https://bigthink.com/the-present/want-to-get-rich-major-in-economics/
My plan to get rich is to hope my dad secretly has way more money than he says he does and then I inherit it. One day, if I have kids of my own, I will let them hope I secretly have way more money than I say I do, too.
I remember realizing 20-25 years ago my dad had no money nor any idea what he's doing. Now he's dead, I'm middle aged, I have a daughter, and I've come to the realization that I have no money and have no idea what I'm doing.
My dad has always said to just roll him into a ditch once he keels over because he'll probably be working when it happens.
My dad made me promise I'd take him out into the woods and shoot him instead of taking him to a nursing home when the time comes. He's a dick, though, so I'm not going to do it.
excellent cropping at the bottom
also, it sucks that university is seen as a way to get more money, rather than knowledge... perks of living within a political system that centers around money, not enjoyment of life, or rather, where money is a prerequisite for enjoying one's life.
also, it sucks that university is seen as a way to get more money, rather than knowledge…
Its more that knowledge is seen purely as a means of juicing short-term returns.
Like, I don't think its crazy at all to note the link between a boom in Russian intelligentsia and an upswell in standards of living. The Soviets produced a host of technologies that radically improved domestic life, functionally raising the wealth of the nation's people. But these returns were a consequence of long-term industrial investment, not a rapid succession of short term speculative "wins".
Even setting aside "enjoyment of life" - even at its peak, plenty of people in the Soviet block endured hardships - the fruits of knowledge were intended to enrich the community at large. Economic reforms of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin pivoted the nation from a wide network of comrades working towards a utopian dream into a million individualized crabs in a bucket all scrambling to get to the top. Then, even the wealthiest Russians were impoverished by their short-sighted greed. And now they're left to scramble for resources right alongside the rest of the European nations, leading to a bloody pointless war and millions of new refugees fleeing from the breadbasket of three continents.
I don't want to get rich though, I just want to live in a better country and a better system.
in order of ideological prestige, from least to most.... cool jobs for economists in the US:
- The Academy where you swallow and regurgitate hegemonic discourses in novel forms between learning statistical transformations to back them up. looking for extra income/power? cultivate a relationship with a corporate partner!
- An Advocacy Think Tank where you write position papers that capitalism is a meritocracy.
- The Private Sector where you talk people into purchasing complex financial products with no fiduciary responsibility. highest payout potential, but structural unemployment cycles are a concern. being a mortgage broker during a housing downturn sucks, so be prepared to find a new gear every 5-7 years and hold eye contact like a cult leader.
I know a few people who majored in econ. One is a professor, another works as a sales associate, and another works as a driver for Fedex.
Hey now, right where it's cropped it says getting a degree is not adequate
Sometimes its enough to become connected through college or by brown nosing your way up the ladder in a white collar job.
Goes on to talk about price controlled bread under the USSR, think he said it cost 14 kopeks for decades with no real change in price.
I mean I know most economists are just priests for capitalism, but like the one thing most of they do know about the Soviet economy is that it was centrally-planned and as a result Rubles and prices didn't and couldn't function like currency and prices in a market economy. Like its really dumb even for an economist to try and apply capitalist logic to a fundamentally different system.
Also, lol at anyone still talking about the "resource curse", like why aren't Canada or Norway cursed like Brazil or post-Soviet Russia.
Is it becuase the latter two are getting brutally exploited by the former two? No, it's a curse, it's supernatural.
Exactly. There is no 'paradox' once you understand how imperialism works. Blow off these college courses, they know nothing compared to the proletariat.
I worked at a company that would hire anyone with a degree - Econ, Chemistry, English Lit, didn't matter - and turn them into a rookie IT professional. This was in O&G, so the pay was pretty good.
