hamster with a credit card

I make things... ...to get money... . ..to buy things other people made... ...who made those things to get money... ...to buy things other people made... and so on...

Of course, the reality is more complicated. There are many different ways of making and buying things. We can make, sell and buy food, ideas, labor, our kidney, etc. We can make things with our own hands. We can work (sell our labor) in a company that makes things. We can hire people (buy their labor) who will make things for us to sell. We can give (invest) money to a person or company that will use it to make things to sell.

There are many forms and permutations. But if you look at their bare-bone basics, they just boil down to:

[Person A] expends effort to get resources to buy what [Person B] expends effort to make so that he can get resources to buy what [Person C] expends effort to make so that he can get resources to buy what [Person D] expends effort to make so that he can get resources to buy what [Person E]... and so on...

This circularity is dizzying if you think about it.

This hamster... this is us.

[Amazing how we've managed to build entire civilizations, philosophies, and TED talks around what is essentially a rodent exercise routine.]

But there are easy things you can do to escape this mess such as:

[1] Be born into rich parents [2] Be extremely hot (so you can seduce #1 who is born into rich parents) [3] Slave away until you can pay people to slave away for you. (In other words, be an entrepreneur) [4] Just ignore everything and everyone. Be a hippie or a hikikomori.

[I've tried option 4, but it turns out even city hermits need to buy food.]

Of course, it's not as bad as I make it out to be.

When you get tired of this BS, you can always watch Netflix to escape for a while. For less than $20 per month ($10 here where I am). It's cheaper than therapy and roughly as effective.

Or, if you're like me, you can buy a new book (again) that will rot in your shelf unread. That's just $10-25 and you're happy again. [My bookshelf is a museum of abandoned interests.]

Or... you can scroll on Tiktok. This is free! You don't have to pay money. The advertisers already bought your attention. [Such a bargain! Trading only your finite attention span and personal data for an infinite scroll of dance challenges? What a steal!]

A $4 ice cream will make you feel good for about 15 minutes.

The new iPhone will make you forget you're tired for about a week. [Week one: "This is amazing!" Week two: "Where's the next model?"]

It feels soo good to be a consumer!

Especially when you consider the alternative–which is Mao's China or now’s North Korea. I'll choose my credit card statement any day!

I just wish that the 600-billion dollar advertising industry does a better job in convincing me that this hamster wheel is a luxury cruise so I can run happier.

NTS: Keep running, hamster King! The cheese is just around the corner.

Voices in my head Voice 1: Here you go again with your binary thinking. It’s not an either/or thing where the only choices are capitalism vs. communist dictatorship. Voice 2: I know. But it’s more fun to be dramatic than correct. Voice 3: 🎵💃🕺🎶 Voice 4: I want ice cream!