Another Sign of the End of America; The End of Personal Responsibility

Ah, America. Land of the irresponsible. Home of the parasite.

C-R-I-P-E-S

It Only Makes Me Want to See it More

Given the nefarious forces against it and the statistically improbably bad luck they've had, such frivolousity makes me want to see it more. They damn well better show this movie. If for any other reason pansy leftists have constantly fought against it.

The Captain is Off to Wyoming

Finally I'm off to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Ever since I was a poor little capitalist, the Grand Tetons and Wyoming were the preserve of rich children whose parents obligatorily took them there. Now, at the ripe age of 33, I finally have the time and resources to visit both.

You can fully expect I shall climb many peaks, fish many streams and find many fossils.

Unfortunately you can also expect very little internet access so my posts may be sparse.

If there are any Captain Capitalismites out in the area, shoot me an e-mail and we shall get a drink together.

Jericho; The Latest Victim of the Pansification and Socialismization of America

Another sign the end of America is nearing us.

The best cannot play. Equality over excellence.

somebody should contract out Jericho.

It's the Beginning of the End for the Boomers

Much like Fonzi jumping over the shark marked the end to "Happy Days" I think we're going to look back and say, "Remember Madonna and her wrinkly thunder thighs? Yeah, that was the beginning of the end for the baby boomers."

I don't know what people were thinking to bank roll this old has been hag, but I think it's a syndrome or a psychological problem that affects a disproportionate amount of baby boomers. That they just plain don't want to grow up, and will do whatever is in their power to convince themselves they're still young. Thus we get Madonna woefully misinformed that she is somehow some kind of cougar, the flabby armed McJager performing at the super bowl, and morons whose pinnacle of life was 1968 and just plain can't get over the fact that it's not only over, but their lives since have been pretty pathetic.

But the reason I bring this up, isn't so much Madonna or lame Viagra variant commercials where boomer males are playing guitars and windsurfing, but there is indeed a more fundamental power shift occurring.

First was the obvious ass kicking Obama delivered to the heiress entitled Hilary Clinton. If there was a person who personified the centralized power the baby boomers had, it was Hilary Clinton. And out of nowhere a rookie nobody freshman senator comes and usurps the role. Gen X was coming online, and for better or worse, remember the shenanigans of Bill Clinton and wonder just what a political operator Hilary had to have been to tolerate Bill's indiscretions and not dump his ass, and ended up exerting their power.

Second is this housing crash and subsequent credit crisis. If there is a generational, generalized culprit to blame for the housing bubble and the idiocy that occurred, it was the baby boomers. Though there were certainly younger salesmen and mortgage brokers to blame, at the head of practically every financial institution leading the way was a baby boomer. Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Countrywide, you name it. Even every boss I had at smaller banks whilst working in banking was a baby boomer; the one who had 1 in every 2 loans go into default. The one who approve a $25,000 loan for a guy THAT AFTERNOON WITH NO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. The one who told me "no, the Federal Reserve figures are wrong." All of them boomers and all of them making grave errors. And such a distaste and disaster has the housing crash left in America's mouth, there is now a managerial and power shake up in the financial services industry, just in time for some of the older Gen-X'ers to take the help or at least start poaching some executive and senior management positions.

And thirdly, a slumbering giant is slowly waking up as the younger generations get wise to this social security farce. Shaking off the laced kool-aid we were fed in college about socialism and social security and medicare and medicaid, more and more members of the younger generations are going online and pulling readily and easily accessible data on just how much they can expect to shell out and are waking up. Across political spectrums I see this. Doesn't matter if they eco-terrorists, marxist Obama supporters or you evil right wing puppy kicking republicans. Anybody under 40 when you mention social security makes some joke about Santa Claus and the easter bunny and them mumbles some curse words under their breath.

In any case, it won't be an immediate handover of power, it will be long and dragged out. And matter of fact, given how long it's taking Madonna to retire, we my younger American friends are in for a battle as long and contested as the Battle of Somme.

Abortion: The New Hip Birth Control

I was looking up some stats on Nation Master and as is often the case the data they have is amazing so you get lost. I was originally looking up some other health statistics, but then I saw a link to abortion and curiosity got the best of me and so I asked myself "who has the most abortions?" Based on a per capita basis it is Russia (ironically the country that has such birthing and demographic trends it will cease to exist in 50 years) with a shockingly high 19 abortions per thousand people.


I then saw below a link to another chart, Abortions per 1,000 births. ie-for every 1,000 births how many abortions were there. Thinking it would be around 10-19 or so like the abortion rate I was shocked to find the average was around 223 in the US (state data only was provided) and an amazing 706 abortions per 1,000 births in our beloved capital, Washington, D.C. ie-on average 12% of pregnancies in the US end in abortion and in DC over a third.


Now I genuinely have no skin in the abortion debate one way or another and if anything I am tacitly pro-choice (for reasons we shan't delve into here). But even though I am pro-choice, with 706 abortions per 1,000 births, it doesn't seem like abortion is being used as a desperate last resort, it seems it's almost the first line, conventional form of birth control. What appalls me about this is whether you're pro-choice or pro-life, you have to admit it is not "desired" to kill something that could feasibly be a human life. ie-that abortion is something you try to avoid and only use as a last measure. But apparently, a lot of people have no moral qualms or problems with having abortions. That there's no thought given to "gee, I don't know if it really is a human life. You know, maybe I should go on birth control or something so I never have to make the decision to have an abortion in the first place." Alas, this is not the case in DC and a couple other places where abortion just seems to be as morally equivalent to getting a tetanus shot. And dare I speculate, a much more expensive form of birth control than a condom?

When Baby Boomers Don't Grow Up

Ick.

Why won't the boomers just grow old and become nice grandma's and grandpa's?

Just in. Apparently more McCain=Hitler talk from Madonna.

Where's Ella Fitzgerald or Doris Day or some female singers with class when you need them?

Smithers, Who Is That Man, I Like the Cut of His Jib!

I wish I could curse like this. I really do because cursing if used correctly adds the emphasis and flavor to points you're trying to make. Sadly (though not so sadly) a fair amount of youth read this blog and thus I keep it PG. In any case, pay our Canadian Canuck a visit. He makes a very important point;

"It didn't justify the cost of the red cameras."

Ah, when government goes into business for itself and the "people" become a bothersome bother.

Lowry Bridge Reopening to Reintroduce Crime to NE Minneapolis

A friend of mine asked me last night, "Hey, you hear they're opening the Lowry bridge this week?"

I didn't know it had been closed. And so I said, "No, I didn't know it had been closed."

And that was it. Didn't think anything beyond it. Just kind of looked at him with a "and?????" kind of look on my face.

He said, "Crime fell in NE Minneapolis once they closed the bridge down."

And then the connection was made. You see, the Mississippi splits North Minneapolis more or less in half into two areas; NE and NW.

NE is kind of a blue collar, lower middle income neighborhood while NW is our version of Cabrini Green. And one of the bridges that spans the Mississippi and connects the two neighborhoods is the Lowry bridge. (Lowry bridge is in Green, NW is in Red).


What gets me however is just 1 mi south of the Lowry bridge is the Broadway bridge (blue). One would think just taking out one bridge with another bridge a convenient mile away would not drop crime as the criminals to do their dirty work would just take the short mile detour, but it did.

This confirms something about criminals I've always suspected; they're lazy. If criminals weren't lazy, then they would have gone the "extra mile" and done their business. By by the fact they're criminals, that means they don't care to work or contribute to society because presumably work takes too much effort that it is worth the legal risk to commit crime.

In any case, one can certainly expect an increase in crime in the NE neighborhood.

Sex Causes Economic Growth

I was always curious what would happen to the economy if all of the sudden women decided to dolls themselves up in french maid or naughty librarian outfits and upon their husbands or boyfriends walking through the door started, ahem, "making with the bam bam."

My theory was this would make men much happier and trigger a productivity boost which would translate into economic growth. I then pondered being the president of the Federal Reserve and creating indices measuring the sales of french maid outfits as an economic indicator.

Regardless, I did inevitably get around to finding a "frequency of sex rate" and compared it to the average economic growth of about a score of OECD nations. And as I surmised, the correlation between the frequency of sex and economic growth is positive.


A correlation coefficient of .2 no less.

Now don't ask me to adjust for outliers. And don't ask me about the confidence interval. Just shut up and appreciate what we got here; Empirical, conclusive indisputable proof that sex causes more economic growth.

Alas, when I am president, there will not be any of this impotent "stimulus" package nonsense. I shall just merely decree a "Naughty Nurse" holiday.

Global Economics for Dummies 101

I find it hilarious because I see no shortage of Americans complaining about globalization, yet have an I-Pod grafted to their hip.

Anyway, yet another reason to subscribe to The Economist.

Vacancy Rates: Homeowner and Rental

Again, one of the common questions I get is "how much further will housing prices have to drop" and it's like being asked "Are we there yet?"

No, we still have 300 miles and two potty breaks, now shut the hell up and play with your rocks I bought you or so help me I will sell you to some locals at the next Wisconsin bar for two shots of whiskey!

..or so I see myself saying if I were ever to have children.

In any case, it doesn't look good for housing prices because vacancy rates for both rentals AND homes have gone up.


This directly affects the primary driver of value for housing; rents. With so many vacancies, the amount you can rent those properties out for has gone down. This drives the value of those properties down and until we stop building housing or governments top pursuing affordable housing plans ain't nobody's property going to be going up.

So buckle in and get comfy. Lot more miles to go before we "are there yet."

NBER, Recession, Two Consecutive Quarters?

As there is much ballyhoo and debate as to whether or not we're in a recession, I've found it typically economist-ish for the Federal Reserve and the NBER to have different definitions of a recession. This only continues to further confuse the masses and deter people from not only studying economics, but trying to understand it.

Ergo, I was happy when I saw this on Foxnews which does a pretty good job breaking down the differences between NBER's definition of a recession and the traditional definition of a recession.

The SBA Will Fall Next

First it was deadbeat firms like CountryWide and Ameriquest.

Then came the larger more reputable firms that should have known better; UBS, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

Then it spilled over into the quasi governmental organizations, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

And so I will predict the fall of another governmental agency which will then behoove an infusion of taxpayer cash to effectively contribute its small portion to a nearly trillion dollar transfer of income from the responsible people to the deadbeats; the Small Business Administration.

The SBA is often not thought about when it comes to the housing crash, but during my days as an analyst if a person wouldn’t qualify for a loan on their own, why the good ol’ federal government would come in the taxpayers’ (read – your) money and guarantee, sometimes up to 85%, of the loan if it were to go bad.

Of course this was primarily for business loans, not housing, but one must understand that large firms like GM and American Express don’t go to the SBA for loans. Small time sole proprietors and entrepreneurs do. And what is primarily the only form of capital a small individual has?

Their house of course!

And thus billions of dollars were lent out to small time proprietors for a bevy of ventures, all collateralized by housing and all guaranteed by the SBA (ie-the taxpayer, ie – you).

Now this would be fine if the loans made were good, high quality loans.

But they weren’t. At least not what I saw being shipped off to the SBA. I don’t know how many deadbeats that wanted to “start a sports bar” or “open a hair salon” or “raise cats.” And of course these ill-thought out plans were doomed from the beginning, but that doesn’t matter. The SBA was there to help those little people that those big bad banks wouldn’t.

And so I predict you will see (albeit, it may be kept hush hush in the media) the SBA getting a might big infusion of cash from the beloved taxpayer.

McCain's VP Should Be Condi Rice

I'm sorry, she's just damn sexy telling the Russians off and holding the line.



If McCain was smart, he'd demand she run for VP. Not on account that she's black (which, though, would throw a hell of a wrench into the democrat's plans), but that she is just plain simply the best qualified candidate out there (some would argue more qualified than McCain and they would be right).

Alas, we're going to get some boring cookie cutter Republican that is not going to instill any sort of excitement at all.

"Black" Google

Godallfreakingmighty.

Yeah, I'm sure this is what MLK was fighting for; segregation.

He's got to be rolling in his grave.

You Will Be Patriotic

You will be patriotic.

You will click on the link.

You will get your daily laugh.

You will conform.

Employees Are Obsolete

Not once, bar my days back at the police department, have I ever had a job where I actually worked more than 50% of the time. And it was not due to laziness or sloth on my part, as much as it was management was unable to manage the company's resources efficiently to produce enough work to keep me occupied 40 hours a week.

This I surmise is the case for the majority of American workers and thus we have to learn the art of "looking busy" constantly having an Excel spreadsheet up we can alt-tab to if we sense a superior nearby. But it got me thinking, "how could a company waste up to 20 hours each week on each employee? Wouldn't they like to have their savings or at least get 40 hours of work out of them?"

And then I further thought, "how many people would willingly take a pay cut by switching from salary to hourly if it meant they could go home when they have no work to do."

It was these two revelations I had that led me to conclude that someday, maybe not in my lifetime, the traditional 9-5, 40 hours a week employee will cease to exist as we know it. The costs savings and efficiency gains are too tempting to companies and the lure of freedom from work instead of having to have your mind melt while checking e-mail for the 90th time that day is just as tempting to workers. Companies could cut down on their health care costs, and I think employees would be just fine with that if it meant they could go fishing or spend more time with their kids. I don't even think workers would have to suffer that much in less pay as if they agree to forfeit health care to have the same pay but only work 20 hours a week

Thus, there will be no employees, just contractors.

Then again, I could be wrong. Corporate America, as I've surmised before, is in it more for power than anything approaching progress or profitability. And daring to let people have the freedom to go home if they're efficient and do their job faster than others is near blasphemy. Oh well, another brilliant idea doomed to failure on account of maintaining the status quo.

When Will You Union Guys Wake Up?

I've befriended a bunch of union guys. Railroads primarily, but construction and other blue collar trades as well. And what amazes me is that by the age of 50-55, all it takes is something as simple as Bill Clinton cheating on his wife or a terrorist attack to get them to COMPLETELY change their political views. And while I certainly welcome their joining of the good side of the force, it behooves the question;

Do union members ever bother THINKING about what they support politically?

The reason for my asking of this question is the recent (albeit, expected) endorsement of Barack Obama by the UAW.

Now, seriously guys, are you so naive and stupid, you don't have the ability to put 2 and 2 together or (what Joe Soucheray would otherwise say) "link?"

I like to simplify it to the "Host and Parasite" analogy.

The "host" is GM, Ford and Chrysler. The parasite is the UAW. If it were not for GM, Ford and Chrysler, the parasite would not have a job, period. So what does the parasite do? Bleeds the host dry until the host dies.

I cannot emphasize this enough, and I sincerely hope that some of you UAW people are listening, but you brought about your own demise. You killed the goose that laid the golden egg. You priced yourselves out of the market.

And now, when GM, Ford and Chrysler are crippled, old decrepit men of corporations compared to their younger, more fit and competitive Japanese counterparts, you support the guy who will MORE QUICKLY bring about the demise of your employers? You, LITERALLY, support the QUICKENING of the ELIMINATION of your EMPLOYER and therefore JOBS??????

I really (seriously, I mean this) have a hard time believing you are that stupid.

It kind of reminds me of my dad or even Michael Medved (who I respect), who all of the sudden had an epiphany (read, pulled their heads out of their asses) and realized "whoa whoa whoa....You mean their's consequences for voting for socialists all the time?????"

I want to yell (not say) to them;

WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN THIS ENTIRE TIME???? 50 FREAKING YEARS OLD AND NOW YOU GET IT???? WHAT A FREAKING TROOPER YOU ARE!!!! THANKS FOR PISSING AWAY 35 YEARS OF VOTES ON THE BAD GUYS!!!! YEAH, GET A FREAKING BRAIN WHEN YOU'RE 52. LOT OF GOOD THAT WILL DO US!!!!

And for the union members it's the same.

When the F are you guys going to wake up? Yeah, Obama, he'll tax those evil auto manufacturers for you! He'll give them their due! That'll show those rich, evil meanie corporate executive types!

Meanwhile, where did Ford decide to build the next Fiesta plant?

Oh, that's right. MEXICO! The country where (although I loathe the illegal immigrant wave) they seem to provide people with a strong and more American work ethic than you guys.

In any case, I've learned at a relatively young age, it's not worth yelling at you guys because you're so lug-headed you'll be willing to hasten your own demise ("hasten" means "faster"). The only reason I write anymore is so I have a track record where I can point to at a future date in time and tell you "I told you so."

If It Was All About Oil, Then Why is Iraq Getting So Much Oil Revenues

Yet more proof we are winning the war in Iraq;