[Ibon]

Let's go ahead and indulge the political right and left and first identify all the social parasites; on the left's hit list are banks and hedge fund managers, corporate lobbyists, the whole financial system that rigs our debt ridden economy and profits from it. On the right's hit list are the anchor babies, the welfare moms pumping out a half dozen kids, social entitlement programs, etc. On both parties hit list are corrupt politicians.

So will the ecological niche of social parasite stay the same, increase or decrease with the upcoming constraints and other consequences of human overshoot we all predict will increase to a greater or lesser extent as the 21st century proceeds.

What's your opinion?

[Pops]

The bigger they are...

Little people know how to get by, they do it all the time, usually have been for generations.

In a big deflation, it seems to me the assets with the most inflated, least real world value will deflate the most and those thinking they were set will be totally upset. IOW anything whose value is based on the assumption of BAU falls the moment Business becomes un-Usual.

Your little house may become worthless, except for it's value as a house. But so does the $2Mill drywall-manse.

So I guess I still think it depends on how well you "diversify" into real things.

[PrestonSturges]

In a period of deflation, cash is king and investing in anything is folly. The baseline goal of investing is to stay ahead of inflation, so if there is no inflation, there is no need to invest. The wealthy are parking huge hoards of cash. That sounds like a strategy best suited for war, plague, general chaos.

[hvacman]

Ibon - thank you for bringing this situation to our attention. This is outrageous! Social Parasites, with predatory pressures from both left and right, as well as habitat loss due to Climate Change, continue to suffer steep population declines. Though it is not at first obvious, Social Parasites serve a vital niche in our complex cultural ecology, a niche so elusive that only Trained Experts can find it. Clearly, revisions to the Endangered Species Act MUST be quickly made to place S. Parasitium on the Federal protected list. Call or write your Congressional representative NOW and tell them to STOP this madness or else S. Parasitium will vanish in the dustbin of natural history. Our children will never forgive us.

First they came for the Social Parasites. Then they came for the Trained Experts. Finally, they decimated the staff of the Ministry of Silly Walks. Where will it all end?

[SeaGypsy]

President Aquino in the Philippines has made 'ending corruption' top priority for his 5 year term. A functional autistic with zero chance of reelection, his efforts resulted in about 2 dozen senior judges & pollies charged, nearly all are still out on bail & elections due May. Ping in China- 30,000+ senior officials charged in 2 years.

[Rod_Cloutier]

My employer recently told me when I applied for promotion, that they can't promote me within the firm as I don't have a university degree. This is a tough break at 45. I have a partial university degree from the 80's, and I've thought If I could complete it, I'd have a shot at advancement.

I went to the bank to apply for a small revolving line of credit, to finance the cost of going back to university part-time to finish my degree 25 years later. The bank told me that even with my wife co-signing, and two full time blue collar jobs, that we don't qualify for revolving credit and I've been declined. That small loans of only of only a couple of thousand aren't worth their while to provide, and they suggested that I go and get a high interest credit card.

So basically, the banks only lend to people who don't need the money. If you need the money, you're out of luck. I can't think of a more parasitical entity in our society other than banks.

Real people, with blue collar jobs who do real work don't cut it. It's sad really, I often imagine what life would be like if society and our social institutions actually worked and made sense? Banks instead are too busy gambling our social savings away to the tune of hundreds of billions in high finance boondoggles that do not do any real good to anyone but the already rich.

If 'the system' really does collapse, maybe real work will become of value again.

[Ibon]

Social parasites jailed and money returned to the people in Iceland

http://www.ewao.com/a/first-they-jailed ... bank-sale/

Iceland made world news by jailing their crooked bankers that had an involvement in the 2008 financial crisis, and now they will pay every Icelander for the sale of Íslandsbanki, one of its largest banks.

If Bjarni Benediktsson, Finance Minister has his way, Icelanders will receive kr 30,000 after their government has ownership of the bank. Íslandsbanki will be the second largest bank, of three, under State proprietorship.

Benediktsson stated, “I am saying that the government take [sic] some decided portion, 5%, and simply hand it over to the people of this country.”

[onlooker]

Yes, I think in the future the social parasites/outcasts will be those who display the vices of the present such as greed, narcissism, selfishness, wanton destruction of the Commons etc. I do believe that if we can manage to survive what is coming, the survivors will be setting some very strict codes of conduct and behavior.

[ennui2]

And yet in past collapses, what do we see? Communes? Not really. More of a reversion to might-make-right. Warlordism and feudalism.

[onlooker]

Yes wars and feudalism but also well knit and united groups and strict codes of conduct.

[PrestonSturges]

My employer recently told me when I applied for promotion, that they can't promote me within the firm as I don't have a university degree. This is a tough break at 45. I have a partial university degree from the 80's, and I've thought If I could complete it, I'd have a shot at advancement.

Ask HR if you can get reimbursed by the company for tuition. This usually requires the boss' approval.

[Outcast_Searcher]

My employer recently told me when I applied for promotion, that they can't promote me within the firm as I don't have a university degree. This is a tough break at 45. I have a partial university degree from the 80's, and I've thought If I could complete it, I'd have a shot at advancement.

This happens way too much in large corporations. I had a friend who was, literally, off the scale smart in math, who like me, graduated from college in the early 80's. He literally scored so high on the "separate the men from the boys" annual math aptitude test in high school that it made the rest of us in my state look like peasants who could only count to five while he was Isaac Newton, inventing integral calculus. (I exaggerate, but only moderately).

However, in his job at Bell Labs (at AT&T) he was flatly told he couldn't be promoted no matter what he did without more advanced degrees (even though his job was basically applied math, and he went to a good technical college for his BS degree).

So he said "To hell with that" and went and worked at a small university computing center making far less money but really enjoying his job. Bell Labs' loss.

[MD]

The rhetoric on this site occasionally reminds me of Nero fiddling...

[Newfie]

It's interesting to see how broad the definition of "social parasite" is. Middle management, bankers now being included.

I just went on SS, does that make my Wife and I social parasites? I kind of like the idea actually. I've taken to calling myself a "boat bum". Maybe now I can expand it to Social Paracite:Boat Bum.

I think an argument that most of us are social parasites could be made. If talked about useless jobs elsewhere. How better to describe a social parasite than someone who has a useless job?

Although I do think those jobs have a purpose, "welfare with dignity". It's just a wealth distribution system. Which sounds pretty close to the "waste distribution system" mentioned above.

[ennui2]

According to Agent Smith, all humans are parasites.

[careinke]

It's interesting to see how broad the definition of "social parasite" is. Middle management, bankers now being included.

I just went on SS, does that make my Wife and I social parasites? I kind of like the idea actually. I've taken to calling myself a "boat bum". Maybe now I can expand it to Social Paracite:Boat Bum.

I think an argument that most of us are social parasites could be made. If talked about useless jobs elsewhere. How better to describe a social parasite than someone who has a useless job?

Although I do think those jobs have a purpose, "welfare with dignity". It's just a wealth distribution system. Which sounds pretty close to the "waste distribution system" mentioned above.

Social Security is simply a return of your money, that you loaned to the government for a while. I would not consider that parasitic. (Yes I know that's not how it really works)

[Timo]

Ibon, before i answer, what's your definition of a social parasite? You listed several examples of people who are considered to be parasites by both liberals and conservatives, but what is your personal definition? I ask because for all practical purposes, i consider nearly every single human being to be a social parasite. We all harvest what is afforded to us by the societies we live in. Is a parasite someone who takes more than their share? Someone who takes more than their contribution? Someone who takes more at the expense of others? However you define a social parasite, i can assure you that anyone with a more conservative ideology will disagree with you, and will have their own definition.

That's not to say it's a bad question. Not at all! I just think that everyone's answers will be dependent on their own interpretation of what defines a social parasite. I'm a social parasite. I get paid for being one. Thank you very much. I appreciate your contributions to my livelihood. This is all to say that if we weren't all social parasites, we would not have any civilized society. We all collectively live off the contributions of others, structured within a civilized society. Some do it better than others, and some are severely abusive in their abilities to live off of others contributions.

Actually politicians are the ultimate parasites. Separate the word "politics" into it's distinct components. "Poly" means many. "Tics" are blood sucking parasites. Ergo, politicians are human blood sucking parasites.

All except for Bernie. (You're welcome Six!)