Slave/Master Rules

[whiskynovember]

The yin is a slave to the yang. The positive is a slave to the negative. The breath in, is a slave to the breath out. The Milky Way is a slave to the Andromeda. The light switch is a slave to the light bulb. Shall we rinse and then go in reverse?

Okay. The yang is a slave to the yin. The negative is a slave to the positive. The breath out, is a slave to the breath in. The Andromeda is a slave to the Milky Way. The light bulb is a slave to the light switch.

Everything in existence is a slave to everything that is not in existence. Everything is scalable, like a fractal. The canvas is yours to create with.

Every negative thing has a positive and a negative aspect to it, same as every positive thing has a negative and a positive aspect to it.

"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. -Arnold H. Glasow"

I like it, Yeti. No where in the world is there more opportunity and privilege than right here right now. If I had to choose I might be tempted by some European scenario wherein capitalism is embraced but doesn't have its roots in such primitive nativist soil. Germany has a high standard of living and has socialized healthcare and perhaps even socialized higher education. It carries on its back the likes of Italy, Spain, and Greece which are economic basket cases. Germany has also nationalized the repudiation of its Nazi past, much to the disappointment of American conservatives who deny that racism exists here (oh well, they still have the Confederacy to worship), but I'm willing to bet in Germany there's no disparity in the appraisal value of a house if the owner is Black as opposed to white. Can't say the same about America.

[ravenhome777]

I love conservatives who think their lot in life is ruled by others simply because they don't have the backbone needed to do it for themselves.



No, kitten. You're a baby because as you enter your fifth decade of life and you're drowning in submissiveness. . Your very first, most fundamental premise is that someone other than you is your master. I don't hate you for that, I simply don't respect you. You're in charge of you so begin with yourself. Act. Become. Be a man, not a little girl who wants some other little girl's party dress.

If you're a corporate wage slut ask yourself this one question: Who other than you made that decision? Did Nancy decide for you? Did Hunter? Why are the demons in your life the Libtard Elites? Did some Brown or Black or single mother take your brass ring?

I bet you'll never start a business because it's more satisfying for you to be a victim. You're still the most privileged class of human on the planet with opportunity everywhere. The business of America is business. Get to work and stop crying.

(Helpful hint: from the two times I've listened to him, Kiyosaki's business model depends on taking on massive debt. Don't do something stupid. You don't have the chops for it)

Actually, that's not true. I have started a couple businesses. I have a couple LLCs. However, they have not developed into successful businesses. Namely, because I have to work a full time job and the only time I have to invest in them is afterwork.

You say I'm a cry baby for having to work a full time job? Well, I guess most people are cry babies then. It just so happens, that I need money in order to pay my rent, health insurance, car insurance, food, heat, ect. Do you not have to pay for those things?

What's your deal? Do you work a full time job? Are you a CEO? What type of business do you run?

You certainly have a lot of free time to spend on this forum. Are you retired?

[whiskynovember]

Actually, that's not true. I have started a couple businesses. I have a couple LLCs. However, they have not developed into successful businesses. Namely, because I have to work a full time job and the only time I have to invest in them is afterwork.

Good for you, and I mean that sincerely and without subterfuge.

You say I'm a cry baby for having to work a full time job?

Learn English. I said you're a baby because your sadsack manifiesto began with the axiom that you're put upon, that someone is your master. go back and read your screed. Maybe Nancy edited it with Obama's microwave using those nasty Italian satellites again.

Well, I guess most people are cry babies then.

Most people just grind away at their work-a-day world. You call them sheeple. I call them Americans. They deal with it but you go looking for an oppressor on whom to blame your lot in in life.

It just so happens, that I need money in order to pay my rent, health insurance, car insurance, food, heat, ect.

Heavens, you poor thing.

Do you not have to pay for those things?

You're kidding me, right? I've never paid for any of that all my life! I'm a liberal! I just take it from real Americans like you.

What's your deal? Do you work a full time job? Are you a CEO? What type of business do you run?

The funny thing is in response you won't tell me what you do for a living, and if you do, it will be a lie. Anyway, if you just have to know: I worked in the woods for @ 40 years mostly as an independent forestry contractor. Grunt blue collar labor. No degree. No pension. No union (gasp!). No benefits. Worked in the forests of all the western states except Nevada. I had a brief period of time employing the people who taught me reforestation and I'll tell ya, sadsack, being an employer is a miserable job to have. So I retreated to sole proprietor piece-work and life got way, way better.

My wealth came not from labor. Labor just keeps you alive, and I think you know this somewhere in your confused and bitter brain. It is the labor of ones capital that creates wealth, and that takes time. So if you're honest with yourself you'll admit it is capital management and time that you haven't mastered. The Fenn poem is a perfect metaphor for your victimhood: You didn't figure out the poem so the poem is a difficult masterpiece, a thing for the ages that you actually had your hands around just as someone moved it! changed it! cheated you! Nah, you just didn't pull it off. Similarly, you aren't wealthy, so some boogey man, some Chupacabra, some Keyser Soze rigged! the! election! against you and took your propsperity. Nah, you just didn't pull it off.

You certainly have a lot of free time to spend on this forum. Are you retired?

Yup, retired at 55 in 2012. But here's the thing, kitten, it took decades of buying securities while working my bleeding tripe out. Simple capitalism and time did it. No fancy dancy get-rich-by-doing-this-one-weird-thing bullshit. I tax-sheltered the legal maximum every fucking year for decades (after investing in the business). That's all. When the limits were increased for SEP-IRAs I contributed 25% of my adjusted gross every damn year.

And here's the bit that you just won't appreciate: those millions didn't create one. single. job. It generated some minimal fees for some nameless mutual fund managers, but other than that ...... nada. So let me be a compassionate elder and give you some advice before you piss me off again with your conspiracy bullshit shiteater victimhood:

Consume less than you create and retain the balance.
Make time work for you and not against you. Here's how:
Don't borrow money to purchase depreciating assets.
Pay off existing debt because it is by far the highest risk-free return on capital.
Start a Roth IRA and contribute the legal maximum every fucking year.
Insist your corporate master match your IRA contribution.
Recognize how special America is and that it affords you immeasurable advantages. Don't tear it down because its demographic destiny is making you a minority. That happens to every developed country in the history of this planet: you're not being put upon.
America will only be as good to you as you are to it because that basic level of freedom the rich cannot take away from you. Use it.
Stop listening to conservative media's call to war. You'll end up dead, sacrificed as a human shield to a trust-fund twit.

[locolobo]

Good for you, and I mean that sincerely and without subterfuge.



Learn English. I said you're a baby because your sadsack manifiesto began with the axiom that you're put upon, that someone is your master. go back and read your screed. Maybe Nancy edited it with Obama's microwave using those nasty Italian satellites again.



Most people just grind away at their work-a-day world. You call them sheeple. I call them Americans. They deal with it but you go looking for an oppressor on whom to blame your lot in in life.



Heavens, you poor thing.



You're kidding me, right? I've never paid for any of that all my life! I'm a liberal! I just take it from real Americans like you.



The funny thing is in response you won't tell me what you do for a living, and if you do, it will be a lie. Anyway, if you just have to know: I worked in the woods for @ 40 years mostly as an independent forestry contractor. Grunt blue collar labor. No degree. No pension. No union (gasp!). No benefits. Worked in the forests of all the western states except Nevada. I had a brief period of time employing the people who taught me reforestation and I'll tell ya, sadsack, being an employer is a miserable job to have. So I retreated to sole proprietor piece-work and life got way, way better.

My wealth came not from labor. Labor just keeps you alive, and I think you know this somewhere in your confused and bitter brain. It is the labor of ones capital that creates wealth, and that takes time. So if you're honest with yourself you'll admit it is capital management and time that you haven't mastered. The Fenn poem is a perfect metaphor for your victimhood: You didn't figure out the poem so the poem is a difficult masterpiece, a thing for the ages that you actually had your hands around just as someone moved it! changed it! cheated you! Nah, you just didn't pull it off. Similarly, you aren't wealthy, so some boogey man, some Chupacabra, some Keyser Soze rigged! the! election! against you and took your propsperity. Nah, you just didn't pull it off.

Yup, retired at 55 in 2012. But here's the thing, kitten, it took decades of buying securities while working my bleeding tripe out. Simple capitalism and time did it. No fancy dancy get-rich-by-doing-this-one-weird-thing bullshit. I tax-sheltered the legal maximum every fucking year for decades (after investing in the business). That's all. When the limits were increased for SEP-IRAs I contributed 25% of my adjusted gross every damn year.

And here's the bit that you just won't appreciate: those millions didn't create one. single. job. It generated some minimal fees for some nameless mutual fund managers, but other than that ...... nada. So let me be a compassionate elder and give you some advice before you piss me off again with your conspiracy bullshit shiteater victimhood:

Consume less than you create and retain the balance.
Make time work for you and not against you. Here's how:
Don't borrow money to purchase depreciating assets.
Pay off existing debt because it is by far the highest risk-free return on capital.
Start a Roth IRA and contribute the legal maximum every fucking year.
Insist your corporate master match your IRA contribution.
Recognize how special America is and that it affords you immeasurable advantages. Don't tear it down because its demographic destiny is making you a minority. That happens to every developed country in the history of this planet: you're not being put upon.
America will only be as good to you as you are to it because that basic level of freedom the rich cannot take away from you. Use it.
Stop listening to conservative media's call to war. You'll end up dead, sacrificed as a human shield to a trust-fund twit.

AMEN!! They are never going to gain wealth with 8-to-five mentality.....you have to have something making you money while you are sleeping. Mutual Funds do that quite well.

Yup, retired at 55 in 2012.

........ did the same @ 58 in 2011 (I was a slow learner! )

I'm a liberal!

.......... This I highly doubt, and have for some time! LMAO!!!

[whiskynovember]

.......... This I highly doubt, and have for some time! LMAO!!!

What? You've never run across a capitalist redneck liberal before? Loco, you need to get out more. I would wager lots of us are Boomers, so that might naturally make you want to avoid us because, let's be honest, Boomers are annoying.

[locolobo]

PXD happens to be my second largest equity holding, and I've owned it longer than I can remember.

Meeeeehhh!.....danger Will Robinson, danger!!
......Capitalist - check
.....redneck - maybe
....."LIBERALIST"? - Terminal failure on ESG, danger to the collective....( socially responsible investing) -> REVOKE MEMBERSHIP IMMEDIATELY!!!!

(Oh, I do try to get out occasionaly and ya are correct, WN, us BOOMERS can be annoying)

loco

[whiskynovember]

Meeeeehhh!.....danger Will Robinson, danger!!
......Capitalist - check
.....redneck - maybe
....."LIBERALIST"? - Terminal failure on ESG, danger to the collective....( socially responsible investing) -> REVOKE MEMBERSHIP IMMEDIATELY!!!!

(Oh, I do try to get out occasionaly and ya are correct, WN, us BOOMERS can be annoying)

loco

LOL A lot of ESG is pointless virtue signalling. Energy is the master commodity and it plays crucial roles in switching over to renewables. Switching has to happen but it ain't happenin' the way we want it to happen. And another thing I can't feature: how is it socially irresponsible to buy shares in the secondary market? I don't buy shares in the IPO of a company that kills puppies, I buy the shares from the guy who bought them from the company's IPO and then felt too guilty to hold them. Sounds like more virtue signalling to me.

[ravenhome777]

Nice work! I'm glad you're not another liberal sucking off the government!

I work at a blue chip insurance firm. I make 160k per year. I suck at investing and I have never made any money off the stock market. Because of that, I will probably never retire.

I was into the Chase for the thrill. I knew I would waste lots of money flying out to MT/WY. Did it at least 10 times. Wasted thousands of dollars, and I don't regret a single minute of it.

FF said his epitaph should read "I would have liked to do the things that I was attributed to". <-- I understand that quote for me. There are many many many things that I would like to do with my life, but I haven't been able to because, as you stated, I'm a sheeple. A cog in the wheel. I'm bitter about having my life sucked away. Yes. I'm a cry baby, so be it. I want my years back to do something worthwhile. I will never get them back. That's just the way it is.

I was playing around with the idea of starting a business, so I might have a chance to make money and buy some of my years back and maybe have a chance at retiring. I would like to spend a couple years driving around the country painting before I kick the bucket. I might have to steal them, as it doesn't seem I'll be able to buy them.

[ravenhome777]

Nice work! I'm glad you're not another liberal sucking off the government!

I work at a blue chip insurance firm. I make 160k per year. I suck at investing and I have never made any money off the stock market. Because of that, I will probably never retire.

I was into the Chase for the thrill. I knew I would waste lots of money flying out to MT/WY. Did it at least 10 times. Wasted thousands of dollars, and I don't regret a single minute of it.

FF said his epitaph should read "I would have liked to do the things that I was attributed to". <-- I understand that quote for me. There are many many many things that I would like to do with my life, but I haven't been able to because, as you stated, I'm a sheeple. A cog in the wheel. I'm bitter about having my life sucked away. Yes. I'm a cry baby, so be it. I want my years back to do something worthwhile. I will never get them back. That's just the way it is.

I was playing around with the idea of starting a business, so I might have a chance to make money and buy some of my years back and maybe have a chance at retiring. I would like to spend a couple years driving around the country painting before I kick the bucket. I might have to steal them, as it doesn't seem I'll be able to buy them.

And, when I say nice work, I mean that sincerely. You did what I have not been able to do. That took a lot of hard work, dedication, discipline and ingenuity.

[whiskynovember]

Nice work! I'm glad you're not another liberal sucking off the government!

Before I give you respect below I'll remind you that red states suck more milk from the government tit than blue states.

I work at a blue chip insurance firm. I make 160k per year. I suck at investing and I have never made any money off the stock market. Because of that, I will probably never retire.

First off, that sounds like a soul-sucking job and I would rather put a bullet in my brain pan that do that shit. I spent oceans of time in a rubber suit planting trees on 65% slopes in 40 degree weather with rain ripping slash filled coastal Oregon clearcuts and I wouldn't have traded that torment for what you do. But I never, never grossed the income that you do. I have no doubt the government takes a shameful, appalling pound of flesh from your pay check ...... but listen to yourself man. A buck 60 and you're complaining.

I was into the Chase for the thrill. I knew I would waste lots of money flying out to MT/WY. Did it at least 10 times. Wasted thousands of dollars, and I don't regret a single minute of it.

None of us regret it. We live as we choose. We should cherish the virtue in that.

FF said his epitaph should read "I would have liked to do the things that I was attributed to". <-- I understand that quote for me. There are many many many things that I would like to do with my life, but I haven't been able to because, as you stated, I'm a sheeple. A cog in the wheel. I'm bitter about having my life sucked away. Yes. I'm a cry baby, so be it. I want my years back to do something worthwhile. I will never get them back. That's just the way it is.

Brother, as one cog to another, I'm 65 and I can tell you that the past is more mysterious than the future is unknown. There's a wonderful phrase attributed to some unknown Russian: "The past remains unpredictable." Ask yourself the following and hopefully it will free you from remorse: What have you done that makes you deserve better? Didn't you always do what you thought was best at the time? Give yourself a break, but don't look for it in the faultiness of others.

I was playing around with the idea of starting a business, so I might have a chance to make money and buy some of my years back and maybe have a chance at retiring. I would like to spend a couple years driving around the country painting before I kick the bucket. I might have to steal them, as it doesn't seem I'll be able to buy them.

My guess is your new business won't generate 160k. The first 5 years of my business were for shit, and I had up to 60 people working for me. It sucked the bones out of my body. It made me resent the blissful bullshit of socialism and its ignorant platitudes. But the past is the past; it's not irrelevant, but it no longer exists. You'll have to continue to sacrifice. It's hard, but it should be hard, shouldn't it? Of that hardship we are unafraid, aren't we? Every ugly day there are hundreds who try to cross our border to escape their past, and they sacrifice their lives and their bodies and the safety of their children to do it. Again: what have we done to deserve better?

[whiskynovember]

And, when I say nice work, I mean that sincerely. You did what I have not been able to do. That took a lot of hard work, dedication, discipline and ingenuity.

I got lucky. My father, after I washed up in my brief attempt at college, sat me down and gave me the straight poop. "The business of America is business ..... there are tax advantages to self-employment ..... you're totally on your own if you go this route ...... " My pops is a Texan just like Fenn, just one year older. But he's Fenn's father, a PhD in theology, and an ordained Methodist minister. Now, don't get me wrong, he's the least pious man that ever walked the planet, so you mustn't attribute my disdain for organized religion to being the preacher's son. He's a world renowned academic who taught me how to drink bourbon and chase women. But here's the thing: he's a fucking man; he left the farm at 15 and went to college while simultaneously finishing high school. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale on a full ride scholarship and taught until he was 87 fucking years old. What he went through was orders of magnitude harder than what I did. And what you face is at least an order of magnitude harder than what I went through. As a Boomer everything was better for me than it is for you: taxes, inflation, labor wages, the stock market, cost of housing, healthcare, everything. Your gross income advantage is intact but its context is diminished. I don't envy you, but would you trade places with me right here right now?

[ravenhome777]

I got lucky. My father, after I washed up in my brief attempt at college, sat me down and gave me the straight poop. "The business of America is business ..... there are tax advantages to self-employment ..... you're totally on your own if you go this route ...... " My pops is a Texan just like Fenn, just one year older. But he's Fenn's father, a PhD in theology, and an ordained Methodist minister. Now, don't get me wrong, he's the least pious man that ever walked the planet, so you mustn't attribute my disdain for organized religion to being the preacher's son. He's a world renowned academic who taught me how to drink bourbon and chase women. But here's the thing: he's a fucking man; he left the farm at 15 and went to college while simultaneously finishing high school. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale on a full ride scholarship and taught until he was 87 fucking years old. What he went through was orders of magnitude harder than what I did. And what you face is at least an order of magnitude harder than what I went through. As a Boomer everything was better for me than it is for you: taxes, inflation, labor wages, the stock market, cost of housing, healthcare, everything. Your gross income advantage is intact but its context is diminished. I don't envy you, but would you trade places with me right here right now?

Interesting post. I'll have to chew on this some more.

But it runs parallel to some thoughts I was having today. Sometimes suffering seems to manifest into something greater, in an ironic way.

When we look at an example like Van Gough, his life was pretty horrendous from day 1 - lots of suffering - no success - plenty of shame - poverty - social rejection - and it commenced with a gun shot wound and a slow painful death. He was not a joyful character and seemed at home in self wallow and pity. Quite a miserable person really. If you knew him, you probably wouldn't have liked him. Yet, from all that suffering came the most renowned artist arguably in human history. His college poster sales still top the charts to this day.

Also, along the same vein are the native americans. We have a tendency to glorify their lives. There is a mystique attributed to their culture. We hunt for their arrowheads. Forrest dedicated much of his life to collecting their artifacts and digging up their homes and garbage pits. We glorify them in a way. But, in reality, their lives were probably down-right miserable. A native american probably starved most of the time. They didn't have a Stop and Shop right down the street. When they weren't dealing with intense heat, they were dealing with intense cold. No dentist if you get a cavity. No soup kitchens if the buffalo don't roam your way. All in all, life was probably quite brutal for the average native american. Yet, I sit here with my little hand-drilled shell that Forrest dug up at San Lazaro, and I day dream about what it must have been like back then; idealize what their lives must have been like. I don't think about the genocide they endured. The fear of the encroaching white men. Soldiers raping their mothers and sisters. Calvary shooting their brothers and fathers. But perhaps its their suffering that builds the interest and mystique in some weird way.

I guess it goes back to the coal/diamond/pressure equation. Sometimes you get a diamond from all your suffering. Sometimes you just get a lump of coal. But we all hope for the diamond.

We can be grateful for what we have and all that. It's important to be grateful. But, maybe the error in life is waiting for the day when you have a million dollars saved. Thinking when you get to that perfect day, then you'll be able to actually live life. Well, the cold reality is - that day probably ain't gonna come. Or, if it does come, you might be too old to enjoy it and make the most out of it. Maybe it's better to steal the free hours that you can steal today, and make the most of them. Make the painting that you want to make with the hours you can steal. If your life is perfect, and void of suffering, maybe you'll suffer because you can no longer make great art. Who knows.