• zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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    22 hours ago

    There’s no practical difference between saving money and earning money.

    Oh, cool, so that means that I can pay my rent, utilities, etc. by torrenting. Where’s my fucking check?!

    • Iconoclast@feddit.uk
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      15 hours ago

      I didn’t think I’d need to explain the difference between saving money and earning money but here we are.

      When you earn money, you get a check you can spend on more stuff. When you save money, you don’t get a check - that would be earning, not saving. Instead, you’re spending less, which means you have that money left to buy something else. Those savings are effectively what you “earn.”

      When you download a $40 movie for free, you’re left with $40 more to spend on something else. It doesn’t matter whether I hand you $40 to buy the movie or you pirate it - in both cases, you end up with the exact same amount of money afterward.