Studying the Path vs. Walking the Path

There is not so much a "great debate" as much as there are two distinct philosophical camps within the Red Pill community.  One is that one must walk the path, endure life's hardships, and suffer life's assails in order to truly grow and become a man.  The other is that (with the internet) we can garner this same wisdom by learning from the lives of others.  Studying them and gleaning the life lessons without the pain and suffering.

To exemplify this take the MGTOW community.  Within the MGTOW community there are genuine men who walked the path of life, suffered immeasurably, learned their lessons and grew as men.  There are others (whom I term "VirginTOWS") who merely study real men academically, from the comforts of their own mother's basement, who ne'er set foot in the real world, ne'er had their lips touch a woman's, yet ardently support and claim to be MGTOW's.  When I put together a video exposing this hypocrisy, the VirginTOW's completely sperged out because nothing enrages hypocrites more than the truth.

But whereas you might think I come down solidly and solely in the first camp, I believe young men (and women) would benefit most from pulling from both camps.

This thought was inspired by a post by Adam Piggott, our loofa-loving former-Australian, now European friend.  It was in response to my video about the individual being right and society being wrong, namely that in order to become the truly independent minded men we all aspire to be, you have to go through the hardship, suffering, and enduring of life's challenges.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized a balance must be struck between the academic and practitioner camps of the Red Pill community, otherwise we will suffer unnecessarily and forfeit an amazing amount of success and advancement in our lives.

First, there is no doubt in my mind of the benefits of walking the actual path and suffering what life throws at you.  It DOES galvanize and strengthen men.  It DOES increase your testosterone, and I would even argue that the human brain CANNOT learn unless there is some actual pain or a price to be paid.  You can sit there reading all the Roosh, Rollo, and Roissy you want, until you get your ass shot down by scores of women, hit the gym like Ed Latimore, or ride across the country like Ole Cappy, you will merely be a professor, a theoretician, and teacher who can only teach and never do.

But this doesn't mean taking in the wisdom and advice (not to mention learning from the HORRIBLE mistakes) of other men has no value.  It most certainly does.  It prevents you from making the same mistakes men before you did, it prevents you from wasting your resources (as men before you did), and (what I would argue is the best benefit of the red pill) is provides you clarity and sanity so you know you're going down the right path and that, no, you're not insane.  If you take the academic approach and study the wisdom of others, you will ensure you do not waste DECADES of your finite life and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in wasted resources.

The real issue is whether you're going to blaze your own path in life...
or stay in your basement keyboard-warrioring about how much you hate girls.

This is the true benefit of combining the two camps - genuine progress.  In taking the advice and wisdom from your predecessors WHILE ALSO committing yourself to walking the path of life, you practically guarantee you will live a better life than your predecessors.  Just like aerospace engineers built off of the Wright Brothers, inevitably leading us to land on the moon, so too can men (and women) build off of red pill wisdom to lead lives much greater than ours.  The issue is whether you're going to pursue excellence and push the envelope of life, or merely rest on the academic laurels of others, giving up on life and in a defeatist mentality say "why bother?"

It is here I agree with Mr. Piggott.  Your predecessors turned up many stones, but you have your own stones and suffering to endure. Completely new and different stones that will not only add to the canon of previously-established wisdom, but the up-turning of which will provide the exercise that turns you into a seasoned, salty, experienced, masculine man.  And when your time comes, you should pass on this wisdom to the future generation so that they too may advance the understanding and success of humanity.  The real issue is whether you're going to sit in one camp or the other, either unnecessarily repeating the mistakes of others, or lazily being satisfied studying the lives of others, living no life of your own.  I can only say real men will stand on the shoulders of those real men before them, and commit to going out into life to make completely new, unforeseen and SPECTACULARLY horrible mistakes of their own.  It is the only way to progress.

If you want a summary of previously established wisdom so that you may have a better life than your predecessors, I strongly recommend reading Bachelor Pad Economics.  It may cost $20 and take 8 hours to read, but it will save you $200,000 and DECADES of your life.  It is simply a MUST READ for every young man and woman.

When the Individual is Right, and Society is Wrong

Arguably the most important video request I've put together for Asshole Consulting.

The Humanities/Liberal Arts Circle Jerk

This not only shows you how pointless all of the humanities and liberal arts are, but just how sad and pathetic the people are.  Imagine that you are EXCITED that your lousy article, that you spent 6 months writing, was read by...

10 people.

The liberal arts and humanities TRULY are nothing more than make work for America's most worthless and talentless.

Perhaps if you "professors" read a book about degrees that have value versus those that don't?

Spider Woman Now Pregnant

Don't know how this escaped my net 2 years ago, but still deemed it worthy to post here on the ole blog.  Apparently Spider Woman is now pregnant.

I knew Marvel was full of SJW 20 somethings who simply cannot create works of art void of politics, but my god are they completely tone deaf to what the MARKET and their CUSTOMERS want???

Never mind, I know, I know.  This is all they know how to do because actually creating new characters with new plots is beyond their skill level.  It's rehashes, remakes, sequels, pre-quels, reboots, and white-washing because there's not one cell of originality in all their brains.

You Mean Treat College Students Like Adults????

ARE YOU INSANE!!!!???

Why You Should Feel Sorry for Millennial Girls

No more independent minded than their Gen X and Baby Boomer counterparts,

Prone to vote for candidates "because vagina"

10 times more likely to accuse your attempt at hand holding as "rape"

And completely monopolizing the "slut walk" market

Millennial girls are arguably the most contemptible and worthless generation of women the US has ever had.

But I will grant them one large dollop of forgiveness - they unfortunately have to date millennial boys.

Now I know this is EXACTLY what they wanted out of men, and I know this is EXACTLY how feminists intended to raise the "ideal boy," but deep down inside we all know no matter what they say, women want masculine men.  And the millennial girls are going to be deprived of having them, or they're at least going to be in short supply.

But an interesting "study" was conducted by Buzz Feed's "The Try Guys."  They all got their testosterone tested.  And the results were not shocking to any man who has worked a real job and seen the inside of a gym.

Here is what they look like:

And here are their scores:

Keep in mind the average male (well...non millennial anyway) has a testosterone level of 650 and yours truly came in at the decrepit age of 42 at 602.

Admittedly, these are journalists.  Hardly a profession that attracts real men. And admittedly they work for BuzzFeed, the reject bin of journalism on par with Vice and the Enquirer.  But my god, you poor millennial girls.  THIS is what you wanted?  THIS is the promised land feminism wishes to drive men into?  A bunch of socialist pussies who can't do a damn thing of worth in their lives, let alone satisfy you in bed?

To normal men and women, it's painfully obvious just how leftist millennial men fail not only women and society, but themselves.  You're not really able to protect society.  You're not going to attract an attractive mate.  You're not going to raise well anchored, productive, and resilient children.  You're not going to produce anything of real value to society since it takes effort. And heaven help you if the economy were to crash.  You'd like be enslaved or shot on site.  But to those millennial boys in the echo chamber who don't realize just what utter failures they are in life, as time goes on they truly won't know why the real world isn't working out the way they were promised by their single mothers and feminist school teachers.  And while some will get lucky like "The Try Guys" finding a spate of employment here and there, the majority of them will be the NEETS society loves to mock, yet insisted on raising.  They will not find true point or meaning in life.  And their entire lives will be wasted playing video games, watching porn, and getting the shit divorced out of them.

Again, I can't personally complain.  These are the same male feminists who accuse me and millions of other innocent men of privilege, misogyny, sexism, racism, and - that-old-millennial favorite - "ignorance."  They're the ones with 20 years of schooling, but not a day of real work in the real world who insist they know how to lead the world.  They're the ones claiming everything is sexual harassment and assault.  They deserve the cluelessness and mental drifting that will result in life long psychological torture.  But from an academic standpoint it's just amazing to witness these clueless morons make a mad dash for the cliff just like all the other millennial lemmings were trained to do...oh...all while claiming they're so "independent minded."

The country may be going to hell in a handbasket, but you millennials sure are making it an enjoyable final generation....oh...and leaving behind some horribly sexually frustrated women.

Enjoy the decline.

Do Your Christmas Shopping Now

It is that time again.  Time to remind all Cappy Cappites to do their Christmas shopping NOW so you don't have to worry about delays, lines, and even longer lines.  So do yourself a favor and do all your Christmas shopping in the month these next couple of weeks!  And do it using Cappy's Amazon Affiliate program.  Costs you nothing more and I get a 6-7% cut for commission for something you were going to buy anyway.  Plus it provides the Captain warm fuzzies when you make your online purchases through his Amazon affiliate plan.

Many thanks,

Cappy

Millennial SJW's Find Out Running a Business is Tough

There was fanfare, ballyhoo and much "hurrahs" going on a short 10 months ago.  Why two up and coming hip millennial cooks were going to open up a restaurant.  And you know what?  You know what?  You know something?  Yeah!  Guess what!!!

They were going to pay their employees $15.  Oh!  And vacation and benefits!

Yep!  That's right!  Because they care!  Because they're down with the struggle!  And that wages are purely arbitrary and controlled by big corporations!  We'll show economics and the labor market!  We are going to pay $15/hour because we want to!

But a short 10 months later, it looks like the restaurant Byte ummmm..."bit" the dust.  Not even enough time for it's employees to likely cash in on that "vacation time."

I know you millennials (and a lot of you older people too) think economics and things like "wages" are just fabrications of large and powerful entities of the economy.  They are not derived from the forces of supply and demand, nor are they affected by the expense of running a business.  And I know not a single one of you can be bothered with things like an accounting class or learning how to put together an income statement.  It just wasn't part of your indoctrination education where you were told you'd fart out gold bricks and everything would come out rosey.

But some day, just like "Mark and Travis," you're going to have to face reality.  And when that day comes, you're going to realize just how little you know, how poorly your teachers and professors lied to you, and just how woefully prepared you are for the rest of your life.  And for the rest of us who live in the real world, it's going to be great to see your smug, condescending, know-it-all asses get the ever-living shit kicked out of you by the real world.

But by all means, please continue tell us how we should run society, when you can't even keep open a god damned cafe.

Micro-Communism Fails Again

One of, if not the biggest complaint I have about communists is, like a multi-cultural society, they have no successful track record of getting communism to work just once.  I'm all for society experimenting and trying different things because that is how you advance, but on just a simple logical level, don't you think you should try communism on a small scale before rolling it out for all 7 billion people on the planet?

And in light of the Soviet Union, Moaist China, Pol Pot, North Korea, and Venezuela, don't you think it should be tried on a small scale first before applying it an entire country?  You know, before you starve another 100 million people?

Which is why I find this story particularly interesting.

"Pizza with a Purpose" is what I like to call "micro-communism."  It's a small scale attempt at implementing a socialist economy, albeit on a micro-scopic level.  It allows people to experiment with communism to see if they can "finally" fine tune it and "do it right this time."

But they just keep failing.

Beforehand there was a "Marxist" restaurant in Michigan that closed.  There was also an anti-cop coffee barista who had to close her shop as well. I'm sure if you dig you'll find a dozen cafes, shops, bistros, and restaurants, all headed up by (ironically) communist capitalists who just can't keep a cafe open.

Which begets the question - if you can't run a restaurant, how the hell do you people expect to run an economy?

Of course, to most communists this question is moot.  They value their religion of communism more than the lives it would destroy.  Their ego and religion is more important than the reality it hasn't worked, it won't work, and likely will never work.  And this is a point I'm desperately trying to convey to those not on the left - stop trying to argue reason and evidence with these people.  They simply do not care to debate with intellectual honesty, and they truly don't care to bring about a "better world."  They simply want other people to pay for their stuff.  They simply want free shit.  They want to parasite off of you and these elaborate economic, philosophical and political "theories" are merely bunk to mask their cowardice and parasitism.

What piques my interest is when these people actually put their money where their mouths are and open a communist restaurant.  They're so delusional, and so fervent in their marxist religion, they'll ruin their own financial lives attempting to run a "communist company."  It's at times like that you simply pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and watch the show.  And then when they blame it on "patriarchy" or "sexism" or whatever bogus excuses parasites come up with for their own failure, you merely enjoy the decline.

 Related.

Stop Chasing Women If You Wish to Catch Them

An excerpt from my latest piece at Return of Kings.

"These economic opportunity costs are huge.  Most men, if they invested their time into themselves instead of women, would easily boost their lifetime earnings by over $1 million.  We could easily retire at 40.  Most of us would have no mortgage, car loans, or student loans.  Not to mention the mental serenity, peace, and calm that comes with such a life.  But there are also other opportunity costs in the quality of life when you put wife-hunting ahead of your own life.  You forfeit adventure, hobbies, traveling, intellectualism, philosophy, reading, entrepreneurship—a nearly limitless number of things you could have pursued, enjoyed, even mastered—making your life a genuinely interesting one, had you not wasted your time on bars, nightclubs, or Tinder."

Episode #219 of The Clarey Podcast - Range Rover Soccer Mom Episode!

Cappy buys a new car.
Soccer moms in Range Rovers at Cappy's Coffee Store.
Coding Bootcamp Scams.
American Made movie review.
The Foreigner movie review.

AND MORE!!!

In THIS EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast!

Direct MP3 link here.

RSS feed here.

Raising White Kids to Hate Themselves

Self hating white parents can kill themselves at any time.

It's your children, however, who are the true victims.

Men are to Blame for Women Invading Their Spaces

Mr. Piggott takes a more nuanced approach, highlighting men wanting to please women in an attempt to get laid, going so far as to let women invade their spaces.

This is true.

But it's also because men are pussies nowadays and simply are of incapable of telling a woman to fuck off and then (upon the guaranteed screeches and accusations of "sexism") say

"I don't give a fuck."

Follow up by

"Make me."

And that, my good friend, would be the end of it, and you could go about running your all male institutions once again in peace.

Will Leftist Politics Trump Biology?

In the latest instance of virtue signaling insanity, Playboy has announced the very first ever transsexual Playboy Playmate.

Never mind this misses the mark by 180 degrees.
Never mind no straight man will ever want this.
And never mind it's simply in the absolute worst financial interests of Playboy, Inc.

This is the new marketing strategy corporate America has embraced, not to mention proof that such leftist lunacy is NOT relegated to the radical fringes of leftist ideologues, but is becoming institutionalized among America's mainstream institutions.

But this trend of American corporations, governments, schools and other institutions embracing rank leftist insanity begets an interesting question.  Will it work? Will it stick?  Because when you boil down this political movement to its core, it's simply trying to take a political ideology and change human nature with it.  To wipe out humanity with a socialist utopia.  To deny humans their right to live and evolve as they see fit, and control it instead with a naive (and untested) leftist blueprint.

Disgusting as this may seem to sane people, it still piques my interest because it allows me to witness a galactic collision of an unstoppable force with an immovable object.

In one corner you have the unstoppable force of leftist politics.  31 flavors of gender. Gender and race are social constructs.  You don't need fathers.  Womendon'tneednomanfishbicycle ™.  Follow your heart and the money will follow.  In short the entirety of the past 50 years of leftist politics.

In the other corner you have the immovable object of a mere 2 million years of human evolution.

And, as is always the case when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object, the laws of physics dictates an explosion...or as Sammy Davis dictates "something's gotta give."

But if leftist politics is unstoppable, and human nature immovable, what exactly is "going to give?"  Leftist politics will relent on, and human nature won't budge, so what in this world of "socio-political-physics" is "going to give" to balance out this equation?  And the answer is - the quality of human life.  Humans are going to suffer, and horrendously so.  Mentally, psychologically, financially, economically, romantically.  Suffering, all across the board, for every human foolish enough to be part of this collision.  And it ain't going to be pretty.

Let us be clear.  Between the two fighters entering the ring, one is a naive 50 year old, cultish religion, born from humanity's most spoiled, softest, weakest, yet fanatically-dedicated minds, while the other is an 800 pound gorilla called "2 million years of human nature."  And no matter how adamant, unstoppable, and relentless, when you don't abide or live by reality, the laws of nature, or human nature, that 800 pound gorilla is going to beat you senseless and you will take damage.  The real issue is whether you learn from human nature and start abiding by it, or (as is the case with leftists) keep throwing yourself up against this gorilla.  And while I've certainly learned my lessons getting beaten by the gorilla of reality, so fervent, so dedicated, and so brainwashed are leftists today, they will stay in the ring with that gorilla until they're dead, thus ensuring they live completely miserable and wasted lives.

The examples are many, funny, and sadly sometimes tragic.

For example take liberal arts majors.  Always "follow your heart and the money will follow."  "Make a change and major in social justice!"  "Study critical thinking" and somehow think there's a career in it for you.

In the end you've crippled yourself financially for the next decade with student loans.  You're not going to be able to buy a house or raise a family.  And some of you may even have to resort to prostitution to make ends meet.

Another example - transgendered people and the push for the 31 flavors of gender.

I'm actually quite libertarian when it comes to sexuality and sexual choices.  I'm pro gay marriage, I personally don't care what you do with your body as it's yours.  And if you want to believe you're a "pansexual" buy all means go right ahead.

But under the boisterous celebration of transexuality, the institutional championing of it, and the political rush to bow down and worship it, lays tormented souls where 41% of transgendered people attempt suicide.  Again, plaster as many transgendered Playboy Playmates as you want on the centerfolds, the "Gorilla of Reality" does not care, condemning many of these people to tortured psychological lives.

Feminism anyone?

For eons men and women played a yin and yang, complimentary relationship.  Where men had weaknesses, women had strengths, and vice versa, and when combined into one, humanity not only succeeded, but excelled.  It's so painfully obvious all one has to do is look at a penis and a vagina and ponder how the two might possibly get together.

But no, some really smart upper middle class white women who were bored from the 1960's knew better than the entire genetic code.  And they oh so brilliantly figured out women can be - and should be - men, and that sex is a social construct anyway.

The result?

Well...

women are less happy ever since they became "liberated,"
they still can't close the wage gap (even though we keep telling them to major in STEM),
despite their precious careers they inevitably collapse and admit around 34 they wanted a husband and children all along,
they cry themselves to sleep at night,
they have "starter marriages,"
a quarter are on mental drugs,
and articles about freezing eggs or 60 year olds giving healthy births are eerily championed and forwarded as if nature was winning all along.

Some angry, bitter feminists may have made some fortunes on the naivety of American women, but the Gorilla of Reality has ensured millions of women who believed such poppycock lived miserable lives void of love, family, husbands, great sex, children, happiness, and belonging.  But at least they got that oh-so-coveted "Gender Studies Degree."

And the children.

Ahhhh, yes "the chilllldrennnnnn."

The left's favorite cause to champion and hide behind.  Why NOTHING is too good for the children.

Where do I even begin?

First you have the left's assault on the nuclear family, replacing fathers with government checks.  Kids grow up under a broken home, and suffer horribly be it poor school performance, fights, poverty, drugs, lesser careers, and a perpetuation of this hell upon their children.

You have bogus mental diseases you accuse children of having all so teachers don't have to teach and parents don't have to parent...and lord what hell does that do to a child as they age into adulthood!?

You LIE to these children DEMANDING they go to college all so a leftist K-College "Big Education Industrial Complex" can make a trillion a year off of them...even if you cripple them financially well into their 40's.

And if you're a particularly vile leftist you'll raise your children "transgendered" or you'll force an all vegan diet on them...in which case the Gorilla of Reality will sadly and tragically kill them.

I could go on, but I don't have to.  It's apparent who is going to win this fight.  No matter how cacophonous, complete, total, and successful the leftist indoctrination and mental illness is today, in the end reality is "reality."  It will not be changed, and it will always win.  True believers, even part time believers in leftist scripture can expect to live financially poorer, physically unhealthier, and mentally unhealthier lives, some even being driven to insanity.

This provides us sane people the one silver lining to this vile, evil, and mental leftist cloud descending on America and the West.  Our taxes may go up.  Our children may be attempted to be brainwashed.  And we will have to suffer such idiotic notions of "transgendered playmates."  But at least we have sanity.  At least we live in reality.  At least we aren't left wondering why we can't find a job with our "Masters in Puppetry" and are laden with $120,000 in unforgivable student loans. At least we aren't the rah rah college party girl feminist, doped up on antidepressants, "who don't need no man" who cries herself to sleep every night.  At least we're not sucking dick to pay for our English degree. And thank god our parents weren't militant vegans or loved transgendered politics more than they did us.

Our lives on this planet will be infinitely more enjoyable than the people who swallow whole this leftist slop and it's simply due to one thing;

We acknowledge and live in reality.

Enjoy the decline.
_____________________________
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Scamming East Indians and Asians on American College Degrees

There was something I noticed when I'd occasionally stop by the website of my alma mater, "The Carlson School of Management."  A VERY disproportionately large percent of students in the pictures were of East Indian descent.  I found this odd in that most of the East Indians I met while attending college were in IT programs.  This then made me wonder if business schools, forever hungry and desperate for other people's money, weren't hocking their (more or less) worthless degrees to poor foreigners who didn't know any better.

Coincidentally I received an e-mail from one Pranab Prabhash, who has written a book, but also attended business school.  I asked him to write a guest piece on his experiences as an Indian attending business school and thought his insights and thoughts might prove useful to others.  He is also the author of "Perils of Information Age" and is a book you may want to consider picking up.  His post below:

Here are some very interesting outcomes of the HSBC surveys "Value of Education". More than 90% of the parents in Asian countries India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia believe that having an undergraduate degree or higher is necessary for their children to achieve their life goals. Interestingly, the number drops to almost 50% for USA, Canada, UK and Australia. 

When it comes to international education, the US is regarded as offering the best quality of education worldwide, but is the most expensive destination globally. However, a lot of surveyed parents hugely underestimate the costs. A lot of doe-eyed students come to US for studies and go in deep debt funding their college education. Many of them are left disillusioned in pain and debt in the end, but not many knew about it beforehand. Ironically though, as per the HSBC survey a vast majority of Asian parents, considering a university education abroad for their child, were willing to go into debt to fund their child’s university or college education.

Among the surveyed parents, satisfyingly most have a specific occupation in mind which is driven primarily by earning potential. The most favored subjects for parents would be medicine; business, management and finance; engineering; computer and information services; or law.

As an international student who has done an MBA in USA, the above data bothers me because I can see their validity in my personal experiences and in the struggle of fellow international students. It raises a few questions. Is college education worth the money? Is college degree an appreciating asset or a depreciating asset? Do we see prestigious colleges as educational institutions or as expensive membership clubs? And most importantly, are all college majors equally valuable?

Since, my MBA days I have pondered over the above questions, and I believe today's internet fueled Information age is exacerbating the issue. One of the key negative side effects of today's Information age, among other things, is the issue of college majors. There is a proliferation of worthless knowledge subjects and a growing impotency of academic training. The college education system is feeding on our insecurity to become successful and our ingrained reverence for scholars.

If you are bothered by similar issues and want to know how to deal with it, then the book Perils of Information Age might interest you. 

WHO? Robert Mugabe?

Remember, these organizations are NOT entities meant to help the poor, boost economic growth, or help the children.

They are evil entities used to employ the world's most connected, worthless, and corrupt social justice warriors.

Playboy Featuring Transsexual as a Playmate

Couldn't even wait for Hugh's body to cool down eh?

He's rolling in his grave.

The Story of Two Nags

Fox News reports a man living in the woods for 10 years to escape his wife.

And nag Chelsea Handler ends her show to which people were responding, "She had one????"

Episode #218 - The Tinder Man Hating Episode

Cappy golfs again.
Chipotle's politics vs. QDoba's Food.
Tinder just plain hates males.

AND MORE!

in THIS EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast!

Direct MP3 here.

RSS feed here.

Might As Well Leave the Dating Racket

Stay frosty boys.  Stay the freak frosty.



Related.

Qdoba's Food is Better Than Chipotle's Politics

From tomorrow's upcoming podcast (which you can tune into here)

Baby Boomers Can't Retire Because of Student Debts

Both their own and their kids' student loans.



Perhaps they need to learn about minimalistic retirement.

The Kapernick Caper Continues

So he says he's going to sue the NFL

and a reporter is stupid enough to ask if Green Bay is going to take him on.

I don't pay much attention to sportsball, but it is fun watching the forces of media and SJW's try to take it over.

Episode #217-Why Aren't There Jewish Bars???

Mocking vs. emulating Cappy
Just don't fuck up.
How black names hurt black people.
Do Jewish Bars EXIST???
"Clarey's Land of Canaan"
Leftists Eating Their Own

AND MORE!!!

In THIS EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast!

Direct MP3 here.

RSS feed here.

Another Reason to Enjoy the Decline

When your tippy top super secret spy agencies use "admin" and "user1" as passwords.

Don't know about you, but I'm pouring myself a drink and saying "fuck it."

Why Crypto-Currencies are the Next Dotcom Bubble

A couple months ago I was hired by a person who shall remain anonymous.  He was instrumental in the launching of a reasonably notable crypto-currency and wanted to know what its value was.  It was the classic meeting of the worlds of economics and technology where the tech gurus wanted to know precisely what was the value of the monster they created, so they enlist the help of clueless schmoes economists like me to do so.

This presented a problem to me because unlike say, a bond, a stock, or a rental property, currencies (crypto or not) do not produce income.  They are a tool of economic exchange, a store of value, and naturally forming and evolving economic phenomenon since humans existed.  Silver bars do not poop out little silver coins and gold coins do breed to make little gold coins.  And since all currencies produce nothing, there is no means by which to value them.  The value of currencies are therefore determined by their rarity relative to one another, whether they have intrinsic value (precious metals), utilitarian/commodity value (silver is used in electronics), purchasing power (the Big Mac Index) and the amorphous, whimsical, and impossible-to-measure trust and faith of the entire world's people.

So what I employed was a technique used to value traditional currencies where a stable currency (such as gold or the US dollar) was used as a base and the historical exchange rate or "ratio" between that base currency and the one I was attempting to value established an average.  This average would then allow me to determine whether a currency was overvalued or undervalued relative to the stable base currency and we would have a rough estimate as to what a currency should be "worth."

For example, historically (when allowed to trade freely) the gold to silver ratio has been 47 to 1.  During my lifetime the British Pound would fetch 1.8 US Dollars.  And the Euro vs. Dollar exchange rate has been around 1.2.  These exchange rates have been volatile, but you can ever so roughly determine a currency to be undervalued or overvalued depending on how far away from these averages they trade.  But instead of using gold or the US dollar as the base, I used Bitcoin as the "base currency" by which all other cryptocurrencies would be valued.

This presented some obvious drawbacks.

Bitcoin, the eldest of all cryptocurrencies, isn't even 10 years old, providing little if any kind of historical performance by which a stable, long term average base can be established.  Also, for the short 9 years it's been in existence, its price performance has been HORRENDOUSLY volatile as such a revolutionary idea as a cryptocurrency would be.  Further complicating matters is that new cryptocurrencies are younger than bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies tend to move in concert with one another.  This has relegated the pricing of various cryptocurrencies merely a theoretical exercise and me admitting to the client that all I could provide was a methodology that might work in 50 years time from now, but was completely worthless today.

In short, it was impossible to value a cryptocurrency today.

But my research had an unintentional side benefit.  And that was a look into the INSANE underworld of crypto-currencies.  A look that immediately flashed me back to 1998 because the parallels between the cryptocurrency market of today and the Dotcom market of 1998 are eerily similar.

First, both cryptocurrencies and dotcoms were revolutionary advances in technology that promised to revolutionize the economy.  They were so new and society had yet to figure out what role they would play in the future economy and world, their values were impossible to assess. But we did know they were going to play a major and upheaving role in the future economy.  There was profit to be made, but we didn't know precisely where, or how.

Second, there was a flood of them.  Dotcom Mania had so captured the nation companies who never produced a profit in their entire existence were getting hundreds of millions in financing from venture capitalists.  IPO's were celebrated when there was no profits to celebrate.  And if you simply put an "e" or an "i" in front of your company's name, your market cap would septuple overnight.  It was so bad you had Gen X'ers acting like millennials - achieving nothing, while being highly rewarded for it.

This easy money merely attracted more money as everybody thought they would transfer the entire world economy from bricks and mortar to digital in a mere year.  And soon every industry, sector, and facet of the economy was going online.  If I recall my dotcom history correctly, there was even a fish company that decided to sell shoes online.  Yes, it was that insane.

However, the same insanity has infected the minds of the cryptocurrency market.

I'm no economist, but as far as my logic takes me, the world should only need ONE cryptocurrency.  Maybe three or four in order to account for the fact people would want to diversify out of being reliant upon just ONE cryptocurrency.  But when I did the research for my client...now approaching 4 months ago...there were....(drum roll please)

967 cryptocurrencies!

But wait, it gets better!  In those four short months the number of cryptocurrencies has increased by 200!

Do not tell me this isn't Dotcom II all over again.

Third, and perhaps more eerie is how the cryptocurrency market has morphed from what should be a currency market to its own culture or society.  And even the words "culture" or "society" understates this morphing.  More like "religion" or "cult."

In doing my research I happened upon discussion boards, comments sections, facebook pages, and all other forms of social and not-so-social media where its participants were so far removed from the fundamentals of currency economics, it was now their daily personal hobby they'd obsess about because (as far as I can tell and I hate to sound so harsh) they really had nothing going on in their lives.

"Did you hear they're coming out with a new cryptocurrency with DOUBLE encryption???"
"I like BloggerCoin because they're backing up their currency with the intrinsic value of blog posts!"
"I heard about BloggerCoin, but I like FARTCOIN better!  They're capturing people's farts so you can exchange your cryptocoin for human methane!"

In other words, people were discussing, talking, and buying cryptocurrencies not because of any economic fundamental value, but more like trading cards or Beanie Babies.  It was novelty, a hobby, a culture unto itself that had nothing to do with intrinsic value.  This too was the case during Dotcom while CNBC and the various "professionals" they had on were talking about Krispy Kreme donuts, upcoming IPO's and ill-understood technologies that had ne'er been tethered to profits or reality.

Which perhaps leads to the eeriest similarity of them all - ICO's and technospeak.

While the Dotcom bubble heralded IPO's (Initial Public Offerings) of the latest dotcom company that traded dog manure for Styrofoam widgets, this same "crypto-cult-culture" heralds "ICO's" (Initial Coin Offerings) with the same fanfare AND complete lack of profitability, intrinsic value, and sanity.

Never mind there's 1100 currencies out there already.
Never mind these coins don't produce dividends, rent, interest, or income.
Never mind the world really only needs 3-4 cryptocurrencies.

Nope, you got yourself an ICO!  Let's uncork the champagne while cashing in our 401k's to buy FECESCOIN!!!

Worse, coupled with this unwarranted fanfare is the scariest hallmark of Dotcom Mania, "technospeak."

If you're too young to remember (or just too ashamed to admit you got duped by it) in order to get financing aspiring dotcom companies would talk over investment bankers' and investors' heads with technical jargon.  Remember, the internet was relatively new technology and you could easily fool a Harvard MBA at a bulge bracket investment bank that you knew what you were talking about.

"If we increase the RAM on the baud information super highway, then the TCP protocol packets will be redirected to our mainframe servers, resulting in increased bandwidth and profit for our firewall.  And if you invest $1.5 billion in 'E-genuity' you'll get a 20% share of our firewall profits!"

In a very Dilbertian way you could almost also guarantee funding by uttering the phrase "I understand if you don't get this technology, because it's pretty complex and over most people's heads."  Bankers, investors, finance professionals and other incompetent egotists would trip over themselves to cut you a check to save their pride.

The same thing is happening in the crypto-currency market.  In a desperate attempt to differentiate themselves from already-established crypto-currencies increasingly petty, even pointless technological traits and characteristics are being added (and heralded) as a reason to give THAT cryptocurrency at $4 billion valuation and not Bitcoin.

"Double encryption, triple encryption, double blockchain technology."  I'll admit I don't know what that is and I don't care.  But I know it stinks to high heaven when you're desperately trying to tie blog posts, tweets or some other faux-commodity to a cryptocurrency to vainly give it "intrinsic value."  It's like I'm 24 all over again, they just happened to change the vocabulary this time.

The real question is: does all this mean the cryptocurrency market has no value?  And the answer is "no, of course not."  Just like Dotcom Mania there WERE companies that DEFINITELY had value and they are some of the largest and most successful companies today.  Amazon, Google, Betterment, not only do these companies have value unto themselves, but brick and mortar that are explicitly "dotcoms" inevitably incorporated digital/internet technology universally.  But like the dotcom market, it will only be a small minority of cryptocurrencies that have value today and will be around tomorrow.  The question is how to determine who these are?

While there's no way to predict this or guarantee one cryptocurrency that's around today will be around tomorrow, I came up with a final, albeit simple metric for my client.  The "We Accept Index" aka the number of Google search results of "We Accept Bitcoin" or "We Accept Dogecoin" etc.

Very simply "The We Accept Index" reconnects and measures the only thing that matters with a currency - whether it is accepted as such.  Whether you can use that currency to purchase ACTUAL TANGIBLE PHYSICAL THINGS IN THE REAL WORLD.  Whether other people deem it to have value.  And it is here we find out just how few cryptocurrencies have value.

In all honesty, only two, MAYBE four have value:

Bitcoin
Litecoin
Ethereum, and
Dogecoin (and this was started on a lark!)

The remaining 99.7% of cryptocurrencies, in literal economic terms, have no value.

Thankfully, the entire cryptocurrency market is only $150 billion (today anyway) and does not present the threat to the economy the $6 trillion crash in dotcoms did.  You don't have to worry about this article tanking the cryptocurrency market and then next, the world economy.  But do be reasonable and rationale when it comes to "investing" in cryptocurrencies.  You are gambling on a market that is eerily similar and stable as Dotcoms in 1999.  If you must, invest in a diversified portfolio of them and do not cash in your 401k.  Even I own a full Bitcoin that I paid $800 for some years ago.

The only problem is I can't find the digital wallet and have completely forgotten how to access that @&%*ing Bitcoin.

Which is of course another drawback to cryptocurrencies.
____________________________________
Check out Aaron's other neato stuff below!
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Curse Free Episode #27 10-10-17

Must leftist politics infect EVERYTHING?
Childhood during the 80's.
Nyquil influenced dreams.
Boxing Ed Latimore.
"Meal penalty" and union stupidity.
Millennials can't hammer nails.
Millennials can't use analog clocks.
Late night talk shows pay for politics.

AND MORE!!!

In THIS EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast!

Direct MP3 link here.

Direct RSS feed here.

A Politics Free Childhood

In this pre-release excerpt from the upcoming podcast I ask the democrats and socialists of the world if it is possible to NOT put politics, SJWing, and virtue signaling into EVERYTHING, especially kids' childhoods.

Aim for Sanity

I was on The Hanging Chads Podcast where among many other things we talked about how, in an insane world, one's primary goal should be to attain sanity, serenity, and peace.  Below is an excerpt if you just want to sample it.



They also interviewed Rollo Tomassi and were "thiiiiiisssss close" to interviewing Jenna Jameson.  They are better than the average podcast and I would strongly recommend giving them a shot.

Link to their podcast page here.

Link to the specific episode here.

Who's the Worst Generation? Baby Boomers, Gen X'ers or Millennials

Are per a request from Asshole Consulting, Cappy tries to apply some kind of logical methodology to an impossible question:  which generation is the worst in America today?  Though Cappy's loathing for the Baby Boomers is no secret, he loathes them all quite equally, but when you look at some data and public behavior a clear "victor" emerges.

You May Love the Captain

By doing all your online shopping through Cappy's Amazon link. 

Cappy makes a 7% commission on all purchases and it costs you nothing extra.

Just a way to make the Captain's day by doing all your online shopping here.

Teeeeeaaaacheerrrrrrrssss

You may follow me on The Twitter here.

You may purchase the book "Worthless" here so you may avoid becoming your typical ditzy teacher.

The Economic Case for Price Gouging: The Safety Doc Podcast

Dr. Perrodin, aka "The Safety Doc" has a podcast about all things safety.  However, this particular episode about price gouging during natural disasters might prove to be some decent weekend listening pleasure should you be out doing yard work, going for a run, or just viewing the fall leaves.

Islamic Finance and Economics

I had an interesting request at Asshole Consulting.  The client wanted my opinion on Islamic finance and economics.  The economics part was interesting because there is (what I believe) to be a politically/religiously motivated force on the part of Muslims to use "economics" as a means to spread Islam.  The handful of Muslim scholars/economists who advocate "Islamic economics" have used the financial crisis as a means to leverage Islam into economics, claiming western/capitalistic economics has failed, but communism has also failed, thus giving rise to demand for a "third alternative."  In the video I analyze their claims of this "Islamic economics" and then also explain how capitalism is the only real economic system out there as it is inherent to human nature.

The second part is on Islamic finance which is actually interesting and there are some lessons westerners/non-muslims can learn from it.  These lessons include frugality, non-speculation, the avoidance of debt, and financing legitimate concerns, not pie in the sky poppycock.  And it also highlights how using religious principles leads to more conservative lending standards, which would have prevented western banks from needing a bail out. 

Of course, if banks merely had lending policies AND FOLLOWED THEM, then you wouldn't have a theocracy lecturing you on how to lend, but that is a debate for another time.

For the Aspiring Entrepreneurs in my Audience

I did an interview with David Barnett who is a sponsor of my show.  Yes, it is a commercial of sorts, but I wanted to get him on because (not only did he pay me), but there are many of you who are aspiring entrepreneurs and you may be looking to entrepreneurship as a means of retirement.  Also, most of you are aware of the overvalued stock market and purchasing or investing in small, privately held companies (as opposed to large, publicly traded ones) may provide higher returns.

I certainly plug his services, but 90% of the interview is good do's and don't's in the world of purchasing a small business.  There's also some interesting anecdotes and stories that teach anybody about the risks of purchasing a business and entrepreneurship.  Regardless, consider visiting David and checking out his videos to get a sample of what he offers.

Episode #213 of The Clarey Podcast - ANGRY FEMINIST LIBRARIAN SPECIAL!

The USS Cappy is back to ship shape.
Why social workers are the true vampires of the world.
What girls can learn from angry feminists.
You just NEVER invest in California.  EVER.

and MORE!!!

In THIS EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast!

Direct MP3 link here.

RSS feed here.

Outsource Your Kids!

"By all means. Breed, have kids, much like you "have an SUV." Outsource them to daycare like you do your SUV to the dealer. But when your kid has no attachment, loyalty, love, or respect for you, and is more than happy to ditch you off in a cheap government nursing home facility and NEVER visits you, I'd love to see the night-time advanced MBA course that solves that problem."

my latest piece at LinkedIn!

No, You Will Not Build Her Her Dream Home

As I age and see more of not only my generation of men, but other generations travel down the path of life, I have realized that 'being nice' and trying to provide everything for your wife leads to her being spoiled and entitled.  People (men included) if spoiled rotten will end up becoming spoiled rotten and so you need to ensure that everybody in the relationship faces, suffers, and endures what is required to support oneself.  Any shielding or subsidizing people from these hardships, even if out of love, results in a slow but inevitable entitlement that is hard to unlodge and unseat once cemented into their psyche.  This leads to, at minimum, strife and stress within the relationship, but more often divorce and an ending of the relationship. 

But there is another drawback to "happy wife, happy life."  And that is the financial ruination you will likely suffer if you try to provide for two people on the efforts of only one.  I suggest reading this story before you boys start thinking about "buying your dream home" and before you ladies start thinking of forcing your husband to do the same.

The Day is Coming Ladies!

When you want to get serious about this life thing, contact me here instead of listening to Oprah, leftist, feminist slop.

Beyond Wealth

Without sounding like a completely spoiled, arrogant asshole, the largest hurdle I face in my life is what I like to call "The Impossible Trifecta."  This "Impossible Trifecta" includes an individual who;

1.  Has the time
2.  Has the money
3.  Has the stamina

to keep up with me.

Nobody to date does.

And at best, people have at most two out of the three. 

You have an old man who is retired, has the time, has the money, but doesn't have the stamina to ride motorcycles across the Alaska highway.

You have a young lady who has the stamina and the money, but doesn't have the time to take off from work to go on a three week western adventure.

Or you have a young man who has the stamina and the time, but is unemployed and thus cannot afford to make it west of the Mississippi. 

Only VERY rarely do I cross paths with a like-minded and equally-abled digital nomad soul, and usually it's atop mountain tops or in the remote hinterlands of Moab. 

But during my latest adventure across the American West I had an epiphany.  And it is one that is of ultimate importance for it defines what every man and woman should be aiming for in life.  And not only is it what we should be aiming for, it debunks what society, the school system, and media have brainwashed us into think it should be. 

"Post wealth."

"Wealth" or (in simpler terms) enough money to satisfy all our Earthly desires, needs, and wants has been every human's key life pursuit since time immemorial.  Our immediate goal in life is to sustain our own lives, immediately followed by further securing our future lives through the amassing of enough wealth we no longer need to work.  This goal of being "independently wealth" or in more modern parlance "fuck you money" has been at the foremost goal of every human in history.  Historically, this has been a challenge where 99.999% of the humans have failed, working till death, dying penniless, or perhaps even dying in debt.  It was only a rare occasion, reserved for kings, warlords, and modern day entrepreneurs, where enough wealth was amassed where you would be "set for life" and could then truly enjoy life, free of work, toil, and labor. 

But today, especially for smart people who know the benefits of frugality, spartan living and minimalism, modern technology and advances in capitalism have made it so most people needn't become "millionaires" to achieve the nirvana of "independent wealth."  Food, for instance, is effectively free, whereas in the past hunger was the number one scourge that plagued humanity.  Clothing, which until the 1950's consumed nearly 20% of a household budget, is free (especially for un-choosy bachelors) who are willing to shop at Wal-Mart of Goodwill.  Fuel and transportation is increasingly becoming moot, especially if your profession is digital/online.  And unless you insist on living in a McMansion to keep up with the Jonses, a small studio apartment, or even a cheap flat in Cambodia, is more than adequate a place to rest your head and house some key belongings.  In other words, the goal of humanity is easily within reach of those willing to major in the right subject, spend within their means, not have children they can't afford and otherwise just plain simply "not fuck up."

The problem is - tell the rest of society that.

While regular readers of this site are already familiar with the benefits of frugality and minimalism, the majority of people, western civilization or not, are completely and hopelessly brainwashed to think "wealth" means billionaire like status with bling, bitches, yachts, and Lamborghini's.  Be it the dude bro frat boy who dedicates his life to becoming an analyst at Wall Street, or the Silicon Valley Virgin who gets his $150,000 a year job at Facebook, the inner city black girl who blows her check on weaves and brand name jeans, or even the desperate middle aged bankers who lease vehicles to maintain the Winnetka/American Beauty lifestyle facade, all of them think "wealthy" is at least 10 million dollars in the bank, if not a billion, all defined by the luxury items media and marketing has told them is the epitome of "wealthy.".  And thus they dedicate their entire lives to get this "faux wealth," whether they can successfully amass the money to afford said luxuries, or cheat by borrowing the money to make it look like they can.

But while my regular readers are smarter than the average bear, there is a trap set forth in this pursuit of wealth and "fuck you money."  Not that you guys would waste your wealth on sports cars or unnecessary McMansions, but the means by which one attains wealth, independence, and true freedom - entrepreneurship - can lead to a ruinous life even if your entrepreneurial venture is successful.  And it is here the important lesson of looking "beyond wealth" lies.

Take, for example, three people.

One, Marissa Mayer, the formerly disgraced CEO of Yahoo.
Two, a colleague of mine who runs a "real" company.
And three, the ole humble Captain himself.

Marissa Mayer is 100%, completely successful and wealthy.  She got a $186 million bailout for her retirement package when Verizon mercifully ended Yahoo's existence through an acquisition.  You would think that with a new child and enough money to last her EASILY till her death she would retire forever and spend the time with her family, eating caviar all along the way. 

Nope.

She has been successfully brainwashed to value work, labor, toil, and her career more than her own life and her own child.  She can't want to get back to working as a CEO.  Admittedly, she isn't an entrepreneur, but for those of you who are going to go the "loyal corporate man" route, hoping to amass your fuck you fund through a hard-working corporate career, remember you inevitably have to LEAVE THE CAREER.  If (for whatever insane reason) I wanted to invite Ms. Mayer out on a month long Cappy-Motorcycle-Extravaganza, she easily has the money and stamina, but she simply does not have the time.  She's too busy with her career to go an actually enjoy life, let alone raise her own child.

Then there is my colleague who runs a real company. 

This company is real in that it has employees, payroll, divisions, assets, depreciation schedules, marketing departments and legal departments.  It is a complex, complicated machine, that when ran correctly, results in handsome profits for my friend. 

The problem is, though self-employed, my buddy has no free time whatsoever. 

In the company having so many moving parts it is as complicated, and thus prone to breaking down, as a Tiger Tank.  If it's not accounts payable, it's accounts receivable.  If it's not insurance, its regulation.  If it's not an employee, it's a piece of machinery.  And if it's not a break in the supply chain, it's a legal issue.  My friend does not manage the company as much as he does put out fires and deal with problems.  It's not only mentally taxing, but he has no free time, nor energy to go out and participate in said theoretical "Cappy Cap's American West Motorcycle Hiking Adventuring Extravaganza."

Then there's the ole Captain himself. 

My business model is very simple - a man and his laptop.

I have no employees.
I have no accounts receivable.
I have no divisions or legal departments.
I just have products I sell and consulting I offer, and an Amazon Affiliate program if you care to make some purchases.

My entrepreneurial venture is not only as simple as a P-51 Mustang, it's mobile, versatile, and allows me to work from anywhere.  And while admittedly a fair amount of this was not by design, but unintentional, it doesn't mean I don't appreciate or realize the incredible benefits of its simplicity. 

So yes, I do not make the millions my friend does.
And yes, I do not have the millions Marissa Mayer does.
But bar an unexpectedly short life expectancy, I am going to live the same 79 years they are going to, but with a fraction of my life wasted at work.

And this is the key point of looking beyond wealth.

Once you have food, clothing, and shelter covered, the primary focus of your life should be freedom.  Specifically, maximizing the amount of free time you have to yourself, allowing you to live the maximum amount of your time on this planet the way you want. 

You should not be a mentally deranged Marissa Mayer, Hillary Clinton, or Cheryl Sandberg dedicating your life to an office, a commute, a position, an MBA, or work.

You should not be my friend, held hostage by an overly complicated entrepreneurial venture.

You should be a minimalist, with a simple, though reliable source of income that can be done from anywhere, permitting you the freedom and budget to pull off "The Impossible Trifecta."  And your biggest problem should be finding people you can enjoy in life, who you'd like to come tag along in your own adventures in life.

The key is when choosing an entrepreneurial venture is to ensure it pays enough, but is also versatile enough that it allows you to enjoy life "beyond wealth."  Because whether you have $1 million or $10 billion, it won't matter if you're stuck in an office and can't join "Cappy's Drunk Rowdy Motorcycling Hiking Brigade Vegas Extravaganza 2018," make paper airplanes with your kid, or bang your hot wife while watching Spaghetti Westerns.
________________

Aaron Clarey is an economist and author.  You should buy his books.  You should also consult him if you have any questions.  And you should tune into his podcast to hear him rant and rave.

 

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