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The Ponzi Career

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Re: The Ponzi Career

#231

Post by toast0 »

adkadskhj wrote: post #89
yarcob wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a few months to a year of expenses on the side fixes this. When you know that no matter what happens, you have enough savings to pay your recurring costs, you just aren't as vulnerable. You are going to find a job in a year, or you could find a cheaper place to live in a year... Things just aren't as scary anymore once you have enough saved up. If you live paycheck to paycheck it's going to be stressful no mat…

> Having a few months to a year of expenses on the side fixes this. It doesn't, for me. I'm sitting at ~12mo with full expenses. I budget everything, so i do me full expenses, all the niceties, enterainment, etc. If i lost my job i could probably stretch it to ~24mo with the fat cut away. Still, i worry. Keep in mind i do partially agree with you, paycheck to paycheck is a massive concern for people. It's why i obses…

I know someone on the internet saying you shouldn't worry doesn't mean you won't worry, but ... you should try to worry less :)

If you have the wherewithal to put away a year of expenses, and the self-restraint to double that if you needed to, I'm pretty sure you could find some gainful employment during that time.

You could also probably stretch things a bit farther if you really had to by doing things you'd rather not do. Skipping rent or mortgage payments probably doesn't fit with your ethos, and will have negative consequences eventually, but it'll take time to go through eviction or foreclosure procedures, and that gives a bit more time to figure out something.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#232

Post by JackPoach »

The article is very interesting but it implies this will be mainstream. It won't or at least not likely to. I bet the examples in the articles are just about the only options out there (at least as far as the education goes). And for a good reason.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#233

Post by usgroup »

freeone3000 wrote: post #175
LB232323 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Can you eat honor? Can you sell it? What is the worth of a man besides his ability to profit? Seeing endless people of honor scrape out meagre existences while those who exploit others endlessly become billionaires is more enlightening to the worth of honor than our useless platitudes.

It’s a fair question. I’d say that if/after you’ve made your millions you may soon find that your life is no less empty, and that internal substance - however intangible - is all there is. The exogenous manifestations of it are honour, duty, morality and so on. I think the Stoic literature best explains it if ever you’re interested.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#235

Post by ganafagol »

alexmasmej wrote: post #169

Hey, Alex Masmej here. Just wanted to say that I had no choice because I had no money in the bank. During the start of COVID, I lost my only (and very first) source income at the time, and I lost all my savings in crypto (DeFi is dangerous even to crypto people like me). Financially, this ISA freed me instantly, and gave me a newfound legitimacy as a crypto innovator. This was by far the best way I could find to brea…

Does nobody in here realize that this is just the first step towards the well-known as well as rightfully-abolished concept of slavery?

Fraction of future income and participation in "certain life decisions" is just the beginning. In principle this can ramp up to all future income and all life decisions.

And don't tell me this is voluntary, which makes it all different from slavery. Alex himself writes "I had no choice". Just take this further and apply it to some drone worker in an Amazon fulfillment center or other precarious employment. People who don't have a choice and would end up uneployed and hungry on the streets if they don't agree to terms put in front of them. The only thing between the worker and such a deal is labour laws, and we all know how popular those are in "entrepreneur" circles.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#236

Post by bordercases »

ryandrake wrote: post #144
musingsole wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To reiterate, it is very likely that those people who passed on you or didn't become interested due to the lack of self-marketing are not the people you would want to work with and doubly are not actually offering the job you thought you were applying for. Grifters interview and hire grifters because their org/team/company relies on the grift more than the truth to make ends meet. If you can't grift, you frankly don'…

OP took the high road and the much harder path. All you have to do these days is put all your skill points into Charisma and bullshit your way through an entire career. No other skills needed. Look at Elizabeth Holmes and that WeWork guy. People were falling over themselves giving them money. Generational wealth achieved by having no ability bedsides running their mouth. Even normal jobs, so many people just blah, bl…

The root is cheap capital under stagflation. These conditions are artificial and will eventually correct. And if they don't correct catastrophically now, they will create many inefficiencies in patchwork ways until the system is totally ineffectual and we become numb to it. Then they will correct catastrophically.

But in between the cracks is opportunity.

Teaching your kids hard work, honor and integrity are precisely the things you want to invest in the future on a whole, even if you must also teach cunning and pragmatism on top of that.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#237

Post by Kosirich »

andxor wrote: post #213
tomglynch wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think taxes are necessary for a cohesive society?

Yes, of course, but not > 50%.

I'm not refuting your point but where did you get >50% from? You absolutely can get taxed up to 54% but for that you would need +200k (krona) per month.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#238

Post by adreamingsoul »

andxor wrote: post #209
jopsen wrote: post #173

Have people forgotten the classic way of investing in humans? Social programs. In Denmark part of my taxes goes to pay public pensions, and when I get old taxes will fund some pension for me. The public pension isn't huge, so yes, almost everybody has a private pension scheme too. My private pension is exposed to global stock performance over ~30 years. My public pensions is exposed to value of humans in Denmark in ~…

So Denmark would forcibly take more than half of my income to invest in stuff I don't have a say on, while no one is held accountable by competition and economic incentives. I'll pass.

Including your pension and healthcare, how much of your income is “taxed”?

Re: The Ponzi Career

#239

Post by adreamingsoul »

jopsen wrote: post #173

Have people forgotten the classic way of investing in humans? Social programs. In Denmark part of my taxes goes to pay public pensions, and when I get old taxes will fund some pension for me. The public pension isn't huge, so yes, almost everybody has a private pension scheme too. My private pension is exposed to global stock performance over ~30 years. My public pensions is exposed to value of humans in Denmark in ~…

Thanks for sharing. we have similar programs in Norway and about %35 of my income is taxed.

Re: The Ponzi Career

#240

Post by adreamingsoul »

Kosirich wrote: post #237
andxor wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, of course, but not > 50%.

I'm not refuting your point but where did you get >50% from? You absolutely can get taxed up to 54% but for that you would need +200k (krona) per month.

Did it come from propaganda talking points that outline the dangers of “socialism”?

I hear similar statements from my relatives in the US.

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