Power

In a really simplified way, there are two types of power. There's real power and perceived power. Real power is something like a police man with a gun telling you to stop running or he'll shoot you. A perceived power would be the credit card company threatening to garnish your wages or put a lien on your property if you don't pay, scaring you into paying them off when you weren't planning to anyway. They don't, for those of you who don't know, have the power to do this (the courts do, not them, obviously), but if they scared you into doing what they wanted, that's perceived power.

Keeping that in mind, I was a bit under the weather today and reading a variety of news articles and blogs to pass the time in bed. I even went the extra step and read all the comments under the articles, an interesting experience, to say the least. Two things that are dominating the news stuck out to me.

Health care and banking. No, check that, health care insurance, which is not health care. We can extend this to all major corporations and wall street investing, as well.

Main street and Wall street.

The comments "main street" Americans left time and time again were angry. They felt used. They resented the banks and their practices. They resented the large salaries of the CEOs at the top of the health insurance industries, and elsewhere. They acted like these companies hold a power over us.

This power that main street has given wall street is a perceived power. In the end, we allow these companies to control us. We choose where every dollar we spend goes, except for taxes, which, for the majority of us (bottom 50%), aren't that burdensome.

The wonderful thing about free market (using the term loosely) capitalism, is that every one of us has a small power to affect what companies stay in business and what ones don't. Everyone can choose who to allow to hold their money. No one is forced into mortgages or student loans.

So what exactly am I saying? Let's be radical.

If you don't like the banking industry, don't put your money in a bank or take out a mortgage. If you are upset about how Wall Street executives misuse your investments, don't contribute to your 401(k) or build up your portfolio. If you think health insurances are greedy industries, don't get health insurance.

Don't like the price of college? Don't go to college.

Don't like the interest rates and underhanded tactics of credit card companies? Don't get a credit card.

Your phone company keeps screwing up your bill? Drop your cell phone coverage.

And it goes on.

Can you survive without these entities? Let's start with the easy ones.
No mortgage? Save up while renting and buy your home in cash. Don't like that? Then understand that if you borrow $100k from a bank, you've just given them a little bit of control in your life.
Think it's too risky to keep your money in your house in a fire-proof safe? Then keep it in the bank. Understand, though, that you're contributing to the banking industry and, of course, if they screw up your banking statement, in my mind you chose to let someone else hold your money. Is it safer, though, then risking your money to fire or robbery? That's your choice to make.

No cell phone or satellite tv contracts? No credit cards? I won't even bother with that. Just, succinctly, you chose them, you gave them some power and control in your life.

How about health insurance? Surely that's needed! Everyone needs health care! First, health care isn't health insurance. Understand you have options. Look into a HSA and a high deductible plan, if that seems more financially reasonable.

Or, try this. Don't go to doctors if you think they are overpriced. Take really good care of your own body. Show up only at the ER in life-threatening situations, and then pay off that bill with the money you saved on not having health insurance. If it's really expensive, understand that you can choose how much to pay off of that bill every month, as long as you keep paying.

Oh, the power you didn't even know you had!

Or, if it makes financial sense to you, keep your health insurance. For some people, health insurance is a good idea. Others are just too nervous to go without it. Just understand nobody made you.

Ah, but how could i LIVE? No mortgage? NO BANK? What am I suppose to do, save up for my house? Keep my money with me? What happens if I have to go to the doctor? What am I suppose to do when I want to retire? I NEED my house, my pills, my credit rating, my checking account, my health insurance!

Then understand that you have chosen to give these people control of your pocket, which, invariably, means control of your life.

Sorry, can't send my kid to private school, I need to pay $1000/month in health insurance costs.

Can't go on that vacation for five years, I can't get money I invested in my 401(k) yet.

Every dollar you contribute to one of these industries whose practices upset you so much is a dollar validating its existence.

Every mindset you hold that says I MUST have this or that is giving these industries their perceived power in your life.

Understand what I am saying. I'm not telling you I think you should be doing all of this. What I'm saying is that you choose how much you want to contribute to each aspect of our capitalist system.

That's the beauty of it.