Free-Market Faith

Not long ago I mentioned that I stopped believing in the stock market as a good place to put my money. We’ve all been taught that free-market capitalism is good, and mutual funds are a way for us common folk to get our piece of that goodness. Well, I’m not playing along anymore. Here’s why - and for once I feel I’m making a moderately informed decision rather than my usual gut-feeling crazy-ass assumptions.

Everything that caused the current (and all previous) recessions are exactly as they were before: larger and larger corporations controlling more and more wealth in ways that the common folk cannot and do not understand. Our recession was caused mostly by large banks playing with money and investments with extreme recklessness. What did governments around the world do when these banks were caught with their pants down? They rewarded them by taking away everything that they screwed up in exchange for money. There were no penalties, no reforms. Just a firm and strong message that, if companies do something that hurts the average person, no biggie. The government has their back. They’ll take all that trouble off their hands and say, ‘please continue’.

So the very things that helped bring on financial ruin - credit default swaps and derivatives - are still unregulated and entirely legal. And banks are finding new ways to use them. We all know the derivatives being traded were mortgages that people couldn’t afford. Well, they still exist, and are still being traded, and banks still have another derivative product they’re exploiting in the same manner, but rather than mortgages, they’re trading insurance policies. There is absolutely nothing to prevent what happened in 2008 from happening again. Regulation of trading isn’t going to happen, because governments (particularly the US) are bought and sold through corporate lobbies. The system is rigged to benefit those with money.

I’m certain stock markets and financial reports will improve over the next few years. People love the stock market - I did too, until I lost a third of my savings. But I’m also certain that there will be another ‘crash’ of markets within the next decade. The financial world has its ups and downs roughly every ten years. The problem is there’s now so much money tied up in things that no one understands at such high levels of risk that the next ‘down’ is just going put an already perilous economic world even farther down the shitter.

This is why I have no faith in putting my hard-earned money into something that is essentially a gambling racket disguised by smoke and mirrors. And faith is exactly what mutual funds and investments operate on: that things will always recover, things will always increase. I see no reason to believe in it anymore. I realize this is counter to everything the last hundred years has tried to teach us, but who’s been teaching it to us? Companies, corporations, the 1% of the population that controls 90% of the wealth. I’m not going on that magic carpet ride anymore.

My Wife, The Winner

If you’ll recall, a couple months ago my ladyfriend put in motion a complaint with the Employment Standards Branch against her former employer, for (among other things) trying to pay her less than the minimum wage and failing to provide any legally-required documents.

Well, the ESB finally finished sitting on their thumbs following up, and the end result is a clear and definite win for my ladyfriend: she received her missing pay and the owner of the business was fined. The sweetest justice lies in the fact that the fine - while we don’t know the exact amount - is far, far more than what my ladywife was owed. Again, all the owner had to do was be a normal and rational human being rather than a cocky, asinine loser and this all could have ended with much less hassle and much less money. But I’m proud that my wife stuck it to her and exposed her for the loser she is. Sometimes things do work out the way they should, and after a long year of bitter disappointment my ladyfriend has been vindicated. Huzzah!

Short Shrift

My involvement with t-shirt designing didn’t last beyond Tuesday.

On the other hand, I did eat way too many Baked Cheetos tonight.

Shirt Shift

After a fully featured long weekend (wedding, wake, dinner, and family, not necessarily all happening at the same time) I returned to work and had an odd request: design a t-shirt. The idea is that the department of which I’m a part will be given shirts, I guess as a feel-good gesture. Beats giving out trading cards I suppose.

Anyway, I spent half my day today trying to make a company shirt that isn’t lame. We’ve all seen or worn them: the polo or golf shirt with an embroidered company logo, which shrinks and fades before you even get to leave your own stink in it. I tried to make a full-length print design, a little like what one would find on threadless or any of the other hip t-shirt shops online. Problem is I don’t have a lot of time to put into it, since I still have my actual job to do. So I struck a deal: I’d come up with something by the end of today, and if it’s not appropriate, someone else (ie. someone who’s probably designed a shirt before) would do it. We’ll see what happens. My design had the colour magenta in it, and if I’ve learned anything, magenta is about as widely accepted as not wearing pants at the office.

Goodbye, Veronica Ma

Last night we reached the end of our DVD catch-up of Veronica Mars, another in a line of television shows that I pretty much ignored when it originally aired and only discovered long after everyone else (also on this list: Battlestar Galactica, Six Feet Under, Mad Men, and Star Trek: The Original Series, although the latter only counts because it aired before I was born). Veronica Mars ran for three seasons on the CW Network, a channel that can only boast of Gossip Girl and America’s Next Top Model as its other successful shows. Clearly not good company for a smart show like V-Ma.

Anyhow, the show wrapped up in what has to be the worst series finale ever. This is due to two factors: one, the CW put the show in some horrible hiatus/limbo status toward the end; and two, the writer/director tried to leave the show’s plot threads hanging like a ripped cable-knit sweater, in the hope that viewers would be left salivating and demand another season. Clearly not a successful strategy. Nothing was resolved in the final episode, and I literally mean nothing. It was totally unsatisfying, like ordering mini burgers thinking they would make for a good dinner. The way it ended only reinforced how good the end to Six Feet Under was, which I’ve already declared as the best television show in the history of the world. It’s also a contrast to what must be one of the worst popular shows on TV right now (Gossip Girl, which I admit I watch, despite how totally awful it is).

So what’s next in the Missed-It-The-First-Time queue? Well, I’ve got the first season of Chuck waiting on DVD. I’m not sure if it’s actually a good show - I haven’t heard much in the way of critical reviews - but it looks to have a blend of bumbling doofus-geek humour combined with sexy female costar that has to be at least somewhat redeeming.

Car Shoppin’, Day One

The time has come to look for a replacement vehicle. My ladywife’s Asuna Sunrunner served us well for its first two years, but the next two brought us a myriad of problems. While it’s still drivable and in acceptable enough shape, it has transmission and brake problems, which together would cost more than the value of the car itself to fix. So car shopping began today.

I’d narrowed the search down to three types: the Honda Fit, the Suzuki SX4, and the Cadillac Escalade the Suzuki Aerio (all used - I’m not a new car buyer, and I refuse to lease). I found one of each model to test drive today, and while they’re all very similar, there’s some definite pros and cons to each one. Today also reinforced my distrust of dealers: the Honda Fit I drove was listed just barely less than a new base model despite having $3300 of damage repaired. Seriously. The SX4 I first attempted to drive had unresponsive electronic side view mirrors. Oops. But the goal today was to get a feel for how each car behaved, and to my surprise I found myself liking the Suzukis over the Honda. I also farted in each one, just to give them that familiar, I’ve-always-owned-this-car feeling.

The big question now is actually looking with the intent to buy. A friend referred me to a car-search service, whereby one pays someone to do all the legwork (the stuff I hate): car history reports, independent mechanical inspection, lien search, and price negotiation. I’m definitely considering retaining this person’s services. If I don’t go that route, at least I’ve learned from my first horrible car-buying experience to just walk away.