Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Because American Youth are Stupid

My conservative, libertarian and other capitalists friends still seem unable at times to come to grips with how precisely Barack Obama got elected. And while I try to explain to them that the American public is more interested in American Idol or "how the Twins are doing" than they are things like the federal budget, constitutional law, etc., they still don't seem to understand, that yes, a critical mass of the population is hopelessly ignorant and it is a hopeless situation. However, permit me if you will a chart that will explain a particular group of people who are particularly responsible for electing Barack Obama and are particularly stupid;

Young Americans.

Young (latin for - idiots who are too young to know what they're talking about and should not be able to vote until they're 35) Americans voted in droves for Barack Obama. Why they did this can be summarized why they voted for Stevie or whoever it was that won the latest round of American Idol. It was a popularity contest. Nobody bothered to look at his projected spending. Nobody bothered to see whether there was enough money to pay for his promises. Nobody held him up to any kind of standard or rigor that should have been applied to the president of the United States. And the reason why is that's "lame man. Why do you have to kill our good time? Why do you have to be such a downer, man? Who cares about economics and finance and the budget. Can't you just be for hope and change? Besides he's cool. Did you see his pecks? Geez, you're such a nerd!"

The problem is their ignorance has finally caught up with them. For while the Baby Boomers will it seems die before they have to pay the piper, Gen X and Gen Y will not. And all they've done in voting for "hope and change" is essentially indebt themselves further to the tune of several trillion dollars (I'm just saying "several" trillion because it's going to be more than three, but less than 60...I hope) In other words, no Gen X'er who voted for Obama looked at the chart below which shows how much additional federal debt has been added each year per person and shows they quite frankly, just got totally screwed;


It's frankly appalling that the government has burdened everybody (or projected to burden them) with more debt than we ever did in the history of the US. Not even in WWII when there was a crisis of genuinely epic proportions did we burden the American public so. And FDR indebted Americans NOWHERE NEAR THE AMOUNT TODAY (I adjusted for inflation). This is simply just idiots voting themselves bread and circuses who are too damn stupid to realize they've essentially turned themselves and their children into slaves to afford these things.

Now if you really want to do something funny today, print off the chart above and then show it to a young Obama supporter and watch them hem and haw and then DISMISS IT AS IRRELEVANT or "I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU GOT THOSE FIGURES" simply because they are too damn ignorant (or too damn ashamed) to realize they should have buyer's remorse. They will literally adhere to their ideology when you've just shown them they've swallowed, hook line and sinker indentured servitude. That is the definition of stupid.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

yo yo dawg imm'a still gonn'a to vote Obama's 2nd term.

You cannot stop me. -shakes fist- Time to cancel out your well informed vote, and then sign up all the homeless people in my neighborhood at least ten times each to vote for Obama as well.

Winston Smith said...

I am in agreement with you.

However, the youth were not solely responsible. They say the youth will change this election, but every time their voting bloc votes in no bigger proportion in the next election cycle. It's no wonder James Carville once said that there's one word to describe a candidate who depends on the youth vote: loser.

Anonymous said...

Captain,

Can you post a link to the data, or a url where I can get your inflation adjusted numbers? i would like to pull the dat into excel and have some fun determining the best way to p*ss off some people who need it.

Ryan Fuller said...

Is that adjusted for inflation, or is that nominal debt?

Anonymous said...

This is truly the best chart you've ever posted.

Anonymous said...

Stupid or ignorant, I know one is not better than the other... well stupid is least a condition, so I suppose ignorance IS worse, but in this case it's neither here nor there.

Start off with useless leftist dominated schools, compound with useless mainstream media = happily ignorant population.

Lovely.

Anonymous said...

One could look at this chart and conclude that we will then run a surplus similar to right after WWII.
The problem with that conclusion is these are 2 completly different spending debts. WWII was a temporary spending drive to win the war and was cut off after we won.
This current spending is being locked in place to continue on and on...

Anonymous said...

I've always felt there should be some sort of testing required before allowing a citizen the right to vote. Just think how different the political game would be played if this was implemented. We'd hear a lot more facts and far less bullshit from the candidates, because the voters would be much more engaged in the process and actually demand it! This could lead to citizens with real integrity running for office knowing the status quo scumbags would be exposed for the bums they are.

CBMTTek said...

It is the difference between science and faith.

With science, you get an idea, you test the idea, if the idea stands up to the test, you adopt the idea. If further evidence comes along that refutes the idea, you adjust the idea, or discard it.

With faith, you get an idea, you ignore contradictory evidence, and you keep the idea forever.

I still hear from my liberal friends that as some of reasonable means, and a measurable net worth, I am somehow lucky, and undeserving of the success I have.

Usually they say this will talking on a $300 iPhone with full data plan, and ordering a $4 latte.

Captain Capitalism said...

Hi Anon,

Well the inflation data come from the FRED data base with the CPI index (to adjust for inflation). The budget also came from the FRED database, but I had to get 2008, 2009 and 2010 projections from the CBO. And then the population info came from the Census bureau.

Unknown said...

Obama has Pec's?

CBMTTek said...

@anon, (well one of them at least.)

That is the reason the electoral college was created. The average citizen was not educated or informed enough to do anything as important as elect the President. (At least according to the story that I was told.)

Cory said...

You're right that the US financial situation is precarious and that the government has vastly overspent during the last 5-8 years.

But remember--the vast majority of these expenditures have NOT been going to social programs or other "lefty" causes. The money has been mostly used for military expenses, and to prop up a banking system that was allowed to run amok thanks to deregulation and super-low interest rates during the last decade.

Do you not see the irony in blaming Obama for this by posting a chart that clearly shows that he had very little to do with it? I mean, I can understand why you would rail against the massive increase in government spending--and Obama's unwillingness to let the big banks fail may well be part of that problem--but surely you recall that nearly all of this new debt (including much of the recent bank bailouts) was spent before your current president took office? Your own chart shows that the problem spending was worst in the post-Clinton/pre-Obama years!

You should look beyond "left" and "right" and recognize that the real blame for the current disaster lay with Bush. The "idiots" who voted democrat in 2008 were doing so because the previous republican administration made such an incredible mess of things.

Obama may or may not turn out to be the best president the US has ever had, but it's hard to imagine that he could screw things up half as much as the last one did.

It's just too bad the old administration is gone now, and Obama got left holding the bill.

Hot Sam said...

Youth have always been stupid. That's why, up until the 1960s, they were treated as the property of their parents.

"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out." - Bill Cosby

Ryan Fuller said...

You know what would make this chart better? If it were adjusted for inflation and had listed what year's dollar value were used, and if the "additional debt added per year per person" weren't listed as a negative number when a positive amount of debt were added.

Anonymous said...

And the religous right arent stupid too? Theres idiots on both sides.

I voted for Obama. Its always the lesser of two evils. Its either the theocrats (republicans) or the socialists (democrats). I went with the socialists this time.

Robert G. Harvie, Q.C. said...

The payback? The youth are right now reaping the spoils of their ignorance - as are the liberals - who typically are far from anything resembling self-sufficiency.

While it was not that long ago that young employees felt their sense of entitlement acquired at home translated into the job place - now, many have learned a new phrase - "would you like fries with that" - as they struggle and fail to pay for their iphones and automobile insurance and Starbuck vente lates.

I'm on my way to Greece this summer - and will greatly enjoy the fruits of my efforts - maybe I'll drop a $.25 tip on the counter, young person, as I pick up my fries at the airport McDonalds.

Enjoy the future you've created!

Anonymous said...

Now, I'm all for the idea that you should be a net taxpayer to vote (which excludes almost all young voters with the exception of the odd young entrepreneur which should vote.)

That said, since young people vote seldomly and since the boomers failed to reproduce, the young are not responsible for this Obamination. Boomers are.

Jason

Mark said...

As much as the youth voted as a block, I consider the Boomers to have elected Obama based on feel-good promises, such as socialized medicine.

Anonymous said...

I think it's time to reveal the difference between 'ignorant' and 'stupid'.

Ignorant: uninformed, has not learned yet. Requires leaning.

Stupid: unable to comprehend or process information. Low IQ, dull witted, brain damaged (cynically I might also add 'Liberal' to the list, but I won't)

While you're in learning mode ... learn the difference between these words too.

Continual - Continuous
Amount - Number
Phenomenal - Phenomena

Proper use of just those six most often misused words will make you look like you are not stupid and not ignorant. Every little bit helps.

One more thing, Never, ever try to talk logic with a Liberal, that would make you look stupids and worse, may lead you to strangle someone.

Anonymous said...

Please of please .... add to the list of misused words.

Less - Few

Anonymous said...

One can only imagine what kind of charts the Captain will wield once Wolfram Alpha launches.

Anonymous said...

I think a lot of youth tend to get a kick in the head once they start on a career, earn money and pay a lot of taxes. After a few years, enough kicks in the head, tend to wake up the brain.

When I was a young impressionable idiot, I made the big mistake of voting for Jimmy Carter. I haven't voted for a Democrat candidate for President or Senate since.

So, there is room for hope for the young. However to get them early, primary schools, secondary schools and post-secondary education needs to be taken out of the hands of the liberal indoctrinaires and taught in an apolitical manner.

The other approach would be to raise the voting age to 25. hehehe

Daryl said...

I read an interesting bit about the Mondale/Reagan race. Despite Mondale being quite a bit younger, and despite news reports that Reagan was too old and mentally and physically incapable of doing the job, the 18-24 year old vote polling was 2-1 in favor of Reagan over Mondale (17 years Reagan's junior). Much analysis was done on this, of course, as is going on here. But a point that struck me was a quote from Senator Daniel Evans:

"You make those kids seem more complicated than they are. They've only known two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. They voted for the one who didn't fail."

I was struck by this quote because in this election, the age range of "kids" who have only known two presidents is that much larger due to the 2-terms each preceding Obama - it is now all 18-33 year olds who have only known Clinton and Bush. With the media re-painting the Clinton years as the glory days, and portraying the Bush presidency as a total failure, I think its no surprise the youth vote went the way it did.

Ryan Fuller said...

"With the media re-painting the Clinton years as the glory days, and portraying the Bush presidency as a total failure, I think its no surprise the youth vote went the way it did."

To be fair, the Clinton years had a lot going for them, even measured by standards that intelligent people care about. Welfare was reformed, the federal budget was in surplus, unemployment was low and GDP growth was high. It doesn't take a lot of "repainting" to make it look good, especially compared to the mess we're in now.

How much you attribute to the Republican congress and how much you give Clinton credit for isn't particularly important; the media attributes everything to the President anyway.

I think in coming decades Democrats will appeal to Clinton's legacy and ignore Obama's embarrassment the same way that the last round of Republican presidential hopefuls talked nonstop about Reagan and pretended Bush Jr didn't exist.

Anonymous said...

Bad policy can provide a great opportunity. When the yield on long US Treasuries fell to near 2.5% in spite of the need to finance the huge deficit, the smart money shorted T-bonds.

I'll be taking a month-long Mediterranean cruise this summer.

Anonymous said...

Well then.

I didn't know it had just gone public.I spent an hour trying to get it to compare the DJIA with the number of graduates of any particular university, with degrees in social sciences, by year. No luck so far.

Daryl said...

Ryan, you make the point exactly - the media is placing everything at the feet of each president, and the young folks eat it up with a spoon. My debate (in this context) is not with what was good and what was bad during Clinton and Bush, its the media's attributing of everything to whomever is in power at the time, and portraying Clinton as a success and Bush as a failure. When was the last time you heard about Congress's role in any of the points you immediately think of when you think "Clinton = success" and "Bush = failure"?

Unknown said...

Ur all idiots blinded by the propaganda that has been pushed into your brains since you learned how to turn on the television don't you see the media has always portrayed the president as the guy who we can blame if the government starts to do things that are against r best interests what we should do is live off the grid to were we don't need a political system to help us to survive. People grow your own food. make a well on your land for water build your own home live a life without taxes and worrying about political corruption or wars or celebrity gossip or police if we live like that people would be so ocupied with taking care of themselves and there family that there would be no need for idiodic discussions like this. Wake up all you need is food(farming/hunting) shelter(carpentry/masonry) water(lakes/wells/streams/rain) and most of all someone to share it with(family/friends/the entire human population) wealth equal poverty there both forms of blindness