cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/5944604
Hey I am currently in the privileged position to think about what I do with the money I saved as an emergency fund. Do I put it in an account that gets interest so less gets lost to inflation?
But from my understanding the bank can only pay that interest because they loaned the money to someone that uses it to exploit people labor or extracts rent from them etc.
Where I live saving for retirement is currently not that big of a thing because its something the state manages, but what do folks do that dont have that?
Should anarchists buy stocks or what else should they do with money that exceeds their safety needs?
The premise is ridiculous imo. Yes, banks are exploitative, but the reality is that we must do what we need to so we can survive. The saying “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” extends to every facet of life. An emergency fund placed in a bank account is a good idea to ensure you can maintain a minimum standard of living.
As for investing, here in the US it’s damn near impossible to retire without a 401k investment portfolio. I would like to not work some day, so I need to invest. One of the most insidious parts of capitalism is how it compells unwilling people to participate through the state apparatus. Remember, Engels was a capitalist and bankrolled Marx to get the revolution running. Having money isn’t a bad thing, until it’s time to abandon the need for money.
We set our money on fire each day, as the good lord intended.
The problem with buying and owning stocks is that it’s set up in a way where the owning class always benefits more than you do. Obviously you have to take care of yourself but that’s going to be a contradiction hanging over your head at all times.
In an ideal world we wouldn’t have to participate in the capitalist economy at all, so do what you can to get us to that future.
So, what is an ethical stock or fund to buy?
Generally you should do what:
- Maximizes your personal well-being (though note I’m not saying “wealth”, because they two are not always the same), and
- Satisfies your personal and ideological principles as well as possible, at least to the point where you can live with yourself.
Just because we have systemic critiques doesn’t mean we should go live in a cave and eat bugs. To the degree possible we should prefigure the society we want to build, but torturing ourselves individually to do it is both unproductive and likely takes away from our focus on more important things like organizing and taking direct action that impacts the system. We do tend to make personal sacrifices to further our ideological goals, but there’s both a practical limit and one where we shouldn’t be cruel to each other in our expectations.
Many of us are vegans. Most of us probably avoid buying shares in oil companies. But all of our circumstances are different. Perhaps people salting Chevron to radicalize union organizing there will wind up with its stocks in their retirement accounts that are difficult to divest from without harming their ability to retire, due to their particular circumstances. It seems pretty shitty to expect someone to just get rid of them without us having some kind of dependable (e.g. mutual aid) infrastructure in place to take care of each other in our old age.
My sentiments exactly.
I gotta eat too, foo!
Buy land and deed it to one of the trees on it.
