Sunday, March 23, 2014

How Economic Bubbles Disproportionately Harm Women and Minorities

If there was ever something that caused my life serious damage it was nothing purposeful or untoward, but rather unintentional.  Specifically, people lying to me to spare my feelings.  We've all experienced this before.  Your female friends telling you you'll make some girl happy...just not them.  Follow your heart and the money will follow...in the form of an unemployment check.  Hard work and a strong work ethic will be rewarded...by manipulative bosses who will make you work overtime.  No doubt, like me, these lies you were world cost you years of your life and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost opportunities because the people in your life then could not muster the courage to tell you the harsh truth.

Conversely, those that have the genuine heart to tell you the truth, are likely the ones responsible for what modicum of success you did have in life.  Your father telling you to change your own damn oil.  The girl who had the heart to say you needed to lift weights.  Or the rare guidance counselor that said, "No, son, you're not going to make it with a degree in communications."

The reason polite lies wreak incalculable damage as opposed to harsh truth is that lies, no matter how kind, do not adhere to The Reality Principle while the truth does.  Ergo, in telling people the truth, no matter how harsh, you are ACCURATELY informing them about reality, allowing them to make decisions based in the real world, and thus have better results and success in life.

This conundrum or paradox, however, perfectly explains women's and minorities' effective "2nd place" in the US and other western nations as they are both the victims of "kind lies."  Propagandized by left-wing politicians, they are led to believe that their second place ranking in society is due to "discrimination" or "sexism."  That women earn 25% less than men because of discrimination...not because they major in easier subjects and work less than men.  That minorities median income is only 78% white's because of evil racism...not that fact 70% of blacks are born out of wedlock which cripples their future financial endeavors.

While you, me, and any other regular visitor here to Cappy Cap Land knows this, there is another way this left-wing propaganda harms minorities.  And it's particularly devastating:

Economic bubbles.

To simplify it, let's say you're a white male.  You're evil, you're sexist, and you don't even know it because you're privileged.  That's all fine and dandy, but in the end, it does not "blind" you to various economic realities.  You're likely aware you have to work hard, probably major in a STEM field, and you're also likely to know not to have kids before you're 30.  The majority of propaganda is to make you feel guilty so you are more willing to pay more in taxes so that the socialist party and continue it's bribery of non-white male people.  It is NOT to delude you about your future or economic reality.

However, the same cannot be said for minorities and women.  Leftist propaganda not only deludes minorities and women into thinking white males and discrimination is the cause of their second-placeness, but that they can do ANYTHING they want.  Ergo, not only is their performance dismissed away (because of you evil white males you), but they can do "anything" and "have it all."

The single, independent, Roundhouse Kicking Chick Cop Show woman CAN become a cop, get her law degree, become a judge at 38, teach at the local university, be a cougar at 48, and find the love of her life to start a family with at a wrinkly 53.

The poor black kid CAN become the ganster-rap artist, an NBA 1st draft pick, a future full back for the NFL, or a general P-Diddy-esque socialite.  Just keep rapping and lifting weights like the other 30 million black kids, and don't think about engineering or accounting.  YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS, labor market realities and "aspiring rap artists'" life expectancies be damned.

I can go on, but the point is that they are not only deluded to think they never made a mistake and are therefore not responsible for their current position in life, but that they are capable of, if not entitled to, great success.

This puts minorities and women in a very dangerous economic mentality because unless they paid particular attention to their college economic courses (assuming they were even taught by a competent economist), they are completely blind to the risks involved with "having it all" and "living the American dream."  This makes them incredibly susceptible to bubbles.

For example (and this is the observation I had that prompted this post) look at the racial and sexual composition of Facebook/Twitter posters on "Law School Lemmings."  Though not the majority, minorities and women account for a disproportionately high percentage of the kids posting about law school and how they can't wait to attend/graduate.  But it's quite apparent than nobody has told them that schools are producing 2 law graduates for every 1 job currently being offered.  Matter of fact, the propaganda is so thorough current applicants and acceptees to law school are completely tuning out the dire financial straits current law graduates are facing today.  The consequence will be that of which only pretty lies can deliver - graduates with $250,000 in debt, no job prospects, and a destroyed financial future.

Another example, the housing bubble.  It wasn't until the later and last stages of the housing bubble were lending standards lowered so far (both by bankers desperate to keep the bubble going and politicians that wanted to "help" minorities) that minorities and women started entering the housing market in droves.  While at the time this may have seemed like "help" and women and minorities were "finally" going to achieve the American dream, all they managed to do was buy into the most inflated housing bubble in history AT ITS PEAK, and thus suffer the largest decline when it burst.

And finally, the retirement bubble.  Again, late to the party, women and minorities (and especially young people) who overcome their economic disposition "finally" have enough money to start stashing away for retirement.  Hurray!  Celebration!  Joy!  They're buying into a market that based on PE ratios is 60% overvalued.  Never mind that would be the exact same thing as being excited to pay what amounts to $5.20 for a gallon of gas, the propaganda and pretty lies have made them think the ability to invest is the goal unto itself, not to get an adequate rate of return (and don't even get me started about how Barack Obama's MyRA harms the disadvantaged).

We could go on, but the point is simply this - in lying to two general classes of people for political reasons you've denied them the ability to be truly independent minded and thorough in their due diligence of researching particular investments.  This is bad enough as it impairs their ability to truly assess various investments, but since you did NOT lie to the other group of people (white males) you've allowed a segment of the population to invest in different areas of life.  This "smart money" or at least "non-propagandized money" invests when it makes sense, realizes the majority of gains in these investments, AND drives up prices to the point it may get bubbly.  When other segments of the population realize how these different investments are "on fire" (housing, Dotcom, education, etc.) they come in, with what little money they have as Johnny-Come-Latelys only to be the last "bigger fool" of the "Bigger Fool Theory," buying when prices were highest, ergo getting the worst deal, and therefore suffering disproportionately compared to their White Male (and naturally-implied) Evil counterparts.

It is here everybody of all races and sexes need to wake up and realize the damage lying to different groups of people in an effort to alienate them, and thus conscript them as life-long voters for left-wing politicians, causes.  Women and minorities are not suffering an effective second-place citizenship because of evil white males or discrimination or sexism.  They are suffering a second place citizenship because leftists and socialists have been lying to them for decades.  Worse still, they believe it, and consequently pay a horrible economic price (Detroit anyone?)

Alas, it is not under my control nor my responsibility to get people to appreciate harsh truths over warm-fuzzy-feelings lies.  I have my own life and have been lectured enough by various sectors of society for daring to speak the truth or hold women and minorities up to the standards I would white males (ie-treating them as genuine equals which I thought was what the goal was).  But what I hope will convince women and minorities is how time and time again socialist and leftist causes and promises

put them in houses they can't afford only to be repossessed
lead them to chase impossible dreams instead or realistic ones
destroy their communities and cities
ruin their families
put them $250,000 in debt for a degee that just won't pay
and in short, just completely destroy and ruin their lives.

Then again, I've never seen such propaganda that was so thorough and so effective.  It would not surprise me if the entirety of my brilliant argument above would simply be dismissed with an accusation of being "white male" or having some kind of "privilege" thus blinding my "ignorant ass" to the "real problems."

Oh well, enjoy the decline.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your realism. You tell this shit how it is. Too bad reality is no longer fashionable with the idiot masses.

little dynamo said...

The truth is always welcome in my house.

Anonymous said...

Expand on it..another book idea here.

leeholsen said...

completely agree. i live in Houston, which is over 40% minoroties; so i get a good chance to see all these miority kids and young moms and i know without a doubt that many of them will never get a chance to hit their potential because they bought what people like sheila jackson lee have sold them for decades and they wont listen to me for a second; despite that i could turn their future around in an hour. so, i sit with really great beer and cigars and wtach the usa spiral further 'enjoying the decline'.

i also agree with this: "another book idea here."

Anonymous said...

Ok I must confess I was surprised by the unusual length of this post.

Interesting, but I think the captain is giving too much credits to women and so.

They can actually become lawyers and teachers at 30 years old. They just lobby the govt to lower the requirements so they have granted a pass.

They will have a piece of paper saing they are judges and college professors, as it is exactly today, but their titles are worthless. They just live from the taxpayers. I repeat: do not give them the credit they are able to see the real thing - they believe they are really qualified.

Anonymous said...

You are damn right about law degrees. All these law schools love to go on and on about "diversity" and how they care about minorities but the schools just want to use them in order to get their student loans. The entire legal education industry is so corrupt and crooked.

The entire business model relies upon lying to prospective students about salaries and jobs and then getting people to sign up for $150-250k in non-dischargeable loans. The word is out about the horrible job market though. Too many law school graduates have spoken out, but the law schools continue to pump out 2 grads for every 1 job (and most of the few jobs available are very low paying - like $20-45k). The whole system is insane and you'd be an utter fool to attend law school. I have friends and have spoken to people that went to law school at Cornell, UVA, Michigan, Georgetown, Texas, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, GW, etc. and they're living with their parents and struggling to make loan payments on low salaries. A bunch of them are also doing document review, which is basically the lawyer version of temp work (go to a basement and click buttons that say whether a document is responsive or not. a 5-year-old could do it). Law school is generally a scam for all but the wealthy and connected or preternaturally brilliant (and if you can't easily get a big scholarship at a school named Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, that's not you).

Don't go to law school, kids. It's a scam designed to enrich law school deans and professors and also designed to rip the students off and keep them busy so they don't know what's happening.

J Ciccone said...

It's not the evil socialists. Blacks and women just can't handle freedom.

Anonymous said...

I saw your twitter post to Kathleen Sawtell. Too bad she didn't take you up on your offer. Too bad she won't realize her mistake for 5 years or so. She'll be looking for Mr Moneybags to bail her out. She is one of those chicks that will deliberately get pregnant to suck money out of some guy, ala Tom Leykis.

So glad I never got married or had kids. Heard they had my 30th high school reunion last summer, and some attendees are on the 4th marriage!

49 and loving it! Amen!

Anonymous said...

If a female or minority college student cannot do the basic background research to see if pursuing a JD from a non-Ivy league school is worthwhile, then they deserve to be shafted.

Fact is a lot minorities and women have no business near any college except as cooks or members of the janitorial staff.

The only reason they are there is because of rampant PC/MC, greedy colleges and threats of lawsuits by various ethnic extortion groups.

Still at the end of the day, you can't educate dullards by edict or threat. Sadly they will remain self-propelled cheeseburgers for the predatory among us.

Anonymous said...

Fuck all the research and efforts to cure cancer, aids, etc. Let's go after the biggest disease of all, STUPIDITY!!

Unknown said...

I am a young Black male with newly developed conservative views. I agree with your overall point that women and minorities are continuously harmed because propagandists capitalize on their willingness to give into self-delusion. I believe in equal opportunity, not equalized results. Ideally, everybody would be able to compete fairly (including minorities and women) and let the chips fall where they may in the end. If I, as a Black male, have a problem with this, I should do my best to try harder, not use the government to make the successful reindeer let me play in their reindeer games.

Even with this view, however, the problem I see is that white males unintentionally discriminate because they naturally favor their own, like any group does. From your perspective, how do we guard against the injustices that result against minority and women from this natural tendency?

Anonymous said...

I am a young Black male with conservative views. I agree with your overall point that women and minorities are continuously harmed because propagandists capitalize on their willingness to give into self-delusion. I believe in equal opportunity, not equalized results. Ideally everyone should be allowed to compete fairly (including minorities and women) and the best person should get the job. If I as a Black male have a problem with the fact that white men keep winning, I should do my best to try harder, not use the government to make the successful reindeer let me play in their reindeer games.

Even with this view, however, the problem I see is that white men unintentionally discriminate because they naturally favor their own, like any group does. This disadvantages minorities and women. From a conservative perspective, how do we guard against the injustices that result from this natural tendency?

Martel said...

@ Anonymous 9:49

I'm not who you're asking for advice, but what the hell, you get my two cents for free.

First, develop the strongest sense of Self you possibly can. We all have undeserved enemies, some of us more than others. Others can belittle you and treat you unfairly, but none can strip you of your dignity unless you let them. Easier to say than do of course, but the Man of Dignity does not lose.

The group loyalty tendency you describe is very real (albeit not restricted to whites or any other ethnicity). However, as much as the Chinese may hate the Japanes, they still buy lots of cars and consumer electronics from them.

If you excel at whatever it is you do, you will face unfairness, you will be opposed. However, if you succeed in those realms over which YOU have control, if you attain the POWER that only comes from being better than everybody else.

There are ways that others can fuck with you, but there are ways in which they can't. Master the latter and the former will take care of itself.

This is much easier to type in a comment than to live out, but it's still true.