Americans Lose Faith That Hard Work Leads to Economic Gains, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds

I've only known a "good" economy from about 1995-1999 when the internet went mainstream and for the briefest of moments, we got a taste of what public investment in tech feels like.

The powers that be quickly saw the danger in that and IMHO orchestrated the Dot Bomb, 9/11, the Housing Bubble, etc to keep as much money as possible out of public hands so that the average person wouldn't have the means to participate in the stock market.

Suze Orman told everyone to put their savings into Vanguard in the 2000s and they did. But since America chose to invest in McMansions and SUVs instead of moonshots and automation, Vanguard is now cannibalizing US real estate rather than making venture capital available to small businesses and startups in its insatiable hunger for profit. Along with countless other zero-sum game thinkers who choose to work within existing systems of control rather than pursuing innovations which could raise the median standard of living. This is why as America has been losing its empire status as holder of the world's reserve currency, it's been colonizing itself, particularly its young.

So that's my greatest disappointment with the present era. That we collectively chose to invest in private profit rather than shared prosperity.

Now, tons of people will complain that I'm oversimplifying and will kick and scream in resistance to what I'm saying. But at the end of the day, personal wealth represents wages withheld from workers. I don't know why we worship people who have reached positions of power and wealth, whose purpose for existing seems to be to withhold resources from everyone else.

Sincere question: Do you have thoughts as to how we can invest our $ if our goal is to support the "good economy" instead of attempting to ride the wave of the rich getting richer?

I would like to be part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem, but it is challenging to identify companies in which to invest without supporting the status quo.

I am not "rich," but wish I could better vote with what assets I do have.

> Vanguard is now cannibalizing US real estate rather than making venture capital available to small businesses and startups in its insatiable hunger for profit.

I'm not sure you understand what Vanguard does. They are not an investment bank nor a VC firm. They run mutual funds and ETFs, so the assets that "Vanguard" owns are owned by the fund holders (in fact in the case of Vanguard, the fund holders also own Vanguard itself).

Consider politicians like Graham Platner. Invest money, or even time, to help people who put working Americans ahead of the oligarchy get elected. If you're in Maine, even better, you can vote with your vote as well.

Importantly, pay attention to primary elections as well general elections.

It doesn't seem like this is strictly a contradiction. It could easily be smoke and mirrors if the end result is the same.

Basically, don't invest through investment companies. They'll chase the big profits because that's what they're paid to do. Even "green" or "sustainable" funds might invest in pharmaceutical companies that produce treatments instead of cures, or psuedo-science companies chasing net-energy loss concepts like clean coal or hydrogen, for example.

Instead, invest in specific technologies and goals:

  - Low-cost solar panels and windmills
  - Alternative chip designs like RISC-V and high-multicore (64+ cores)
  - Peer to peer communications systems, alternatives to cellular/5G
  - Robotic/hydroponic automated organic food production
  - Incubated/cloned meat and meat alternatives without side effects like FODMAP
  - mRNA vaccines, CRISPR, treatments for genetic disorders
  - Low-cost EVs, LiFePO4 batteries, high-kW inverters, axial flux motors
  - Heat pumps, thermal energy storage, concentrated trough solar
  - Labor-saving inventions and assistive devices for freight, construction, etc
  - Companies that openly support public education, single-payer healthcare, etc
  - Incubators like Y Combinator but that provide smaller $10,000-$100,000 VC
  - Open source projects/collaborations that distribute risk like Humble Bundle
  - Mass transit like electric busses/high-speed rail (boring but global demand)
  - Strike Debt and other loan forgiveness efforts that buy up loans in default
  - PACs, unions, environmental groups working to unseat incumbants
  - Foreign aid programs aimed at education, especially women and girls
  - Independent investigative journalists and media
  - Local bond efforts for better public schools, libraries, parks, etc
  - Stocks/groups working to legalize cannibis and end the war on drugs
  - Builders of tiny homes and alternative housing like yurts and earthships

Avoid:

  - Crypto (untraceable exploitation, black markets, human trafficking, etc)
  - Mutual funds and index funds (same reason as investment companies)
  - FAANG/GAMMA (high profit, low innovation over market cap)
  - MLMs (often tied to fundamentalist religious organizations and lobbyists)
  - Foreign currencies (profits from exploitation and environmental degradation)

People to emulate (these are merely breadcrumbs towards ways of thinking):

  - MacKenzie Scott
  - Bill McKibben
  - Michael Pollan
  - Derrick Jensen
  - Thom Hartmann
  - Howard Zinn (deceased)
  - Ed Abbey (deceased)
  - John Muir (deceased)
  - Frank Church (deceased)
  - Terence McKenna (deceased)

See also:

  - Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
  - The Jungle and other books by Upton Sinclair (deceased)
  - Nickel and Dimed and other books by Barbara Ehrenreich (deceased)

If I ever win the internet lottery, I'll work towards getting matching funds to tackle the biggest problems facing humanity:

1) That starts with liberating all peoples from forced labor, exploitation and subjugation so that they can self-actualize. Which looks like freeing capital from "black holes" of concentrated wealth, specifically moneyed interests and wealthy individuals who hoard resources and choose to do none of what I've stated above, at great expense to the rest of humanity. That's done not through competition or direct confrontation, but by getting everyone "off the grid" to disrupt the supply and demand curve which always results in the wealth inequality and late-stage capitalism we see today when there isn't regulation.

2) Then also improving quality of life universally, so working towards providing free treatments for all conditions/illnesses/injuries across borders.

3) Then also promoting kindess, mindfulness, and other cultural movements which move us away from othering and back towards reconnection to foster the common good. This looks like a rejection of reason for its own sake, and replacing that with the pursuit of meaning. So deciding collectively that using electronic devices in public is impolite, ending surveillance capitalism, tearing down the economic walls which separate us from our neighbors, etc. So that we can once again gather in small communities that provide mutual aid, childcare and tool/resource sharing so that we aren't forced to take on so much individually for our basic survival.

I think it may be possible to recruit AI to do all of this holistically and rapidly shift into the reality that we may have envisioned for the 21st century, a bit like the rapid technological growth we saw during COVID-19, when the first vacation that billions of people ever had resulted in 10-20 years of innovation in just 1-2 years. That's the key, that getting real work done requires escaping the menial labor that extracts profit from the working class.

So that's what I would do: use AI to examine thousands of stocks to find which ones trend similarly and which one correlate inversely, and come up with a plan to start moving profit the opposite direction from where it's moved traditionally. Then invest that cashflow into countless underemployed people whose talents, dignity and divinity haven't been recruited yet effectively because they've only been put to use in the service of capital.

After sleeping on it, I realized that what I wrote is based on my perceptions and projections. Putting one's disposable income towards ego-based goals and expecting a return is no different than what billionaires do. So the most altruistic thing to do instead is to put resources into goals that are determined democratically, without expectation of recognition or reward.

In other words, pay our taxes. Help the poor. Be of service to others. I'm not sure that it's possible to be the change we wish to see in the world and also make a profit.

I know that flies in the face of western culture and philosophy. So I would propose that the cognitive dissonance we experience when we try to integrate the views of people who see everything that's wrong with the world and the views of people who are grateful for what is, stems from imbalance. Sitting with opposing viewpoints makes us uncomfortable because we're confronted with inconvenient truths that implicate us. Then our avoidance of accountability creates the systems of control which trap us in the never-ending cycle of endless work with nothing to show for it.

Some examples of that might be the pageantry of the British royal family that papers over the class war happening under its watch, the performative displays of strength put on by China to curtail clandestine shell games carried out by the US, and even our idolization of celebrities who dine on the backs of the proletariat while the world burns.

The best way to break the spell is to get educated. If you think that Jordan Peterson, Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman make a lot of sense, then try Scott Galloway, Margaret Atwood and John Keynes. Loosely: the former build walls, the latter tear them down.

What I've learned in my own life is that wrestling with tough decisions and making the hard calls creates shadows in our psyche. Our choices form an identity which cements attachments that connect to densities that lower our spiritual vibration. So the wealthiest and most powerful people who have gone to the greatest lengths to achieve their goals are the ones most separated from their souls.

Meaning that if we want to help the less fortunate and reduce suffering, we need to work on healing our leaders. They don't want to be healed though. But maybe they can be reminded.

I had the utmost respect for Elon Musk when he was sleeping in his car to get real work done. But when he used his power and influence to dismantle the federal government through DOGE and cut aid that could result in millions of deaths worldwide ..not so much. When he arguably got the first reusable rocket into orbit with SpaceX, great! When he ignored the concerns of astronomers to fast track Starlink without bothering to give the satellites an anti-reflective coating, boo! It's not him I'm disappointed with, but his choices and lack of empathy when it counted.

The blind pursuit of efficiency creates injustice, and the refusal to rectify it creates intolerance. I think we've lost sight of what evil is because we've tied our identities to an immutable past which doesn't actually exist, because there's only now. I'm reminded of the quick and easy path in Star Wars, and when the Oracle in The Matrix said that we can never see past the choices we don't understand.

If we keep viewing the world through duality, with black and white thinking, good vs bad, us vs them, then we'll merely be custodians cleaning up the mistakes of the uber rich.

I think what I'm trying to say is that if we envision a better world and embody our dreams now, then we'll manifest a new timeline that escapes the will of people who would subjugate us.

What that means as far as where you place your energy is up to you. Imagine that!