How My Life Will Look When I’m 70
A few days ago I was illin’ and chillin’ in my home office, working hard as always, when suddenly a vortex of purple light appeared(!). From the vortex, out stepped a man(!) who looked like me, but was clearly a few decades older.
“Holy turd birds!” I cried, “It’s Future Me again! You’re the guy I talked to from the future last year! Telling me about all the nanobots and virtual reality and shit! What’s up, Future Me?”
“Calm down, kid,” the man said, “You’re half right. I’m you from the future, but from an alternate timeline.”
“Alternate timeline?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing his shoulder that was noticeably more muscular than mine, “I come from a timeline where all the tech pessimists were right, and none of that nanotech or sex robots or virtual reality stuff ever came true. Technology just advanced slowly like it always has. Technology is higher now, but nothing amazing. Day-to-day life is still the same in the future as it is for you now, more or less. Especially now, since Western civilization collapsed a few years ago and China pretty much runs the world. Those Chinese are smart and efficient, but they’re not as innovative as we were.”
“Cool!” I said, not caring about society as usual, “But why have you come to visit me?”
“Well,” he said, “Me and my DLR were reminiscing, looking through some of your old Blackdragon posts from when you were in your 40s. I noticed in one of them, a bunch of guys in the comments asked you about where you see yourself when you’re in your 70s. So, I thought, what the hell, I’ll travel back in time to give you some answers.”
“Alright,” I said, “But what the hell is a DLR?”
“Oh yeah,” he replied, “I forgot. You haven’t invented that acronym yet. For simplicity’s sake, let’s just call her an OLTR.”
“Ah, OLTR I understand.”
“I know, dumbshit. You coined the acronym.”
“Now, now. No need to get snippy, Old Future Me. I don’t do drama. Don’t make me soft next you and throw you back into that vortex.”
“Just try it, you little bastard,” he said, flexing his Popeye-like forearms, “I can bench press 100 pounds more than you can. I’ll wipe the floor with your candy ass.”
“Really? Cool! I’m strong when I’m older!”
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, since shifting away from a focus on money in my early 50s, I’m a little more outcome independent these days, and just say whatever falls out of my mouth. Don’t take it personally.”
“You know I don’t,” I said.
Just like my last visit from Future Me (who looked 37 years old), I pulled out my phone and started recording my conversation with Old Future Me (who clearly looked like an old guy, just a strong and youthful version of an old guy). I got him comfortable, offered him some water, which he drank, and started pelting with all kinds of questions about my life as a man in his 70s.
Here’s a portion of what we talked about.
Me: So I assume I hit my last set of financial goals when I was in my late 40s and early 50s?
Old Future Me: Yeah. There was a depression in the US and Europe during that time, as you expected, and that caused some problems, but since your businesses and investments were prepared for it, you came out alright. By the time you were about 53, money was no longer a concern for you, and you shifted your Mission into phase two, just as you had planned all along.
Me: Where do you live now? I know I moved out of the US, right?
Old Future Me: Yeah, you bugged out of there around that time and moved to Buenos Aires. Today I have a house in Argentina and an apartment in the US. You spend a lot of time in Asia though.
Me: Wait a damn minute. Why do you have an apartment in the US? I don’t want an apartment in the US. That was never part of my plan. I want to stay as far away from the US as possible.
Old Future Me: Your OLTR wife didn’t go for the RV idea, and you got tired of staying with family or paying for hotels every time you visited, so you finally bit the bullet and got a nice but small studio apartment. Since the US dollar collapsed a while back, it’s not a big deal and was pretty inexpensive. And you rent it out when you’re not there to help offset costs, though frankly, not a lot of people rent the damn thing. It’s in the collapsed US after all, and no one wants to visit that shithole these days. And the lease is in one of your offshore company’s names, which saves you on some taxes, liability, and regulation.
Me: I guess that’s the price I’m paying for being able to visit my family and home culture in the US whenever I want.
Old Future Me: Exactly.
Me: And you said I have a…wife? Making me nervous over here, dude.
Old Future Me: Of course I have a wife. I’m 70 years old for fuck’s sake. OLTR version of course, because I’m not stupid. Anyway, here’s a pic of her.
Me: Wow. Older, but not bad. Still hot. How old is she?
Old Future Me: 62.
Me: What?!? She looks much younger than that.
Old Future Me: Cosmetic surgery, pal. She just upgraded her boobs again last year.
Me: Wow.
Old Future Me: Plus, your favorite FB is 27. Your second favorite is 37 but she’s getting to be a bitch, so I’ll probably next her ass soon.
Me: Wait, you’re 70. You still have FBs in their 20s?
Old Future Me: Just one of them is. Getting women under 30 is pretty difficult at my age, but doable if I work at it. Getting them under age 25 is pretty much impossible, unless I pay a little for it of course, which is easy since sugar daddies are a norm in society now. But I don’t really like spending money. I prefer to have sex the old fashioned way: for free.
Me: Amen to that.
Old Future Me: I have though, paid for it. Again, I can afford it and it’s in the budget, so it’s not a big deal. If I want a new FB without paying her, it takes some time, but if I want to just pay for it, I whip up my sugar daddy app, throw out a few hundred bucks, and boom, done. Like I said, not a big deal with my financial position.
Me: Do you still work?
Old Future Me: What a stupid question! Of course I work, you dumbass. I just work for fun now, and not every day like you do. I work a few days a week, mostly writing and doing speeches, whenever I feel like it. I get paid for my work but I don’t really care if I do. I just like to work.
Me: I love to work too, but I work with specific financial objectives in mind. It’s what drives me.
Old Future Me: I’m still driven, but not for money anymore. My Mission drives me, still to this day. My total testosterone is still around 900, my health is great, I have sex regularly, and I still set goals (just non-financial ones). I’m just as motivated as you are, but for the experience of life and my Mission, not because of money. I haven’t really needed to worry about money for almost 20 years now. Your hard work in your 20s and 40s saw to that.
Me: You never lost any money in your investments?
Old Future Me: Well, as you know, you and I only invest in very boring, very conservative investments that don’t make a large return but never lose money. But yeah, I’ve lost a little money a few times over the last 30 years, particularly when Europe and the US finally went under. (Hell, everyone lost money when that happened.) But on the overall I’ve maintained and grown my wealth. I’ve never lost a large amount of money, like all those idiots who invested in the stock market did.
Me: But surely you still have budget. I mean, you can’t just spend money on whatever you want, right?
Old Future Me: Right, but like you, I live a very, very low cost lifestyle. I live in Argentina which is one of the cheapest places to live on the planet. I keep most of my money invested in strong currencies, in this case Chinese renminbi (I was smart enough to get the hell out of US dollars a few decades ago), and spend money in weak currencies, in this case the Argentine peso. So a little of my money goes a very long way. I also don’t spend a lot of money in the first place. I travel a lot, but usually the travel is paid for because of work I do on my trips. I have no debt either, just like you don’t now. Now granted, my wife, being a woman, spends money on all kinds of stupid shit. Clothes, shoes, handbags, pillows. You know, all that girl crap. But she has her own income so I don’t need to worry about most of those expenses.
Me: She has her own income? That’s good. When I was monogamously married in my 20s, one of the reasons I got divorced was because she didn’t work. She didn’t have something she felt was her own. When the kids went off to school, she was home alone with nothing to do. It was hard on her, and hard on the marriage.
Old Future Me: Exactly. My wife works on her own Alpha 2.0 location independent business that I helped her start many years ago. She doesn’t make as much money as I do, but she doesn’t really need to, with our living expenses being so low (outside of her stupid girly purchases that is). And she has something that’s hers that she can be proud of.
Me: You said your total testosterone is still at 900. So I assume you’re still on TRT?
Old Future Me: We don’t call it TRT anymore, and we don’t even use syringes. We have better systems for keeping men’s T levels at their optimal levels, but yeah, I’m still on a regimen that ensures my T levels are around 900 or so. I make damn sure I never become one of those typical old guys who eventually get weak, unhappy, unmotivated and beta. I also don’t want cancer or stroke or heart attacks. So hell yeah, I still get regular blood tests that check everything out, like PSA, DHEA, vitamin D, testosterone, estrogen, cholesterol, inflammation, and everything else, just like you started doing when you turned 40. That was a very smart move, and I thank you for that. Today I’m one of the healthiest 70 year-old men I know. I exercise a lot. I lift weights three times a week and do cardio two or three times a week. And that doesn’t count all the fuckin’ I’m doing.
Me: Speaking of that, I assume my dick still works? Dare I say…Cybercock?
Old Future Me: Yep. It usually works just fine. And when I need to take a little “help,” I take a little pill. It all works. However, I don’t have sex quite as often as you do. Weekly, more or less, but not what you’re doing. At my age it’s not that big of a priority. The biggest thing that helps sexually is my testosterone and the fact that all three of the women I’m playing with are super hot, at least to me. I see a lot of these old guys married to old, fat wives complaining about erectile dysfunction. Well, shit. No wonder they can’t get it up! If my wife looked like that, and I wasn’t allowed to have sex with any other women, then hell, my Johnson would be soft as a noodle too! What the hell do these old monogamous dumbshits expect?
Me: How often do you travel?
Old Future Me: We spend about two months a year in the collapsed US. It’s a shithole these days, but a few of the states that seceded, like Texas and New Hampshire, are doing a little better. Regardless, me and the wife can still visit our poverty-stricken families who still live there and didn’t have the foresight to get out when the getting was good. I help them out a little financially when I can, but I don’t overdo it. Many of these people were the same people calling me an asshole back when I was in my 40s, when I was telling them to leave the Western world. And don’t even get me started about the Europeans…they’re even worse off. Since the Muslims took over after the EU civil war-
Me: <interrupting> Yeah, yeah, I get that you’re probably not going to Europe that often these days, but where else do you go? China?
Old Future Me: Not necessarily just China but various places in Asia, yeah. That’s where the money and the action is. I do speeches over there and the wife likes to shop there, since clothing stores in the US and Europe suck now. I travel internationally about four or five times a year, sometimes with the wife and sometimes by myself. We’re even thinking about moving to New Zealand. Beautiful country. And my daughter already lives there. I’d have to get one or two new FBs if we moved, but that’s easy, even if I have to “sugar daddy” it.
Me: What do you do for fun?
Old Future Me: My work is my fun. You know that.
Me: Well yeah, but what else? I mean like real hobbies. Still play blackjack? Stuff like that?
Old Future Me: I haven’t really played much blackjack since right-wing rebels nuked Las Vegas back in 2026. Something about a “city of sin” or some shit. They did it as retaliation for when our first openly socialist president, Chelsea Clinton, socialized all healthcare, college, grocery stores, and auto companies. But for hobbies? These days I like to read, play out on my small boat, watch movies, and a few years ago I got back into martial arts, Krav Maga and BJJ. Fun stuff. And yeah, when I visit Macau I play a little blackjack, just for fun though, not to win like you used to play. Like I said, I don’t care about money anymore.
Me: Hm. Sounds weird for me to not care about money. But getting to the point where I don’t have to worry about it is my goal. I’m glad I hit it.
Old Future Me: It took you a little longer than you planned, but you hit it, yeah. Today I can focus on working for fun and giving back to the community.
Me: Is that what your speeches are for? Giving back?
Old Future Me: Many of them, yes. Many of the speeches I give and the writing I do is for free, to help men and younger people. I also donate consulting time to many nonprofits. And I give a percentage of my income, including my investments income, to charity, just like you do. It’s just that I’m able to give a lot more these days.
Me: Interesting. So now you care about the world? I don’t.
Old Future Me: That’s because you’re an asshole. I want to make the world a better place, yeah. At least for those who will listen, who I agree are always going to be a minority. Even after the collapse, human beings are still just as collectivist as they’ve always been. They still try to cling to things like monogamy, socialism, religion, war, debt based economies, and all kinds of other things that validate emotions but don’t work or make sense in the real world. But yes, I want to help those people who want to actually live happy lives in spite of all that crap.
Me: That’s pretty much my attitude.
Old Future Me: Yeah, but since you focus so much on money and empire building right now (which is what you should be focusing on right now, don’t get me wrong) and I don’t need to worry about any of that stuff, I can focus 100% of my time on giving back, and I love it, whereas you can only focus a percentage of your time on that.
Me: Good point.
We talked for another hour or two. Finally, he rose, saying he had to get back because he had a romantic dinner date scheduled with his wife. (Something about going out for low carb Mexican food.) Standing in front of the purple vortex, I shook his hand. He thanked me for working so hard and building a life and an infrastructure for him to live such a happy and rewarding life in his 70s, despite the collapse of his home culture. I thanked him for giving me a glimpse into my future. He smiled, nodded, stepped into the vortex, and both him and it disappeared.
I stood there, standing at the empty space where he had stood just seconds before, thinking several deep thoughts. Then I walked back to my desk.
“Back to work,” I said.
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Tech is nothing amazing but they invented a fucking time machine lol.
“I’m a little more outcome independent these days, and just say whatever falls out of my mouth.”
The human mind is designed for pattern matching so we constantly see connections which turn into thoughts. A lot of it is meaningless drivel, and a lot of it can be seen from other perspectives after a bit of analysis. I really hope you apply a *little* bit of thinking before speaking in your life 😛
Also, the thing that strikes me about your future self is that he is quite ethically motivated. So clearly you not giving a shit about society isn’t entirely accurate. What makes you think other libertarians will contribute to society since you clearly have a sense that ethical contributing is needed in society?
OK, I can accept everything else in your scenario, but… low carb Mexican food? Isn’t that a little far fetched? 🙂
I’d ask you what a DLR is but I’m guessing you don’t know. Lemme guess… Dildo Length Representative…
Seems legit!
You should have put **** there instead. You could have prevented this…
Anyway, love the comedic posts. Keep it up!
He cares about certain individuals not society at large.
Logically speaking, giving back to the world has little or no benefit for the individual (compared to focus on self-improvement), despite what your government, religion or cultural background says. So it’s ultimately a wasted effort. But rationally speaking, one can still benefit (emotionally) if they derive actual pleasure from helping others. Which is the case with me and (I assume) BD because we were loved by our parents at an early age. But we prioritize ourselves above others. Such is our human nature (rightfully so). I was cognitively dissonant about this concept until I grew to accept it.
It seems dark but since I’m very curious about human psychology, understanding this made everything add up concerning people’s behaviour so now my mind is clearer.
Here’s an article BD wrote about his views on helping society:
https://alphamale20.com/blackdragonblog/2015/04/09/a-love-letter-to-conservatives/
Nice read.
JP and EU will crash, that much is unavoidable. If we agree on this, we have to re-adjust your dollar outlook. There are only 3.5 currencies to hold vast amounts of money on this planet
1) U$ Dollar
2) Euro
3) Japan Yen
4) Gold (only counts as half)
I did NOT list the chinese renminbi. It has potential to become another 0.5 (!) but they are not quite there yet. If we take your positive sentiment for asia (well deserved) into account and the fact we are talking about science fiction = future events, we can add the chinese as a full option in the bestest of possible scenarios.
Now if the Euro and the Yen go under….and the chinese can replace one of them and gold doubles….we still have a MASSIVE amount of money floating into the U$ Dollar. We do NOT have a U$ bubble now, but we might well see one in our lifetime when the global wealth all runs for save harbor in the US.
Dollar will be the biggest bull market in our lifetime 8-10 years from now.
“…If my wife looked like that, and I wasn’t allowed to have sex with any other women, then hell, my Johnson would be soft as a noodle too!”
BD you are funny!!!
made my day…
Old Future Me go help from Distant Future Me. Read the bottom of this comment.
I agree, and I do. But Old Future Me doesn’t. He doesn’t give a fuck about your pattern recognition.
It’s accurate. Me and Old Future Me both care about the small percentage of people who are willing to put in the work to be happy, and don’t really give a shit about the rest. It’s just that Old Future Me cares more about that small percentage, because he lacks the life overhead I currently have to manage.
I can’t speak for other libertarians. They’re too diverse a group.
The only person I can speak for is myself. Since I believe that people should be the mechanism to help other people, rather than “government” (which a happy-word for forcing innocent people to do what you want at the point of a gun), I think all libertarians should regularly donate their time or money (or both) to charity or others every month, so you can walk your talk. I donate a percentage my gross income to charity every month, plus provide thousands of helpful articles across three blogs for free. Regardless of my opinions, other libertarians need to make up their own minds regarding whether or not to help others. Some will, some won’t. It’s called freedom. I’m not going to tell anyone what to do.
We should have all of the SENS therapies (Aubrey de Grey) available by the time you’re 70 years old. If not in the U.S., you can certainly hop on a plane to undergo them somewhere else.
Not necessarily and the first ones – the ones predicted for 20 years from now – won’t be all that spectacular. In fact the muscular-but-recognizeably-old 70-yo described by BD sounds a lot like a guy who would’ve undergone a version of those therapies. De Grey himself admits “at least a 10% risk” that “we still won’t be there at the end of the century”. If we’re reasonably lucky with bioengineering (“bridge 2”) and less than lucky with nanotech/computing (“bridge 3”), which more or less meets the article’s premise ( “a timeline where all the tech pessimists were right, and none of that nanotech or sex robots or virtual reality stuff ever came true. Technology just advanced slowly like it always has” ), then in 2040 a man in his seventies might be rejuvenated back to his early fifties, maybe. It would buy time to get to see more effective methods.
By the way, if there is serious opposition to this on “moral” grounds, I wouldn’t be surprised if some governments try to make it illegal to even fly away to get it done somewhere else. Reminds me that in Norway you get arrested for screwing hookers even if you did it abroad, lol. Since there are even nonreligious people fanatically opposed to life extension, I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens.
Lol. Did you ask him if she was a 300lb wildebeest or was previously a man?
If not, she must have not been interested in the shear abundance of 18-65yo men beating down her door. 27yo with a 70yo for free lol, only in a dystopian future where you’re very, very wealthy and everyone else is poor and she’s lined you up as an easy meal ticket.
Most 27yo gold diggers looking to get paid now won’t go higher than 55 maybe 60, and that’s with guys that are paying them, looking at projected demographics based on current birth rates I see this getting worse (their age cut off getting lower), not better.
Admiring your optimism though.
@Wolf: I think BD has already admitted elsewhere that he wouldn’t be (or rarely) getting women in their late 20s in his 70s. The reason he actually does, in this article: I think he’s following the “Tom Cruise premise” which he’s stated several times: look at how older people used to look like forty years ago, and how they look like today, and extrapolate into the future. If Tom Cruise can have those looks at 54 in 2016, a well-off business guy at 70 can look almost as good in 2042, even if technological progress continues at a very modest pace. The 70-yo he’s describing (muscular, benches “100 pounds more than you do”, etc) is either an exceptionally fit older guy with roids or, more likely, a guy who’s on some form of mild, not-so-thorough rejuvenation therapy. Research in this field may take many, many decades to fully eliminate aging, but all the “intermediates” are definitely happening.
Lol at all the libertarian delusions like “China is going to take over” and fucking New Hampshire as a successfully seceded state. Texas already tried their bullshit and failed, what makes you think New Hampshire will succeed?
And if 70yo guys look like they’re in their 50’s there’ll be plenty more 50yo guys that look like they’re in their 30’s to compete against that he’ll be losing out to when chasing girls in their 20’s.
You can find a hint at what BD’s motivations are when suggesting the possibility in the article itself here:
In other words, once he no longer has to worry about making money, he can say whatever he wants, but not at the moment. BD sells dating guides, and has one specifically targeted to older men looking for younger women. What’s going to sell more books, telling guys that when you’re 60+ you’re going to have to pay to get young women, or telling them that you can get them for free and here’s a book which will show you how…
This doesn’t discredit the books in anyway, I’ve read them and think they’re relevant for guys up until about 50 if they take good care of themselves, after that, you’re really pushing it, still possible but much, much harder, at 70 though, near impossible.
Let’s get real, if really old guys want young girls, they pay, and that’s the way it is now and will be in the future, and even then they can usually only get the most vapid gold diggers or prostitutes that are only in it for the cash.
I don’t know what the endgame is for Alpha 2.0’s when they get much older, but the image presented here seems a bit far fetched. Probably an OLTR wife who’s mostly a companion and friend, children, maybe grandchildren, acceptance that you’re old and this is the way life is now, and banging 3rd world hookers occasionally with fond memories of past conquests in your younger days.
I notice that old you had nothing to say about his offspring.
That’s good, since you’re one of the most pessimistic people who regularly comments here.
Ha! Do you think I’m seriously predicting Chelsea Clinton will be president and conservatives will nuke Las Vegas too? The setting aspects of the article are satirical, not predictive. It’s hilarious as shit that you can’t tell the difference. Thanks for the laugh though, you put a smile on my face this morning.
And I notice you still don’t know how to read. I clearly said his daughter lives in New Zealand and he implies it might be nice to live there because of that.
BindIo, friendly warning, if you violate Rule Number 3 one more time, you’ll be banned. Thanks in advance.
Such bans on medical tourism by the U.S. government would be unenforceable without gross violations of the constitution (like that comparable to nation-wide martial law). They cannot even make you pee in a cup for drug testing while passing through immigration upon return to the U.S.
Those who don’t like life extension will rant and rave on the internet once it becomes available. However, I doubt it will lead to effective law enforcement sanctions against it. Its generally recognized that the war on drugs is a failure in every respect. If I did Coke at home and my neighbors knew about it, I doubt they would call the cops on me as long as i was discreet about (e.g. did not expose it to their kids, etc.). I seriously doubt any of my neighbors would rat on me if my wife and I flew off to Fiji to undergo the telemerase gene therapy next year or 2018 and we happened to mention it to them in passing. A war on life extension would be even more of a legal joke than the current war on drugs
The point of the article is “you can have a good Alpha 2.0 life in your late years if you do everything right when young.”
I just smh when I see guys stating (with conviction) this lifestyle will die once you get past a certain age. If I’m old but look 50 and still able to have a good hard on, have my finances in order and a healthy lifestyle, just can’t see no problem banging girls in their late 20s and early 30s. No problem at all.
Liam Nesson is 64, Stallone is 70, Ed Harris is 65 (and no hair), Bruce Willis is 61 (also no hair), Pierce Brosnan is 63, and so on…ask any woman in their early 30s if they think these men are interesting and datable.
Where she lives is not important. Obviously she lives somewhere. HOW does she live? Is she sugar daddying it up? Is she on the same sugar daddy app as old you? How does old and current you feel about it if so?
You are fishing for excuses to get rid of me now. You don’t need that. If you don’t want me here then you are fully entitled to do something about it.
Correct. Heightened life extension will happen and will happen in our lifetimes. It can’t not happen, even if the West collapses.
You said I didn’t mention his offspring and I did.
Let’s see, when I’m 70 she’ll be 44. She probably is married to guy (or a woman, since she’s bisexual) and with a few kids.
No. By age 44 she’ll probably be married and monogamous (sadly). And she’ll probably get divorced, etc. Hard to say.
🙂
My perspective on the US collapse is similar to what happened in EE after the USSR fell apart. After a period of transitioning to a new system, things slowly started getting back on their feet. In terms of goods for sale, it’s no worse than in the West.
I do believe that sex-bots will become a thing (anyone predicted the smartphone in 2000?) and many of the disastrous things that you describe will be impossible.
Seeing women lose that power that they have over men would be so worth it!!
@BD
I think all libertarians should regularly donate their time or money (or both) to charity or others every month
Not sure about the specifics in this statement but I agree with the general sentiment. But let’s be clear why I do. It is because helping other people is extremely enjoyable. Feeling that you are contributing adds to your happiness. If you doubt that this is important consider how you’d feel working at a soup kitchen if the recipients flipped you the bird after you served them food.
FWIW, it is probably the thing I detest most about welfare. It is the worst possibly way to help people in need. Normally a person gives to help another person according to how much he feels he can spare, and gives to the things he cares the most about. Everyone benefits, the giver feels great, the receiver benefits, and the receiver also benefits from the fact that he feels (and should be) grateful to the person who helped him. He also feels an hit to his self worth for accepting charity, and wants to overcome that and be his own guy. The system is very efficient because the giver doesn’t want his money wasted, and so ensures that the conduit (a charitable organization for example) doesn’t waste the money, and ensures it goes to those who are truly in need and truly trying to fix their problem. These are all extremely positive things.
When it comes to welfare, all of these things are flipped on their head. The giver doesn’t have any choice, he is forced to give on threat of prison time for failing to pay his taxes. The money is directed to where someone else wants it, not where the “giver” wants. The amount is determined by someone else, not the giver. The giver also is forced to perform extremely complex calculations, and file a pound of forms that an accountant can barely understand. to determine how much he is obliged to give, under threat of massive fines or prison. The receiver gets it as an “entitlement” and so feels he deserves it, feels not sense of charity, obligation or gratitude (in fact resents the fact it isn’t more) and the money is spend extremely carelessly and often with no regard to the effort or worthiness of the recipient. The massive government edifice that manages the money transfer consumes most of the money itself in administrative costs, and nobody gets to complain. Moreover, it strips the “giver” of resources so that he is much less able to participate in real charity. And ultimately, what small amount of good that comes out of this grossly unjust Byzantine, all the credit is taken by the politicians who made is such an appalling mess in the first place. All of these things are extremely negative things.
The word “entitlement” should make anyone with understanding cringe or hurl. It is the most horrible thing the government could possibly do both to the needy and those who want to help them.
But that doesn’t change the fact that voluntarily giving of your resources to help those in need feels really great and contributes mightily to your happiness and so is highly recommended.
I like the post, left wing conspiracies notwithstanding. I do agee that money is fiat but anyone familiar with Money Mechanics is aware of this. If you don’t have a product or service (preferably the former) that you can raise the price to outpace inflation you are screwed.
I also think that all of your assets shouldn’t reside in the US is a good idea too.
Yes when the disparity between have and have nots become to extreme there will be mutiny but that is a capitalist problem not a partisan issue.
Actually, a socialist president nationalizing everything would be a right wing conspiracy. But I get your point.
@Fraser Orr
“The receiver gets it as an “entitlement” and so feels he deserves it, feels not sense of charity, obligation or gratitude (in fact resents the fact it isn’t more) and the money is spend extremely carelessly and often with no regard to the effort or worthiness of the recipient.”
I’m assuming you don’t know anyone on welfare because if you did you would know this is basically the opposite of truth. Maybe you’ve been watching too much right-wing news lately?
@frying pan
> I’m assuming you don’t know anyone on welfare
Actually I do, I know several people who, after welfare, went on to a successful, productive life. Without exception these people, while favoring welfare, are not grateful for the resources others generated and gave to save their asses, but rather believe that others had an obligation to help them.
Of course they were the lucky ones. My social circles doesn’t include people who have lived off welfare for generations and didn’t have the gumption of my aforementioned friends to actually make their lives better. In their defense though, it seems the welfare system is almost designed to keep them in dependency.
I have given a huge amount of resources to help others both forceably through taxes and directly of my own volition. One of the charities I support funds a school in Tibet to give an education at a boarding school to poor rural girls who would otherwise have no access to education, and would end up as farm laborers and slaves to their husbands.
On one occasion some of the donors (not including me) flew in to visit the school. Parents from all around came to thank the donors. In the case of one of the girls I support, her father walked 150 miles simply because he wanted to shake the hands and sincerely thank the people who had given his daughter a chance at a great life.
FWIW, this girl went on to become a school teacher, and is currently spreading the benefit of her education in the villages near where she lives. Personally I am very proud of her and that I was able to help her. My small contribution with her hard work makes life better for many, many people. That makes her happy, her students happy, me happy and the world a better place.
Many thousands of dollars that I have generated have either been given by me or taken from me to help support the poor in America. I’m still waiting for my first thank you handshake.
I’m happy to help. But for welfare to not be toxic it needs to be received with gratitude and given with kindness. “Entitlement” is a cancerous poison.
Me: Wait a damn minute. Why do you have an apartment in the US? I don’t want an apartment in the US. That was never part of my plan. I want to stay as far away from the US as possible.
Old Future Me: Your OLTR wife didn’t go for the RV idea, and you got tired of staying with family or paying for hotels every time you visited, so you finally bit the bullet and got a nice but small studio apartment.
Hey, I know you didn’t go into more detail, but I’d love to know what your musings are on “the RV idea”. Is an RV something you’ve considered or are considering as a lightweight U.S.- base? If so, how would you use it? Traveling full-time? Mostly stored, but available in a pinch upon return stateside? Or even a full-time, long-term residence in the U.S.?
You’re the kind of guy who thinks things out, and you don’t feel the need to do what the John Does are doing just so you “fit in.” So I’m betting might be a bit more than a throwaway joke…true?
Yes. Getting a really big, badass, $40-50K RV, storing it at my brother’s house when I wasn’t in the country, and using it as my home base when I visited the US. My plan was to do this only if I wasn’t with an OLTR at that point, though. Most normal girly women are going to puke if you suggest living in an RV for a few weeks, even a fancy one.
I think using an RV for stateside ‘lifestyle arbitrage’ is going to be huge in a few years. It’s starting slowly, because people still equate it with homelessness. But my feeling is that this will change. Slashing rent from $1k to $100 while adding mobility just makes sense when reporting to work consists of opening a laptop.
I’m considering changing my living situation from apartment to a split between RV and AirBnB stays (after having completely virtualized my business into the cloud.) In August the RV might be on Whidbey Island; in February, Key West.
Like you, I’m thinking the RV might not fly with women, so I might intersperse this with AirBnB stays…particularly when I want to check out the online dating scene in a new city. I can live anywhere, but if I find an awesome girl, I’ll keep the AirBnB.
My odd fantasy is to be a multimillionaire living in an RV. 🙂 I have a successful friend who just bought a $400k RV, but mine would be vastly cheaper.
Btw, tynan.com has some interesting ideas about integrating a travel lifestyle with unusual dwelling ideas. He spends most of his time travelling, and has an RV parked in downtown SF, a condo bought at the bottom of Las Vegas’ crash, and both an island off Nova Scotia and a Prague condo that he’s bought jointly with friends. (And he’s looking to jointly buy a Tokyo pad too, among others.)
(Interestingly, he also used to be a PUA — he was ‘Herbal’ in The Game.)
@ POB 😀 I’m a 30-year old woman. Stallone is gross. No clue who Ed Harris is. Bruce Willis – well, I wouldn’t do him, but I guess some other women of my age would give it a go. Pierce Brosnan – I probably wouldn’t do him unless he’s got a strong charisma in person. Liam Neeson – as much as I love his acting…
Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely possible for 60+ men and 30+ women to couple up, just don’t go overboard with your assumptions.
>@ POB ? I’m a 30-year old woman. Stallone is gross. No clue who Ed Harris is. Bruce Willis – well, I wouldn’t do him, but I guess some other women of my age would give it a go. Pierce Brosnan – I probably wouldn’t do him unless he’s got a strong charisma in person. Liam Neeson – as much as I love his acting…
>Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely possible for 60+ men and 30+ women to couple up, just don’t go overboard with your assumptions.When the economy crashed a few years back, I asked a friend who’d just graduated if she was nervous about finding work in a recession. She replied, “I just need one job. I don’t need every job.”
She got a great job. 🙂
@ POB I’m a 30-year old woman. Stallone is gross. No clue who Ed Harris is. Bruce Willis – well, I wouldn’t do him, but I guess some other women of my age would give it a go. Pierce Brosnan – I probably wouldn’t do him unless he’s got a strong charisma in person. Liam Neeson – as much as I love his acting…
Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely possible for 60+ men and 30+ women to couple up, just don’t go overboard with your assumptions.
When the economy crashed a few years back, I asked a friend who’d just graduated if she was nervous about finding work in a recession. She replied, “I just need one job. I don’t need every job.”
She wound up getting an amazing job. 🙂