I enjoyed the read. What if your kids gave you a 100 item list whey they should be allowed to use tiktok!?
The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
11–20 of 165 posts
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#12The fact that money and wealth (and apparently housing) are a “game” is rather depressing, but to some extent it’s always been that way. At least it seems like we are (maybe?) moving in the direction of addressing the problem via political efforts to reduce financial volatility and wealth inequality.
As the article mentions, money nihilism quickly gives way to other forms of nihilism when that other thing is less abstract than a number in a database. I permanently injured the cartilage in both knees at age 20 and a disc in my lower back in my mid 20s. Not enough to be crippling, but sufficiently so that I’m unable to run anymore and constantly have a sort of low-grade chronic background pain that I know is never going away short of some miracle in the glacial state of cartilage research.
Well, I was watching one of those videos about billionaire excess on YouTube, and there is a section of the video where the camera pans over the massive and luxurious deck of the yacht. The very first thought that popped into my head was “That deck chair looks like it would make my back extremely uncomfortable. I’d have to angle the way I sit on that chair.” Then it dawned on me that my upside to happiness in life is totally capped, and not even being a billionaire would make much difference at all in my day-to-day contentedness because I would still have just as much knee and back pain as I currently do.
So I guess the takeaway is that as I watch my investments go up or down by 30-50% from one year to the next, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me when I know that my quality of life has a definite, unfavorably low upper bound, no matter how high my “wealth” becomes.
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#13[flagged]
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#14This is a blog post that is trying to organise a thought and not quite managing it. There are too many threads and they aren't woven into something orderly or poetic. There is an unfortunately high tolerance of obvious mistruths in politics and finance that could easily be mistaken for nihilism. But it isn't, it is usual lies by people who are powerful. Nothing new. Always been there. Now that the internet exists it…
I think it's confusing cause and effect. Monetary policy that leads to cheap debt for the connected and inflation for the masses is driving this.
I think you are right.
The WSB crowd mocks r/investing because a 50 year timeline optimally turns 10k into 220k (not enough to be rich). With options you can do half that overnight.
However, options lose in most cases. With options pretty much everyone who uses them will have the experience of a loss even though their theory is confirmed. For example Tesla misses sales and the stock price goes up. The fact that the miss was priced in, makes it feel like retail investing is simply there to be shaken down in the same way a casino has a house edge.
"Don't fight the fed" has been a better slogan than "Diversify in stocks with dividends and good fundamentals"
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#15[deleted]
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#16The post is kind of all over the place, more like an internal reflection than a normal message to others, but it does resonate with me on one point specifically:
I am an "official" millennial, born 1989. One thing I have noticed (in an anectodical, personal and subjective way) is that my age bracket, especially those I would consider higher on an intelligence/success curve, appear to be so much more closet-nihilist than everyone else around.
What I mean by that is that, while of course we don't really want to see the world burn, we are secretly hoping, in the dark, when no one is watching, for things to always go tits up a bit. Like there is a subconscious fascination to the aesthetics of Nero playing the lire while Rome burns. And upon deep self-reflection that's always a bit unsettling.
I don't know if it's related to the generational trend, or maybe it's just selection bias over the people around me, but I think it's mostly the former rather than the second. Probably stems from the fact that we saw our beloved parents struggle in old age with health and finance, while we live in a more priviliged regime (remember that I mentioned this applies mostly to financially successfully peoples) where money seems more immaterial.
So I guess the author might be onto something about this whole financial nihilism thing.
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#17I love the Nintendo story. Would be hilarious if you could find the list. As someone with young kids I almost feel guilt tripped when I read articles about how once you say no to your child you have to stick with it or else your child will own you forever more and inevitably turn into a crackhead. Sometimes you just have to give in!
Changing your mind is okay. When I as a parent do, I give them an explanation why I did. Often children's requests aren't all that unreasonable. It also teaches them that people can be reasonable and are not just NPCs.
I'd say it's good when a child sees their parent change their mind. As a child, I knew if I disagreed with a decision my parents made I had an opportunity to argue my case and possibly elicit a change in policy. I didn't always succeed, but I was motivated to be honest with them when I disagreed rather than go behind their backs. That was a pretty useful lesson, looking back.
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#18[flagged]
something something meaninglessness of value-discovery among human herd behavior.
Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#19Re: The Scandal of Financial Nihilism
#20The fact that money and wealth (and apparently housing) are a “game” is rather depressing, but to some extent it’s always been that way. At least it seems like we are (maybe?) moving in the direction of addressing the problem via political efforts to reduce financial volatility and wealth inequality. As the article mentions, money nihilism quickly gives way to other forms of nihilism when that other thing is less abs…
I don't know you, and know nothing of your plight with back and knee pain. Please don't take this as trying to trivialize what must be a very difficult condition.
That being said, it's really amazing what can be done with your body that minimizes stress on the parts that are injured. You might be able to do yoga and strengthen your stomach and back muscles to take loading off your spine. Running will always be difficult if you have injured your knees, but cycling might still be an option.
Will this fix the core issue and make the pain go away? Not at all. Particularly the knees; there's no getting around them when trying to walk. However, they might allow you to build strength in muscles that might compensate a little for the issues you have.