Here in Canada, it’s half the cost for rice. I don’t imagine it’s that different in the US (at least, pre-tariffs). Assuming 2500Calories per day, I can get a year’s worth of Calories from rice for about 500CAD while it would cost me 1k CAD for the same on soda (calculated based on $1/2L of Crush cream soda).

No, see, you start with the assumption that everything is zero-sum, then you look at the other guy to see suffering and conclude that you must therefore be winning.

lowest charisma

What? This guy has one of the strongest cult followings of any human being I’ve ever heard of. How is that low charisma?

The person you borrow from gets a small guaranteed win because you get paid a small amount for the privilege of borrowing their shares. The one who loses is whoever bought the shares at the higher price. That can be the person borrowing the shares, or it can be another person interacting with the stock market at the other end of your transaction.