Every tax break for a billionaire or subsidy for a fossil fuel company is money we pay for things we don't want
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2025
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My taxes going to fund the Gaza genocide.
Who's forcing you to spend to show you have a luxurious life? Better off living within your means and investing the difference.
I don't mean everybody or just me lives that way. But many do...
I am fine with spending excessive money on some things, but I shed tears of blood when I'm forced to give money to someone I hate. Most recently is was buying a refurbished Pixel 8 so I could use GrapheneOS. Spending a lot of money on a Google product was a prerequisite for using GrapheneOS.
Spending that much money for a phone to install a custom rom is insane. Do your threat model requires you to use grapheneos specifically? If no, then why not use a budget phone with lineageos and nogapps?
Security should never be taken lightly, though physical security is a different matter and GrapheneOS seems to talk about that a lot for what it's worth.
If I were to buy a new phone today, I'd probably get an e-paper one with a degoogled OS. But I still (supposedly) have a decade before GrapheneOS stops supporting my phone.
I'm older, my kids are grown, and I'm kinda past caring what other people do and think. I have friends with kids who complain about how expensive it is to enroll kids in the activities that "everyone does."
I'm forced by the government to give up a bunch of money so that people can feel important rolling around in their $50,000 toys with heated seats and entertainment systems, while simultaneously destroying the planet.
Going out to bars when I was a student. I wanted to spend time with people, not spend money on the outing.
Going with the spirit of the question, not the text (I donβt really think we are forced to pay for βextraβ things, itβs all choice):
But one area I cannot comprehend is people buying cars on finance only to keep up with others who buy cars on finance.
Credit card roulette with friends at dinner and I lost.