Money

April 4, 2024 10 34am

Gen Z laments the state of the economy and the fact that their jobs force them into a 9 to 5 regimen that is “not the natural state of human existence. ” The tears are real for a cohort given participation trophies and allowed to set their own schedules (or not!) during covid lockdowns. Now, their fantasy lives face a head-on collision with the real world and so they blame the generations that came before for the sad state of the economy. They don’t seem to realize that when you support “free stuff for everyone,” someone has to pay.

“It’s YOUR fault,” they say (to the boomers who are NOT following them on TikTok) while pointing an accusatory finger at the $1000 phone mounted on the dash of the car they financed at 7 to 11% interest for six years. This on top of the tens (hundreds?) of thousands they borrowed for student loans.

I know it’s difficult to navigate the unfamiliar seas of finance and economics when you are young but here’s a piece of advice: don’t go into debt for anything that won’t show a return on investment. Learn enough about economic cycles to understand that there are times to buy and times to hold. If you must borrow, sacrifice EVERYTHING necessary to pay off debt as soon as possible. NEVER carry a balance on a credit card. If emergencies arise, see the advice above. Once you are a little above water, SAVE so you can pay cash for all subsequent purchases. You say you can’t do that? The alternative for many is a modern form of slavery. You do not want to be a debt-slave paying for the million-dollar bonuses of bankers for the REST OF YOUR LIFE!

Oh, and when you buy depreciating items – like cars- make sure you ignore the fluff. Buy the most reliable car possible and get the least complicated technology you can find. That fancy door mirror could cost you a couple grand when it gets whacked! It’s a piece of reflective glass, for cryin’ out loud…. not a part on a spaceship!

Final advice: everyone tells you they can offer you the deal of a lifetime for something you can’t live without.

IT IS A LIE!

Every deal you are offered will put money in the pocket of the snake-oil salesperson across the table from you….and it will mean less in your pocket. If they could take it all – they would.

CAVEAT EMPTOR IS THE BEST ADVICE EVER GIVEN….FOLLOW IT.

Bill Hicks advice to marketing people. Warning, language NSFW

Recycling Eternal Recurrence

April 14, 2024 9:22am

Bound in a web of illusions, I see only the narrative that the universe shows to all. We think we see reality, but it is just the deception that surrounds us so completely that we cannot imagine any alternatives. Strip away all the lies that you believe about life: self, ego, society, government, evil, love theology, destiny and you will begin to see another reality.

We are pulling fiber in a recycling warehouse of enormous size; it was a Ford Motor plant from 1925 to 1955. Outside, the ornate brickwork is a testament to the aesthetics of an earlier time when even factories bowed to beauty.

Inside, the dust from machines that recycle aluminum hangs heavy in the air and coats every surface with a fine grey grit. We wear masks but the dust is still in the nose at the end of the day. How much cognitive decline will the workers suffer after years of exposure?

Whole lives have played out in these walls – surrounded by the noise, the dim light, the cavernous space. Imagine the stories shared of loves, loss, war, and death.

We all are living in such a warehouse, seeing nothing of the outside, distracted by the noise, enduring our shift with stoicism, then returning home to await the next day, the next shift, the eternal recurrence in this factory whose product is the meaninglessness of existence.

The Unbearable Life of a Mouse

April 23, 2024 9:39am

I am reading Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and will be adding it to the recommended reading list.

Yes, “being” is unbearable. The complexity, the debauchery, the deception, and the ultimate meaninglessness are hard to ignore.

Yesterday, I opened the basement door and saw what I thought was a ball sitting on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. As I reached the last step, I realized it was a mouse. He did not move. I debated his possible escapes, expecting him to bolt at any time…. then realized he was not going to run. Was he sick or injured? Not sure but still expecting the mad dash, I found a mop and held it over his head, then considered trying to capture and release him instead. While deliberating his fate, I could see his eyes as he just waited. Perhaps he had all he wanted of mouse life and was ready for the end…. for a sacrificial end.

He sat there accepting his fate whatever it was, and I had a flash of a mouse God in the last sacrificial moment of life.

The mop came down and stunned him just enough to ensure that he would not escape. I pushed him up on a piece of cardboard, noting that he was still breathing. I took him outside the basement door and not having anything to finish the job, I folded the cardboard over the mouse and crushed it underfoot. The internal organs lay beside the tiny body and I wondered what went through his mind in that last instant.

This is the story of life in the universe.

“The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” Leon Bloy

The Conceit of Meaning

April 30, 2024 7:49am

Every thought that imputes intent to the universe is a conceit designed to gild meaning to our lives. We are finite beings that are unable to conceive a reality without beginning or end. The universe is an algorithm on a continuous loop. We grasp only a minute part of the whole – a part that operates in a dimension bounded by beginnings and ends, so we understand our reality according to our limited perceptions.

In the beginning, there was no beginning.