Your Questions About Real Money Making Schemes

James asks…

How to operate off of a party that seems intent on destroying itself?

I’m working for a non-profit Republican committee to hopefully get a few laws passed and certain politicians elected. That’s saying a lot since I’m in my 20s, not balding, and I’m about to come across in public as a registered Republican progressive.

It’s a shame that in the current Republican party though, there are enough illiterate windbags who can’t understand that Republicanism and progressivism aren’t mutually exclusive nor contradictory.

And that’s the problem I’m facing:

I, and a few other members I’m working with, have a great bunch of starter ideas for laws to lobby that would make the patent system more practical for corporations(which is something many corporations have been wanting for awhile now—–it makes sense if you understand their predicament with the patent office), a revision of some of the fluff jobs on a federal and state level (that don’t really do anything of function and act more as a way to take up time, money, and space—–random clerks at a Federal office that just sit on their *** 10-12 hours a day and always transfer customers/visitors to the clerk that actually does the work, for instance. Those types of positions.), and actually a pretty massive bill that would require police to have more patrols in crime-ridden projects(currently police have the luxary to avoid those areas that desperately need surveillance and law enforcement presence because of the extremely thick gang-activity in those types of regions. The Crips, Bloods, and the Latin Kings——or your regional equivalent—-can dominate entire blocks and projects and terrorize the local populace, but most police districts are either too cowardly or apathetic to face the real threats. Bills like the one I’m pushing for would change that and cut out a lot of the authoritative bureaucracy that the police usually hide behind.)

What I’m saying is the laws that I and my associates are trying to pass are forward thinking, deal with practical issues, and would cut out a lot of toxic red tape and mismanagement that Governments are plagued with. I’m genuinely passionate about applying Republican ethics and policies in a real and practical way that will help people.

….With that said there are other members of this committee that have less than altruistic intentions for their own laws that want to present to congress. Imagine the pettiness of Santorum mixed with the “purity-by-fire” mindset of some Tea Party folk and you can probably imagine the other, slight majority, of people I have to work with in this committee. Can’t stand them, personally.

Where people like myself and a few trusted affiliates are trying to work from within the Republican party to address practical, real world issues through Republican legislation, the other members seem more intent on printing fliers and posters and scheming up new ways to defame the democrats.

They’re threatening to waste all of our lobbying budget on tearing down Democrats and trying(yet ultimately failing) to strict down democrat legislation like Obamacare. They’re too busy hating the enemy and not taking a real-world look about the issues so many of us face. And I’m not saying our proposed legislation is perfect—-but at least it would begin to address the woes of our local, and eventually federal, community.

Those members seem hell-bent on marking their party—–my party—as a zealous extremist party that no one wants to associate with, and people like my and my associates are trying to save a sinking ship——–but it’s hard.

Lastly, so many of them are just so old! And I don’t mean that in a rude way, I mean it in a way where instead of offering any solution to a problem or giving their insight on any of our proposed bills, all they do is insult the current generation(me, thanks for that gramps. Glad your generation plans on being the first immortals so you won’t need to worry about sustainable recruitment to keep up your party’s numbers. Nope, thanks for that.) and obsess over “the good old days”. I think half of them have Alzheimer’s, or maybe they are just that bitter and petty—who knows?

I’ll ask my original question again:

How to operate off of a party that seems intent on destroying itself? I genially believe in Republican ideals and really want to see them positively benefit my community, but people like me are always contested with the “purity-by-fire” Teapublicans and the older generation who can’t seem to be anything other than bitter and petty at everything they see.

Nagesh answers:

I only read the first paragraph of the rant, but what’s going to happen is that we’ll end up with a 3-party system. The Rep is alienating its base, shifting to center instead of right. 1/3 of the party is Tea Party, 1/3 is right of center, and 1/3 is more like you. 2/3 of the party will bail if a RINO runs in 2014. Your third and a third of Dems that are disgusted by the racism, class-ism, and general nastiness of the current DNC will join you.

The Rep party is “sinking” because they have abandoned their core values and core constituents.

Three parties is not necessarily a bad thing.

Susan asks…

Is money really created out of thin air through fractional reserve banking system?

This is for people who know about the fractional reserve banking system. People who heard of the Jerome Daly case are an additional asset. Thank you.

Nagesh answers:

Yes, in a sense it is. But it gets worse. The normal banking system has some reserve requirements. The shadow banking system is unregulated and so has no reserve requirements at all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banking_system
Furthermore, more loans come out of the shadow banking system than come out of the regulated system:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/07/14/128511585/shadow-banking-is-still-bigger-than-traditional-banking

And yes, there are many who consider this to be a great Ponzi scheme and others, such as the justice of the peace in the Jerome Daly case who consider all this “repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights in the Minnesota Constitution”. But the fact is that on a daily basis, we all really do consider credit with a bank to be of real value.

If you want some analogies, consider physics where our normal instincts is to treat matter and energy separately, even though the physicists tell us it is all one and that what we think of as solid is mostly empty space.

Or consider the classic story about stone soup. What counts is not the money itself but what it gets others to do for you and for themselves.

Money is not a thing, it is a relationship. As Krugman notes about Midas and gold:
http://www.pkarchive.org/cranks/goldbug.html
There are differences between gold-backed money and fiat money, but both have their value because of faith – whether faith that people are going to want gold or faith that people will accept fiat money in exchange for gold.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinkerbell_effect

(BTW, for centuries, Chinese money was based on silver, not on gold. Gold was just a pretty metal used for jewelry. So when the Europeans bought all those silks, teas, and porcelains from China, a stream of silver went the other way. Soon Europe was running out of silver even though it still had plenty of gold.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars#European_trade_with_Asia
And even in Europe, silver was the primary money for many years. The silver “thaler” was where the word dollar came from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaler
So the whole idea of gold being the only “real” money is just a joke.)

And just to make the stew even harder to handle, think about Krugman’s babysitting club story:
http://www.slate.com/id/1937/
It all makes perfectly good sense on a piece-meal basis. But just as the lawyers in the story didn’t really understand the solution and the implications for monetary policy in general, neither do most other people, and (guessing from the comments of various economists I’ve read) not even all economists.

In any case, just because money is created out of thin air, doesn’t mean you can create as much as you want without consequences. Create too much and you do get inflation, the value of your money goes down, etc.

(Related to this is the Chartalist idea that the real reason fiat money has value is that the state will accept it for payment of taxes. Since everyone has to pay taxes, everyone needs at least some money.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartalism

Also check out the colonial scrip used because the early colonies didn’t have enough gold.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_American_currency

BTW, none of these ideas and none of this confusion is new. Mark Twain wrote about the nature of money and the surrounding confusion back in 1889 in his “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_Arthur’s_Court

Nancy asks…

How to value yourself more? Is it the same thing as confidence?

I don’t think I value myself as a person. I sometimes think that it would be better if I disappear, or that it’s impossible to succeed in college so why should I try, or that I’m no good to my family because I don’t have any strong aspirations.

I watch successful people on TV all the time and hear their life stories of humble upbringings, but I have no real motivation or drive to make a successful life for myself. How can I value myself more and realize that success should be a life’s goal?

Nagesh answers:

Don’t listen to the depression opinion. That’s bogus.
And don’t base your self worth on fallible things like money and other people. Just be happy you are alive and have a brain and free will.
Are you familiar with a Medieval play called “Everyman”? In the end, the only thing Everyman can take to Heaven is his good deeds. Ultimately, it’s how you treat other people that shows what your value is. You don’t have to be rich or famous. I mean, if that’s what you want, feel free to go after it. I’m just saying that it’s not necessary for a fulfilling life.
Most of the things you see on TV are culturally biased based on our market economy and have no real meaning in the grand scheme of things.
Most of those rags-to-riches stories are bullshit, as they had someone helping them along. And the ones which are true are overblown or very rare cases that are exploited to promote the American Dream–which is more like the American Lottery. (I mean, how do you account for the fact that 90%, at least, of actors in Hollywood don’t make any money as actors? And I would say that at least half of the millionaire actors are related to someone in the industry already.)
If you wanted to go on a game show, you would find that most, if not all, of the contestants are screened beforehand for things like photogenics, good personal stories, and being able to behave themselves well in front of a camera. Why is everyone so bubbly on those game shows?
The same principles apply for anything that involves TV.
Maybe rags to riches did apply in the early to mid 20th century, but not anymore.

Most attitudes and values you see on TV are there to enforce our industrial-military complex.

So… Don’t worry, life is crappy… Be happy.

Daniel asks…

If Atheists rebel against religion and god does that actually make them a Satanist?

and is Satan an atheist? He rebelled against God!!!! does that make him smarter and more Logical??
this is a bit twisted but the question was inspired by an answer I just saw!

of course that would mean that God and Satan is real….not saying that but in the grand scheme of things is this why we atheists are looked down upon more then any other by the theists?

Nagesh answers:

No.In order to be a Satanist one should meet certain conditions.Atheist can rebel against religion, but still be humble, give a lot of money for charities etc which is unappropriate for Satanist.
Satan is theistic Satanist imho

Jenny asks…

Where do I go to find out if a web site is for real?

I got an interesting e-mail and I want to know how I can find out if this is from a real place/company or just another scam ? They aren’t asking for money or anything but I need to check them out. Please tell me how to do it for FREE.

Nagesh answers:

If you do not want to be fooled or get a virus, never ever open attachments or go to a web site that you receive from someone that you do not know or did not sign up for.
Trust me, the only person who is going to make money out of all those schemes will be someone who you got this e-mail from, not you.

Money Making Schemes