My first blog and I’ve got “writers block”, which for two reasons is ironic. Number one, I’m not a writer (which you will all learn shortly if not already by this first sentence), and two, I always have something to say (which you will….). Still, it sets the tone nicely for the months and years to come given “Champayne Liberal”<sic> or “The Compassionate Capitalist” if you like, really come from the same vein as this irony.
I don’t know if I’m unconventional, different, over analytical, future looking, real, or a combination of them all but the best way to describe me would be “A Contrarian” specifically how Christopher Hitchens describes one - "To be in opposition is not to be a nihilist. And there is no decent or charted way of making a living at it. It is something you are, and not something you do."
If I were a “full time” nihilist (trust me, I have played that role part time) I’d probably be in prison and I certainly wouldn’t be making any money investing. Neither of which are true. Which is kind of the point of this blog, investing that is, not entering prison!
Here is the bottom line when it comes to my investment strategy. Making more money than I had when I started. Profound ay!
I’m not going to spend hours and hours making sure, by 5 degrees of separation a company isn’t using child labour, polluting every river within a 100-mile radius, or burning bunny’s to make sure their shampoo is ok. That’s not to say I don’t care about those things, because I do. It’s just saying that I’m practical and realize that supporting smarter people than I through donations etc will have a much greater impact than me shifting through pages and pages of reports, that I barely understand, and will ultimately misinterpret anyway.
So, my compassion will come in the form of serving on local boards, hanging out with my family at pet shelters, giving to a food bank, avoiding blatent violaters of the previous paragraph, and living an honest and healthy life. Kind of that whole “act local, think global” concept. I do have big plans when I’m in the stratosphere of Bill Gates though (we will get to that stuff on this blog. In this lifetime I hope), but that is more of a bucket list / pie in sky type goal, but who knows, right?
My capitalism will come from an “economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange” (actually, I just intend to ride their coattails and invest in them and excluding the whole “screw you, it’s mine” concept once I have it. And yes! I did steal that definition). Still, it has proven to be the greatest method of making money so I’d be stupid to “cut my nose off to spite my face’ just because I’m a “bottom up” type guy vs. “top down”.
I'm the father-in-law who has just been offered the opportunity to peruse the blog. As you might guess, I have a difficult time trying to keep up with this man's thought process. The fortunate thing, we do tend to operate on the same wave length (note - tend to.) There is no question; my family is paramount in my priorities. Upon the arrival of my grandchildren, my life became central to and of them. Like the Champayne Liberal - hence CL- raising my two daughters was important in respect to their environment and respect of others. We look at the '70's and I was concerned, fearful of the deteriorating economic condition...rising interest rates, oil embargos, cars at 8mpg,(vehicles continue to exceed allowable fuel waste), and yes the concern of the insolvency of Social Security. Sound familiar? If we are aware of the problem, we are much more likely to respond to those concerns. CL is starting out to respond to our "present day" concerns. That is the light for the future. Do you think it is too late or too little? Do you want to take part, or go about your own little world and get what we can and as fast as possible and screw the rest of these misguided CLs. Anxious to hear your response, your solutions, your diatribes.
ReplyDeleteUnefing believable, CL has managed to drag my 65yr old body kicking and screaming into the 21st century to write in a BLOG. My wife said I was just dragged into the 20th century.