Transitioning…

I’m finally going over to Linux because of a fried Windows hard drive. Frankly I’m sick of the monthly windoze ‘upgrades’ and insertions of unwanted bloatware. Cost? My time and a new hard drive costing under forty Euros. Pros? Fewer vulnerabilities and higher speed. Cons? A lack of experience with the platform on my part. But I can learn. Time to get my Linux reference books out of cold storage methinks.

Mrs S’s jalopy too has just had to have some major surgery with a concomitantly eyewatering bill. Clutch, brakes, electrics and alternator, the works. It still works out cheaper than buying a junker and running it into the deck, but not by much. However, the advice from our mechanic was to keep it for a few more years to amortise the cost rather than throw good money after bad by selling on. He pointed out that since we’re close neighbours, if his workmanship isn’t up to snuff, he wouldn’t be able to hold his head up. I like him, he keeps a neat workshop and all his work on my car has been top notch in keeping me ahead of the curve as far as possible repairs are concerned, so I’m inclined to trust him on this issue, although words will be served back to him piping hot and covered in barbecue sauce if he’s wrong. Never mind google reviews, locally if your word is no good, you’ll rapidly go out of business.

Talking about people deserving to go out of business, how about the UK banks? Effectively saying that if you don’t agree with everything they do and say they can refuse your business and deny you an essential service? Apparently this is in the attempt to attract more investment by getting a higher ESG rating. The more ‘woke’ they are, the higher their ESG rating, and supposedly this will attract more shareholders.

Now as a small to medium investor, I won’t touch companies with a high ESG rating with a proverbial bargepole. This is for purely commercial reasons. ‘Woke’ companies I find are not a good bet from a return on investment. Why? Because the whole idea of running a large business is to make a profit. Companies that don’t make decent profits can’t pay decent dividends, no matter their market ‘value’. It’s why I’d happily buy Amazon shares, as they actually have a product, whilst the Alphabet corporation or Meta only have money from governments and advertising revenue. There’s no way they can turn a decent profit.

Besides, in order to play the ‘woke’ game, said companies will take a hit on their share price when a large part of their customer base find out exactly what they’re doing and start voting with their feet, reducing their overall cashflow, which is no good for anyone involved, be that investors or customers. See Gillette and Anheuser-Busch.

If the money go round stops, so do staff and investor bonuses and because most banks assets are so often highly leveraged (For ‘leveraged’ read ‘inflated’) it’s a very short step to needing (yet) another bail out. That’s when customers get the third degree when trying to get their money out (I’ve experienced this for myself in Ireland), or even find a Policeman on the steps of the bank, demanding to know what they’re about to take out and why. This is because the banks are working on a knife edge of credit and can’t afford any kind of mass withdrawal, or the whole system will fall over.

Fortunately there is light at the end of the tunnel, and while it may be someone with a torch and more work, there are signs that the ‘woke’ edifice is beginning to collapse. Because ‘woke’ has to have the power to censor ordinary people’s views. However, a recent supreme court ruling, tying the hands of the US Administration with an injunction forbidding them to contact or put pressure on social media companies directly or through proxies, includes US banks.

Now if the banks can be dissuaded from policing people’s opinions and going back to being purely financial institutions, that will be a major victory in the cause of freedom. The transition from top down censorship, restrictions and lies to a more honest open forum where people can talk out their differences instead of just throwing abuse may be just what the world needs.

It might even help the banks rediscover their core function and make more money instead of wasting it on ‘woke’ and similar policies. How ironic would that be?