• Got_Bent@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You know how Internet people always say that the older they get, the more they understand Al Bundy?

    I’m at the point where I understand the solitary curmudgeon old guy who never talked to anybody and lived in a small, but oddly well kept house. Then, when he passed, people were shocked to find out he had a million dollars in assets that he’d just casually socked away because he hated consumerism and didn’t trust the man.

    We thought that guy was crazy when we were kids.

    Now I’m becoming that guy, saving a ton of cash*, because I see the consumerism pyramid scheme and refuse to participate.

    *By cash, I have cash, precious metals, some bonds, my house, and a very few stocks that I bought many years ago, watching them return nothing to me. Now I’m much more concerned with principal protection and inflation hedging than capital growth. Cash in and of itself is a Ponzi scheme, so you don’t wanna have all your eggs in that basket.

  • PortableHotpocket@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    That’s not an entirely accurate perspective, but you’re not far off. The problem is that fixing this requires hard decisions, and it requires people in power to act against their own interests.

    You want wealth inequality to get better? You need to increase the value of labor. You do that by eliminating free trade deals, bringing production back to the west, increasing prices on goods, and severely limiting immigration. Do that, and the value of labor will soar.

    You should also severely limit the ability for the wealthy to own properties to rent. One of the main reasons the middle class existed was that the family home was simultaneously shelter, and an investment vehicle.

    The whole structure of investment and shareholding has to be rethought as well. Its built of the concept of infinite growth, something that isn’t possible, and ends with businesses destroying themselves while trying to meet this impossible demand.

    • olibleu@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Interesting take. But the measures you suggest to increase the value of labor will also increase the costs of goods, which would impact the working class more than the wealthy, no?