Marxist theory can give you insights on how to play the capitalist game. If you read it like a psychopath.
I joke that Capitalists would get the most value (figuratively and literally) from Marx, but are ideologically allergic to the reading.
I’ve seen quite a few statements from big Wall St. people who have clearly read Marx
I think a lot more capitalists understand Marxist theory than most would think
In principle I agree, but in many ways Wall Street types are Capital’s greatest slaves. Since they are dealing with other’s money, they also must meet their client’s literal unwitting demands. All the analysis in the world won’t placate the client screaming “AI! AI! BUY AI!”
Smart vampires do read and understand marxist theory. They apply it to become more powerful ghouls.
Absolutely agree, but they aren’t making the waves they ride. They are still subsumed in the general thoughtlessness of market forces.
EDIT: When I think of a class that is conscious of Marx, I unironically think of modern China’s CCP. When they say they are still transitioning to socialism I believe them. From my standpoint (take with huge grains of salt) is that their program is capturing Capitalism in a kind of Nuclear Reactor. Just enough class antagonisms (capitalist success, hires more workers, worker wages going up incentivize productivity investment, rinse repeat) to increase productivity while using their placement on company boards as a kind of Control Rod to prevent those antagonisms from spiraling into class conflict/warfare.
Hillary Clinton gave a speech talking about how we need to seize the means of production back from China.
Hillary changes her views more often than a chameleon that I wonder if the Lizard People conspiracy nerds are on to something.
Matt Bruenig has a great and short tutorial on personal finance and investing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efr2UORgO2w
the graphic at 17:30 summarizes the hierarchy of savings (1. Emergency fund 2. employer-matched retirement 3. high-interest debt 4. other tax-advantage accounts 5. low-interest debt 6. taxable brokerage account) - he notes that he and most others will never make it to 6.
The graphic at 31:00 summarizes common pitfalls to avoid, unless you have a deep passion. 1. individual stocks 2. crypto 3. house flipping/renting (don’t be landlord … for financial reasons!) 4. expensive homes 5. private k-12 education
I unironically love federation
Your post is clearly in good faith so I won’t shit post or try to dunk, just so you know this instance is full of tankies and anarchists, investing is antithetical to our beliefs and any post about investing you see from this community is mocking the whole concept
investing is antithetical to our beliefs
I don’t believe the Proletariat having a 401k and/or a Roth IRA in order to survive retirement is antithetical to leftist belief, but I am willing to be convinced otherwise. Even Marx speculated in the stock market. Ultimately, Leftists refusing to invest will do nothing at all to further expedite the end of Imperialism and eventually Capitalism, all it will create is homeless leftist seniors (if America lasts that long).
It’s not about doing it or not doing it as an individual, it’s about the very concept being ridiculous. It’s almost like a magick ritual to people that buy into all the market bullshit.
For me the difference is between survival and personal gain, those funds are a forced compromise
Are you saying that personal gain from the work of others fits in the socialist world view?
You’re welcome to dunk, I don’t mind.
Assuming you engage in wage labor (despite it being antithetical to all of our beliefs) and your employer offers you a greater portion of the fruits of your labor via a matched savings account, is it wrong to accept it? I think it’s not wrong at all, and workers should accept and make the most of their 401k.
Bruenig’s video is a framework for understanding personal finance from a leftist perspective, or the “personal welfare state” as he calls it. These are things the state should handle, but instead has created a mess of rules we have to decipher.
Assuming you engage in wage labor (despite it being antithetical to all of our beliefs)
I do, and it’s not antithetical to my beliefs, it’s the only acceptable form of wealth accumulation offered to me right now
is it wrong to accept that?
Yes, it’s called solidarity
Bruenig’s video is a framework for understanding personal finance from a leftist perspective
It would work better if they actually had a leftist perspective
spoiler
some people here absolutely invest, you see it come up occasionally, always goes along the lines of “well you should at least do index funds for retirement/etc. or you’re just losing your money to inflation”.
I’ve always felt a bit reticent about those style posts. Also the person you’re replying to probably thinks of themselves as on the left, given the citing Matt Bruenig. Shame that bruenig actually really sucks (iirc?)
Living in the imperial core it’s almost impossible to avoid being involved in investments, be it pension or social security funds
It’s the age old question of ethical consumption under capitalism, personally I draw the line between surviving with the cards you were dealt and trying to gain advantage
We live in a capitalist economy, at this point it is absolutely dominated by finance and speculation rather than real growth and production, and it is pretty hard to survive long term without investing, particularly if you ever want to buy a house. House prices tend to rise faster than inflation, so you’re losing on both inflation and appreciation. I don’t think this should be the way it is, but it is the way it is. House prices and the rental market are linked by future cash flows so there’s no escaping it unless you are homeless.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I’m ready to get dunked on but here we go
spoiler
I’m engaging in speculative trading (meaning: buying and holding stocks for 3-5 years) and betting on the rise of a multipolar world. In practice this mean for me: I pick a stock in the Chinese market that I think will eventually outperform a western company (e.g. EV, semiconductor, fusion, renewables, etc. - actually I picked a company that’s on the US blacklist) and buy an amount where I’m ready to lose the money (I’m aware of the privilege) and just hold it. I follow the news mega so I get a good dose of financial press to keep up.
spoiler
I don’t want to go into very specifics for various reasons, but can elaborate on the approach/process and thinking. Also the risk involved.
We are in decades weeks times and there’s a lot of geopolitical shifts happening. This means lots of investment/speculation opportunities. Dialectical and historical materialism let’s you understand the laws governing these shifts and helps you find investment opportunities easier™ (This felt soo dirty to type lol)
Following the news mega and reading the coping and seething in WSJ, CSIS, FT etc. articles in regards to China, reading our comrades very insightful comments to contextualize I have been able to get a sense of what industries are interesting to look at.
As a starting point I took the US entity list/blacklist of Chinese companies that you’re not allowed to trade. Since I’m euro based, this doesn’t apply to me so I took it from there. Must be a reason why they’re forbidden fruit, right? This is a major risk though. Euros are cucked by US foreign policy and might follow suit. Your assets can be frozen, stock can be worthless, etc.
First of all it’ll require lots of reading and research on the industry/company you’d like to invest in. Find out what they’re making and what their strategy is. Also take into consideration what the CPCs strategy is i.e. don’t buy evergrande when the CPC has been signaling not to
Once you have a pick (ideally basket of picks to diversify risk), stick with it for 3-5 years. Any news that comes out will have a major impact on the stock price, so you’ll need to have nerves of steel. You’re not doing day trading after all (which is pure casino).
There’s significant financial risks involved, so be prepared to lose it all. Just look at the Russian sanctions how far things can go. The geopolitical rift between china and the US is heating up so never know how it can go.
Good luck
Kinda? The Proletariat in western countries is forced to invest to retire, unless you can get pensions or a large safety net. The stock market has already been “solved,” the answer is broad market-cap weighted globak funds with low expense ratio. Anything else is mysticism and gambling.
Yep, invest in index funds. If the entire market crashes, then either a) you have much bigger more immediate problems or b) we just did communism.
well,
