I have learned that climate change is a hoax, but a useful one. Anything that keeps people in a constant state of fear is useful to the ruling class. I grew up during the (fake) Cold War and in a state of fear, the bomb and communism being so evil. That is how they controlled us in those days. (Running out of oil was a useful scam too. I lived through two Arab boycotts, both fake. I thought they were real.)
These days it is climate change, ISIS, terrorism in general, but I noticed something else yesterday – fear of financial collapse.
Here’s something to think about: Don’t invest in the stock market. Avoid consumer debt, student loan debt, anything that puts you in a position of having to produce a sum certain every month that has to be given over to people who did not earn it.
If that means owning a smaller house than you’d like, that is reality. Drive a heap – old cars that run well are treasures. (Ours are 11 and 10 years old, Japanese, and so well-built, and paid for.)
Are you afraid of what your life will be if you don’t get that college degree? You’re better off without the degree and the debt. You’re left to your own devices. Who ever said that learning only comes from college?
This sounds like heresy, even unrealistic, but what it means is you need to do everything possible to avoid the financial grid. It is a trap. It is meant to be a trap. It is no accident that student loans are handed out like candy with no expectation of performance or even a job on the other end. They are meant to be hung around your neck to keep you in debt and under control throughout your life. Avoid them. (In a sane world college would be based on ability and performance, the tab picked up by all of us via taxes. There are remedies aplenty for slouches.)
Is there another financial collapse on the way? Of course! They are planned. A change of administration often signals the timing, though I don’t know why. With each one the most powerful people go around behind sweeping up the wreckage. The big eat the small.
But truth be told, we have an economy of people making, growing and selling things that are not nail salons or massage parlors. We are all in some form talented enough to survive. We are taught not to develop our real talents, but rather to learn to be good employees, take on massive debt, and lead lives of quiet desperation.
The answer, don’t do that, sounds trite and unworkable. But it is not if you start today. If you are already in the student loan trap, your impetus, your first step should be to shed that burden. If it were me, I would look first to convert it to a form of debt that I can walk away from if I am trapped.
Think about it. Nobody on the other end “earned” that annuity that has you strapped down. It’s all in your head.
Piece of Mindful 
College loan debt is a lifetime trap because Congress made it immune from bankruptcy laws that apply to most other debt.
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Wow, a post that includes actual sound solutions and advice.
Early in married life I drove company cars. Those were the only cars I drove that were new and off the lot. Instead my wife and I invested in farm and ranch real estate by replacing new car payments, high insurance and license fees. These alternate payments were in the form of partnerships with other relatives and made in the early eighties when ag prices bottomed out.
Thirty-five years later my wife and I still drive 10 year old vehicles. Those afore mentioned ag investments have long paid off.
And you’re right about the stock market. Have you divested yet?
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No, I have not. It is on my list, but the election is still weeks away, so I have time. And by the way, I know more than anyone that my lucky investment in Apple was just luck. Stock prices have very little to do with company performance. I was merely fortunate to blindly buy shares in a CIA front.
I speak with the battle behind me. I pity the poor youth of today as we transition to a non-jobs kind of world. You may know the expression, but your living is “resource based.” That makes you immune from the grid. .
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I’m also vested in the market, albeit not by choice.
My kids went thru college with little debt but I do have several friends whose children are not only drowning in loans but newly married with spousal debt. Some in the high 80’s, reflective of declining home sales. How can a new couple buy a house with 2 large college loans?
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Ergo Skink’s post from last week about the Panama Papers and an attack by the 1% on the 10% – everyone below is tapped out.
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Good ideas. We have the most power with our pocketbook, as that’s the only language the rich understand. Just don’t spend. Don’t give corporations your money. Don’t give it to the bank, either. After the election we’ll probably be like Greece, lining up to take out or $300 each day and the coming back the next day to get more. Austerity, we’ll know it well soon. Remember, the last “crash” came after Obama got elected. It’s easier that way for the rich to control things.
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You’ve been listening to too much Dave Ramsey. Thought you disliked pop radio stars.
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We’re entering the “decadent” stages of a collapsing nation, sparky. Sheep are unaware.
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2016/04/in-city-of-decadents.html
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Printed that out for later reading this evening. Looks interesting.
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It might be generational, Sparky. I don’t listen to talk radio unless I am stuck in traffic, and then usually Rush. But Kelly, Swede and I know this stuff without thinking about it. It’s how we learned to manage our money.
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