Go Galt

Silly hard working single mom, work is for suckers!

I particularly like how you are in the "-80%" marginal tax rate if you make less than $10,000. So I'm paid an additional $8,000 for making so little?

Regardless. You will go Galt. You will conform. You will comply.

Hockey Stick in Global Warming: Dead

Oh, doesn't look like a hockey stick anymore now does it?

Once again, bloggers doing the job of the mainstream media.

The Cappy Cap Girls Are Crying

So I upgrade to the new blogger version and not only reprogram the original sidebar advertisements, but include new ones with NEW GIRLS!

And alas, the girls, who were so happy and inclined to volunteer their images to help your old Captain advertise his wares, are sad and depressed.

You want to know why they are sad and depressed?

Because you men (and notice I say men, because, well, in intellectual honesty I haven't really advertised towards the women) haven't made a purchase, a donation or, just plum plain well made ANY comment about them!!!

Now HONEST AND SINCERELY,

Yes, I will admit I put these RAVENING temptresses on my blog to make money because...well...that's how it's done.

But my evil capitalist, self-serving pursuits ASIDE, you guys MUST at least make some commentary about their beauty and how appreciative you are of them to grace and improve the aesthetic nature of this blog. Otherwise the Captain shall have to start posting pictures of himself in a speedo.

And none of us want that now do we???

Ergo, to add some light-hearted fun for these depressionary times, you will sing the praises of the girls of Cappy Cap by sending/submitting poems of praise to them.

The best one will win a signed photograph of ALL the Cappy Capy girls in somewhat "non-Christian poses."

You may submit your poems/odes by leaving posts here, or if you are too shy to make them public, e-mail them to me at CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com

The Cappy Cap girls appreciate it.

"Big Four Accounting Experience Required"

A public service announcement from Captain Capitalism.

Along the same lines as "Fortune 50 experience required" or "5+ years required" when the system they're asking you to work on only has been out 4 years, this is another pet peeve, particularly of accounting and finance majors;


"Big four accounting experience required."



Beacause you see, if you weren't an accountant at one of the "Big Four" accounting firms (Peat Marwick, Ernst and Young, Price Waterhouse, and Deloitte and Touche) you obviously weren't doing "real" accounting work and you obviously weren't a "real" accountant.


You see, the secret is that there is this whole NEW world of accounting that you morons, you schleps that work at "faux" accountancies such as Grant Thorton, Boulay Heutermaker, etc. , are completely unaware of.

Oh sure, you may have worked on FASB, GAAP, SOX, but that was really just a front. A whole pseudo accounting system where you're duped into thinking that's how the real world of accounting works.


You see in the "real" world of accounting, you have to learn how to falsify your client's financial statements so that the financial statements look a heck of a lot better than what they really are. You need to be like the now-defunct Andersen Accounting where your job is NOT to follow GAAP, but rather subvert GAAP, find ways around GAAP so that Dotcoms and telecoms look like they actually have value, as opposed to the insolvent entities that they really are.


Rippe and Kingston?

JD Cloud?

James Volz?

Oh PUH-leeeeze.

Those are just posers in the "real" world of accounting.


So, to recap.


If you are going to go to school for accounting or are going to get your CPA, remember kids,

it's all for nought UNLESS you work for one of the Big Four accounting firms.

Practice your ass-kissing skills for those interviews!!!

This PSA announcement brought to you by Captain Capitalism.

Today's Observation in Labor Economics

From a poster at SDA;

"the MAJOR workplace flaw I encountered in my ENTIRE working life was the reprehensible practice of demanding years and years of experience. jeezuz murphy, I even remember an interview in the late 80s. they wanted 3 yrs experience on the IBM AS 400. which had only been around for 3 years. in other words, to get that particular yob I had to be in an organization that, wait for it, picked up the 400 the moment it became available.

whut utter insanity. how in blazes does *anyone* get a god$%#m job anywhere in the face of this absurdity?

I have pondered this more than any single work related question. an unsolvable catch-22. I guess my handicap was I didn't get picked to clean the blackboards in grade 2 so that I could get picked to collect the assignments in grade 3 so that I could get picked to hand them out in grade 4 so that I could get picked in grade 8 to help the school photographer and on and on and on.

its like the kids in developing countries that desperately need to get into the 'right' primary school in order to line up their post sec. education and get that career path started. otherwise a failure in life by the age of 5."

You see, I like to think that I am not this cold hearted, evil, indifferent guy whose ass has been pampered by his rich parents who thusly scoffs at the plebs and the serfs for not trying hard enough as he has a full ride to Yale and a job guaranteed for him by Uncle Bernie Madoff. That I have seen enough corporate nepotism and BS to know that for the most part, you can advocate capitalism, but that pure, unfettered capitalism will still have its drawbacks, namely connected cronies and spoiled brat daddy's children will get the good jobs while those more deserving won't, and as a result, society will suffer as the entire corporate sector is a mere fraction of its potential efficiency. Ergo why, despite being a capitalist, I rail against the ineptitude and corruption of corporate America.

Regardless, the "how can I get the job when nobody will give me the experience" paradox is just more empirical proof of how the upper echelons of corporate America are reserved for the elites and connected of this nation.

Additionally, my personal favorite (when I was foolish enough to try to apply to Fortune 500 corporations) was when they required "X years experience working for a Fortune 50 corporation."

Oh no, they wouldn't accept 20 years experience working at a solid, small time manufacturer.

Oh no, you won't worth the paper you were printed on if you were so foolish to accept employment at a small time start up or a well established local firm.

No, you *MUST* have had 5+ years experience working for Corning or Dow or whatever other East Coast crony outfit your daddy lined a job up for you for.

In the end, and hopefully this is some consolence to you, these corporate entities will hire such inept and incompetent people that inevitably they will be ran into the ground. That is of course unless they are bailed out by the taxpayer like;

GM
Goldman Sachs
Merrill Lynch
Morgan Stanley
Bear Sterns
Chrysler
Wachovia...

Well, never mind. I guess the larger point is that you must realize the "Fortune 500" are really more private clubs than any real entity interested in hiring the best talent. So if you treat them like taxpayer subsidized country clubs, at least it makes a little more sense and you're not foolish enough to actually try to apply to those corporations.

The World Owes Them a Living

Dave Thompson, who I occasionally substitued for on his radio show, "The Dave Thompson Show" was talking about the future of the country in terms of how we were going to pay for things like Social Security and Medicare. This was when the economy was booming and there might, just might be some hope, until I called in and said,

"You know Dave, if you think Gen X and Gen Y are going to work hard enough to produce the wealth necessary to pay for yours and the other Baby Boomers' retirement, you must be smoking something."

To which both Dave and I enjoyed a good, hearty guffaw.

Alas, while it was funny then, that doesn't mean it's not reality now, or that older Americans aren't going to be up sh!t Creek in the future.

Seems less than half of the able-bodied American youth (ages 16-24) are working right now.



Now, I know, I know, "Hope and Change."

But allow me some very unpolitically correct and cold, callous questions;

1. With Gen X/Y/Millinneals having such an abhorrence to work, who will produce all the necessary economic production to pay for things like Social Security and Medicare?

2. With all of them majoring in fluff and art history and political science and peace studies, how precisely will a career in "Professional Protesting" or "community organizing" yield the necessary tax dollars to pay for grandma's prescription drug plan?

3. I know this is unopportune to bring this up right now, but doesn't this mayhaps suggest the future productive potential of this country will be shot and therefore unable to repay all those trillions Obama recently indebted us to?

I know, I know.

I'm a big meanie, racist, evil fascist poopey head for daring to ask such insulting questions.

I'm sorry, I apologize.

Please go back to sticking your heads in the sand and thinking about hope and change.

Off Color Recession Medicine

I am the by product of two very different and diametrically opposed families.

My father's side was the Wisconsin Synod, Nazi, Lutheran, EXTREMELY conservative, "ballroom dancing is a sin" type of people.

And my mother's side was the "drinking, cursing, swearing, having fun, let your kid have ice cream for breakfast" type people.

I would like to think that I am a healthy balance of both, but every once in a while I am lambasted for being too much of my father's side and not enough of my mother's side, especially when it comes to having...let's just say... "accidents" when you are a full grown adult.

This has become a point of contention between my mother's side of my family and myself, so much so, that I decided to make a "Downfall" parody to defend myself.

After showing the video to my family, it was requested by several people that I put it on the blog.

I AM WARNING ALL OF YOU IN ADVANCE that this is NOT about economics, it is NOT about finance and that it is CRASS, contains CURSING, is SOPHOMORIC and is not normal par for the course of Cappy Cap.

However!

Given these recessionary times, it may provide a bit of humor and hilarity for those who need it.

View it at your own discretion.

When an Activist Dies...

And I am being serious about this question;

When an activist dies do they look back at their life and say,

"Holy crap, I just wasted the one shot I got?"

Seriously, think about these people. Their lives are so void of purpose and meaning that the only thing they can come up with doing is protesting soft toilet paper.

At what point do you wake up, take a step back and say, "wow, you know, I've suddenly realized that I'm 45 and it's not 1974 anymore. And I really haven't accomplished ANYTHING with my life. Maybe I should quit finding things to protest and maybe, I don't know, get a real job, get married, have a family, go to college for a trade or a skill, start a business or something. But protesting day in and day out and then every once in a while I succeed in getting a local city ordinance passed which only pisses off the masses that must endure it."

Of course, I know that in order to pursue such a luxurious life where you job is to protest, you must have some trust fund money or well-to-do parents, but still. In the end, there MUST be some level of remorse or regret for wasting your finite limited life on such a stupid, pointless and idiotic cause.

Bernice Young Elementary

The Nazis are coming, hurray, hurray!



Apparently the school is not well liked. Probably because they're too busy brainwashing their children instead of teaching them.


Wow, look, their number!

(609) 386-3520

So Simple, Yet So Far Away

Socialists in the US get the giggity giggities when you mention Sweden.

Because Sweden, after all, is a superior nation with really smart people and more importantly they are socialists.

I'm half inclined to agree since they just recently decided to LOWER THEIR CORPORATE TAX RATES.

Now this is something so simple that even our incredibly stupid and woefully economically ignorant American college students might be able to figure this one out.

If you want to create jobs, why don't you lower the corporate tax rate to attract businesses which will in turn invest in your country and create jobs?

Now, i know for Cappy Cap readers, this is elementary economics 101, but my post is NOT about this simple solution to our economic problems. It is to mock the American public that has been so brainwashed to be against corporations that they cannot muster up the intellectual honesty to admit they were wrong and that villianizing corporations is in general a bad thing because...well....heh, they kind of create a lot of jobs for us.

Regardless, here are the corporate tax rates in the world;

I will pre-emptively strike the guaranteed leftist, knee-jerk, NON-THOUGHT OUT repsonse that no doubt would be offered had I not pre-emptively struck it;

"Oh, yeah, well uhh... you know, corporations, they like have these uh...LOOPHOLES..so uh, like they don't pay taxes."

Yes, thank you, never heard that one before, and from non-CPA's no less.

Here's a crazy thought.

If the US corporate tax rate wasn't 40%, would US corporations even seek out those "loopholes" in the first place?

And oh, what's that? You're bitching and whining about your 401k/403b plan and how much money it lost? What do you think will happen to stock prices if you eliminate corporate taxes?

You know, just never mind, I'm so sick and tired of explaining basic economics to people who can't make that simple link in logic. You really deserve the anti-business, socialists you've elected into government. Enjoy a really horrible, government financed nursing home when you're older.

Post POST - To the damn hippies looking to debunk this data;

The tax rates listed are TOTAL corporate taxes, including state, local, provincial, and national.

And even if it this data were erroneous it would not change the argument that lower taxes would cause economic growth. So quit nitpicking and ask yourself the question;

Do you want economic growth, or do you want millions to suffer so you can continue on your little greedy, self-gratifying, yet pointless crusade against "evil" corporations thinking it's still 1968?

In the meantime, I think I hear your mommy calling. She said something about a trust-fund check and you avoiding a real job?

Liberal Art's Majors Demand More Representation at Job Fair

It would be sad if it weren't so funny.

The sheer ignorance of basic economics of these spoiled brat children (I used to live in Milwaukee and Marquette is a private, hoity toity school) to demand job fairs include worthless majors is only more empirical proof that;

1. Economics needs to be taught not only more, but better at the high school and college levels.
2. Guidance counselors better start doing students a favor and instead of telling them what they want to hear, tell them the realities of the labor market.
3. These are entitlement-mentality children who think they can major in what is essentially a hobby and think they are somehow going to get a job
4. We need to increase the voting age to 30.

I would go into a tirade, but it will be shorter to just link to this, and this, and this.

The moral of the story;

Never hire anybody from Marquette...well...at least the liberal arts majors

University of California Berkeley

Yet another reason not to, not only invest or move to California, but never send your kids to Berkeley

Effing morons.

The OECD Goes Normative

"Normative" economics is what I like to call a "faux" sub-study of economics in that it asks "how things ought to be." The reason I don't credit it with as much as I would its sister, positive economics, is because it is not an economists' job to ask "how things ought to be." That reaks of bureaucrats and government nazi-nannies outlawing smoking or outlawing happy hour instead of letting adult people decide for themselves. Economics should only be concerned with REALITY and what "is." Let democracy or the people decide what "should be."

However, I have sensed a very disturbing trend in the field of economics which frankly will strike at the heart of the study and that is where normative economics is replacing positive economics. Specifically I am concerned about the corruption of data where previously uninfected economic research outfits are now being taken over by normative ideologues.

For example it was not too long ago The Economist (which previously advocated things based in empirical economic research such as ohhhhh....the elimination of corporate taxes) got on the American Idol bangwagon and endorsed Barack Obama. I thusly canceled my subscription and now am concerned about whether or not I can even trust the data The Economist provides.

A more serious threat to the integrity of economic data is the new appointee of the New York Federal Reserve. Denis Huges a former AFL CIO head in New York is the now the new chairman of the NY Fed. I data mine the FRED database all the time. Now I do have to worry about whether the unemployment rate really is only 10% or is it now more like 12%

However, the biggest threat I see is the recent leftist overtures at the world's largest economic database; the OECD. The OECD I thought was at least unbiased in that it was not under the yoke of the United States. That since it did not answer to the US I could trust that its data was untainted and unbiased. But two things now concern me.

1. It's aggression in pursuing tax harmony/anti-tax haven policies. Understand tax havens DO provide a VERY vital role in maintaining your standards of living; if governments tax their people too much, capital and money can just flow out of the oppressive tax regimes and to friendlier ones. This forces governments to make sure they don't just tax and spend, but rather spend efficiently, because otherwise people CAN vote with their dollars and feet.

2. The new "motto" of the OECD.

C-R-I-P-E-S

Which prompted me to write them this letter;

Hello,

I was curious as to who and how the OECD came up with it's new slogan.

I am curious because as an economist I am just looking for data, not opinions. And it seems to me the OECD has now entered the world of normative economics which now concerns me as to whether or not your data will be tainted.

Aside from replacing your current motto with some like;

"We provide data"

is there anyway you can assuage my concerns?

We'll see if they respond.

Regardless, there is a very important point to make about all this and that is what is going to be the increasing importance of outfits like the Heritage Foundation, Reason and the Cato Institute. As quasi-government, non-profit and for profit outfits that previously stood for positive, unbiased economic research get corrupted by and whore themselves out to politics, it will call into question the lifeblood of economics they provide; the data. Ergo you will need other, not necessarily unbiased sources (for the Heritage Foundation, Reason and Cato all have their biases), but other non-conforming sources that provide different data as a check or balance against previously "authoritative" ones.

Ah, intellectual honesty. We took you for granted in the economics profession.

Communists, Even in the NDP, Are Disgusting People

This is a video where a couple reps in the Canadian congress are asking for a memorial in Canada to honor/memorialize those killed under communist dictatorships. It isn't obvious, but you hear in the background an NDP member ACTUALLY HECKLING THE CURRENT SPEAKERS AS THEY SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE GENOCIDE KNOWN AS COMMUNISM.

Need I remind those at the NDP the track record they are defending????

Let me explain something to you sick people defending communism or happen to be communists yourself. THere's nothing, NOTHING noble about your cause. And frankly, I know no more than 2% of you people actually believe in it, and just use it to steal money from other people knowing full well it's downright theft. So you're not fooling anybody hiding behind somekind of "ideology." But to stand by this sick and twisted theft and not care about the literal millions of people killed by this childish obsession? You're not human. People worshiping a guy sporting a funny mustache did the same thing, though, even during a time of war he couldn't kill as much as communists did during peace.

ht

Correct

Correct

A Decline in College Education

Data, I often wish, was recorded more thoroughly and comprehensively in the past. It wasn't until after WWII that the government decided to start regularly and consistently start recording various economic data, but the sheer amount of insight and information we could have gotten had we say started recording not just economic data, but other data as well, going back as far as say 1900 would have made us immeasurably better off today.

Regardless, despite the lack of historical data we have, you can already start seeing the empirical evidence of the country slowly collapsing in some time series as short as just 10 years. Specifically in education.

I went to the OECD, much like I do going to my local bar, and knew precisely the data I wanted to get. The OECD is like a spoiled suburbanite princess. She has the money/data you want/need, but to get it takes a tremendous amount of patience to get at it in that they've organized their databases with the efficiency and logic that Obama has reorganized health care. Inevitably, I did find the data I was looking for and it was college majors by subject over time.

I wanted to get this data because I was curious to see, in general, what the trend was in terms of students majoring in something worthwhile vs. majoring with worthless "El Crapo Studies" such as philosophy, art, sociology, etc. Readers of my blog fully well know just how much importance I place on this particular issue, but for those who are new, in short it is engineers, doctors, computer folk and in general the physical science majors that are the ones who produce and make this nation go, and the others are just spoiled brats majoring in a hobby who prefer not to do any real work whilst they live off of mommy and daddy. And looking at the trend between these two general types of majors, one can get an idea of what the future productivity of this nation will be.

The news (of course) is not good;


Though there does not seem to be any rapid increase or decrease, or discernible trend in general, understand this is only 10 years worth of data. Things such as major types, don't change dramatically like say the president's approval ratings (ha ha ha). HOwever if you look at the details, there are trends and if these trends continue over time, it will not bode well for the nation.

First and foremost I took the "sciences." This is all majors in the physical sciences;

Biology, physics, math, etc.

This has gone from 9.2% of all majors to 8.9% of all majors. Not a dramatic, but a general downward trend.

Then there is engineering (engineering was a separate sub category from "science" and includes chemical, electrical, civil, etc. as well as construction). This has sacrificed a full percentage point in the past 10 years going from 7% of all majors to just 6%.

Now there were other minor categories that I did deem "worthwhile" majors that actually result in a graduate who is capable and likely to contribute to society such as accounting, but the amount of time it would take to pull that data from the OECD was not worth it. The larger point is that in general fewer and fewer students are majoring in something that is worth the tuition they (and the taxpayer) are paying for.

I then took a look at the Arts and Humanities. Again a general encompassing topic that covers philosophy majors and sculpture majors, etc., and not only do these worthless majors account for MORE THAN TWICE THE NUMBER OF ENGINEERING MAJORS, their ranks are growing quite rapidly going from 14% of majors in 1998 to over 15.5% now.

But the worst is yet to come. Separately categorized from Arts and Humanities (and is just one major I focused on) was "Social Services." Though a small major with only 1.16% of the total student population, the relative percent majoring in this field shot up by about a third to 1.43% of majors today.

Now I am getting old and I frankly do not have time to put this kindly or politically correct-like. So let me spell it out for you in a very inconsiderate, uncompassionate, my-goodness-he-didn't-take-sensitivity-training-like-we-all-did-back-in-grade-school kind of way;

Young Americans are spoiled rotten. And not only are they spoiled rotten, they've been brought up poorly by their parents and the schools in that when they graduate from high school, they are actually led to believe that they can major in a worthless subject like the arts and humanities and somehow become a contributing members of society. They are not told the realities of the labor market, guidance counselors provide NOTHING in terms of guiding these kids into real studies that will get them real jobs, and when they grow up, not only will we have failed at our job as adults preparing them for the real world, they will;

1. Not be producing members of society
2. Will more likely than not require the dwindling supply of engineering majors to pay for them in one way or another.
3. Will vote NOT for policies that will help boost economic productivity, but instead will vote for the redistribution of what dwindling production there is (because again, we've not only failed at educating them about the basics of the labor market, but have woefully educated them about basic, simple, elementary economics)

Now I'm done with the "don't hurt little Junior's feelings. He wants to become a musician and we parents are going to be supportive of that." BS. People need to wake up and accept the harsh realities of life. Ergo, let me tell you a little story of this Iranian father I knew.

I was semi-dating his daughter. She was majoring in Middle Eastern studies (because apparently she didn't learn enough Farsi or enough about Iranian culture when she LIVED THERE FOR 20 YEARS!). She was complaining about how her "mean" father wouldn't pay her way through college. I said, "Well, why doesn't he pay your way through college?"

She said, "Well he WAS paying my way through when I was majoring in chemistry, but since I switched to Middle Eastern studies he said he wouldn't pay."

Sadly not only she, but most American parents today, don't realize just how much he loved his daughter.

POST POST - Got some requests for more detail on the data, which can be located here. As you can see they do allow you to look it up by country and detail it by "general" major and then a "specific" major. Beyond that I don't know how they threw, say "graphic arts" into one category or the next. Welcome to my world of "How the Hell Did the OECD Categorize This?"

Uncle Jay Explains the UN

Towards the last half of the broadcast;

http://unclejayexplains.com/2009/09/20/uncle-jay-explains-sept-21-2009/

Rules of Publishing Comments

Behind pedophiles, nazi's, communists and trial lawyers are these little adult children called "internet trolls." And though the quickest way to eliminate them is to ignore them, I get complaints on a regular basis about how I

"Didn't publish my comment."

Now there is a very, nearly invisibly fine line between an internet troll and a leftist on my site in that they deem themselves entitled to have their opinions posted regardless of the quality of their post. And when I simply delete their posts/comments, denying them the light of day, I then get follow up posts or sometimes e-mails about how I am intellectually hypocritical, a liar, a cheat, a nazi, etc. etc.

So I thought it beneficial to all of those out there, not just on Cappy Cap, but other pro-freedom/capitalism blogs as to the logic or rationale most of us use to determine whether or not to make your post;

1. Insults - When you call the blogger a name or curse at him, it will not get posted. Not because we're insulted (we're not), but because what value does some anonymous guy yelling at us provide our readers? People don't want to read drivel, they want a point and they want it quick and they don't want to read through 30 comments of childish name calling to get to genuine true gems of knowledge.

2. Anonymous - Posting as "anonymous" will reduce the likelihood of publishing your comment by about 75%. Especially if you disagree with me. Want to know why? Because the MSM media and NPR already represents your opinion so much you don't need any more representation. My readers will not suffer repeat information they can get from Anderson Cooper. Also, now you get to feel what it's like to be unfairly treated. It's not a violation of your freedom of speech as other archaic and dying forms of media, as well as the White House and their MSM lapdogs constantly barrage the country with your points on an hourly basis. Now you get to feel what it's like to have the editorial board ignore any letters you may have sent into them in the past since they didn't fit the liberal stripe.

3. Crass/Racist/Sexist/Generally Distasteful comments - Regardless of what side of the political spectrum it comes from, if you make a post that insults people based on gender, race, ethnicity, etc., it's not going to get posted. I absolutely make commentary that is critical of different groups of people, but it is in a constructive manner intended to help those people and never blames a skin color or gender for those problems, but rather the culture or sociological phenomenon that correlates with it (for example, 67% of black children are born out of wedlock, this has nothing to do with the fact a person's skin is black, but rather a collapse in the social values attached to marriage in the "black community." Or the price of US weddings - absolutely unnecessary, absolutely a waste of time, money could be given to other more noble causes - children's cancer, scholarships,etc. - but it is largely driven by women, not men to have this profligate waste). However, insulting people saying "those stupid blacks" or "those dumb chicks" implying there is something inherent in being black or female or a jew or a muslim, etc., that causes these problems helps no one and will not get posted.

4. Cursing - In the same strain, cursing like a frat boy on daddy's dime will guarantee you do not get posted. However, I do believe the occasional curse word is called for in that at times it's the only word that carries the weight necessary to convey the severity of whatever it is you're trying to talk about. If this is the case, it will get posted. If it's just "filth and foul, foul and filth and frick and frack" forget it.

5. When I Know You're Wrong - This one is for the liberals. Yes, I know you think you're right, but when you make a comment and I KNOW for a fact it is wrong - ie- I know precisely where the data is on the OECD or FRED databases that would prove you wrong, you do not get posted. Now listen to me, because this is very important for you liberals out there, you HAVE NO CLUE JUST WHAT A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF TIME YOU ARE FACTUALLY WRONG. This is not an issue of whether I disagree with your opinion (say for example you say, "we need health reform now!" - that's an opinion). But when you say something factually wrong like "we don't spend enough on health care" when we spend 2 times the amount compared to any country by any measure, you're WRONG and your misinformed/uninformed, or just generally FALSE belief does not DESERVE to get published.

6. Illogical Arugments - There is no shortage of leftists that will tender arguments that are either wrong, based in false premises, or just plain don't make sense, but because of the complexity they think their argument will stand and is worth posting. THis is usually what you get from professors or idiots that claim things like "GDP isn't a good measure of economic production" or consider profit to be a bad thing. It doesn't make sense. And no matter how verbose or hoity toity and academic your response is, if even one premise violates simple logic, it doesn't get posted.

7. Intellectually Dishonest - These people are sick and twisted and need to be shipped off to the Arctic. Arguing for "social causes" when you damn well know implementing said policies will bankrupt the nation or otherwise cause greater harm to society means you're nothing more than a shill, a whore for a political party or cause. People like Nancy Pelosi or Arlen Specter who know FULL WELL things like lower taxes, balanced budgets, efficient government spending is what's in the best interest of the nation, but instead ignore those facts and tell the masses what they want to hear so they can get elected again is nothing more than prostitution. But what I don't get is while people like Pelosi and Specter are intellectually dishonest become so, so they can remain employed, why do internet trolls of the leftist stripe become intellectually dishonest when there is no value or payoff for them to do so? It is here that it borders a psychological problem when you have somebody arguing for socialism or free-health care or whatever, who does so, not because they have a vested interest in an outcome, but because they've joined a cause and what to feel like they're doing something, even though deep down inside they know it will bode ill for the nation OR (even worse) they don't know what the ramifications will be, but will still advocate it anyway because it "makes them feel good." I've developed a keen sense of smell for these types, the ACORN girls, the idiot who made the You Tube video on why we need health care, etc., but if you're just whoring for a cause AND NOT EVEN GETTING PAID FOR IT like Pelosi (or for that matter, all of congress), your comment does not get published (you also need psychological help).

8. Do you have a point? - I will post any comments that have a point, whether they agree with me or not, especially if they are unique or (on the rare occasion) that I have been misinformed. It is here intellectual HONESTY pays off, especially for leftists. Every once in a while you guys do have a point and can actually advance the conversation we're having.

9. Do You Agree with me? - Hell yes, I'll post you. Sure, why not, what does it hurt? Besides (and again notice the "INTELLECTUAL HONESTY") I will fully admit I'd like to give back to the MSM and newspapers of yore what they gave us for the past 50 years. Editorial pages that made it look like the country was full of communists. I want people to visit the site and feel like "My god, am I the only liberal?" You can see how it feels.

THat's about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go for a motorcycle ride with a cute girl on the back of the bike.

Recession Medicine

This involves guns and gun play and hurt feelings and Daffy Duck yells kind of loud and a whole manner of evil things that are very anti-American. Well, they WEREN'T anti-American when they were made, but today, oh, gosh, you should poke your eyes out after watching such evil;

Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
Uploaded by TheGazz. - Click for more funny videos.

The Nazi's are Coming, Hurray Hurray!

This is why, if I ever do run a large corporation, I will have separate facilities where men and women do not interact.

It is also why I would never set up shop in a state like California or New York where there are too many entitlement-mentality adult children who are practically looking for ways to be offended...matter of fact it's just a damn good idea to never set up shop in the US in the first place.

ht.

Economic Schadenfreude

It really does put a smile on my face.

Traffic Economics

You know a recession is on when there isn't traffic in California.

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving state.

I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One on TV

Sadly, to the youthful idiots of this nation, they don't understand just how insulting this is to them.

Please Write a Review

Greetings all aspiring, junior, deputy, official and otherwise economists!

If you would be so kind, for those of you who have bought my book would you please write a review for it on Amazon.com.

The link is here, I know it may take a little of your time, but I would really appreciate it.

And for those of you who haven't bought the book (which according to my research is about 299,998,327 remaining Americans who haven't- children included) the link is the same link (wow! cool!)

Mucho thanks!

Glenn Beck and His Ilk are the Only Real Journalists Left

"Journalism" when I was originally attending college, was what inferior students who couldn't do calculus would pursue in their attempt to overthrow and "fight the system *maaaan!*" even though it was that system that provided their parents with enough money to pay for their worthless asses to get a degree in something as worthless as "journalism."

However, as you age you start to appreciate the vital role a healthy, but above all, UNBIASED media and journalistic industry provides to the rest of the country in that they are the truth sayers and investigators that keep the politicians honest.

Too bad all the morons and idiots who were too damn lazy to take up real studies entered journalism, for this vital aspect of a democracy is now corrupted. And this corruption shows no more brightly than today.

In short the only real journalists (and I mean this sincerely, my personal political bias set aside) are the few bands of radio talk show hosts and Fox News.

Oh, mock Fox News as you might, but whilst the NYT excuses not covering the ACORN "whore" story on "journalists taking vacation" and the rest of the MSM seems nothing more than whores themselves for the socialist party of the US (and I really don't mean to sound hyperbolic, but that's REALLY what it is) it seems the only REAL journalists out there are those of Fox News, Glen Beck and other "radical" evil, right wing hate monsters.

Now, cute overdone, overused epitaphs used since 1993 set aside to describe Glenn Beck and his ilk as "hate mongers" and "racists", the truth still remains that;

Glen Beck is the only guy to bring down a communist Anti-American, racist like Van Jones

Glenn Beck is also the only guy to bring national attention to the criminal organization known as ACORN (aside from the brave AND GENUINE JOURNALISTS that filmed those films in the first place). Not to mention the scores of bloggers who brought down criminal hypocrites such as Dan Rather and the like.

Conservative/libertarian talk shows are the only ones addressing things like constitutionality as well as the finances of the country.

Pointing out the inconsistencies and genuine lies about health care being purported by the socialists in government and then reliably trotted out by their complicit MSM buddies.

And are frankly the only ones who can tell the American people what they DON'T want to hear as it is based in TRUTH and not RATINGS risking being ostracized and criticized themselves.

The larger point is that if you look at it from far far above with an eagle's eye view, it is not the worthless, spoiled brat "me-generation" boomers-come-journalists established in the entrenched traditional MSM that are doing any REAL journalism and investigative work.

It is not their children who were too damn lazy to major in something productive and instead chose journalism as a means to advance a cause rather than REPORT THE FREAKING NEWS that are the real journalists today.

The true, genuine and REAL journalists are those at Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush LImbaugh, Reason, King Banaian, Jason Lewis and the hundreds of bloggers who do NOT have an agenda, but rather have intellectually honesty and the vitally important desire to pursue TRUTH not to mention a genuine care for the American people and the future of this country.

It's these people who are the genuine journalistic heroes of our time in that they do not only expose the criminals such as ACORN and Charley Rangel and Van Jones, but they do the job the established, bought-off, and corrupted media was supposed to do.

So you can go ahead and mock Glenn Beck.

You can go ahead and call all these "evil right wing bloggers" racists or sexists.

They don't do it because they're "sexist" or "racist" or just "generally mean and poopey people." They do it because they care about the country and the truth is the American public needs to pull its head out of its ass and start thinking independently or suffer the consequences. And instead of tuning into "The Nightly News" with shills and media whores such as Anderson Cooper and Katie Curick (I don't care how to properly spell her name), they might want to tune into a Glenn Beck or a Jason Lewis.

Because frankly, you can continue to be told what you want to hear by what is nothing more than an extention of the Democrat part of the US, or you can be told the truth. The blue pill or the red pill.

Sadly, most American don't have the intellectual fortitude to be Neo.

Jimmy Carter is Irrelevant

Isn't that the last president that make the economy suck as much as Obama is making the current economy suck now?

Right, Jimmy. Wilson said Obama was a liar, not because he was a liar (which he is) but because he's black.

If ever there is a cowardly and intellectually dishonest argument it is the;

"you don't agree with a black person? Well you MUST be racist."

To all you race whores and worthless former presidents, go ef yourselves because the racist label no longer sticks.

Do You See What I See?

So I watched Inglorious Basterds and was not impressed at all.

However!

I absolutely LOVED the movie Kelley's Heroes.

A signed photograph (with a lipstick mark) of Natasha who can first link the two.

Health Care vs. Getting Drunk

I swear, I need a gun and a lot of ammo.



HT to Maggie's Farm

Is this the US or the Middle East

A reader sent this to me and I do not know if the translation is correct (nor do I know what they cut out), but there are a couple points about this video;

1. Is he talking about the middle east or the US and our progressively lazy population where we don't produce anything here and just buy it from the Chinese?

2. Is he still alive? Such outspokeness would have raised the ire of terrorists and extremists and I presume he's on somebody's hit list.

3. Why the hell can't the MSM show this guy and parade him around a bit to show that there are moderate Muslims in the world and they're not all terrorists? Oh, that's right, because he's advocating capitalism. And THAT is the true sin, a sin worse than terrorism in the eyes of the left in this country.

Regardless, I would gladly sit down and have a beer with this guy.

Richard Kovacevich is Claude Raines

Yeah, we're "really sorry" that umm....this uhhh...highly ranked employee...ummm...somehow was able to live in this posh mansion and we're "SHOCKED, SHOCKED" to find out about this.

I think Richard Kovacevich starred in Casablanca;

No, Men Do Not Like the Chase

I have a friend and I forgot how we got on the topic of conversation, but she said, "but don't you men like to chase the women? Don't you like it when we play hard to get?"

To which I answered her with a distinctive, "No, we don't."

Apparently the brainwashing she received from reading too many issues of Cosmo prohibited her from digesting and then installing the fount of information I just gave her and so she responded;

"Oh no, you guys like it."

To which I responded, "No, we really don't."

It took another couple minutes of conversation, but I finally convinced her that, no, indeed not, men do not like it when women play hard to get.

Alas, the difficulty I had in conveying this seemingly simple point to a rather intelligent friend of mine showed me that it is once again time for;

"The Captain's Dating Advice for Women!"

OK girls, here's the deal.

I cannot claim this analogy for it goes to another friend of mine (Spartan). Spartan said,

"You ever play a video game that was so incredibly difficult that after 15 or 20 tries you just inevitably gave up? Well, it's like that. After trying and trying and trying, and inevitably getting nowhere, you realize that it's not worth the effort to play the game any more, you turn off the Nintendo and you go outside and play."

And I think this analogy hits it right on the head.

No ladies, we don't like trying, infinitely and futilely to save the princess. And if it's too difficult we will turn off the video game and find something else to do. You've effectively made the game not worth playing and no amount of "points" or prospects of "conquering the game" will supersede the opportunity costs of doing something else.

Another aspect you must realize is how the patience for games precipitously drops with age.

I remember a video game when I was 13 called "Ninja Gaiden 2." It was a great game, but you got to this one point in the game where you just couldn't make this jump over a pit.

I tried and tried and tried, but inevitably, literally after 3 hours of trying, I gave up.

Now that was when I was 13. Today, at the ripe old age of 34, I don't give a game more than 5 tries. A perfect example is "Blazing Angels 2." You get to fly over Russia and fight off a Nazi invasion while co-coordinating not only a dogfight, but a ground assault and some Katusha rockets.

Good luck trying.

I tried about 4-5 times (each time took 10 minutes of separate game play), and after wasting effectively an hour, I said, "to hell with it" and sold the video game back to Game Stop.

The moral of the story?

The older men get, the less patience they have to play games.

Now, you can continue on reading books and magazines written by non-men about what men want and what they like. You can continue to play the games that were not only childish and NOT fun back in 1988, but continue to be just as childish and NOT fun AND have the added bonus of being "immature" today.

Or you can grow up, quit it with the mind/child/middle school-girl games and if you like the guy, go out with him.

As Keynes said, "In the long run we're all dead," and given the average life expectancy of a woman is 83 years, you really don't have the time in your finite lives to play something as stupid and childish as "hard to get."

Wells Fargo's Boyscout Badges

I bank with Wells Fargo because frankly I am burdened with a lot of work, and plain don't have the time to close my account, redirect all my automatic bill pays. Ergo I tolerate this more or less evil company. Inevitably I will switch to TCF because they did not take TARP money and are actually nearby.

However, on my many trips to the bank I notice up on the wall behind the teller's desk are these banners with each employee's name on it. And on these banners are little pins, kind of like badges on a boyscout's sash. Things like the "WOW" pin, or the "5 Years Service Pin" or "Goodie for You" pin and the "Charles Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence" pin.

And what angers me is that this is typical of corporate America where they think they can get by giving people worthless awards or plastic trophies or wood plaques for hard work instead of, oh, I don't know,

PLAIN FREAKING CASH!???!!!

It's insulting to workers.

Does management in these corporations really think "Bob" is excited when he has the most "Wow" pins on his sash?

Does he get to take that to interviews?

Does he take it home with him and wear it on his chest so when he hits the clubs the girls all fawn over him?

And seriously, when he dies, is that sash going to be prominently displayed anywhere during the wake?

Of course not, because Bob just plain doesn't give a damn about the damn sash because for all of his hard work he gets a worthless fabric adorned with worthless pieces of metal or plastic.

"Wow!"

Now here's the thing, and maybe, just maybe the PHB's of the corporate world will pick up on this, there are only TWO things that will incentive workers to work more (because I know we don't want them working smarter, because that usually brings about change and efficiency and is ruthlessly punished);

More MONEY

or

MORE TIME OFF

That's it.

That's all that's going to incent workers to do a better job.

And this weasily, blatantly transparent circumventing of this hard economic law is insulting.

I was in an interview recently and the middle aged man asked me "how would you incent your staff to work harder?"

I said, "there's only two ways. More money or more time off. If they come up with a way to save 2 hours a day, they either get those 2 hours a day off with the same pay, or I find them new work and pay them an extra 2 hours per day in wages."

That was the incorrect answer.

Alas, I think in corporate America they're going to continue to spend $20,000 on worthless materials, sashes and pins, instead just plain giving their employees the extra $20,000.

Update - Well, with a$$holes like these, no wonder the underlings of Wells Fargo only get paid in plastic.

Editing the Blog - AND GOOD NEWS!

Hi All,

I've updated to the new blogger layout and as some "Natasha Fans" may have noticed she is no longer there.

Once I remaster the art of programming the sidebar I will put her back up there.

In the meantime I will be putting together a blogroll, but you may have already noticed on the blogroll I have a link. This is (drum roll)

THE CAPTAIN'S FIRST SPONSOR!!!

Show Ugg Boots your support and go buy a couple thousand pairs or something!

Many thanks for Ugg Boots for their sponsorship!

Cpt.

Wilson is Right

Obama is a liar and it is that simple.

It is underhanded "wink wink" "nudge nudge" "oops, we didn't fill out the paper work correctly" excuse that angers me.

Illegals will get health care just as they do welfare and other benefits they are not entitled to because of "sloppy" paperwork by government, democrat-supporting, public sector union workers.

Average Teacher's Salaries

Found this chart interesting in that in Luxembourg they pay their teachers (after 15 years exeprience) on average $90,000 a year.

It makes me wonder about the Luxembourgian education system and behooves a couple questions;

1. Do they have massive overhead then on "administrators" and "counselors" and "programs" and "assistant coaches" or do they just dedicate the vast majority of the money to (GASP) EDUCATION?

2. Do Luxembourgian children go to school, pay attention and pursue the sciences, or do they wreak havoc, misbehave, complain, and shoot their peers like their American counterparts while pining to go to college for "social work?"

3. If I walked into the average classroom, would their student to teach ratio be higher because (and I'm gambling here) the children ARE better behaved and thus it represents something more of an institution of learning versus a massive baby-sitting operation?

4. Since Luxembourg is a very rich country, they can afford to pay their teachers highly. So if we mimick their economy, teachers here could also get paid $90,000 per year. That would mean the NEA and teachers union would have to support free market, low-tax policies and capitalism that...oops. Never mind.

I Ask

Would this be empirical evidence of sexism in the US and other countries?

Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children

Found this chart interesting. What I also find interesting is just how much PUBLIC money is spent on the chillllllldren. $140,000 PER KID IN THE US?

You see, when people say, "Don't you want children?"

I say, "I already support a couple thousand through taxation."

And that is the truth.

An Older Post

In my boredom inspired surfing of the internet, I came across this one.

Dated, but good nonetheless especially for young female millennials who are about to enter college. And understand it's not me saying it, it's a woman, so don't yell at me.

She has moved to Townhall, I guess that is her older blog account.

Peter Stark

I mean, you people in California wonder why you're over 10% unemployment and in general just have about the worst economy in the nation? Are you all smoking Windex or something out there to elect an idiot like this?



Veritably and certifiably psychologically delusional.

But, then again, you people want to believe in socialism so you need to elect morons like this who can ignore reality and live in lala land.

Again, another reason never to invest or move to California.

Dancing, Books, Philanthropy and More

It's that time again! Time for the monthly plug for El Cap-i-tan's services and wares to show your love and support of the Captain.

There is the standard;

Book

Donation

Shirts/Mugs

BUT!

There are two unique things this time of year;

There is the FREE seminar I put on that you can download and watch about socialism and capitalism. Loaded with the key economic data you need to be able to argue effectively against the endless wave of idiotic American Idol Americans and college students who love socialism.

and should you live in Minnesota...

DANCE SEASON! So if you are interested in learning how to ballroom, salsa, tango, or swing, contact the ole Captain at CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com and he can tell you where the closest classes are to your area!

Blogroll

Anybody out there know where I can find the damn code to install a blogroll on my Blogger CLASSIC template?

Damn google isn't worth a darn when you try to look it up yourself and since all the Cappy Cap readers are smart, educated types, I figured somebody out there might know the answer.

Cpt.

Derivative Dumbasses

Geez, just when I open my mouth, some idiot points out to the "slowing" of the collapse.


No Nigel, it ISN'T good to see them slow down. It would be good to see them reverse.

Oh, but that's right, the Big O is in the office and we have to spin everything to make it seem like cake and ice cream.

Bush would be crucified for this kind of performance.

GDP Without Government Spending

I have termed them "derivative dumbasses."

People in the media who are excited when things "aren't worsening as fast as they were."

For example no doubt many of you have heard reports or in the news;

"Housing sales have slowed LESS RAPIDLY than in the past, sending the Dow Jones up 3%!"

"Unemployment has increased, but at a rate slower than last quarter, which prompted analysts at Goldman Sachs to change their recommendation from "sell" to "strong buy!"

Or, I'm waiting for the day the MSM reports this one;

"Barack Obama's approval rating, currently at 28%, is dropping at a less rapid rate, suggesting Americans are starting to realize how brilliant this man really is indebting us and our great great grandchildren!"

Of course it's inane and the reason it's inane is that the situation is still WORSENING, it's just the rate or "first derivative" at which it's worsening has lessened. Which is again like a doctor saying to a cancer patient,

"Hey, GREAT news! The cancer is spreading at a SLOWER rate than before."

"So is it in remission?"

"Oh, hell no! It's still spreading, but we've upgraded your life expectancy from 3 weeks to 6 weeks!"

But one that the MSM and leftists in the media/government complex were drooling over were the latest revisions to GDP figures which showed the economy going from -6.4% to "only" -1%.

The economy is STILL CONTRACTING, but at a slower rate.

This of course was then heralded as a great achievement of Obama and the stimulus plan. However, there was just one small problem. Government accounted for a disproprationate amount of the improvement.




If you look at the details, government spending was rather dramatically increased by 1.27%. Had this spending not occured, then the economy would have contracted by 2.27%, not the 1% people are all swooning over.

Now I know it's still an improvement, but don't you worry, the economy is not going to boom any time soon. I predict it's either going to stagnate like the Japanese economy did and we limp along for the next decade trying to find ryhme or reason in working more, or it double dips which some are also predicting.

However, allow me to make a couple predictions/observations;

1. If we are all excited about Obama getting a -2.27% "REAL" REAL GDP growth rate, it doesn't matter if the economy never recovers and never goes positive because even a -1% real real GDP growth rate will be an improvement.

2. As long as the economy's decline SLOWS, the media will still report the Obama administration as a success. It doesn't even have to reverse into positive growth. GDP's first derivative just must slow.

3. Remember when we were coming out of the 2000 recession after the Dotcom Crash. The PRIMARY chorus of the left that the economy was not recoverying FAST ENOUGH. This will be the measure by which Obama will be judged and he will be judged against that most incompetent and idiotic man in the world: George Bush.

Let's just see how great that Keynesian stimulus plan works.

The Ransberger Pivot

Akin to my betting technique, but with a kinder, gentler approach.

Going Galt

Many thanks to Chris for putting this together;

This is for My Mom

Greetings all, after a 650 mile bike ride on a Ninja 250 crotch rocket, weighed down with 50 pounds of rocks and gear, your beloved Captain is back in Minneapolis.

Not related to economics, but thought you all might enjoy some photos at your leisure, however I am also putting these photos up here so I don't have to show everybody in my family and friends the pictures multiple times.

This is the dance hall in Edgemont, SD where we went to the county fair



These are some "cowgirls" that Natasha thought was cute and wanted to take a picture of. They shortly thereafter joined the boys over the fence where they engaged them in a game of "tackle each other in horse manure" which is a long-standing tradition in Edgemont.



This is the fairgrounds in Edgemont.


This is about mile 6 in what would be a 20 mile hike through the heart of the Black Hills. The peak there is Harney's peak which is the highest point between the Rockies and I think the Alps.


This is Dewey. There is nothing in Dewey. Not even fossils. (note the Indiana Jone's hat however).



This is the top of St. Elmo's Peak.


This is Wyoming.



This is me failing at fishing in the Spearfish Canyon (where the Harley Riders drive their powerful motorcycles REALLY SLOW). This is also me telling Obama to go to hell if he thinks I'm going to work more to pay more taxes so that others may parasite off of me and the system (notice my indifference to the fact I am NOT contributing to GDP). I think this might make a good motivational poster like "Go Galt: Because When Your Marginal Tax Rate is 78%, Why Volunteer to Become a Host to Parasites?"



This is looking down into the Spearfish Canyon. The climb was difficult.



This is me. And behind me is Spearfish Peak.



This is Crows Nest. I took this picture from Little Crow's Nest Peak.



This is again me showing how exited you should be if you climb Spear Fish Peak.



This is Dr. Barb and my brontothere fossil. The kid in the picture was somewhat excited about going on a fossil hunt originally, until she found out that Dr. Barb was a woman. Then she became exstatic. Never mind I found the damn thing, never mind it's a brontothere. Oh, no, that doesn't matter that icky gross "boy" Cappy Cap found it. But "what? Dr. Barb is a woman! Hot damn, let's go fossil hunting!"



These are "Clarey's Angels." They did not tell me about the shirts when they came to visit. All they did was go into their cabin and say they were going to dress up and that I should too. So I come out of my bathroom all changed and boom, I see this. I could potentially be "somewhat" spoiled.



This is why we dressed up; the commander at the VFW in town. This is in Hot Springs, SD which is NOT a big town, but the commander runs the best damn VFW in the nation and dresses appropriately. I will write about him more, but he is also one of the many vets at the VFW that was kind enough to give me their money in two separate Texas Hold Em tournaments.



There are more but that is more or less the gist of my vacation.

A Question to My Idiotic Younger Friends

I know, I know, Obama got elected by more than just the meth-addicted, American-Idol worshipping, teeny-boopers who voted for him based on "coolness" and not whether he had the slightest bit of competency and experience. I know, I'm aware of that. There were people who were just sick of Bush, hippies who whilst celebrating the 40th anniversary of Woodstock also wanted to be cool and young too, and your stalwart pull the level democrats,

BUT

he could NOT have gotten elected without the American Idol children.

Now, I try to convince people about the true and genuine danger this socialist (which is what he is) brings to America. I try every way possible from data and charts and information, to logical arguments, to reviewing the history of socialism, to even resorting to berating them for their stupidity and pointing out just how little they know about economics and therefore really shouldn't have the right to vote.

But maybe, JUST MAYBE, this simple line of logic may penetrate the Panzer-tank-like-armor-thick skulls of today's American late teens and 20 somethings;

If this is the result of the government running a $3 billion "cash for clunkers" program, just how well do you think the government is going to run health care?

Am I getting anywhere? Is the light starting to go on? Are you starting to think "hey, maybe I should just set aside my zealotlike commitment to the socialist ideology and maybe ask what kind of future I and my future children will have in this country?" Like now would be the time to become and adult, forget the protesting and think really hard about the budgetary and economic ramifications of this?

Bueller?

Bueller?

A Response to "Why We Need Government Run Healthcare"

Ah, it's like making fun of little children.

Where's the White House

Curiously, the White House is missing from this popularity poll;



AH, The Economist. Subtle biased reporting at it's best.

Effective Tax Rates

Or as I like to call it

"Where not to move to"



Of course, I disagree with this as the main measure of taxation. The best measure of taxation is government spending as a percent of GDP. And the reasons why are thusly;

1. Income and social pension tax are not the only taxes you pay. You pay state income tax, sales tax, capital gains tax, corporate tax (but idiotic leftists will say, "NO, CORPORATIONS PAY THOSE TAXES!" And corporations are owned by WHO EXACTLY? Oh, that's right, everybody with a 401k and grandma's pension.), licenses, VAT tax, etc. etc. etc. However, it's much easier to measure total tax by taking the total revenue governments take in which accounts for all forms of taxes.

2. You can't even just consider government revenue as the total tax, because those silly governments like to spend more than they bring in. Well how do they pay back the debt they incur by running all those deficits? Well they can only pay back government debt via one way; MORE TAXES. Of course these are deferred into the future by mortgaging your children and grandchildren's futures, but hey, what do you care? You'll be dead by the time those idiotic youth figure it out. "Hey kid, here's an I-pod and why don't you watch more Teen Idol. Don't pay attention to these boring budget figures."

Detroit Health Care = Nationalized Health Care

Well, it could be just because it's Detroit.

ht to Gatmando.