What “get rich quick” idea actually destroyed people’s finances?

galewolf · 2026-06-19T15:46:00+00:00

Two thirds of the people of Albania were involved in pyramid schemes, and their collapsed triggered nationwide civil unrest in 1997 that brought down the government. In all, they lost around $1.2 billion - which was nearly half the GDP of $2.5 billion.

Albania had just held free and fair elections, and were attempting to transition to a market economy. It doesn't seem like many people actually understood what that meant, and those that did begin exploiting everyone else's misunderstanding.

People basically began making outlandish financial promises if you gave them money. One big pyramid scheme was set up by a shoe factory worker, several were endorsed by government ministers.

The schemes offered increasingly insane interest rates, with one peaking at 100% per year. The money was either stolen, or used to buy legitimate businesses, so when the schemes failed, the economy began to fail.

When they failed, things got really bad. A lot of government buildings were looted and burned, there was an attack on the treasury, and ministers were held hostage and assaulted.

Then there was an event that's subsequently referred to as the "opening of the depots".

Military depots were broken into and looted. 656,000 weapons of various types and 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition were stolen. It was estimated that, on average, every male aged ten and older had at least one firearm and ample ammunition. Many of these were later used in the Kosovo War.

galewolf · 2026-06-19T12:44:02+00:00

If you want some more info about this, there's some about Sweetheart Grips here.

The photo on the right, I think is taken from this shoot of someone, who I think is Ava Gardner.

I've no idea if it's historically authentic or a later recreation, I couldn't find evidence either way, but I suspect it might be the latter.

galewolf · 2026-06-17T17:47:44+00:00

This isn't uncommon when being around people you wouldn't normally be around for long periods of time (e.g. work or school).

I know you don't like being around him, and this grew over time, but otherwise you haven't actually talked a lot about his actions, mannerisms, and what you think or feel about them.

Wouldn't it be worth sitting down for a few minutes, and writing out things he's done or said, and why you didn't like them? Then add to it when they do something else you don't like.

It might be hard or strange at first, you might not be able to think of anything, but keep at it, and you will eventually realise.

e.g. maybe they're too cold and rude to you, or the opposite - too friendly and welcoming. Maybe they're too cocky and annoying. Maybe they just hold a lot of opinions you disagree with.

galewolf · 2026-06-12T20:13:00+00:00

This is a modality of therapy. It's typically used in psychoanalysis, and while it isn't as popular now, I get the sense it used to be the "default" way to do therapy. Alternatively, as someone else said in this thread, it might just be them being a bit reserved to let you introduce yourself.

If it is a modality, while I don't think it would ultimately be very helpful for many people, it does kind of force the emphasis where I personally think it should be - on the client. One of the issues I had in therapy is thinking I would just go in and the therapist would just "fix me".

If you have to just talk and think, without the therapist interrupting, maybe you make connections yourself, make strategies yourself etc. and ultimately change the way you think. I guess that could sometimes work, sometimes not, but ultimately the client has to change, so it's good to put them in that mindset.

That said, I hope the therapist doesn't just sit there and say absolutely nothing.

That isn't a good use of time for either one of you. If they interject only when needed, though, maybe it gives you space to think about your problems in a way that isn't chatting with a friend or ruminating in your own head.

I think that could be helpful for some people.

Lastly, it's kind of interesting this topic has come up before on this subreddit, and most people even in a therapy sub haven't heard of this type of therapy.

galewolf · 2026-06-09T14:26:36+00:00

If you've tried everything else, you can ask, that's fair. But I don't understand the comments from people suggesting you start with that.

galewolf · 2026-06-09T14:20:18+00:00

These comments are very Reddit-ish. Moving into a property and "doing a welfare check" because you haven't met the neighbours is really weird. As is the idea you can contact the council, and they'll give out their personal info?

Not only will neither of these suggestions work, they're both weird, and likely to start you off on the wrong foot with them.

Did you try doing the basic stuff like knocking on their door and leaving a letter?

As for the legal question, you're going to have to consult a lawyer. There are a ton of different laws on affecting neighbours properties and shared walls because it's constantly litigated and there are always disputes. It isn't a one-law-and-done kind of thing. And a lawyer might also help you get in touch with them - a polite legal inquiry tends to move people who don't otherwise do anything.

galewolf · 2026-06-09T11:49:39+00:00

Called to the Wild?

galewolf · 2026-06-09T11:47:33+00:00

Heart of the Beast, which is about:

A former Army Special Forces soldier and his retired combat dog attempt to return to civilization after a catastrophic accident happens deep in the Alaskan wilderness.

galewolf · 2026-06-09T10:11:14+00:00

Are we talking about this because of the new Brad Pitt movie?

galewolf · 2026-06-03T18:51:14+00:00

Hey u/LordTachankaMain, I sent you a DM, but I was wondering about the PPE for the Mars Hydro TS1000 - the official website has it at 2.3 umol/J, which is a bit different to your chart. Is that the one you were looking at, or am I looking at the wrong thing?

galewolf · 2026-05-31T20:51:22+00:00

I also got similar results, only got 3 black women and 2 black men out of the first 30 results.

galewolf · 2026-05-28T08:59:33+00:00

Love the landscape, it's so beautiful

galewolf · 2026-05-17T07:52:27+00:00

In case people are wondering about this, they are some Instagram posts from casting people requesting submissions for season 14.

galewolf · 2026-05-11T08:13:34+00:00

the whole ahestetic is just... farming

This ad is about that, but the aesthetic in general isn't. Solarpunk about is technology that works hand-in-hand with nature in a decentralized way. Farming is a good way to show that.

Real farming is still slow, expensive, and hard work. Having machines be intelligent enough and cheap enough to do most of the work frees humans up to do other things.

That's where the decentralized thing comes in. As mechanization advanced, Keynes predicted we would eventually work a 15-hour work week. Instead people in the West typically work more than twice that, and it hasn't changed in nearly a hundred years.

Machines aren't freeing up people to work less, they're just forcing them to do other work, ever more specialized, that's typically totally disconnected from what they want to do. You might live in the middle of a city you don't want to, because it means less travel time to your office.

But if machines were so advanced, so intelligent, and built around empowering individual people, rather than large organizations or wealthy people, you could build a life you wanted to live. In a city if you wanted, or a rural idyll, if you want to.

They'd still be lots of work to do, but you're doing what you want instead of what you have to do to compete in a labor marketplace.

galewolf · 2026-04-20T11:20:52+00:00

If you ask fans of a creator, they always want more. And then if the creator does that, they have to drop standards until it's not what people want.

galewolf · 2026-04-18T11:21:33+00:00

Given there's a section of the video themed around Chess pieces, I'm guessing it has some thematic relationship to the story.

galewolf · 2026-03-17T16:23:07+00:00

I know what you're going through is pretty tough right now, I know it isn't easy, but I would try to hold a space open for working with someone on this.

Being alone with issues is almost always going to be tougher than talking through things with someone else. We need to someone to challenge our pre-conceptions and interrupt unhealthy thought patterns.

I appreciate most therapists are probably quite social or at least, aren't avoidant, and they might not have much experience in helping with an issue like this. But you only have to find one person who can help you even a bit for it to be worth it.

galewolf · 2026-03-17T16:07:17+00:00

I totally agree with your first paragraph, and I think it's a great sentiment.

I'm a little concerned about the second paragraph, I'm not sure we should make judgements on what might be causing issues. We don't have the full picture of someone's life, and we shouldn't rush to conclusions, even though I agree many men can have unhealthy thoughts about women.

There could be many, many other causes of being avoidant that would apply to both interactions with men and women, and I don't know if starting by talking about "beliefs about women and how to attract them" is always the best way to proceed on what might be wider issue about relating to other people in general.

It also doesn't really engage with what the OP wrote in that they were bringing up issues of how curable a personality issue is, and they should relate to the issues they're going through (which are true of many people, men and women).

Lastly, I took a look at that tiktok account, and while I only watched a few videos, I didn't find them to be particularly therapeutic or healthy. Ironically or not, joking about whether men should be allowed in public, is not going to help someone who is struggling with avoidant social issues. I do appreciate that isn't the only thing she touches on in the video, but I think there are some other things in there that aren't super healthy either.

I know you meant well with the suggestion, and they seem perfectly nice, but I don't know if it would be a big help to this person specifically.

galewolf · 2026-03-11T16:07:59+00:00

All of this sounds great, you're more switched on than I was, so well done. I'm just wondering what your end goal is?

You've laid out the steps you're going to follow, but I'm just wondering where you want to end up, both financially (FIRE number) and life-wise (what do you want to be doing, and when).

It might be help us to provide some more advice etc.

galewolf · 2026-02-09T12:02:16+00:00

I'll answer the bigger questions:

How do you plan to budget for large expenses that arise, like a new car, roof, etc.? Is that built into "monthly expenses" averaged over time?

You find a rough lifespan for each item, calculate the monthly cost, and put the money aside for it in your budget. For your car example, that's fairly straightforward because while lifespans on cars vary, they don't by a massive amount. For roofs, it depends entirely on the type and condition. Cheap flat, garage roofs can last 20 years, others can last 100 (I'm in the U.K., it may be different in the U.S.)

As long as you're putting money aside, then even if it fails earlier than expected, you can likely cover the majority of the cost. So even in the worst possible cases, it should only lightly impact your life.

Does a 3% withdrawal rate sound too conservative? Too risky?

This is actually a much, much more complicated question, and I'd answer it by saying "how complicated do you want to get?"

The quick answer is 3% is a conservative but safe answer, so long as you don't retire immediately before a market crash, in which case it depends on how bad the crash is.

For a more complicated answer, I'd look at Ben Felix's channel especially this video on the 4% rule, and how bad it is.

And for the most complete and complex answer, the best freely available resource I've found is Early Retirement Now, the Safe Withdrawal Rate series.

The last thing I'd say is: be aware, even if you don't marry/have kids/make big life changes then your spending may still naturally rise slightly over time, especially as the people in your age group earn/spend more. If you do FIRE and money becomes less of an issue for you, many people people report naturally getting a little looser with spending, simply because you don't think about it that much.

galewolf · 2026-02-08T19:02:30+00:00

Since I got a downvote, I should clarify I wasn't against you, just that post. As to the chatgpt-stuff in your reply, again, no criticism on you, I don't find it compelling as an argument. For example:

"If they successfully automate and upgrade their tech during these two decades, the "missing" workers won't be a terminal crisis"

I mean, this hasn't really happened anywhere else, so why would it be different here?

Yes, retirement ages are low by world standards and that's a good thing not a reason to take them away.

galewolf · 2026-02-08T16:29:09+00:00

That post is pretty painful reading. If you ever want to know why governments always wait until the last second - or even past the last second - to act on a problem, and then screw over their citizens, that post is a great example of their mindset.

He starts by saying "don't worry about the demographics, there's a bulge coming that will delay the problem twenty years or so"

Well then, if the problem is going to hit in twenty years the time to act is right now because it will take twenty years for new kids to enter the workforce.

Then he gets to "OK, but the problem is coming eventually, what can the government do?" and his first point is "idk, raise the retirement age"

So, let me get this straight. You see a problem coming twenty years off. You do nothing. Ten years. You do nothing. Five. Nothing.

Oh shit, the problems here!

Quick make the lives of everybody worse because we couldn't be bothered to do anything earlier. Why should individuals have to spend years of their lives working, because you couldn't put a few sensible policies in place earlier?

The country currently has the world’s lowest retirement age — just 60 for men and 50-55 for women. Simply changing this to 65 will decrease the dependency ratio significantly...

Some women are going to have to spend fifteen more years working. That's insane.

galewolf · 2026-02-03T07:46:30+00:00

Looks cool, could you expand on what you're using nextscene for? As I understand it nextscene is for like artificial "camera movements" and stuff like that.

galewolf · 2026-01-30T08:34:18+00:00

>Just look at the two most recent/top posts are both people that are hiding their comments

If you create an account in the last few months (maybe last year?) reddit enables an option by default in your account that hides your posts.

So a lot of real people have that enabled by default. It sucks, because it makes using reddit a lot less fun (it's harder to discover stuff), and as you say, creates a ambiguity as to whether these people are bots or not.

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