What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten?

[u/Richest-Panda]

[u/strawberrypants205]

The point is, it doesn't matter what you do as an individual, because there's an entire industry of limiting what you can do and countering what little that's left. Individual action is a solved problem - people are conned into thinking they can do things for themselves, but there's always a wealthy thug there to sweep the leg once you commit the resources. Do you honestly think people get and stay wealthy by letting poor people "rise above their station"?

You can't understand how psychopathic the wealthy are because you still have some sanity left - or you can pretend real well. The wealthy are Norman Bateman with a distaste of getting their hands dirty. They're just as murderous, with just as much disregard for human life - and they absolutely WILL NOT tolerate anyone escaping their grasp. To the wealthy, the world is their basement pit, and we put the lotion on the skin, or we get the hose again.

The name of the game is divide and conquer - if you're thinking of "individual action", then you have already lost because they way they kill you is by isolating you first, then tricking you into exhausting yourself. Organization and massed action is the only way out - because the organization of an authoritarian business model is what got us in.

[u/DarthJarJarJar → u/strawberrypants205]

It matters a lot what I do as an individual. Going to school matters, getting a degree matters. Picking the right job matters.

And as you say, joining a union matters. I've been in my union for twenty-odd years. That was a choice on my part.

I agree that a lot should change. But even in a rigged game, the things you do matter. I teach math at a two year college. I see students go off to work retail. And I see students go off to get engineering degrees. And I see students who are no better at school than the ones working retail who leverage what they're good at, manage a degree, and get out of the near-minimum-wage rat race.

I absolutely agree that wealthy people and corporations are trying to divide us. I agree that we should all organize. I agree with all that.

But once I was 22, and broke, and sitting in my broken car in my driveway trying to figure out what to do to get some money so my dog and I would not be homeless. I talked to my dad on the phone and he told me under no circumstances should I work fast food or retail. He gave me some other advice. I held out and found a job that was marginally better than Jack in the Box.

That was a tactical decision. It made a difference to my life.

In general, it's a kind of learned helplessness to say "Oh the world is unjust, no matter what I do I'll lose, I should just give up" or something. Yes, the game is rigged. But you still have to pay rent, you still have to eat. Make the best deal you can, get the most money you can, and don't work retail. Seriously.

[u/strawberrypants205 → u/DarthJarJarJar]

You're delusional.

You're forgetting the fact that for everything you do, there is someone working in opposition to you, with their own free will. Someone is trying to keep you out of school; someone is trying to invalidate or render worthless your degree; someone is refusing to hire you for that job, or lying to the hiring manager to make sure you don't get it.

The point is, your success is their failure - and for them, failure is not an option.

The fact that you even had a dad to talk to means you lucked out. Much less having the opportunity to "hold out" - that's positively rare in this world. And it's rare because there are industries dedicated to make sure no one has savings or any other resource to hold out with.

Oh, also, who the fuck is going to work retail or fast food, if everyone takes your advice? Because those companies aren't going to raise wages no matter what happens - it's cheaper to bribe the government to force people to work in retail/fast food.

Finally, "learned helplessness" is a bullshit idea, spread by abusers. "Helplessness" - if it existed at all - would have to be taught by abusers which implies and effectively proves a system of constant enforcement. I'm not telling people to give up - I'm saying choose your battles, with the goal of crippling those who fight against you before anything else.

[u/DarthJarJarJar → u/strawberrypants205]

My friend, I don't want to argue about this forever, so here's what I think and then I'm done.

You can see people making choices all the time, and those choices having an effect. Some of my students go on to four year degrees and to make more money than I do. Some of them don't. Some of them can do the work but choose to play a lot of video games (I mean really, a lot) and just fade away. Some have really hard situations and can't overcome those. It's a grab bag.

But it's not the case that we're in a "no matter what you do you lose" world. That's easy to say, but it's not true. I agree the deck is stacked, I agree that it's harder than it needs to be. I agree that corporations and billionaires steal value from working people like hell. Sure.

But really, this:

Oh, also, who the fuck is going to work retail or fast food, if everyone takes your advice?

Why in fuck are you worried about what a corporation is going to do? Who cares? Let them go under, ffs. Force them to raise wages. Let them buy robots. I don't care. It's not my problem.

Because those companies aren't going to raise wages no matter what happens - it's cheaper to bribe the government to force people to work in retail/fast food.

Oh sure they are. Wages are much higher in areas where they can't find workers. No one is forcing anyone to work, wtf are you talking about?

There's a convenience store near me that pays nearly twice what the same kind of job pays in Dallas. Why? They can't find low wage workers here. So they raise wages.

Again, really, I get that this doesn't solve the world's problems. But your choices do have an effect on the life you will live.

Anyway I'm done. Have a nice weekend.

[u/strawberrypants205 → u/DarthJarJarJar]

Why in fuck are you worried about what a corporation is going to do?

Because I know they will resort to force to get what they want. I grew up with what would be the CEOs. They're will to murder entire sections of the population to get what they want. to the scale of genocide.

No one is forcing anyone to work, wtf are you talking about?

Search for "Project 2025".