(Part 2) Best products from r/lostgeneration

Robert Neuwirth seems to be the current 'expert' about System D and has a really interesting (and easy to read) book + a handful of TED Talks. I find the whole thing really fascinating, I'm glad black markets are getting recognition for being innovative!

It might be less of "you need a job" and more of "know your place".

At one point, I said, "You know what. Maybe, I am lazy. I will get the hardest job I can find." Parents told me an uncle would make $30/hour at his factory job. I made $8/hour. I make more in retail and I do less work.

You don't need a job. (Jobs are quite a modern concept.) However, you still do need stuff, e.g. food, water, shelter. Your results may vary if you don't have the usual ethics, such as not stealing. I chose to work, because I would like to remain friendly with and included in society. Society gives a lot of benefits, such as protection and easy access to resources.

Instead of being reactive, be proactive. What do you want to do? Humans don't need much to survive.

Maybe, professional gamer. Or, you could go bottom of the barrel (Possum Living).

> I will say this, as bad of a deal as these are for most people, I think a lot of Boomers will welcome these deals in a decade or so when they realize that nobody wants to buy their 4000 square foot 5 bedroom utilities consuming tax monster in car centric suburbitopia, 50 miles from the nearest city, nowhere near any public transportation that they were banking on as their retirement plan.

Alas yes. And per the linked article, and the additional stories it contains:

• Reuter's: U.S. retirees return to reverse mortgages, big banks stay away
  
  and
  
  
• New York Post: Baby boomers choosing reverse mortgages over retirement plans
  
  >>Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication covering the housing industry, said borrowers took out some $15.3 billion of these loans last year, an increase of 20 percent over 2012.
  
  Many (an increasing number) of them are already doing this.
  
  And very likely their kids (heirs) are unaware of it (and really, legally they have no say in the matter)...
  
  Recall the all-too-commonly seen tshirts, bumper stickers & license plate frames that say something like "We're spending our kid's inheritance" -- well that's not necessarily just a joke -- for a lot of baby boomer's it is a well-planned "lifestyle choice" (heck there are even book-guides on how to do it).
  
  ---
  
  But my chief point is that this is EXACTLY the kind of thing that will eventually "force" the sale (en masse) of a lot of boomer-owned properties -- IOW it won't just be a simple xfer of the title from the parents to the kids.
  
  

1. To begin with simply because the parents have already "collateralized/leveraged" (are effectively already spending down) the available equity, encumbering the property in a way that will make it difficult (if not impossible) for the children/heirs to refinance -- unless the heirs themselves have sufficient liquidity or credit available -- (so, instead of a "windfall" of inheriting a fully paid off house, the heir finds out that the damned thing is almost/if not fully mortgaged, and the inherited "title" is end up being just a burden to handle the fixing-up/sale of the property, with little or no potential gain for the effort at the end).
   
   
2. Secondly because the "repayment clause" is very likely to be triggered well in advance of the owner's actual death -- any health debilitation that forces them to (personally) move out of the property into say a nursing home or senior care center, or long term rehab facility (even if the cost of that is fully paid by say Medicare and/or insurance) -- will cause the debt to become due in short order (sufficiently short enough to make it a high-pressure "must sell" scenario).
   
   
3. And moreover, the option of having someone ELSE move in (say a family member or other "renter") is just not there -- not unless the "owner" of the property/mortgage are themselves still present and resident.
   
   End result is that (at least SOME) boomers will have roundly "screwed" the younger generation (and other boomers -- because this kind of thing will almost certainly affect the valuation of other real estate/homes) -- yet again... and in a way that many won't have seen coming.
   
   (Now of course as I also noted, no cloud is without a potential "silver lining" -- and the likely decrease in housing prices will also prove a BOON for those who otherwise could not afford a home... although the caveat may be {as you noted} that it ends up being homes in locations that no one really wants or can afford to maintain/live in.)
   
   BTW this last is one of the reasons that the "big banks" (ironically enough) are deciding to opt-out of this scenario... they apparently see the handwriting on the proverbial wall, to wit from the Reuters article:
   
   >>But at this stage, most bigger lenders are uncomfortable with the loans — for example, in 2011, Wells Fargo & Co and Bank of America backed out of the business. Wells has cited factors including unpredictable home values and the level of delinquencies as reasons for it to stay away from reverse mortgages.
   
   So even at "capped" loan values that are generally only about 1/2 the "fair market value" of the homes: the banks are balking... sounds to me like they see (yet another) real estate market crash on the horizon (i.e. within a decade or so at most).

It is easy to say that the media is owned as /u/kroqmin did. This is correct, and causational. However, there is technique to the process, and from the perspective of people working in the media industry, the control is not at all visible (except in unusual situations).

What you are looking for is the work by Edward Bernays. Very few people know of his work, even people in media and public relations. He was Sigmund Freud's nephew, and combined Freud's work with crowd psychology and built the modern field of public relations. Here's a partial list of some of the things he was personally responsible for:

• Women smoking as a symbol of gender equality.
  
  
• Bacon for breakfast.
  
  
• The working man should invest in the stock market.
  
  
• The overthrow of the democratic government of Guatemala in 1954, giving us the term "banana republic."
  
  
• The message that got him started: The role of America is to make the world safe for democracy.
  
  
• Joseph Goebbels used his book to teach the Germans to hate their friends, neighbors, and business partners: the Jews.
  
  One facet of his technique is best illustrated in the overthrow of Guatemala. He paid local actors to perform pro-Communist "demonstrations," then flew down newspaper reporters from prominent magazines and newspapers to view the demonstrations. These reporters saw the demonstrations, saw nothing about the fact that they were 100% staged by paid actors, then wrote about the new beachfront of Communism on America's front door ... at the height of the Cold War. Congress authorized the CIA to move within weeks, and United Fruit Company got to keep their tax-advantaged banana plantation land while the Guatemalans got to enjoy 50 years of brutal military dictatorship.
  
  This technique is widely used today. You can buy his book on Amazon, it's cheap, short, and a good read. Bernays originated the term, "Engineering of Consent." Think what that term means in a democracy. Consent of the governed? Informed consent? The implications are profound.
  
  As far as I can tell, the media ownership by the 1% is really only used to shut down dangerous lines of inquiry. So for example, if anyone had revealed that the Communist activist demonstrators were actually paid actors, that line of reporting would be quickly shut down. This is fairly unusual, since most reporters are just as asleep as the rest of us. However, think about how many times there are rumors of agent provocateurs being the ones instigating violence in protests? Paid actors creating political scenarios? Shit like that gets shut down, and that is where you see the control being exerted.

... It's a hard thing to say that the only flaw I can find in your comment is the formatting.

BTW, that childcare thing is covered excellently in this book (Affiliate Link), which is so good and well-researched thus far I'd encourage pirating it if you can't get your hands on it otherwise.

Spoiler Alert: We almost had federally funded, nationwide childcare that would've solved a ton of our issues, it had overwhelming popular (80%+) support, it even passed Congress... and then Nixon / Congress veto'd it because Pat Buchanan shouted about how it was somehow going to turn the country Communist, and this in turn is why we have such shitty protections for families and especially working moms.

That's true college isn't for everyone, but even the ones who should go to college should minimize the loans they take out.

The silver lining in all this is that the education model is being reformed with the appearance of nearly-free universities. www.saylor.org is one of them. the model needs some improvement but its going in the right direction.

Also, for anyone interested in the development of nearly-free universities I suggest this book
http://www.amazon.com/Nearly-Free-University-Emerging-Economy/dp/1491222212/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412946961&sr=8-1&keywords=nearly+free+university

There's a lot of information out there. Marx's capital is very dense but well worth the read, and I recommend reading it in chunks then branching out and researching the topics to get a deeper understanding.

Don't be afraid to look at classic material: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Luxemburg, Gramsci, etc.

Consider starting with this book

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0745330169

http://revolutionarycommunist.org

http://monthlyreview.org/


http://www.workers.org/

https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/wisiw/basic_marxismleninism_study_plan/

https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/pi9l2/resources_for_marxist_political_economy/

https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/wiki/index#wiki_previous_communisms_of_the_day

https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/2pwxm5/the_debunking_anticommunism_masterpost/

Awesome. Hope it's not a waste of your time

I should clarify that I meant ERE the book, not the blog. But I bet the material is the same:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/145360121X/?tag=oildepletiove-20

You should check out Tear Down This Myth if you want a really great break-down on the subject that's told in an interesting way.

I know people won't like to hear this. But this book basically shows that education is basically just signalling. The thing is though, that he also shows that people that have higher degrees (like Bachelor's or Master's) actually earn more money even if they are employed in fields like being a bartender or waiter funnily enough. I guess it is literally becoming true that you need a degree to help get these jobs (at least the higher end of these).

Everyone getting a Bachelors degree is basically just the same as everyone having a high school diploma. It is like standing up in a concert to see better, if you do it that is fine, but then if everyone does it we are all in the same position again.

https://www.amazon.com/Case-against-Education-System-Waste/dp/0691174652

I'm sorry that happened to you. It's not acceptable, and as a 52 year old I am ashamed of the "grown ups" in this situation. You learn a lot of things at college, not just your major. They purposely have requirements in multiple disciplines to make you well-rounded, and employable. For example, there is no reason that with a degree in Film, or Art History, or Music, you should not be employable in corporate America. It's not like I used specific course content from my degree, ever, in my job. Your earning a degree with decent grades (honors, in your case!) shows that you are 'learning agile' and have a good attitude. Companies should hire for attitude and train for skill. Your not having a "good" job is because there are no longer enough "good" jobs to go around. You are right to rant. The corporations off-shored all the jobs, and the banks ruined the economy. Not your fault.

Have you watched The Lottery of Birth? It has some very interesting ideas around the role of education, and of employment, in society. I believe we're on the cusp of a major change, and that your generation got caught in a bad wave between cultures -- how we used to define ourselves is not going to be how the next generation defines themselves and their value -- and you got smashed in the middle.

Anyway, I'm sorry. Please accept my apology on behalf of older America. We're not all that bad. It's just like everything else in society -- it's the rude ones who speak up. They asked that question to set you up, IMO. That's how rude people get their jollies. Hang in there. There are lots of progressives doing our best to make sure the country does not abandon you.

edit: The Lottery of Birth is available on Amazon Prime, if you are interested. http://smile.amazon.com/Lottery-Birth-Nicholas-Woodeson/dp/B00DIX666S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394661670&sr=8-1&keywords=lottery+of+birth

Here you are talking about civilization collapsing and being catapulted back to a medieval society (that might not be such a bad thing) and everyone starving to death (that would) but all the same it seems like your despair is coming from your not being able to find a job. Something strange about that.

Also, you seem to've utterly disassociated yourself with the reasons for your continued unemployment. That is, that the business model of businesses and corporations is untenable; that it's incompatible with the satisfaction of people like you (and people like most people). It's only satisfactory to shareholders, who they're meant to serve. You'd do well to learn the truth.

How to Pull Off a Modern Debt Jubilee

Such has been the fate of debtors in modern Western economies. But in some modern non-Western economies, vestiges of the debt write-off solution remain. In China, for instance, nonperforming loans are often carried on the books of state-owned banks or canceled rather than putting insolvent debtors and banks into bankruptcy. As Dinny McMahon wrote in June in an article titled “China’s Bad Data Can Be a Good Thing”:

>In China, the state stands behind the country’s banks. As long as authorities ensure those banks have sufficient liquidity to meet their obligations, they can trundle along with higher delinquency levels than would be regarded safe in a market economy.

China’s banking system, like that of ancient Mesopotamia, is largely in the public sector, so the state can back its banks with liquidity as needed. Interestingly, the Chinese state also preserves the ancient Near Eastern practice of retaining ownership of the land, which citizens can only lease for a period of time.

In Western economies, most banks are privately owned and heavily regulated, with high reserve and capital requirements. Bad loans mean debtors are put into foreclosure, jobs and capital infrastructure are lost, and austerity prevails. The Trump administration is now aggressively pursuing a trade war with China in an effort to level the playing field by forcing it into the same austerity regime, but a more productive and sustainable approach might be for the U.S. to engage in periodic debt jubilees itself.

The problem with that solution today is that most debts in Western economies are owed not to the government but to private creditors, who will insist on their contractual rights to payment. We need to find a way to pay the creditors while relieving the borrowers of their debt burden.

One possibility is to nationalize insolvent banks and sell their bad loans to the central bank, which can buy them with money created on its books. The loans can then be written down or voided out. Precedent for this policy was established with “QE1,” the Fed’s first round of quantitative easing, in which it bought unmarketable mortgage-backed securities from banks with liquidity problems.

Another possibility would be to use money generated by the central bank to bail out debtors directly. This could be done selectively, by buying up student debt or credit card debt or car loans bundled as “asset-backed securities,” then writing the debts down or off, for example. Alternatively, debts could be relieved collectively with a periodic national dividend or universal basic income paid to everyone, again drawn from the deep pocket of the central bank.

Critics will object that this would dangerously inflate the money supply and consumer prices, but that need not be the case. Today, virtually all money is created as bank debt, and it is extinguished when the debt is repaid. That means dividends used to pay this debt down would be extinguished, along with the debt itself, without adding to the money supply. For the 80% of the U.S. population now carrying debt, loan repayments from their national dividends could be made mandatory and automatic. The remaining 20% would be likely to save or invest the funds, so this money too would contribute little to consumer price inflation; and to the extent that it did go into the consumer market, it could help generate the demand needed to stimulate productivity and employment. (For a fuller explanation, see Ellen Brown, “Banking on the People,” 2019).

In ancient Mesopotamia, writing off debts worked brilliantly well for two millennia. As Hudson concludes:

>To insist that all debts must be paid ignores the contrast between the thousands of years of successful Near Eastern clean slates and the debt bondage into which [Greco-Roman] antiquity sank. … If this policy in many cases was more successful than today’s, it is because they recognized that insisting that all debts must be paid meant foreclosures, economic polarization and impoverishment of the economy at large.

I'm not precisely sure about which aspect of the problem you want to learn about, but The Spirit Level is a good introduction to the effects of inequality, whilst Capital in the twenty-first century discusses why inequality is growing.

I, too, recommend "Choose Yourself." Great book. His more recent one, "The Power of No" isn't as good. So go with "Choose Yourself" first.

I also recommend "Fuck it: The Ultimate Spiritual Way." And perhaps spend some time over at /r/stoicism.

This is the sort of thing covered in the book Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials

Nowadays, middle class and up parents try to prepare their kids to succeed in capitalism while they're still in the womb and throughout their childhoods and teenage years. Literally every activity, including friendships, is assessed and selected according to its possible future payoff.

Of course this is not healthy for kids and leads to stuff like hyper-competitive spelling bees. And it leaves less well off kids, kids of average intelligence and talent and resources, in the dust. This is how you get a lost generation.

By definition, not everyone can be a ninja rockstar, but average people need to eat and make rent too.