As I’ve mentioned somewhat extensively, I read a lot of … well, I read a lot. I believe that the best way to find opportunities is to look for them. Now more than ever, that entails bringing an ample supply of skepticism, as it seems like pretty much every marketer who can write a complete sentence considers himself a persuasive salesman.
Anyway, I just read an email, and it did this thing I find totally obnoxious but very common. “If you bought this stock when I recommended it, you could have 934521% gains now.” Like, dude, you sent out an email two months later saying to close the position! I see this often in the stock-picking industry. These folks very much want to imply they have some paranormal ability to only identify upside, so they’re enthusiastic about government policies that allow them to individually profit, even if that entails degrading the overall standard of living in the US.
This entire paradigm reminds me of the Dead Kennedys song “Moon over Marin.”
Unlock my section of the sand
It’s fenced off to the water’s edge
I clamp a gas mask on my head
I have been thinking a lot lately about how when I was in high school, I kinda thought people were stupid. Now, decades later, I have been thinking they never really disproved that initial assumption.
Call me naïve, but I tend to prefer a world where there is a certain amount of stability, where folks can share a reality. My perception nowadays is that “fuck you, pay me” is the dominant philosophy. I honestly can’t even describe all the ways in which that actively degrades the individual human experience _and_ the shared culture. When I think about it, I can scarcely believe adults even think that.
If you make a bunch of money, but you spend a lot on life continuation, you’re not rich. Richness implies an ability to live day after day with a sustained high baseline. If you have to spend a lot of money on services that were public resources 40 years ago (fire deterrent, crime deterrent, recreation, etc), then I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the general quality of life is being degraded around you. You might make more money now than someone doing something similar a generation ago, but — well, firstly, let’s not forget inflation is targeted to erode half of your purchasing power over thirty-ish years — moreover, thirty years ago, folks broadly assumed there was such a thing as a “public good” and so you had less of a need for money. This meant your money was even more valuable because there was less pressure on individuals to determine the price of every object and every interaction (this also meant your time was more valuable cuz you didn’t need to occupy it as much with value judgments.
All of this brings us back to the original point: when everything is financialized, deception emerges as a significant aspect of the economy. In the finance-related press, they commonly use jargon that is probably used as a shibboleth — the meaning may not even be particularly accurate, but the writer’s goal was to signal that s/he’s a knowledgeable insider or whatever, not to be accurate. This goes hand-in-hand with the original premise: many folks are writing, not to spread enlightenment, but to deceive others so they (the folks writing) can benefit. At a societal level, this degrades everybody’s experience, as prediction becomes far more difficult, as the ability to take facts at face-value erodes.