the rest of the herd by doing this.

          • severien@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            When you steal, somebody gets hurt. If you encourage many people to steal, employers go bankrupt or have to downsize, letting employees go. But XM4 is a human right?

            • FredericChopin_@feddit.uk
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              1 year ago

              How is stealing a product any different than wage theft from large corporations, families like the sackler being literal drug dealers and paying a fine, etc.

              In my og comment I clearly stated that when people feel like society isn’t working for them then what use is following the rules.

              FYI: It’s easier to get some XM4s to sell for bills and food than to steal a whole food shop.

                • FredericChopin_@feddit.uk
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                  1 year ago

                  Thanks.

                  The way I see life is we are here by chance for a limited time. Imma do what I have to do survive, but not just survive but enjoy it too.

                  I have this view for all laws really. I don’t not kill people because it’s illegal, more I don’t want to kill people and if I did then still the cons far outweighs the pros. It’s just a matter of choosing where you draw the line.

              • severien@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                How is stealing a product any different than wage theft from large corporations

                It’s not different, both are unethical and illegal.

                In my og comment I clearly stated that when people feel like society isn’t working for them then what use is following the rules.

                So if you feel you’re entitled to a luxurious lifestyle without having to work for it, you can steal and rob?

                FYI: It’s easier to get some XM4s to sell for bills and food than to steal a whole food shop.

                So, did you sell those for bills and food or did you use them?

            • cubedsteaks
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              1 year ago

              When you steal, somebody gets hurt

              The folks at amazon and sony can cry their little hearts out.

                • cubedsteaks
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                  1 year ago

                  I know. I’ve bought from those types of shops before and even China’s version of ebay: TaoBao

    • mke_geek@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      This is absolutely horrible advice. Being financially broke doesn’t mean having to be morally broke. Those who don’t have much money don’t have to become bad people.

      • Xhieron@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”

        That is to say, the error is to conflate law with morality. They are not one and the same.

        • snor10@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Yes, but stealing has been considered amoral in all cultures for all of history.

          Stealing is fundamentally wrong, only a tiny fraction of humanity would ever disagree.

      • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        The first line literally says they don’t suggest or recommend it. The Answer was how do people do it. Crime is how some people do it.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Sounds like you’re in the US. Most other Western countries have a much better social safety net to actually address these problems.

      • Zippy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Western countries possibly. Not most of the world population has near zero help. Safety nets are a very modern philosophy that has only emerged in about the last 50 years and mainly in in capitalistic societies that have created the excess wealth to support.

        I am happy we have those extra resources to support people. But this is not some universal law that dictates the requirement. The universe cars not about our well behind. This is provided by those that work a few extra hours to cover those that can’t.

    • cubedsteaks
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      1 year ago

      others engage in elaborate plots to rip off their landlords and creditors

      …I would like to learn more about this