I hate the whole publicly traded model of companies. I hate capitalism. But have to engage in trading stocks (I mostly do Mutual Funds and a small quantity of direct stocks) so that my money doesn't lose value by sitting in a bank or cash.

Same thing with credit cards, don't like taking loans and getting marked on a centralised list for that but it's a safer option than using your own money.

Fortunately I don't do crypto so that's a plus.

  • leftofthat [he/him]
    ·
    11 months ago

    You're describing social security entitlements, which are badass

    • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
      ·
      11 months ago

      Social security is not sufficient to provide for a retiree on its own, and assuming the bourgeois vampires in Congress won't kill it completely is a huge gamble.

      • leftofthat [he/him]
        ·
        11 months ago

        They're destroying social security because it's good and it works, yes. I'm not telling anyone to gamble on it being around.

          • leftofthat [he/him]
            ·
            edit-2
            11 months ago

            What's that have to do with social security?

            You should feel dirty if you have a 401k that's invested in stocks

            • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
              ·
              11 months ago

              What's that have to do with social security?

              debatebro-l

              Love to pretend not to understand the context of my conversations so I can score debate points or something.

              For working class Americans, there are 3 options:

              1. 401k
              2. Try to rely on social security exclusively, in spite of the fact that it's both insufficient and likely to disappear, realize this is nonsensical and move to 3
              3. Work until you drop dead

              Just want to be sure, you think everyone who isn't independently wealthy should just do 3), because doing 1) is immoral? Do you feel I'm misrepresenting your position here? It's easy to get misinterpreted in text so I want to be 100% sure that you're not saying something else.

              • leftofthat [he/him]
                ·
                11 months ago

                If the only two options for investing are "become a ghoulish rent seeker" or "don't do that" then yeah that's where it would come down

                You didn't mention "become a landlord" as an option. Why not? That's a perfectly viable path for many working class Americans to retire into.

                  • leftofthat [he/him]
                    ·
                    11 months ago

                    What does that even mean? I think people should not invest their money in rent seeking and should put it elsewhere when they can, even if it means receiving less of a return on investment.

                    Are we just debating ethics and morality? It's pretty boring ngl