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No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.
-Roger Ebert
The length of TLJ was the most common criticism by far, with 50% of RT Top Critic's citing it as a problem. Thus, this is the longest entry of this series, and possibly the last, unless I do a smaller part on niche issues. Previous parts cover Humor and Canto Bight.

The movie is overstuffed with plot, and by the time the visually intoxicating and eye-popping last showdown happens, it feels like a set piece that should have been saved for the next film. At a whopping two hours and 32 minutes, “The Last Jedi” overstays its welcome just a tad.

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service - Fresh

Writer-director Rian Johnson steps into the franchise fray and does a creditable, if uninspired, job. At about 2-1/2 hours, it’s a long sit.

Peter Rainer,Christian Science Monitor - Fresh

Rian Johnson delivers a film that’s a bit too long at 2½ hours

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Fresh

Does the movie, like its predecessor, rely on familiar tropes a bit more than it should? Yes, I think it does. Is it, at a solid two-and-a-half hours, considerably longer than it needed to be? Yes, that too.

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic - Fresh

It’s simply too long at two hours and 36 minutes – and sometimes too damn much. The screen is so crowded with character and incident that you might need a scorecard to keep up.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone - Fresh

The problem is that the narrative threads connecting them are lazily knitted and sometimes tangled or broken. The overall plot is underwhelming and there’s far too much padding, especially during the first hour. There’s a sense that Johnson is giving busy-work to certain characters while others are catching up. The Last Jedi is a great 105-minute movie stretched too thin.

James Berardinelli, ReelViews - Fresh

The midsection sags and, other than the heroes’ desperate attempts to survive, there’s no central story line to pull the various satellites of action in its wake. Some of the characters, like Captain Phasma, get frustratingly little screen time.You feel the 2½-hour length at points.

Ty Burr, Boston Globe - Fresh

The movie, though - at 152 minutes, easily the lengthiest in the series - drags in the middle, particularly when Rose and Finn go off on a complicated mission to disable an enemy tracking device. The subplot not only goes nowhere, it takes forever to do so, and makes me wonder if this new trilogy is going to have the same problem as the prequels - material for two terrific films stretched out over three.

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger - Fresh

The film’s paunchy middle section includes a trip to a casino that might better have ended up on the cutting-room floor. The unnecessary padding accounts for the 152-minute running time, a franchise record, which will test the patience (and bladders) of even the most devoted followers.

Peter Howell, Toronto Star - Fresh

Nor is its frankly excessive 152-minute running time. There is no excuse for a long, inessential stampede of runaway space horses that has zero value beyond the sheer "Ben-Hur" spectacle of the thing.

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune - Fresh

Johnson's many additions become too much of a good thing and The Last Jedi grows crowded, busy and long. Johnson's dialogue is flat and sounds stilted in the mouths of his younger actors, while their comic delivery can be so offhand that it dismisses the jokes.

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail - Rotten

The film simply drags too much in the middle. Somewhere in the film’s 152-minute running time is an amazing 90-minute movie.

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly - Fresh

Johnson at times overreaches trying to balance these separate storylines and myriad of characters into one cohesive unit. Lupita Nyong’o has nothing to do in her glorified cameo appearance, while the Del Toro section fails to reach its potential. The result is a bloated running time of about 2 ½ hours — that includes about seven different points in which I was sure the movie was going to end only to see it continue to plow ahead. You always want your Star Wars films to move at light speed, not drag in the middle.

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly - Fresh

At other points in the 152-minute film, time should have been compressed, and wasn’t. The storytelling bogs down in a middle section having to do with finding a code-cracker who can gain access to an enemy destroyer. (A dubious character played by Benicio Del Toro isn’t sufficiently amusing.) Kylo’s inner conflicts, while central to the plot, leave him looking awfully mopey for long periods of time as he struggles to resolve them.

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal - Fresh

With a running time of two and a half hours, “The Last Jedi” drags a bit in the second act. Ridley and Hamill are great together, but the Reluctant Jedi act plays on for at least one scene too many.

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times - Fresh

Johnson’s effort is ultimately a disappointment. If anything, it demonstrates just how effective supervising producer Kathleen Kennedy and the forces that oversee this now Disney-owned property are at molding their individual directors’ visions into supporting a unified corporate aesthetic — a process that chewed up and spat out helmers such as Colin Trevorrow, Gareth Edwards, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. But Johnson was either strong enough or weak enough to adapt to such pressures, and the result is the longest and least essential chapter in the series.

Peter Debruge, Variety - Fresh

Unfortunately, The Last Jedi has almost as much Attack of the Clones as it does The Empire Strikes Back in that it’s overlong, under-edited and has at least one particularly long-winded CGI flurry of a sequence that harkens back to the darkest days of the franchise. There’s no whining about sand getting everywhere and the acting is really strong across the board (Hamill is particularly great back in Jedi robes, ham and all) but The Last Jedi could definitely have used a second editorial pass.

Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot - Fresh

At 2 1/2 hours, Star Wars: The Last Jedi could have been tightened-up in the editing room, cutting out that bloated middle section and removing things like Maz Kanata’s cameo and the cute slave kids which feel like they dropped in from a totally different movie. When it works, it really works but when it doesn’t, it feels like bad fan-fiction with a million dollar budget.

Niall Browne, Movies in Focus - Fresh

I can only wonder what The Last Jedi might have been with Finn and Poe taking a backseat (like how the latter was absent for three-quarters of The Force Awakens) so thirty minutes could be cut and the “important” stuff made tighter. Because there is a great film within what’s ultimately a good one.

Jared Mobarak, BuffaloVibe - Fresh

Whereas the first half is a sort of a convoluted mess just for the sake to pad out the runtime especially with an inconsistent tone, "The Last Jedi" becomes a dark and exciting sequel that becomes the film you've been looking for by the 75-minute mark.

Rendy Jones, Rendy Reviews, Fresh

the film is probably 10-15 minutes too long. Yes, Snoke (Andy Serkis) was not given near enough explanation and Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) was wasted.

Robert Daniels, 812filmreviews - Fresh

It's a two-and-a-half hour movie. It needs to be good in its own right, not just setting up for the next episode.

Tony Baker, Tony Baker Comedy - Rotten

Johnson ends up biting off more than he can chew. He's juggling too many storylines, and takes too long to move the narrative forward. Fatigue sets in about three-quarters of the way in. He doesn't heed the lesson of the chapter “Jedi” often resembles, “The Empire Strikes Back.” That film, still the best “Star Wars.,” ended with a whopper of a cliffhanger. Johnson resists the urge to leave most of his strands unresolved, and as a result his film begins to feel unwieldy when it should be picking up momentum. At two and a half hours, it could have used a trim of at least 15 minutes.

Ruben Rosario, MiamiArtZine - Fresh

but there are problems with the first half of "The Last Jedi." After an exciting initial space battle, to say that the mid-section of the movie drags would be an understatement. First, both prominent new characters Rose and DJ seemed shoe-horned in, and Rose especially doesn't seem to have a real place in this film nor does she add anything to be hopeful about in the future. And while both Rey and Poe fans will probably be pleased with where their characters go, Finn sort of takes a step back, as he is sent off on a side adventure that seems like second-tier Star Wars. It's a diversion that takes up a good portion of the film and really serves no purpose to the overall story...worse yet, it seems to contain some heavy-handed political messages not commonly found, at least not this blatantly, in the Star Wars universe. These are more than just quibbles too: Most fans will not be used to the slow, lumbering pace or the general unevenness of this film...especially coming on the heels of the action-packed pacing that JJ Abrams brought in Episode VII.

Tom Santilli, AXS.com - Fresh

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is also, at two hours and thirty-two minutes, the longest of the nine movies thus far, and deep into the second hour it can feel a little draining. There’s some stuff that feels extraneous (the whole Canto Bight sequence, which seems to exist to set up a new Lando-like character played by Benicio del Toro), and the cycle of attack and retreat — mostly retreat — gets a bit monotonous.

Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com - Fresh

At times it burns a tad too slow: two-thirds through its jam-packed 152 minutes, I felt the need for a 7th-inning stretch.

Michael Sragow, Film Comment Magazine - Fresh

Aunque este clímax habría funcionado bien como final, “The Last Jedi” no termina (desafortunadamente) después de esto. Es seguido por otros 40 minutos, con baches, en los que los héroes se reúnen y tienen que pelear una batalla final. Sin embargo, la película pierde un poco de su trazabilidad aquí, cuando los personajes, las fuerzas y las explosiones siempre aparecen exactamente donde se necesitan para la trama.

Ruben Peralta Rigaud, Cocalecas - Fresh

The movie’s main failing is that it tries to stuff too much plot into its over-long 2 hour and 30 minute run time. The result is an ending that feels endless and anti-climactic while several elements that could have been gob-smacking feel rushed and underdeveloped. It particularly does a disservice to Kylo Ren, as we’re never quite sure what his motivation is.

Megan Basham, WORLD - Fresh

I both loved it and strongly disliked it at the same time. I feel like there's a really great movie in there, all the pieces are there, everything is brilliant, but then there's a lot of extra fat that needed to be trimmed off or rearranged or omitted completely.

Steph Cozza, Aggressive Comix - Fresh

At two-and-a-half hours, with about nine separate cliffhanger endings, it’s a bit long

Bill O'Driscoll, Pittsburgh City Paper - Fresh

If you can accept the excess, the weird humour, the entirely inessential subplot, and the fact that it could stand to end a scene earlier, then the series will continue to thrive in a galaxy far, far away.

Alex Doenau, Trespass - Fresh

The script is flabby; every scene has purpose, but certain aspects feel overlong and jarring. Just like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, it also suffers several endings too many.

Owen Richards, The Arts Desk - Fresh

At two and a half hours, this is the longest Star Wars picture to date, and I wondered if they’d tried to pack too much in.

Molly Laich, Missoula Independent - Fresh

I’m saying some of this movie seems a little half baked, and also overstuffed. If there’s any kind of movie I want to be over two and a half hours long, it’s a Star Wars movie. But, at that length, it needs to be a really good Star Wars movie, not a so-so one. The Last Jedi is so-so.

Bob Grimm, Reno News and Review - Fresh

The Last Jedi has a few good ideas but these are utterly lost amidst an over-long and utterly unsatisfying overall plot. Replete with poor dialogue, irritating tonal shifts and superfluous scenes, The Last Jedi adds very little to the saga except an overwhelming sense of disappointment not felt since the release of The Phantom Menace.

Richard Dove, International Business Times - Rotten

It is more than 150 minutes long. It has too many plot twists and too much fighting and too many characters.

Mark R. Leeper, Mark Leeper's Reviews - Fresh

Many have complained or commented on the length of The Last Jedi. It did start to feel long towards the end, yet I don’t think it was due to the actual time stamp of the film. Instead, I believe it is because of the drawn out plots within the film itself. Many parts of the story are over showcased destroying the strength and believably in the plot.

Stephanie Archer, Film Inquiry - Fresh

This film did not need to be 152 minutes and should have been closer to the 120 minute standard established by the earlier films. I hope one day we’ll see a fan cut that is actually closer to two hours.

Chris Gore, Film Threat - Fresh

The Last Jedi is still overstuffed, slightly too long, reliant on some vaguely-defined powers, and mostly consists of an endless chase towards a shifting MacGuffin.

Vincent Mancini, FilmDrunk - Fresh

The Last Jedi is 50 fucking minutes too long, and the most excruciatingly boring movie that has ever been released in this franchise. And this is a franchise that once opened up a movie by talking about controversial tax legislation.

Tim Brayton, Alternate Ending - Rotten

The Last Jedi has some issues. Pacing is the biggest one. This is the longest Star Wars film so far, and it feels like it. Johnson does his best to hustle from one location to the next, but the narrative has a tendency from time to time to drag.

Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm - Fresh

While Luke leads the Force thread, the battle between good and evil, the rest feels a bit standard issue action film lurching through one, or two, too many cycles of near peril. This is in part down to writer-director Rian Johnson and also down to patchy leads.

Aine O'Connor, Sunday Independent (Ireland) - Fresh

Writedirector Rian Johnson’s movie is underwhelming. Where it falters is a story that borrows heavily from others in the franchise like The Empire Strikes Back. That I can live with, but I can’t live with unnecessary length. This is an overdone 2 1/2 hour movie that would have been a terrific 90-minute extravaganza.
The first hour drags. The predictable second hour is just as tedious in more spots than not before Johnson finally moves you to the even more predictable slam bang action of the last half-hour.

Gary Wolcott, Tri-City Herald - Fresh

At 152 minutes, The Last Jedi is the longest of the nine Star Wars films to date — it’s also the only one where the length is felt. While all the scenes involving younglings should have been deep-sixed, the rest of the fatty tissue can be forgiven, since it simply meant Johnson wanted to make sure fans were saturated and satisfied. Yet there aren’t many vignettes that couldn’t have benefited from a judicious trim here or there.

Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing(Charlotte) - Fresh

At 2 hours and 32 minutes, the longest ever in the series, there are lots of highlights and probably a few too many endings

Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily - Fresh

Despite the Rey-Luke drama, the first half of The Last Jedi is its most lumbering and uneven, never really clicking as it rambles through its multiple plotlines in a manner that feels simultaneously rushed and overlong.

James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk - Fresh

However, there are moments towards the end of the film that feel as though they are just a tad unnecessary, that the race to the finale is going on just a little too long.

Irene Falvey, Film Ireland Magazine - Fresh

So what's necessary to know about the 40th anniversary "Star Wars" is that, at two and a half hours, it's at least a half-hour too long (maybe 45 minutes) and it's overfull of the usual digital battle sequences which so many of us have come to consider a wee bit old hat in the decades since "Star Wars" introduced us to a new thing back in 1977.

Jeff Simon, Buffalo News - Fresh

Johnson has sorted all of this material into an elaborate roundelay that feels endless (the movie is way too long at two and a half hours). Surely sections of the film could have been trimmed—maybe the Laura Dern scenes, which cry out for compression, or the training sequences with Luke and Rey (in which he says things like "Reach out with your feelings").

Kurt Loder, Reason Online - Fresh

The film is long, however, and begins to feel more than a little labored by the time the various epic showdowns finally take place.

Piers Marchant, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Rotten

A lot of “The Last Jedi” is engrossing and emotional—but there’s also the long runtime, uneven pacing, and slightly underdeveloped characters to deal with. “The Last Jedi” is often exceptional, but its desire to do too many things, tell too many stories, and continue expanding its own cast and narrative makes the film fundamentally imbalanced.

Roxana Hadadi, Chesapeake Family Magazine - Fresh

There is a great deal going on in The Last Jedi and the way it splits off the main characters into separate but intertwined stories makes for a long, over-plotted film that even starts to drag a little in the middle.

Allan Hunter, Daily Express (UK) - Fresh

A few of the goofier comic moments fail to land and true to the legacy of Lucas there’s a fair amount of eye-wincing dialogue. More importantly, the second act bows under the weight of too many narrative strands; Finn’s away mission comes off as a bit superfluous, as does Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo, and both Rose and the beloved Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) are sadly underwritten. In a trade-off that brings scope and complexity, Johnson has sacrificed narrative efficiency.

Christopher Machell, CineVue - Fresh

If “The Last Jedi” has a main flaw it’s that it’s too long at just over two-and-a-half hours. When the film is cross-cutting between the escape of the Resistance and the showdown with Snoke, one might assume this was the climax of the film. In fact, there’s much more to come.

Daniel M. Kimmel, New England Movies Weekly - Fresh

At 152 minutes, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is too long, and could have been trimmed by at least 10-15 minutes.

David Kaplan, Kaplan vs. Kaplan - Fresh

Despite being overlong and drenched in déjà vu (replete with conversations about one’s parents, whether or not one will ‘turn’, whether one is the last hope or the new hope, etcetera etcetera) I appreciated a lot of The Last Jedi, in the same way I appreciate re-reading a decent book – respecting the structure and craft of it, and feeling no sense of surprise.

Luke Buckmaster, The Daily Review/Crikey - Rotten

At 152 minutes, “The Last Jedi” is probably 20 minutes too long yet never fails to entertain.

Maria Sciullo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Fresh

If some of these detours drag on a bit, hampering momentum and bulking up The Last Jedi’s not-entirely-necessary two-hour-and 32-minute runtime, well, at least the various locales are fun to look at.

Rebecca Pahle, Film Journal International - Fresh

a running time of 152 or so minutes that easily could have been tightened down quite a bit

Jim Judy, Screen It! - Fresh

While many complained – justifiably – that the previous entry, The Force Awakens, was nothing but a remake of 1977’s A New Hope, the same sort of narrative déjà vu is at play here, to a certain degree. Equally troublesome is Jedi’s bloated running time. Clocking in at 2 ½ hours, the movie seems longer than it actually is due to the fact we’re going over well-covered narrative territory.

Charles Koplinski, Illinois Times - Rotten

It’s too long by a good 30 minutes, feels like two films mashed together, has about five endings and it seems to be taking cues from the George R. R. Martin school of right-angled plot twists.

Patrick Kolan, Shotgun Cinema - Fresh

Overly long and consistently clunky, The Last Jedi ultimately proves a bit of a mixed bag. Too often the dialogue is exposition heavy and played for easy laughs.

Tom Glasson, Concrete Playground - Fresh

The Last Jedi is overlong, heavy-handed and fun if mostly uninspired.

James Verniere, Boston Herald - Fresh

At 151 minutes, the film is overlong and repetition sets in, not just for this film but for the series in general

Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews - Fresh

The Last Jedi is the party that never wants to end. It keeps going and going – and going – until there is no corner of the house left to decorate. It pushes all the buttons. It is constantly in competition with itself (it comes with two huge ending sequences). It is also baggy in places, and that’s not something I’d expected.

Chris Wasser, The Herald (Ireland) - Fresh

At the same time, it does take a while for “Last Jedi” to get up to speed. Some of the humor feels a little distracting and the lengthy final product suggests a tighter execution might have felt more resonant.

Josh Terry, Deseret News (Salt Lake City) - Fresh

Or maybe it's just a case of "The Last Jedi" itself overstaying its welcome with a running time topping two and a half hours.

Greg Maki, Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) - Fresh

This is the longest Star Wars movie yet, clocking in at 150 minutes, and it has at least one ending too many, and a middle that sags a bit.

Rain Jokinen, MullingMovies.com - Fresh

We’ve seen this story before. Sure, “stuff” happens over the film’s 157-minutes but our main characters remain pretty much in the same place. You’d swear time stands still.

Dana Barbuto, The Patriot Ledger - Fresh

“The Last Jedi” is the longest of the “Star Wars” efforts (152 minutes) and feels it

Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com - Fresh

At 152 minutes, it’s also way too damn long. And Rian Johnson should not have been allowed to write and direct. The script is a problem — it has only two really great “moments” which isn’t enough for 152 minutes. But it also doesn’t feel quite right — the language, the iconography, the weirdly campy humor at the beginning — it doesn’t feel a part of the Star Wars universe.

Ray Greene, CineGods.com - Rotten

But the character moments and the explorations of moral ambiguity aren’t quite compelling enough to compensate for the slow pacing in the middle (one thing a Star Wars movie should never be is dull), and it takes too long to get to the most rousing action sequences.

Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly - Fresh

I don’t want to be too generous. I would cut 15 minutes out. There are editing choices that leave the film feeling choppy when it should feel smooth.

David Poland, Movie City News - Fresh

In truth, it takes a very long time to get from the film’s exhilarating start to that moving sign-off. Stars Wars: The Last Jedi lasts fully two-and-a-half hours, and there were moments towards the end when I felt like one of those poor Cubans listening to Fidel Castro at the height of his oratorical vigour: just as you’re planning your route to the exit, it lurches into yet another new lease of life.

Brian Viner, Daily Mail (UK) - Fresh

Editor Bob Ducsay moves the individual sequences along with dispatch; it isn’t his fault that at two-and-a-half hours the movie overstays its welcome. That’s the fault of Johnson’s decision to pile climax upon climax as if they were on sale at Screenplays-R-Us, apparently unwilling to jettison any of the ideas he’s had for propelling the story forward.

Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion - Fresh

Which leads into another problem I mentioned briefly earlier -- the pacing. Watching the first hour, I had the uncomfortable sense that maybe it needed trimming by about ten minutes or so, and that Rey's and Luke's story kept stalling and going in circles for a while. Then, the pacing in the last hour is so spot-on, it confirms all of those earlier feelings. Adding to the problem is the choice of starting point for the film. I realize kicking off with a more action-driven sequence has benefits, but it felt disorienting since we remember how the last film ended and probably want to pick up that thread first. It was an easy call, I feel, and the film's choice merely confirms my own sense that there was a better option.

Mark Hughes, Forbes - Fresh

The 2 hr and 30-minute runtime really hurt the film. I feel like there are just certain spots throughout the film where it just drags. It hard to pinpoint exactly when and where they occur on just one viewing but I was definitely bored at times.

Scott Menzel, We Live Entertainment - Fresh

“The Last Jedi” suffers from “The Lord of the Rings” syndrome — it seems like it might never end. It also poaches scenes, ideas and moments from “Harry Potter,” “The Hunger Games” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

David Frese, Kansas City Star - Fresh

At 152 minutes, “The Last Jedi” runs long, with a bit too much time spent on Ahch-To. And Hamill — who shares the weathered, lion-like look of modern-day Robert Plant — turns in a true love-it-or-hate-it portrayal of an aged Skywalker.

Ross Raihala, St. Paul Pioneer Press - Fresh

At over two-and-a-half hours, the film had me reconsidering if I really needed a Finn v. Phasma fight, or a five-act structure. So consider the urgency. A wordsmith in his own right, Johnson seems to be dumbing himself down here for the sake of the brand. He manages to pose some of the most complex ideas on morality and war this franchise has ever attempted, but is forced to breeze through and cap them off with trite buzzwords.

Conor O'Donnell, The Film Stage - Fresh

The film is overlong at two and a half hours, and you may well catch yourself thinking “this could probably have been cut.”

Jonathan Hatfull, SciFiNow - Fresh

Yes, it’s probably half an hour too long. There is a whole section that feels out of kilter and harks back to the CGI naffness of the prequels — and is also virtually pointless to the plot.

Jamie East, The Sun (UK) - Fresh

The middle section loses its shape and is subject to longueurs.

Ian Freer, Empire Magazine - Fresh

The Last Jedi is the longest Star wars movie, and it does feel like it. The third act is a beating drum of moments that each seem like they could be a satisfying climax.

Susana Polo, Polygon - Fresh

Where the film falters is in its pacing. Even jumping between three storylines, there’s a lack of momentum at times as no one is really going anywhere. The Resistance fleet is crawling away from the First Order; Rey is in a stalemate with Luke on Ahch-To; and obviously things aren’t a breeze on Canto Bight. And yet the dramatic tension of the first two storylines hold up intact. The fleet storyline plays like the excellent Battlestar Galactica episode “33” and everything is Ahch-To is great because Johnson is doing some fascinating things with the character dynamics between Rey, Luke, and Kylo Ren. But the Canto Bight stuff is a bit of a drag, and then you feel it in final act of the film where, despite some amazing moments, you can’t shake the feeling that The Last Jedi is probably a bit too long even if it’s difficult to know what to cut.

Matt Goldberg, Collider - Fresh

There's a lot going on - too much. The film could have used a hard edit to lose about 20 minutes or more. Resistance ships explode and the fleet's fuel running low, but it doesn't keep us on the edges of our seats. Poe, Rey and Finn- the new heroes we're supposed to fall in love with - are uncharismatic and bland.

Julie Washington, Cleveland Plain Dealer - Fresh

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a long work of art that doesn't know when to quit

Scott Mendelson, Forbes - Fresh

If there's a problem, it's only that it's a little too long at two and a half hours (a first for the franchise), which might prove challenging for younger viewers. It turns out you can have too much of a good thing after all.

Matthew Turner, Hero Collector - Fresh

Tran is a rock-solid addition, but here, and elsewhere, one is reminded of the deftness of editing on both (yes, both) previous trilogies. Intercut sequences that moved swiftly in earlier films feel clumsy. Where once the passing of time was cannily implied yet compact on screen in, say, “Empire,” in “Last Jedi,” well ... you can fit a lot of movie into 152 minutes.

Joe Gross, Austin American-Statesman - Fresh

But The Last Jedi’s two-and-half-hour sprawl still includes an awful lot of clunky, derivative, and largely unnecessary incidents to wade through in order to get to its maverick last act. This is especially true when it comes to the plausibility-straining mission of stormtrooper turned Rebel Alliance fighter Finn and puckish series newcomer Rose Tico.

Sam C. Mac, Slant Magazine - Rotten

Some tighter editing would have relieved most of my mid-movie tension — as well as my bladder concerns as “The Last Jedi” stretches to an unnecessarily long 151 minutes. If not for that spectacular final act, it would be tempting to refer to it as “The Lasts and Lasts and Lasts Jedi.”

Christopher Lawrence, Las Vegas Review-Journal - Fresh

The Last Jedi is a whopping two-and-a-half hours, and it would have been much improved if an editor had taken a lightsaber to its less crucial sections.
To cut a long story short (and I wish Johnson had cut his own long story short): if you’re getting bored halfway through The Last Jedi, hang on in there. Just when you think it’s about to end, it really gets going.

Nicholas Barber, BBC.com - Fresh

For the first half of a punishingly long film, we repeatedly cut back to Star Wars Island where Rey is begging Luke to train her as a Jedi.

Donald Clarke Irish Times Rotten

There are times, however, when the wow factor and compelling character beats give way to the feeling that Johnson lost the run of himself with the film's duration, and that the longest adventure in Star Wars history really didn't need that distinction.

Harry Guerin, RTÉ (Ireland) - Fresh

Several characters remain underdeveloped, and appear as well dressed plot devices which contribute to an unevenness hard to justify in the 151 minutes running time.

Jon Lyus, HeyUGuys - Fresh

Even Johnson’s sense of fun and mischief can’t sustain the film for two-and-a-half hours; the warring gets boring. One scene is replayed three times with different interpretations but it’s hardly Rashomon and a movie this long can’t afford to dawdle. No one could mistake The Last Jedi for an outstanding contribution to cinema, or even to escapism, but it has its attractions.

Ryan Gilbey, New Statesman - Fresh
Indeed it does, Ryan. And that concludes part III. TL;DR:TLJ is TL.

Chaotic States of Amnesia (Part 1)
by Jayge 8^J
I can't produce as revealing & depressing a book as Pulitzer Prize winning journalist & Presbyterian minister Chris Hedges' work America: The Farewell Tour, but I can write about my impressions & insights from it. All 4 library books here are borrowed & UH will buy it if any student, faculty, or staff asks. Its 7 chapter headings alone offer enough clues: Decay, Heroin, Work, Sadism, Hate, Gambling, & Freedom. His 1st chapter said that Karl Marx foresaw Capitalism's inevitable collapse & parasitic feeding off its host, like what's happening to some rustbelt cities. Despite nearly daily mass shootings, we haven't seen any levels of violence Marx predicted. Maybe we can expect them in Trump's 2nd term, once the privatization & gutting of infrastructure, education, & social programs are well underway. Big Pharma has dumped opiates onto underemployed whites with similar intensity as CIA heroin & crack infested Black & Latin communities. Wealth-sucking casinos increasingly replace union jobs in manufacturing. Politicians, bribed & cajoled by slick lobbyists, give more tax breaks, favors, & government contracts to corporations & the uber-rich. The rest of us are free to be their slaves.
"...The United States of Amnesia...Gore Vidal coined the expression 'the United States of Amnesia' in a 2004 book about George W. Bush’s America. The particular instance of amnesia Vidal highlighted with that phrase was the failure of those then waging the 'war on drugs' to remember the disasters of the prohibition of alcohol sales in the 1930s, and the ensuing corruption, gangsters, and smuggling rings that came with it. His larger point, however, was that, in general, American historical memory is short. Thirteen years after Vidal’s book appeared, and with a new Republican administration ascendant, it seems that this country is in danger of sinking ever deeper into a state of amnesia. And can there be any question that, in a distinctly Orwellian fashion, the new administration is doing everything in its power to hasten that process? As the Trump administration prepares for a new 'surge' on the perpetual battlefield that is Afghanistan, we’ve conveniently forgotten how little the last one achieved. We’ve forgotten how deregulation led to the Great Recession, as the federal Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded in 2011. 'The greatest tragedy,' that panel wrote, 'would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done. If we accept this notion, it will happen again.' Yet the Republicans in Congress can’t wait to repeal Dodd-Frank, the law that restored a semblance of regulation to the world of commercial banking. The fifth-century African bishop St. Augustine was probably the first western thinker to pay attention to human memory. In his Confessions, Augustine observes that it is memory – the ability to bring into present awareness past experiences and the ability to recognize the difference between past, present, and future – that makes us self-aware beings. He described the 'vast hall of my memory,' where 'I meet myself and recall what I am, what I have done, and when and where and how I was affected when I did it.' It is on the basis of memory, he added, that 'I reason about future actions and events and hopes, and again think of all these things in the present. ‘I shall do this and that,’ I say to myself within that vast recess of my mind which is full of many rich images, and this act or that follows.' If Augustine was right and memory gives us our selves, allowing us to 'reason about future actions and events and hopes,' then a political regime that seeks to destroy its people’s memory is an existential threat. In that case, the first act of resistance is to remember who we are." -- https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/05/26/down-the-memory-hole/
"We Are Living in Trump’s United States of Amnesia By Rebecca Gordon & Tom Dispatch May 25, 2017, 6:46 AM GMT The Trump administration seems intent on tossing recent history down the memory hole. Admittedly, Americans have never been known for their strong grasp of facts about their past. Still, as we struggle to keep up with the constantly shifting explanations and pronouncements of the new administration, it becomes ever harder to remember the events of yesterday, let alone last week, or last month. The Credibility Swamp...Trump and his spokespeople routinely substitute “alternative facts” for what a friend of mine calls consensus reality, the world that most of us recognize. Whose inaugural crowd was bigger, Barack Obama’s or Donald Trump’s? It doesn’t matter what you remember, or even what’s in the written accounts or photographic record. What matters is what the administration now says happened then. In other words, for Trump and his people, history in any normal sense simply doesn’t exist, and that’s a danger for the rest of us. Think of the Trumpian past as a website that can be constantly updated to fit the needs of the present. You may believe you still remember something that used to be there, but it’s not there now. As it becomes increasingly harder to find, can you really trust your own memory? In recent months, revisions of that past have sometimes come so blindingly fast that the present has simply been overrun, as was true with the firing of FBI Director James Comey. First, the president ordered up some brand new supporting documents from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. These were designed to underpin his line that Comey was fired on their recommendation -- for being “unfair” to Hillary Clinton. Then, even as his surrogates were out peddling that very story, Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt that, “regardless of [Sessions’ and Rosenstein’s] recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.” And he explained why: “And in fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.’” Which rationale for Comey’s departure is true? Both? Neither? What is “truth” after all? When the need to ask such questions occurs once in a while, it’s anomalous enough that we notice. We have time to remark that someone or various people in this story -- Sessions, Rosenstein, the surrogates, Trump himself -- are mistaken or even lying. Fortunately, in the case of Comey’s firing, journalists are still reporting the lies, but what happens if the rewrites of our recent history begin to come so fast that we stop keeping up? During the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson was famously said to have a “credibility gap.” People, including journalists, had stopped believing everything his administration said about one very important topic: the war. Trump doesn’t have a credibility gap; he’s tossed us into a credibility swamp. We’re all there together swimming in a mire of truth and lies, with the occasional firecracker thrown in just to see if we’re still paying attention. If the age of Trump doesn’t end relatively soon, the daily effort to sort out what happened from what didn’t may eventually become too much for many of us. Memory fatigue may set in, and the whole project of keeping the past in focus shelved. In that case, we might very well start to give up the concept of citizenship altogether and decide instead to just get on with our own private uninsured, underpaid, and overworked lives. Sometimes it's easier to simply adjust to an ever-changing official version of reality than to keep up a constant, unrewarding struggle to remember. This was the phenomenon George Orwell described so unforgettably in his dystopian novel 1984. His hero, Winston Smith, becomes aware that the sole party that runs his country incessantly rewrites the past to its own liking and advantage. In fact, he realizes that “the past not only changed, but changed continuously.” Like most inhabitants of the mega-state of Oceania, it wasn’t that Smith couldn’t accept such a reality. He could. What he couldn’t shake was a nightmarish sense “that he had never clearly understood why” the Party needed to do it. “The immediate advantages of falsifying the past were obvious, but the ultimate motive was mysterious” to him. That “ultimate motive,” he eventually realizes, is to so destroy people’s hold on memory that they come to believe that truth genuinely is whatever the Party says it is. ”In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable?” Does President Trump know what he’s doing? Does he know that, in a more chaotic fashion than Orwell’s “Big Brother,” he’s grinding away at American memories, threatening to turn them into so much rubble? It’s hard to say; he appears to be incapable of either self-reflection or planning, indeed of acting in any way except on impulse. He does, however, seem to know in an intuitive way what works for him, what gets him things he wants, as he has his whole professional life. He’s called his method “truthful hyperbole.” And regardless of what he himself understands, there are certainly people around him who do grasp all too well the usefulness of that “ultimate motive,” of convincing the public that facts are not all that stubborn after all. The Memory Hole...Supplying alternative facts is one way of destroying memory. Erasing real facts is another. In Orwell’s 1984, there was a slot in the wall at the Ministry of Truth where Winston Smith worked, a memory hole, into which inconvenient documents could be fed to be consumed forever by a huge basement furnace. There are, it seems, plenty of memory holes in Washington these days. Since January, the Trump administration has been systematically removing from federal websites inconvenient information on subjects as diverse as climate change and occupational health and safety, and replacing it with anodyne messages. Take, for instance, this one, which you get when you search the Environmental Protection Agency’s website for the term “climate change” and click on links that search turns up: “This page is being updated. “Thank you for your interest in this topic. We are currently updating our website to reflect EPA's priorities under the leadership of President Trump and Administrator [Scott] Pruitt. If you're looking for an archived version of this page, you can find it on the January 19 snapshot.” " -- https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/we-are-living-trumps-united-states-amnesia
"The Rule of the Uber-Rich Means Tyranny or Revolution by Chris Hedges 10/22/2018 At the age of 10 I was sent as a scholarship student to a boarding school for the uber-rich in Massachusetts. I lived among the wealthiest Americans for the next eight years. I listened to their prejudices and saw their cloying sense of entitlement. They insisted they were privileged and wealthy because they were smarter and more talented. They had a sneering disdain for those ranked below them in material and social status, even the merely rich. Most of the uber-rich lacked the capacity for empathy and compassion. They formed elite cliques that hazed, bullied and taunted any nonconformist who defied or did not fit into their self-adulatory universe. It was impossible to build a friendship with most of the sons of the uber-rich. Friendship for them was defined by “what’s in it for me?” They were surrounded from the moment they came out of the womb by people catering to their desires and needs. They were incapable of reaching out to others in distress—whatever petty whim or problem they had at the moment dominated their universe and took precedence over the suffering of others, even those within their own families. They knew only how to take. They could not give. They were deformed and deeply unhappy people in the grip of an unquenchable narcissism. It is essential to understand the pathologies of the uber-rich. They have seized total political power. These pathologies inform Donald Trump, his children, the Brett Kavanaughs, and the billionaires who run his administration. The uber-rich cannot see the world from anyone’s perspective but their own. People around them, including the women whom entitled men prey upon, are objects designed to gratify momentary lusts or be manipulated. The uber-rich are almost always amoral. Right. Wrong. Truth. Lies. Justice. Injustice. These concepts are beyond them. Whatever benefits or pleases them is good. What does not must be destroyed. The pathology of the uber-rich is what permits Trump and his callow son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to conspire with de facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman, another product of unrestrained entitlement and nepotism, to cover up the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom I worked with in the Middle East. The uber-rich spend their lives protected by their inherited wealth, the power it wields and an army of enablers, including other members of the fraternity of the uber-rich, along with their lawyers and publicists. There are almost never any consequences for their failures, abuses, mistreatment of others and crimes. This is why the Saudi crown prince and Kushner have bonded. They are the homunculi the uber-rich routinely spawn. The rule of the uber-rich, for this reason, is terrifying. They know no limits. They have never abided by the norms of society and never will. We pay taxes—they don’t. We work hard to get into an elite university or get a job—they don’t. We have to pay for our failures—they don’t. We are prosecuted for our crimes—they are not. The uber-rich live in an artificial bubble, a land called Richistan, a place of Frankenmansions and private jets, cut off from our reality. Wealth, I saw, not only perpetuates itself but is used to monopolize the new opportunities for wealth creation. Social mobility for the poor and the working class is largely a myth. The uber-rich practice the ultimate form of affirmative action, catapulting white, male mediocrities like Trump, Kushner and George W. Bush into elite schools that groom the plutocracy for positions of power. The uber-rich are never forced to grow up. They are often infantilized for life, squalling for what they want and almost always getting it. And this makes them very, very dangerous. Political theorists, from Aristotle and Karl Marx to Sheldon Wolin, have warned against the rule of the uber-rich. Once the uber-rich take over, Aristotle writes, the only options are tyranny and revolution. They do not know how to nurture or build. They know only how to feed their bottomless greed. It’s a funny thing about the uber-rich: No matter how many billions they possess, they never have enough. They are the Hungry Ghosts of Buddhism. They seek, through the accumulation of power, money and objects, an unachievable happiness. This life of endless desire often ends badly, with the uber-rich estranged from their spouses and children, bereft of genuine friends. And when they are gone, as Charles Dickens wrote in “A Christmas Carol,” most people are glad to be rid of them. C. Wright Mills in “The Power Elite,” one of the finest studies of the pathologies of the uber-rich, wrote: They exploited national resources, waged economic wars among themselves, entered into combinations, made private capital out of the public domain, and used any and every method to achieve their ends. They made agreements with railroads for rebates; they purchased newspapers and bought editors; they killed off competing and independent businesses and employed lawyers of skill and statesmen of repute to sustain their rights and secure their privileges. There is something demonic about these lords of creation; it is not merely rhetoric to call them robber barons. Corporate capitalism, which has destroyed our democracy, has given unchecked power to the uber-rich. And once we understand the pathologies of these oligarchic elites, it is easy to chart our future. The state apparatus the uber-rich controls now exclusively serves their interests. They are deaf to the cries of the dispossessed. They empower those institutions that keep us oppressed—the security and surveillance systems of domestic control, militarized police, Homeland Security and the military—and gut or degrade those institutions or programs that blunt social, economic and political inequality, among them public education, health care, welfare, Social Security, an equitable tax system, food stamps, public transportation and infrastructure, and the courts. The uber-rich extract greater and greater sums of money from those they steadily impoverish. And when citizens object or resist, they crush or kill them. The uber-rich care inordinately about their image. They are obsessed with looking at themselves. They are the center of their own universe. They go to great lengths and expense to create fictional personas replete with nonexistent virtues and attributes. This is why the uber-rich carry out acts of well-publicized philanthropy. Philanthropy allows the uber-rich to engage in moral fragmentation. They ignore the moral squalor of their lives, often defined by the kind of degeneracy and debauchery the uber-rich insist is the curse of the poor, to present themselves through small acts of charity as caring and beneficent. Those who puncture this image, as Khashoggi did with Salman, are especially despised. And this is why Trump, like all the uber-rich, sees a critical press as the enemy. It is why Trump’s and Kushner’s eagerness to conspire to help cover up Khashoggi’s murder is ominous. Trump’s incitements to his supporters, who see in him the omnipotence they lack and yearn to achieve, to carry out acts of violence against his critics are only a few steps removed from the crown prince’s thugs dismembering Khashoggi with a bone saw. And if you think Trump is joking when he suggests the press should be dealt with violently you understand nothing about the uber-rich. He will do what he can get away with, even murder. He, like most of the uber-rich, is devoid of a conscience. The more enlightened uber-rich, the East Hamptons and Upper East Side uber-rich, a realm in which Ivanka and Jared once cavorted, look at the president as gauche and vulgar. But this distinction is one of style, not substance. Donald Trump may be an embarrassment to the well-heeled Harvard and Princeton graduates at Goldman Sachs, but he serves the uber-rich as assiduously as Barack Obama and the Democratic Party do. This is why the Obamas, like the Clintons, have been inducted into the pantheon of the uber-rich. It is why Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump were close friends. They come from the same caste. There is no force within ruling institutions that will halt the pillage by the uber-rich of the nation and the ecosystem. The uber-rich have nothing to fear from the corporate-controlled media, the elected officials they bankroll or the judicial system they have seized. The universities are pathetic corporation appendages. They silence or banish intellectual critics who upset major donors by challenging the reigning ideology of neoliberalism, which was formulated by the uber-rich to restore class power. The uber-rich have destroyed popular movements, including labor unions, along with democratic mechanisms for reform that once allowed working people to pit power against power. The world is now their playground. In “The Postmodern Condition” the philosopher Jean-François Lyotard painted a picture of the future neoliberal order as one in which “the temporary contract” supplants “permanent institutions in the professional, emotional, sexual, cultural, family and international domains, as well as in political affairs.” This temporal relationship to people, things, institutions and the natural world ensures collective self-annihilation. Nothing for the uber-rich has an intrinsic value. Human beings, social institutions and the natural world are commodities to exploit for personal gain until exhaustion or collapse. The common good, like the consent of the governed, is a dead concept. This temporal relationship embodies the fundamental pathology of the uber-rich. The uber-rich, as Karl Polanyi wrote, celebrate the worst kind of freedom—the freedom “to exploit one’s fellows, or the freedom to make inordinate gains without commensurable service to the community, the freedom to keep technological inventions from being used for public benefit, or the freedom to profit from public calamities secretly engineered for private advantage.” At the same time, as Polanyi noted, the uber-rich make war on the “freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of meeting, freedom of association, freedom to choose one’s own job.” The dark pathologies of the uber-rich, lionized by mass culture and mass media, have become our own. We have ingested their poison. We have been taught by the uber-rich to celebrate the bad freedoms and denigrate the good ones. Look at any Trump rally. Watch any reality television show. Examine the state of our planet. We will repudiate these pathologies and organize to force the uber-rich from power or they will transform us into what they already consider us to be—the help." -- https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-rule-of-the-uber-rich-means-tyranny-or-revolution/
"Profiting from pain: Big Pharma, big marketing, and opiate addiction by Marc on January 30, 2018 in Connect This guest post addresses a complex and emotionally-loaded issue: the link between pharmaceutical opiates (and the questionable way they’ve been advertised and marketed) and the current “opioid crisis” or overdose epidemic. Nick does a splendid job of recounting key milestones and contextualizing them within the history of Big Pharma...by Nick Johns...With the number of regulatory departments and protective measures in place today, we as consumers are inclined to believe that a product or service has been proven safe before it’s approved for public use. We’d like to think that if something turns out to be dangerous or harmful, the responsible party will be held accountable and similar situations will be prevented in the future. Unfortunately, in the complex and tangled world of pharmaceutical drugs, that is frequently not the case. Take for example Pradaxa, an anticoagulant and blood thinner most often prescribed to treat and prevent blood clots and reduce the risk of stroke following hip or knee replacement surgery. The medication managed to obtain FDA approval five years before its reversal agent, Praxbind (an antidote to Pradaxa designed to reverse its effects and prevent uncontrollable bleeding) became available, leading to incidents of severe bleeding and hundreds of deaths. Companies with ties to multiple other entities and those that have major influence on the healthcare economy are able to skirt the rules and make deals with federal agencies or court systems to avoid serious legal repercussions. Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, marketed a drug called Bextra in 2001, a Cox-2 inhibitor. While the FDA rejected the drug at high doses for acute surgical pain, Pfizer and its marketing partner Pharmacia pitched it to anesthesiologists and surgeons anyway — at doses up to twice what the FDA had approved as safe. What effect have these historically loose controls had on the present overdose epidemic? Sidestepping regulations to bring potentially unsafe drugs to market is only part of a larger problem, and it isn’t the only method that pharmaceutical companies have employed in pursuit of profit. When it was released in 1995, Purdue Pharma’s now-infamous opiate painkiller OxyContin was hailed as a breakthrough in pain management. The active ingredient of OxyContin is oxycodone, a long-lasting narcotic with up to twice the strength of morphine (milligram by milligram). Prior to OxyContin, doctors had historically been reluctant to write prescriptions for powerful opioids outside of end-of-life care or acute cancer pain due to fear of the addictive properties of the drugs. In order to shift this perception, Purdue Pharma launched a massive marketing campaign to diminish concerns about addiction and to promote OxyContin as a safe treatment for an increasing range of ailments. At the forefront of the campaign, and differentiating OxyContin from other narcotics on the market such as Vicodin and Percocet, was the patented time-release formula — a characteristic which Purdue claimed was responsible for the drug’s purported addiction rate of “less than 1 percent”. This, employees of Purdue claimed, made the drug a safe choice for CNCP (chronic non-cancer pain) patients. In an effort to maximize the efficacy of their marketing efforts, Purdue compiled profiles of doctors and their prescribing habits into databases used to identify where their campaigns would have the most success. This aggressive marketing tactic coupled with an incredibly lucrative bonus structure for sales representatives (a range of $15,000 to nearly $240,000 on top of a representative’s average annual salary of $55,000 in 2001) led to a tremendous increase in the number of visits to physicians with higher than average rates of opioid prescription. While pitching OxyContin, sales representatives for Purdue even reportedly claimed to some healthcare providers that the drug, now frequently compared to heroin in terms of potency and risk of addiction, didn’t even cause a buzz. For millions of patients, a prescription for OxyContin provided crucial relief from debilitating pain. For many, however, addiction became so severe that the period of withdrawal between doses became unbearable — especially if the recommended dosage was exceeded. Purdue’s marketing campaign for OxyContin reached its peak in the early 2000s, and sales of prescription opioids (with Oxycontin in the lead) quadrupled between 1999 and 2016. During that same period, over 200,000 people died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids — with many cases involving a mix of other drugs and/or alcohol. While federal regulations have since cracked down on OxyContin and tightened around pharmaceutical practices, the opioid epidemic is far from over. Patients addicted to prescription painkillers can eventually find them too expensive or too difficult to obtain, and may turn to other drugs instead — heroin in particular. Drug-related deaths are climbing at an alarming rate, and many can be linked to the addition of fentanyl to street drugs. But there’s little doubt that Oxycontin prescriptions greatly contributed to a wave of addictions that has yet to subside. With prescription opioids potentially serving as dangerous gateways to fentanyl-laced illicit drugs, it’s clear that attention needs to shift to pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and physicians. Doctors and healthcare professionals can help by screening and regularly monitoring for substance overuse or addiction, and by prescribing painkillers only when other treatment options have proven ineffective. Patients can help by never sharing or selling prescription pain medications, and by taking steps to ensure that they are the only ones with access to their painkillers. Friends and loved ones can help by monitoring patients for correct usage of prescription pain medications, staying alert for any signs of prescription drug overuse, and questioning and challenging potentially dangerous habits before they become entrenched. The battle can be won, but we all must fight together." -- http://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/connect/profiting-from-pain-big-pharma-big-marketing-and-opiate-addiction/
"Government-organized pogroms against the Jews deflected attention from the corrupt regime. It is arguable which of the Russian Czars was the worst to the Jews. We'll start with Czar Nicholas I (who ruled from 1825 to 1855) as one of the prime contenders and work our way down. In 1827, Czar Nicholas I introduced what became known as the Cantonist Decrees. (The name came from the word "canton," meaning "military camp.") These decrees called for the forced conscription of Jewish boys into the Russian Army. These boys were between the ages of 12 and 18 and were forced to serve for 25 years! During their army service, every effort was made to convert them to Christianity. Due to the horrendous conditions under which they were forced to serve, many of the boys who were conscripted didn't survive, and if they did, few continued to identify themselves as Jews. As far as the Jewish community was concerned, either way was a death sentence. Some Jewish parents were so desperate they would actually cut off the right index finger of their sons with a butcher's knife ― without an index finger you couldn't fire a gun and you were exempt from service. Other people would try and bribe their kid's way out. The Cantonist Decrees raise the level of pressure on the Jewish community to new extremes. Each Jewish community was responsible to produce a certain number of boys for the army and the community leadership was held responsible for failure to meet this quota. It's not to hard to imagine the turmoil caused by forcing community leaders to decide which boys had to go and which boys could stay. If that wasn't bad enough, there was the government-sponsored anti-Semitism. Protocols of the Elders of Zion...Around the turn of the century (It was first published in 1903), the Russian secret police began to circulate a forgery which became the most famous anti-Semitic "document" in history ― The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. These protocols purported to be the minutes of a secret meeting of world Jewish leaders, which supposedly took place once every hundred years for the purpose of plotting how to manipulate and control the world in the next century. As ridiculous as this might sound to us today, the Protocols were seized upon as "proof" that the world was dominated by Jews who were responsible for all of the world's problems. Fans and proponents of the Protocols have included such anti-Semites as: Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company; Adolf Hitler, as might be expected; Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser; and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, among others. Despite the fact that the Protocols are a proven forgery whose allegations are completely ridiculous, an expression of the worst kind of anti-Semitism, the Protocols continue to sell briskly today and are carried by such huge bookstore chains as Barnes and Noble and amazon.com in the name of freedom of speech. Pogroms...We spoke of pogroms ― mob violence against Jews ― in Part 49 when we covered the murderous attacks of the Ukrainian Cossack Bogdan Chmielnicki in 17th century Poland. In Czarist Russia, there were so many pogroms against the Jews that it is simply impossible to even begin to list them all. (In one four year period there were 284 pogroms, for example.) These pogroms were seldom spontaneous, though incitement by Christian clergy around the Christian holidays could drive the masses into a frenzy. However, in Czarist Russia, most of the pogroms were government organized. Why would the Czarist government organize mobs to target Jews? Because Jews were the classic scapegoats for the economic problems of Russia (and many other countries in history). Of course, the problems of Russia had nothing to do with the Jews. The problems of Russia had to do with a totally backward, feudal, and highly corrupt regime. One of the ways of diverting attention from the corruption was to blame the Jews and to allow the masses to blow off steam by taking it out on the Jews. The problems of Russia got worse after Czar Alexander II (who was one of the more competent Czars and who was relatively benign to the Jews) was assassinated in 1881 by an anarchist who threw a bomb at his carriage. And when the problems of Russia got worse, the problems of the Jews got worse as well. The government of the new Czar, Alexander III (who ruled 1881-1894) organized one pogrom after another to keep the anger of the masses focused on the Jews. In addition to the pogroms, Alexander III promulgated a series of laws against the Jews. These laws were called the May Laws and they included such prohibitions as: "It is henceforth forbidden for Jews to settle outside the cities and townships." "The registration of property and mortgages in the names of Jews is to be halted temporarily. Jews are also prohibited from administering such properties."
"It is forbidden for Jews to engage in commerce on Sundays and Christian holidays." Writes Berel Wein in Triumph of Survival (p. 173) of the reign of Alexander III: "Expulsions, deportations, arrests, and beatings became the daily lot of the Jews, not only of their lower class, but even of the middle class and the Jewish intelligentsia. The government of Alexander III waged a campaign of war against its Jewish inhabitants... The Jews were driven and hounded, and emigration appeared to be the only escape from the terrible tyranny of the Romanovs." It did not help matters any that during the reign of Alexander III a terrible famine struck Russia in which 400,000 peasants died. Those who survived were bitter and their resentments grew (which would erupt eventually in an aborted revolution in 1905 and the successful Russian Revolution which ushered in Communist rule in 1917.) The Last Romanov...When Alexander III died, he was succeeded by Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs whose incompetence and inflexibility helped bring about the Russian Revolution. The new Czar had to cope with the mess left behind by his father and he did so badly. During his reign one of the most famous pogroms took place ― in Kishinev, on Easter (April 6-7), 1903. The Kishinev pogrom happened when there was a lot of tension in Russia (two years before the first, unsuccessful revolution). Wanting to dispel the tension, the Czarist government once again organized a pogrom against the Jews. Strange as it may sound, the Kishinev pogrom received a lot of international attention. This was because by this time pogroms were something that the "enlightened" Western World no longer found acceptable. (If only they knew what they themselves would do to the Jews 40 years later!) Here is an excerpt from a description of the pogrom printed in the New York Times: "It is impossible to account the amounts of goods destroyed in a few hours. The hurrahs of the rioting. The pitiful cries of the victims filled the air. Wherever a Jew was met he was savagely beaten into insensibility. One Jew was dragged from a streetcar and beaten until the mob thought he was dead. The air was filled with feathers and torn bedding. Every Jewish household was broken into and the unfortunate Jews in their terror endeavored to hide in cellars and under roofs. The mob entered the synagogue, desecrated the biggest house of worship and defiled the Scrolls of the Law. "The conduct of the intelligent Christians was disgraceful. They made no attempt to check the rioting. They simply walked around enjoying the frightful sport. On Tuesday, the third day, when it became known that the troops had received orders to shoot, the rioters ceased." After two days of mayhem, the Czar said, "Okay enough ― mission accomplished. Now it's time to stop it." And it stopped. 118 Jewish men, women and children were murdered, 1,200 were wounded and 4,000 families were rendered homeless and destitute. There were also 12,000 Russian soldier in the city who did nothing for two days. Until the next time. Between 1903 and 1907 was a period of great internal unrest in Russia. Nicholas's incompetence coupled with excessive taxation and the humiliating defeat of Russia during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) let to the first Russian Revolution in 1905 which led to a few short-lived reforms in the government. This period also proved disastrous for the Jewish community there were 284 pogroms with over 50,000 casualties. The level of violence was unbelievable. There was only so much of this kind of thing that people could take. The Jewish community was being devastated and people were looking for a way out. Jews were running out of the shtetls and joining all of the anarchist, communist, socialist, Bundist movements that they could find in the hopes that they would be able to change the situation in Russia. Jews have been history's great idealists and during this time they were desperate to find some way of making things better. (We will cover their activism when we discuss the events surrounding World War I.) Another thing that was happening in this time period was emigration. We see mass emigration of Jews out of Russia. Between 1881 and 1914, some 50,000 or more Jews left every year to a estimated total of 2.5 million Jews. Despite these migrations, the Jewish population of Russia stayed constant ― at about 5 million Jews, due the very high birthrate. Had these Jews not left Russia there would have been 7-8 million Jews there. And it was America which absorbed most of the Jewish immigrants during this period of time. Golden Land...We might recall (from Part 23) when the Jews were exile by the Babylonians, the exile had happened in two stages. First the Babylonians took away 10,000 of the best and the brightest, and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because when the Jews arrive in Babylon, there is a Jewish infrastructure in place. Yeshivas had been established, synagogues built, there was a kosher butcher and a mikveh. Jewish life could continue and as a result we saw hardly any assimilation during the Babylonian exile. However, when the poor Jews of Russia arrived en masse in America at the end of the 19th century ― passing through the famous Ellis Island ― they found no Jewish infrastructure in place. The Jews who had preceded them in the migration of the 1830s were German Jews (about 280,000 of them). These German Jews ― who resented the poorer Russian Jews ― were either Reform, (and did not believe that the Torah was God-given nor in any specific God-given law that Jews had to keep) or they were secular Jews who totally eschewed Jewish tradition. Thus, the poor Russian Jews stepped into the Golden Land of Assimilation as we shall see in the next installment." -- aish.com

I've machine translated an article from ResearchGate.net that is further research on the subject of Quadra Progression. I didn't change much of the translation here. It is a little rough at times, but the parts that really matter are basically clear enough to leave alone. When I note the presence of infographics, I'd recommend referring to the original link to see what the translation is referring to. The format of the source doesn't play well with machine translators so the content of the infographics I wasn't able to translate, but you can get the gist. It took much more effort than I was expecting to translate this article, but I think that it is worthwhile to see what the Socionics view of history is and how it compares and contrasts to Strauss-Howe. It is different, less neatly and clearly defined, but I think it adds some interesting dimensions, namely the differentiation between quadra epochs and quadra sub-phases. The article is too large to post here, so the second half will be in the comments. The following is the translation of the article.
LECTURES ON INTEGRATED SOCIONIC UDC 159.923.2
Bukalov AV FORECASTING SOCIAL POLITICAL PROCESSES
The application of the law of replacement of Bukalov-Gulenko quadras and the concepts of integral socionics analyzes the events of recent history in Russia, the United States, and Ukraine. The interaction of state leaders of different countries with national mentality is described. Various aspects of the world economic crisis are analyzed in connection with the integral type of the United States. Key words: socionics, intertype relations, ethnopsychology, integral type of ethnos, state management. There are a lot of components in this thread. I will try to dwell on some issues, in particular, I will consider in detail the law of removability of quadra [1]. Let's start from the beginning. Recall that we have socionics, that is, the theory of psycho-information structures, or the psyche - individual and societal. And any psyche processes 8 aspects of the information flow. The instrument for this is the type of information metabolism. There is a certain dynamics of processing information: information moves 4-tact, on two rings - the vital and the mental. We also know that there are 16 types of information metabolism, they form a society - a single integrated system. And within this system, types are interconnected by inter-type interactions-intertype relationships. And moreover, there are social order and control relations in the societal - from 1st quadra to 4th and back - from 4th quadra to 1st. That is, the direct transmission of information and control and return transmission.
As soon as there is a transmission of information from the quadra to the quad, the dynamics appears. From this follows what was later called the law of removability of the quadra. How did we find this? Considering an era, some phases of the development of society, the society as a whole.
First, we can begin an abstract consideration: there is a system that is described by a combination of 8 information aspects, and it has its own dynamics of processing information. It turns out that if we look closely at this system, then we can distinguish four phases in it – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta - which replace each other. A certain period of development of society can be described by one of such phases. When the corresponding phase occurs, then on the wave of this phase, as they say on the crest of this wave, there are people with types belonging to the quadra corresponding to this phase. Thus, we can see that some social and political movement first arises, then it acquires some organizational forms, then these forms break down, then the socionics, mentology and personality psychology change, and finally the movement ceases, comes to a steady, steady state. This, for example, concerns political parties.
On the other hand, since the entire human civilization, in general, is also such an information system, and any culture can be so described, we can globally look at it. Classical history, historiography identifies certain phases of the development of society - primitive and savage, primitive communal relations, then class relations, then the development of capitalism, etc. And, according to historians, civilization begins with the emergence of cities and states. Actually, the beginning of writing, money, etc., is fixed by history as the beginning of civilization. This scheme is generally accepted, no one opposed it - neither in the West, nor even Marxists. This was the fundamental thesis: there is a state - the machinery of violence - and the class history of mankind begins. And before that there was prehistory.
The problem, however, is that states began to emerge not so long ago, historically, of course. The oldest, in Shumi, is the 4th millennium BC. E., And in other territories of the state appeared in 2,000 – 3,000 BCE. What was before then? Really before that there was prehistory?
It turns out that before that, well-known monuments of material and spiritual culture, say, the same Stonehenge in England, on the Salisbury Plain, were erected. And the pre-historic people who lived in communities, under the rule of the leaders, did not know writing, which did not have cities, it turned out, perfectly able to process stone and erect huge structures - wooden or stone, like Stonehenge. Moreover, they possessed the highest astronomical knowledge, I no longer speak of processing technology, the installation of multi-tonnages weighing tens of tons of stones, but that astronomical information, which is encrypted in the same megaliths, is so sophisticated ... It is now considered Proved that the rings of Stonehenge model the ten planets of the Solar System and many other astronomical objects and phenomena. Moreover, it turns out that in the place of Stonehenge even before the stone structure was wooden. And next to it there was one more -Woodhenge. Moreover, at this time, almost synchronously throughout the vast expanse of Eurasia, up to the Trans-Urals, similar structures were built, mostly of wood, of course. Again, the information that was encrypted in them is completely unique. The oldest such ring of megaliths was found in southern Egypt, one can say in Nubia, on the border with Libya, it dates back to the 6th millennium BCE. Of course, there were no states then.
If you take, for example, the temples of the island of Malta, and there are dozens of these temples, and, apparently, when the island sank under the water, many such temples disappeared under water - there are roads and stuff - it's again 4,000-3,000 BCE. A sophisticated technique of working with a stone, sophisticated solar coding, stellar. The orientation of all these structures, connected with equinox and other astronomical events ... Again, all this was created at a time when there was no written language, there was no state. Nevertheless, somebody organized these works, somebody did all this synchronously. That is, the society was undoubtedly sufficiently developed, but there was no civilization in the historical sense. There is a paradox ...
The existing historical paradigm in this sense cuts off a giant piece of human history. But this phase lasted, without exaggeration, for several thousand years. The first villages and even cities appeared very long ago: Jericho – 9,000 BCE., Chatal-Guyuk in Asia Minor, in the territory of modern Turkey - the 7th millennium BCE. Even the Sphinx, which stands on the Giza plateau near the pyramids, as geologists have shown, was hollowed out and made not simultaneously with the pyramids, not in the 3rd millennium BCE., But much earlier. It was created around at least 7,500 BCE. It turned out very simply. American geologists began to study it and found that the Sphinx is in a trench, where limestone was extracted, and deep furrows remained on the trench and the Sphinx. From what? They began to investigate: if sand had left them, then the furrows would be of the same species, and furrows with all others. Just the same as water does, more precisely - strong streams of rainwater. The problem is that throughout the well-known history of the Sphinx periodically swept the sand, it’s all the time, regularly dug up. There was a question: when did the rains and sand go? It turned out that the rains were between the seventh and fourth millennia BC. E. Those rains that could leave such traces ... And there was no sand, because this area was green, there grew grass ... People made the Sphinx 7,500 years BCE., A little later than Jericho was built. And next to it, right before the Sphinx, stands the Sphinx temple. This temple is made of that limestone that was taken out of the trench. Among the floors in this temple there are blocks of 50 tons. How do you raise 50 tons? The stones of Stonehenge are 10 tons, for example. And then they still wonder how they were raised. And how to raise 50 tons? Today, the whole world has two cranes that lift such a weight. In general, everything is very difficult to explain, but this temple has the same gates. And the most curious, which few people paid attention to, (but I was there in Egypt and specially photographed it) - this temple was so sacred for the ancient Egyptians, who in the third millennium BCE. They either erected or modernized the pyramids, making an internal granite cloak for this temple, they kept these furrows. And these are not slabs, but large, thick, massive blocks of red granite that cover the entire interior of the temple. So, the granite they blew up so that they closed the cavity (gully) in this temple. Granite is much harder than limestone and harder to process. But, apparently, it was so important and sacred for them that they did not even dare to rinse or rumble these gullies, but in their form, they drilled hard granite. So, these bogs have survived to our time.
What is this phase of history? You can argue a lot, put forward a variety of hypotheses, down to aliens. But in any case, since this process took place globally, that is, it was in Egypt, Eurasia, and other parts of the world, then, of course, there were some general characteristics of it.
When they began to understand the structure of societies, which, in particular, were associated with megaliths and other material remnants-the same Triplanskaya civilization, in the Balkans it is the culture of linear ceramics, and many others-it turned out that these societies existed for thousands years. They were governed by the leaders, they had a very developed religious and other ritual culture, but they did not have a state. What is this phase?
If from the point of view of socionics we look at the characteristics given by the modern historical paradigm, then the beginning of human civilization, that is, the presence of the state, writing, army, etc. - is that? These are typical manifestations of what we call the phase Beta. Then we can compare everything that we talked about a little bit earlier - and high knowledge and so on - and understand that it was a phase Alpha. And in phase Alpha, in fact, in contrast to phase Beta, organizational structures are very weak, but spiritual and other knowledge are very high, which are achieved intuitively.
Megaliths and other structures are surprising, in particular, "what high knowledge is encrypted in such a design." But if we look at a graph that was built by me long ago [3], we will see how the redistribution of free information in different squares is proceeding. In phase Alpha - a huge amount of free information, phase Beta - limiting information. Next, the next burst is the Gamma phase and, finally, some kind of stabilization - phase Delta. But at the same time there is an inverse process, let's say, materialization-Information. And it turns out that in phase Alpha it is weak, the largest peak reaches in the second phase, then a small dip in the Gamma phase, and finally a long phase of large-scale information materialization, that is, the phase of accumulation of material values-phase Delta, when ideas are little, but people live very well. This is how several countries in Western Europe, which have already reached this phase, live in it.
It is clear that then we can compare with the vast period of history, from about the seventh millennium BCE. Up to the second – third millennium BCE., The phase of Alpha. Almost five thousand years lasted phase Alpha. This is very long time. How many modern civilizations exist? From Christ's Nativity - only 2000 years. And the same Trypillian culture or related cultures in the Balkans existed for more than 5000 years. This is a completely different scale. Moreover, they existed without any major shocks - stably and calmly. Apparently, they tried to somehow live in harmony with nature and environment, all this was achieved through complex rituals, any action had some sacred meaning, etc. But these cultures were very stable: 4-5 thousand years is not a joke.
INFOGRAPHIC, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
Beta. The formation of a centralized, up to totalitarian, governance structure with the implementation of grandiose projects is accompanied by a sharp decrease in the circulation of free information in society-it is transformed into "construction projects of the century"
Delta. The stabilization phase: almost all free information is linked to the material, technological and other achievements of the society. The minimum number of fundamentally new ideas, conservatism.
Gamma. "Perestroika": the increase in freely circulating information is accompanied by the collapse of the administrative command system, its economic, social and production structures.
Alpha. The maximum of free information circulating in society, and the minimum of its implementation (materialization).
Circulation of free (ρ (I)) and materialized (ρ (E)) information in society.
Then, because of drought and other troubles, these cultures are slowly disappearing, dying, and new cultures are emerging, including in Eurasia, with Indo-Europeans, who at this time tamed the horse and began occupying these lands, practically without resistance. When they say that there were wars there, this does not correspond to archaeological data. There just happened a certain natural crisis, and the phase changed.
And the synchronism of this phase is amazing. Not only did Indo-Europeans simply occupy settlements, say, in the territory of Ukraine Tripolye and others. But if you take the same India, it was once thought that the fierce Aryans came with their flocks and horses to the territory of India and all began to destroy and destroy, including the civilization of Mohenjo-Daro. But later studies have shown that the Mohenjo-Daro civilization died of natural causes (droughts and floods) several hundred years before the arrival of the Aryan tribes. The fact that the arias in India were not conquerors and did not destroy the Dravidian tribes, but actually assimilated them, is even said by the structure of the Indian pantheon. There are also Shiva and other gods, many of them clearly Dravidian, South Indian. They were integrated, possibly together with religious and philosophical ideas, and thus Hinduism arose.
These protocivilizations, Alpha-cultures died under the influence of internal and natural causes. That is, they, as they say, just lived their own phase.
Since historians were inclined to see history as a process of continuous wars and conquests, they gave it some aggressive coloring. But in fact, not every culture can survive for several thousand years without much shock.
Knowing socionics, we can say that the historical paradigm should include not only the 2nd phase, but also the 1st, Alpha-phase ... That prehistory, in which people only learned farming, cattle breeding, etc.
It's another matter, that since these phases are very global, and now we see the development of capitalism, then, do we really have the third phase? Nothing like this. Since the world consists of states, the state according to Lenin is the "apparatus of violence", coercion, in fact, in the global sense, for the human civilization, there is a second phase. Only it lives its subphases: -Alpha subphase, Beta-subphase, Gamma-subphase. It can be assumed that now mankind is experiencing a certain Gamma-sub-phase, but within the framework of this global 2nd quadra. That is, such representations that "the state will wither and disappear", as the communists dreamed, are still very far from realization, the third phase has not yet come. Of course, some attempts are being made to unite with the destruction of interstate borders within the framework of the European Union and similar events. But nevertheless, if we think in phases of millennia, now we have a Gamma-subphase of the global Beta phase.
Socionics in a sense restores a whole historical layer in its rights. A significant part of the mythologies and other achievements of the second phase are based, of course, on the discoveries and knowledge of the Alpha-phase - those societies that were before them. Certainly, with the loss of part of understanding, some technologies, etc.
When we talk about the development of an ethnos, in the same way we can distinguish several sub-phases in its development. In general, the theme of the development of society or ethnos is well suited to analysis by the methods of socionics. For example, it was convincingly shown that all these phases described by Gumilev : the rise of passionarity, the ac- matic phase, the phase of the break, the obscuration phase, the decay phase, the memorial phase are very well modeled by the information Aspects. And, of course, if we move from such global issues to narrower ones, then, for example, we can analyze the world history of, say, the 20th century ... Let us recall the middle and the end of the 19th century, when a storm of technical and scientific discoveries began: Steam, the era of electricity, the discovery of X-rays, the novels of Jules Verne and other writers. A real hymn to human knowledge in its pure form. It seemed - a little bit more and humanity will enter the "golden age", all for it will make cars, all the unpleasant work, a person will live comfortably, his task will only be something new to do, discover, learn, etc. The whole end of the nineteenth - beginning of the twentieth century was saturated with such a feeling. A kind of Alpha-sensation: "Forward!", "Discoveries!", "Progress!". The discovery of the radioactivity of the atomic nucleus, the discovery of quantum mechanics, the discovery of the theory of relativity, is a continuous flow of development. It seemed, in just a little bit, humanity will enter into the "golden age". And suddenly - Bam! - The First World War begins. First, local conflicts, that is, the Anglo-Boer War, the Russo-Japanese War, other wars, but they are still far from Europe ... And suddenly, in the midst of archi- cy-armed Europe, there is a gigantic massacre.
What is the First World War? This is in fact the moment of transition from one phase to another, that is, when the old idea breaks down, the old structures ... And a new, imperialist order arises. As formulated by VI Ulyanov-Lenin: "imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism." There are new empires, new Unions, new formations, there are authoritarian and totalitarian states. Not only in Russia, instead of the Russian Empire, but everywhere: in Italy - the fascist state, in Hungary - the totalitarian regime, in some countries such authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes arise - one can recall Poland, that is, the government of Marshal Pilsudski. But not only almost all of Europe is governed by such regimes. Even in China, there are certain processes of militarization. In Japan, a new militaristic state is being formed. That is, globally the whole epoch, the whole world is turning, sliding into the 2nd phase - phase Beta. And wherever we look - everywhere we see a huge number of all kinds of authoritarian or frankly totalitarian regimes. They capture most of Europe. Let's just say that they struggled hard in England, although the sympathy for Nazism among the British establishment was very strong, it's enough to recall Lord Chamberlain (who, by the way, was a logical-sensory introvert ( LSI) and admired Hitler - ethical- Intuitive extrovert (EIE), considering that the Messiah) ... In France, there was an attempt ... And in the United States of America too. But, since Roosevelt was in charge there (SEE), this trend was stopped. However, it had roots: economic depression, a decline in production. And again, the recession was not only after the war of Germany, which was ruined by reparations, the Weimar world under humiliating conditions and so on. But in the seemingly prosperous America, the same thing happened - the crisis of 1929 ... The crisis is a crisis for them - they have a 20% drop in production. It was a gigantic catastrophe and depression of America and all those who were associated with it. Against the background of our 90's, we would say: "Ha! Is this called a crisis? Against the background of the fact that in the former Soviet Union, production fell by 80%, and nothing - survived! ".
The second phase: a whole conglomerate of Beta-regimes is created that are friendly to each other, they arrange some unions, but at the same time they do not mind (among themselves, again) divide the remaining territories. And in the end, the two largest regimes clashed. Japan occupied part of China, which was completely defenseless before it, and attacks the United States. Simultaneously Hitlerite Germany attacks the Soviet Union, which itself was preparing to attack, but did not have time. And the struggle of totalitarian regimes begins between themselves. We know how it ended. But the fact is that the 2nd phase lasted quite a long time. And if it was practically destroyed in the territory of Western Europe and Japan by means of military actions, in the Soviet Union, as in one of the victorious countries, it safely survived, despite all the reforms, until 1991. Before that, China experienced a similar transition. There, this phase ended with the death of Mao Tse Dong and Deng Xiao Ping, they began to "crawl" into the 3rd phase, that is, the γ-phase. If to take globally, then in the post-war period, the third square predominates, of course. And it's understandable why - because it's time. And the locomotive of all this was the United States of America, which, with the help of the Marshall Plan for Europe, with huge investments, breathed in the spirit of entrepreneurship, economic and financial management methods, individual initiative, personal success - the ideas of the Gamma-quadra - into consciousness and organization.
If taken globally, then in the post-war period, the third square predominates, of course. And it's understandable why - because it is their time. And the locomotive of all this was the United States of America, which, with the help of the Marshall Plan for Europe, with huge investments, breathed in the spirit of entrepreneurship, economic and financial management methods, individual initiative, personal success - the ideas of the Gamma-quadra - into consciousness and organization. Life in many countries of the world. The US not only restructured political regimes and, of course, economies in a number of countries in Europe and Asia, but also, due to their economic power, they actually made the dollar the world's reserve currency. After the Second World War, the dollar, not the gold security, began to play the role of world currency. This is a very serious moment. As a result, all countries began to copy or adapt to the economic template or criterion that was set by the United States of America.
The United States of America is described by an integral type of logical-intuitive extrovert (LIE, Entrepreneur). Let's look at model A of this type. On the 1st place There is a 4-dimensional business logic (Te), that is, "everything for business", "make money" 1. It is a country of capitalism, not of classical, but of little-restrained capitalism. Those laws and those institutions that exist in the United States provide every kind of encouragement for any business. Moreover, since logic is 4-dimensional, and the United States is an extravert structure, then, of course, the business and processes of the extrovert with business logic are business processes all over the world, that is, the entire globe. Dolbar is a continuation and an instrument of this 4-dimensional business logic. When the United States says in any developing country that "there must be a market economy in the country", they establish their own rules of the game. The problem is that, although by these rules everyone seems to be profitable to play - they encourage the benefits, but there is a downside - in this field, in these rules the United States automatically becomes the strongest. Because only this is their field of activity. If they had ethics in the first function, they would have ruled some ideological moments, but, as there is business logic, the circumstances develop exactly this way.
Further, this type is not only logical, but also intuitive. In the second place is the intuition of time (Ni), that is, the ability to predict the results of its financial, entrepreneurial actions. This intuition of time is also the intuition of risk: "whoever does not risk, he does not win." Therefore, this type is characterized by the desire to "flirt" with finances, with some other moments. And as a result, from time to time he "brings". And any speculative financial combinations lead to a financial crisis.
One economist described well what was happening in the United States of America: a person buys a house on credit, the house costs 100 thousand dollars. Further, since there is such a process where everyone buys something from each other, the house costs 200 thousand a year later, nominally. The owner is called from the bank, they say: "Look: you took a house on bail, it cost 100 thousand, and now it already costs 200. Do not want to take under these extra 100 thousand furniture, equipment, etc.?". - "Of course, I want". - "No questions". The price is still growing, the person still picks up ... That is, the fictitious price of a house, the fee for ensuring the standard of living increases several times. But for all this, a person collects loans: for entertainment, for new household appliances, etc. And then the banks become not that much, and they increase the interest on the loan. Only by 2-3%. But with this amount, a person is required to pay a month more than his salary, after deduction of taxes, after paying for utilities and so on. He says: "But I cannot." The bank has a reflex - it takes away the house. And it remains with nothing. Because when he takes away from everyone, it turns out that no one can pay. On the TV showed a village in Florida: thousands of houses are standing, thousands of houses, of which evicted residents who could not pay loans. The police are forced to somehow guard houses, because in them teenagers are disgraceful, tramps are populating them. And so, throughout America. This is speculation: "I thought that it costs 200, and put it here, and now it is already worth 300 ..." and again, and more ... And after several such speculations it turned out that such "money" by one estimate is 1.5 trillion, According to others - 10 trillion dollars "wound up". And what to do with it? Then it turns out that at one point, when people refuse to pay, and the house cannot be sold by the bank, and, in turn, has debts to other banks - what happens? It turns out a default, that is, a refusal to pay. And a chain reaction begins. It turns out that those assets that cost the imagination of financiers 5 trillion are not worth one trillion. And the dollar is the world's reserve currency. And the problems of the USA immediately become problems of the whole world. Extraverted approach. The introvert's problems are his problems. And the extrovert's problems are the problems of everyone around him. In this case, financial problems. And the whole world is beginning to shake, because 25% of the world's consumption is the United States of America. And GDP in the US is 11 trillion. This, of course, is a gigantic figure ...
And, as a result, the slightest instability in this giant economic organization, the slightest "sneeze" brings down the world economy. Like Gulliver sneezed among Lilliputians. There is an interesting paradox: everyone knows that the US economy is in crisis and the stock exchange is falling, and the dollar has risen sharply. What happened? Investors began to take money from everywhere, from all countries, to collect them and buy back very cheap American shares, which have now collapsed. In a word: "the stock market has reached the bottom, broke it and began to dig."
INFOGRAPHIC: Integral Types of Russia, Ukraine, USA (INFJ, INFP, ENTJ). Fragments of models of mentality of ethnoses of Russia, Ukraine and the USA.
The problem consists that the combination of business logic and intuition of time at this type sometimes gets speculative character. The fact is that even on a personal level, Jack London or the Entrepreneur has a propensity for a certain risk. And there is such a literary character - Ostap Bender, the "great combinator" - in his image one side of this quality is underlined. On the other hand, for some people of this type, there are, of course, not many of them, there is a great passion for games in casinos or on slot machines. Apparently, they feel a resonance with their business logic when they see how a mechanical device accidentally ejects something. Perhaps there is a psychological moment of identification: "this is a machine, I'm inside a car; He throws away by chance, so I can guess. " I know some people who came to the "one-armed bandits", could not stop ... One large entrepreneur could squander 20-30 thousand, and could not leave until he was pulled out by the collar of a comrade-SEE: he simply pulled out the rest ... Another person, an amateur to play, took in his firm money for settlements with the client and decided to "wrap" them at the same time - he went into the casino. And, of course, not only this money was squandered, but twice as much. Then he disappeared, leaving a note to his wife: "do not look for me, I have disappeared." These are all real cases ... It turns out that the intuition of time brings a person who usually realistically calculates some moments, because he is betting on an unlikely forecast, as in the case of games.
But in the case of the mortgage crisis in the US, we see that there was a banal risk-playing game, which ended in big problems. The uncontrolled movement of capital on world exchanges, which is in full compliance with the Gamma-phase, is now trying to introduce some limits, limit: stop trading, or simply close for a few days the exchanges or prohibit short operations ... That is, the states of the whole world began to actively intervene in this structure. Now voices are heard that it is necessary to refuse altogether from the entire system, including somehow from the dollar, although no one knows how to do it. We can say that now the world economy is like a strained string - it can withstand, and maybe burst. What does it mean to burst? This means that America will refuse to pay its obligations. And trillions of dollars from foreign countries are invested in these obligations. What will happen? It will be complete financial chaos. But even now in America, the state is trying to introduce regulatory mechanisms through the purchase of controlling stakes at low prices. The thing is unheard of: an American state that has always preached a free market has already bought up a third of its banking assets. In the UK, almost all banks went under state control. In France, in Holland - too. Thus, governments take out primarily controlling stakes and banks become state or semi-public. In Russia, a similar process is also taking place. States are beginning to actively regulate the market. And what is it? This is nothing more than a "slip" into the 4th quadra, when there is no free financial "binge", but there are frames and various restrictions. Not like in the 2nd quadra - "they just took and took away", "commissars came and ..." - but softly, not selected, but bought out for less money, and such parastatal management is introduced. The fourth square is also a square of aristocrats - there is its own hierarchy, there its limitations and prohibitions ...
Now it is done, of course, spontaneously, at the level of reflexes, just completely different states, even the United States, do not see any other way out. But, from the point of view of socionics, this is nothing more than a rejection of permissiveness inherent in the 3rd quadra in the financial sense and a transition to technologies and regulatory practices characteristic of the 4th quadra, that is, the transition from a bundle of business logic - intuition (Te-N) to a bundle of business logic - sensorics (Te-S), from financial speculation to production-secured ones. Already in this phase there will be less "blown" speculation, and there will be real, secured assets that will be sold on the stock exchange, quoted, etc. Now the stock market is so divorced from reality that the shares are worth 50-60 denominations. If you count, with the profit that is given there - usually 15-20% per year, how many dozens of years to get this profit? But, nevertheless, quotes were just like that. And now there is a sharp decline - at times - the cost of these shares. Apparently, after all the fluctuations of the shares will become closer to real security. Of course, all this can be accompanied by financial catastrophe, because if the dollar string breaks, then one end, of course, it will hit the States, and the other end - for all who are associated with dollar assets. The situation is very dangerous. But, on the other hand, the transition from the 3rd quadra to the 4th can be either catastrophic or smooth. Both scenarios are possible, and it is quite possible that this will happen through a local or serious catastrophe with finances. It is very difficult here for something to be predicted, now we see just these waves. Obama won, but it is unlikely his team will cope with this. Because he has a lot of populism, but to build a competent strategy to fight against this is, of course, difficult.
In any case, we see that the phase that dominated after the First World War - the third phase - is coming to an end. The harbinger of this was already the "crawling" of Europe into this phase, that is, the formation of the European Union, the abolition of borders, customs and so on. While this was more or less local, and now we see that this process corresponds to the crisis that has arisen. Each time, with each new wave, such a crisis becomes stronger. Such waves unfold on a large scale, this shaft is growing more and more. Therefore, let's say, the world dollar system cannot survive the next crisis. And after a while, a significant part of human civilization will "crawl" or "throw it" into the 4th phase. And then other processes will go on, when people will come to their senses after a stormy Gamma-phase.
Let's turn to the history of specific countries. I will now say two words about Russia, then - about Ukraine. If we look at the history of Russia in the 20th century, including, of course, the period of the existence of the USSR, what do we see? There was an Alpha-phase - very small in a country with a Beta mentality - this is the February revolution, the actual organizational manifestation of this Alpha phase, which quickly changed as a result of the October coup by the Beta phase, that is, the construction of such a clearly centralized, rigid state with an integral type of logic - Sensory introvert (LSI, Maxim). And further - this state lasted 73 years, and then collapsed. That is, upon transition to the Gamma-phase, it underwent de-construction. We can say that the transition "strongly shakes", the flutter is such that the USSR has developed into a number of states and republics, other countries have arisen, and Russia has emerged.
If we now consider Russia, and it is the successor of the USSR, then in its history it is easy to single out several sub-phases, already inside the Gamma-phase. However, in the Beta-phase it was also possible to clearly distinguish 4 sub-phases: Alpha-sub-phase - after the civil war, this is the NEP; Beta-subphase-elimination of all and all, and the emergence of the unified authority of Stalin, continued until 1953; Further attempts by N. Khrushchev to reorganize the state apparatus, to introduce some changes are the Gamma-sub-phase. Khrushchev was displaced, and the "era of developed socialism" or "decaying socialism" began, as he was still jokingly called when everything calmed down, when all began to live more or less securely, in comparison with previous years, that is, the Brezhnev era. In this phase, four subphases are very clearly distinguished, while the Beta-structure of the state and society was preserved.
And now, a new countdown begins. The epoch of Boris N. Yeltsin is obviously the Alpha-subphase in the Gamma-phase. That is, the Gamma-square won, as it was said: "take independence as you want", the economic collapse began, and then the reforms began, and the other, already uncontrolled features of the Gamma-phase became more and more apparent. We all remember it well. Yes, this is the Alpha-sub-phase of the Gamma phase.
And then Boris Nikolaevich understands that the country has reached a certain limit. He understands that new forces are needed, he is looking for successors. He has a kind of casting premiers - who remembers who was not there. And he chooses Vladimir Putin. And, he rests: "Why? To me and so it is good ", -" No, you will be ". And the Beta-sub-phase begins in the 3rd phase. What does this mean? That with the parade of sovereignties is over, rigid centralized management is introduced, governors are no longer elected, but are appointed, the country gets a new administrative division - to the presidential offices, to 6 such super-regions. The "vertical of power" is being built. Restrictions, vowels and, what is characteristic, secret, associated with the press, with freedom of speech, with attempts at sovereignty are introduced ... On the other hand, military power is increasing, that is, a manifestation of strong-willed sensorics (Se). Recall that in the Alpha-phase Yeltsin's Russia actually lost two wars to a small Chechnya. Now - no, the struggle is getting tougher, fighting is under way, the term "sweep" appears. There is, let us say, the pacification of the Caucasus, and with harsh force methods. At the same time, as is known, a number of oligarchs are repressed: B. Berezovsky, V. Gusinsky, M. Khodorkovsky and others. Thus, the state shows that it is the main player - both political and economic. But the ownership forms do not change at the same time. A significant part of the oligarchs, who are friendly with this power, remain with this power or cooperate with it - remember the billionaire R. Abramovich, who simultaneously became the governor of Chukotka, and the super-billionaire, etc. That is, the Gamma-phase continues, that interesting. That is, there is no nationalization, but at the same time the state apparatus is strengthened.

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Date: 2014-03-19
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Questions	Answers
Have you ever had a customer get really upset? What happened?	One guy called back an hour after we finished, screaming his lungs out. "YOU GUYS BROKE MY FUCKING CHAIR AND DIDNT EVEN TELL ME OR TRY TO FIX IT!!" "What's wrong with it?" "ITS FUCKING SNAPPED IN HALF" "the red lazyboy?" "YEA NO SHIT!!" "The backs come off for easier moving, sorry we forgot to re attach it, just line it up and it will fall into place" "OH...well...good to know"
That's kinda funny, you can see why he was pissed but I'm glad it worked out.	Yea we had a good laugh. How would we expect to get away with snapping his favourite chair in half without him calling back haha it was a honest mistake but he was a dick about it
We hired movers last year and the first thing the driver says to me (after showing up 2hr late) is that normal tips are $50 per person. We had budgeted $20/person for tips and after the work they did that was more than they deserved. They tried to hold my tv hostage in their truck until they got their tips but told them they weren't getting shit until they brought in my only thing of actual value. Fuck those guys. How the hell do I find movers that aren't shady as fuck?	Holy shit. I guess this is why so many people treated me like dirt. Look up reviews of the company, if you can't find any, call them. Just ask them about their insurance policy. That question can break owners or managers. The insurance, at least here, is by weight. It doesn't matter how valuable the item is, we are only legally required to cover its cost by weight. It's nothing, I can't remember numbers, but basically your 5000 flatscreen will only cost us 50. If you fish out that, or some other honest answer, stay on the line. My boss would follow that up by saying some shit like "listen, if we happen to break on of your valuables, we will work something fair out, I have a budget for that. I have no doubt that we will deliver your items with the most care possible" and we did. That bit him in the ass sometimes, but always saved face. Just ask a lot of questions, if they truly want your business, they will answer. If they get annoyed or brush you off, move on.
What is the least amount of items has someone requested you to move?	Edit: I just noticed I didn't answer your second question. We did a lot of piano moves where it was just that. Also did some odd stuff like a electrical bed to storage, and people sometimes just hired us to move stuff around in their house that they couldn't.
Who has been your most interesting client?	I got my finger pinched underneath a lazyboy chair I was carrying when the foot rest popped out. When I finally got it out, my finger squirted blood all over their carpet. Whoops. Went to the doctor for stitches, lied about where it happened, then went back to work. Another time we were pushing a dresser into the truck and it got jammed on my thumb. Link to m.imgur.com I drove myself to get it popped bam in, then went back to work. I also had a dresser fall on me but I was not injured because I'm a tank. I was waiting for somebody to ask me your third question. I've moved nicklebacks dad, and the head coach of the oilers. I didn't know it was nicklebacks dad until the end of the day. "You like nickelback?" I SAID NO "oh well I'm chads father, want signed pictures?" So I took one and sold it to my friends mom haha.
"You like nickelback?" I SAID NO "oh well I'm chads father, want signed pictures?" So I took one and sold it to my friends mom haha. Easiest 5$ ever made.	Truth
Do people give tips?	Rich people never tip. Old people, and people who work physical jobs were the only tippers. That being said it was pretty rare, maybe twice a month.
Twice a month?!?!?! I get tipped just about every other job. I've had weeks where damn near everybody tipped.	I've had a few good weeks like that, but yea I kid you not. You usually work at the same time he cable guy shows up. I've seen customers tip him for drilling a hole in 10 minutes, but tipped me nothing. I learned very quick to never hope for a tip because I'll be disappointed more then not. I did get a lot of people buying pizza, giving beers, offering water etc. That was more then enough for me!
Seriously no one tipped? I always tipped my movers... At least like $20-40 depending on the job.	Yea man tips were very rare. Good for you though, it's nice to know not everyone is cheap! I'm starting to think maybe my boss pocketed a few 20's...
I am also a mover in new zealand and tipping here is amazing i can get 400 a week in tips had a job last week and my crew was tiped 500 before we steped in the door was only a 3 hour job	I don't know if I should be happy for you, or sad for myself...haha. That's awesome!
What would you recommend as an appropriate tip? Flat amount or %?	If you want to tip I would say flat amount. Maybe 10 bucks for a small job, 20 for a 8+ hour move. Only tip if you feel they earned it though, don't worry about breaking some unspoken law if they are dicks or mess up a bunch.
That doesn't make sense to me. Did your boss deal with the customers while you wait in the truck? I've done unloads and the cable guy was there. Rarely have I had to work around him though.	Yea I would clean the truck while he squared up. I would always talk with the customers as soon as I finish, and go through the house with them. That would be when I would give the tip..but you have me thinking he probably pocketed some. The ratio of nice people to tips seem unbalanced now that I look back at it...The cable guy always seemed to be in our way. Alway leaving boots in the middle of the doorway haha and that cable guy probably has come across more asshole movers then I have. It felt like a unspoken rivalry hah.
I always feel like half a man, or less when movers are picking up refrigerators that I struggle to move an inch. Has a woman ever made fun of her husband's physical inadequacy in front of him?	Haha yes there was this adorable older couple where the wife was teasing her husband. It was all in good fun, but it could have been taken wrong. "Oh Gary you only wish you were as strong as those lads" "I could lift that" "oh Gary you couldn't lift that 30 years ago, let alone today" hahaha.
Have there ever been any moving jobs where you said, "no, not moving that." Also, do you lift bro?	There was one mattress that stunk of foul death. It had a weird yellow and green colour stained onto it. It was also a king, so you have to bury yourself in it to get them around stairs that turn 180. I didn't feel like getting HIV so I refused to touch it. There was also a homemade gun safe a guy built, which had loaded guns in it. He argued with us that there is no danger, but web he admitted he's not sure if the safeties are on, that was is. We also moved a hoarder but we actually moved her so I guess it doesn't count. Fuck that was gross tho
Hoarder? So if the TV show is right, you moved about 70 dead cats and two tons of expired food?	That's totally ridiculous...it was more like 33 dead cats and 4 flats of expired kraft dinner, let's be real here.
kraft dinner. Canadian alert.	That's aboot right eh.
What's the most insulting experience you had as a mover?	One guys kid was watching us struggle to get a fridge upstairs. He comes up to his kid, picks him up, and says to us "I bet you wish you studied harder now am I right?" How about I'm working this god damn job to save for my schooling. My boss supports his wife with 3 kids and he's the only working one. I hate how much people looked down on me.
What is the strangest thing you have ever seen in someone's house?	I was finishing up a bedroom in the basement, only had the mattress and dresser left. When I ran downstairs to grab it, I saw something underneath the box spring. A little glass dildo. I run upstairs to grab my boss to show him, and I pass by the customer. She asked me "have you gotten everything out of my sons room downstairs?" WTF gross so my boss picks it up with vice grips and puts it in the dresser. Didn't want to ruin moms day. When we are carrying the dresser at the new place, the sons there. He hears this little glass thing rolling around in his dresser. His face went blood red. Also one customer had a holder for her kitchen knifes just loose in her kitchen. It was a figure of a small baby, with a knife going through the head, two through the eyes, one through the mouth, and one through the neck. The strangest thing was that everything was completely normal.
What are the strangest warnings (besides the don't drink the water) you have ever received before starting a job? Did you have to do cross-state moves? And where/ how long?	Good question! We did a move in a seniors home one time. While we were working, a nurse lady came up to me and said "hey can you just keep a eyes on the door? Some people try to escape" WTF. I'm Canadian, the farthest move I did was from Edmonton, AB to Victoria island, BC. Those were the best, do half a job then hit the road. I would have my computer and watch movies while getting paid. Boss pays for hotels and food too. Driving the mountains in a truck at night is kinda sketchy. If I was not feeding my boss 5 hour energies, we probably would be dead, no joke. Long moves were the best, get paid for 2-4 days with only one load and unload!
Have you had an crazy ex stories? or divorce moving catastrophes?	I saw a lot of divorces. Usually only one of the couple is there when we are. You can tell if it's a divorce if there is one guy home, a bunch of nice furniture and decorations...but we only take the big screen and a couch haha. One move we did, the lady said her husband cheated on her, and she's putting his stuff in storage. She had to work so she gave use a quick outline of what goes, then left. As we were clearly moving only this guys stuff out, he shows up. He starts freaking out when he sees his shit in our truck. He started to walk up the ramp, so I blocked him. It's your stuff, but it's my truck, and I'm not going to be responsible when you rip something down and killyourself. I told him he should call his wife. "EX WIFE" he shouted lol. After a heated phone call, his ego was checked. He politely asked if he could have a look in the truck to make sure she's not pawning off all the junk on him. I let him, he accepted what was happening, and left. My boss told me a story where one angry EX showed up, blocked his truck, and started makin threats while holding a shotgun. My boss locked the truck and called the cops lol.
That is one smart boss! thanks for answering so many questions!	No problem! I will answer every question this thread ever gets hah.
Who was the worst customer?	We moved a hoarder one time. Her power lines were sagging so close to her house, we couldn't get the truck close, so it was already extra shitty. We go inside and it looked like a bomb went off. First thing she says is "don't drink water from the tap, or collected some drinking water in this (gross ass) jug". The stuff she wanted moved, was literally piled up in the Center of the room. Each room was like that. Rust everywhere, stepping hazards, mice running around, flies in your face. She also smoked in the house the whole time which is another awesome thing people do. Words cannot describe how gross that house was. To top it all off, she wanted a discount because she overheard us complain about the mess. Some people are ridiculous.
Were you allowed to fire that customer?	We fuckin should have lol.
Oh, i so would have.. man.. thats a health hazard!!	Yea we had to actually wash the inside of the truck after that one. I went to sweep it out and everything kinda just...smeared. My boss said next time we are turning around if we see anything close to that again. I think he really needed the money lol.
Nobody is that desperate lol.	I think the fact we did the job speaks for itself.
What is the hardest part of having a job that is 100% physical labor?	Probably how little most people appreciated how hard I worked for them. I worked hard- non stop- so we could finish as early as possible. Most people don't understand how hard it is to safely move an entire household without damages. You would rarely get thanked for not screwing up, like perfection is expected. To bust your ass all day, only for the customer to be steaming mad about a small scratch on his wall he could fix for $1, is hard. Or when peoples water is already turned off. I always brought water but relied on filling it up at the customers house cuz I drink so much.
Have you ever thought of fabricating some sort of easement device to make moving easier? I.E. moving a big item, piano, bed, desk, etc. Think smarter not harder sorta thing. How much can you deadlift? :P.	Honestly besides straight up pulleys and 4-wheeler dollies, there isn't much to fabricate. Me and my boss discussed this a lot. There are just too many X factors at every house that would prevent one fabrication from being applicable to everything. Besides some sort of exoskeleton. We thought of a design of a collapsable conveyer belt for boxes, but I doubt it would work IRL lol. There is a machine I saw that can move a piano with just one person operating it...but only to places with bigass spaces for it, wouldn't work in houses. I don't know how much I can deadlift because I never went to the gym haha. I could handle big tvs by myself. Customers would come running over when they see me and I would have to say "I got it" like 100 times. Never lift beyond your capability, you wont last long.
Where do people try to hide the sex toys?	I saw a surprisingly small amount of sex toys. I didn't snoop through people's stuff so I probably unknowingly moved a lot. The people who do have them always seem to forget to check behind dressers. Just like when you were kids, your toys get forgotten down there.
Are you also a shaker?	What.
A mover and a shaker. A business person who gets things done. ( too obscure?)	Oh I see what you mean. I'm really good at talking to people and knowing what they want to hear...but I've always enjoyed working with my hands. I enjoy the fulfillment you feel after you work your ass off. Makes me think I earned my beer haha.
I read you're saving up for school. What do you want to study and what field would you like to find a job in the future? :) P.S. It's awesome you're replying to all the questions! :)	I'm going to be a welder. I enjoyed it a lot in high school and the money is there, so why not haha. I have some buddies in the field already too. I'm hoping to get my own truck so I can contract. It's like printing money. Hey no problem, isn't that what these things are for? ;)
Fun AMA, How many people actually have nice well put together stylist homes?	I would say like 60%. You have exceptions though, I've moved this women who's husbands own casinos. Her house was like a movie. There was construction going on but they had the all stone deck with big pillars and lion statues and such. The rock on this ladies hand was the size of a small meteor! Also moved some people who had secret rooms, library's with sliding ladders on the shelfs, designer bathrooms, man caves and more.
Did you ever have clients who broke down in tears when they saw you moving a sentimental object?	Yes one lady had a small 2 foot angel statue in memory of her grandma who just passed away. She teared up when she asked us to be careful with it...which was not easy by the way. We spent extra time wrapping an padding the shit out of it after that.
How often do people say I don't need this item in my new place do you want it?	All the time, but it's usually junk. I took three broken tvs.. I have gotten a few good things. Got a small popcorn machine movie theatre style. It had matching popcorn cups too. It worked for a bit lol. Got a glass oilers nightstand, but I'm not into hockey. Everyone has a couch or a bed or a chair they want to pawn off on you. If they don't want it for some reason, you shouldn't want it. That "I have no room" line is usually a lie haha.
Am I supposed to tip the movers??? I've never know the answer to this question.	You tip them if you think they deserve it. It's not a job where the real money should come from the tips. It's not like how you should tip your waitress, in my opinion at least. If you see the guys working hard and they are friendly, a tip really makes them feel rewarded. If they are lazy and are making less-then-honest mistakes, don't feel bad about not tipping.
What is the grossest thing you have encountered over the years?	I would say the hoarders house, but ill give you another answer. I had to clear out this guys shed, it had tires in it. The tires had spiders, isopods, ants, and other bugs ALL OVER IT. I'm a big guy, you would have laughed at how squeamish I was getting those tires. I still feel the webs in between my fingers.
What's the average people tend to have your type of job before they have to quit do to injury?	Well most people who get into the moving business don't last a week, let alone long enough to be injured. There was a football guy my boss hired and he quit the same day lol. He stopped hiring people after that, me and him were all anybody would need. A third person typically just gets in the way when moving a single object (hot tubs excluded). However, you have people like my boss, who started the company and have been moving for 20 years. I can't believe that old man kept up with me. His pace would slow near the end but he still blew me away with what he could do. His hands were like sandpaper. Whenever I thought something was heavy, I remembered he's on the other end, and id be fine haha. You learn very quickly to lift properly. Doing anything for too long will eventually cause strain. It's not as hard on the back as everyone thinks, as long as you lift correctly!
	Edit: Still blew me away. Not "Still blew me anyway" hahaha that's a autocorrect almost worth not fixing.
Whats the most messed up thing you moved?	One guy had a life-size butler mannequin statue. The face was super weird, it was trying to be funny, but was more so creepy. He was holding a silver platter with a shoe on it. The guy said he uses the mannequin to show off his favourite shoe at the time. He had a name for it, and kept it in front of a mirror because he was "vain". I swear that thing would lock eyes with you in the truck. I didn't need to, but I wrapped pads all over his face so I didn't have that face poking through when I went to unload hah I never said anything because I'm pretty sure he had some issues, but it was still strange none the less.
I was expecting someone else! But it kinda made my day so take my upvote.	Haha there was also a freezer we had to move one time. It was full of game meat, and we needed to get it on its side to get it out. So we grab a box and start packing the food. I came across a package small enough to fit in your hand...it said "vagina lips '04". The other meat was deer so...deer vagina lips? Any idea what the hell that would be doing in there? The family was from Poland if that helps...
Now it's getting intresting! Please continue! :D.	I found a ladies missing cat she was missing for 2 days inside a treadmill. She asks us to keep a eye out for her before we started. I had to take the arms off the treadmill because it came down there disassembled and in a box. The wires go down through one arm into the base of the treadmill, so I had to unhook it. When I was taking the faceplate off the base, sure enough, there was this little kitten chillin in there. I went to grab it and it ran upstairs. Brownie points. Now I gotta save some stuff for other people ;) stay tuned hah
Poor me :(	Ok well looks like no more questions are coming in so I will give you another story. This one is kind of gross, fair warning. One time I was late for work, I didn't get to do my morning routine. Including my morning shit. On the way to work, the grumbling stopped so I thought I was fine. Big mistake. About a hour into the job, the bubble guts hit me. I didn't want to shit in this persons house, they were always walking around so I knew they would notice. So I see a chance when they are busy, and I run downstairs to poop. I filled that toilet in 20 seconds flat. Wipe my ass and flush. It didn't flush. It started backing up. Panic hits me, I grab a plunger. I managed to fix it before a overflow. Phew. Leave the bathroom and both customers, and my boss, are standing outside the bathroom chuckling. All I said was "it's ok nothing broke". more chuckling. FML haha.
You seem to have an intresting job. If I would have lived near your company and I would move I would call your company to move and I would want you as a mover :p. Are there any embarresing stories for the costumer?	Haha one job had a lot of expensive pictures. We wrap the shit out of pictures, and usually keep them wrapped until we finish. These customer were too excited. They stopped me at the door when I had something light, and they would take it from me. I told him it's fine but thanks, he insisted on it. This included pictures. I was bringing in one without a glass cover. He took it from me and started opening it. He started talking about how expensive and unique that this painting was. As he was taking it upstairs, he tripped. He fell on top of his painting, destroying it. He left the painting there, and walked downstairs. He was not waiting at the door anymore hah poor guy shoulda just let us do our thing.
Easiest job you have ever had as a mover?	In a apartment, moving 4 suites down. We rolled everything on dollies haha.
Have you ever had an experience where you almost died/got hurt while moving something?	We had to move a cast iron fire place down a set of stairs that turn 180 degrees. Don't know the exact weight, but if you know cast iron, imagine a 3 foot tall fire place lol. We had it strapped to a piano sled, and all padded up. The only part sticking out were the feet. I was going backwards down the stairs. When it went past the tipping point, I found out I was not Hercules. It came flying down the stairs, I managed to keep my balance, but it pinned me against the wall at the turn. Two feet went through the wall, and were about one inch from both sides of my stomach. That would have stabbed me no doubt. Another time we were moving a big entertainment unit upstairs. The stairs came up to a wall, with a room on either side. So the person at the top (my boss) needs to lift his end up. The person at the bottom has to stabilize and lift it when it hits the tipping point to get it on its side. He didn't communicate when he was lifting. Luckily I had enough strength to catch it last second. If I was ANY weaker, it would have fallen ontop of me and took me down the stairs with it.
	Edit: get it on ITs side, not MY side lol.
What does your name exactly mean?	Everything of mine is bigger then yours...haha.
	Edit: the PFFF is me blowing air in a unimpressed fashion. I meant to put PFFT lol.
I'm not technically, but my uncle is a contractor so he calls me up if he ever needs extra help. That was maybe a week of working with him when that happened though.	Ah I see. You are his lifesaver then, I can appreciate how valuable a extra hand can be, it would have gotten us out of a lot of jams lol good on you.
Moreover, is tipping something that is expected? Edit: Phrasing so I sound less like a jackass. Edit 2: So I sound less like a hookd on fonix gwaduaet.	One customer tipped us 10 bucks and said "I was not sure if you are supposed to tip movers, so I googled it. It said if there are stairs involved, then you tip them" I told her I've had some crazy hard days with no stairs, and thanked her. I never expected a tip, but if your grabbing a coffee or lunch, offering makes me want to work harder for you.
I worked as a mover for a few months during school. I was only tipped once, but people would buy us coffee semi-regularly ... usually the same people who had everything organized and hassle free when we got there. Go figure.	Yea I loved it when people prepared. I mean, I have no problem if you want to pay me to take apart your bed, unhook your electronics, clear off your furniture etc...but from a customers stand point, those are really easy things that can save you money! I don't know how some parents had 4 able bodied teenagers in the house, but let them sit around. Again, it's my job so it never bugged me, but from a parents stand point? That's free labour right there!
If you could rewind time to 6 years ago, would you of still been a mover or consider doing something else?	No way bro, I have so many stories to tell. Not to mention my back and triceps are waaay to OP.
No offence but are you tall, skinny and amped up on uppers for most of the day followed by 6 beers later in the night, followed by 4 hours of sleep before you start work the next day?	I'm tall, with a belly but a jacked upper frame and tree trunks for legs. I never worked while on any drugs, not even pot. The only thing I did on the job was have beers with the customers when we finished if they offered. I WOULD have six beers SOME night, but still usually passed out within a hour or two of getting home. Then I would sleep like a baby. Hard to believe right? We charged more because we gave a shit about our work. That's why people on a smaller budget would still use us. Nothing but good reviews.
Myy buddy worked for a few companies and everyone was as I described, strong like bull and worked their asses off.	Yea I mean I did have some nights I probably drank too much. I never missed a day of work though. If I was sick or hurt, I would come in and just do what I can. Even if it's just taking light boxes. It was just me and my boss so if I didn't show up, the job didn't get done. I have a killer work ethic because of moving.
What kind of company did you work for? Was it an e-move company?	Naw it was a little company my boss started after he got his business degree. I was the only employee, and I got paid in cash weekly. It was better money then I could make at any big shot moving company. He even let me drive the truck out in a never busy road. It was a stick, and the weight was a lot to get used to!
Man you should have started your own. They are easy as hell to start and you don't even need a truck.	I was actually talking to my boss about taking over park moving. I was 18 at the time and already looking at owning a business lol. However after a few discussions, I found out he was in some financial problems. They weren't business related but they affected the business. He wanted way too much. He was proof you can have a house, put three kids through school and hockey, go on vacation twice a year, with only one moving truck. I know the money is there if I played my cards right. I just don't feel like working that hard my whole life haha. On top of the physical side, it's a super stressful business. I'm sure my boss is going to look like a pretzel when he's 60+. I'm glad had the job, don't get me wrong, but life long career? No thanks haha.
Fuck. I love it. I'd argue that keeping active keeps you young.	That's true, but we weren't exactly just going for a little jog everyday haha. 5-6 days a week with 6-12 hour moves will catch up to you pretty quick!
What was the worst injury you had at the job?	I've already discussed a few injuries in my earlier replies, check them out. There are a few more times where I was hurt however lol. When I first started, there was another guy working with my boss. He was such a burn out. When we were carrying the ramp to the front steps, I was going backwards. It was winter, and he's basically jogging so I have to match his pace. As I'm telling him to slow down, he ran me into a bunch of rocks. I fell backwards, head hit the concrete. I was pretty dizzy and had to sit down for awhile before I could walk straight. The ramp also fell into my guy and left a nasty bruise. The other guy didn't even understand how that was his fault! He's lucky I didn't get hurt, or feel the need to hurt him haha. I always communicate a lot when I'm carrying something with someone. Eventually you don't have to because you know what each other is doing. Pretty soon it was just me and my boss haha.
In case you're curious, this is in NYC, and the apartment requiring the COI was a fancy one in Manhattan.	Oh I see, thanks for the insight. It's interesting to know how stuff works in other areas.
Have you ever told someone you wouldn't move their stuff because it was too disgusting?	I've told customers that certain items were to dirty to take, but never a whole move. We COULD and SHOULD have not moved this hoarder one time, but whatever lol. I wouldn't move anything that was suspiciously wet, had a weird coloured stain, or smelt foul. I never felt bad doing it either, it's not fair to make movers grab your kids piss and shit stained mattress, do your kids a favour and throw it out!!
What is the most fucked up shit you saw in a person's house?	The condition of this little girls room. The house was a mess all over, but even their small child's room was gross. Band aids and Kleenex everywhere, thick dust everywhere, dirty broken toys, bug carcasses, dirty mattress...I regret not calling CPS on that person. It was so bad I would classify her room as a hazard. Pretty sad stuff to see.
What is the nastiest thing you ever found in a house?	This one guy had two pitbulls. He let them, or refused to clean, shit in the basement. There were at least 4 distinct smells of shit in the basement. We lay carpets down usually, but if that's how your floors are, forget it. I'm not bringing a shit carpet to the next house!
How many sex toys does the average household have?	69.

Last updated: 2014-03-23 23:10 UTC
This post was generated by a robot! Send all complaints to epsy.

Why save & invest?
Saving and investing are important. I have said this before, and I will say it again. There are two classes in society, labour and capital. Unless you are a creditor or owner of a company, you are in the labour class. Means your wealth depends solely on the result of your time invested at work.
Saving and investing in bonds (creditor) and equity (shareholder), puts you in the capital class. This transition between labour class to capital class is probably more important to us, now than ever, since the gap between both classes are widening at a quick pace, (read: Thomas Piketty) and its expected to worsen. ** Basics of Buying ETFs**
Its painfully simple. Exchange traded funds should be in your saving portfolio, because it’s easy to manage, provides instant diversification, and is difficult to screw up.
What are ETFs?
ETF is a big shopping bag of financial stuffs. The stuff in question can be stocks/bonds/derivatives/other ETFs. Anything with a cash flow and is actively traded in the financial markets can be put in this shopping bag. ETFs usually follow some pre-defined rules in terms of what to put in that bag. It could be stocks only from Russia (RSX), or only gold mining firms (GDX), or only bonds (MINT) etc. The funky letters in the parenthesis tells you the identifying ticker name for these ETFs, in case you are interested in doing some homework before investing. Google the tickers + etf. ETFdb is an ok website to use.
Investment motive
The first thing I would do is to examine my motives for investing. Are you investing because you want to finance a home in 10 years, or build a retirement nest egg? Maybe even just to try it out and find out why everyone is talking about it. Or perhaps you want to have the thrill of making money speculatively, in pyjamas on a Wednesday afternoon, scratching your balls in your chair? Whatever your motive could be, I shall show you in this article how ETFs can help you achieve your goals and not burn half your money, unlike your divorce.
Financing big purchases
First, I would set a target date, for when the expected withdrawal needs to happen. Then I would go make myself a cup of tea, because we are in this for the long game. Might as well take a chill pill. Usually, depending on the target date in mind, its good to start off aggressive and slowly tone it down as we get closer to the target date.
Retirement income
Well, you need a target date again, which will be your target retirement date. As you draw closer to the target date, keep to less volatile holdings and go into capital preservation mode. Its OK to lose half your money when you are 27, not so cool to lose half your money when you’re 72.
You know that jumpy financial advisor in that ugly glazed double-breasted gray suit, calling you every other week to recommend you some top-of-the-line investment product when you are in your golden years. Ignore him. He does not have your well-being at heart, he only cares about the commission he will earn from you. Don’t make any exotic, opaque, risky investments in your silver and golden years. If necessary, take the money out from a trading account, and in to a savings or fixed deposit account.
Trying it out
ETFs are the best for beginners. It’s really hard to lose all your money with ETFs. If you follow the rules below, you’d be fine.
Speculation
ETFs are not for you. Stop reading and go to the casino.
Risk appetite
Asking for your risk appetite is a polite way for those pesky financial advisors to ask you, “how much money can you lose before you shit your pants?”. The problem is, those guys asking you the questions don’t manage your money, and those guys managing your money have no clue who you are. The slimy guys at your banks probably direct your money to one of the low cost ETFs, and pocket the difference in commission anyway. Some banks charge a lot for fees, to do something so simple! Investing through your bank increases the risks too, since usually there are two counterparties instead of one. Investing is not rocket science, you can do it yourself. If you want to pay someone to do it, get an actively managed ETF then.
If you hate taking risks, that’s fine. Me too. Nothing wrong. All the better. Start constructing a portfolio with a conservative philosophy. If you are a risk taker, that’s fine too. It’s entirely up to you if you choose not to rubber up, when things get hot and heavy with the person you just met at the swingers’ club. Same for how you build a portfolio. At the end of the day, build a portfolio that doesn’t keep you up at night. Remember, we are in for the long game, ain’t nobody gonna be checking the portfolio every 5 minutes. The whole point of investing is to put the money to work, while you work too. Its counter-productive if you have to manage your portfolio and a job. That’s why we define a time-frame, philosophy, strategy and stick to it.
Rules
There are some rules that are good to follow, since we’re talking about your hard-earned money.
Expense ratios and sales charges
Keep these as low as you can. Expense ratio is the cost to YOU for owning the ETF. There is strong correlation between low gross expense charges and good long term performance. Most big ETFs from Vanguard & Blackrock have an expense ratio below 0.3%. That means you get charged $30 for every $10,000 invested. Pretty reasonable. Anything more than 0.99% is too much, in my opinion.
Some good looking sales bro will call you ever so often and tout that his firm has unlocked the secret to long lasting excess alpha returns, through smart beta, and adhering to some modified, multifactorial index, yada yada yada. The first question you have to ask him is how did he get your phone number. The second is can you take me off your phone list. And lastly, what’s the expense ratio? These are 3 questions which he will try his best to avoid answering.
Volume
Buy ETFs that are traded. Volume should be 6 digits. Anything less, you’re asking for liquidity troubles. Imagine when the shit hits the fan and you can’t sell your stuff or when you are making sick bucks and you can’t sell your stuff. A good indicator is to glance at the trading volume column. Be sure to check it during trading hours. Another less reliable method is to check the assets under management (AUM). Anything with more than $1 billion is usually traded frequently.
Diversify, diversify, diversify
This is so important, it has to be said thrice. Your risk appetite will define the way you diversify. You ought to diversify over the following: asset type, geography, size, equity type.
Asset type
There are ETF for bonds, equities, commodities, derivatives, other ETFs. If you are conservative, put 60–70% of your money in bond ETFs, and the rest in anything that catches your eye; as long as you follow the rules. If you are aggressive, put 60–70% of your money in equities ETFs, and the rest preferably in some bonds ETF; rules apply too. Any allocation in between conservative and aggressive are acceptable too. If you’re interested, go google Asset Allocation
Bonds
Buying bonds makes you a lender. The borrower is up to you to choose from, it could be a government, a municipality or corporates. Its healthy to have a good mix between the different entities you lend to. You can only lose what you put in.
Bonds are safer than equities simply because there is less uncertainty in cash flows. The bonds dictate how much has to be paid out, and the borrowers usually repay it.
Especially for governments, since governments usually prefer to print money to repay the bonds than to default and be blocked off the capital markets (Argentine-style!). Do take note that interest rates and exchange rates will affect the valuation of your bonds and cash flow. However, if you cast your net wide enough, and have a long enough investment horizon, there is nothing much to worry about.
I recommend governmental bonds and corporate grade bonds. Municipal bonds are tricky. Town councils like to default. Municipal governments can’t print money too. I avoid them.
There are different classes of government bonds. Usually they are split between developed economies (AGG, BND) and developing economies (EMB). BND for example, holds 17,301 different bonds in 1 basket. That is more than enough diversification. EMB top 10 holdings includes lending money to Russia, Argentina, Hungary, Poland, Peru, Uruguay. Since holding emerging economies bonds are more dicey than developed markets, they pay more to you for interest. Another cool thing about owning bonds is that you can go to their citizens and say, your country owes me money. Absolutely true!
Bonds Duration
Bonds are separated through the duration. As usual, when in doubt, diversify through the distinctions. Google “Bond duration” if interested.
Equities
Means you are a part owner of the company. You can earn money in 2 ways, the value of your stock goes up, or they send money to you in the mail (dividends). Again, you can only lose what you put in. Taxes apply.
Geography
You want to spread out your purchases across continents and nations. This insulates you from country-specific events. A good rule of thumb is not to have more than 40% of your portfolio based in one continent. North America is an exception.
Remember to diversify based on your needs. For example, if your primary residence is in the US, your job pays in USD, and your job is based in USA, then you have more than enough exposure to the United States of America. It would be very pointless in the view of diversification, to invest your savings in Singapore. I act on this. My portfolio has no positions in my employing company, nor in the country where my livelihood is based on. If you are aggressive, go for emerging markets (VWO, EEM, IEMG) and frontier markets (FRN) ETF. These usually experience more volatility. Meaning that the value of your portfolio jumps around a lot, and there is a stronger chance for higher returns. If conservative, go for the developed markets like North America (VTI, SCHB) and Developed Europe (VGK).
The mentioned VTI and SCHB have 3723 and 2054 holdings respectively. Meaning to say that by buying VTI, you are purchasing 3723 companies in 1 go. This is recommended because you have instant diversification. Assuming equal weights, if 30 companies go bankrupt, you would have lost less than 1% of your money invested in VTI. Its much better than buying individual stocks. Take note that VTI and SCHB both have very low expense ratios too. You pay $3 for every $10,000 invested, and you gain from such diversification.
Size
Equities come in more or less three sizes. Large cap, mid cap, small cap. Cap is capitalization, not the thing that cool kids buy to hide their freckled, stunted foreheads. Conservative investors should stick to large cap. Large companies usually have everything in order, have strong market share, good cash flow, and make money in general. There are less surprises with these boys. The more aggressive you are, the more you should include mid and small cap in your portfolio. Note that in a recession, smaller cap companies suffer a lot. Smaller cap companies also experience great jumps and drops in prices.
Equity type
Other than by size, equities are also split by type: Value, Core, Growth. It’s good to diversify across the 3 types as well, and I feel it’s OK to have a preference if one wishes.
Value are stocks that are comparably cheap, considering their earnings. This can be due to their industry, which has little growth prospects, or perhaps the company is domiciled in a country with short-term turmoil, hence a lower price due to the uncertainty.
Core stocks are the backbones of the economy, whose stocks are a best representation of the domestic economy. These are usually well known companies and have a strong brand value. IVV which represents the core of the US economy, includes Apple, Microsoft, Exxon, J&J, GE, Berkshire Hathaway, Facebook, Amazon etc. It’s usually good to have some global core in your portfolio.
Growth are stocks that are usually comparatively expensive, considering their earnings. This is due to their growth prospect, and the promise of better returns in the future. Typical industries that have growth classification is Tech and Healthcare. In my opinion, the most bubbly valuations can be found here, as it’s hard to quantify future earnings accurately. Personally, I don’t hold too many growth ETFs if I can help it.
I understand that managing by geography, size and type can be too troublesome for the retail investors. There are tools like Morningstar X-ray out there, where you can key in your holdings and this pops out.
http://imgur.com/4bS59l6 My ETF holdings some time ago (Produced with Morningstar)
As you can see, my holdings are mostly in large caps, because I am pretty conservative when it comes to investing. I try to stay away from small cap because those guys are too volatile for me. I have strong preference for value stocks too, which I will explain later why. For now just try to keep the stock style matrix well spread out or top heavy and you will be OK.
Sectors Different sectors behave differently, and you will have to diversify likewise accordingly. http://imgur.com/SoJlbLa My ETF holdings some time ago, split by sector (Produced by Morningstar)
If you are more conservative, go for utilities, telcos, consumer staples and consumer discretionary. Materials and Industrials somewhat applies too. If you are more aggressive, then hold healthcare, energy and IT stocks. Try not to have more than 20% of your portfolio in one sector, as sector valuations commonly move together.
Fund houses
Vanguard, Blackrock, Guggenheim, Credit Suisse etc. These are fund houses. You should try to diversify your holdings across fund houses because funds from the same house can have a selection bias. The selection bias may lead to a concentration in your holdings. We want diversification, not concentration.
Leveraged ETFs
Avoid them. The roll costs are usually too painful. Owning leveraged ETFs is like owning a pet crocodile. It’s all fun and dandy at the start, but if you keep them for too long, it will return to bite you in the ass. Time horizon for keeping leveraged ETFs should be max. a few months.
Inverse ETFs
Avoid them. Roll costs again. Betting against the market long term, correlates with negative returns.
Investment Strategies
Here, we shall discuss some of the investment strategies prevalent in today’s markets. Buy and hold
Personally, I like to buy and hold. Less transaction charges, which correlates strongly with better long term performance. Set aside some money from your income every month, and put them in pre-defined ETFs. Then just hold them all the way till you need the money or you are convinced your holdings are too overvalued. (For valuation, google either: PE, Shiller PE/CAPE, PB)
I believe the market is cyclical. Like the oft quoted phrase, the stock markets short term is a voting machine, and long term a weighing machine. What I do is when I am drinking coffee in the morning and reading the news, I keep an eye out for turmoil. Usually everyone is selling & dumping when turmoil hits, so you just wait and watch the discount grow while the fear mounts. After some time, I invest in that country or sector. Then I forget about it. Since my investment horizon is a few decades, I have time to spare till that sector or country picks up again.
Case: At time of writing,

1. Russia is placed under sanctions and experiencing weak oil prices.
   
2. Brazil has political turmoil through a corruption scandal of Rousseff
   
3. Malaysia political class is facing corruption allegations, suffering oil prices
   
4. Energy sector getting destroyed through low oil prices
   
5. Financial sector battered through low interest rates
   

These are stuff you see on the news all the time. For point 1,2 & 3, you can purchase Russian (RSX), Brazilian (EWZ) or Malaysian (EWM) stocks or their bonds (ELD, EMSH), or both. Usually they are at a discount when crisis hits.
For point 3 & 4, you can purchase sector specific ETFs. Energy (VDE, XLE) and financial (VFH, FNCL, XLF)sectors are relatively cheap compared to before.
You can make proxy bets too. Ask yourself. If oil is cheap, which countries or sectors would benefit the most? Countries like India (INDA, EPI) and Philippines (EPHE) import a lot of oil as a percentage of GDP. Airlines (JETS, ITA) and transportation (IYT) companies spend the majority of costs on fuel. Cheap oil bodes well for all of them, so you can expect their business outlooks to improve and that they will provide good returns.
My strategy is basically bargain hunting. I wait outside the supermarket till something goes on discount, then I saunter in and pick it up. Buy low, sell high, remember? Unfortunately, this strategy is not for everyone. You need to have patience to ride out the market turmoil and cycles. You also have to keep your hands away from the trading platform, which is harder than expected. No matter what, remember to keep your investments diversified.
I shall include the other strategies here for discussion sake. I do not necessarily think these are good ideas.
Smart Beta
Smart beta is the new game in town. Personally I think it’s stupid. Even sad to a point. The idea is so dumb, they put the word Smart in front of it. Its like naming your son Smart, hoping that it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Smart beta is the desperate way asset managers try to remain relevant today. The sorry sad fact is, most asset managers suck sweaty balls. When they outperform, they can’t repeat the fluke. You are better off just indexing. Asset managers realized that, and try to reduce a winning strategy to beat the index, by making an index with simple rules, then following it blindly.
The rules are anomalies identified from academic literature. They back-test (also known as lying to themselves) it, then fiddle around to find a formula to deliver the best result they were looking at. The problem is, once an anomaly is discovered in the market, it cannot continue. People will arbitrage the profits away. Well, at least most of these funds are kind of diversified.
Momentum These ETFs seek out stocks or sectors that are gaining momentum. They are usually an ETF of ETFs, which results in higher expense ratios. Momentum ETF usually have different geographical focuses. Expect the global ones to incur more expense charges. The high fees are why I avoid them.
The most held momentum ETF is First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (FV), which as of the time of writing includes:
First Trust Utilities (FXU)
First Trust Consumer discretion (FXD)
First Trust Internet (FDN)
First Trust Consumer Staples (FXG)
First Trust Energy (FXN)
This ETF holds 5 different ETFs of the 5 sectors that have the most momentum in trading. Sly mofos double-charging their expense ratios too. One thing to take note is that because the ETF changes its holdings drastically, it could create unexpected concentration risk in your holdings.
Long Short
Long short can have long and short positions in different assets. Long means you own the stock. Short means you sell a stock you do not currently own, in the hopes that the price drops and so you can conduct the cancelling trade and profit. There may be an underlying objective, where the ETF claims it will be 130/30 for example. This means its 130% long and 30% short. I avoid long shorts because their expense ratio is high, averaging near 1%.
Volatility Hedged
These ETFs invest in equities and volatilities derivatives. In English, it means that they buy insurance against wild swings in prices. The good thing is the downside is supposedly hedged. The bad thing is that you have to pay for this protection, meaning that the hedge hinders performance. I have not tried their services, and hence can’t recommend them.
Merger arbitrage This one is cool. I am not sure though if this strategy provides long term returns. When a company buys another company, the buyer usually has to pay more for the target. Merger arbitrage funds (MNA) will check out the M&A scene and hold positions in the target companies, to earn this premium. Problem is, an ETF like this typically holds only a few stock. Since mergers and acquisitions typically happen in only a few industries where scale pays off, your holdings in a fund like this would be concentrated too. Thirdly, you are not protected against a market sell-off. Worse still, in the event that there is a sell off, the merger would probably not take place and you would not have earned the premium.
Momentum, Long-short, Volatility Hedged, Merger arbitrage ETFs are usually actively managed. Means more fees to pay.
Conclusion ETFs are really simple to get started, and to put your investments in your hands. Through ETFs, its easy to gain diversification. Decide if you are a risk-taker or risk-averse, define an investment philosophy and hone a strategy, then cast a wide net across geographical, asset types, asset sizes, sectors and fund houses, forget about your investments, until the day you need money to cure the cancer you got from midnight binge on dank memes. Good luck.
All views expressed are personal opinions and not of that of the employer. Nothing written here should be construed as advice. Information presented is believed to be factual and up-to-date, but I do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change.