this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
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[–] BillCheddar@lemmy.world 22 points 23 hours ago

I am going to run for Congress in 2028, and my entire platform is going to be built around making it legal to Luigi corrupt people and burn down corrupt businesses.

This shit is not going to stop until we get bloody.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 day ago

that's a cool website that I'll never be able to read

https://archive.is/7d2Ky

[–] FireWire400@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago

Good on that JetBlue employee for showing a level of empathy. They were probably fired for it, but at least they went out with a bang.

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 259 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Why does everything have to be such a fucking scam?

[–] BillCheddar@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago

For real: Because it's been too long since people rose up and killed a bunch of corrupt shitheads.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago

It's capitalism

again

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 131 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 64 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm not an economist, but this is probably technically true

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 51 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (13 children)

GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced in a country. A legal scam can hide as a service and get counted.

This is why cars are good for GDP but mass transit isn’t, because a lot more cost goes into a car than a bus on a per rider basis.

The same goes for health insurance. Simply paying a doctor for services is far less GDP than paying an insurance company who then pays the doctor after taking a cut.

Once you realize what GDP measures a lot of what countries do makes sense.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

if i burn down your house, the gdp grows, because lot of people now have work rebuilding it.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

So what you are saying is that billionarie houses having to be rebuilt after a fire would great for the GDP.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

well yes. but they would make the same argument on behalf of their eighth yacht..

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 20 hours ago

It was a real shame the previous seven yachts sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

[–] michaelnik@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I remember this discussed in my economics class 20y ago.... Whether housewives work should be in GDP. One would hope economists move forward from there.

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[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 day ago

Because capitalism

[–] Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world 35 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Because: "fuck you!" that's why!

aka: uncontrolled late stage capitalism

[–] grue@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago

Because the FTC has been regulatory-captured.

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

I still haven't figured out if Google's flight search forwards view data similar to checking on the actual airline's website because I've definitely seen price hikes occur in realtime, but I can't tell if that's because of constant rechecks close to the flight date, or just the static algorithm increasing the price as the flight date approaches.

Otherwise I'm kind of skeptical of how they allow Google to use such data and present it for free.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 121 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Airlines ABSOLUTELY change their prices if you repeatedly check routes to a city. I have watched them change by over $100 over a few hours a day when contemplating a trip using their flight searches.

I now do all the flight route and time checking with a browser private window, no location being served, and VPN with an exit far from where I am, then use a phone on a cellular network to do any booking or vice versa in order to prevent tracking or some sort of identifying hash they might grab.

It's such a cheapass scam to basically gouge a customer based on interest.

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[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 89 points 2 days ago (2 children)

JetBlue is hardly the first airline to fall into the limelight for potentially changing its prices based on a user’s browser history.

The Federal Trade Commission has studied surveillance pricing methods since 2024, and found retailers often used people’s personal information to set individualized pricing information. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said he “directed staff to start examining” if new disclosure rules are needed by companies during a Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month.

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 82 points 1 day ago (2 children)

or, OR... We could ban the fuckery

[–] CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The best I can do is give tariff refunds to companies and fuck over the lower class.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Earn $10B doing illegal stuff, settle with the FTC for a $10 million dollar fine and don't have to admit wrongdoing and/or a deferred prosecution agreement with no teeth or oversight.

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[–] darkdemize@sh.itjust.works 67 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Not surprised. Always book tickets in private browsing, preferably with a VPN. Expect to get upcharged otherwise.

[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 55 points 1 day ago (4 children)

In countries that are not the US, they just don't stand for that shit and make it illegal.

[–] darkdemize@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're not wrong, but we don't all have the capability to move to another country, for both legal and financial reasons.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 day ago (4 children)

We're not saying Americans should move somewhere else; we're saying Americans (collectively) need to fix their broken ass country, looking at others for inspiration.

Easier said than done OFC.

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[–] RedRibbonArmy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Those are good tips. Be aware though that they have multiple ways of tracking you (like screen size) and if you have a unique flight (e.g. departing from Boston arriving in Gary, IN on 4/29. Return on 5/5), they can figure it out.

[–] Lucky73@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have always heard of this but thought it was an urban legend. I've never seen my flights change price after I looked them up more than once. And I always check first with Skyscanner and then search those flights with my browser and find them at the same price. Does this actually happen in Europe? Or is it illegal here?

[–] GarboDog@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Living in Europe now and we’ve not seen it too much but while in USA yeah we needed a flight from Dallas to NYC and it went from $150 to $600 after I was clicking in to buy it. We just waited a day and bought a $200 flight from another company

[–] favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I think Amazon does this shit too

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh Uber absolutely does this! I drive for them occasionally, and sometimes I'll see price hike a little and not for very long. Then I tried to use it one time drunk at a bar ~2 miles away. Checking back and forth for about an hour or went from ~$70 to ~$30. And shocker, the driver said he was only getting a few bucks on the surge premium.

[–] Alberat@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

one time i saw uber was $60 bc i was in downtown so i walked into a residential area and it dropped to $30. the driver came from downtown to pick me up.

[–] Fondots@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (6 children)

I once bought a couple copies of a book as an inside joke for a couple friends.

It was not at all a popular book, I can pretty much guarantee that you've never heard of it or it's writer, and odds are you'd probably hate it if you did ever read it.

I think when I bought them they were going for about $5 a pop.

And immediately after I ordered them the price shot up to like $15

I can only assume that the algorithm assumed that something happened that made that book popular all of a sudden, instead of just one asshole buying a couple copies to give to his asshole friends as a joke.

Took a few months before the price dropped down again.

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[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My answer to this is always "I opened an incognito window, effectively the same thing"

[–] unitedwithme@lemmy.today 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That didn't matter for me recently. On a site, flights in cart, looked at rental car for <5 minutes and the outbound flights jumped ~$60/ticket in that time "due to demand" when the flight was 80%empty...

Got on my phone, on data (so new browser, new IP) still prices are higher. Hopped on my old phone over VPN to change region, checked out a different leave date, checked a couple, went back to my original date and flights were $40 cheaper (so still $20 more than before) but they gotta know based on Geo IP and time of inquiries it's probably all the same person, smh.

What a scam!!

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