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Thread: You Don't Need Soma!

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    You Don't Need Soma!

    I want to share two thoughts I care about with you.

    You Don't Need Soma!
    Don’t sign up slavery to the banking system. Delay spending. Delay gratification. Set goals. Work towards your financial freedom instead of that stupid new gadget.

    http://sathyaish.net/writing/Tiny-YouDontNeedSoma.aspx


    Institutionalized Education is a Scam

    http://sathyaish.net/writing/Tiny-In...ationScam.aspx

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    Fanatic Member Bonker Gudd's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Money is evil.

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    You don't need skooma, either.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    4 legs good 2 legs bad
    Please Mark your Thread "Resolved", if the query is solved & Rate those who have helped you



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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    If you're going to work with databases then a Schema is a must
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    Smooth Moperator techgnome's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    you can fool soma the people soma the time, but not everyone all the time.

    -tg
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    Super Moderator FunkyDexter's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    What is Soma by the way? (Obvoius puns about it being the season after Spring aside)

    I agree with the general sentiment about not borrowing (I think a mortagge is a bit of an exception, if I'm not paying a mortgage I'm going to be renting so it's not a cost I can actually save) and think we do tend to borrow way too much and for the wrong reasons. I'm not sure I understand your stance on education though. I assume you think people do need to get an education somehow so what's your alternative?
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    Smooth Moperator techgnome's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    I disagree with virtually every statement in the education link...

    Educational institutions can do nothing for you. No institution or organization can turn you into something -- a fine actor, a computer programmer, a teacher or what have you.
    That's BS... it's because of education that I am where I am... it's because of school that I learned to read, and write...

    Learning is a single person process. You learn by observation and by thinking. You may draw inspiration from an individual teacher. That does have a bearing on your personality and beliefs, your behavior and thus upon your craft.
    But WHO are we supposed to observe? Those that know more right? I certainly didn't learn my craft from my parents... no... I went through an educational system that taught me some basics, from which I observed others and learned from them... it was just as much peer-to-peer learning as it was teacher-student teaching. And by the way... I don't learn by observing and thinking... I learn by observing and doing and experimenting...

    But the moment the vehicle of education is pluralized to a collective, it is not longer effective.
    Again I disagree... when I was in high school, there were something I struggled with... it wasn't until some of us got together and created a study group that somethings clicked... we learned from each other (we had the same teacher but at different points in the day, so sometimes the information was a little different) as well as having some fun.

    Human beings a social animal, will have communal learning system, it's in our nature and it is how we learn.

    -tg
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    Smooth Moperator techgnome's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    regarding the other article.... wow... someone sounds bitter... something tells me one has something to do with the other...

    I got a job... I got married... my wife doesn't work... by her own choice... she doesn't have to... (unless Congress doesn't get it's act together, which I don't think they will)...
    I got a bank loan and bought a house... yes, I have a mortgage...and it feels great... It's *MY* house... I'm no longer living on someone else's ...
    I don't suck up to my boss... I don't need to... I'm good at what I do, and they recognize that... and I don't work long hours ... in fact my employer frowns upon working on our own time... if I'm on vacation, I'm expected to ignore everythign work related...
    I've had my two kids...
    How about I buy a truck instead?
    "Feel rich" hmmm.... actually for the first time in my life... I do.. I have a great job, great family, my own house... and I've made it largely on my own...
    I'm a diabetic, so I'm actually cutting the carbs...
    I've never felt the need to get the latest gadget...
    Since I work from home, there's not buggering off with my cronies...that's what VBF is for...
    I've told the kids, hey if they want to go to college, they will need to do well, since they are going to need scholarships...


    yeah... I'm beginning to think someone isn't happy with their job or life... and it isn't me...

    -tg
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    * How to Use Parameters * Create Disconnected ADO Recordset Clones * Set your VB6 ActiveX Compatibility * Get rid of those pesky VB Line Numbers * I swear I saved my data, where'd it run off to??? *

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Am I a crony? I've always wanted to be a crony, it sounds sinister, and I don't have much sinister in my life.
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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Rather than thinking about Skyrim, TG's response convinced me to actually read the link. That does sound kind of bitter, but it also appears to be a challenge, so here's how I rank:

    1) Got a job, so that's a check, but I'm not married, so I only get partial credit on this one.
    2)Got the mortage. It will be paid off WAY ahead of term (possibly some 18 years ahead of term).
    3) Failed at that one. My boss is pretty cool, but I've seen him only once in the last month, and sucking up would make no difference to anything. I'm not an arse, though, so I guess that's kind of a wash.
    4) Not gonna happen. I like the process, but not the result.
    5) Yeah, there was a loan that was easy: I asked my sister. Paid it off in short order, too.
    6) Don't mind if I do, thanks. I'm not even close to rich, but I feel pretty good.
    7) Can't really do that. I don't like beer, and the office doesn't have anything resembling a canteen. I do eat a fair amount, and I do lots of that exercise thing, but the food I eat is fairly healthy, and as for that exercise thing...there's a lot of that.
    8) Don't have the wife, so this one doesn't apply. I could substitute the boat, but that was bought with cash.
    9) They have the latest gadgets, and I have only the gadgets I want. No loans needed for any of that, though.
    10) Sounds good. I think I'll go do that.






    Ok, I'm back. Now, where was I....
    11) No babies, so not an issue.
    12) Also not an issue. People rather like having me around.
    13) What?!?!? That sounds kind of insane. Could I just undercut companies that annoy me by doing their work for free, instead?
    14) Ok. I don't use cash much, but occasionally I do.
    15) Does one count as many? Can I feel rich with just one?

    I don't think I passed. Two N/A, and a few oddities in my answers. I'm going to work on #10, though.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    "Money can't buy you happiness, but it sure help remove all the things that make you miserable".

    But it also sounds like someone doesn't understand what being rich feels like because they are so hung up on the money rat race...
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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Actually, I'm still not sure I understood that one. Most of it sounds like complaining, but some of it sounds like advice, and all of it could technically be advice, albeit a bit perverse at times. So, what the heck was it?

    Therefore, I went on to look at the link about the other lifestyle. Lets consider those steps:

    1) Write down exactly what I want? Do I know that? It seems to change in ways large and small, and has all my life. At some point I'd end up writing "I want another sheet of paper.", followed soon after by, "I want to stop writing all this stuff down!"

    2) Obsessing over my object of desire would only work until she slaps me with a court order.

    3) This would be awesome, except that the only life goal I can think of for five years out would be: Don't die in a rockslide or by being pinned under a tree. The day to day planning for that would involve hiding under the metaphorical bed, but moonman hasn't come out from under there since Nov. 6th, so there's no more room.

    4) I've always lived by that one. I am one of the most bizarrely active people I know. Now I need a new place to hike to....

    5) Frugal is a relative term. I live well below my means, but if I needed to cut even further back, there is certainly fat that could be trimmed.

    6) Still dealing with that court order, sorry.

    7) That's a fairly good strategy, unless you are also good at lying to yourself. In that case, not only would you secretly know that you had left one behind, you'd also secretly know that your optimism is probably also a lie.

    8) Don't ignore from failure, learn from it.

    9) I'm trying, but those darn tasers hurt!!

    10) What's the other option? Die? I would suggest that the other option has some significant drawbacks, so you might as well keep on keepin' on.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    I think he needed to emphasize his real point more in that blog which seems to advise against becoming a slave to debts or rather to banks via debt.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Where is Soma?

    .
    I am not a complete idiot. Some parts are still missing.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    I was away for some time. I couldn't reply though I intended to. I had these windows open for 2 or 3 days on my laptop while I was away. So, sorry for the late reply.

    Wow! You guys are really creative and funny. I like your replies. :-)

    I borrowed the word Soma from Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. In my article and in his novel, too, it is used allegorically. It is a representation for the hetero-suggestion we are constantly subject to, as subjects of this modern society, through means such as advertisement, television, newspapers and media, corporate management, one on one's with managers, etc.

    The suggestion is to calm us down and prevent us from thinking independently of our own good. Every time an employee or for that matter a victim or a subject of *the system* gets angry and begins to see through the matrix that's been created for us, the oligarchy calms him down by giving him a Soma pill, i.e. in real terms, every time you get to see that your employer is being unfair with you and you voice your concerns, some senior executive higher in rank than you comes to calm you down. They talk to you one on one and tell you nice things like how important you are, and that you must have faith, etc.

    Or every time you pierce through the veil and see the sham that the banking system is, you are subject to a recessionary push in an attempt to calm you down through advertisement and other sugar-candy things like discounts, sale, lowered rates of interest, etc.

    Therefore, Soma is the pill that makes you drowsy, oblivious, blinds you to the illusion that the matrix is. Huxley also borrowed the term from the Indian Sanskrit word Soma Rasa, which was a drink given to the Gods in heaven. Gods, as in the Gods in heaven, in any mythology, are an oligarchy that serve in the kingdom of The One God. And that's how the society runs. To sustain the modern kinds of scientific dictatorships where the weapon of dominance and of obtaining compliance is not force but is "to put people in a forgetful comfort zone so they have just enough to eat and spend it all and then they're left with nothing, but they seem to remain happy," -- to sustain such a dictatorship, one needs to do it by creating an oligarchy that will represent and delegate the commands of the master/dictator. The oligarchy is the top management in corporate and politics in our society.

    [Listen to this audio: http://sathyaish.net/poetry/ComfortZone.aspx

    Funky Dexter, if you think you are rich, let me ask you this: if you left employment just now, and no one else in your family was working, for how long do you think you'd be able to support yourself and your family financially?

    Do you see that? Do you see what I am saying?

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    Super Moderator FunkyDexter's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Ah, the whole Bread and Circuses argument. Of course governments, corporations etc try to keep us quiet and acquiescent, it's good for business. I'm not sure people are quite the sheep you think they are though. We're not really fooled that we need the latest pair of trainers, we'd just quite like them and we're willing to make some sacrifice to get them. But we're aware of the sacrifice and, when it get's too great we can and do push back.

    China's a really good example of what you're talking about at the moment. Go back 20 years and it was a hugely represive regime. Then Tienamen square happened. The regime surpressed that (quite violently) but were also pressured enough by those events to quickly open up their markets. That's your Soma pill right there, they gave the people shiny things to keep them quiet while the regime has remained totalitarian. You might look at that and see it's proof that bread and circuses work but you'd be completely missing the point, because alongside that opening up of the market has been a quieter but far more profound process of liberilsation and democratization. It hasn't recieved much attention in the west where we've happily gone on portraying them as an oppressed mass who can only see happy pages on the internet and are all forced to become gymnasts, but it's obvious to anyone who spends any time at all looking at China's recent history. Localised representation (which has always been the heart of China's democracy) has become hugely more influential at a national level and they've just "elected" the most liberal head of state they've ever had. Give the old guard another decade to die off and you're probably going to see real democracy in China.

    Funky Dexter, if you think you are rich, let me ask you this: if you left employment just now, and no one else in your family was working, for how long do you think you'd be able to support yourself and your family financially?
    I didn't say I was rich. I am, of course, attrociously rich but I try to keep it quiet so you losers don't come round asking for handouts. I don't have a family (no freeloading hussy's getting any of MY money) but I do have two cats. I've tried to persuade them to get jobs but they're having none of it so I guess it's going to be me that has to foot the bill for the foreseeable future. I could support us for a long time, though, because I live in a country with a decent welfare state.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    I apologize, Funky Dexter. I was too much in a haste and I meant to address my previous comment as a reply to this post of techgnome, and not to you. I am sorry about that.

    Your comments are very intelligent and I quite agree with you. People aren't as daft as that. Individually, every one is intelligent. Collectively, we're not.


    Quote Originally Posted by techgnome View Post
    regarding the other article.... wow... someone sounds bitter... something tells me one has something to do with the other...

    I got a job... I got married... my wife doesn't work... by her own choice... she doesn't have to... (unless Congress doesn't get it's act together, which I don't think they will)...
    I got a bank loan and bought a house... yes, I have a mortgage...and it feels great... It's *MY* house... I'm no longer living on someone else's ...
    I don't suck up to my boss... I don't need to... I'm good at what I do, and they recognize that... and I don't work long hours ... in fact my employer frowns upon working on our own time... if I'm on vacation, I'm expected to ignore everythign work related...
    I've had my two kids...
    How about I buy a truck instead?
    "Feel rich" hmmm.... actually for the first time in my life... I do.. I have a great job, great family, my own house... and I've made it largely on my own...
    I'm a diabetic, so I'm actually cutting the carbs...
    I've never felt the need to get the latest gadget...
    Since I work from home, there's not buggering off with my cronies...that's what VBF is for...
    I've told the kids, hey if they want to go to college, they will need to do well, since they are going to need scholarships...


    yeah... I'm beginning to think someone isn't happy with their job or life... and it isn't me...

    -tg

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Collectively doesn't really matter, in this case.

    What would happen if I lost my income, and had nobody else who could support me? Probably about the same thing that would happen to most everybody else, except maybe a little less so. You can live with no visible means of support, but you can't live comfortably that way in any part of the world. If you are willing to live without indoor plumbing, ready access to processed food, heat, air conditioning, and so forth, then you can live without money, even in the US. Those folks are called homeless people (and hikers, for a month out of the year). It's not a lifestyle most of them, or most of us, want. But the fact that we work to make money to buy our way out of that existence doesn't mean that we are fools or that the banking system is such a sham. It may be handled with a wink and a nod, but it is done that way because there isn't any real alternative. If we all woke up one day and decided that money was actually pretty silly and quite without value....we'd be starving to death within a week. All of the food production that allows society to function is built on a collective fiction. That's why the economy can tank simply because people become nervous about whether they are comfortable, and the economy can soar simply because people start feeling confident.

    Standing in the middle shouting to everybody that it is all a lie is foolishness incarnate. I realize that some event could happen and bring down the house of cards that is my financial life. There is nothing that I want to do about that, because such an event could bring down EVERY lifestyle, no matter how meager or extravagant, and without regard to what steps you take to protect against it. Therefore, I know that these things could happen, but I refuse to live in squalor simply because I fear that financial disaster will strike prior to the inevitable arrival of death.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Shaggy Hiker, I am not arguing in favor of poverty or leading an austere lifestyle forever. On the contrary, my point is that we see the bigger picture. The bigger picture being: the middle road, the one we are all leading, i.e. the middle class life-style of earning slightly higher incomes, increasing expenses, living a lavish lifestyle, excessively borrowing loans -- this middle road is a sweet poison pill.

    I am talking about seeing through all this and about setting goals for a higher standard -- that of earning financial freedom. The way to do that is to be discontended. Contentment is bad.

    Reduce spending

    Increase sources of income

    Increase passive income

    All this is possible if we get out of our comfort zone and set goals for financial freedom. We must value financial freedom and independence over this transient and momentarily lavish lifestyle that's built on loans. It makes us feel rich and secured whereas in fact it is slavery. That's the point of the article.

  21. #21
    Smooth Moperator techgnome's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Perhaps you could have explained yourself better in your post then... because that doesn't come out.. as I said somewhere in one of these threads, you're coming off a someone who's venting and are just lashing out. If you have to further explain what you meant, then your communication needs some work. Or you need to take the time to write longer posts that more thoughtfully and thoroughly explain your position.

    That said... my take away now is that I should never buy anything unless I have cash for it in hand... so I am destined to live in someone else's house and forever walk everywhere I go and never send my kids to college... Yeah, that's going to make things better.

    I'm in debt for exactly 5 things: house, 2 cars (I need one and my wife needs one), medical bills, wife's college loan and 1 credit card.

    The card is the smallest, it has a low limit, and I've never come close to maxing it out. I make 2 payments on it each month when I get paid... the first is the minimum amount, to make sure I stay current on it... the second one usually runs somewhere between the minimum amount of a normal payment or up to twice a payment. I use it to fund my hobbies. The wife's college loan... that's gonna hurt someday... and it's not even really mine.. but since we're married, it might as well be. The medical bills... well, there isn't a whole lot that can be done about that... we do what we can with it. Our premiums are low, but our deductable is high... now if you want to talk about a scam... insurance is a pretty big one. But at the same time, I'm glad to have it... between the appts for the Doc and the medication I have to take, my wife and I hit our deductable usually in the fist half of the year... I shudder to think how it would be if I had to pay for it continuously through the whole year. Plus with the plan we have, we can have a segment of money set aside each month to help pay for the deductible portion, so the sting hurts a little less.

    I've spent the last 15 years living in someone else's house as a renter... it sucks. IT really does. Now I'm a homeowner... I love it. When something needs to be done, I jsut do it. I don't need to get permission from someone else to put a hole in the wall so that I can run network cable from one room to the other. Granted that means when something goes wrong, it's up to me to fix it... I don't have a landlord to call to get something fixed. A few months ago, our microwave went out... the magnatron stopped working. So it meant I had to go out and buy a new one and install it. So I did. And my monthly payments are less than I what I was paying on rent. While I realize it will never fully be mine, I'm OK with it (this isn't our "forever" home... it's what we call our "10 year home" ... where we plan to be for the next 10 years while the girls are in school).

    MY point is that sometimes to get ahead you have to go into debt of some kind... the trick is to not get into TOO much debt or let it get out of control. That is where people usually get themselves into trouble ($10,000 credit card debt? WHAT bank issue THAT kind of credit?) We don't live beyond our means, as a result, we do just fine.

    -tg
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  22. #22
    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    By the standards mentioned, I'm doing pretty well. I have a single debt: A mortgage, which will be paid off some 15-18 years ahead of schedule. I certainly didn't have the cash to buy a house for cash, and I would have been spending the same amount on rent for a much smaller apartment, with all the issues that TG noted. I, too, really like having my own house. I tore out the back yard and replaced it with a raised garden and pergola over a patio made of bricks arranged to spell out a phrase in binary. Try doing THAT in an apartment! Still, I did have to get a loan to buy the house, but I carefully calculated how much surplus I had to spend (the amount I would have to spend for an apartment was a reasonable figure, since that was cash I had to have if I did NOT buy a house), and bought within that amount, then overpaid heavily. I have no other debts, and have fairly substantial retirement and non-retirement savings (if I cashed those in, I could pay off the house today)....and yet, I could easily be taken for the exact person you rail against in those blog posts.

    I have no financial freedom, possibly because I have no idea what that means. I certainly can't stop working, as I need a certain amount of cash coming in to meet the expenses going out, though the cash coming in currently exceeds the expenses by a fair percentage each year. I am also wise enough to know that a single accident could flip that all on its head in an instant, so what am I supposed to do differently? I'm no paragon of virtue, but simply a wage slave the likes of which you rail against, yet I see no alternative path that is both prudent and realistic. I can certainly list expenses in my life that I could do without. Heat, for instance. As a guy who spends so much time in a tent, I know I could do quite well living in a tent year round, but I simply don't want to. Would that make me more financially free? No, it would make me more of a nutjob than I already am.

    There is one way I could achieve the financial freedom you seem to suggest is the only worthwhile goal: Winning the lottery (which is tough, since I don't play, but that only reduces my odds by about one in a few hundred million, so it's not much worse than anybody who does play). If I did that, being so fiscally prudent, I could live comfortably for the rest of my life (which would probably be short, as I would be off in the woods for about 9 months every year, which would wear me out fast). Since that's the only option that isn't fantasy, and since that is wildly improbable, I guess I'll just keep on keeping on.
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  23. #23
    PowerPoster SJWhiteley's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Quote Originally Posted by Sathyaish View Post
    Shaggy Hiker, I am not arguing in favor of poverty or leading an austere lifestyle forever. On the contrary, my point is that we see the bigger picture. The bigger picture being: the middle road, the one we are all leading, i.e. the middle class life-style of earning slightly higher incomes, increasing expenses, living a lavish lifestyle, excessively borrowing loans -- this middle road is a sweet poison pill.

    I am talking about seeing through all this and about setting goals for a higher standard -- that of earning financial freedom. The way to do that is to be discontended. Contentment is bad.

    Reduce spending

    Increase sources of income

    Increase passive income

    All this is possible if we get out of our comfort zone and set goals for financial freedom. We must value financial freedom and independence over this transient and momentarily lavish lifestyle that's built on loans. It makes us feel rich and secured whereas in fact it is slavery. That's the point of the article.
    You aren't saying anything new. Those who want financial freedom already have it, or are on the way to getting 'it'.

    A growing segment of the population choose to ignore that path and complain about their burden.

    But also what you propose is to follow in the footsteps of rich people - although you left out a rather significant element - work hard. But these are all swear words, to be treated like a dog turd in the middle of the walkway. But even saying these things is meaningless and abstract. How do you reduce spending? I have no boat to sell, my house needs heat, my kids must eat. How do I increase income? There are no jobs, I am lucky to have this one in this (eternal) economy. I work hard, who doesn't? The answers to these questions are not what those who are blind want to hear, and will deafen themselves before they listen to the answer.

    You cannot teach people this; they must discover it for themselves, for they already know these things.

    At the same time, you mix in things which have no correlation. You can live a lavish lifestyle without increasing expenses - what is lavish? If you have the financial freedom, as you call it, to have such a lifestyle, then why not? But also a lavish lifestyle is an abstract definition - people are condemned when they have $20,000 dinners and fine entertainment, but is not a three course meal at Applebee's extravagant to a starving man? What is the difference between 'borrowing loans' and 'excessively borrowing loans'? Is this really the middle road? In comparison to what other kind of road?

    But you do mention a truism, and that is of slavery. But who is the owner of these slaves? One may argue the financial institutions, with their guile and forked tongue. But guile and half truths can only be effective on the ignorant. But their guile and half truths are not as they seem: will you agree that 2+2=5? What would it take for you to agree that 2+2=5? How about some money? Because you agree to take the money in exchange for agreeing that 2+2=5 does not make the math correct. One makes oneself blind to the truth; the blindness was not placed on you. When the truth-math is exposed for what it is, you cannot claim that you were cheated - the truth was there, you chose not to see it. You are not a slave to the institution, but a slave to yourself.

    But what of a savior who will remove the slavery that you believe you endure under this Shylock? The promise of relief, to have improvement in your life, to remove that burden. If indeed you were a slave as you believe, that burden is seemingly lifted, but the slavery still exists because it is yourself the entered the agreement; you are still blind that you cannot see the truism - the new-math - that is offered by the savior. What have you exchanged, given, to be relieved of this burden? It is no different from the agreement with the money lender. Only there may be no higher authority to relieve you of this new burden once you start to see. To continue The Merchant of Venice theme, there is no Portia to advocate for you against your new self-imposed slavery: this 'savior' will have his pound of flesh.
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  24. #24
    PowerPoster SJWhiteley's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Quote Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker View Post
    There is one way I could achieve the financial freedom you seem to suggest is the only worthwhile goal: Winning the lottery (which is tough, since I don't play, but that only reduces my odds by about one in a few hundred million, so it's not much worse than anybody who does play). If I did that, being so fiscally prudent, I could live comfortably for the rest of my life (which would probably be short, as I would be off in the woods for about 9 months every year, which would wear me out fast). Since that's the only option that isn't fantasy, and since that is wildly improbable, I guess I'll just keep on keeping on.
    The emphasis on money, i think, is misplaced.

    What if there was no money? You still have to eat, to stay warm, to chill and be healthy. The only real way to do this without effort is to use the energy of others to bring you the things you need to live. Unfortunately, that kind of real slavery is considered taboo (who knew?), so one must do these things for oneself.

    To that end, we aren't a 'slave' to money, but are slaves to life in general. To live takes work and effort; where work and effort are not guarantees of success.
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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    That's a really good point. I was getting close to that, but hadn't quite broken through to it. Money is one means to an end, and the end itself is what enslaves us. If I could transend any need or desire for food, warmth, comfort, and so forth, I could free myself of all kinds of things. Ultimately, I will be free from those desires, but at the moment, I'm not looking forward to that time.
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  26. #26
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    I don't work for money, I work for the job satisfaction and fulfillment! Though I distinctly remember a few years back my bank account balance suddenly stopped growing and I was kinda upset. I have never been able to make the link between these two, though. I always feel underpaid, even if I were to earn twice as much as I am earning today.

    As for the world, it's going to the dogs. There's been a noticeable increase in the stray dogs I see around on the roads. They are waiting for something. When that something happens they will take over the world. They are already getting aggressive during nights, attacking stray people and two wheeler riders. I think France's decision to switch off the lights during nights is part of a bigger conspiracy for the dogs to get a free hand (or bark) during night time.
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    No, it would make me more of a nutjob than I already am.
    Don't underestimate yourself

    I think I look at borrowing like this: am I doing it for kicks or will it actually improve my financial prospects in some way? If I take out a loan it's for something specific, like a house or a car or a TV. That makes it easy to judge whether it's a loan I should be taking or something I should be avoiding. It was worth taking out a loan for a house because it's actually cheaper to buy than to rent (once you've got a deposit) so it was a no brainer. A TV... that I don't need so if I can't afford it I don't buy it. The car's a grey area because I need it to get to work. I could work closer to home but I wouldn't earn as much. So I'd do the sums and make the decision. Even then I'll buy the cheapest option possible to get the job done. My first car out of college (before which a commute wasn't going to improve my earnings any) was a Renault 5 I picked up for £250. It ran for a year during which time I saved up enough to be able to buy a marginally more reliable Mondeo (it has to be said, I'm not flash where cars are concerned). TG's wife's college loan definitely sounds like an investment so was a worthwhile loan to take (unless she did media studies, tell me she didn't do media studies, TG).

    I have to say, this aproach has stood me in good stead over my life. I have freinds who lived much more lavish lifestyles than me in their twenties and thirties and are REALLY regretting it now. Not borrowing for things means they come later but they come MUCH cheaper.

    Some costs (e.g. food and heat) are unavoidable but are often minimisable. I'd shop at Lidls with money I had before I'd borrow money to shop at Waitrose. I'd put on a sweater before I'd borrow money for the gas bill. If I was doing all those thing and still had to borrow for those expenses, well then I'm in real trouble. But, honestly, I've been potless and on welfare and I know that it is enough to keep me alive. I haven't been in that situation for a long time now but I thank lady luck for the fact that I was born into a country that has a safetly net... just in case.

    Spending as opposed to borrowing, I'm probably alot more frivolous there. I eat out at restaurants alot and I take regular holidays to go snow boarding or climbing. I've got all the latest Gucci gear in my kitchen (because I do eat at home sometimes) and my guitar has gold plated strings on it (really! I like the way they play). My TV is waaay to big for the living room. But I'm also saving about a third of my income before I buy those things. I only buy those things now because I'm pretty damn confident I can afford them without impoverishing my future. I don't know that, but it's a bet I'm willing to place.
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  28. #28
    Randalf the Red honeybee's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    I still can't make the connection of you eating at home sometimes and stocking all your Gucci-wear in the kitchen. Are you by any chance eating it?

    Or has Gucci started manufacturing kitchenware?

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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    I do have particularly flavoursome trousers

    I meant Gucci as "good quality/flashy" rather than Gucci the brand. Has that figure of speech made it ut of the UK? I'm not sure.
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  30. #30
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Quote Originally Posted by honeybee View Post
    I still can't make the connection of you eating at home sometimes and stocking all your Gucci-wear in the kitchen. Are you by any chance eating it?

    Or has Gucci started manufacturing kitchenware?

    .
    I was wondering the same thing... wondered what kitchen sotred Funk's been shopping at...

    Quote Originally Posted by FunkyDexter View Post
    I do have particularly flavoursome trousers

    I meant Gucci as "good quality/flashy" rather than Gucci the brand. Has that figure of speech made it ut of the UK? I'm not sure.
    Ah... I'm guessing not.

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  31. #31
    Randalf the Red honeybee's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    It certainly hasn't made it out of the UK. Or has it now? I am confused.

    It certainly is an interesting thought if Gucci started manufacturing kitchen-ware. One reason why they haven't is they can't stick their names on the pots and pans (which would get scrubbed away in no time). So there's no brand recall, so to speak. Or visibility. How would you like it if, after a few weeks of use, the only letters visible on the shiny new microwave-safe bowl are 'Gu'?



    I think I need Soma now.

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  32. #32
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    You're thinking too small. This is Gucci we're talking about. The pots would be cast iron and the logo would be engraved into the metal. You could use them as weapons if your house was ever invaded and leave a Gucci stamp on the burglars forehead.

    Oddly enough there's a luxury pudding brand over here called Gu.
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  33. #33
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    That doesn't match. If I stamped an invader with the pot, the Gucci logo would come out mirrored and only the bearer would be able to read it. On the other hand if the pot contained the logo as a mirror image, I could stamp it correctly on the burglar's face so that everyone else could read it.

    I think Gucci's logo should be changed to something like the one on the Phantom's ring. Looks like Phantom has got this particular piece of branding (is this a pun? Oh, I got it!) right.


    Holy cr**! 'Gu' in my language means cr**, so heaven forbid if that company ever decides to enter the markets here!

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  34. #34
    Super Moderator FunkyDexter's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    If I stamped an invader with the pot, the Gucci logo would come out mirrored and only the bearer would be able to read it.
    Good point. Nobody want to stamp iccuG on someone's forehead. What would be the point?

    'Gu' in my language means cr**
    Really? In that case it'll really amuse you to know that they mostly make chocolate puddings.
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  35. #35
    Randalf the Red honeybee's Avatar
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    Re: You Don't Need Soma!

    Ha ha ha, that's the colour of .... Oh, I can't really describe that, it would be discarded for being unsuitable.

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