this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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[–] jeremy@midwest.social 376 points 1 year ago (10 children)
[–] Fondots@lemmy.world 69 points 1 year ago

People always chime in with stories about how chiropractors helped them with XY and Z problem they were having.

And overall I don't doubt them. There's a lot of things that can go wrong with your spine or other joints, and I'm certain that some of them can be addressed by physically manipulating and adjusting it.

But the basic premise of chiropractic treatments is that basically all human ailments can be fixed in that way, which should sound like total bullshit to anyone with half a brain. And that's before you get into all spiritual nonsense that pervades a lot of the field.

Now some of them understand that that's a load of bullshit and may even be realistic about the things they can treat, but it can be pretty damn hard to sort them out from the ones who think that your pancreatic cancer is caused by ghosts in your spine and they know how to get them out or some bullshit like that.

Now if you have a good idea what your issue is and what needs to be done to fix it, take the time to carefully vet your chiropractor to make sure they're not going to try some crazy bullshit on you, you very well may be able to get a decent treatment from them. Maybe you'll even be able to save some money going with that.

But for most of us who aren't doctors and so only have kind of vague ideas what exactly the issue is and that the treatments we're doing actually make any sense, and don't necessarily have time to do all of that research and carefully vet that the person treating them isn't secretly a quack, you could just get the same sort of treatments from actually physical therapists, orthopedists, physiatrists, etc. with the added benefit of them actually understanding the issues and how to fix them properly.

Chiropractors are kind of like the rednecks of the medicine world. Some of them know exactly what they're doing with that harbor freight welder, they may not do things by the book but they know for certain what works and what doesn't and more importantly know when something is beyond what them and their buddies can accomplish on a free Saturday with a case of beer and when they need to suck it up and limp their truck to the shop and let a professional deal with it. Others know just enough to be dangerous and while they can get the job done 90% of the time or at least not make things worse, that 10% of the time something is literally going to blow up in someone's face. And still others are just meth heads looking to make a quick buck and it's a miracle they're not behind bars. And when you see them hanging around the local watering hole, it may not be totally clear which is which until it's too late.

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[–] GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml 331 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Private health insurance is the biggest fucking scam ever. The private insurance companies benefit by getting the aggregate healthiest population into their plans (working adults). The most likely to be expensive people, i.e. old people (on medicare) or poor people (on medicaid, or not even on an insurance plan) are on government, tax payer insurance plans. There is literally no reason except for corporate profiteering that Medicare should not be expanded to cover all people.

Also all those conversations, especially in the 2020 election period, were totally bullshit. You say something like M4A will cost 44 trillion dollars or whatever, which sounds like an insane amount of money. What is often left out of the discussion is that estimated cost was 1) over 10 years and 2) has to be weighed against the current costs we already pay for insurance. So the deal was very simple: the overall costs would go down because the overall spending would be less, and at the same time millions of people without coverage would be covered, and at the same time you don't have to contemplate stupid bullshit like in network, out of network providers. Or ever again talk to your insurance about why something is or isn't covered. Boils my blood when I think too much about this.

Not even gonna weigh in on things like how medicare can't negotiate prescription drug prices (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/23/us/politics/medicare-drug-price-negotiations-lawsuits.html), or how dental, vision, and hearing are treated separately from general healthcare, or how med school is prohibitively expensive, or how the residents after med school are overworked because the guy who institutionalize that practice was literally a cokehead. Those are all just bonus topics. The point is we are getting fleeced.

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[–] MiDaBa@lemmy.ml 269 points 1 year ago (6 children)

The stock market and publicly traded companies. The idea that a business that is making consistent profits isn't good unless those profits are increased each quarter is asinine. This system of shortsighted hyper focus on short term quarterly growth for the sake of growth is the cause of so much pain and suffering in the world. Even companies with amazing financials will work to push workers compensation down, cut corners and exploit loopholes to make sure their profits are always growing. Consistent large profits aren't good enough.

[–] AssholeDestroyer@lemmy.ml 47 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Instapot. Instapot made too good of a product, most people buy one and its good for years. That's good for consumers but terrible for investors. The company that bought them out and took them public saddled them with a ton of debt from other sectors and now they're bankrupt.

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[–] unscholarly_source@lemmy.ca 173 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (26 children)

My personal top 3:

  • insurance
  • subscriptions
  • Google and similar data hungry companies (while not a financial scam but moreso a privacy scam, companies like Google and Meta profiteering on our personal data without our knowledge or awareness)
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[–] 1984@lemmy.today 170 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Subscriptions.

People pay every month but most don't use the sub to it's full value, and forget how expensive it becomes over the years. And you don't own anything on a subscription, you just borrow it.

Also trial periods that prolong automatically into subscriptions.

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[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 155 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Unpaid overtime.

Framing "fulfilling your contract" as "silent quitting".

In what other context would be "delivering what's in the contract" anything less than satisfactory?

When I buy a litre of milk and the box contains exactly a litre of milk it isn't "silent stealing" either.

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[–] buckykat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 136 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Car based infrastructure

the stock market

capitalism

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 132 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Wedding rings/diamonds in general.

The tradition isn't as old as people think and was literally started by a jewelry company to sell more jewelry. Specifically diamonds, which are not as rare as commonly believed and if not for the false scarcity and misinformation, would be dirt cheap.

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[–] Redfish@lemmy.world 129 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Tipping in restaurants…pay the workers.

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[–] Piecemakers3Dprints@lemmy.world 117 points 1 year ago (16 children)
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[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 116 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Professors requiring their own, expensive textbook for their course.

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[–] andthenthreemore@startrek.website 114 points 1 year ago (9 children)

First Past the Post voting at elections.

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[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 97 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Dollar stores. A lot of the time they are profiting by selling you a smaller quantity at a slightly lower price. They target low income communities.

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[–] notme@feddit.de 91 points 1 year ago (10 children)
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[–] Stoneykins@mander.xyz 90 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)

Car dealerships. They are awful on purpose. In many places car manufacturers are not legally allowed to sell their cars directly to customers, in order to create what is essentially legally mandated car dealerships, which all suck.

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[–] clausetrophobic@sh.itjust.works 89 points 1 year ago (5 children)
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[–] Peddlephile@lemm.ee 88 points 1 year ago

Private health insurance.

Banks.

[–] mats@feddit.de 84 points 1 year ago (45 children)

Windows. You pay ~100€ just to give your personal data to MS and get a bloated OS that will use all of your resources. Even MacOS is a more fair deal than this.

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[–] original_ish_name@lemm.ee 84 points 1 year ago (8 children)

The price for glasses. It's like this because of a stupid duopoly

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[–] terminhell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 82 points 1 year ago (8 children)
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[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 81 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Capitalism and the 5 day 9 to 5 work week

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[–] Skeith@discuss.online 81 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Homes as wealth-creators.

Americans take it as received wisdom that homes are meant to generate income through higher valuations over time. We just assume home prices go up over time and if it's not actively increasing in value, the home was a failure.

Many other countries don't treat homes this way. They are dwellings, invest what you want to your liking, but it's not a retirement account.

This focus on wealth generation creates lots of perverse incentives, such as exclusionary zoning, building on lots that are overly large, and suburban sprawl. These don't reflect people's actual, desired form of housing but rather maximize wealth for homeowners at the expense of everyone else.

We have a completely warped view of housing that causes us to be preyed upon by real estate agents, landlords, HOAs and the like.

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[–] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 78 points 1 year ago (6 children)

British royal family.

Religions that collect money from adherents.

Web 2.0 data harvesting.

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[–] Krulsprietje@lemm.ee 76 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Printer inkt. In our shop people are still buying them for a way to high price…

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[–] Swaziboy@lemmy.world 75 points 1 year ago (6 children)
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[–] bbigras@sh.itjust.works 75 points 1 year ago (6 children)
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[–] WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml 74 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Real estate agents getting 6% commission from the seller.

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[–] MooseBoys@lemmy.world 72 points 1 year ago (5 children)

This is the third post I’ve seen on Lemmy recently where people seem to overwhelmingly think the word β€œscam” just means β€œsomething I don’t like”. To be a scam, something needs to be dishonest in its representation, usually either by falsifying the true cost to the buyer, or lying about what is being provided in return.

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[–] TARgz@lemmy.world 70 points 1 year ago (20 children)

Your ISP is suddenly asking for more money. What are you gonna do? Disconnect from the internet?

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[–] candyman337@sh.itjust.works 70 points 1 year ago (6 children)
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[–] techtalkf@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

Printer Ink and paying companies like Google and Spotify, who still collect your data as a paid customer.

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[–] obinice@lemmy.world 66 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Capitalism and religion, easily the top two scams.

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[–] Zemvos@lemmy.world 58 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Airlines charging for seat selection. I remember the days when that was just a right you got for "free" by purchasing the ticket 🀷

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[–] nickiam2@aussie.zone 56 points 1 year ago (7 children)
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[–] faintwhenfree@lemmus.org 56 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] original_reader@lemmy.ml 55 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

The way mobile providers charge. The likes of Vodafone, any random Telecom, T-Mobile and so forth. It's a huge scam, bordering theft sometimes. Want samples? Here we go:

"Your credit expires in x days. Better recharge now to not lose it!" (Banks should start doing this /s)

"Your credit has expired. Better give us more money within our generous deadline, or else we are forced to delete your number. We love you."

"Your data has expired. We now charge you a horrendous amount every minute, because we are too greedy to warn you in time. For technical reasons we also cannot stop you from using data after your allowance has been used. Fortunately you still have credit, huh?"

"Your data expires today. We don't insult your intelligence by telling you when. Surely you remember when you bought the package, right? It's not hard to count 24 hours. We also do not send any SMS anymore to save the environment."

"Your data has expired. You need data to buy a new bundle. Our app charges data for our convenience."

"Social media data only works for WhatsApp, but not for Signal. But who uses Signal anyways?"

"Use our customer friendly support chat. Conveniently it uses data. 'Hello, I am your smart bot speaking. How can I help you? I might understand you if you type one of the three questions I have been programmed to answer. Do you want to know more about our products?'"

Edit: added point 2, minor corrections for clarity

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 53 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (24 children)

Car centric cities. Cities can and should be designed for people, keeping cars mostly out. The result is beautiful cities designed for people that make governments lots of money but the car companies will be earning a little less, ooffff

Make cities walkable, create actual safe roads for bikes, create 15 minute cities.

Look at the Netherlands, it damn works awesome

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[–] Colorcodedresistor@lemm.ee 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

competition. You like Brand A? and dislike Brand B? both are owned by C

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[–] Commiunism@lemmy.wtf 52 points 1 year ago (9 children)

The notion that capitalism is the end-all be-all of how society functions/works.

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[–] BilboBallbins@lemm.ee 50 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (25 children)

Shampoo: Washing away the natural oils in our hair, causing the body to produce them in higher volume, causing our hair to get greasy, creating a need for shampoo.

Recycling: Only about 10% of plastic is actually recycled, the rest is sold to countries without environmental laws, and they are dumped irresponsibly. Composting is simple, effective, and would reduce landfill use by about 30%, not to mention creating a useful end product. Yet it is rarely promoted.

Mattresses and box springs: They are worse on our spines and end up causing neck and back issues. Sleeping on a firmer surface, even a thin mattress or pad on the ground, alleviates these issues.

Lawns: Turning a useful piece of land on which we can grow food into a barren wasteland and making it into a chore that requires expensive equipment and encourages chemical use.

Sales tax on food: Some countries and US states have them. It's a tax on existence. Also, taxes on gym memberships and personal protective equipment. The government simultaneously claims it wants healthy, safe citizens, and charges them when they try to be healthy and safe.

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[–] MesaShrike@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago (4 children)
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[–] Jumi@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago

In-game shops

[–] jucelc@lemmy.wtf 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

DLCs: Games are expected to have DLCs nowadays, so game devs purposefully hold back some ideas for potential DLCs, often crippling the main game as a result.

Subscription services: For pretty much anything, but especially those automated monthly payments, which you won't bother cancelling, even if you feel like you're not using the service to its fullest.

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