It will surely take years for any changes to happen as per anything that has to do with BRICS. However, it should not be ignored that BRICS is a big change, and applies such difference especially now that countries who is a member of this group have the drive and muscle to say that they are a part of BRICS and is backed by them. Granted, the US has the history and the dominance for years that will not be easily taken down. Despite some unstable relationships that some countries have with the US it cannot be questioned that they are still heavily dependent on the US in terms of security and trade, not to mention the USD. The real threat, however, that BRICS have against the US is the 40 countries that showcased their interest in joining the group. However, that will even take years to have an actual effect if those 40 countries actually get in.

I agree, there is always manipulation with anything that can be manipulated. In market manipulation, there are two techniques that people use to apply this. The first one is called Pump and Dump wherein the price of security artificially is infiltrated and then the manipulator sells out which causes followers to only be left with overvalued security, this technique is mostly used on stocks with micro-market capitalization. The other technique is called Poop and Scoop where the price of a stock is artificially deflated then the manipulator will buy the undervalued shares which causes them to have profit. As for currency, there is also what we call Currency Manipulation, which I'm sure some of us are already familiar with. It is manipulation that is not considered illegal but is heavily frowned upon. It is a manipulation controlled or executed by authorities like the Central Bank. Trading partners may also choose to apply sanctions on currency manipulation by deflating or inflating the value of their own currency under the floating exchange rate system.

It is indeed very important to ensure that a good promotion or marketing is at work for a business to maintain good status. Having a good marketing plan welcomes various benefits for businessmen, whether they are new or are already well-known in the industry. In fact, according to Bradley (2019) in his article entitled The Importance of Promotional & Marketing Strategies posted in Chron, there are three significant benefits that a good promotional and marketing strategy brings. First, promotional and marketing strategies allow businesses to understand and have a better connection with their clients and customers as by having the right marketing plan can lead your business to the right demographic to have better access to your target clients and customers. Second, promotional and marketing strategies also lead businesses to have better development of financial goals as financial goals are correlated to sales targets. Lastly, promotional and marketing strategies assist in strategic planning.

To have a better understanding of these points here is the article: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-promotional-marketing-strategies-57205.html

Twitter was indeed already getting problems and a lot of issues from its users way before Elon Musk decided to buy it. For example, there was the brewing community of alternative accounts posting 18+ contents that can easily be accessed by minors just by seeing retweets from pages they follow. Moreover, there are also increasing numbers of scammers and hackers that filled Twitter, causing a lot of accounts to be deleted.

However, when Elon Musk bought Twitter, he did not even address these already existing issues and problems but instead made changes that received mixed reactions from the platform's users. Some of these changes include having the paid verification plan (premium Twitter account) that allows paying Twitter users to own the blue checkmark in their profile, have prioritization in conversation and search, post longer videos in 1080p quality, and more. Another significant change was his policy of banning links to other social media platforms like Instagram, however, this policy was immediately removed due to backlash from millions of users. Lastly, and probably the biggest overall change, is the rebranding of Twitter to X. Some users find the new look cold and impersonal, as the bluebird and former UI design of Twitter looks friendly, fun, and warm, while the black and simple X one shouts cold and too professional.

Now, I'm sure Elon Musk did think about these changes before he applied them, having his own reasons for even coming up with these ideas. However, from the backlash he is getting from a lot of users, I believe it was indeed better if we had built his own social media platform from scratch instead of buying Twitter that a lot of people already have an established opinion and experience using.

I agree with you and I like how different this is from others' answers about keeping a budget. See, tracking expenses is different from keeping a budget. More often than not, tracking the expenses we make (may it be on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis) allows us to have a better start when we start doing our budgeting. According to BCA's web post tackling the benefits of tracking expenses, keeping track of how much you spend, what you spent it to, and why provides 5 general benefits to us. First, it allows us to what our expenses are generally used for like is it for necessities, luxury, or health expenses. Second, it allows us to have an idea of the general average of our daily, weekly, and monthly expenses as it is vital for us to know if we are spending more than what we normally do during some days. Next, it helps us identify necessary and unnecessary expenses, basically showing us if we are wasting money by buying things we don't even need or end up not using. Additionally, as I stated earlier, tracking expenses helps us make financial planning or budgeting easier as it already gives us an idea of how much we usually spend, how much money we need, and how much we should be able to save or invest. Lastly, it gives us an idea of where our limit should be as we already have a general knowledge of our average expenses, hence if we overpass that we can easily stop or limit ourselves.

Source (web post): https://www.bca.co.id/en/informasi/Edukatips/2023/03/20/03/57/manfaat-mencatat-pengeluaran-yang-perlu-kamu-ketahui

Acknowledging the fact that you are already addicted to gambling is actually a great step in moving towards a life without gambling. This is the part where a lot of addicts fail: recognizing that what they're doing is already damaging them and not really helping anything to better their situation. Sure that there will be relapses and getting back to old habits, but taking the first step is always the hardest thing to do no matter the activity is.

I did this for almost 2 years regularly, and I'd say that it helped me kill time and nothing else. I am a very frugal person that strictly adheres to my spending budget, and never did I go over my $20 set budget in dice weekly. I also allot an hour or two every Saturday on gambling, and I have complied to it regularly and have never exceeded on those hours I mentioned. I guess what it taught me the most is practicing my self-discipline. I stuck to it every step of the way and until now, I carry that self-discipline no matter the activity or schedule is.

Countries with a successful gambling industry are actually hotspots for gambling tourists, and that hits two birds in one stone. It improves tourism, creates jobs, and also improves the gambling industry. Gambling is not necessarily a bad thing if you look at a wider perspective, and it only becomes a problem if. you're looking at it at an individual scale. IMO gambling helped create a lot of industries and helped the public by means of posting taxes. It's just that we're focused much on the micro scale of things hence why we vilify gambling so much.

Bonus games are actually a good implementation as it gives the gambler a few chances in getting profits for a limited time. In vanilla slots, you are straight up battling against your chances and that, IMO, is something that will give you a smaller window of winning compared to the bonus games. IMO casino games including slots are a lot more 'forgiving' with the RTP system and bonus games compared to the platforms of old.

I wouldn't take a loan from the bank, but perhaps from close friends and family in order to increase my bet size and claim the free money. Though for sure if it's a 100% guaranteed win, the odds will be extremely low or even close to 1 to which only those who have huge bets will profit. I'm also sure that the oddsmakers also know about this and will surely be shifting the advantage to those whom they work for, so it's only a worthwhile bet to those who have deep pockets, for sure.

Well, hindi rin ako sigurado sa development na ito. According sa article na ito ng Crypto Adventure nitong June 2023, may potensya pa rin na mag grow at develop ang NFT since tumaas ng tenfold ang number ng NFT holders ng past years, exactly 12.62%, o around 4.3 million ng April. Ang NFT lending market din ay nagkaroon ng magandang pagbabago o increase ng first quarter ng taon (January to March) na umabot ng halos $25 million. At isa pa sigurado rin naman na nagkaroon ng study muna ang Globe at Smart bago gawin ang desisyon na ito at mukhang may mas malawak na plano pa sila regarding dito. I guess we'll just see in the next few months, at sana maging maganda ang mga pagbabago na ito at resulta.

https://cryptoadventure.com/community/articles/nfts-in-2023-are-still-a-thing/#:~:text=NFTs%20are%20certainly%20still%20a,platforms%20and%20investment%20methods%20evolving.

Well, that is definitely the most common misconception that a lot of people have for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general -- investing will give profit that will grow around 2 to 3 times the money initially invested. This is also why there is a negative image and idea surrounding crypto because people think and feel like they were scammed or fooled when they did not get the profit they expected to get in such a short amount of time, which is actually a result of them not learning and doing their own research about how the system actually works.

Glad that you realized this early though, happy that the forum helped. Just always remember that the opinions, suggestions, and advice being given here in the forum that you want to apply to your own decisions, actions, and self should always be backed by either your own research or their credible resources, that way you'll be confident to know that you are not just getting random spills.

Not gonna lie, your post made me really curious despite not being too into and curious about Artificial intelligence (AI), but your post really got my attention so I did some research and maybe this will help answer your question in a way. First, the connection between AI and blockchain is mainly about improving technologies to detect suspicious activities and improve security, which makes a lot of sense. Moreover, this connection will also implement or develop tools for market forecasting.

So, essentially, the connection will be more on improving blockchain security which is very important for us.

Here's the source I found, in case you want to read it yourself and find a better explanation: https://b2broker.com/news/how-ai-will-affect-cryptocurrency-market/

I do agree with you. The thing is both ways have pros and cons. For example, if we decide to stay with what we are comfortable is (which let's be real here, a lot of people do due to the safety we feel from being familiar with it and knowing what's to come) then there is the cons and risk of losing an opportunity that brings a change that could have made things better. However, if we decide to take the risk of change and welcome it, there is the negative side of bad outcomes and danger that could have been avoided if we just stick with what we know.

Hence, in this situation wherein it is difficult to make a decision by choosing, analyzing, and laying out possible outcomes for both gives a better understanding of the options you have.

Nonetheless, I'm sure there are other factors that influence people's decisions on whether or not they wanna stick with what they know or learn something new.

As much as there is a certain degree that the government is responsible for our financial situation such as the lack of job opportunities and low income for public and government workers (which is a whole new discussion, I am very hesitant to touch since it is different in every country), we are ultimately responsible for our own situations. It is our actions, decisions, and even lack of those that lead us to where we are. See, the problem is, most of those who are putting the blame on others like the bad economy and government, are those who are letting themselves be stuck in a bad situation, letting themselves just be there and believing that there is no other way out as their initial plan and ideas did not work or resulted to a negative outcome. Moreover, these "complainers" (as I'd like to refer to them) do not find ways to acknowledge and solve the problems but instead, let the problems devour them and find other means to blame and run away from their responsibilities. The key to ensuring that you are able to move forward, despite the hurdles that outside factors bring (including unexpected situations) is to stick up for your decisions and actions, even if they bring more problems and negative outcomes, if you take responsibility for these you will learn to solve them one by one and find a way out of them and turn bad results to opportunities.

Well, in the discussion of farmers and their profits, there are certainly various factors that need to be considered. For example, according to an article by Will Snell in 2022, inflation causes pressure on farm commodity prices which in turn demands farm inputs that include borrowed funds. Additionally, the effects vary if the individual getting or losing profit is a farmland investor, a permanent landowner, or a land renter. Additionally, Marc Guilfoil, owner of Evans Mill Cattle Company stated that farmers are also being affected by the inflation as they have to pay higher prices for weed-killing chemicals, crop seeds, fertilizer, equipment repairs, and seasonal labor which are all detrimental to ensure that the farm is working and producing goods. Moreover, some needed chemicals even went out of stock and farmers need to find a quick replacement that will work just as well but most likely have a risk of higher rate. Guilfoil also added that he is sure, based on his current budgeting plan and assessment, that he is and will continue to spend more than he ever has to operate his farm as inflation continues to rise.

Here are the sources in case anyone wants to have a read or better understanding of the points I stated:
1. https://agecon.ca.uky.edu/inflation-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Cgood%E2%80%9D-or-%E2%80%9Cbad%E2%80%9D-agricultural-producers-and-consumers
2. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2022/06/16/farmers-feeling-inflation

To be honest with you, as I was doing research to answer your question I too am curious about the current status of El Salvador after accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender, I was expecting good changes but all I got are pretty bad ones. Here are the three things I found (which I hope answers your questions):

1. Credit agencies downgraded El Salvador's creditworthiness. This means that credit agencies see it as a great risk for them to lend money to El Salvador and hence higher interest rate is given to any debt acquired by the people of El Salvador. (Source: https://tomorrow.city/a/el-salvador-bitcoin-legal-tender#:~:text=As%20a%20result%2C%20shortly%20after,debt%20acquired%20from%20now%20on.)

2. In reality, despite the law mandates all firms to accept Bitcoin, only 20% do so. People in El Salvador still highly prefers to keep their money in cash rather than Bitcoin. 88% of firms convert their Bitcoin into cash. (Source: https://www.nber.org/digest/202207/el-salvadors-experiment-bitcoin-legal-tender)

3. A lot of complaints are being stated by businessmen and the general population of El Salvador such as the Bitcoin ATM being too far away, the government helpline being slow, and the price being too volatile. These issues result in most businesses giving up on Bitcoin and reverting back to cash transactions. (Source: https://restofworld.org/2022/el-salvador-bitcoin/)

I'm sure a more compound and precise answer can be found regarding your question, but I thought giving you a few examples of the situations currently happening after El Salvador's legalization of Bitcoin may give you a good insight.

Alright, let's be upfront here. First of all, Asia is a whole continent made up of countries with different cultures hence the generalization is off. It would have been better to state that financial education in Asia is lagging behind Latin America and other regions due to Asia's limited experience in the financial education sector. In fact, according to Yoshino, Morgan, and Wignaraja's 2015 study entitled Financial Education in Asia: Assessment and Recommendations, the reason why most Asian children are being taught to save rather than invest is not because of culture and other factors but is due to two factors: (1) lack of diversity in financial products and (2) lack of unification between education programs at the national level, the level of central banks and regulators, and the private sectors.

In conclusion, it is not culture or ecosystem that affects why most Asian kids are being taught to save rather than invest, it is the countries' lack of experience in financial education.

Link to the research article: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/161053/adbi-wp534.pdf

Truth be told, this is big news with the ongoing discussion and circumstances surrounding Russia. However, I don't think it will have a definite effect on USD. Despite the oil trade being made using rupees, USD will still maintain its prominence in the market. It will take years for rupees to make the same prominence as the USD have in the world and that is the reality of it. In fact according to the Investopedia article published in September 2022, since after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year USD has been strengthening in comparison to other world currencies even when the price of oil catapulted.

Moreover, even Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Oil and Gas Minister, stated in his recent interview with CNBC that it will take a long time for rupees to even have the same power as USD has and that is the reality of it. He also added that international payment systems have been running for such a long time that displacing USD will be not as easy as a lot of people think.

For further information about the mentioned article and interview, here are the links:
Article: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/092415/oil-currencies-understanding-their-correlation.asp
Interview: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/25/de-dollarization-a-long-way-off-india-oil-minister-hardeep-singh-puri.html

Being in a good car and team would really be 50/50 as the wrist injury is a lot to be considered for the new team. Even though he heals by that time, it's possible that other teams would still refuse to give him a seat. He's a great driver and has become aggressive lately, albeit being on a car that is relatively slow compared to the rest of the teams. I think he'd be a great fit to Ferrari or even a second driver on Mercedes, but the chances are preeeeety slim.