From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Nov 15 2000 - 13:50:50 MST
From: "Corwyn J. Alambar" <nettiger@best.com>
>I have attained a fairly reasonable level in my career
>(sysadmin/CM) and I'm fairly well-paid. However, the work does
>very little for me other than bringing in money to pay for the
>things that I need, but can't provide for myself without the media
>for exchange.
Already your doing better than 99% of the human race, think
positive! Don't rely on work to fulfill all your needs, it can't.
>I've got some money in savings, and I've been working on investing
>it slowly to try and get a good nestegg going. However, it seems
>my savings are growing slower than the cost of living.
Put 10% of everything you make into long term growth, pay yourself
first! For now, that means a money-market type account. They do
considerably better than the inflation rate (which is around 3%).
When you have 3-6 months of living expenses sacked away it's time
for the next step. Today go to the Motley fool website www.fool.com
and take their free "Fool School course".
>I gre up rural - I know how to take care of things like animals
>and plants, and I wouldnt' mind returning to that sort of a life
>partially - not a Luddite hermit like the Unabomber, but a
>techno-hermit, with satellite uplink, computers, generating my own
>power, taking care of most of my needs without reliance on the
>outside.
Good, if that is your dream, you've got to have a dream...
>But in the end it comes down to the tyrany of money. There is no
>place I can live without either the fear of imminent confiscation
>by the latest banana republic despot in the name of "land reform",
>or the need to have some sort of steady income to pay the various
>property taxes.
Be more afraid of the greens, once you start building equity you'll
start seeing redistribute-the-wealth schemes for what they are,
people who did other things with their money, and now need yours.
>So here is the conundrum. The land that is inexpensive enough to
>afford is too far from the places I am capable of finding work
>(did I mention I'm a widely-read, hopefully well-spoken high
>school grad? No college diploma here, unfortunately - and that
>cuts my options down even more), and the land close enough to be
>able to work reasonably is very expensive now, especially for what
>would be needed for this sort of subsistence, and at the same time
>it's also prone to the "divide and conquer" property tax
>progression - one farmer sells out to a developer for 50 units,
>and they agree to add $5000 per acre in property taxes for new
>schools - after all, they're only paying $500-$1250 at best for
>their share, but the farmer next door just got tagged for $500,000
>more per year, and is forced to sell to a developer, and it goes
>on and on.
Well, you didn't say where your from, somehow I get the impression
you're out on the great plains.
Take a piece of advice from someone who would do things differently
if he could. In this country, at this time, college is practically
essential, and make sure part of that education is business
training.
Bite the bullet.
>And my work does very little toward allowing me to pursue the
>things I hold most dear - because I have to spend so much o my
>time dealing with traffic, and working most of my waking hours to
>pay for the house I don't really want and the gas I would like to
>not have to use to get to and from a job that doesn't really line
>up with my personal interests. But it's the trap of the moneyed
>system.
You can try to fight it, or you can make yourself it's master....
>Yes, I understand a true libertarian society would have a
>different set of problems, and I could find a place where I
>wouldn't have to pay property taxes - but if you can show me a
>true libertarian nation I could move to...
If I knew we'd both be there. ;)
Brian
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