this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
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The wealthiest own like 87% of the stock market, which both parties refer to as "the economy"...
So while I get how the thought of a general strike where we stop working is attractive.
But if we really want to hurt the rich, it means selling all your stocks and only buying the bare necessities. Leave them holding the bag on capitalism.
I've always thought the push for "average" Americans to get into stocks was just another way for wealth to trickle up. You're not savvy for buying what Nancy Pelosi bought a month ago, you're just pumping her numbers so she makes more when she sells.
The only way to win is not to play, but enough people need to refuse to play for it to work
Not "playing" the stock market is a loss by default. Your money WILL devalue over time, your savings account WILL NOT keep up with inflation, and if you don't invest in stocks or have some other special financial backing/windfall, you WILL retire many years later (if at all) than you would have if you invested in stocks properly.
Though, you need to be very careful with your definition of "playing". As an individual/retail investor, buying individual stocks and trying to time ups and downs is not the way to go. If you manage to not lose any money that way, you're very very likely to make less money than if you had bought a broad market ETF like the S&P 500. In general, "playing" is bad and simply buying and holding boring funds for 30+ years can 10x your money by the time you retire, if you start young. Market up? Good, buy more! Market down 50%? It's on sale, buy more! Auto-investing is your friend. This is backed by solid math and like the entire history of the stock market.
The thing is, the rich make the rules. They want you to invest in ETFs like that because they can use your money to play their little games, inflate their wealth, and stay on top. As long as you do that, they'll make sure you make solid and consistent (over the long-term) returns, because it benefits them financially and anything else would lead to a societal collapse.
Trying to beat them at their own game by buying/selling individual stocks is a losing battle. They can see your incoming trades and act on them before your order goes through. If you find a big mistake they made, like GME, they'll simply change the rules and steal your money. It doesn't matter if it's illegal, nobody can stop them. They literally make the market.
Yes, that's why as much as politicians say they hate inflation, it's necessary for capitalism.
Otherwise people just shove their money under a mattress and the "inverted funnel system" collapses.
But inflation isn't inevitable just because capitalism needs it to maintain the machine.
Quick edit:
What you're doing is like back before we had laws as a society, saying we can't outlaw crime and murder, because the people who don't agree will kill us and steal all our stuff...
We're talking about a drastic change to society, it ain't just a tweak. You can't use bits of the old system that are gonna be gone for a rationale to preserve the old system.
If we get rid of capitalism, we get rid of forced inflation that only exists to prop up capitalism....
Well, sure, if we're talking about complete overhauls, money doesn't technically need to exist at all.
I just thought it dangerous to spread the idea that you win the stock market by not playing, because that is demonstrably false and will lead to some very poor outcomes if followed in a realistic sense. I agree that an ideal society may very well not have a stock market, but for the love of god, please don't try to be the change you want to see in this instance.
Inflation is necessary for a lot more than just capitalism. Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production, not trading money for goods and services.
It's really important to understand that money =/= capitalism. That is a widely held misconception that is very effective at stunting societal and economic progress, at least in the US.
For example, inflation encourages people to spend money on innovation and progress rather than simply hoarding wealth, regardless of if an oligarch owns the profits or if the workers do. Yes, there can be other/better motivators for progress than just money, but you can see how it can be beneficial in economic systems other than just capitalism.
I don't think you'll find any reputable/knowledgable people that hate all inflation. It's a widely agreed fact that a little inflation is good for everyone. Politicians/economists are say they don't like high inflation. It's better to target something like 2% yoy.
There is no better way to facilitate trade than to break down 'value' into granular units that can be traded directly--that's essentially what money is, a unit of measurement for value.
Barter sucks the moment you need something from someone who has nothing you need that's of at least similar value.