So it's snowing a little bit here in Minnesota, but nothing compared to the three feet of snow they received in my favorite town in the world, Rapid City, South Dakota. And I figure since it's the weekend and the snow is here and only more is on the way, wouldn't it be nice to stoke up a nice warm fire, have some Rumpleminze infused hot coffee, and then snuggle up on your favorite comfy couch and read a book?
Of course, which book should you read? There are many to choose from.
But how about a heart warming tale of a renegade banking analyst who fought, vainly, but valiantly against the entrenched forces of corrupt management to fend off the inevitable collapse of the housing market? An epic saga of a dashing (and handsome!) hero who through hard work, diligent research, and a little bit of X-Box 360 gamage was able to foretell the crash in housing prices and the effect it would have on the economy. A childhood bedtime story written so well, it has been known to cure children of measles and bronchitis without the aid of antibiotics.
Fortunately such a book exists and was conveniently written by me!
"Behind the Housing Crash" is guaranteed to give you warm fuzzies as the full forces of winter are upon us. You'll cuddle up with your beloved and regale yourself with stories of bribed appraisers, pathetic, crying middle aged men, IRS raids and more!
You'll laugh.
You'll cry.
You'll cheer.
And you'll (more than likely) yell.
But most importantly, you'll be supremely educated about the housing market...and your child cured of the measles.
But you better buy quick, and do it now. The snow is upon us. So go here, order it! Now! Do it NOW!!! Otherwise you'll be snowbound at home, cuddled up around a fire with Rumpleminze and a child with measles and no book to read!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
This is Why You Can't Trust the Media
They're a bunch of losers, the losers from high school who couldn't unhinge a bra, let alone have the skill to do it with one hand, and need I mention their inability to ever get into AP calculus?
And now, the only thing they can do, is abuse their power/position to feign some farce of being some kind of unbiased institution with the genuine interest of the truth and the health of the country at heart, when in reality they are nothing but shills and socialism whores willing to pimp themselves out.
And they wonder why subscriptions are tanking.
And now, the only thing they can do, is abuse their power/position to feign some farce of being some kind of unbiased institution with the genuine interest of the truth and the health of the country at heart, when in reality they are nothing but shills and socialism whores willing to pimp themselves out.
And they wonder why subscriptions are tanking.
Obama's Effect on the Stock Market
Already there is trouble in paradise.
Millions of people voted for Barack Obama no doubt because of the economy and the HOPE he would change it. Of course, now the market is reacting to the practical guarantee corporate taxes are going up which drives down not only stock prices, but the balances of Barack Obama supporter's 401k's.
Ah, is there any sweeter poetic justice when people shoot themselves in the foot?
Millions of people voted for Barack Obama no doubt because of the economy and the HOPE he would change it. Of course, now the market is reacting to the practical guarantee corporate taxes are going up which drives down not only stock prices, but the balances of Barack Obama supporter's 401k's.
Ah, is there any sweeter poetic justice when people shoot themselves in the foot?
A Prom Night of Barack Obama Excuses
As expected, Barack Obama was elected and the republicans are now paying for their idiocy in moving to the center (and still receiving no additional votes for it). However, going forward, one has got to realize just how big of shoes Barack has made for himself to fill.
He has, more than any other politician in the world, promised everything to every one. Sociology majors who worked on his campaign will now think that “community organizer” is going to be a $60,000 per year job with benefits. The likes of Peggy Johnson will now think they don’t have to pay for their own gas of their own mortgage. The black community I speculate because of the Messiah-like nature of Obama, is expecting that by July of 2009 they will magically achieve standards of living on par with their white counterparts. The stock market is going to rally, social security and medicare (which I noticed were never mentioned in the campaign) will somehow magically take care of themselves. Guilty white liberals can finally assuage themselves of their misplaced guilt. And everybody will get a pony.
But the problem is all of his promises (or perhaps better stated – people’s expectations of him) are undeliverable as they are outside his control (if not insane to even expect in the first place). Sociology majors will never make $60,000 because the realities of the labor market prevent it. Peggy Johnson will still have to pay for her gas no matter what Obama’s charming eyes and pointless platitudes may have told her. The black community’s success is largely within their control and no matter what Obama says or does, I don’t think he will be able to deliver to them economic equality before their patience with him runs out. White liberals will never be “forgiven” by the likes of the Black Panthers, Rev. Wright and other racists, not to mention race pimps whose careers depend on perpetuating racism. And, perhaps most importantly, the economy is not going to recover as quickly as spoiled-brat Americans are accustomed to. Quite the contrary, it’s going to go into a long and harsh recession, people are going to get laid off and this says absolutely NOTHING about the economic-time-bomb known social security and medicare.
i.e. – It kind of reminds me of my senior prom where I graduated in this small, pathetic, Wisconsin town. Where the prom was the PEAK, the PINNACLE of the majority of these students’ lives. Very few were going to go onto college, very few were going to do anything in their lives. There was no hope. But, there they were, partying it up, as if life was going to continue on like that forever. And they were in for just of a rude awakening as the currently ecstatic Obama supporters are today. Quite frankly, it's all downhill from here.
Ergo, since Obama CAN’T make all these insane people’s dreams come true, and quite the contrary, the economic realities of the nation are going to turn them into nightmares, it is a practical guarantee Obama will have to start blaming other people and things and come up with excuses as to why sociology majors aren’t making $60,000 and not every girl has a pony in the back yard. Therefore, I present to you;
CAPTAIN CAPITALISM’S PREDICTIONS OF OBAMA EXCUSES;
1. I inherited a recessionary economy – This is true. Obama did inherit this economy. This will be his most truthful and honest excuse. However, he will blame it on “Bush” or “Republican” or “capitalist” policies. This is where he will be an outright liar as it was concepts like “not paying back what you owe,” “borrowing more than you can afford,” and ultimately “being irresponsible and letting other people pay for it” which are socialist in nature that are to blame for the current mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. i.e. – he will not have the gall to blame the American people for his mistakes, he will take the politically self-serving route and blame the republicans.
2. Racism still exists and is keeping minorities down. – Racism is not going away folks. The victim mentality and the race pimping industry is too big. Forget this country fought a civil war to free slaves. Forget the fact this is the first western nation to elect a minority to its primo position. And forget that it’s things like teen pregnancy, poor graduation rates/schools, absentee parents, lack of college and a broken down family that oppresses blacks and other minorities more than racism ever could. There’s no money in that. Racism will have to still be around to explain why Obama’s policies have failed to lift the black community out of poverty, and instead of growing some cajones, breaking taboos, and genuinely helping out the black community, Obama will tell them what they want to hear to stay in power…and sadly, the black community will still be no better off.
3. Obstructionist Republicans in congress – Obama is a socialist. Again, let us not try to pathetically argue against this point. The problem is Obama also got elected by what is largely ignorance. I don’t know how many friends I have, after showing them the chart showing US government spending being on par with NORWAY who tell me “Obama isn’t going to make this a socialist nation.” Regardless, inevitably these people will wake up. Not to mention 48% of the population in the US is not ignorant, know simple basic economics and did indeed vote against socialism. They won’t go quietly into the night. So what will happen (I’m predicting) is a similar repeat of the 1994 congress where Clinton and the Republicans were basically at a stand still and nothing got done (THANK GOD!) To the dismay of Pelosi, Reid and Obama, the remaining Republicans are not just going to allow them to ram socialism down the throat of America . Obama supporters will ask “what’s the hold up?” to which Obama will respond “obstructionist Republicans.”
4. Big Oil/Corporate America/Wall Street – Whether gas prices go back up, health care goes up, the economy stays in recession, unemployment skyrockets, it will not be the fact the population is becoming less and less productive thereby necessitating more dollars to buy that same gallon of gas, no, it’s because Corporate America or Big Oil are keeping you down. This will not only rationalize why Obama will increase corporate taxes by 50%, but allow him, again, to avoid putting blame where it is rightly deserved (the lazy American public) and place it on a boogey man everyone loves to hate. Taxes will increase, corporations will invest less or move offshore, jobs will be lost and Obama will again blame corporate America for having the audacity to leave. Ignorant masses too stupid to realize the downward spiral this will create will cheer as Obama increases corporate taxes, but in the very next sentence viscerally scream at corporations for daring to leave for greener pastures.
There will be other excuses, but these are just the ones off the top of my head.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
News Flash!: US No Longer Racist
That's right. From here on out, knowingly or not, the race pimps can no longer claim this is a racist nation.
We are the first to elect a black candidate president/premier of our nation.
My question is when are those racist, fascist Europeans going to quit being so damn racist and get with the program and elect a minority to their #1 position.
;P
We are the first to elect a black candidate president/premier of our nation.
My question is when are those racist, fascist Europeans going to quit being so damn racist and get with the program and elect a minority to their #1 position.
;P
Farewell to The "Economist"
Yeah, when a publication titled "The Economist" starts to advocate socialism, you know it isn't going to be worth $130 a year to subscribe to.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Norway is More Capitalist than the US
I often say things and they're so outlandish that people immediately dismiss me and couldn't care less.
Things like;
"There's a Dotcom bubble."
Or
"There's a housing bubble."
Or
"There's a problem with Asian currencies."
Of course if you say enough outlandish things and they come true you start to get some credibility and so allow me another outlandish "crazy" prediction.
Norway will become more capitalist than the US in a very short period of time.
The reason I say this is simply, because it's true (remember, I have no opinions or skin in any game, I'm just concerned about fact). And the fact is Norway is progressively becoming more and more capitalist while the US is becoming more and more socialist.
Now I have a group of friends, who despite knowing me for all these years, still dismiss me as some "crazy" capitalist-fascist-economist who just "doesn't get it" and does this economics shtick as some kind of attention-getter. As if this were a gimmick to attract attention. But, as is always the case, I have data to prove it and will instead tender it to my reading public.
Government expenditures as a percent of GDP is hands down the authoritative, single statistic to measure of "capitalist" or "socialist" a nation is. The higher this number, the more socialist a country is as the government accounts for a higher and higher portion of economic activity. Now some will contend it should be government REVENUE as a % GDP, but if you think about it, it should be expenditures in that if you run a deficit, it's only future taxation that will not only finance, but pay for those expenditures. Ergo, spending as a % of GDP is the true measure vs. revenue.
Regardless, I was shocked to find out that pretty much right now, the presumed "capitalist" US and the presumed "socialist" Norway, spend practically the same percentage of GDP on the public sector.
Of course this will wreak all sorts of identity crisis havoc upon ideologues;
1. The left's star child is trending DOWNWARD in it's taxation that it now has comparable tax rates to the US. HOW could this possibly happen? Additionally, will they still support Norway as it (presumably) continues its trend BELOW US tax rates? Will they still cheer Norway as a "socialist utopia" when in fact it is more capitalistic than the US?
2. Will not the US lose it's reputation of being an evil bastion of capitalism and earn a reputation more inline with it's socialist taxation levels? Not to mention, if it's already on a Norwegian level of taxation, won't Obama push it beyond that? And ergo, will not the leftist forces start cheering for the (GASP) US o' A?
and of course;
3. Will the left ever admit Norway more or less owes its premiere position in standards of living due to that accursed commodity known as OIL? Or since it's in state ownership, then it's all good (like Hugo Chavez, Amadijonmustard of Iran and other similarily minded-American-haters?)
Besides the hyperbole, I would be really curious to hear from any Norwegians about this. These numbers are not bunk, Norway is seriously about to become more capitalist than the US (not to mention Canada).
Anybody from Norway have any commentary on this?
Post script - there has been much discussion about oil and so forth and how it affects Norway. I, with great intelligence and foresight, wrote this quote some time ago.
Things like;
"There's a Dotcom bubble."
Or
"There's a housing bubble."
Or
"There's a problem with Asian currencies."
Of course if you say enough outlandish things and they come true you start to get some credibility and so allow me another outlandish "crazy" prediction.
Norway will become more capitalist than the US in a very short period of time.
The reason I say this is simply, because it's true (remember, I have no opinions or skin in any game, I'm just concerned about fact). And the fact is Norway is progressively becoming more and more capitalist while the US is becoming more and more socialist.
Now I have a group of friends, who despite knowing me for all these years, still dismiss me as some "crazy" capitalist-fascist-economist who just "doesn't get it" and does this economics shtick as some kind of attention-getter. As if this were a gimmick to attract attention. But, as is always the case, I have data to prove it and will instead tender it to my reading public.
Government expenditures as a percent of GDP is hands down the authoritative, single statistic to measure of "capitalist" or "socialist" a nation is. The higher this number, the more socialist a country is as the government accounts for a higher and higher portion of economic activity. Now some will contend it should be government REVENUE as a % GDP, but if you think about it, it should be expenditures in that if you run a deficit, it's only future taxation that will not only finance, but pay for those expenditures. Ergo, spending as a % of GDP is the true measure vs. revenue.
Regardless, I was shocked to find out that pretty much right now, the presumed "capitalist" US and the presumed "socialist" Norway, spend practically the same percentage of GDP on the public sector.
Of course this will wreak all sorts of identity crisis havoc upon ideologues;
1. The left's star child is trending DOWNWARD in it's taxation that it now has comparable tax rates to the US. HOW could this possibly happen? Additionally, will they still support Norway as it (presumably) continues its trend BELOW US tax rates? Will they still cheer Norway as a "socialist utopia" when in fact it is more capitalistic than the US?
2. Will not the US lose it's reputation of being an evil bastion of capitalism and earn a reputation more inline with it's socialist taxation levels? Not to mention, if it's already on a Norwegian level of taxation, won't Obama push it beyond that? And ergo, will not the leftist forces start cheering for the (GASP) US o' A?
and of course;
3. Will the left ever admit Norway more or less owes its premiere position in standards of living due to that accursed commodity known as OIL? Or since it's in state ownership, then it's all good (like Hugo Chavez, Amadijonmustard of Iran and other similarily minded-American-haters?)
Besides the hyperbole, I would be really curious to hear from any Norwegians about this. These numbers are not bunk, Norway is seriously about to become more capitalist than the US (not to mention Canada).
Anybody from Norway have any commentary on this?
Post script - there has been much discussion about oil and so forth and how it affects Norway. I, with great intelligence and foresight, wrote this quote some time ago.
US vs. OECD Corporate Tax Rates
I've embarked on a study where to invest my money should the democrats and Obama take command of the government. And of the many variables I'm looking at, corporate taxes are one of them.
But one of the rarer known things among the US public is that, bar Japan, the US has the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world. Of course the irony is that the "capitalist" US should have lower corporate tax rates that the "socialist" Europe.
What's interesting about this chart however is that ultimately, what forces governments to spend within their means is not the people all of the sudden getting their heads out of their asses and starting to look at things like the federal budget and social security and voting to reign in the budget. Rather, instead, it's the fact governments tax and regulate to such an extent they create a hostile environment to business to the point business decides to pull up its roots and move elsewhere (Haliburton moving off to Abu Dhabi is a perfect example). In other words, it's the good old fashioned law of capitalism known as competition that still governs and forces economic entities, even as large as the US federal government, to ultimately and inevitably live within their means because there is competition for those corporate tax dollars and smart countries are realizing that if they lower their corporate tax rate they could perhaps poach significant tax revenues from other countries.
Of course, we all hate those evil icky, mean corporations. So thank heavens they're leaving..and given the 'change' that's coming, who can blame them?
But one of the rarer known things among the US public is that, bar Japan, the US has the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world. Of course the irony is that the "capitalist" US should have lower corporate tax rates that the "socialist" Europe.
What's interesting about this chart however is that ultimately, what forces governments to spend within their means is not the people all of the sudden getting their heads out of their asses and starting to look at things like the federal budget and social security and voting to reign in the budget. Rather, instead, it's the fact governments tax and regulate to such an extent they create a hostile environment to business to the point business decides to pull up its roots and move elsewhere (Haliburton moving off to Abu Dhabi is a perfect example). In other words, it's the good old fashioned law of capitalism known as competition that still governs and forces economic entities, even as large as the US federal government, to ultimately and inevitably live within their means because there is competition for those corporate tax dollars and smart countries are realizing that if they lower their corporate tax rate they could perhaps poach significant tax revenues from other countries.
Of course, we all hate those evil icky, mean corporations. So thank heavens they're leaving..and given the 'change' that's coming, who can blame them?
Friday, October 31, 2008
Virginity by Major
An interesting chart I found.
Can really see any trend or relationship there. All I'm happy about is that economists are not on the right of the curve, but quite average.
Can really see any trend or relationship there. All I'm happy about is that economists are not on the right of the curve, but quite average.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Economist Endorses Barack Obama
The Economist has endorsed Barack Obama.
And I now no longer endorse The Economist.
Sorry, after what is approaching a 12 year love affair with The Economist, my formerly beautiful fair maiden has gotten incredibly fat and ugly and taken a sharp turn to the left as of recent. With a new chief editor I, along with many others, have noticed this deterioration, but this is just plain unacceptable.
How a formerly great publication such as The Economist, based on simple laws of economics and freedom, has now come to support Obama, a socialist (and let there be no if, and, or's or but's about it), shows how there is no longer any intellectual honest or integrity left at the "rag" and they've simply become another member of the Main Stream Media, posing as some kind of intellectually unique publication.
I am now to believe, that all the charts, data and empirical evidence it has furnished over the years were in error? Were faulted? And their opposition to the corporate tax was wrong all this time? Free markets are NOT the way to go? Unfortunately for The Economist web sites such as the OECD, FRED Database and others provide us the information needed to develop and create our own opinions, making The Economist obsolete.
Of course, no doubt The Economist will see it's readership go up. It has abandoned its niche market of intelligent, intellectually honest men and women desperately seeking truth, opting to instead woo the masses by telling them what they want to hear. And if you think about it, that's only befitting.
It's the exact same thing Obama is doing.
And I now no longer endorse The Economist.
Sorry, after what is approaching a 12 year love affair with The Economist, my formerly beautiful fair maiden has gotten incredibly fat and ugly and taken a sharp turn to the left as of recent. With a new chief editor I, along with many others, have noticed this deterioration, but this is just plain unacceptable.
How a formerly great publication such as The Economist, based on simple laws of economics and freedom, has now come to support Obama, a socialist (and let there be no if, and, or's or but's about it), shows how there is no longer any intellectual honest or integrity left at the "rag" and they've simply become another member of the Main Stream Media, posing as some kind of intellectually unique publication.
I am now to believe, that all the charts, data and empirical evidence it has furnished over the years were in error? Were faulted? And their opposition to the corporate tax was wrong all this time? Free markets are NOT the way to go? Unfortunately for The Economist web sites such as the OECD, FRED Database and others provide us the information needed to develop and create our own opinions, making The Economist obsolete.
Of course, no doubt The Economist will see it's readership go up. It has abandoned its niche market of intelligent, intellectually honest men and women desperately seeking truth, opting to instead woo the masses by telling them what they want to hear. And if you think about it, that's only befitting.
It's the exact same thing Obama is doing.
Cartograms
A while ago my sister sent me this cartogram, expanding or contracting the size of each country based on its GDP.
Just saw this one in The Economist;
What I noticed is that for the amount of GDP we produce, we sure produce very little carbon emissions.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Captain is Looking for a Cartoonist
Fellow junior, deputy, aspiring, official or otherwise economists.
I have decided with my readership going up many thanks to Small Dead Animals, Instapundit and what have you, that it's about high time I get a cartoonist for your reading pleasure.
The job pays nothing and I can only promise about 2,000-4,000 hits a day, but if there are any aspiring cartoonists out there looking for a web site to get some exposure, I'd ask that you kindly consider Captain Capitalism.
Please e-mail me your cartoons if you are interested and send the link to anybody you think might have an interest.
CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com
Thanks!
The Captain
I have decided with my readership going up many thanks to Small Dead Animals, Instapundit and what have you, that it's about high time I get a cartoonist for your reading pleasure.
The job pays nothing and I can only promise about 2,000-4,000 hits a day, but if there are any aspiring cartoonists out there looking for a web site to get some exposure, I'd ask that you kindly consider Captain Capitalism.
Please e-mail me your cartoons if you are interested and send the link to anybody you think might have an interest.
CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com
Thanks!
The Captain
Guest Writer - Mistrust Fund Kid
As it tis busy season and I'm in the middle of teaching dance classes, I have opened Cappy Cap up to several writers to help me keep the blog delivering at least a daily dose of wisdom while I pursue my contribution to GDP. Keep in mind they may not necessarily be my opinions, so don't come yelling at me if you don't like something. Regardless, my friend, monikered the Mistrust Fund Kid has written this piece reminiscent of a post I wrote quite a while ago. I hope you enjoy it;
Good evening all. The gracious Captain has asked me to make a few comments here. This is in the interest of cultural diversity; although the primary point of diversity between the Captain and I mostly amounts to a disagreement about what level of cynicism is an appropriate defense in the face of a nation that is taking on water rapidly.
I suppose if the Captain and I were on the Titanic, the nature of our disagreements would likely have been over which bottles of scotch to break open, and whether the string quartet should play something just a little more snappy.
As you might have gleaned, then, the diversity scrimmage line moves slowly around here.
What I present here tonight is anecdotal, yet powerful evidence that the economic party in the US is indeed over. We have not realized it yet, since we are at that phase of the party where we are still milling about in the halls, in the parking lot, looking for our cars, saying the goodbyes and perhaps attempting to achieve a little backseat romance. As we stand outside in the cool night air, we are mere hours away from the hangover, yet that has not crossed our minds yet.
The first exhibit is the most obvious. The luxuries to which we have become accustomed will be departing.
Joe White:
When Boomers ran out of cash, they financed their dreams. The U.S. household saving rate plunged to 2% of income in the 2000-2005 period, when Boomers were hitting their earning peak, from 10% during the early 1980s. Imposing McMansions sheltered occupants with five-figure credit-card balances, exotic balloon mortgages and V-8 powered sport-utility vehicles financed over five and six years, all adjuncts to a lifestyle that depended on cheap credit and cheap oil.
The boomers are good dreamers. Always have been. What they have had great difficulty with is accountability and responsibility. The topheavy demographic forces they have exerted have allowed them to live in a wonderland of their own creation, fueled by debt and under the cover of a cultural standard that they set. Any dissent was laughed away, it could not compete statistically with the dreams and delusions of the boomers.
They brought us the 'upscale' movement - nothing was ever good enough for their tastes. A profound sense of entitlement to material goods intersected with their appetite for luxury, the result being an amazing growth in a service and consumer economy.
Now to segue into the political.
Richard Berry:
This is all merely typical of the smug, cocksure Boomer Elite. This is a group that breaks things. It has set the wrecking ball to institutions that are the essential glue of our society (marriage and the family), the basis of our political system (federalism and the separation of powers), the engine of our prosperity (the free market), the guarantor of our freedom (the military), and the glory of our history (the Constitution, participatory democracy).
Although our Masters of the Universe insist we credit them as moral paragons, they are among the most luxury loving, wealth flaunting population ever seen in the world. Whenever a Hollywood celebutard mouths some perfect imbecility in front of a camera, it is sure to be done from a five star resort hotel or on the red carpet of one of those absurdly frequent self-congratulation festivals. The silk tie, moussed hair crowd on Wall Street is no better.
This generation of Americans has treated itself to one unchallenged intellectual conceit after another for years. They are a blaring symphony of cognitive dissonance - claiming to be peace-loving, yet capable of violent protest. Living in freedom and disparaging the military who do the dirty work for them. Longing for leftist wealth redistribution yet cowering behind self-created tax loopholes. They have attempted to collect the wealth of this nation in their private accounts even as they have run our nation ten trillion in debt; the payment of which will be deferred to their children as they step off the taxpayer treadmill by the hundreds of thousands in the coming years.
To be fair, they never realized the mess they were leaving behind for us.
It would be a mistake to assume that their destruction of our economy was the result of some malignant drive to wreak havoc.
Rather, is was their relentless pursuit of of material gain, and utter dismissal of all warnings that have led us here. Being cowards, they found it easier to convince themselves that their profligate ways were not harmful, indeed that they were actually helpful; this allowed them to totally disregard any thought that they would ever have to sacrifice anything.
The America that you younger citizens have grown up in was actually an anomaly. The boomers are leaving the party after drinking the best of the booze and only throwing in a few dollars for the tab. You get the leftovers and the bill. With interest.
But the story is not over quite yet. Because they went too far too soon. This collapse in the economy is going to pull them down with it. They didn't quite make it out the door before the collapse.
We will continue this line of thought next time.
The Mistrust Fund Kid
Good evening all. The gracious Captain has asked me to make a few comments here. This is in the interest of cultural diversity; although the primary point of diversity between the Captain and I mostly amounts to a disagreement about what level of cynicism is an appropriate defense in the face of a nation that is taking on water rapidly.
I suppose if the Captain and I were on the Titanic, the nature of our disagreements would likely have been over which bottles of scotch to break open, and whether the string quartet should play something just a little more snappy.
As you might have gleaned, then, the diversity scrimmage line moves slowly around here.
What I present here tonight is anecdotal, yet powerful evidence that the economic party in the US is indeed over. We have not realized it yet, since we are at that phase of the party where we are still milling about in the halls, in the parking lot, looking for our cars, saying the goodbyes and perhaps attempting to achieve a little backseat romance. As we stand outside in the cool night air, we are mere hours away from the hangover, yet that has not crossed our minds yet.
The first exhibit is the most obvious. The luxuries to which we have become accustomed will be departing.
Joe White:
When Boomers ran out of cash, they financed their dreams. The U.S. household saving rate plunged to 2% of income in the 2000-2005 period, when Boomers were hitting their earning peak, from 10% during the early 1980s. Imposing McMansions sheltered occupants with five-figure credit-card balances, exotic balloon mortgages and V-8 powered sport-utility vehicles financed over five and six years, all adjuncts to a lifestyle that depended on cheap credit and cheap oil.
The boomers are good dreamers. Always have been. What they have had great difficulty with is accountability and responsibility. The topheavy demographic forces they have exerted have allowed them to live in a wonderland of their own creation, fueled by debt and under the cover of a cultural standard that they set. Any dissent was laughed away, it could not compete statistically with the dreams and delusions of the boomers.
They brought us the 'upscale' movement - nothing was ever good enough for their tastes. A profound sense of entitlement to material goods intersected with their appetite for luxury, the result being an amazing growth in a service and consumer economy.
Now to segue into the political.
Richard Berry:
This is all merely typical of the smug, cocksure Boomer Elite. This is a group that breaks things. It has set the wrecking ball to institutions that are the essential glue of our society (marriage and the family), the basis of our political system (federalism and the separation of powers), the engine of our prosperity (the free market), the guarantor of our freedom (the military), and the glory of our history (the Constitution, participatory democracy).
Although our Masters of the Universe insist we credit them as moral paragons, they are among the most luxury loving, wealth flaunting population ever seen in the world. Whenever a Hollywood celebutard mouths some perfect imbecility in front of a camera, it is sure to be done from a five star resort hotel or on the red carpet of one of those absurdly frequent self-congratulation festivals. The silk tie, moussed hair crowd on Wall Street is no better.
This generation of Americans has treated itself to one unchallenged intellectual conceit after another for years. They are a blaring symphony of cognitive dissonance - claiming to be peace-loving, yet capable of violent protest. Living in freedom and disparaging the military who do the dirty work for them. Longing for leftist wealth redistribution yet cowering behind self-created tax loopholes. They have attempted to collect the wealth of this nation in their private accounts even as they have run our nation ten trillion in debt; the payment of which will be deferred to their children as they step off the taxpayer treadmill by the hundreds of thousands in the coming years.
To be fair, they never realized the mess they were leaving behind for us.
It would be a mistake to assume that their destruction of our economy was the result of some malignant drive to wreak havoc.
Rather, is was their relentless pursuit of of material gain, and utter dismissal of all warnings that have led us here. Being cowards, they found it easier to convince themselves that their profligate ways were not harmful, indeed that they were actually helpful; this allowed them to totally disregard any thought that they would ever have to sacrifice anything.
The America that you younger citizens have grown up in was actually an anomaly. The boomers are leaving the party after drinking the best of the booze and only throwing in a few dollars for the tab. You get the leftovers and the bill. With interest.
But the story is not over quite yet. Because they went too far too soon. This collapse in the economy is going to pull them down with it. They didn't quite make it out the door before the collapse.
We will continue this line of thought next time.
The Mistrust Fund Kid
Monday, October 27, 2008
Financial Fasting Holiday
I have guilt.
And the reason I have guilt is that I remember long ago the experiences that formed me and cut my teeth. And those experiences were putting myself through college, and not just college, but all living expenses, and doing so by working full time at the U of MN Police Department in their "campus cop" program WHILE ATTENDING SCHOOL FULL TIME and GRADUATING IN 3.5 YEARS.
I remember working over 120 hours in one Christmas week because not only would be get holiday pay (1.5 times) but if we'd get overtime on top of it, 2.25 times. This provided a perverse incentive at times to try to get 40 hours under your belt before midnight of Dec. 24th, and then try to work, if possible, all 48 hours of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to maximize your 2.25 time pay. Sleep deprivation was very common (and if you think I'm making this up, you may certainly feel free to contact any number of UMPD veterans from those days who will vouch for me).
I started at $6.90 and finished with an hourly wage of $9.10. Which means, at most I was making around $20 an hour. So even in my best year, I grossed $20,000 while in college.
Still, I managed ALL my tuition and ALL my living expenses.
Oh sure, you had to control the other side of the formula too; expenditures.
I remember renting a room for $179 a month. Shared a bathroom and a kitchen with a bunch of guys and nothing ever got cleaned. I remember bringing in a bottle of bleach to the bathroom, pouring it over the floor and the toilet and seeing it foam as it killed who knows what lethal biohazard. I remember only going to McDonald's four times in my days at college BECAUSE MCDONALD'S WAS TOO EXPENSIVE! And I remember not drinking until I was 21 because the concept of spending $5 a drink, not to mention the time wasted trying to chat up the Bambi Sociology majors at the bar, was an impossible waste of time.
Ergo, why I have very little pity for people who "claim" they're "poor" and "can't get out of it" but meanwhile manage to have children they can't support.
Regardless, today I obviously make more than $6.90 an hour. But it is because I make significantly more than $6.90 an hour that I often look back, in an ironic sense, fondly to my tortuous days at UMPD in that back then I damn well know I earned it. In other words, I feel like I'm getting soft. I'm getting weak.
Could I manage another 120 hour work week?
Could I patrol 50 miles on bike a night for 3 years straight?
Could I walk the 10 miles a night in 10 below zero temperatures as I did in my youth?
The primary point is I don't want to forget what I had to go through to get to where I am today. And it is because of that, that I recently started seeing the point in "fasting."
Fasting is largely a religious activity. Various religions have it for whatever purposes they may be, but I started thinking that it would be a damn good idea to see if I could live within my old (inflationary adjusted, of course) budget of $5 a day of discretionary spending for two weeks. ie- a "financial fasting."
While this was for my own personal purposes, when I got to thinking about it, in the context of the financial/housing debacle we have before us, I started seeing "financial fasting" as actually something the US and other western nations are in dire need of.
The world's largest economic crisis since the Great Depression has been brought about, quite simply, by people spending beyond their means. Fiscal discipline and austerity is never taught, and because the west has been so successful (well, until recently anyway) we've been able to get away with it. But if there was a financial fasting, an INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY, where people spend an abysmally little amount just to see if they could do it, as well as remind them of how hard times can get, I think it would do a world of wonder for not only personal finances, but national finances as well.
Ergo, the Captain has decided to institute a new holiday, of which it is purely voluntary to participate in.
Starting October 31st, people will have to live on less than $5 a day discretionary spending for two weeks (discretionary meaning outside the mortgage, car payment and various utility bills).
It will be called "The Financial Fasting."
You will have to buy booze at the liquor store and drink at home.
You will have to borrow movies instead of going out to watch them in the $12 per ticket theaters.
You will have to cut back on heat and wear sweaters.
You will have to eat bagels at home instead of going out.
You will have to spend time with family and loved ones to be entertained and engage in that long lost art of "engaging conversation" to derive utility from this time.
It is a period of where we test ourselves and our ability to get by on the bare essentials and, dare I say it, find out what's really important in life beyond consumption and spending.
And then, two weeks later, on November 13th at the midnight switching over to the 14th, there will be a grand celebration where you can then spend the money you've saved over the two weeks on something glorious and glamorous. There will be excessive mirth. High end dinners. Gaiety. Men can buy that plasma screen TV they always wanted. Ladies can buy that new dress they always wanted. And of course (since I am the founder of this holiday and can therefore dictate the rules) the Captain mandates French Maid outfits for all the ladies (if you don't like the rules, then make your own holiday!)
Of course, the reason I set the fasting date on October 31st, is because I am damn well going to see the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace which comes out on the 14th, so truth be known, that's why it starts on October 31st.
Regardless, that doesn't change how serious I am about this holiday, nor the immense good it could potentially do. Therefore, if you find this a good idea, as no doubt some of you do, forward this onto your various friends and colleagues.
Remember, October 31st! You fast. 2 weeks. $75 bucks. No more.
The Captain will participate.
REFINEMENT
Based on the responses I have received from the various reading public I have decided to institute the following rules;
1. The $75 should be for each person, not per family. So if you have a spouse and a child, you will have...$225 (if I did the math right???)
2. Yes, you can fill up your gas tank before Oct. 31st. Or you can bike it.
3. The $75 applies to DISCRETIONARY expenditures. ie- Things that are already not set in stone. So if you have a car payment or students loans, etc. those are exempt. I'm talking stuff you DON'T have to pay. If you can live off of $5 a day, then you have traveled the "path o' the Captain."
4. A reminder or perhaps better stated, a bit of information I left out. Starvation is certainly par for the course. I was, WAS, 145 pounds when I was a senior in high school. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in college that I was at a party and there was a scale at the house the party was at where I weighed myself on it and found myself to be 118 pounds.
Sarcasm set aside, it is things like that, that make me remember what it was like to be poor and to ensure myself I don't forget it.
And the reason I have guilt is that I remember long ago the experiences that formed me and cut my teeth. And those experiences were putting myself through college, and not just college, but all living expenses, and doing so by working full time at the U of MN Police Department in their "campus cop" program WHILE ATTENDING SCHOOL FULL TIME and GRADUATING IN 3.5 YEARS.
I remember working over 120 hours in one Christmas week because not only would be get holiday pay (1.5 times) but if we'd get overtime on top of it, 2.25 times. This provided a perverse incentive at times to try to get 40 hours under your belt before midnight of Dec. 24th, and then try to work, if possible, all 48 hours of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to maximize your 2.25 time pay. Sleep deprivation was very common (and if you think I'm making this up, you may certainly feel free to contact any number of UMPD veterans from those days who will vouch for me).
I started at $6.90 and finished with an hourly wage of $9.10. Which means, at most I was making around $20 an hour. So even in my best year, I grossed $20,000 while in college.
Still, I managed ALL my tuition and ALL my living expenses.
Oh sure, you had to control the other side of the formula too; expenditures.
I remember renting a room for $179 a month. Shared a bathroom and a kitchen with a bunch of guys and nothing ever got cleaned. I remember bringing in a bottle of bleach to the bathroom, pouring it over the floor and the toilet and seeing it foam as it killed who knows what lethal biohazard. I remember only going to McDonald's four times in my days at college BECAUSE MCDONALD'S WAS TOO EXPENSIVE! And I remember not drinking until I was 21 because the concept of spending $5 a drink, not to mention the time wasted trying to chat up the Bambi Sociology majors at the bar, was an impossible waste of time.
Ergo, why I have very little pity for people who "claim" they're "poor" and "can't get out of it" but meanwhile manage to have children they can't support.
Regardless, today I obviously make more than $6.90 an hour. But it is because I make significantly more than $6.90 an hour that I often look back, in an ironic sense, fondly to my tortuous days at UMPD in that back then I damn well know I earned it. In other words, I feel like I'm getting soft. I'm getting weak.
Could I manage another 120 hour work week?
Could I patrol 50 miles on bike a night for 3 years straight?
Could I walk the 10 miles a night in 10 below zero temperatures as I did in my youth?
The primary point is I don't want to forget what I had to go through to get to where I am today. And it is because of that, that I recently started seeing the point in "fasting."
Fasting is largely a religious activity. Various religions have it for whatever purposes they may be, but I started thinking that it would be a damn good idea to see if I could live within my old (inflationary adjusted, of course) budget of $5 a day of discretionary spending for two weeks. ie- a "financial fasting."
While this was for my own personal purposes, when I got to thinking about it, in the context of the financial/housing debacle we have before us, I started seeing "financial fasting" as actually something the US and other western nations are in dire need of.
The world's largest economic crisis since the Great Depression has been brought about, quite simply, by people spending beyond their means. Fiscal discipline and austerity is never taught, and because the west has been so successful (well, until recently anyway) we've been able to get away with it. But if there was a financial fasting, an INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY, where people spend an abysmally little amount just to see if they could do it, as well as remind them of how hard times can get, I think it would do a world of wonder for not only personal finances, but national finances as well.
Ergo, the Captain has decided to institute a new holiday, of which it is purely voluntary to participate in.
Starting October 31st, people will have to live on less than $5 a day discretionary spending for two weeks (discretionary meaning outside the mortgage, car payment and various utility bills).
It will be called "The Financial Fasting."
You will have to buy booze at the liquor store and drink at home.
You will have to borrow movies instead of going out to watch them in the $12 per ticket theaters.
You will have to cut back on heat and wear sweaters.
You will have to eat bagels at home instead of going out.
You will have to spend time with family and loved ones to be entertained and engage in that long lost art of "engaging conversation" to derive utility from this time.
It is a period of where we test ourselves and our ability to get by on the bare essentials and, dare I say it, find out what's really important in life beyond consumption and spending.
And then, two weeks later, on November 13th at the midnight switching over to the 14th, there will be a grand celebration where you can then spend the money you've saved over the two weeks on something glorious and glamorous. There will be excessive mirth. High end dinners. Gaiety. Men can buy that plasma screen TV they always wanted. Ladies can buy that new dress they always wanted. And of course (since I am the founder of this holiday and can therefore dictate the rules) the Captain mandates French Maid outfits for all the ladies (if you don't like the rules, then make your own holiday!)
Of course, the reason I set the fasting date on October 31st, is because I am damn well going to see the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace which comes out on the 14th, so truth be known, that's why it starts on October 31st.
Regardless, that doesn't change how serious I am about this holiday, nor the immense good it could potentially do. Therefore, if you find this a good idea, as no doubt some of you do, forward this onto your various friends and colleagues.
Remember, October 31st! You fast. 2 weeks. $75 bucks. No more.
The Captain will participate.
REFINEMENT
Based on the responses I have received from the various reading public I have decided to institute the following rules;
1. The $75 should be for each person, not per family. So if you have a spouse and a child, you will have...$225 (if I did the math right???)
2. Yes, you can fill up your gas tank before Oct. 31st. Or you can bike it.
3. The $75 applies to DISCRETIONARY expenditures. ie- Things that are already not set in stone. So if you have a car payment or students loans, etc. those are exempt. I'm talking stuff you DON'T have to pay. If you can live off of $5 a day, then you have traveled the "path o' the Captain."
4. A reminder or perhaps better stated, a bit of information I left out. Starvation is certainly par for the course. I was, WAS, 145 pounds when I was a senior in high school. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in college that I was at a party and there was a scale at the house the party was at where I weighed myself on it and found myself to be 118 pounds.
Sarcasm set aside, it is things like that, that make me remember what it was like to be poor and to ensure myself I don't forget it.
The Wealth is Already Spread
I know;
Facts.
What a bummer.
They keep getting in the way of hope and change don't they?
I mean, can't those evil meanie right wingers just let us be without pestering us with those damn facts?
You see, my professor told me everything is relative. It is my perception of reality that is my own reality, ergo, whatever I believe is my reality.
Now you're messing with my reality where the reason I'm poor is not because I majored in a worthless subject or never graduated from high school or had 3 kids before I was 17, but because evil rich people constantly oppress me and keep me down. That and my reality that Obama is going to save us all...though he really hasn't detailed how, but that doesn't matter. My reality, the only one that matters is he will because I want to believe that.
Now you get out of here with those damn statistics and facts and start putting up the ones I want. My parents always got me what I wanted when I was a kid and the government and public schools told me it was never my fault unless something good happened. And let me live in my own reality!
Fascist!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Captain Recommends
I've been fortunate enough to have some friends help me out with selling my book and some of those friends happen to be authors themselves. Because of their kindness I sincerely recommend at least looking at their books, and if any of them seem interesting to you, please feel free to purchase those books. Here they are;
Dr. King Banaian, the economics chair at St. Cloud State's economics department has come out with a book very recently and it is some high end economic analytical stuff.
Jane Van Ryan, another friend of mine has written a book about an Evelyn Hazen, but long story short, it's one of the best soap opera/dramas, but more importantly it's true. Story of a guy who led a girl on for 15 years and she inevitably sued him and won.
And finally, there's Marty Andrade. He wrote a short piece on burger joints in the Twin Cities. If you happen to find yourself in the Twin Cities area and want a good burger, this is your guide.
Dr. King Banaian, the economics chair at St. Cloud State's economics department has come out with a book very recently and it is some high end economic analytical stuff.
Jane Van Ryan, another friend of mine has written a book about an Evelyn Hazen, but long story short, it's one of the best soap opera/dramas, but more importantly it's true. Story of a guy who led a girl on for 15 years and she inevitably sued him and won.
If all the economics starts to bore you and romance/revenge dramas may not be your cup of tea, JR Hume wrote a science fiction book titled Gehenna Station.
And finally, there's Marty Andrade. He wrote a short piece on burger joints in the Twin Cities. If you happen to find yourself in the Twin Cities area and want a good burger, this is your guide.
Blame Big Oil!
Well, if it was Big Oil that made prices go up, then certainly it must be Big Oil that has made prices go down;
Oh, but wait, we're not going to hear that from the leftists or the brainwashed masses are we? Because that doesn't fit the script, does it?
Or, wait. Let me guess. A specialty of leftists everywhere when reality doesn't conform to the script; conspiracy theories.
ie-"Well, they're just lowering prices before the election."
Am I right?
Oh, but wait, we're not going to hear that from the leftists or the brainwashed masses are we? Because that doesn't fit the script, does it?
Or, wait. Let me guess. A specialty of leftists everywhere when reality doesn't conform to the script; conspiracy theories.
ie-"Well, they're just lowering prices before the election."
Am I right?
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