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Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

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Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#31

Post by lr4444lr »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #28
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

I love this part: The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man: "I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us, if it was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy together." "But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent in two months, and what would you do then?" "Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!"

Which is the correct answer. When you spend money, it doesn't disappear. It's just moved.

Yes, but the goods it can buy on the next round of division still don't come from the spendthrift vagabond, and if his way of life is incentivized while the producers' is disincentivized by this redistribution, then that circulation won't continue so innocuously.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#32

Post by egypturnash »

Twenty chapters of true wisdom, from that great American showman P. T. Barnum. Especially the penultimate chapter, "Don't Blab":

> Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets. If they make money they like to tell their neighbors how it was done. Nothing is gained by this, and ofttimes much is lost.

Nicely done, Mr. Barnum. I am honored to share a birthday with you.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#33

Post by [deleted] »

carlosnunez wrote: post #20
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

I love this part: The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man: "I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us, if it was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy together." "But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent in two months, and what would you do then?" "Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!"

Don't show that to the Universal Basic Income diehards...

[deleted]

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#34

Post by angersock »

carlosnunez wrote: post #20
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

I love this part: The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man: "I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us, if it was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy together." "But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent in two months, and what would you do then?" "Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!"

Don't show that to the Universal Basic Income diehards...

Even a cursory reading of the story should suggest to a reader a difference between the proposed action (divide equally riches amongst all), and UBI (fund a fixed-amount per citizen per annum).

Least of all, if one believes in the ability of capital to be reinvested to create more capital, it is obvious that the second case need hardly injure an economy while still helping the people who are broke.

The former case, of continual wealth division, of course may fail--luckily, that's not how UBI works.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#35

Post by angersock »

WavingThe44 wrote: post #30

From Frenzied Finance (1905): First, there is a fundamental law, from which no one—neither the great nor the small—is exempt. In substance it is: "Every 'Standard Oil' man must wear the 'Standard Oil' collar." This collar is riveted on to each one as he is taken into "the band," and can only be removed with the head of the wearer. Here is the code. The penalty for infringing the following rules is instant "removal."…

Pretty good advice, honestly.

I'd like to think that the old robber-barons could still teach the current generation a thing or two about how to run a ruthless business.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#36

Post by theoh »

dave_sullivan wrote: post #16
cname wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why so many people think Socialism is about welfare. Socialism is about who owns and controls the means of production. Read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

Aren't the means of production pretty much people's minds at this point? I'd like to own and control mine.

Apart from the fact that material production is still the real source of material goods, that sounds like an individualist fantasy. The idea of controlling one's own mind is a tautology, and as for the body, who can say where it starts or ends? We are interdependent. Combine those two assertions and I don't think you can draw any lines around individual persons any more.

There is some particularly crazy thinking in philosophy on self-ownership, which may interest you:

Cécile Fabre, Whose body is it anyway? Justice and the integrity of the person

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/cpt/journal/v9/n3/full/cpt2...

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#37

Post by switch007 »

carlosnunez wrote: post #22
iagooar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took a credit once, for buying a car, and will never do it again. Although I never had problems with paying the money back, I was paying a lot more money back to the bank, so when I finished paying the credit off, the car was worth half of the price I bought it, almost having paid double the price because of the credit interests. But the worst part was that it didn't feel right. So now my policy is to never buy any…

Here's the biggest reason why I don't mind taking out a loan on a car, one of the most aggressive and most expensive depreciating assets out there: Comfort. Immense comfort. I spend a lot of time in my car. I enjoy the car that I have now (a 2012 Honda Accord EX-L), but the only reason why I didn't take out a lease on something more expensive (like a 535i or an E-class) is because we're planning to move very soon and…

BMW fan here! (To an extent). BMWs have their flaws (buy a 15+ year old E46, I dare you), but damn, it feels much more like they thought things through. Nothing in the interior of my E46 annoyed me. I've driven the F30 as hire cars many times and love it. However, I drove a 2015 Mercedes E-class for 3 days last week...:

- The parking brake is a PEDAL and the release is a totally separate lever.

- The button to disable auto start-stop is labelled "Eco" rather than a more standard VW/BMW "A" icon in a circular arrow.

- The gear selector is a weird stalk (drive is down, reverse is up, and park is a separate button you push inwards?!).

- The cruise-control always stayed -1km below what is set.

- The gearbox mode selection cycle in the order: Eco->Sport->Manual, i.e. in eco, you need to cycle to get to manual rather than being able to select it directly. Also, flipping up a gear with the paddle DOESN'T put it in to manual mode.

- The cruise control stalk is complicated and had an LED, which is out of view.

- No button on steering wheel to directly change radio station.

- You need to dig the brake pedal to enable the auto-hold.

- To wash the windscreen, you need to push inwards a small button on a stalk to the second level! The first level activates the wipers without water. I dry-wiped the windscreen a few times before realising.

But apart from all that, it was a nice drive.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#38

Post by ChrisDutrow »

clishem wrote: post #21

The author of 'So Good They Can't Ignore you' ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13525945-so-good-they-can... ) basically argues that the first rule he mentions ("Don't mistake your vocation") is a false myth: "In this eye-opening account, Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice. Not only is the cliché flawed-preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how mos…

I feel like this a matter of balance. Taken to either extreme, you could end up poor doing something you love. Or paid decent to do something you never got super good at cause you hate it.

Probably the best strategy is to select something within the venn diagram of things you like and things that are lucrative.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#39

Post by jdietrich »

dave_sullivan wrote: post #16
cname wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why so many people think Socialism is about welfare. Socialism is about who owns and controls the means of production. Read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

Aren't the means of production pretty much people's minds at this point? I'd like to own and control mine.

A semiconductor fab costs several billion dollars. Rollout of a national communications network still costs even more. The world is still full of big lumps of capital that aren't going away any time soon.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#40

Post by kjksf »

clishem wrote: post #21

The author of 'So Good They Can't Ignore you' ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13525945-so-good-they-can... ) basically argues that the first rule he mentions ("Don't mistake your vocation") is a false myth: "In this eye-opening account, Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice. Not only is the cliché flawed-preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how mos…

"Don't mistake your vocation" doesn't mean "follow your passion".

Paraphrasing, it means "do what you you're naturally good at"

"Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed".

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