Dearest readers, I got tons of messages over the last few weeks about Gamestop, wallstreetbets and I have caught up on media and alternative sources and they offer two different stories. The mainstream media is trying to protect the big guys, while everyone else and their mother are siding with wallstreetbets and people who used their stimulus cheques, CERB cheques or portions thereof to stick it to the big guys who apparently wanted to profit handsomely off of shorting a company in decline into oblivion before it had a chance to reinvent itself. While I do not know enough to offer any advice on it, I wanted instead to focus on what we have lost as a continent and a civilization and in so doing, to raise a concern that people older and more experienced than me (family, relatives, friends from different parts of the world) have pointed out again and again over the years, and now more than ever.
Older people lived and built their lives in a different, simpler world but that simplicity was brilliant. It does not completely go back to the image below, but this brilliant simplicity rested on way higher prime interest rates than they have been for a while now.
Older people lived and built their lives in a different, simpler world but that simplicity was brilliant. It does not completely go back to the image below, but this brilliant simplicity rested on way higher prime interest rates than they have been for a while now.
The old days were the days of expensive lending. Money was expensive. One would think this was a problem and that this was holding people back. Now, let us look at how this was the case, at least based on what I found out by talking to people and doing some research. People typically had smaller detached homes that they could afford on a single income; if you could not buy a house such as in a big city, you would buy a townhouse or a condo in a building that is normal, not a luxury five star hotel lookalike. Higher education was cheaper. Car ownership was higher than the decline it is experiencing now. Most people did not care about investing and financial news- their savings accounts had decent interest rates and they were paying into their CPP and I guess RRSP as well. People were more likely to choose manufacturing and trades for their careers instead of burdening a few hyped sectors while leaving the other sectors to starve for new talent. Finally, businesses that could not get cheap money at the time had to be better thought out and had to have way healthier profit margins in order to survive and thrive, which made them stronger employers. Brilliantly simple, or simply brilliant.
Why do I love this instead of loving a bunch of people without a good future fighting hedge funds in between Uber Eats runs? Because we have apparently become hopeless. The future is not always progress. True progress has been made when most people in a country have been able to go to school, get a job commensurate with their education, get a house townhouse or a condo, get a car, find someone, get married, have kids, retire and live off their pension and RRSP in a paid off home, and when they die they leave their home and whatever else to their kids so they can continue to build multigenerational wealth.
Now sure, some people have deviated from this all the time because they are entrepreneurs, artists, entertainers or adventurers and explorers; others fall through the cracks, which is always regrettable. However, when you take the mainstream approach to life and success away from the vast majority of the people in any given country, you initiate that country's beginning of the end. It is not terminal, there is always a chance to bounce back (though certainly it gets tough to do so), but it is certainly the case. The older people who talk about this have asked me how on earth everyone is supposed to be a finance and investment guru, a hustler, a cutthroat businessperson, a genius idea person, or even to risk becoming a criminal, just for basic survival and success?!
Bottom line, they convey this one thing for us younger people to take to heart. What will happen when too many of us no longer have money or desire (or both) to participate in feeding the economic beast so it can keep generating profit and growth? They are right to ask that question. Many people I know in my part of Canada have given up on cars, home ownership, they gave up on RRSP investments in favor of self-directed investing, they buy more and more things second-hand on Kijiji and in thrift stores, and now because of the current situation they are learning how to cook and eat on the cheap (and healthier at that). When people stop going to universities and finally start learning blue collar (electrician, plumber etc.) and white collar (coding, trading etc.) trades, we will see something truly crazy, a crazy thing that used to be normal in the recent past. We may finally once again live in a country designed for us to live in and thrive so we do not have to be everything gurus just to make ends meet.
To finish this off, let me share another thing I was reminded of lately. While people dream of the electric car, space travel, quantum computing and green energy future that is just around the corner, here are a few facts. Our entire world, especially North America, rest fully on the following:
Why do I love this instead of loving a bunch of people without a good future fighting hedge funds in between Uber Eats runs? Because we have apparently become hopeless. The future is not always progress. True progress has been made when most people in a country have been able to go to school, get a job commensurate with their education, get a house townhouse or a condo, get a car, find someone, get married, have kids, retire and live off their pension and RRSP in a paid off home, and when they die they leave their home and whatever else to their kids so they can continue to build multigenerational wealth.
Now sure, some people have deviated from this all the time because they are entrepreneurs, artists, entertainers or adventurers and explorers; others fall through the cracks, which is always regrettable. However, when you take the mainstream approach to life and success away from the vast majority of the people in any given country, you initiate that country's beginning of the end. It is not terminal, there is always a chance to bounce back (though certainly it gets tough to do so), but it is certainly the case. The older people who talk about this have asked me how on earth everyone is supposed to be a finance and investment guru, a hustler, a cutthroat businessperson, a genius idea person, or even to risk becoming a criminal, just for basic survival and success?!
Bottom line, they convey this one thing for us younger people to take to heart. What will happen when too many of us no longer have money or desire (or both) to participate in feeding the economic beast so it can keep generating profit and growth? They are right to ask that question. Many people I know in my part of Canada have given up on cars, home ownership, they gave up on RRSP investments in favor of self-directed investing, they buy more and more things second-hand on Kijiji and in thrift stores, and now because of the current situation they are learning how to cook and eat on the cheap (and healthier at that). When people stop going to universities and finally start learning blue collar (electrician, plumber etc.) and white collar (coding, trading etc.) trades, we will see something truly crazy, a crazy thing that used to be normal in the recent past. We may finally once again live in a country designed for us to live in and thrive so we do not have to be everything gurus just to make ends meet.
To finish this off, let me share another thing I was reminded of lately. While people dream of the electric car, space travel, quantum computing and green energy future that is just around the corner, here are a few facts. Our entire world, especially North America, rest fully on the following:
- Oil powering trucks, planes and ships that bring us electronics, food, medication and more from around the world and within our borders.
- Panama canal and Suez canal that let ships through in real time.
- World's strongest navies that keep shipping routes safe and consequently cheap and reliable.
- Aristotle Onassis, the man who created the Greek shipping fleet after WW2. Without it, our trade and our way of life today would be impossible.
- Farmers, who keep us fed- because it takes five chickens to get a pack of ten wings from Pizza Pizza! Think about that.
- Trades, engineers and mechanics- because nothing gets designed, built or repaired without them.