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.

      • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
        ·
        11 months ago

        So instead of a stock index fund, which is where a pension would have put the money anyways if I were lucky enough to have one, I should give the money directly to the US government to hold onto so they can ensure that they can afford Israel's bomb budget? That's way more ethical?

        EDIT: like the ethics gap is so big that anyone who just puts the money in the stock index instead of choosing to give it to Uncle Sam is a "rent-seeking ghoul" who should "feel dirty?"

        • leftofthat [he/him]
          ·
          11 months ago

          "so they can ensure that they can afford"

          They don't need your money

          • CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml
            ·
            11 months ago

            In an economy based on generalized commodity production, you actually do need a certain amount of money to sustain yourself.

          • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
            ·
            11 months ago

            Whatever helps you sleep at night while paying not only taxes into the US military's budget, but voluntarily buying bonds to fund them.

            Do you see how this conversation is asinine? There is no ethical choice under capitalism.

            • leftofthat [he/him]
              ·
              11 months ago

              There's a moral difference in owning a savings bond and being a landlord. Sorry if you don't want to engage with that and think it's all a wash because nothing is ethical under capitalism.

              • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
                ·
                11 months ago

                Having a savings bond and being a landlord are different and both are different from having a 401k account that is invested in mutual funds.

                Putting your retirement savings in a mutual fund doesn't make you a capitalist anymore than owning the savings bond makes you a bomb manufacturer.

                • leftofthat [he/him]
                  ·
                  11 months ago

                  I said above:

                  There's no functional difference to buying a $200,000 apartment and renting it out as a landlord or putting $200,000 in a 401k managed retirement fund that owns several hundred apartments buildings. And they do.

                  We can disagree there, then. There's a much cleaner and direct connection between a fund and rent extraction than there is between a savings bond and a bomb. That's exactly my point. These details matter.

                  You can lump it all together if you want. I see more nuance.

                  • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
                    ·
                    11 months ago

                    I don't agree that the connection is much more direct.

                    Do you feel the same way about pensions?

                    EDIT:

                    Also, when I was 19, making less than minimum wage waiting tables at a buffet, struggling to make my half of the rent payments for my shithole apartment I put what I could spare into a 401k. I didn't look at the investments at all, which means they were whatever the fund did by default, aka probably stocks. Was I a landlord at the time?