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The Ponzi Career

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Re: The Ponzi Career

#121

Post by mrkramer »

ghufran_syed wrote: post #117
cassepipe wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not really sure of what it is you call honor though. To me it is a word whose meaning I don't really understand whose main purpose seems to justify leaders in sending people to their death at war and by men to justify murdering women/other men. It is at best anachronic, at worst dangerous. (Of course I am not accusing you of promoting murder but that's a word that has a sad history and I hope we get rid of it in…

I personally like this definition, from one of Lois Mcmaster Bujold’s books: “ Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.... The friction tends to arise when the two are not the same....There is no more hollow feeling than to stand with your honor shattered at your feet while soaring public reputation wraps you in rewards. That's soul destroying. The other way around is mer…

Like Charles Cooley said "I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am."

Re: The Ponzi Career

#122

Post by sturza »

If each individual would be treated like a public company, where others own a small part, it also makes sense for this individual to have a board. A group that protects the interests of both the individual and the investors. If this was true, decisions of the individual would have to pass the board and soon enough the individual would have their own advisors on what to do next: play a game of soccer with friends(injury risk) or go for a walk in the park. It's just fun to imagine a public individual's life.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#123

Post by angry_octet »

We went through the 2008 financiy crisis and this is what people think is a good idea?

How long before people are trading options on risk weighted batch of people? Leveraged buyouts if whole specialties? Movement controls to enforce greatest P/E? "I'm sorry sir, you can't leave the country without presenting a Holiday Risk Bond. Perhaps a Virtual Vacay is more affordable?"

And most of all: you, as an individual, have almost no information about the market, and are almost certain to get a bad price.

Anyone who thinks they are good at this should practice buying a new car. Once you get to the final sale price, with no finance, demand another 9% off. If you can get that, and the car isn't a lemon, you're ready to negotiate for a well understood commodity.

Selling people futures, when you've just given them capital up front with the goal of enabling higher returns, is less understood, though of course there are many immigrants who do just that. But already wealthy people? It seems much less certain.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#124

Post by kingsuper20 »

robotresearcher wrote: post #100
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> medicine is a part of the game where the strategy is to take on a massive amount of debt, high risk and uncertainty for incredible returns. Not really. It's exceedingly rare for someone to complete medical school and then not be able to find a relatively high-paying job if they want one. The risk would be something like later deciding not to pursue a career in medicine, but that's a personal decision rather than an…

Illness and accident can end anyone's career any time.

That's why you need to purchase a half dozen doctors.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#125

Post by lifeisstillgood »

0x4d464d48 wrote: post #112
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we are violently agreeing? Profit sharing with your citizens is basically government. I think ...

We agree that its wealth redistribution by anyother name. Certainly. The difference is that taxing is done in the name of public/government interest whereas profit sharing is done in the name of private/individual interest.

what i am trying to say is that if a government supplied sufficient upfront investment in education (which is basically what's going on here) then no student would have an incentive to add an additional lieu on their future earnings.

and governments should see education if their citizens as an investment repayable through future taxes

Re: The Ponzi Career

#126

Post by hwestiii »

I very vaguely recall the Bowie Bond issue being reported somewhere but confess to promptly forgetting it. Would have been interesting to have followed it in real time. It appears to have quickly lost news-worthyness.

The future is like that a lot.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#127

Post by xur17 »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #10

It’s just more top signals. There’s too much money floating around if people want to invest in nonsense like this. When equities correct from the current Shiller PE ratio higher than 1929 I think you will find less people want to invest in a career token for someone. https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe The Bowie Bond part of the post was fascinating by the way. Had never heard that story. He issued them in 1997 which i…

I agree that there's a ton of money floating around / frothiness, but what's inherently wrong or ill-advised about investing in future cashflows of a person. Assuming you diversify across a bunch of people in a bunch of fields, this actually sounds better than some of the stuff people are investing in in the stock market.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#128

Post by pmkiwi »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #13

I enjoyed the piece. Personally, I want no part of it, but I think it might work well for people who are not me. I've always been "on my own." My life really is a series of watersheds, where I've been the only person to believe in me, before the event, and a whole bunch of folks seemed to believe in me, after the fact. Not a particularly good setup for selling "Chris-Tokens™." Not a bad thing, in the long run. It hur…

Hello Chris, I wanted to say that I found your comment extremely good especially this

> I'm actually fairly good at what I do, but If I mention that, it comes across as "arrogant," despite the enormous ocean of hubris that pretty much defines today's tech scene.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#129

Post by selectodude »

cassepipe wrote: post #118
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if you are talking to me, or the parent. I used the word "Honorable," as it seemed more effective than "Integral" (as in "having Integrity). As far as I know, that word isn't on any blacklist. If it ends up there, I'll find an alternative. In the meantime, I'd gently suggest that accusing decent folks of supporting the murder of female children might not be the most effective way to start good relationships.

Look at the indentation, I am clearly responding to the parent. Especially to : "Honesty and honor are worth more than money." I don't think "honorable" has the same meaning and I did not even see it when I read you post. I specifically edited my post to explain I was not accusing parent of supporting murder but maybe you were already writing yours and did not see that part. No it is just on my blacklist and the only…

The root word of "honor" is not honor killings, just to be clear.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#130

Post by tarsinge »

LB232323 wrote: post #35
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #13

I enjoyed the piece. Personally, I want no part of it, but I think it might work well for people who are not me. I've always been "on my own." My life really is a series of watersheds, where I've been the only person to believe in me, before the event, and a whole bunch of folks seemed to believe in me, after the fact. Not a particularly good setup for selling "Chris-Tokens™." Not a bad thing, in the long run. It hur…

It's not a character flaw or lack of skills in not being able to "sell yourself". It's a sense of dignity and pride as a working person. You are not a commodity, you are a human being. You may look like a commodity to a business owner, but you refuse to allow yourself to become one. Honesty and honor are worth more than money. There is money to be made in making yourself into a sort of corporate dog, but it will leav…

It's conservative only if you think of this ongoing extreme financialization of everything as progress.
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