SecondLife Economic Blog

Still Going Strong

2006-10-31T01:15:00.000-06:00

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Despite the best efforts of SL communists and terrorist insurgents, I live on! My shop is bigger than ever, my sales are greater than ever, and my products are greater than ever.

I can only thank the true SL capitalists for saving the day. We capitalists know that when it comes down to the line, communists are pussies who head for the hills whenever real work is involved. As a SL merchant, I have rolled up my sleeves and created unprecedented distribution agreements. I have created opportunity where the communists would have created dispair.

I promise that this blog will be updated more frequently and serve as a beacon for all true capitalists. The days of the communists are numbered as the vast majority have been banned or tucked tail and run.

Capitalism v. Communism

2006-06-07T12:40:00.000-05:00

Money Makes the World Go Round! And Round... And Round...

There is a lot of confusion over why Capitalism is superior to Communism. I've begun the argument by posting here http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=112281 in the SecondLife forums.

Here is a repost of that opening argument (with additional comments below):

Communism:
Homeless people: Your problem
Social Security: Your problem
Universal Health Coverage: Your problem
Universal Education Coverage: Your problem
Lazy Workers: Your problem
One Party State: Your problem
Unproductive Members of Society: Your problem
Feeding Everyone: Your problem

Capitalism:
Homeless people: Not Your problem
Social Security: Not Your problem
Universal Health Coverage: Not Your problem
Universal Education Coverage: Not Your problem
Lazy Workers: Not Your problem
One Party State: Not Your problem
Unproductive Members of Society: Not Your problem
Feeding Everyone: Not Your problem
*****End of SL Forum Post********

Let me be frank:

I don't care about your personal financial sitaution. I don't care if you are working three jobs to make ends meet. I don't care about your goals in life. I don't care if you're married, divorced, gay, or seperated. I don't care where you live. I don't care if you have medical coverage.

You're beginning to get the idea. In a Capitalist society, its every person (or group) for themselves. We are not encumbered by responsibility to those who we don't care about. "Charity" becomes a personal choice of who and how much to support. A personal decision made by every person.

You may think I'm being harsh, but in reality I'm not. Be honest with yourself. You don't REALLY care about people outside your sphere of influence and yet under many current economic systems you are forced to subsidize their problems. Its simply not fair.

Thats why true Capitalism wins. It allows the individual to decide what matters to them and what does not. It allows for the quick elimination of unacceptable handicaps through personal action.

Communism fails because under that system everyone is responsible for "the public good" whether or not they support those aims.

Thats why Capitalism wins.

Flashback in Time.... and a look forward!

2006-05-26T14:11:00.000-05:00

On February 2, 2006, I predicted SL would go into a major depression resulting from currency devaluation. Well Chickadees, looks like Second Life's Greatest Economic Mind (tm) has been proven right.

I knew this would happen and I warned you, the little people, about it then. Those of you who have listened have profited handsomely. As for you osteriches who chose to ignore me - well, enjoy living in your outhouses.

So where is the L$ headed in the future? WAY DOWN. To at least exchange rates of L$500 / $1 USD. Why? Because Linden Labs refuses to cease the all-night printing presses that are creating L$60,000,000 of new Lindens per month.

By year's end we will have a money supply of over L$1,000,000,000.

Can you spare a million, brother?

SECONDLIFE ECONOMY ON VERGE OF DEPRESSION!!!

2006-02-02T17:26:00.000-06:00

This current economic downswing might be "the big one"

The L$ is rapidy tumbling vs the USD and shows no signs of letting up. Unless quick action is taken by Philip Linden and the LL leadership the SL economy may enter a severe recession or even a depression. Today, the L$ hit a new low at L$290 per each $1 USD. At this rate, the currency has plunged 14% against the US dollar in a matter of only a few weeks - and its fall is accelerating!!

If this plunge continues, how long will business and content creators be able to continue to operate if they can't meet their real-world obligations (such as tier fees and uploading charges)?

Its up to everyone to do their part to put an end to this economic crisis. Here is what you can do:

1. Post a message on the forums at www.secondlife.com and let LL know that you're very concerned with the L$'s fall.
2. Don't be part of the crowd - don't sell your L$ at these panic-induced prices
3. Be sure to do your part by being active in the SL business community affairs.
4. If you rely on SL to meet RW financial obligations, consider stocking up on important RW goods such as toilet paper and gasoline so that if the L$ continues falling you will not have to worry about being able to buy these.
5. Spread the word.

News from the Front - Jamie Bergman Highly Decorated Capitatlist Hero

2006-01-30T18:37:00.000-06:00

Jamie Bergman, Highly Decorated Capitalist Hero

The battle for SL has been raging for three months now. Capitalistic forces, led by President Jamie Bergman have been inflicting staggering casualties on the Communists. There is evidence that the Communists are on the verge of defeat. Now is not the time to retreat... now is the time to begin the final assault.

In a ceremony attended by SL's most influential capitalists, Jamie Bergman was bestowed the Congressional SL Medal of Honor for her work in defeating the insurgent Communists. Jamie promised to continue the fight until victory.

God Bless America and God Bless SecondLife!!!

Why All the Hostility to the Global Economy?

2005-12-22T10:42:00.000-06:00

Lets face it, the days of unions, fat paycheck for doing jacksh*t, and employment security are over in the United States - and most of Europe. These days you have to be constantly evolving, learning, improving to get ahead in the world.And whats wrong with that? Instead of sitting on your butt and growing mold like a decaying log, workers are now forced to constantly come up with more innovative ways to add value to their organization. Isn't this what Capitalism is all about?

And yet, those who call themselves Capitalists often deplore the emerging global economy. Why can't they just get over it and accept the fact that if you're not adding value, you're not going to get ahead.These days, its just not economically feasible to do certain things in some geographic areas - take manufacturing for example - there is no way an American factory can pay a good wage (lets say $20 per hour) when another company can open up a factory in China and pay 11 cents per hour. If you're a factory worker, its probably time to get some new skills - just accept the fact and move on. Otherwise, you'll probably end up out of a job and working at McDonalds.

So what do you do? Get your batchelors degree, get your Masters degree, get your Ph.D. Do SOMETHING!!! Don't just sit around and moan about the fact that you lost your good paying job - its gone!!

Make a positive impact in your life and in the global economy!

Significant Places: Freedom Wall

2005-12-04T21:24:00.000-06:00

God Bless SecondLife!

The Freedom Wall stands tall in Shepherd by the newly established Armory Overstock store. Starting at the ground and stretching 100 meters into the sky, this patchwork quilt of Capitalistic values serves as a haven to all SecondLife huddled masses.

God Bless SecondLife!

Freedom Has Been Defended!

2005-11-30T13:41:00.000-06:00

God Bless America!

In a stunning reversal of fortune, Communist insurgent forces lost their base of operations in the SecondLife forums minutes ago. General Jeska Linden, after reviewing the slanderous lies and treachery of the insurgents deemed the forum posts to be unworthy of publication and promptly closed them - effectively cleaning the forums rebel insurgents.

In my humble opinion and on behalf of Freedom loving peoples everywhere, Jeska Linden deserves the Medal of Freedom for her heroic acts of bravery.

For Valor in the Defense of Freedom

Freedom has been defended. Capitalism still reigns supreme in the virtual land of opportunity that is SecondLife.

Primer: A [Short] History of Communism

2005-11-28T20:37:00.000-06:00

We all know that zany social experiment called communism was one of the most tragic and farsical experiences in the annuals of humanity. In the real world Communism is dead.

We should have known communism was doomed when we found out the Soviet Union couldn't even preserve the body of Lenin correctly.

So you can imagine my surprise when, after a few weeks in SecondLife, I learned that the tenants of Communism were alive and well in-world. Like those Imperial Japanese holdouts who continued fighting WWII long after the Emperor threw in the towel, these curious SL inhabitants cling to their defunct ideology. I suppose it should not be too surprising that communism would thrive in SecondLife, because a fake world is the only place communism would have *even a remote* chance of succeeding. Although communistic forces are a small minority of the inhabitants of SecondLife, they have a very vocal presence on the forums.

My main beef with Salamis (my slang for SL Communist - as in 'salami') is that they have their heads up their asses when it comes to economics. Everyone in the free world knows that to survive in this world you must go out and produce more than you consume. If you don't, you starve. Life's a bitch, Deal With It.

Jamie Bergman, Capitalist Hero

Communists, however, have a problem with this law of nature. You see, a communist believes that everyone should be given things according to their needs and produce according to their ability. Sounds great in theory. But lets face it, people are assholes. If everybody knows this is the name of the game, everyone acts like the proverbial retard. Thus, everybody has a great amount of needs, but a low ability to produce.

This was always the downfall of communistic societies. Everyone produced way less than they consumed. So how did the communistic nations support this imbalance? Slave labor, mostly. Joe Stalin (Supreme Ruler of Russia 1933 - 1953) realized that Russia sucked. Mama Stalin: "Ooooh! Just wait till your father gets home - He's gonna send your ass to the gulag for another 7 years for this stunt!"

In order to modernize it, he found convenient scapegoats and factions of society that he didn't like and cast them as traitors. Russian citizens, long used to heavy handed father figures and injustice, gladly went along with Papa Joe as he hauled millions of their fellow contrymen off to the gulags. Hey, they didn't want to be the ones going to Siberia - and who could blame them? They were perfectly happy to be living it up in the mid-20th century harvesting their crops by hand and shitting in their outhouses.

While an alarming portion of the population slaved away in labor camps, this freed the rest of the nation to pretend to work. Ambitious 5 year plans were drawn up. Unrealistic production goals and scientific achievements were mandated. And after the defeat of Germany, the Soviet Union realized that it needed to continue to stockpile weapons to prevent against further aggression from the imperalistic aims of the United States.

Eventually, as all scams do, the entire system collapsed. Even more embarrasing was that the Soviet military - long feared by the West - turned out to be nothing more than a bunch of tin cans shoddily welded together.

Soviet Armored Division (circa 1991)

What can we learn from this failed experiement in social engineering? The main lesson is that when you deprive people of the ability to directly improve their lives they become less interested in work. Hey, if you get paid the same amount as everybody else it doesn't matter if you shovel 1 ton of coal or 50 tons, does it?

While it would be nice if we could all just work together for the common good of all humanity its pretty damn obvious we can't. We're selfish.

Therefore, Capitalism is not only the moral choice... its the only choice.

Capitalism at its Finest... Drink it up, Bitches.

Be Involved With Your SL Economic Community!

2005-11-26T20:41:00.000-06:00

Don't Let This Be You! Be Involved in Making a Change for Capitalism and the Free Market in SecondLife. Fight Communistic Forces!

It begins

2005-11-26T14:18:00.000-06:00

History has been made. Today, November 26th, 2005 is a date which will live in SL history forever. Its the day I have opened my doors to you, the Second Life community, and will share my rich knowledge of the SecondLife economy.

So keep checking back. By following my tips and advice, you'll be a successful SL businessperson in no time at all.

All the Best,
Jamie Bergman