martin wrote:sidsanders wrote:martin wrote:sidsanders wrote:djsunyc wrote:thanks martin but i don't mean being a conservative politician.as a regular citizen of the US, what makes one a conservative? are there conservatives on this forum that can let me know? i'm genuinely curious b/c i would to operate in good faith discussion but can't if i don't really know what a conservative is.
i consider myself a fiscal conservative, not so much a social one. so from my view, there are 2 parts, and i am sure not all would agree that is part of the definition. good read for some takes on fiscal conservatism would be "the way the world works" by jude wanniski.
From Amazon cause I was looking for Jude's take:
Jude Wanniski's masterpiece defined the policies at the heart of the Reagan economic boom that continues today and promises a coming century of global peace and prosperity. Writing with a simplicity and liveliness uncommon to his subject, Wanniski offers a fresh general theory of the world's political evolution that explains how and why economies fail and succeed, now and as far as we can imagine.
So Trickle Down is essentially being a fiscal conservative?
that is the term i used as well or even voodoo economics, i didnt like those terms then and i was a teen or younger at that point. then i read his book and saw what his main points were (read early 2000s). he does goes over many economic theorists from ages past and how folks have used them to drive state economies. i would say fiscal folks break down into monetary policy, taxation, personal finance (debt, investing, live within means) and for sure more. i also have a strong view that most folks (globally) have rather poor personal financial habits and understanding.
if you hear folks pushing for lower taxes with the guidance that you should pay down your personal debt, bills -- that is what i want to hear. folks pushing for tax cuts knowing folks will spend spend spend or worse borrow and spend are false fiscal conservatives. live within your means is what i apply to personal finance and what i want governments to aspire to. printing $ to get folks to spend spend spend (and drive inflation). that is the real hope for the stimulus bills going back to the one folks probably dont recall under bush (2008 rebate). we are a consumerist debt based economy now and have been for some time.
Haven't read the book and after 2 quick minutes reading summary and accompanying reviews it's hard to tell what's going on with the actual book itself. Could you give the 30 second, sky high version?
sidsanders wrote:<rant/ramble on personal finance>
when i see folks going into 5 figure or more debt for college and degrees that dont earn that type of $ i hate it. not the student, the structure that creates that or says you MUST get a degree. folks need the next tech toy, car, something that is not a real asset or depreciates. there is a lack of logic/practicality to what folks want and what they probably need. getting $ into different asset classes to help you grow your wealth, to avoid debt as much as possible seems basic when you look at it, yet so many do not do it or seem to have never heard of it. folks seem to have so little amount of $ saved or invested.
Feel like there is a lot going on there that may be overlapping with what happens in real day life. I do agree with you about the structures out there that have put students into debt but perhaps not the underlying assumptions about what to do. For instance, most all jobs that are somewhere above the minimum rate REQUIRE degrees, can't get past that and need to just get an interview. But let's assume you can have a career where degrees are not required; minimum pay rates (and everything that builds from there ) have not kept up with costs of homes and normal family support systems, so the structures are failing at that level too. The new tech toys? We all can probably learn to live with a lot less... but tell that to a kid in high school or college and they will insist that those toys have become requirements in their lives and probably with decent reasons.
greetings -- there are lots of bits in the book i am not sure i could fairly give you a decent overview. it is part history on the political spectrum (here and examples across the globe). study on impact of taxation, tariffs again here and globally -- explanation of ties into 1929 crash as well. impact of the loss of the gold standard. examining economic theorists and associated economic models, not limited to: karl marx, adam smith, john keynes, art laffer, jean-baptiste say and the application and/or impacts.
for cost of living (region dependent), one thing i see from some, read about more: folks do not track where their own $ goes. to me, that impacts the inflation folks see, and will be seeing if they are not already, as they seem unaware of the financial choices they make. it is one of the reasons my rambling was so focused on personal finance -- at least that is within our grasp to effectively work on.
<minor rant/ramble>
basic formula perhaps too simplistic to apply to folks: x - y = z, where x == income from all streams (passive, wage/salary, etc), y == spend (bills, debt payments, etc), z == net difference which you hope is > 0. x i would agree is stagnant for many. ideal, folks need to do what they can to lower y. they could also work on increasing x while still also reducing y. working multiple jobs most folks do not want to do or cannot do. if you lack the free capital to invest, you likely cannot work on passive streams (rental property, stock/etf/mf/bonds, cds, crypto, etc). so what can you do with y? if folks track where they spend, folks may see some unpleasant patterns have developed that can be eliminated. from that reduction in spend to any debt reduction. this would then free up capital to spur along investment in assets that begin to generate income -- make your $ work for you. all easy sounding for sure, however it is an approach that from what i have seen, works. it does suffer from the drawback that everyone cannot do this in a debt based economy. all folks cannot stop spending and borrowing under the current system.
in general for y, do you need the expensive clothes, a tesla or other expensive transportation, expensive smart phone, subs to streaming services, eating out a lot, a degree that will not pay you a decent salary... it all adds up on the wrong side of the ledger and buries you. note reliable transport, smart phone, clothing, education can be had that is not as costly, just lacks the clout/flash -- i see you social media.
not talking down to anyone or insinuating this isnt what many folks are already trying to do. frustrated that folks hit pitfalls that seem obvious to avoid. i have seen folks, who if asked, could not tell you how much and where the $ goes that they earn.
</minor rant/ramble>