livingnote said:
So when are we gonna shake this stuff off?
What stuff? Ask any of the numerous entrepreneurs here if they look at themselves as monsters. Are you a monster if you are trying to get a break on that new washer/dryer for your house? When I fix broken studios and equipment I charge for it. I am not a monster, and neither are my clients. Well, most of them. Walmart or Superfood are not monsters. People are free to buy things from scores of local places.
If you are talking about pop consumer culture, then I agree. That is a huge monster. I see that most of it is driven by the FreeVee- look at how psyched people get over the Stooper Bowl and all the cool commercials they will run. Look at all the reality shows, pimp my whatever, bling-blang-badaboom garbage that people consume. Then look at the sponsors, the stars who brand the crap that people are led to feel they need. Funny I have been re-visiting this in one of the Kiyosaki books, "Who Took My Money?". He says look at the advertisers. Conservative and liberal talk radioand TV both try to sell the same vacuums, slip-and-fall legal, get-out-of-debt, have better sex pills, etc. And SEX. Look at what a huge business that is from FreeVee to internet to snake oil pills to perfumes.
Another monster is the big government. I think it was the Times that reported that the economies in areas of the UK are well over 60% government spending and directive. The private sector is smaller that in former communist countries. In the US, they find it more efficient to tax you, take a cut, and talk about giving it back to you as stimulus. They find it important to take more responsibility from the private sector and take it upon their bloated inefficient selves, in the name of a level playing field, or sharing the wealth, or protecting the little guy. This actually serves to take freedom away from the little guy. Alas, an undereducated electorate returned 80% of the people to whom they gave a 9% approval rating. And they were our only choices for our new leaders!
Yes, the greenback is debt, and you still have the major controlling authority over your $, and a good thing is to make it work rather than spend it or stash it. Move it. Use it. Leverage it. Give it away to someone who has not. These are acts of a smart person and not a monster.
Mike