Germany's Reuinification Tax

I received this from a pretty fraulein in Germany, which then piqued my curiosity, triggering this question;

"I have a stupid question.

Did it ever occur to the Germans immediately after reunification that a reunification tax would NOT be necessary as private investment would presumably swoop in and take advantage of the cheap land, labor and capital? Or was "reunification" just used as a excuse to create another tax?"

Any German economists out there have any thoughts?

The Women Who Try to Make Me Fat

Let it be known that your captain is victorious!

Yes, after a long, multi-battle, gruesome war, ole Cappy Cap has defeated the nefarious and many women of his life that set out to make him fat.

Oh, it started innocently enough. A formal dinner party at Bambi's place in sleepy, suburban Rosemount, Minnesota. Served were rosemary potatoes, caramel glazed carrots with BOTH apple topped pork and tender beef tips. Not complete without martini's, Rumpleminze, wine and THREE different types of desserts. Everybody was having a mirthful time, but oh, I knew, I KNEW what she was trying to do. She was trying to fatten me up!

Sure enough what I hoped would be just a minor, one time, clandestine operation, turned into all out war as my mother made not one, but TWO chickens for a measly 4 people on Thanksgiving Day. Of course it included potatoes, squash, apple pie AND french silk pie. They weren't even trying to hide the fact! They were declaring all out war on me and at all costs were going to make me fat!

Then there was Sindi's house. Never mind most of us already had two Thanksgiving dinners already. No, now came the final assault. TWO types of ham, THREE DIFFERENT PIES, so much booze that it would make Lewis Nixon blush, cheese potatoes, a creme-cheese-pepper-jalapeno-cilantro-tobasco sauce chip dip, coleslaw, home made buns, pomegranite martinis, and an ice cream dessert that included;

Rumpleminze
Amaretto
Kaluha
Baileys
Creme De Cocoa

with dove chocolate chunks.

Oh, it was the H-bomb of Thanksgiving dinners. It could not get any worse my friends. But it did. For during the entire Thanksgiving week, Natasha was providing these women constant air support. I was constantly bombarded with "Whipping" me up this. "Whipping" me up that. "Would you like another Rumpleminze dear?" "Oh this? I just decided to whip up a little stir fry. It has fresh jalapenos, just like you like it!"

Oh, how could any man survive!?

Well, let it be known fellow Captain Capitalismites, that your Captain, virtuous and true, was a pillar of self-control. And combined with rigorous exercise managed to keep the pounds off. So much so, that when I stepped on the scale this morning, I had LOST 2 POUNDS OVER THE WEEK!

All their scheming.

All their plotting.

All these women, trying to make me fat.

All for naught!

Their plans were foiled. Their schemes undone!

Yes, all their efforts were muted by the steel resolve and self-discipline that is known as the Captain.

Be wary my male economist friends, be wary. For if women decide to make a full frontal assault against me, they no doubt have plans for you!

Achievements in Bachelor History

While becoming the optimal bachelor certainly is an art, little known to the non-bachelor community there is actually a lot of science behind the art. One of the main goals is minimalism, ie- where you try to minimalize the unnecessary things in life.

For example making the bed takes too much time. You minimalize it by never making your bed in the first place and leaving it just the way you left it for you're just going to mess it up again. I've gone so far as to even get rid of my bed because I never used it and now sleep on the couch in front of the LCD projector.

Or minimalizing children. I for example have zero. It makes life a lot easier.

CD's? Don't have them anymore, converted them entirely to MP3 and donated the CD's to goodwill.

Dishes? 1 spoon, 1 fork, 1 bowl, 1 plate. Never use them because I always eat out.

Now I can go on and point out other areas where the Minimalistic Principle applies in bachelorhood, however I have now achieved another great milestone in minimalism;

I can fit all my clothes into one hamper.

Oh sure, they're smushed in there pretty good (because folding clothes you see is just another waste of time), and probably have the molecular density of uranium, but they're in one good size hamper. This has permitted me to get rid of my dresser (which I never used anyway because my clothes would migrate from the drier to the bed and the floor and stay there until used) and frees up more room for my video game cabinet.

Yes, another Achievement in Bachelor History!

Young aspring, junior, deputy and otherwise official bachelor economists should take note.

Phil Jones' Worthless Life

Wow, can your life be any more meaningless????? Seriously, what do you tell girls at the bar?

"I fabricated data to show the globe has warmed .8 degrees Celsius in the past 157 years. That's my life's work???"

I'm being deadly serious, what kind of a worthless person is he? Compare him to Shackleton. Compare him to your everyday veteran. Compare him to your average dentist. Compare him to the hard working men and women who slave everyday to make a living. Hell, compare him to a teenage burger flipper. He's a freaking failure. A pathetic excuse for a man. Only massive government funds and a scam could give such a worthless individual the facade of having relevance.

Michael Mann

Why College Tuition is So High

Would not just a counselor suffice?

Never Buy a Mac

C-R-I-P-E-S

Hitler on Global Warming

I thought I was onto it first;



Apparently not;

Natasha Calendar is Now Available

The 2010 Natasha calendar is now available for the low low price of $14! All proceeds will go to a completely, 100%, sinful capitalist enterprise...the profits of which will no doubt be spent on booze, gambling, women and X-Box 360 games. Regardless, need I remind you that for all of you out there that "clamoured" for young Natasha, she was VERY kind to volunteer herself and her time to take these pictures and it would mean a lot to her if you'd show your appreciation by buying one.

You can purchase a calendar by sending your ole Captain an e-mail at CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com.

University of Minnesota's "Education Degree"

You guys think I'm joking when I say not to move here.

Teachers in the UK

In other words, "we don't want to be teachers or do anything that would result in actually educating the students like holding them to standards. We want to be overpaid baby sitters."

ht

Well At Least It Ain't Europe

That's always how I want to measure the success of a nation.

"At least we're not __________"

It's like your mom when she would say to you as a kid, "Well at least you don't have cancer!"

Or

"At least you have food on the table!"

I dislike those kind of comparisons because it lowers the bar and brainwashes you to have low expectations. ie-Since you DON'T have ebola and are NOT paralyzed from the neck down you should be GRATEFUL that the country is collapsing.

"Moving to Canada"

Pulled this up on Google Trends.



Interesting.

Recession Medicine

Desperate need of humor this week. Anybody know the artist?

Good Lord

No, seriously, all male Cappy Capites need to read this. Not that I would necessarily agree with his crass tone, but if the law/courts are stacked this much against us, forget it. I'm out of the game.

The Chinese Should Listen to Cappy Cap

I like it when readers write intelligent things.

What would be GREAT is if they SENT ME THE INTELLIGENT THINGS THEY WROTE WHEN THEY WROTE THEM because the Captain does appreciate a day off from blogging, which good posts by readers permit.

From Mr. Fuller.

From Econmom.

But to answer Economom's question about what would make a deferred velocity no longer deferred.

China and other countries that no longer care to hold onto our currencies. Not that they'd dump them on the market (because that would trigger a collapse in the price of the dollar), but by indication they refuse to lend the US any more money by buying any new treasuries (which would trigger a decline anyway).

Matter of fact I just shorted the US dollar against an unnamed currency this morning despite the US dollar's decline this past 6 months. And you want to know why I did it?

No economic analysis.

No research (aside from the research I have already done up till this point)

I just got plain depressed listening to Joe Soucheray about how we're blowing away money on "art institute" projects and other worthless garbage "stimulus" projects that produced NOTHING of true genuine wealth to the tune of $1 trillion dollars.

What genuine VALUE was generated from this stimulus program?

The answer is NOTHING.

Roads that didn't need repairing, got "re-repaired."

Worthless minimalistic art created by some doped artist turned into a G.D. drinking fountain.

"Art institutes"/"community centers" that never generated a damn'sworth of production in their lives got stimulus money.

And lord knows what else the money has been spent on.

When this reality, that the stimulus money in a foolishly childish innocent like mentality was veritably THROWN away on a Keynesian "aggregate demand" curve ACTUALLY REACHES THE EARS OF (what I consider to be incredibly deaf) CHINESE DEBT HOLDERS, what do you think they will do with their dollar assets?

En

freaking

joy

the

collapse.

Maybe "Cindi" and her masters in "social work" will be able to solve these real world problems.

Michigan and California

This feels so good to watch.

Inflation vs. the Money Supply

Real quick, then I must bolt.

If you increase the money supply by 5% and you produce 5% more stuff inflation will be 0%.

If you increase the money supply by 5% and produce 0% more stuff, inflation will go up by 5%

If you decrease the money supply by 5%, but produce no more stuff, you get deflation of 5%.

This is not an opinion, this is a mathematical fact. If you print off more money and produce less (like we are today) you will have inflation. It's an unavoidable law of economics.

However, economies are not simple entities nor machines that work like clocks and why you have this disagreement that more money will not trigger inflation vs. will. So allow me to explain a couple things;

1. Just because you print off money NOW doesn't mean it will IMMEDIATELY trigger inflation. The chart below shows us IN GENERAL when the M2 money supply was increasing at a higher rate we had inflation. When we stopped printing money in the 70's, inflation came back under control.

2. A person will observe that we increased the money supply rather rapidly during the dotcom bubble, which did not trigger inflation. However that inflation is measured by the "CPI" and does not include investment assets such as stock market bubbles and housing bubbles. If those were included in the CPI you would see the correlation again.

3. Obamaites will immediately point out that inflation has turned to DEflation even though we've increased the money supply again.

Don't worry my friends. Give it time to permeate. Give it time.

Natasha is Coming Hurray Hurray

Again, one we threw away.

"Baffled" My Ass

"We're shocked, SHOCKED that there is no global warming."

But boy, did those researchers make off with a lot of money acting like there was for the past 20 years.

California

...and the bed those idiots get to sleep in.

College Algebra Classes

What did I tell you people?

IOUSA

Sadly, this movie will make no impact or difference in that too high a percentage of the population is composed of veritable children that have never had to pay for anything in their lives and still expect it to continue on that way.

I'm outta here guys. Enjoy the collapse.

Where is Your Stimulus Money Going?

Click here and you can type in your area code and get a break down of the money.

Surprise, surprise, the majority of my money is going to the...

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION!

The "Real" Unemployment Rate

I know that when unemployment goes down or a recession occurs there is a political incentive of the minority part to point out to the "real" unemployment rate wherein they include things like "underemployment" and the fact people have become discouraged and left the labor force. I don't much give credit to these figures, not because they aren't real, but any time there's a recession things like underemployment and discouraged worker occur anyway, regardless of who's in power.

However, for those that were interested, here is the labor force participation rate, which shows about 2% of the labor force has "quit" and stopped looking for jobs. If you want to add that 2% to the current 10.2% you would have a "real" unemployment rate of around 12%.








But don't worry, unemployment will continue to go up, so for those looking for more ammo against the Obama administration, don't worry, it's coming.

Recession Medicine - Natasha

Another throw away picture. Besides, I think we all need a pick me up.

Shoot me an e-mail if you want a calendar. Should be ready within the week so I might as well start getting orders.

CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com

You Cannot Fight Ignorance

Quick lesson for all of you conservative, libertarian, freedom loving capitalists out there who are angry and have this sense of futility and hopelessness as it becomes plainly obvious the $1 trillion in stimulus money has just been essentially given to left leaning organizations and non-profits and has done nothing to stimulate the economy;

There is nothing you can do.

Understand that this is a democracy and when a critical percentage of the population is so egregiously uninformed and ignorant about economics that they vote for somebody to indebt them and their children to the tune of $10 trillion, you are powerless. How precisely do you fight that? How does an informed, educated and learned minority override the idiotic, brainwashed majority? You can't, at least not in a democracy.

So the only thing you can do is not worry about it.

I learned long ago that I control very little in my life. You can do all the right things. Make all the right moves. Predict all the right crashes. But in the end you don't control the vast majority of things that are going to shape and affect your life. For example I wrote an outstanding book. I took my time, put a lot of effort into crafting the perfect sentences, layout and cover. Did everything in my power to market it, but in the end it was nowhere near successful as the typical "I'm A Cute Conservative Girl, Buy My Book While Sean Hannity Pimps It Out" type book. However, in the end, I still get to point to it and say, "you know, I wrote a damn good book! And how many other people can claim that?" It didn't matter if the book was successful, all that mattered was that I did my best as that's the only thing I control. Therefore the only thing you can control is your response.

So you have a choice. YOu can get angry, yell at the sky, and be depressed about the quickly deteriorating future. Or you can pour yourself a drink, play video games, and say, "to hell with it." The end result is going to be the same regardless of what you do.

So relax, take it easy. Kiss your wife. Play with the dog. Go hunting. Read a book. Take in a movie. But above all else, don't worry about it. The only thing that is going to convince the masses is continual and consistent double digit unemployment rates. You pointing to charts and data will not while yelling at the top of your lungs will not. All it will do is drive up your blood pressure.

For the Teachers

Sadly, this is not real, but I'm sure some teachers would really appreciate it;

Thank You Ben Stein

Humans are amazing creatures of habit and repetition. So much to the point you really wonder if they're sentient beings at all and are instead automotons that just do what their genetic programming tells them. Foremost of which I view as an "automotomic" trait being that of having children. As most of you know, I am thoroughly ensconced in the "no children camp," actually forever condemned to the "no children camp" on account I had a vasectomy. However, it is not the fact people have children or breed that shocks me, but rather their response to me and those like me who just plain refuse to have children. Most responses are "what's wrong with you?" Some claim I have an "obligation" to breed. Some even go so far to accuse me of being greedy for not suffering the pain that is known as having children.

However, there is ryhme and reason for not breeding, and for once it comes from a respectable individual that everybody seems to like; Ben Stein.

So don't listen to me. And don't yell at me for not wanting to breed. Listen to and yell at Ben.

Natasha Calendar Coming VERY Soon

Within the week I imagine.

Remember, this is a picture we threw out!

On a side note, better shoot me an e-mail if you did want one. It will be around $15 or so. Don't quote me, but that will be the high side.

E-mail CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com

RT Rybak

Is an effing moron, only to be outdone by the morons that keep voting him in to raise their own damn property taxes.

I'm so glad I moved out of Minneapolis. About the only city I know where people complain about the property taxes, but vote in the green party and all democrats all the time.

Speech Codes

I found a very interesting and helpful site by accident this morning and it is The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. They're basically a watchdog group over America's colleges and universities, checking primarily on the freedom of speech.

They rate universities by a "Green, Yellow, Red" lighting system as described below.


I was shocked by their report to see that the vast majority of colleges in the US are considered under the "red alert."

The report is VERY interesting to read and points out some interesting things such as differences between public and private universities, lists all the colleges by code rating, etc., but again, just showing you, you really don't have the freedom of speech in American college life.

Well you HAVE the freedom of speech, you'll just be disciplined or fired for speaking uncomfortable truths, thinking incorrectly and voicing opinions of the non-leftist philosophy.

You will comply.

You WILL conform.

More Proof Socialism Sucks

Hmmm... Interesting. Nobody wants to live in Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea. And despite the world hating the US over, most people want to live in (drum roll).....

RELATIVELY CAPITALIST NATIONS!!!!

A couple other things to note;

1. The UN is constantly toting Norway as "the" place to live. Most people do not concur.

2. South Africa is the hot spot in all of Africa.

3. Russia was a surprise, though with their flat tax and leadership that actually has pride in the nation and doesn't blame itself for all the world's problems is interesting.

4. I'd like to see the Caribbean countries in that Cuba would not fair well against evil capitalist tax havens such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

5. HT to Canada, eh!

6. I am surprised though that Ireland was not higher. With us hot, pastey white, drunken Irishmen afterall I mean.

European Insight to Health Care

For those of you looking for an analysis on health care systems, visit The Good German.

Good Mornin' Sam, Good Morning Ralph

Good god i need some recession medicine;

The Dependency Ratio

I know we complain a lot about the older generation living off of the younger generations, but it's going to be a lot worse in other places. Ergo, as a public service to society, I present you the depedency ratios so you know where NOT to move to. Specifically Japan, Italy and Korea (where old people to young people is projected to be about 60%)

Masters Degree in Reading

On a related note to my original post about a masters degree in reading.

Symbolism Over Substance

Rush has said liberalism is always "symbolism over substance." And even though it is a bumper sticker soundbite it is true. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Copenhagen global warming meeting where pious, worthless, self-bragging, trust fund baby brats who contribute nothing to this world are going to decide what the rest of the world should do. Well, OK, actually, they're going to tell the Western world what to do, the rest of the world will just give these self-righteous pompous asses the bird as they emit more carbon than the West could ever hope to save;

I think I'm just going to print about 100,000 of these off and put them under the windshield wipers of Priuses.

HT to SDA

Century "College"

Good f#cking christ.

I do not normally like cursing, but seriously, sometimes there are no other words in the entire English language that suffice to convey your utter disgust and contempt for something. And this is one of those instances.

Friend sent this to me;


And I have three major questions.

1. HOW THE EF DO YOU MAJOR IN ADULT READING, LET ALONE GET A EFFING MASTERS DEGREE IN READING??????


2. How can "Century College" dare to require you to have a MASTERS DEGREE IN READING to teach their presumed idiotic students something so simple as to HOW TO READ?


3. Isn't it kind of pointless for you to be going to a FREAKING COLLEGE if you're NOT EVEN LITERATE?????


My god, what in ef's name is the educational system in America coming to? This should be posted all of the internet in foreign countries to mock and ridicule us into international SHAME.


"Look at American college students! They're so freaking stupid they don't even know how to read. And not only that, you can actually MAJOR in READING. And NOT ONLY THAT, YOU CAN GET A MASTERS DEGREE IN READING!!! No wonder their PISA scores are so low!"


Besides which, isn't reading or literacy an either "yes" or "no" kind of thing??? Like you either read or you don't? You're either literate or you're not? Since when did it become a "study" or a "field?"

All this is, is the educational establishment milking as much money out of anything they can and keeping their cartel-lock on education where they require you to have a MASTERS degree to teach something as elementary as reading.

Think about this in comparison. You an get the "Rosetta Stone" for what, $50? And that will teach you how to read and write in SEVERAL foreign languages. Heck you can teach yourself how to read with a dictionary and a thesaurus, BOTH ONLINE FOR FREE!

But no, according to Big Education (akin to Big Oil) we need a person to spend 6 years of their life studying "reading" so they can teach it to other students who are paying around $300 for a class on reading. When all is sad and done, the money spent on getting a masters degree and the money spent on the class, comes to what? On the cheap side at least $30,000?

Good lord, next thing is going to be a masters degree on breathing...which I think St. Thomas offers.

POST POST - As some of you have commented speculating that this is probably an ESL position. I ask you then again, "WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE IN COLLEGE IF THEY CAN'T READ ENGLISH??????" It only reiterates my point. Whether you're a native American (meant in the literal sense) or a foreigner, YOU STILL HAVE TO BLEEPING READ FREAKING ENGLISH TO GO TO AN EFFING COLLEGE!!!!

Another Image You'll Never See on Google

And another reason to use Bing.

The Natasha Calendar - Photos Finished

The Natasha Calendar will be ready within a couple weeks, the PERFECT gift for the aspiring, junior, deputy, official or otherwise just plain male economist in your household. Just to whet your appetite, this is a picture we THREW OUT!




You WILL buy the Natasha Calendar.


You WILL conform.

(Besides, revolvers, assault rifles and heels? Come on! How much better can it get than that?)

Celebrating Communism

Hat tip.

"Mancession"

From the good professor.

Capitalism vs. Socialism Speech - Part 14

Final part and with it a bonus post written at Retronomics along the same lines.

Well It's About Freaking Time

When France gets its head out of its ass before the US does, you know it's over.

What amazes me is how this easy solution is never suggested. Not because it's too easy, but because grandma and grandpa would revolt if you dared to make them work another (GASP!) 5 years so the freaking country doesn't collapse and their grandchildren might have a freaking shot at a normal economic life.

Capitalism vs. Socialism Speech - Part 13

One more after this and then the "professionally edited" version I will load up one of these days;

Diminish Marginal Returns of Athletics

An interesting piece from the Colonel if you are interested.

Ah, Uncle Jay

Good way to start Monday with Uncle Jay!

Is There a Doctor Economist in the House?

I have a serious question, and though it may seem innocent, forgive me because sometimes innocent-childlike logic exposes some of the more fraudulent people in society.

Is breast cancer (or any cancer) curable?

The reason I ask is because, sure enough as I'm going to the hardware store, there at Caribou Coffee is in great bright pink letters, "Amy's Blend NOW AVAILABLE!!!!"

Amy being an unfortunate young woman who died of breast cancer whilst under the employ of Caribou.

The reason I ask is because like Africa, like poverty, like any other noble charity, how many billions/trillions have been spent to no avail? We cure polio, malaria, etc., etc., in relatively short order once we dedicated ourselves to it, but as time goes on, I am more and more suspicious as to whether cancer CAN be cured, or whether this is just another tragedy being taken advantage of by unscrupulous people looking to avoid real work.

So if there are any medical/biological/doctor like Cappy Cap readers that can attest to whether the cure for cancer is possible or just a scam to raise money for professional crusaders and make more coffee sales for Caribou, I would certainly appreciate it.

"Ickity Oppity Oop"

Correct

Explaining "Rent Seeking" to Joe Soucheray

Garage Logic, as some of you know, is one of my favorite radio shows to listen to. Joe Soucheray is no doubt incredibly busy and so, on the rare occasion, I send an e-mail or a letter to the show, it usually is lost in the pile or never read. Not out of spite, but sheer time-saving, I decided not to really write into radio shows or call, simply because you rarely get on and by the time you do, the platform has moved on, it's a waste of time. But I slipped recently after Joe was talking about the behavior of "Mysterians" because all he was describing was "rent seeking." I wrote a letter, but then caught myself and realized, it isn't worth driving to the post office.

However, I do believe that in order to understand leftist ideology and psychology, we all could use a lesson in rent seeking and what it is. Therefore, I post the letter, that was never sent, below;

Dear Joe,

I’ve been listening to your show for about 5 years now however when you speak about The Mystery I think you do not realize you are explaining an economic phenomenon that you are unaware of called “rent seeking” and hopefully in my explaining this to you, you may be able to solve The Mystery.

“Rent seeking” is a form of economic behavior where a person or an entity wishes to extract compensation or wealth for essentially doing nothing, or in short, getting paid to produce nothing of worth. A text book example would be the US mafia in the 1930’s offering “protection” for various shop owners when in reality it was nothing but extortion. Regardless, the example still holds. The mafia acts like it is offering a service (protection) and receives compensation for this “protection” even though no real service or good has been produced.

Today you do not have such flagrant examples of “rent seeking,” but they do exist and are largely the primary sources of employment for your “Mysterians” and goes a long way in explaining The Mystery. The primary and most common example you cite on your show would be your mysterian politicians who are on constant crusades to enact various legislation that limits the freedoms of Americans under the guise of protection. Most of your liberal (and for the most part, conservative) politicians do nothing productive nor produce anything of worth. Therefore to make it look like they are actually working they have to seek out “crusades” or fabricate “crises” so they may keep their jobs as politicians. Fresh in my memory is the ban on candy cigarettes in St. Paul. This does nothing to help society. There was no crisis, there was no problem. And therefore there was not one cent of production in enacting this law, but you still pay these elected officials to do such nonsensical things.

Another example of rent seeking would be your professional protestors or activists. These people do not produce anything of value, but regardless, be it through ACORN or some other non-profit organization, they are still paid to essentially produce nothing of value. The kid working at Burger King is producing more for this nation than a professional activist from Macalester.

Lawyers that sue companies for fraudulent claims is another example of rent seeking. One can claim that a lawyer is providing a service for a plaintiff or a defendant, but in the end, the lawyer produced nothing. He or she simply took money from a company that actually did produce something of value. The finance industry is another. An investment bank repackaging mortgages into CDO’s or ABS’s creates no additional value in doing so. It is merely taking a commission to repackage production that is already existing.

Whatever the instance of rent seeking may be, the key to understanding rent seeking and how it relates to The Mystery is that people who engage in rent seeking put themselves ahead of society. And not only do they put themselves ahead of society, they must engage in an “act” or a “farce” as if they are doing some kind of real work so as not to destroy their egos and permit them an excuse to deny they are actually just living off of society. Therefore you will never see a Mysterian just sit there on government assistance for that would be too much of a blow to their pride. But at the same time you will never see them work hard to become an engineer, a doctor, a pharmacist, etc., because the schooling required is too difficult. Therefore you see the majority of your Mysterians employed in very rent seeking industries;

Education – very few people who work in education actually educate children. Most are in administration and counseling and literally do nothing to advance the education of the children. Even those that do, based on international PISA scores, do a poor job overall.

Politics/government – with no competition from the private sector there is no urgency to work hard or be efficient let alone productive. You just tell people what they want to hear and never bother studying what laws (or perhaps lack of laws) would be best for society and still collect a check. Barack Obama is a perfect example of a life-time rent seeker who has done nothing (bar write a book) productive yet still collects a check.

Colleges – There is no limit to professors in worthless subjects such as sociology, women’s studies, anthropology, communications, journalism, etc., that require no rigorous study, yet still provide employment (usually financed in part by government money). You could pay taxes to get a road or more defense, but instead your money goes to one of the “prematurely gray-haired woman” you talk about to espouse theories of philosophy to her students that will never result in a penny of worth or production.

Non-profits – Non-profits are big rent seekers because their goal is first and foremost NOT to solve a problem, but to employ people to act like they are solving a problem. I would even claim some non-profits purposely avoid solving the problem because that would be the end of the cash stream for them to do nothing. The UN is a perfect example of the world’s largest non-profit that has achieved nothing yet has been compensated to the amounts of many billions of dollars.

There are other industries, but I assume you get the idea of what types of industries would employ Mysterians.

Why you have a “mystery” or why Mysterian’s behavior does not make sense is because it is contrary to reality. It is hypocritical. They need a job and some kind of employment not just for money, but for pride. But since the reality is that they are producing nothing, when they are criticized or this reality is pointed out, they then come up with the most inane and irrational explanations and excuses because their entire life existence, their entire purpose of being is being called into question.

“Don’t tell me we don’t have any money” is a perfect example of Garage Logicians calling out these rent seekers on their hypocrisy. Americans spend more money on their education system (per pupil) than any other country in the world. Yet they constantly need more money. Their illogical excuse is that it is for the children and how dare you cut off funding for children. In reality they are just cowards for hiding behind children to keep their unnecessary jobs.

The “Flower Pot Gang” is another example. Basically middle aged women who were rich enough to afford to run for public office because they were bored. Nancy Pelosi is another example who was nothing but the daughter of Baltimore’s mayor. And Mark Dayton is a perfect example of a bored “trust fund baby” who has nothing to do but run for public office even though he is not qualified and has no real skills. These people did not run for office because of some noble intent to become a statesman, they ran because they were bored, had the money, wanted an easy job and needed something to point to in their lives as being an accomplishment. And when you question their policies or their qualifications, you get bland, vague, indirect answers that never really answer direct questions because you are getting too close to the truth; they put themselves ahead of the people they represent, they do NOTHING and they don’t want to be exposed.

Therefore I think if you look at these rent seekers as merely people looking for an easy job, whose egos and personalities cannot handle the fact they are not producing anything of worth, and they find no problems putting themselves ahead of society you might be able to understand the Mysterian’s behavior better as well as the Mystery overall.

Good luck

Australia National University

I almost attended ANU, regardless, from a reader;

A friend of mine had sent me an audio link to a seminar of yours where you are saying that no leftist has ever been able to come up with an arguement to "Why would you be a doctor if a janitor and a doctor got paid the same amount?"...I am in Australia and in my first year of University and I have just finished a course that looks at the world from a Marxist perspective. Evey moment of it was hell for me, but nontheless i survived. In this though I asked the lecturer why on earth I would study to be a laywer if a Laywer and a receptionist got paid the same amount and the answer he gave me was "for societies recognition". I had no idea so i questioned him further and he firmly believes that if we were more ethical people who had not been brainwashed by a capitalists society we would want to work harder to help the world and take on the harder jobs for the same pay. I think it is a load of rubbish as it will never happen and there is no way that is how it works, but i just thought i would share that answer with you. Teaching ethics in schools will make the chance of socialism actually working higher.

What I get a kick out of is that this academian idiot who teaches this class is more than willing to change how a $35 trillion global economy works based on his HUNCH that people will just altruistically work harder for "social recognition."

He is an f*cking idiot in the truest sense. He also offers nothing of value to this country (or rather, Australia) and therefore the only place that will employ him is a public university, not the real world or private sector. The only reason he advocates socialism is because he is too damn lazy to study something real like engineering or accounting and instead wants to parasite off the rest of society as a freaking ethics professor as those who did major in something worthwhile work up the wealth to pay the taxes for this lamprey's salary.

Truly ironic he teaches "ethics."

When Predictions Fail

You should not listen to those who made the predictions in the first place. And the current environmentalist nutjobs are no different today.

An interesting discovery by the good Colonel that shows what the global warming zealots are predicting is nothing more than them spouting off their religion just as they did back in the (wonderful decades known as) the 60's and the 70's with no real care whether it's reality or likely to come true.

This is a cult.

This is a religion.

You brainwashed masses in America better learn this global warming thing is a scam and you're being taken in on it.

The World of the Future

Correct.

I just wonder what kind of world we'd live in if we maintained the work ethic we had back when these videos were made.

Capitalism vs. Socialism Speech Part 12

Only 2 more to go folks!

Recession Medicine - An Irish Joke

As you know I am part Irish. And I find these jokes INSENSITIVE AND INSULTING! No, just kidding, I'm actually quite secure in my Irish-hood. Actually, if you have any, certainly please feel free to send them my way. St. Patrick's day is only 186 days away. Need to start preparing for it now.

Here's your joke;

So Paddy asks Murphy, "Why do SCUBA divers always fall backwards off their boats?"

To which Murphy replies, "Well if they fell forward they'd still be in the frickin' boat."

Thus concludes your recession medicine for the day.

A Self-Inflicted Energy Crisis

I mean this sincerely because it will happen, but once the excesses of capitalism wear off (or more likely, run out) and this country is forced once again to adhere to reality instead of borrowing money from the future to bail themselves out of problems in the present, people are going to look back and say, "WTF were they thinking? How did they go from the greatest nation on the planet to a North American version of old Europe and collapse so quickly?"

And arguably one of the more stark examples of insanity will be energy. We have, according to the latest congressional report, MORE ENERGY RESOURCES (of the real variety, not the green-faux variety) THAN ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

This testifies to something we've on the adult side of the political spectrum have known all along, but still find ourselves having to remind the child side of the political spectrum;

THERE IS NO ENERGY CRISIS.

This is a self inflicted crisis.

So here's what I want you to do. Could you just once, JUST ONCE instead of listening to public school teachers, professional politicians and nobel prize winners and left-leaning journalists NONE OF WHICH HAVE ANY EXPERTISE OR ENGINEERING BACKGROUND IN ENERGY, just listen to somebody that does?

Where 505025 Doesn't Apply

Kim was this cute black girl in Chicago. I met her while on a short vacation to Chi-town while swing dancing. I was all of 22 years old at the time, had this dinky little convertible with
Wisconsin plates on it. I was having a good time, had a couple drinks in me and since I was 22 was still idealistic and hopeful. I was only in town for a week, but thought, what the heck, I'll ask her out on a date anyway.

Sure enough she said yes.

Of course by this time I was well aware of the Rule of 505025 and didn't really bank on anything, but still headed down to the south side of Chicago, where, sure enough she was there, dressed up very nicely, ready to be picked up. We went out dancing, had a good night, and I drove her back, pastey white kid in a Wisconsin plated convertible to the south side of Chicago late at night. I got some funny looks.

I asked her out on another date where we headed up the shoreline to Winnetka (the complete opposite of south side Chicago) and sure enough she not only agreed, but showed up at the designated time and was ready to go.

A short year later I was in Minneapolis again at a now-defunct joint called "Popeye's." Quite the accomplished swing dancer by now I was accustomed to having more or less 1 in 2 women say yes to a dance with me. But upon entering the club I saw the band. And not only did I see the band, I saw their female vocalist who I would learn later was the charming and enchanting Charmin Michelle.

Not knowing who she was (because she is a rather well-known local celebrity) I immediately asked her to dance with the foolish and idealistic hopes that it would lead to a date. And then one of the most heavenly experiences happened to me;

she shot me down.

But she shot me down in such a heavenly way. She smiled at me, my dumb slobbering 23 year old face and she said, "Oh, thank you so much. I would love to, but I'm dating somebody." She could have said, "you're an ugly, skinny twerp and I'd rather kiss a crocodile with Ebola," and I would have still had the slobbering dog-like face because her voice was just pure velvet. Regardless, her face and smile were so sincere and she let me down so nicely, that getting shot down by her was actually better than having the average girl say "yes" to a dance.

Now the reason I bring this up is that in my life I have not had many romantic escapades with black women. In large part because of the demographics of Minnesota and also in part there are not many black people in the ballroom dance/fossil hunting/economics scene. But the few that I have, have been enjoyable. All of them. I was never stood up, I was never misled or strung along. In every instance it was a pleasant experience (even getting shot down by Charmin Michelle). And I never really noticed this until I saw this chart.




This comes from an online dating service showing "response rates" by different races. It takes a bit to make heads and tails of it, but if you look at the top and go down you see what percent response women of varying ethnicities have to men of different ethnicities and black women have the highest response rate. I'm sure there are other reasons, but it just reminded me that when it came to courting the few black women in my life I have, there were no games. It was the most head-ache free dating experiences I had.

In any case, a hat tip and more in-depth (albeit incredibly politically incorrect) analysis of it here.

Adventures in "Going Galt" Manliness

After a full day yesterday of chainsawing wood, hauling it, and then splitting it, I felt very manly. However, unbeknownst to me if you have a chainsaw you inevitably have to sharper the chain or replace it. Since buying a new chain would only create a transaction that the government could tax, a friend of mine has a chain sharpening kit he is willing to give me for free. This "going Galt move" now allows me to get several uses or cycles out of one chain rather than replacing it. Furthermore, this is additional proof that going Galt makes you manly. "Sharpening chainsaw chains" is pretty damn macho.

Wow!

NPR readers don't even support BO.

Maybe there's hope (of the legitimate sort) for the country afterall.

Capitalism vs. Socialism Speech - Part 11

Seriously Delinquent

Here's the chart.

Here's the source.

Here's Fannie Mae's report.

Thank you once again to Mr. Brown.

Death of the MSM

The only newspaper, THE ONLY NEWSPAPER NOT to have its subscription drop was the one semi-conservative newspaper.

I'd be curious to see how The Economist is selling.

Frank Has a Kid!

You all know Frank. Frank is now a father! Congratulate Frank!

Recession Medicine - Hogan's Heroes II

Yes, I know accoridng to the government bloated GDP figures, the economy is "out" of the recession. But for those of you who were not fortunate enough to get jobs as "walk ambassadors" and other make work imaginary jobs, here is another episode of Hogan's Heroes.

PPP Adjusted Wage Gap

One of the more amusing scenes is the "Baby Boomer/60 Something Meat Market" which, if you're ever Twin Cities way you can see in all of its splendor and glory at a joint called "Red Stone" in Eden Prairie. Here you see, in a VERY general sense, men in their peak earning years picking up twice or thrice divorced who are still glitzed up thinking it's 1986. The tactics haven't much changed, but one of the more interesting ones I've seen is men putting their "Audi" or their "BMW" key chain on the bar so girls (well, women) can see what a fancy car they drive. Everyone is still dressed in designer clothes as if these things matter, but there was one thing that made my economic spidey senses tingle;

The men made bank while the women are still employed as hair salonists or waitresses or some other such profession.

Naturally the men buy, but as I waited for my baby boomer friend to show up, it got me thinking;

"Would the wage hap between men and women be closed if we adjusted for all the income transfers?"

Forget buying a lady a beer, just last night you could not have had a better example. $500 costume contest, and who does it go to?

The guy dressed as a sailor?
The guy dressed like Yoda?
Or the girl in a french maid outfit?

Of course this is peanuts to things like the money men fork over for dating, let alone in divorce settlements where I think the plurality of income/wealth transfers occur, but if we adjusted for that would there be an income gap at all?

Probably impossible to measure and we'll probably never know, but it would be interesting to see what the figures are.