Cazador Mod Unit Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I wish I didn't write the part about you needing to read books. I hate being condescended to so, well, I take that back. I specifically talked about 21th century capitalism because I read that post as a fatalistic attitude toward reality and history that I really resent and try my best to avoid. Human beings can create stuff that is unnatural and enslave themselves, don't you see this everywhere from TV, Internet, advertising? This doesn't mean humanity is unnatural. There is this sort of impulse, a death wish I don't know if it's socially created or hardwired but I believe it exists and this is something to fight 24/7. The examples you provide about counter revolution are certainly correct and alarming but if we are to follow this view toward the struggle between oppressors / oppressed what should people do then? I'd like to know what Marcuse says about that. The people want to revolt, OK. But this is no longer thousands of farmers with pitchforks against a castle wall and disgruntled soldiers outside of the Bastille. This is people with pop-guns versus men with access to biological and nuclear weapons stockpiles, which don't even need to be launched by some loyal faction subordinate to them. a couple of men can run computer systems with the capabilities to exterminate gigantic portions of the world population. In other words, the men fighting off the revolutionaries need do no more than push a few buttons. Add to that the increasingly centralized and incredibly powerful apparatus of the world economy. Shit, most revolts can be quelled by switching around a few numbers, or by cutting off supplies. Asymmetrical warfare. Also, I don't think the US army would ever nuke their own cities to stop popular revolts? If you refuse violence a general strike can work wonders. You have no idea how liberating it is to take even the smallest action and the immense fear it provokes to those in power the mere thought of having people feeling even for microseconds like they can take control and change things. It's their worst nightmare. I have just recently started to pay attention to these issues again so forgive me if I don't have a handbook to solve logistical matters right now. I'm sure you can find pretty good answers online from those who are actually working on this matter. I believe you have break first through your own alienation and mental chains. How do you light that fire in yourself and then in others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goDel Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 doesn't that then challenge the preconception that all humans are empathetic and willing to work with one another? ALIENATION. YES. this is a good word. precisely what ive been saying. I guess the ability to be empathetic is innate in the sense that mirror-neurons are an integral part of a wellformed brain. But I'm afraid I can not quite follow your reasoning. Empathy is not some absolute power. It is one which should be cultivated, or trained. Just like a muscle. We all have muscles, but that doesn't mean we're Olympians. And the fact we're not Olympians doesn't imply we couldn't have been either. There is a point where people can make a conscious choice on whether or not they react with empathy. Or rational choice perhaps. But that doesn't mean we consciously control our mirror-neurons. The innate empathy is there, but one could make a conscious effort to just focus on something else (all the crazy shit Jews are supposed to be doing, for instance. Or the fake science supporting the different race-theories which were rampant in the period before WW2). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I don't think the US would nuke their own cities, but they would certainly have no problem using power to put down violent anti-establishment movements. We've seen that at Kent State, which was admittedly a big clusterfuck. We've seen police abuse power plenty of times in more recent history, just looking at the response of police to protests at any of the big summits. I think what Smetty is saying about the empathy thing is well demonstrated by the thread here about that kid whose dad fell to his death at a baseball game. People in there were emotional, and disturbed by what they saw. I agree, it was sad, but compared to lots and lots of other fucked up shit that's happening in the world today, it's barely a blip. The world economy is hardly centralized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpenprol Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 the world is going to hell and there's nothing any of us can do about it *farts* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markedone Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Just live. Are you getting pussy, is your belly full, do you have some good tunes, can you afford the odd drink and toke, do you have at least one mate, do you love your family, maybe a dog or a cat to worship you, have your mind,????? Shit, if you say yes to one of those...you could be richer than you know. worded quite beautifully But the conversations on investments and long term planning.. I'm a 20 year old student, have taken courses in macro and micro economics in school and got full marks in them, but when it comes to personal finances and investing, I'm clueless. Is this stuff I'll generally confront in my 20's / after graduating? All I know is that I'm taking student loans to stay in school and have a roof over my head right now.. and I'll have to pay those off eventually. Sigh.. I'm in school for architecture anyways.. and everybody says architects never retire so hey, one less thing to worry about there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 In terms of investing (and this is one area where I guess elusive and I agree), start young, put some money into an investment every month. Managed funds are usually safer than playing the stock market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpenprol Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 yeah elusive's investment advice was good, esp. the roth ira. Managed funds are ok but they take a cut, index funds can be better. If you want to play it safe, just get an index fund that tracks the S&P 500 or another broadly diversified index (Wilshire 5000, etc). Another nice thing about index funds is you can trade them via online brokerages just like any other stock, no annoyance of sending an order to a broker and waiting... Note: take my advice with a grain of salt as I haven't put thought into investing for about 5 years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 You just gotta make sure you pick a good fund manager - talk to some older people you might now. Cause looking at the S&P500 over 5 years, the change is +3.07%. http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ http://quicktake.morningstar.com/index/IndexCharts.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=SPX Now elusive is gonna say "oh but it was up 20% over last year". Yeah which is great if you have 20k to invest for the year. Anyways, since we're talking long term, just make sure your fund manager is someone reputable, someone who isn't promising you the moon and someone who isn't trying to rape you on fees. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpenprol Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 again going from memory, most managers do not outperform the S&P 500. Sure it's slow growth, you still have to obey the dictum of buy low sell high. Get into the market when it's down. Even if it's 3% growth for a particular slice of time, that's still better than putting it in a bank acct 2% or whatev). I'm not against managers per se - as I said some of my money is in a managed account that's doing very nicely - but for people who want low risk and a guaranteed return it's good to know that in addition to managed mutual funds you have the option of index funds. I think index funds are rad. I also used to invest in REITs, which are index funds for the real estate market, but um...wouldn't recommend that now for obvious reasons, lol. Or buy bonds, I never had but they're good for longer-term investors. Or buy blue chips that pay dividends, if you want some cash back on a regular basis (albeit a tiny amount). Or take risks and bet on your favorite horses. I've never regretted Google, and I held on to Amazon when a lot of people dumped it...glad I did. Wish I had bought into Apple before its 300% growth, I seriously considered it but my apple-hating ways made me hesitate, hehe By the way, for those who think stocks are a true crapshoot, it's really not true. One year I decided to try to make a living by day trading, and I did it. I didn't get fabulously wealthy, but I made a decent income. If your idea of a good life is getting up early every morning and watching charts and graphs, you can certainly make a rather predictable living that way (but taxes are a complete and utter pain in the ass!). This is the era of the internets, which has made all the tools you need only a few clicks away. It's not like "the old days" at all. All the info is online if you want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Yeah the returns from managed and index funds are pretty similar, but at least with managed funds you don't have to do shit :) Bonds are not a bad idea - especially for long term investments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delet... Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 lol at bank account 2%. Not with australian money. We're getting 6% per annum interest (term deposit or special saver account) + the value of the currency had increased from sub 70UScents to 107UScents. The problem with just putting it in a savings account, here at least, is a tax one. They're nicer to you if you invest in the sharemarket. And even kinder if you take on debt to invest in property. (grr helped push our house prices to some of the highest in the world) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koolkeyZ865 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.