16 points
*

Its okay, as I neoclassical economist, I know exactly how to fix this issue.

Tax breaks for the rich.

Ask me to solve any economic problem, I have the answers.

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4 points

My life is rich but I have no monies. Tax break? 🥹

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2 points

So close: “tax breaks, for the rich.” If poor people stop paying tax too, whos going to pay to enforce enforce all the exploitation and wealth extraction done by the rich?

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2 points

God? Allah? Buddha?

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6 points

No no no, it’s not an issue at all!

It’s Working As Intended* as in there’s a demand (guaranteed by schools) so we charge whatever the fuck we want! Supply is also high? Following supply and demand as theory is for chumps! Supply and demand theory is for us to use as we see fit and to ignore the aspects we don’t like!

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1 point

I think you know as well as I do that your honesty and integrity in describing how people are being fucked over by this process excludes you from neoclassical economics. Its always easy to catch out the fakers.

I mean, how am I supposed to justify tax breaks for the rich with that?

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9 points

The TI-89 was ~$100 when I bought one 20 years ago. Looked it up on Amazon and they’re $100-$150 depending on the specific model. They haven’t kept up with inflation at all, which means they’ve been getting cheaper this whole time…

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7 points

For 100$ you can buy new phone and install any math software you want

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1 point

Please tell me what calculator app is as nice as a physical calculator, I haven’t found one yet

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9 points
*

Grab the rom for whichever Texas Instruments calculator you like best and use one of the various TI8X emulators:

https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/com.eanema.graph89/

Just google for the rom file you want. I just tried the TI92+ found here:

https://wowroms.com/en/roms/mame/download-ti-92-plus/108878.html

Weird calculator, but one of the more common TI models should look just as nice

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2 points

Wolframalpha

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2 points

I use Calc84 on the Google Play store, free with minimal ads and a one-time fee to remove ads.

But it seems like others have found FOSS versions here.

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1 point

For Android, CalcES. It’s modelled after the Casio scientific calculators, so if you’ve ever used those, the app will come naturally to you. Absolute must-have if you want to calculate anything complicated on your phone.

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1 point

J (technically it’s a whole unique programming language with a learning curve that’s arguably more of a learning cliff, but it’s very heavily geared towards maths and also has some nice graphing modules)

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1 point

I mean, even just one that has the functions of a graphing calculator.

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4 points

I remember getting my Texas instruments financial calculator circa 2009 for probably fifty dollars or so.

The professor told us that at the time, production costs for my fifty dollar calculator were roughly a dollar.

On the bright side, I’ll bring that thing in whenever I buy a car and it truly fucks with the whole “what kind of payment are you looking for” routine they do. (Though these days, I’m more likely to bring a laptop with Excel. Same idea, but faster and better visuals)

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1 point

https://geogebra.org/cas

if you already own a computing device that runs a modern-ish web browser, its gratis

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2 points

This almost seems like the middle point between Desmos’ scientific and graphing calculators.

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15 points

You only need a graphing calculator because you’re not allowed to use wolfram alpha, desmos, or Matlab. Since you’re mandated to use graphing calculators, (sometimes even specific models) there’s no incentive to make them cheaper or better since you need to buy them anyway.

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2 points

When I was in school, it was always specific models. They had to limit it to one brand and like 2-3 known good models to prevent the ones that could solve equations.

So there’s no reason for TI to ever lower prices.

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10 points

Yep, graphing calculators are a forced necessity for school, therefore they can charge anything they want and people will still buy them. This kind of artificial demand causes extreme price inelasticity and is capitalism at its worst.

Same deal with university books, you are forced to buy them so they cost hundreds of dollars, when they could easily be sold at a profit for a quarter of the cost.

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6 points

And why there’s a “new” version every year that just moves things around…

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4 points

But there aren’t ‘new’ graphing calculators being required and they don’t get worn out that easily. There’s a relatively stable amount of people who need one at any given time, so honestly I’d have expected the second hand market to have crashed the market more than it has. There should honestly be multiple times over more graphing calculators in circulation than there is a need for them.

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3 points

Yup, free market only incentives competition when it’s actually free. Demand monopolys are just as bad as supply ones.

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1 point

The incentive Is supposed to be competition among manufacturers, something is preventing that

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3 points

Schools have lists of approved models for standardized test taking. If students (the largest market) can’t use your calculator, making one is probably not going to be profitable.

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1 point

Case in point: I just looked for graphing calculators on aliexpress and they’re like 10 bucks

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