Contracting for souls and the seventh generation
Just a quick stupid thought, curiosity over the legal power of contracts.
Strangely people have a legal RIGHT to sign a contract that is against their long term self-interest. People have a right to be stupid. They have a right to be desparate enough to agree to "the small print" in exchange for something they think they want NOW.
Mostly I'm thinking of money, people signing themselves into debt, an agreement to make outrageous interest rates for the privledge of having money now.
My curiosity wonders how far this can go. If I sign my name that I'm going to buy a jewel for $1,000,000 that is only worth $10, then I've got my $10 stone, and a happy person who will be expecting regular payments from me.
It is overall strange, since personal experience suggest people who BORROW money have all the power and lenders can be strung along for YEARS before getting a clue that good intentions are not enough to get back the money you foolishly gave them under the illusion of a loan.
If I signed my name that I'm your personal slave for life, is this a binding contract? I mean you'll give me something I want, like maybe a signed autograph picture of the late great Kirby Pucket perhaps, so it IS a fair deal.
I guess it all comes down to enforcement. As long as I THINK I'm your slave, everything is okay, but if I decide I no longer WANT to act as your slave, what power do you have to force me?
Not much I expect, unless you ARE the local law. Well, I suppose in some times and places enforcing slavery is in the law, but overall, here in the land of the free, not much can be done but take me to court perhaps.
Mostly I write because it is hurtful to me to have friends and family taken for suckers by money grubbing hustlers. I suppose I can take THEM to court as well, in defense of loved ones who are stupid enough to sign their names to outrageous exploitive contracts.
Still fools are in the eye of the beholder perhaps, and there's LOTS of crazy places of diminishing returns where people OUGHT to know better but follow a losing path to their grave.
Things as simple as owning a car. If you're making minimum wage and divide the costs of car ownership with your hours of work to pay for it, you may just find you'd save time by working less and WALKING MORE!
Myriads of examples surely, and I worry about people. I'm one of those people smart enough to "play the game" without getting eaten alive, but once I figure out the scam, I'm as often as not too pissed to play, even if knowing the rules really puts me ahead.
Well, I can't avoid all the games, but I'm still pissed about them. Mostly about money, but only because it allows so much evil.
I keep telling myself I can play a losing game and still make the world a better place, but every decision offers hidden trade offs that need analysis, which makes for a rather tedious life, and I don't think I have half as much fun as the next sucker!
Strangely people have a legal RIGHT to sign a contract that is against their long term self-interest. People have a right to be stupid. They have a right to be desparate enough to agree to "the small print" in exchange for something they think they want NOW.
Mostly I'm thinking of money, people signing themselves into debt, an agreement to make outrageous interest rates for the privledge of having money now.
My curiosity wonders how far this can go. If I sign my name that I'm going to buy a jewel for $1,000,000 that is only worth $10, then I've got my $10 stone, and a happy person who will be expecting regular payments from me.
It is overall strange, since personal experience suggest people who BORROW money have all the power and lenders can be strung along for YEARS before getting a clue that good intentions are not enough to get back the money you foolishly gave them under the illusion of a loan.
If I signed my name that I'm your personal slave for life, is this a binding contract? I mean you'll give me something I want, like maybe a signed autograph picture of the late great Kirby Pucket perhaps, so it IS a fair deal.
I guess it all comes down to enforcement. As long as I THINK I'm your slave, everything is okay, but if I decide I no longer WANT to act as your slave, what power do you have to force me?
Not much I expect, unless you ARE the local law. Well, I suppose in some times and places enforcing slavery is in the law, but overall, here in the land of the free, not much can be done but take me to court perhaps.
Mostly I write because it is hurtful to me to have friends and family taken for suckers by money grubbing hustlers. I suppose I can take THEM to court as well, in defense of loved ones who are stupid enough to sign their names to outrageous exploitive contracts.
Still fools are in the eye of the beholder perhaps, and there's LOTS of crazy places of diminishing returns where people OUGHT to know better but follow a losing path to their grave.
Things as simple as owning a car. If you're making minimum wage and divide the costs of car ownership with your hours of work to pay for it, you may just find you'd save time by working less and WALKING MORE!
Myriads of examples surely, and I worry about people. I'm one of those people smart enough to "play the game" without getting eaten alive, but once I figure out the scam, I'm as often as not too pissed to play, even if knowing the rules really puts me ahead.
Well, I can't avoid all the games, but I'm still pissed about them. Mostly about money, but only because it allows so much evil.
I keep telling myself I can play a losing game and still make the world a better place, but every decision offers hidden trade offs that need analysis, which makes for a rather tedious life, and I don't think I have half as much fun as the next sucker!
posted by Ares Olympus at 12:14 AM
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