The main problem is that investment funds need the constant growth in order to pay for people’s pension. If you don’t have index funds that return above a given yield, year on year, then there’s no way for pensions to work because there aren’t enough young people being born to work and pay taxes to support the older people’s pensions. That’s why every financial services company is pushed, hard, to return more and more profits. That’s why governments don’t regulate them harder: because they NEED the financial sector to be greedy on an epic scale, or else the economy doesn’t work.
WILL: “Jesus, Seth; listen, if you really wanna do this with your life, you have to believe you’re necessary. And you are. People wanna live like this, in their cars, and their big fuckin’ houses that they can’t even pay for? Then you’re necessary. The only reason that they all get to continue living like kings is ‘cause we’ve got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off? Well then the whole world gets really fuckin’ fair, really fuckin’ quickly, and nobody actually wants that. They say they do, but they don’t. They want what we have to give them, but they also wanna, you know… play innocent, and pretend that they have no idea where it came from. Well, that’s more hypocrisy than I’m willing to swallow, so fuck 'em. Fuck normal people. You know, the funny thing is, tomorrow, if all of this goes tits-up? They’re gonna crucify us for being too reckless. But if we’re wrong? And everything gets back on track? Well then the same people are gonna laugh 'til they piss their pants, 'cause we’re gonna look like the biggest pussies God ever let through the door.”
SETH: “You think we’re gonna be wrong?”
WILL: “Nah, they’re all fucked.”
The whole world economy is based on a system whereby the global regions and demographics that Have, extract wealth and value from the regions and demographics that Have Not. And everybody here commenting on this post are Haves. Maybe not on the scale that some others are, but I know I certainly didn’t have to walk several hours today just to get clean drinkable water. Given what some people are forced to do without despite how hard they work, I really shouldn’t be able to afford the lifestyle I have for the amount of work I do. But I can, and that’s because my government tilts the scales in my favor. And even I’m financially screwed compared to some other people! The only way to fix it is a complete overhaul, and nobody has the stomach for that.
And everybody here commenting on this post are Haves. Maybe not on the scale that some others are, but I know I certainly didn’t have to walk several hours today just to get clean drinkable water.
The system of haves extracting wealth from have nots is not one where you are either 100% one or 100% the other. If you rent a house from BlackRock, you likely get access to clean water. You are a have not, since you do not have a house, and money is extracted from you by BlackRock because they do have a house (many of them). But the homeless man around the corner is not in the same position as you, because he has no income. In that sense you are both a have not (a house) and a have (a job). It is more a linear scale between the have everything and the have nothing. Corruption is a different example of the same system: the have (power) extracts money from the have not (power). Sometimes it looks as if the richest is always the leech, but it can also be the corrupt employee instigating the extraction.
But I can, and that’s because my government tilts the scales in my favor.
It’s not only individual haves extracting from individual have nots, but also groups of the one making profit of the group of the other. I am not a fan of this system, but large part of it is our (flawed) human nature. If you look at animals they tend to share among a group (a herd, a family etc) but not share among others of the same species. It’s a free-for-all and we are in dire need of a system that protects the weakest instead of rewarding the strongest.
the point with the Have’s and Have Not’s is an interesting argument. yet, you lack vision. the system you describe is (obviously) not sustainable, because ultimately you’re gonna run out of Have Not’s resources to spend. You need to develop your vision for a better world, one that can actually feed us all without slowly ruining it.
Oh, I wasn’t arguing in favor of the system. I was just pointing out that if one was to look for the mustache-twirling villains behind everything, they wouldn’t find them at Blackrock. The people working at Blackrock are simply deluded enough to think that they can stave off the pension bomb forever if they just keep the numbers going up forever. As you rightly point out, the system isn’t sustainable. But as long as the overall economic system doesn’t get the drastic general overhaul that it needs (but that nobody has the stomach for), it’ll remain a Nash Equilibrium whereby nobody can move to end it unless everyone does.
The main problem is that investment funds need the constant growth in order to pay for people’s pension. If you don’t have index funds that return above a given yield, year on year, then there’s no way for pensions to work because there aren’t enough young people being born to work and pay taxes to support the older people’s pensions. That’s why every financial services company is pushed, hard, to return more and more profits. That’s why governments don’t regulate them harder: because they NEED the financial sector to be greedy on an epic scale, or else the economy doesn’t work.
https://youtu.be/nBEgJZdd2BQ
The whole world economy is based on a system whereby the global regions and demographics that Have, extract wealth and value from the regions and demographics that Have Not. And everybody here commenting on this post are Haves. Maybe not on the scale that some others are, but I know I certainly didn’t have to walk several hours today just to get clean drinkable water. Given what some people are forced to do without despite how hard they work, I really shouldn’t be able to afford the lifestyle I have for the amount of work I do. But I can, and that’s because my government tilts the scales in my favor. And even I’m financially screwed compared to some other people! The only way to fix it is a complete overhaul, and nobody has the stomach for that.
The system of haves extracting wealth from have nots is not one where you are either 100% one or 100% the other. If you rent a house from BlackRock, you likely get access to clean water. You are a have not, since you do not have a house, and money is extracted from you by BlackRock because they do have a house (many of them). But the homeless man around the corner is not in the same position as you, because he has no income. In that sense you are both a have not (a house) and a have (a job). It is more a linear scale between the have everything and the have nothing. Corruption is a different example of the same system: the have (power) extracts money from the have not (power). Sometimes it looks as if the richest is always the leech, but it can also be the corrupt employee instigating the extraction.
It’s not only individual haves extracting from individual have nots, but also groups of the one making profit of the group of the other. I am not a fan of this system, but large part of it is our (flawed) human nature. If you look at animals they tend to share among a group (a herd, a family etc) but not share among others of the same species. It’s a free-for-all and we are in dire need of a system that protects the weakest instead of rewarding the strongest.
the point with the Have’s and Have Not’s is an interesting argument. yet, you lack vision. the system you describe is (obviously) not sustainable, because ultimately you’re gonna run out of Have Not’s resources to spend. You need to develop your vision for a better world, one that can actually feed us all without slowly ruining it.
And sustainable housing is surely a part in this.
Oh, I wasn’t arguing in favor of the system. I was just pointing out that if one was to look for the mustache-twirling villains behind everything, they wouldn’t find them at Blackrock. The people working at Blackrock are simply deluded enough to think that they can stave off the pension bomb forever if they just keep the numbers going up forever. As you rightly point out, the system isn’t sustainable. But as long as the overall economic system doesn’t get the drastic general overhaul that it needs (but that nobody has the stomach for), it’ll remain a Nash Equilibrium whereby nobody can move to end it unless everyone does.