morality in a vaccuum
Apr. 26th, 2013 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanSo I mentioned I've been reading books about investing.
It has been pretty educational. One particular piece of advice that sounds like it makes a lot of sense is that in times of good economy you want to invest in discretionary spending. When people have extra money companies that make that things that they want tend to do well - entertainment, travel, "stuff". In a recession, on the other hand, you want to invest in necessities, things that people have no choice but to spend money on. Things like food and fuel.
So I'm not talking about a lot of money here. I'm going to be able to afford a handful of shares a year. It makes sense to stick to things that are likely to do well. And in Canada, that means we are probably talking about the tar sands.
Well fuck me.
Just in case anybody doesn't know about the Canadian tar sands project, it is a massive filthy health & environment nightmare. A doctor who treated aboriginal people in the area was fired by the province for filing a report about how often his patients show up with rare cancers. It has resulted in the world's second highest rate of deforestation after the Amazon Basin. The EPA estimates the greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands oil is approximately 82% higher than conventional oil and we are talking about a shitload of dirty oil here. And the whole ting is operating with the legal and financial blessings of a Conservative government that is pro-oil, pro-Alberta, pro-"environmentalists are terrorists", and pro-big profits for the 1% and fuck everybody else. This is a project that prints money.
So before you say anything, I get that I don't have to give the oil companies my paltry few dollars if I don't want to. But if the goal of this experiment is to see how much money I can make on my own, there is a very good chance that this going to result in putting funds into things that I have a real ethical problem with simply because those are the things that my government is currently supporting. (Harper is planning on privatizing jails! I could in on the ground floor of that!) Plus I already have an RRSP, so I'm pretty sure that when I go home tonight and look at what the funds manager has done with that money I'm going to find some stuff in there that makes me wince.
So that is the thought process that led to me finally figuring out that I am in the position that some of my retirement money going to be made off of things that I am simultaneously voting against, signing petitions against and occasionally donating funds towards groups to work against.
Huh.
Like I needed another reason to hate the Conservatives.
It has been pretty educational. One particular piece of advice that sounds like it makes a lot of sense is that in times of good economy you want to invest in discretionary spending. When people have extra money companies that make that things that they want tend to do well - entertainment, travel, "stuff". In a recession, on the other hand, you want to invest in necessities, things that people have no choice but to spend money on. Things like food and fuel.
So I'm not talking about a lot of money here. I'm going to be able to afford a handful of shares a year. It makes sense to stick to things that are likely to do well. And in Canada, that means we are probably talking about the tar sands.
Well fuck me.
Just in case anybody doesn't know about the Canadian tar sands project, it is a massive filthy health & environment nightmare. A doctor who treated aboriginal people in the area was fired by the province for filing a report about how often his patients show up with rare cancers. It has resulted in the world's second highest rate of deforestation after the Amazon Basin. The EPA estimates the greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands oil is approximately 82% higher than conventional oil and we are talking about a shitload of dirty oil here. And the whole ting is operating with the legal and financial blessings of a Conservative government that is pro-oil, pro-Alberta, pro-"environmentalists are terrorists", and pro-big profits for the 1% and fuck everybody else. This is a project that prints money.
So before you say anything, I get that I don't have to give the oil companies my paltry few dollars if I don't want to. But if the goal of this experiment is to see how much money I can make on my own, there is a very good chance that this going to result in putting funds into things that I have a real ethical problem with simply because those are the things that my government is currently supporting. (Harper is planning on privatizing jails! I could in on the ground floor of that!) Plus I already have an RRSP, so I'm pretty sure that when I go home tonight and look at what the funds manager has done with that money I'm going to find some stuff in there that makes me wince.
So that is the thought process that led to me finally figuring out that I am in the position that some of my retirement money going to be made off of things that I am simultaneously voting against, signing petitions against and occasionally donating funds towards groups to work against.
Huh.
Like I needed another reason to hate the Conservatives.