this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
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I earn around 3 to 6k a year of passive income from owning stocks. It's passive because once I've bought the stocks I no longer need to actively do anything to earn interests but it's not "money for nothing" either because I had to work to earn the money to invest and having one's money invested into someone else's business is always inherently risky. Interests are compensation for the risk I'm taking by buying shares in a company and betting on it's success. Renting property is effectively the same thing. It's not necessarily what you do that makes it good or bad, it's how you do it.
I'm not sure what angle you're coming from here. Anything with a risk involved is inherently not bad? or the origin of the investment capital was morally sound, so the profit off the investment must also be morally sound? I'm not even going to touch on the fundamentals and optics of the stock market at this point and what it has done to the economy, business practices, enshittification, etc etc.
No, but that it's not money for nothing. It's compensation for the risk I'm taking of never getting my money back.
It's not obvious to me that any of this is inherently bad. Like with everything it depends on how you use it. Greedy landlords that don't do their duties are bad. It's not the being landlord itself that's the issue. Me owning a small part of a company isn't bad - that company treating its employees bad and polluting the envoronment is.
I'm not delusional with righteousness to the point where I don't get what you're saying. Obviously we're all having conversations involving the nuances so it's a legitimate debate. It's late and I'm having trouble breaking it down into a short reply without a wall of text so hopefully you'll fill in the gaps of my meaning.
I suppose it depends on what "hat" you're wearing. Are we individuals surviving and trying to continue in a turbulent society like 99% of the populace, or are we participating and forming a society we wish to see our younger generations take over? No matter my rhetoric, I don't fault anyone for the actions they take in today's world so don't take anything I say personally. That being said, "land" is a finite resource. There is no getting over or around that. It's a simple physics matter that everyone is just glossing over for their financial portfolio. These are the "Oil Baron's Lite" of the old world brought to the new. You can't think of the new world without the realization that the world is getting smaller over time. I refuse to believe anyone is that dense when it comes to physical manifestations, the "world pie" in being continually split up amongst the more fortunate.
Same with the company. Sure, owning a small portion of a profitable company is fucking fantastic in today's eyes and society. Look at Hershey or Apple with the continued labor practices everyone promotes with purchases. You would be financially insane to say those are bad companies to be invested in. Is that the end to the societal metric though? Profit over outcome? Which is your formula, "Past societal norms + societal progression" or "societal progression + Future societal norms".
The past "Venture Capitalist" in the 1920's might've gotten away without knowing where the actual "labor" or environmental degradation of your invested companies profit might impact or subjugate from. In the 2020's though? You're either reaping too much of a profit to care, or you're too lazy to do due diligence so you're not worried about the actual risk of an investment after all.