From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 14:41:21 +0800
To: CYPHERPUNKS@ssz.com
Subject: Re: Saving money
In-Reply-To: <199710250528.AAA28050@einstein.ssz.com>
Message-ID: <v03102800b07742497420@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 10:00 PM -0700 10/24/97, harka@nycmetro.com wrote:

>[american dream deleted]
>
>While I am glad for your achievements, you have not addressed my
>point: all this doesn't apply to the larger mass of people.

As I recall your point, it was that most people are a few weeks away from
running out of money and hence cannot change jobs readily. I was saying
that a small amount of self-discipline and sacrifice can quite easily
translate into having a few _months'_ worth of savings.

Granted, this takes discipline, to put money away instead of spending it.
But even minimum wage workers are quite capable of saving...this is how
many move out of minimum wage jobs into running their own small shops or
businesses. Examples are legion.

If they won't make these spending tradeoffs and have not even a buffer
sufficient to carry them through a month or two or three, I say screw them.

I won't support restrictions on what a company may do, when perfectly
legal, just because Joe Sixpack spent his paycheck on beer and is now
afraid to look for a job with a better company. Or because Rawandala Brown
spent her money on crack and now is "trapped" in a job.

>You were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right
>time...one of the founding-members of a company in an industry,
>that pays way more than average and thus brought you into the
>position, that you're in now. Great...more power to you and I
>encourage everybody to try the same.
>
>But that's not applicable to the larger percentage of the
>population. Besides, it's a supply and demand question.

The Mormons teach self-reliance, and savings. So do other religions and
belief systems. Many of them urge their followers to have money put aside
for just these kinds of situations.

As I said, even minimum wage workers have a proven ability to save. If they
won't, this is there problem. "The Grasshopper and the Ant" is far more
important for children to read and internalize the lessons of than the
currently-popular "I Have Two Mommies" crapola.


>
>If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption...

Don't you mean, in your world view:

If success is outlawed, only failures will succeed.


(I urge you to think about how your criticisms of the free market fit this
aphorism.)

--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."