jogjayr

If you buy MSFT specifically you'll get regular, fairly predictable dividend payments and not just an unknown amount of money in the future.

MSFT goes up a tiny fraction when you buy. That means MSFT employees with stock grants get a tiny "raise" courtesy of you and with no cost to the company. Microsoft can also use their more expensive stock to make acquisitions. So you are contributing to the company's productive use in at least 2 ways if you buy its stock.

Buying MSFT doesn't meet the criteria to be called gambling, for me.

> how common was it for farmers to take orders from another man like he was their boss?

Historically most farmers were some form of serf. So I think it was common.

> California - you pay 5 or 10 cents but there is no practical way to redeem it

I once brought my cans to a recycling center and got paid. This was in the Bay Area. For the cost of driving it is uneconomical unless you bring hundreds of cans. Someone with a bike and trailer could make it work.

Speaking from experience, both are necessary. Public childcare and afterschool programs aren't a replacement for quality time with grandparents. They also don't cover weekends or evenings like grandparents can do.

A professional usually needs a tool when they need it and can't rely on the vagaries of availability at a library. And it's easy to kick out someone who checks out a tool all year.

Most consumable parts can be excluded from lending. Batteries are trickier.

I like tool libraries. I belong to one myself. But I also own some tools, like a car jack and and torque wrench, even though I use them exactly twice a year.

If I relied on the tool library for those, they'd be checked out all month when I most needed them to put on or remove winter tires.

Who would even want a Waymo in Mumbai? Human-driven taxis and autorickshaws there are cheap and comfortable. Public transit is fast and low-latency.

It seems perfect for cities without cheap taxis or fast public transit.

Disclosure: I'm a Googler but have no inside knowledge of Waymo.

Waymo works where it works and it's useful where it works. Can a Mumbai autorickshaw handle an American freeway? Does that make it a pointless vehicle?

I, a human who learned to drive in Mumbai, can't handle driving in Mumbai anymore.

> A french door refrigerator with ice maker costs about $25 per month to run

Which one?

Money quote:

“As automakers were profit maximizing during the supply chain crisis era, you are going to prioritize the bigger vehicles, the more expensive vehicles with their higher margins,” Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, told me. “Now we just don’t have” these cheaper models.

> a $1M house bought with $100K down and $900K mortgage is a worse deal for the seller as compared to $500K down and $500K financed.

Do sellers in the US know how large your down payment is? AFAIK that's not a thing in Canada. Offers either have a financing condition, or don't. If the offer doesn't have a financing condition, the buyer might be paying cash. But they could just be trying to present an offer with better terms, gambling that they'll definitely find financing somewhere or the other.

> But that $2k a year?

$18 * 12 = $216

Like I said it's non-zero value. But is it more value than a fair wage, negotiated without artificial restrictions? Why can't they grant the athletes admission and give them the option of either studying tuition-free, or pay tuition but earn a salary for playing?