It’s Party Time
My head’s been awhirl lately with the seemingly limitless reverberations of the collapse of financial markets. Today we heard that Citigroup chopped over 50 000 jobs; one of the biggest downsizing operations in history. It’s sobering news; especially considering that I once almost worked for a Citigroup subsidiary, Primerica, where representatives used having Citigroup as a financial backer as ammunition for the stability of their products.
My own RRSP’s have crashed, insignificant as they might have been. Am I concerned over that? Not overly. When I took them out, I did so knowing that markets have always crashed and risen again; that boom and bust cycles are inevitable and that the long term market average is positive despite the crashes we’ve seen in the past. In financial services, they call this riding out the market via dollar cost averaging; contributing a set amount on a regular basis in solid investments irrespective of what the market happens to be doing. But I’m rather nonchalant about my RRSP’s for another reason as well.
Mutual funds are not an investment I would make again. Having learned what I’ve learned since, knowing what I know now, I do not believe that mutual funds are a responsible investment. They’re a mainstream financial vehicle that serve to maintain the status quo, providing huge sums to the biggest corporations in existence. Sure there are some socially responsible investments (SRI) out there, but they’re just mutual funds with a smiley face; by and large just business as usual with a dollop of reason.
For someone looking simply to get ahead in this society; to put aside a nest egg for retirement, or to provide for one’s family, mutual funds are a solid investment. Diversify yourself well; don’t be too jumpy with your money, and the value you’ve lost in the past months will be regained, barring worse developments than a mere recession. But try to do those things while also thinking about your children’s future, and their children’s future, and mainstream mutual funds, even SRI, won’t get the job done. Many SRI funds do not filter their investments on a sustainability criterion; rather, they have a “better than the rest” criterion. They’ll pick the best of a bad bunch, but in general, they won’t boycott any but the absolute worst, the least reputable, all the while filing shareholder resolutions which amount to dick-all if they’re not eventually backed up by a withdrawal of investor money.
Money still calls the shots in this world. What we need is solid financial management on a local level. The withholding of money from the financial mega-machine which runs all our lives, and the usage of said money in the construction of strong community partnerships and investment in local, new sustainability economy type businesses. My local Mt. Lehman Credit Union is a prime example, as is the Aldergrove Credit Union. They might not be as green as we’d like them to be, but given more involvement from those of us on the cutting edge of that front, they can and will be.
The last true depression saw many people out of work; widespread hunger; and desperate measures all around. Hell, people were happy to go to war, just to have a job to do. Nobody wants to believe we will see a repeat of that scenario, least of all myself. If we do however, are we prepared for reduced wages, widespread cost cutting, empty grocery stores? Most people seem oblivious on two fronts; on what’s actually happening, and what caused this in the first place. Whatever the case, now’s not the time to be spending any more than we can absolutely afford to, irrespective of our leaders urging us to keep on spending the well dry. We can see where that mantra’s gotten us – in the shithole and more of the same just isn’t going to wash. We can bail out our banks until the cows come home, but in the meantime more people will have gone broke; the gap between the rich and poor will be even greater; more people will be homeless, taxes will be higher, and any strong governmental action on climate change will have been thrown out the window, because obviously we can’t afford that. Oh no.
I don’t know about you, but I for one am not taking for granted that our benevolent leaders will solve this problem and we can all go toodling back to our dreamworld where everything is done for us and all we have to do is show up fifty hours a week (does anyone actually work fourty anymore) and we’ll be taken care of. Recently I published a list on Facebook from ex Halton, Ontario MP Garth Turner’s blog The Greater Fool, (also the title of his latest book) which outlined the steps to take in the case of a depression. It included such drastic measures as moving to the country, freeing onself from reliance on government services, getting off the grid, getting a dog, a bike, and chickens.
Will that be necessary? Don’t rightly know. Could be yes, could be no. Whatever the case, doesn’t sound like a bad lifestyle.
Shared, it could be a party. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go make some hummus.
