Structural Violence

Here’s what it is:

• “a form of violence where some social structure or social institution purportedly harms people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs.”

Here’s what I think of:

• “At any given time in the past decade, less than 1 percent of the American population has been on active military duty1% of the population serves in the military.“
• “Nearly two-thirds of Army recruits… came from counties in which median household income is below the U.S. median.“
• “Does the military purposely go into lower socioeconomic neighborhoods and schools to recruit?… Yes.“

On one hand, it makes sense: going into the military is a great way for someone from poverty to escape the poverty and lack of opportunity.

On the other hand: it looks like we intentionally send our poor into battle, convincing them that “It is sweet and right to die for your country“.

Would you trade two years for complete financial freedom?

Would you trade 2-4 years of:

• No smartphone
• No cable TV
• No internet at home
• No car payment
• Conserving gas: walking, riding bike
• No new clothes
• No eating at restaurants
• Careful shopping for groceries

For complete financial freedom?*

(* having enough money and not needing to work.)

———————————–

Scenario #1

• Unmarried high school grad. (18 years old)
• Earns $15 hour.
• Works full-time (40 hrs/week)
• $15*8 hrs/day = $120 – 20% taxes = $96/day
• $96*20 workdays/month = $1,920/month * 12 months = $23,040/yr
• Saves 50% of income = $11,520/year * 4 yrs (while peers are racking up massive debt in college)
• Earn 15% interest on investment
  • Yr 1: $11,520 + 15% = $13,248
  • Yr 2: $13,248 + 11,520 + 15% = $28,483
  • Yr 3: $28,483 + 11,520 + 15% = $46,000
  • Yr 4: $46,000 + 11,520 + 15% = $66,148
• Then, you stop living on half your income, but you don’t touch the $66,148 invested and keep earning 15% per year.
  • In five yrs = $133,047 (you’ll be 27 years old)
  • In ten yrs = $267,605 (you’ll be 32)
  • At this point, if you continue to earn 15%, your nest egg will make $40,140 per year. You are free to live.

Scenario #2

• Married couple, both spouses work full-time. Earn $50,000 per year together.
• You save half your income = $25,000 per year.
• Earn 15% interest on investment
  • Yr 1: $25,000 + 15% = $28,750
  • Yr 2: $28,750 + 25,000 + 15% = $61,812
• Then you stop living on half your income. But don’t touch the $61,812.
• Two years is not a long time. It is shorter than college.
• The nest egg continues to earn 15% per year.
  • In five yrs = $124,326
  • In ten yrs = $250,100
• If you continue to earn 15% interest annually, your nest egg makes $37,515. You are free to live.

Scenario #3

• Married couple, both spouses work full-time. Starting out with professional jobs. Earn $80,000 per year together
• You save half your income = $40,000 per year.
• Earn 15% interest on investment
  • Yr 1: $40,000 + 15% = $46,000
  • Yr 2: $46,000 + 40,000 + 15% = $98,900
• Then you stop living on half your income. But don’t touch the $98,900.
• Two years is not a long time. It is shorter than college.
• The nest egg continues to earn 15% per year.
  • In five yrs = $198,923.
  • In ten yrs = $400,105. At this point, @ 15%, you earn $60,015/yr.

The danger in each scenario: national stock market corrections. We had a tiny one in 1987, and large ones in 2000 and in 2008.

Note: Two years, five years, ten years are going to go by anyway (that’s how time works). Do you want to continue to trade hours for dollars, or do you want to set up something amazing for yourself (and offspring)?

Copy the best. John D. Rockefeller was the richest man in modern history. He said:

“And as I was saving these little sums, I soon learned I could get as much interest for $50 loaned at seven per cent — the legal rate in the state of New York at that time for a year — as I could earn by digging potatoes ten days. The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let money be my slave and not make myself a slave to money. I have tried to remember that in every sense.”

———————————–

Each scenario at a more conservative 10% interest:

Senario #1:

• Yr 1: $12,672
• Yr 2: $26,611
• Yr 3: $41,944
• Yr 4: $58,810
• In five yrs: $94,714
• In ten yrs: $152,537 (@ 10% = $15,253/yr)

Scenario #2:

• Yr 1: $27,500
• Yr 2: $57,750
• In five yrs: $93,006
• In ten yrs: $149,788 (@ 10% = $14,978/yr)

Scenario #3:

• Yr 1: $44,000
• Yr 2: $92,400
• In five yrs: $148,811.
• In ten yrs: $239,661 (@ 10% = $23,966/yr)

———————————–

Appendix A: The S&P 500:

• 2012 (YTD): 11%
• 2011: 1%
• 2010: 11%
• 2009: 26%
• 2008: -40%
• 2007: 4%
• 2006: 13%
• 2005: 5%
• 2004: 9%
• 2003: 20%

Cumulative: 59%
If you invested $10,000 in the S&P 500 in 2003, it would be worth $15,900 today. If you cut out 2008 (maybe you sold to avoid a big loss), it would be worth $32,000.

Appendix B: AAPL:

• 2012 (YTD): 38%
• 2011: 25%
• 2010: 54%
• 2009: 115%
• 2008: -57%
• 2007: 129%
• 2006: 22%
• 2005: 128%
• 2004: 201%
• 2003: 32%

Cumulative: 7837%. Or… if you cut out 2008, 18,000%. Wow.
$10,000 invested in AAPL at the start of 2003, would be worth $793,700 today. If you cut out 2008 (maybe you sold to avoid loss), it would be worth $1,810,000.

Things you must see

…on the internet (has it become our world?):

Flowchart of Superpowers #2
and Superpowers #1
I have linked to their work before. Make art.

The world in text 
So beautiful I caught my breath. This could have been really cheap and crappy (or non-existent), but someone made art.

The Apple family tree: Apple platforms through the years
All of ‘em. Bless you Steve Jobs. (He made art.)

The greatest Halloween costume ever.
(Click through the eight pages) I hope the story is true.

Overcoming creative block

National Hero Registration
There simply is nothing better than great ideas, well executed.

Jeremyville CSA banners for Facebook.
So good. My favorite.

Call in sick.

We Love Typography.
Yes, we do.

Great Minds Like a Think.
Fun/chilling prints from The Economist

Best things of the day.

The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent

Why Nations Fail

The Golden Circle (watch the video)

Apple. Facebook. Amazon. Seth Godin + Progressive

APPLE. Apple’s stock is at its 52-week all-time high.

FACEBOOK. Facebook is down again today to a new low. I think they are still over-valued. Their market capitalization is $41 billion, and I don’t think they’re a $41 billion company. That would mean, all things equal, that they make 15 times less profit than Apple Computer. Except they don’t. They make almost 60 times less profit. (last quarter: Apple, $11.6 billion. Facebook, $205 million)

AMAZON. In related news: Amazon.com’s P/E ratio. Have you seen it? 295. Unbelievable. And unsustainable. No investors are that optimistic. What’s going on here?

SETH GODIN and PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE. I’ll stop saying it when it stops being true: but Seth Godin has the best page on the Internet. Today he discusses what Progressive Insurance did recently. My favorite line from his post today:

“They bet on short memories and the healing power of marketing dollars, commercials and discounts.”

Inequality

Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz on The Daily Show.

America has become the most unequal of all the advanced industrial countries.