Tic toc, tic toc, it’s time for TikTok again. One of our favorite things to do when there is a little bit of downtime at TARTLE HQ is to go through comments on our TikTok videos and interact a bit with our audience. This is our fourth go around with our TikTokers so let’s jump into it.
Debt was a big topic of conversation this time around, with some calling for regulations on the amount of debt one should be allowed to take on, some taking issue with our stance against mortgages, and some pointing out that debt is actually a pretty important tool for business.
First, let’s be clear, debt in general is not good. Anytime you owe money to someone else, they have something they can hold over you. When you have a debt you have to pay, that means you are tied into making enough money to ensure you can pay it. That’s true whether you have $4000 in credit card debt, a $400,000 mortgage, or a $4,000,000 loan to start a business. It’s just a good recommendation for people and businesses to have as little debt as possible. That applies to countries as well but that’s a whole other ball of wax.
As for regulations on the amount of debt you can have, that would be a huge knot of legislation. Different people can afford different levels of debt, and as someone pointed out debt is actually a tool used in business. Whether that’s good or not is, once again, another conversation entirely. Not to mention, too tight a regulation would get in the way of the person who has a great idea to get a new business started and just needs a start-up load to get it off the ground.
Mortgages are a bit different. Renting lets you be flexible, but owning a home is still preferable for a lot of people who want their space for their projects or those with families. Again, just don’t take on more than you can handle. It’s undeniable that a lot of people take on far more house debt than they can really manage. The powers that be suggest up to 25% of your monthly income for a house payment. That’s nuts. One, that doesn’t necessarily take into account property tax, two, that’s just too much of your income when there are still other bills and emergencies. Aim for a lot lower and get that thing paid off as quickly as possible. Then, in addition to all the benefits of owning a home, you get most of the benefits of renting since you can sell for a lot less if you need to pull up stakes quickly.
The point is, don’t take on debt unless you need to. Definitely don’t do it just so you can have stuff that you don’t need. Are you taking out a loan for a $50,000 car when you could pay $8000 in cash for a used one that will do the job just as well? If the answer is yes, definitely reconsider.
Enough on that. Another commented on automation being big in the future, especially in farming. Soon, the tractor will be going around the field on its own, harvesting crops without needing a bathroom break. We’re actually closer to that than many think. We already have Teslas with autopilot and other automated cars are well into the testing phase. Automated farm equipment is not a huge leap from there.
Going back to money related issues, plenty of you commented on the scam known as the credit system. Could not agree more. It is something designed to incentivize consumerism and debt. It hurts individuals, families, society, and the planet. If you have a card – and you practically need one these days – pay it off every month. Trust us, it’s a lot better.
That will wrap things up for this visit to TikTok. Keep the comments and questions coming and we’ll be back soon.
What’s your data worth?
Tic toc, tic toc, it’s time for TikTok again. One of our favorite things to do when there is a little bit of downtime at TARTLE HQ is to go through comments on our TikTok videos and interact a bit with our audience. This is our fourth go around with our TikTokers so let’s jump into it.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to TARTLE Cast, with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future, and source data defines the path.
Alexander McCaig (00:25):
All right, Tik Tok. You win, we're back.
Jason Rigby (00:26):
Oh, I love this. These are always so fun.
Alexander McCaig (00:29):
What a crowd, what a crowd.
Jason Rigby (00:31):
Let's get right into it, Alex. You ready for our Tik Tok comments?
Alexander McCaig (00:35):
This is round four.
Jason Rigby (00:35):
I've got them on the phone right here.
Alexander McCaig (00:37):
This is like HBO Fight Night right now in Vegas.
Jason Rigby (00:39):
I know. We're going. We're hitting heavy. Cay Rich, C-A-Y_R-I-C-H-H-3-6-9 said this. "This system is what has gotten us here as a society. There needs to be better regulations about how much debt you can have out and continue buying."
Alexander McCaig (00:58):
Okay.
Jason Rigby (00:59):
They also said this. "Properties ... There is no plausible reason a person should have a billion dollars of debt or hundreds of million in debt," and then they said, "To own a certain amount of properties free and clear before taking out any other loans, people trying to acquire way more than they need."
Alexander McCaig (01:12):
Okay, so, this is good. Shout out to Cay. He's talking about over-consumption. I think we talked about the financial system and debt for one moment and the data about that, but when you talk about over-consumption, this is the thing that affects all of us, and that over-consumption is something that de-stabilizes our planet in every sense of the word. When we consume more than we need, we're crippling all the systems that give us life. That's an issue, and when you take more than you need, you take it away from others across the globe, that, we just did a thing on food scarcity. You're taking away from them. If you think about it, every bite of food you eat that you really don't need, or every piece of clothing you buy that wasn't really warranted, don't do it.
Alexander McCaig (01:54):
Think back about it or find a way to donate to those people that really need it. Toms Shoes gives out a pair of shoes to everybody, and for us, here in the United States, it's like, shoes? Everybody's got shoes. You can get shoes anywhere. You can walk into some of the most discounted stores around, like a Ross Dress for Less and you can get shoes for five bucks. You can go to Goodwill and get them for a dollar. Other places don't have that opportunity.
Alexander McCaig (02:17):
They don't have those things, so when you look at over-consumption, and I know that Cay Rich was focusing on debt, but it's more than just with debt. Debt's an easy thing to over-consume on. We over-consume on food, material items, TV, social ... All these different things, and that has an effect on climate stability, educational access, global peace, public health, transparency, corporate and government, and educational access. That's what over-consumption does. It lacks balance, and when we don't have that balance, things become unhealthy.
Jason Rigby (02:49):
I agree. M-S-H-2-1-9-6-9 ...
Alexander McCaig (02:53):
Sounds like a type of class one drug.
Jason Rigby (02:56):
Yeah, M-S-H-2-1-9-6-9. "I believe farming ..." This is with our farming video. "I believe farming will become automated. Your tractor doesn't need you in it to drive."
Alexander McCaig (03:04):
That's right. Does your Tesla need you in it? Not really. You just go in it because now it's your own personal cab.
Jason Rigby (03:09):
Waz, W-A-Z-N-O-R-M-A-N, Waz Norman, made a joke, "That chick has a dude's voice." That's when you had the long hair.
Alexander McCaig (03:22):
Joke's on you, you freaking short-sighted person, your lack of respect for people who want to define themselves in certain ways.
Jason Rigby (03:32):
W-E-S-I-E-D-S-U-T-T-O-N, said, "Dude just started saying random thoughts that came into his head. Very dangerous to spout off false information like this."
Alexander McCaig (03:42):
Like what? What false information? You think I'm going to sit here and lie to the world?
Jason Rigby (03:47):
Yeah. W-E-S-I-E-D-S-U-T-T-O-N, what is that, west side Sutton or something? They have a little, cute dog on here. We would love to be able to have you comment back, and we'll talk about what false information.
Alexander McCaig (04:03):
Yeah, go ahead. Comment back, tell us what we said that was false, and then we can clear this up with you.
Jason Rigby (04:08):
Cody C-U, C-O-D-Y-C-U commented, "I wish Grant Imahara was here."
Alexander McCaig (04:14):
The hell is that?
Jason Rigby (04:14):
Grant Imahara, I think, is the guy ... We should look him up. I think he's with MythBusters.
Alexander McCaig (04:21):
Imahara ...
Jason Rigby (04:21):
I-M-A-H-A-R-A.
Alexander McCaig (04:23):
I don't know how to spell that. I don't even know how to freaking spell that.
Jason Rigby (04:32):
Grant and then I-M-A-H-A-R-A.
Alexander McCaig (04:41):
He was an American electrical engineer, roboticist, television host and actor.
Jason Rigby (04:45):
Yeah, that's who he was talking about.
Alexander McCaig (04:47):
Was. He died in July 13th, 2020, recently.
Jason Rigby (04:49):
Okay. That must have been ... That's might he say, "I wish he was here."
Alexander McCaig (04:55):
Yeah, don't we all wish ...
Jason Rigby (04:56):
He's responding to about robotics and stuff.
Alexander McCaig (04:58):
Oh, yeah, Grant. He was on MythBusters. I remember this guy. Yeah, yeah.
Jason Rigby (05:02):
Next one is ...
Alexander McCaig (05:05):
Just because someone builds robots, it doesn't mean they necessarily understand the systemic impact of what a robot does and its affect on people and their jobs.
Jason Rigby (05:12):
Yeah. I saw the new robot, the dog robot, but it comes out of that Boston researcher, the big robotic place.
Alexander McCaig (05:25):
Oh, Boston Robotics.
Jason Rigby (05:25):
Yeah, Boston Robotics, yeah. They have it now ... It's amazing. It walks and acts like a dog, you know?
Alexander McCaig (05:31):
It's got those weird reverse ostrich legs.
Jason Rigby (05:34):
Yeah, yeah, and then they put a big claw on it and taught it to be able to just run and go grab something real quick.
Alexander McCaig (05:40):
That's funny.
Jason Rigby (05:41):
It's really cool. My Tea Cold, M-Y-T-E-A-C-O-L-D.
Alexander McCaig (05:47):
My tea's always cold. I always forget about it.
Jason Rigby (05:48):
Yeah, commented, "I've got that hoodie," talking about that colorful one.
Alexander McCaig (05:52):
Get out of here. No way, well, guess what, I bought mine on discount. I got it for, like, 12 bucks, okay?
Jason Rigby (06:00):
Big..mini, M-I-N-I, commented on, this was on your mortgage one, that one's popular. "Yeah, just rent forever and never build any equity while your housing cost increases year over year."
Alexander McCaig (06:12):
Where are we going with that?
Jason Rigby (06:13):
He was talking about having a mortgage compared to renting.
Alexander McCaig (06:17):
Okay.
Jason Rigby (06:18):
Here's the idea that ... I'm going to get into this really quick.
Alexander McCaig (06:22):
Go ahead.
Jason Rigby (06:22):
Here's the idea that they put you in a box, these financial people, these huge think tanks that get together and they said, "Hey, it's the 1950s. Let's do a mortgage," which, we don't even need to get into that, but, "Let's do a mortgage. Let's lock people in for 30 years. Let's have them where they have to work a 9 to 5 job, be stable. They'll work for us and they'll stay loyal to that factory because they know in this little cookie cutter suburbs that if we give them all the ..."
Alexander McCaig (06:56):
[crosstalk 00:06:56] suburb?
Jason Rigby (06:57):
Yeah, exactly. Look that stuff up, people. They wanted you to go from buying things that you need from buying things that you want, so they overstimulated you, neuroscience came into play, they overstimulated you and got you into this process of purchasing stuff that you do not need, and basing your happiness off of consumerism.
Alexander McCaig (07:18):
Strictly off material items.
Jason Rigby (07:19):
Here's what happened. Now that they've got you locked into this mass amounts of debt, you're not free. This is what we were talking about. You're not free to be able to go places. If you want to be able to own a house but you want to move to Austin, Texas and you live in San Francisco, good luck in trying to sell that thing. Yeah, you may make a little bit of money on the house, but I guarantee, if you add up every dollar that you spend on that house for 30 years ...
Alexander McCaig (07:43):
Putting into it, and getting the stuff to fill it up with ...
Jason Rigby (07:45):
All those Home Depot receipts, all those Lowe receipts, all the exterminator that came ...
Alexander McCaig (07:51):
How many times you've gone to Best Buy.
Jason Rigby (07:51):
How many times have you bought a new roof? How many times did you upgrade it with new windows? How much did you spend on the ... People say, "Oh, I bought the house for 150,000." You put probably 200,000 into that home. How much did all the furniture cost, everything that cost with that, and then you said you made 50,000 equity, do the math, it's not right.
Alexander McCaig (08:09):
Inflation plus your spend.
Jason Rigby (08:11):
Then, add the interest.
Alexander McCaig (08:12):
Yeah, and by the way, but here's the thing. That mortgage keeps you in that dopamine hit system of material items.
Jason Rigby (08:17):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (08:18):
It just keeps you in that world.
Jason Rigby (08:20):
When you rent, at the most, you may rent for six months or a year or something like that, but you can even get out of it if you find a job somewhere else that you're able to ... Especially with this global economy that we have now, maybe you get a job offer in Singapore.
Alexander McCaig (08:35):
Go take it.
Jason Rigby (08:36):
Yeah, go take it. Move there, have fun.
Alexander McCaig (08:38):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (08:38):
Be free.
Alexander McCaig (08:39):
Sub-lease the place.
Jason Rigby (08:40):
Don't let anything impose on your free will.
Alexander McCaig (08:44):
Nothing.
Jason Rigby (08:45):
Nothing, not even a mortgage.
Alexander McCaig (08:47):
Nothing.
Jason Rigby (08:48):
Like I said, if you want to use it like this person, G-D-O-Y-L-E-0-5-2-3, G Doyle 0-5-2-3 said, "Leverage is a gift if you use it to buy appreciating assets."
Alexander McCaig (08:59):
Okay ...
Jason Rigby (08:59):
Like, going into debt to start a company that you know is going to be successful or something.
Alexander McCaig (09:06):
Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, listen, I get that, but if you're just taking out debt to buy stuff that doesn't accrue any real evolutive benefit to you then think twice about it.
Jason Rigby (09:16):
"Death grip is my ex-wife's nickname for my butt," Cody CU.
Alexander McCaig (09:25):
Could you imagine living with that guy?
Jason Rigby (09:28):
The biggest one that we had the most controversy was the fries, the McDonald's fries.
Alexander McCaig (09:33):
I am not saying anything crazy.
Jason Rigby (09:34):
This one's smart. This one's smart.
Alexander McCaig (09:35):
Yeah, go ahead here, yeah.
Jason Rigby (09:36):
Brittney, B-R-I-T-T-N-E-Y Atoner 86, so, Brittney A-T-O-N-E-are 86 ...
Alexander McCaig (09:43):
Is that the stuff I put in my printer?
Jason Rigby (09:44):
Yeah. Brittney Atoner, she said, "False. Their fries come from McCains as well as East Coast Canada. Plus, my sister owns two franchise. Stop this." You can go on McDonald's website ...
Alexander McCaig (09:55):
Oh, my gosh. I'm going on McDonald's website ...
Jason Rigby (09:58):
I want people to understand.
Alexander McCaig (10:00):
I don't care where the damn potato came from.
Jason Rigby (10:02):
The UK just made, and you can look this up. You guys Google this stuff. The UK just came out and said Subway is not real bread.
Alexander McCaig (10:11):
We know.
Jason Rigby (10:11):
It's more like a pastry or a donut, the bread.
Alexander McCaig (10:15):
That's what I'm talking about with these fries.
Jason Rigby (10:17):
I eat McDonald's fries occasionally. I don't mind having them every once in a while as a ... We're not saying that they're wrong.
Alexander McCaig (10:23):
Okay, all right. Okay. Here we go. You ready for this? You know what a french fry is in my mind? I'm going to put a potato through a thing. It's going to cut it out into a shape, will have some skin on it and I throw it in the fryer.
Jason Rigby (10:39):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (10:39):
Let's talk about these fries, here. Potatoes, vegetable oil, natural beef flavor with wheat and milk derivatives, dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate to maintain color, salt, and your natural beef contains that hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients. They are starting ingredients because it is a dough that they are creating. It's potato flower plus other stuff to create a dough. It is not a french fry, okay. I don't care how many freaking franchises you own. She obviously doesn't know the ingredients in her own menu. I don't care where the potatoes came from, either.
Jason Rigby (11:13):
Potato Chip 00 said, "Amazing, keep up the great videos."
Alexander McCaig (11:18):
Oh, good, thanks Potato Chip.
Jason Rigby (11:19):
Yeah. Your Fairy God Uncle commented, "My guy looks just like David Luiz, the soccer player."
Alexander McCaig (11:29):
David ...?
Jason Rigby (11:30):
Yeah, L-U-I-Z.
Alexander McCaig (11:32):
David Louise soccer. What's this guy look like? Oh, no, I've gotten this before, yeah. I guess, when my hair was longer. Yeah, we got some similarities, here. Yeah, most definitely. Is he a good soccer?
Jason Rigby (11:46):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (11:46):
I don't know. What do I know?
Jason Rigby (11:47):
Yeah, he's really good. Ryan Encoded, R-Y-A-N-E-N-C-O-D-E-D commented, "The entire credit system is a trap." I want to pause here for a second. Credit, and credit system. We talked about ... He's responding off of ... I was talking about Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, and all that, and if you use more debt your score actually goes up.
Alexander McCaig (12:11):
Yeah, it's a trap.
Jason Rigby (12:13):
It is a trap.
Alexander McCaig (12:14):
I'm glad he sees the obvious.
Jason Rigby (12:17):
When you look at a credit system that is putting people in buckets, and we go over this all the time, but I want people to understand this, especially our Tik Tok followers. Whenever somebody puts you in a bucket and labels you, they take away your free will.
Alexander McCaig (12:31):
Yeah, because you're not defining who you are. Your username on Tik Tok? Did somebody define that for you? No, you put that in there. You want people to continue to define things for you?
Jason Rigby (12:40):
The things that you're creating on Tik Tok, the videos, define you.
Alexander McCaig (12:42):
They define you.
Jason Rigby (12:45):
It's that simple. If you don't want to be defined and you want to sell your data, go to tartle.co, sign up, start getting paid for your data, and change your world. You have that responsibility.
Alexander McCaig (12:55):
You have the responsibility and you have the power to do so.
Jason Rigby (12:59):
Ry the Big Guy, R-Y-T-H-E-B-I-G ...
Alexander McCaig (13:02):
What do you think, 68, 69, 245?
Jason Rigby (13:06):
He commented, "Okay, so, what, then? Rent for your life? Save enough cash to pay in full? Live in a van? Buy land and build a cabin off grid?"
Alexander McCaig (13:14):
That sounds pretty cool.
Jason Rigby (13:15):
Yeah, all those sound cool.
Alexander McCaig (13:16):
Sounds great.
Jason Rigby (13:17):
I want to ask this, Ryan the Big Guy, because I'm a big guy, too.
Alexander McCaig (13:20):
Maybe he doesn't fit in vans.
Jason Rigby (13:21):
What do you want to do?
Alexander McCaig (13:23):
Yeah, what are you asking us ...?
Jason Rigby (13:23):
What do you want to do?
Alexander McCaig (13:24):
Why is he asking us? Take one second of introspection and look at yourself and figure out who you are and what you want to do. Stop having the world tell you how you should be acting, Big Ryan, or whatever his name is.
Jason Rigby (13:39):
Yeah. If you want to buy land and build a cabin off the grid, go for it. Live your dream. What do you want to be? Do you want to be an artist and live in downtown New York in a big industrial building where you can ...
Alexander McCaig (13:52):
A big loft?
Jason Rigby (13:52):
I've seen that. Those are cool.
Alexander McCaig (13:53):
Pay that huge heating bill, go for it.
Jason Rigby (13:56):
Yeah, go for it.
Alexander McCaig (13:57):
Been there, done that.
Jason Rigby (14:00):
Grandmaster Hoops, love that.
Alexander McCaig (14:03):
He's probably nasty at basketball.
Jason Rigby (14:03):
He's got a picture of himself with a basketball, yeah, super cool. Great picture, guy. Grandmaster Hoops said, "Credit is for people that are impatient."
Alexander McCaig (14:11):
Snap.
Jason Rigby (14:12):
I know.
Alexander McCaig (14:12):
We got some learned, woke folk here. The woke folk. We're going to hashtag woke folk proud.
Jason Rigby (14:20):
Key Line 07 commented, "They don't give you money for your data. They give you a free service." He's talking about TARTLE.
Alexander McCaig (14:26):
We don't give you money. Buyers give you money for your data. We give you the service that allows you to get money for your data. That's correct. Nice job with the half truth. Keep it up.
Jason Rigby (14:40):
I'm taking it that he's being for us, like, we're the marketplace with a free service ...
Alexander McCaig (14:45):
Just make sure when you say something publicly, do the whole thing, not half baked.
Jason Rigby (14:49):
Yeah. A bunch of people talking about how cool your hoodie is. I want to get into that with more of the mortgage stuff. Some people are talking about phone bills, subscriptions, auto pay, credit cards. This will be the last one. Clot ...
Alexander McCaig (15:06):
Like a blood cot?
Jason Rigby (15:08):
[I Il de Blanchet 00:15:08] ... Clot, and she's talked to us before.
Alexander McCaig (15:11):
Il white, the white blood clot.
Jason Rigby (15:13):
Yeah. C-O-L-O-T-I-L-D-E-B-L-A-N-C-H-E-T.
Alexander McCaig (15:18):
Oh, Colette?
Jason Rigby (15:19):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (15:19):
Colette Blanchet?
Jason Rigby (15:21):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (15:21):
Your reading is phenomenal.
Jason Rigby (15:22):
C-L-O. It's C-L-O.
Alexander McCaig (15:25):
What do I know?
Jason Rigby (15:27):
[Clo Til de Blanchet 00:15:27]?
Alexander McCaig (15:27):
Go ahead. I don't know.
Jason Rigby (15:28):
Yeah. "You need to explain how TARTLE works and have a wizard to step you through setup. It's not enough to have people sign up and not know what's next."
Alexander McCaig (15:38):
You need to do this. You need to do that. You're not wrong. You're actually correct. Iteration 2.0 will be out soon and it will have that magical wizard with his tall, pointy hat, waving his wand, and he's going to show you exactly where to go.
Jason Rigby (15:48):
Yeah. I'tll be super simple. We did a whole episode. I encourage everyone to go to YouTube. Type, go to TARTLE, subscribe to our channel, one. Number two, you're going to see early adopters.
Alexander McCaig (16:00):
Watch this video.
Jason Rigby (16:01):
Yeah. Watch that video about early adopters. We spent 10 minutes explaining exactly what you're asking.
Alexander McCaig (16:08):
Yeah, and shout out to blood clot, white blood clot, whatever it is. Thank you for being an early adopter, and honestly, that feedback, much appreciated.
Jason Rigby (16:18):
Yeah, no, we love that. Last comment, here we go.
Alexander McCaig (16:21):
I thought you said the last one was the last comment.
Jason Rigby (16:22):
Oh, no, I love this one, though. T-H-E-C-U-L-L-U-M, The Cullum, commented, "It's all about choices. Use it or don't, stop complaining."
Alexander McCaig (16:32):
Wow, okay.
Jason Rigby (16:33):
Yeah. Take 100% responsibility ...
Alexander McCaig (16:36):
Love that.
Jason Rigby (16:36):
... of who you are as a human.
Alexander McCaig (16:37):
I love that.
Jason Rigby (16:38):
Take 100% responsibility for your planet.
Alexander McCaig (16:40):
We got to send specific people T shirts and some swag.
Jason Rigby (16:43):
Yeah. We'll get into that.
Alexander McCaig (16:44):
If you say something that's truly enlightening, evolutive, unifying and truthful, we'll send you some swag.
Jason Rigby (16:50):
Yeah, we'll send you some swag. We'd love it. Thanks, guys.
Alexander McCaig (16:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Thank you for listening to TARTLE Cast with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future and the source data defines the path. What's your data worth?
