A lightweight player in a heavy world
Sitting in a meeting at work today, with discussions of our consulting side, problems with proposals generated by a new branch office, overall reminds me how far I am from reality when I look at my little comfortable pond, programming user interfaces for complex engineering software.
Money flows and its easy to think "Hey, I'm a part of something wonderful - look at all this wealth." But ultimately I don't understand how it all happens, and if pushed, I'll just admit, "Well, we just take on niche applications in the vast flow of money in solving technical problems of keeping our unsustainable economy running for another year." Ultimately our success is dependent upon the ever expanding consumption of energy, and availability of sources to exploit.
From that perspective, I accept all success I know is running on borrowed time, and I'd better save my pennies if the well dries up and I have to do something else. Since I can live on maybe 1/4 of my net income, I can take my advantage now, pay down debt, and invest where ever I can for the future. It still feels like a game of "Musical chairs", and not knowing when its time to sit down versus running full speed to the opportunties available when the music is playing.
I mean this trip to Mexico, how nice I can afford it, but will I regret the loss of $5000 if things turn sour later? That's 6 months income at minimum wage, and no evidence I ought to depend on alternative income to equal what I have now.
It is easy to see the flow of money and feel like I'm "someone", but the reality is I don't play like a big player. I play defensively, trying to keep risks low.
Do I want to invest in more company stock? Well, no actually - I'm not an engineer. However good the dividends, there's no evidence the company value equals the stock value, if things were liquidated. Most of our value is in the experience of our employees, and their specialization and our incremental growth of our software. If you dry up our income, the transition to something else won't allow our salary to continue as we've known.
If I can't well imagine investing in a debt-free small company, how much less is my willingness to invest in the wider economy?
The reality of my life is that I don't have the INNER FIRE to fight to keep what I have. If I was debt free and lost my job, I'd as well take a low wage job and have spare time over high income. My future just can't expect what I have to continue. So how much can I afford to throw away now? I don't know.
I think there's many sorts of power in the world. Currently power is derived from those clever enough to most cheaply exploit energy resources and material resources. It's a poor economy, poor in wisdom, but power wins by brute success.
It's impossible for me to believe a more sensible economy could produce 1/4 as much wealth as we know now. So things must crash in my mind, although the heavyweights willing to take a risk will continue as they can, with or without my participation.
We're like a forestfire, blazing everything in sight, too much smoke to see the edges of the forest, or what we'll consume when its gone.
I feel big for seeing doom, but no where else.
Money flows and its easy to think "Hey, I'm a part of something wonderful - look at all this wealth." But ultimately I don't understand how it all happens, and if pushed, I'll just admit, "Well, we just take on niche applications in the vast flow of money in solving technical problems of keeping our unsustainable economy running for another year." Ultimately our success is dependent upon the ever expanding consumption of energy, and availability of sources to exploit.
From that perspective, I accept all success I know is running on borrowed time, and I'd better save my pennies if the well dries up and I have to do something else. Since I can live on maybe 1/4 of my net income, I can take my advantage now, pay down debt, and invest where ever I can for the future. It still feels like a game of "Musical chairs", and not knowing when its time to sit down versus running full speed to the opportunties available when the music is playing.
I mean this trip to Mexico, how nice I can afford it, but will I regret the loss of $5000 if things turn sour later? That's 6 months income at minimum wage, and no evidence I ought to depend on alternative income to equal what I have now.
It is easy to see the flow of money and feel like I'm "someone", but the reality is I don't play like a big player. I play defensively, trying to keep risks low.
Do I want to invest in more company stock? Well, no actually - I'm not an engineer. However good the dividends, there's no evidence the company value equals the stock value, if things were liquidated. Most of our value is in the experience of our employees, and their specialization and our incremental growth of our software. If you dry up our income, the transition to something else won't allow our salary to continue as we've known.
If I can't well imagine investing in a debt-free small company, how much less is my willingness to invest in the wider economy?
The reality of my life is that I don't have the INNER FIRE to fight to keep what I have. If I was debt free and lost my job, I'd as well take a low wage job and have spare time over high income. My future just can't expect what I have to continue. So how much can I afford to throw away now? I don't know.
I think there's many sorts of power in the world. Currently power is derived from those clever enough to most cheaply exploit energy resources and material resources. It's a poor economy, poor in wisdom, but power wins by brute success.
It's impossible for me to believe a more sensible economy could produce 1/4 as much wealth as we know now. So things must crash in my mind, although the heavyweights willing to take a risk will continue as they can, with or without my participation.
We're like a forestfire, blazing everything in sight, too much smoke to see the edges of the forest, or what we'll consume when its gone.
I feel big for seeing doom, but no where else.
posted by Ares Olympus at 3:38 PM
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