Rubbing America the Wrong Way: Financial Porn

9/29/15

Financial Porn: Destroying the Middle Class through Fiscal Policy and Personal Financial Habits

So much truth about how to reach happiness and contentment in life is obscured by people in society who relentlessly peddle flawed ideas and corrupt philosophies. The sad truth is, these flawed ideas are intended to empower individuals to reach lasting satisfaction, but they're incapable of delivering that.

I'm mostly talking about the majority of politicians, celebrities, and media moguls, who while exercising their right to free speech, steer naive, uneducated, or misguided people of all ages and backgrounds toward worldviews which promote dependence on government, selfishness towards fellowmen, and jealousy of the successful, instead of liberty, altruism, and compassion.

You see, that's the inherent flaw of freedom of speech: People from all walks of life are free to use whatever platform they have to preach ideas they're passionate about, no matter how fundamentally defective their methods are at producing anything that even resembles independence, empowerment, or elevation.

It's the beauty, and flaw, of America, isn't it?

We need a poster child for these ideas, so I'll use the one person's visage who most stands out in my mind when someone mentions the term "painfully misguided."

You guessed it: it's Bernie Sanders. Feel the Bern!

If you know anything about Bernie, you either love him, or you hate him with a fiery indignation.

Since I don't condone hatred toward anyone, regardless of political persuasion, I'd like to re-focus your hatred of Bernie away from his character, and instead onto his ideas and aspirations.

And although he is a self-avowed socialist, I won't pretend even for a second that I think Senator Sanders is involved in some sort of worldwide socialist conspiracy, bent on destroying democracy, morality, and healthy conservatism.

No, no, no. That would be giving him WAY too much credit.

As I said, I think he's just misguided--he doesn't understand how the real world works. But he and his followers are so willfully bent on their ideas, that many of them have become as hooked to them as a drug addict. Even if they know what's right, they can't resist.

One "substance" the Senator peddles is a dreaded, addictive philosophy I've termed "Financial Pornography." Never heard of it? That's because I just made it up.

Let me explain, by first talking about Actual Pornography.

Regardless of your personal opinion of pornography, you should understand that both scientific studies, as well as behavioral and psychological observations, indicate that porn is one of the most most deceptive, destructive and addictive "substances" in the world today.

How so? Pornography promises its users satisfaction and lasting pleasure. Yet in reality, all it delivers is fleeting fulfillment, and damaged and corrupted thoughts and ideas about sex, love, and relationships. Its peddlers claim that pornography has the ability to somehow strengthen physical bonds... but in reality, it sews marital infidelity, causes feelings of betrayal, mistrust, and devastation to the partners of the users. It leaves its users feeling lonely, depressed, and demeaned. It functions as an addictive drug, rewires the brain to respond more to artificial stimuli than physical, and causes users' ideas about what is morally right to become corrupt. It promotes sex trafficking, and objectification of men and women. Lastly, it keeps lonely people from engaging in real sexual activity.

Similarly, the tenets of financial pornography promise its users financial security in life, and a degree of lasting contentment. Yet in reality, all it delivers is fleeting security, and damaged and corrupted thoughts and ideas about money, economics, and business. It promises to solve problems of wealth inequality and poverty... but in reality, it only sews class warfare, and causes feelings of jealousy, resentment, and hatred toward financially successful people in society. It leaves its users feeling entitled to whatever anyone else has, yet woefully dependent and insecure in the absence of government assistance. It functions as an addictive drug, breeds ignorance, teaches incorrect ideas about how to build real wealth, and fosters unhealthy bottom-up pride in individuals.

Lastly, financial porn keeps people from gaining actual, true and lasting wealth.

Financial porn isn't an actual "thing"... it's a gathering of false ideas and flawed movements, which promise one thing, and deliver another.

It's a product peddled by many in our society, especially democratic politicians. It makes lofty promises of greater wealth, prosperity, and elevated social status for the poor, and greater equality for all.

It can achieve none of these things, but its advocates seek to make it so via broad legislation at the federal level which restrict individual liberties and contradict natural economic laws. In fact, it is the cause of many of the world's current financial woes. It comes in the form of many lies. For example...

Lie #1: "Government and Central Bank Intervention Is Good for the Economy."

For the most part, government meddling produces no lasting value for our economy.

Consider the past six years of monetary intervention on behalf of the Federal Reserve, which promised to make the poor and middle class whole again, by restoring jobs and financial stability to the world. The Fed promised to prop up and stimulate the economy by injecting new money, via the lending process, and lowered bank overnight lending rates to fuel consumption, in the process also seeking to control inflation/deflation.

Well, guess what? Real employment is at all-time lows. But of course, jobs are plentiful if you enjoy working as a server in restaurants, bars, or fast food.

Has the Fed restored wealth or financial stability to the middle class?

During the past seven years, the wealth of the middle class has increased by just .7%. All the government meddling did was allow the rich to have greater access to capital, which they put to good use, and became substantially richer. My point is, the Fed's monetary stimulus programs failed in its intentions to assist those who needed it: the poor and middle class.

These are only a couple examples which illustrate that government is woefully ineffective at achieving anything it sets out to do. Government policies should be judged not by their intent, but by their results.

Consider Obamacare. Great intent--lower costs, and increase access to insurance for the poor. did it work?

The truth is, insurance is now much more expensive than it ever was in the past, and we have higher out of pocket costs. Average premiums have risen by nearly $5000, while the promise was to decrease them by $2500 per family.

To claim that increased government intervention or oversight is the solution to the problems in our economy, is to claim that increased doses of heroine will free the addict of his vice. Advocating for more government oversight or meddling in the economy is financial porn of the worst sort.

Lie #2: "If you're poor or middle class, you've been victimized."

Senator Sanders, along with other hard-line socialists, employ some very subtle, yet galvanizing tactics to woo their followers into action. Foremost among these tactics is simple victimization.

Sanders frequently posits the false dichotomy that if you're poor, you're automatically a victim of the rich, and the only way out is to upend the status quo--take from the rich what they've supposedly "taken" from you!

He persuades people to believe that the situation they find themselves in has little to do with their own life choices, and everything to do with their being ripped off by the wealthy class of our society. The rich and corrupt are to blame for all their woes. And consequently, the rich must be made "to pay."

Of course, we know this isn't true, even in the slightest. I recently asked the question of all of you, "How has the 1% personally hosed you lately?" The answer, of course, is, they haven't. While perhaps there are some corrupt among the wealthy class, for the most part, their wealth was created through hard work, creativity, ingenuity, and long years of being a working class drone.

Victimization syndrome persuades individuals to hang out in pity parties, instead of inspiring them to create better situations for themselves, something which is wholly within their control. It encourages people to give up on making a better life for themselves through work and sacrifice, and to selfishly take for themselves what they incorrectly believe others around them haven't earned.

Lie# 3: "My financial future doesn't depend on me making wise personal decisions. It depends on me getting my fair share of what the big corporations and wealthy people have stolen from me."

The sum total of an individual's choices over the course of his life determine where he ends up.

Consistently making a lot of good choices along your life path pays off--literally and figuratively--and enables you to eventually make big, good choices. If an individual works hard at part-time jobs while going to college or gaining vocational training, and gains valuable and marketable skills along the way as they plot out their financial future and career path, he's going to succeed at what he wants.

There are myriad poor choices a person can make along the way that will take them down a path of financial ruin... they can hardly be listed here. But an obvious one is making the assumption that it's possible to live a full life, and earn a living wage early in life without some kind of education or training.

There is a substantial push by the left in America today to raise the minimum wage to unsustainable levels. This idea is peddled, based on the premise that a minimum wage does not provide a full and substantial lifestyle for honest-working people.

That's correct, but it's important to remember that minimum wage was never intended to be the end of the career road. It's a starting point, meant to be used to provide some basic necessities of life for those who are on the path to something bigger--someone gaining training or education. After all, in today's world, your employer will never make you rich. That obligation lies with you.

This means that those who are trying to "raise a family" on minimum wage have made incorrect assumptions about the purpose of a minimum wage. They've made incorrect life decisions earlier (such as not planning before starting a family, or not mapping out a path to a better career, getting education, etc), which have led them to where they are today.

So, the next time one of your liberal friends screams about demanding a higher minimum wage, why not have a discussion about the "financial pornography" of demanding a "living wage," and instead discuss the life choices which led them to where they are today?

Lie # 4: "It's the government's job to ensure I don't get taken advantage of financially, and to make sure I live a comfortable life."

The plight of those in society who willfully remain in ignorance of personal financial skills breeds addiction to financial pornography and all of it woes--especially the victimization syndrome.

What's the biggest side effect of ignorance? Getting taken advantage of by the snakes of society. Do you enjoy being taken advantage of? Getting ripped off? People making inordinate amounts of money off of your stupidity?

Then do something about it. You have to be careful, because the biggest financial scams today are out in the open, and touted as necessary to living the "American dream." Buying a huge home you can't afford, which steals your wealth and fouls up your credit history.... buying lots of things on credit, which then costs you a ton of money on interest... buying brand new cars, which quickly depreciate... rent-to-own stores... payday loan centers... debt consolidations... I could go on. I work in the finance industry, so I've basically seen them all being perpetrated by the vermin of society.

The Escape From Financial Pornography

So, what can we gather about financial pornography? There's a lot more out there than what I've mentioned above, and it all falls under the falling attitudes:

• Relying on someone else to take care of your financial future for you, particularly the government
• Blaming others for your own situation, instead of doing something about it yourself
• Wanting what others have, but being unwilling to work for it
• Not taking responsibility for your own mistakes
• Remaining in ignorance, and hoping things work out for you
• Not being willing to learn new concepts and skills that you can use for a lifetime

In other words, the only way to learn how to evade or escape financial porn is to take personal responsibility for your life, don't assume anyone is going to do you any favors, and learn as much as you can about how to be successful financially.

You can't steal permanent success from someone else. Speaking of stealing... stealing from the rich, in the form of higher taxes, won't do anything for the poor and middle class in the long term.

You could take all the money in the world from the rich, and give it to the poor, and the rich would have it back in their bank accounts by the end of the week. That's because people with no financial education, and no wealth-building skills, don't have the slightest idea about what to do with money. On the other hand, rich people have learned where money grows best, and they know how to nurture it.

This is the primary reason that the the rich have gotten substantially richer since the financial crisis, while the poor have gotten slightly poorer, and the middle class has gone nowhere.

The only way to lift up the poor is for them to learn what the rich do. Unfortunately, no one can force them to learn, they have to make the choice themselves.

Lifting the Poor and Middle Class Is Simple

The first step in lifting people out of poverty is to teach basic financial skills. The poor and middle class need to learn how to budget their money, stay out of debt, and save a substantial portion of their paychecks.

Once they've learned how to consistently save money, and while their cash is stacking up month by month, the middle class needs to be learning how to invest.

This is where I come in with this blog.

At the most basic level, this blog exists as an outlet for me to provide you with an understanding of high-level economic principles and concepts which should guide your thinking about business and money. The world revolves around business. The more you understand, the better you'll perform, no matter what field of work you're in.

As we delve deeper, I try to help you learn specifically about the financial markets, and how they work. I try to provide an understanding about how different financial instruments function, and how you can use them to make money.

As I further develop this blog, I'll  be adding new features. Once that happens, my goal is to constantly be on the hunt, independently identifying strategic market opportunities for you, teaching you how to determine whether a company is a good investment, and how to spot low-risk, high-quality investment opportunities.

Finally, I talk a lot about tactical opportunities--taking advantage of short-term conditions in the markets which can quickly change to your advantage, and in doing so, you can capture lots of small, consistent profits regularly, in order to have long-term success and profitability in investing.

Ultimately, I want to teach you how you can farm your own ideas from the concepts I teach, and to be free of me. You should work on creating your own repertoire of investment ideas, companies you like, and concepts which intrigue you, so you can make you own path to financial freedom.

I know that probably sounds idiotic to you, because then you won't be my listener anymore... but my number one goal is to empower you to be become self-sustaining. It's what I would want if you were in my shoes, and I in yours.

And I'd encourage you, if you find something I've provided to be of value to you, to share my ideas with others that might benefit from them. That helps me keep this blog alive!

Live long and invest,

Jeremiah