From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 08:21:22 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Saving money
In-Reply-To: <199710242206.RAA26328@einstein.ssz.com>
Message-ID: <v03102800b076e39ec69a@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 2:38 PM -0700 10/24/97, harka@nycmetro.com wrote:

>Sometimes it seems, as if the people advocating the
>"business-reality" are furthest removed from it.
>
>The "just don't work for them if 'ya don't like it"-argument  will
>last about 4 weeks...the approximate time a human can survive
>without eating. (or a couple of weeks less, if you have kids)

Nonsense. Worse, pure socialist, Wobbly,  propaganda.

By my third year out of college, I had a big enough cushion of saved cash
and other investments, to last for several months (or more) without working
(roughly speaking, as I don't have all the exact figures in front of me
now). By my fifth or sixth year out of college, I could have lasted for
several years without working.

By my eighth or ninth year out of college, this increased to even more years.

And by my twelfth year of working, I retired for the rest of my life....and
that was 11 years ago.  And I know a _bunch_ of people who did the same
thing.

Granted, my later investments did quite well, I was well-compensated at my
job, etc. And I was hardly unique.

Most people are able to save enough to give them a several-month buffer,
assuming they put their mind to it and make some short term sacrifices in
favor of longer term security. In fact, this is a savings goal recommended
widely, and, fortunately, followed by many. The "one paycheck away from the
streets" canard is true only for foolish or careless persons.  All it takes
is discipline to spend less than one earns and put the money into
investments.

The protection against "company stores" and "company towns" and other such
alleged violations of one's freedoms is as it has always been: save your
money. We used to call it, not very originally, "'Fuck you' money."

And anyone who has worked for a couple of years and hasn't saved up some
"'Fuck you' money" deserves whatever happens to him.

>I.e. unless you are the super-duper, three-times nobel-prize-winner
>(with lots of money in stocks), who can AFFORD to choose employers
>that freely, you will be DAMN GLAD to have a job AT ALL, regardless
>of their policies!

More nonsense. Move out to the Bay Area, if you have any talent at all in
software or hardware or biotech or Web design or multimedia, and you'll
find jobs galore.

(I hear this is true for many other parts of the U.S. as well...)

There's no excuse for being "trapped in a job."

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."