FinTech for the Precariat: Recent Episodes
Ricardo Miranda Zuniga
It has been projected that the 2020s will be the decade of the FinTech Revolution. This Marketing hyperbole is on the heels of many such revolutions – the Green Revolution, the Personal Computing Revolution, the dot.com, web2.0 and Social Network Revolution... These tech revolutions are sold on the promises of democratization and wealth, however, their applications and results are much more complex than merely advancing technologies for the advancement of humankind. FinTech for the Precariat, questions the various possible applications of emerging financial technologies and brings to the forefront the question of who ultimately will these technologies serve?
Subject 10 (Founder of Wizest): Axel Thibon introduces the new investment platform Wizest that targets inexperienced investors for a small monthly cost.
Subject 9 (Precariat/Cultural Worker): GameStop scenario on Robinhood was an experiment not a threat.
Subject 9 (Precariat/Cultural Worker): A market is not a democracy. Markets generate desire and demand, not equality.
Subject 9 (Precariat/Cultural Worker): Concerning addicitive behavior and retail investment apps... The app makers should be obligated to safegaurd against addicitive behavior.
Subject 8 (Financial Specialist/Media CEO): Amazon has committed wage theft and will pay 61 million dollars to its workers, but get away without any other punishment and Bezos will not be perceived as the criminal that he is.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): A community organizing and pushing back against a massive corporation is possible. The Queens Community Land Trust seeks to re-envision the property that Amazong sought to make corporate hub in Queens.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): In general, academic positions are incredibly competitive and the academic environment itself is competitive and tends to be judgemental. As a white woman, an academic position at this time seems unachievable.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): As a cultural worker and educator, living in NYC is not possible in the long run.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): A declaration that the federal government can be pivotal in generating green jobs.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): The Queens Community Land Trust (CLT) brings together manufacturers, food vendors, artists, educators...
Subject 8 (Financial Specialist/Media CEO): The greatest crime in the United States at this time is wage theft. And it is partly the greatest crime, because it goes largely unpunished.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): Rather than being employed to make smart and long-term investments, Robinhood is being used like a casino.
Subject 8 (Financial Specialist/Media CEO): We Must Have an Earnest Conversation about Wage Theft
Subject 8 (Financial Specialist/Media CEO): We are generally absorbed my petty crimes. We hear about them on the news, follow crimes that are reported on apps like Citizen and yet, crimes such as a mugging or a broken car window are financially insignificant in comparison to wage theft. Only through a public conversation can people begin to consider the economic significance of wage theft.
Subject 8 (Financial Specialist/Media CEO): Corporations wish to be considered as citizens and be granted the voice of citizenry, however, when they commit crimes they are not tried as citizens.
Subject 8 (Financial Specialist/Media CEO): The Best Analog Comparison to Cryptocurrenty Is Gold
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): Cryptocurrency is entirely different from credit cards as one can not accrue debt with cryptocurrency.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): The State can not regulate or control cryptocurrency as it is decentralized by design through distributed ledger technology.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): Human intervention is at times required in cryptocurrency and they are called Oracles. For example, a wager regarding the 2020 U.S. Elections was decided by Oracles, before Biden was declared president.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): A description of the possibilities of cryptocurrency as autonomous finance.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): What are the possible effects of notifications from investing apps upon individuals?
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): GameStop revealed how the system is fixed for the rich and powerful to prosper.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): One positive of GameStop is the possibility of people banding togethere as investment collectives.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): Future financial regulations should be added to investment apps to protect the investors.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): We are in a tech bubble and it has got to come down at some point.
Subject 4 (Tech Artist/Cultural Worker): Perhaps the hedgefunds or big players will eat up the little players.
Subject 5 (Artist/Cultural Worker): Artist and activist considers the legacy of the Occupy movement today, particularly in relation to Black Lives Matter.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): Investing apps make the founders and managers incredibly wealthy as they are a mechanism to pull in capital.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): It is doubtful that retail investment app users do due diligence, so they are likely to loose in the long run.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): As companies became overwhelmed with the cost of pensions and eliminated them, people turned to investing in stocks as a means to generate retirement money.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): Retail investment only makes sense for people with disposable income.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): As the federal government investigates the GameStop stock phenomenon, new regulations are likely. Unfortunately, the regulations will not serve the individual investor.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): Sharing the decisions made in order to live without debt.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): People should pay off debt, assemble savings and then invest.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): A financial specialist who was not born into privilege, put himself through public higher learning, offers financial advice.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): By the timea stock goes viral and makes its way to mainstream media, it's too late to jump in. Those late comers will be seduced by the idea of making millions and will most likely loose money.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): Through the Internet, people should inform themselves rigorously before becoming stock investors or traders.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): Investment apps aren't a threat to U.S. finance, the real threat is and has been offshoring of production, manufacturing and even digital services.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): Due to the growth of trading and perhaps due to freely available investment apps and the viral nature of the web, bubble are popping up everywhere.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): Viral movement of stocks presents great risk and lack of stability.
Subject 6 (Finance Specialist): For the non-specialist, trading is likely to be a loosing effort; instead the non-specialist should invest in an index.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): Educators in the United States are paid so poorly and generally work so hard that teaching is not sustainable.
Subject 7 (Precariat/Cultural Worker/Educator): Personal reflections on the benefits of health insurance.
Subject 3 (Precariat / Recent College Graduate): Reflections on the State of Cultural Workers in the United States.
Subject 3 (Precariat / Recent College Graduate): A college student discusses his struggle at understanding stock market trading.
Subject 3 (Precariat / Recent College Graduate): Recalls the Occupy movement from the perspective of 8th Grader at the time - in 2011.
Subject 3 (Precariat / Recent College Graduate): Do You Wish for a Greater Federal Safety Net?
Subject 3 (Precariat / Recent College Graduate): A recent college graduate discusses the confusion as to how to move forward in life during a pandemic.
Subject 3 (Precariat / Recent College Graduate): Struggling with isolation through 2020 following the New York City pandemic shut down.
Subject 1 (Tech Artist / Cultural Worker): Silicon Valley - is a major change about to occur?
Subject 1 (Tech Artist / Cultural Worker): COVID-19 Stimulus - what to do with that money?
Subject 1 (Tech Artist / Cultural Worker): Retail Trading Apps Use of Alerts and Badges