• Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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    29 days ago

    Wasn’t there some guy who set themselves a challenge where they were going to make a living without using any of their money?

    I believe he had to stop after 3 months because of health concerns.

    They see being poor as entertainment.

    • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      It didn’t end that quick, but he stopped after 9 months due to health concerns. The goal was to earn $1 million in a year, he had earned $62k.

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          Don’t forget he accepted charity in the form of free housing and donations that were likely only available to him through existing connections.

          Also this:

          Despite failing to make the million dollars he had aimed for, Black says it was still a successful experiment after demonstrating how it was possible to rebuild his life through the power of determination.

          So this dipshit learned nothing. He failed, and would probably have died in the gutter, but instead he pulled the ripcord and bailed on poverty in a way that isn’t available to 99% of humans on earth.

          • whereisk@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            He had knowledge and connections to the upper echelons and he couldn’t make it, and when health concerns arose he went back to his money because it sucks to be working poor and in need of medical assistance.

            • Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              28 days ago

              Right, those 62k he did earn would have been gone and him probably homeless as soon as his health issues got worse. It’s a reality for a lot of Americans. Also those 62k he earned were thanks to all the education and experience he was able to get thanks to his privilege. Most people aren’t fortunate enough to have his level of education and experience to help them even get to 62k. I make 25 percent less than that and still feel fortunate of where I got to since I came from absolutely nothing.

        • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          Yea, he flipped free furniture off of Facebook. Only a rich asshole would come up with an idea like that

          • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            “If I can be a parasite, you can too*”

            * just ignore that I didn’t again become a millionaire like I said I would. And just ignore all the experience and schooling I started with that others don’t.

      • Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        This video was such absolute bull crap lol. He randomly found some dude on like his SECOND night homeless that let him stay in a spare room for free.

        Then he flipped free stuff on Craigslist and Facebook for cash which is… fine I guess. A little sleazy but whatever. Magically found transportation and the ability to store and haul this stuff all over town but never explained any of that.

        Then he majestically found someone to cosign and provide initial payments to rent like a four bedroom house that he sublet to 3 other tenants… So he found some random guy to COSIGN for him which is crazy knowing how much liability that puts on you while ALSO finding a landlord that is allowing a guy with no job, no income, no credit, no prior residences, and no money to not only rent from him with a random co signer but also allowing him to sublet to three other random ass people the landlord will never even meet. This is possible… But EXTREMELY unlikely. Also, the fact that this dude tries to do a homeless challenge by immediately becoming a landlord is pretty funny ngl. Also it’s worth noting that his final number ($64k or whatever) was revenue not profit. He said himself he was making about 50% profit so he made closer to around $30k on the year.

        And on top of all that, the fact that he cites health issues as this unforeseen unfortunate issue that got in the way of his inevitable success is kinda rich. That’s… kinda the deal with poverty. You fall on hard times. Health often falls apart. Unexpected expenses destroy you. It can and often does completely tear your world apart. Thems the breaks man lol. Dude just experienced life a little and quit.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          It sounds like he wasn’t using his money directly but might have used his ability to access his money to build “credit” with others.

          • bitwaba@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            Used his existing social credit too. All his random business successes during those 9 months were from “I know a guy that might want in on this” kind of crap.

            • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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              28 days ago

              I mean, it’s possible but unless he specifically said that he wouldn’t use his identity during the experiment, just proving who he was would be enough to trivialize the risk of even a significant loan for most people. A lender would know that whatever happens, either they’ll get paid back by him from within the experiment or he’ll pay them back as the billionaire after the experiment, maybe even rounding up to the next significant digit or something crazy like that (but still trivial for him).

              Also, “I was doing an experiment” isn’t a defense against fraud. Though him being a billionaire probably means that the only penalty would be paying back the victim with maybe a little extra plus legal fees or hush money.

        • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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          27 days ago

          Nitpicking, but that’s also not like a sustainable way to conduct oneself in a society. Like his only “service” was inserting himself as an unnecessary middleman.

          If everyone did that you’d have nothing but grifters making money moves on eachother, and nothing would ever get actually made. Basically, it’s not the kind of work which produces new value through labour.

          Which maybe if the point idk, I’m not a total parasite

      • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        I could be wrong but isn’t that more than most people make in 12 months?

        So it might not be possible to make millions, but for someone who has the loose ethics of millionaires it’s still possible to make significant money starting from scratch. The issue being the unethical/exploitative behavior needed to get there.

        • Zorque@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          He didn’t really start from scratch, though. He used connections and training he had from before he embarked on this “experiment”.

              • Blum0108@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                Not really something to be held up as an example of success. Not everyone can do that, or it wouldn’t work. Plus there are people who could use that free stuff that he’s essentially stealing from. Just goes to show that this guy has no ethics.

                • HessiaNerd@lemmy.world
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                  29 days ago

                  Honestly, I would argue at least a portion of those items would get thrown away if he hadn’t gotten them. When someone wants something gone, and when a different person wants to acquire that particular thing don’t always align. It’s tweaker arbitrage, but it’s not that big a deal IMHO.

                  The real moral failing from my perspective is not recognizing how much help he got, and how ‘lucky’ he was.

          • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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            29 days ago

            Anybody can get training at a community college or do networking. This isn’t exclusive to millionaires.

            • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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              29 days ago

              You’d be surprised at the things you can get for free simply for not being an onerous person.

              • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                Sure, the a pick-up magically landing in his lap for free, at the exact moment he needed one, because he wasn’t difficult to deal with is way more believable than “he lied and it wasn’t even a good lie.”

                • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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                  28 days ago

                  Well, with that attitude I’m not surprised this hasn’t happened to you because you’d probably end up blaming the person who gave it to you if anything goes wrong with it.

                  • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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                    28 days ago

                    Lol, maybe I should just decide people who see the world for what it is as having a bad attitude, like you instead?

                    Even cheating he couldn’t come close. Thats about all there is to it.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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      29 days ago

      *chose to stop

      *because of high health care prices

      And as far as I know they have not used any of their privilege to do anything to change that situation for others who don’t have that choice.

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        29 days ago

        It’s because the problem was being poor.

        So…stop being poor.

        It’s easy. He just proved it!

        (Massive /s but sadly, for the privileged guy, not sarcasm)

      • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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        29 days ago

        Omg you’re so right!

        If the experiment was a success, shouldn’t he help others with that path?

        Or maybe that path was overinflated as much as possible…

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      imagine the privilege to just quit being homeless for health concerns while a lot of people go homeless because of health complications. so he ended where homeless people frequently start. fuck that guy.

      • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
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        28 days ago

        He wasn’t homeless. He had free shelter by staying with a friend. Nothing luxurious, but he wasn’t living on and from the streets. He also only made the money because he called in a “favor” from a business partner that let him sell some niche shit for more money lol

        All in all it was a total failure, he realized how much of a failure it was and then backed out feigning “health concerns” to save face.

    • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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      28 days ago

      He made $62k and called that a success. Why not then use said $62k to fix his health issues? Wouldn’t that be much more realistic in terms of unplanned medical costs setting back a lot of Americans?