A Tale of Two Cities in Education

On my latest economic project to predict where your money is safest from the now closing clutches of socialism in the US, I came across some education statistics at the OECD. Now of course we know that education is broken here in the US with no hope whatsoever of it ever being repaired as education is primarily used as a means to employ people and not educate children, and dare you ever suggest or demand some semblance of improvement or efficiency or fiscal austerity, you are immediately branded as hating children. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that in the end our children, despite the US being a first would country, are woefully and inadequately educated when compared to our international peers.
But what stood out to me the most was another country; Korea. Korea is one of the highest scoring countries on the PISA tests (the international standardized test scores put out by the OECD). But it's not so much that Korea scored well, but two other things that stood out.

One, they spend barely half the amount per student we do in the US (again confirming something we've always known; that more money does not equal better students, just richer teacher union members)


Two, and perhaps even more interesting, is that in Korea the teachers spend the least amount of time actually teaching their kids. Again, just half the amount of time as what is spent here in the US;

It was this statistic, that got me thinking and more or less corroborated something I already knew;

The problem of poor education results in America is not so much the teachers, as much as it is the parents.

Oooooo! He didn't just say that, did he?

Yes, he did.

You see, culture plays an immense role in these figures on many different levels. First, if the children are only being taught with half the time as in the US, it suggests to me Korean parents are quite adamant AND A PRESENT FORCE in the education of their children. They make sure they do their studies, finish their homework, attend school and behave. Based on my experiences substitute teaching as well as seeing my generation starting to have kids, I realized an unacceptably high percentage of American parents treat the schools as a massive baby sitting program where they can dump off the kids and outsource the education to the public schools and take no further interest in their childrens' education. They think that there's no parental responsibility in their childrens' education aside from hounding them occasionally about doing their homework. Ergo, mom and dad make sure junior gets C's and D's, and doesn't really bother sitting the kid down and explaining to him the importance of not only doing well, but behaving as well.

Second, by the sheer level of efficiency where Koreans can outscore their American counterparts with HALF the budget and HALF the teaching time, suggests to me there are very little "problem students" in the class. ie-the kids show up and they actually are there to study and take their education seriously. The teacher does not have to constantly discipline, stop lecture, stop writing, etc. to deal with class clowns, disobedient children and other interruptions that not only take away from the serious students' education, but takes more time and resources to accomplish the same amount of teaching. In other words, in Korea the children go to school, in America they go to a large day care facility with the half-hearted guise of it being a school or a place of learning and treat it as such.

Of course, I could be wrong. There could be other factors as I am not an expert on the Korean education system. All I know is that as a single guy with no kids, but still having to pay property taxes to fund the schools, I'm getting mighty sick and tired of being asked for more money for what without fail always guarantees to be more failure and a slightly larger day care operation. And perhaps if spending more results in no better or worse results, then maybe we should cut the public schools' budgets in half and start to emulate a more Korean style of education.

Pricing Themselves Out of the Market

#1. It's a lengthy article.

#2. I DID NOT WRITE THE ARTICLE. A woman did. So don't go biting my head off.

#3. Notice the economic themes of things like "opportunity cost" and people pricing themselves out of the market.

#4. The question I tender to all of you, does an American man today have any option but to be a man child?

You may read it here.

Peter Schiff

So here's my question to all the big time head honchos at all the banks;

Are you going to hire this guy (and guys like him) or are your egos so shattered and completely devastated you don't have the temerity or cajones to do so?

Die Hard Celebrates It's 20th Year Anniversary

That's right folks. If you want to feel old AND be part of Gen X, Die Hard turned 20 years old this year.

It was 1988, I was in the 8th grade, and there I saw what was hands down the best movie I had ever seen and is still to this day. I had never had a "hero" I much looked up to like my Dad's generation had Buck Jones or Roy Rogers. That is until my generation got John McClane. And did we get a hero. A normal guy like Indiana Jones who could take a beating and kill terrorists and above all in what was becoming a progressively politically correct country.

I even dressed up as him for Halloween my sophomore year in high school (notice all the things that were permissible back then which would have landed me in jail today)


Regardless, a very Cappy Cap salute to John McClane and Die Hard's 20th Anniversary.

God Bless Her!

Kick ass.

How Sub Prime Deadbeats are Like Hitler

Absolutely, the funniest thing, I have seen in a long time.

(and another reason to mayhaps buy my book I might add? ;)

Many thanks to William.

HAR!

When Obama supporters return to their normal lives.

My "You Need a Better Car" Story

It was requested I post another personal story about the Captain's previous escapades through life so here is another.

I was about 30 or 31 or so and back then I still had some youthful naivety about me and was thus still on the market, "playing the game" looking to date girls. I had my radio show at the time and invariably because I was a young and dapper radio show host who happened to moonlight as a dance instructor, the topic of lining me up with some attractive young listener of the female persuasion would continually recur.

Sure enough a caller called in saying she had the most perfect girl in the world for me that I should date her. I was reluctant as because what you learn in the radio world is that the sexiness of a woman's voice is inversely related to her actual sexiness, but this girl assured me her friend was beautiful, not fat and still on top of all that had a great personality.

I was reluctant so I told her to shoot me an e-mail and we'd discuss further. I received her e-mail within 5 minutes of the show ending, behooving me to respond and consider her friend. I said I would agree, but I wanted to see a NORMAL, FULL BODY LENGTH picture, nothing that was touched up, or an insane close up of what would be a pretty face on an enormously large girl. I wanted proof she was an attractive girl.

Sure enough, the next day I received the picture.

Stunning, cute redhead. Slim, and in very good shape. Long flowing hair. Her friend was not lying, she was quite attractive.

So I agreed that I would meet her friend and go out with her and sure enough within a couple days I had a lunch date set at Benihanna's.

We met and she was just as her pictures suggested, a very attractive woman. She worked in real estate, and at the time I was in banking, and so we had a very high end intelligent conversation about the real estate market, housing and the crash that was slowly starting to materialize. She was impressed with all my various activities and I was very impressed with her entrepreneurialism. The date lasted two hours, we more or less closed the place down for lunch, before I decided that it was getting pretty late and I'd have to return to work. We left with me fully expecting a second date.

Of course I wasn't fresh off the assembly line. I knew that the date in my opinion could have gone great, while she could perhaps have had a horrendous time, so I didn't bank on anything. That is until her friend e-mailed me complimenting me on my behavior and witicisms and conversation skills. Apparently I had impressed her friend and I should certainly ask her out on a second date, except there was just this one major thing I would have to do;

I really ought to get a nicer car.

I was then lectured by her friend that, yes, while she knew I was proud of my frugality and spending within my means, I was 30 and therefore had to drive a nicer car. Too old and experienced to be insulted or shocked, I kind of laughed inside and looked up into the sky as if I was saying to the old man upstairs, "Are you freaking kidding me?"

So I asked her, "Well, what's wrong with my VW?"

Granted it wasn't a high end Jetta or a new model, but it wasn't a bad car either. It was at the time 7 years old, in good shape, it was kept clean and ran just fine. And out of all three of my cars, it was the nicer one.

"Well, it's not like you're 25 anymore. You really need to get a nicer car. My friend kind of noticed and mentioned it. It's really something that could turn into a deal breaker."

Again, too experienced and old to really be shocked or to really care, I resigned myself to defeat and said, "Well does she still want to go out with me then or what?"

"Sure! You should call her and ask her out!"

Which I promptly did.

Now a lot of you who know me are asking yourselves, "What they hell, Captain? Why were you going to go out with this girl again after she proved herself to be so shallow? She mentioned your CAR wasn't nice enough?! Are you just trying to aim for some play? What gives?"

But have faith in your beloved Captain, have faith.

For while I had no intention of ever having a future with this girl, I decided to at least have a little fun with her.

I scheduled a date, told her I would pick her up and drove to my buddy's place to trade my Chevy in for her BMW for the evening.

I showed up in this high end BMW, pulled up to the girl's house. Walked up, rang the doorbell and as she came down, escorted to towards the Beamer.

She was looking around trying to find my presumed P.O.S. VW and when she finally realized I was making a bee- line for the Beamer she said, "Wait, is THIS your car?"

I said, "Yeah."

She said, "Well, wait, when did you get this?!"

"Today," I said. "Your friend said that you didn't like my other car so I decided to buy this one."

She was a little shocked to say the least. She couldn't understand somebody just "up and buying a Beamer" because she mentioned to her friend the guy she went on a date with had an unacceptable car.

We went on our second date and I didn't bother calling her back. Last she saw of me was me driving off in my buddy's BMW. But it teaches all of us a lesson;

It's not just stories about women who put more value on fake things like cars and clothes. These women exist. And sadly, they're passing up on some of the best men in the world because of their shallowness.

I'll Throw My Hat Into the Ring

Kate over at Small Dead Animals had this linked and thought though I am not the Canadian powerhouse she is, I might see if I could all the Cappy Cap readers to get me an honorable mention.

You can nominate here.

Requests for the Captain

Hi All,

I know a lot of you have been requesting data or just my advice and I apologize, but I've been really busy.

I can't promise anything because sometimes the data searching is prohibitive to my schedule (I'm in the middle of dance class season right now (SO SIGN UP FOR A DANCE CLASS IF YOU'RE IN THE TC METRO), but if you e-mail me at CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com that will remain more fresh in my mind and I'll be able to respond. No promises though!

Cpt.


PS-Oh, and e-mail me photos of all you readers out there! Would be nice to have a little photo book of all the different Captain Capitalismites out there!

Companies Receiving Bailout Money II

OK, many thanks to the intrepid Cappy Cap readers for I have received two links that are keeping tabs on which companies are receiving the bailout money;

1. Propublica

2. Bailoutsleuth

Remember, congress didn't listen to the people, and frankly, never will. Of course, that doesn't mean you're powerless. It's time to start voting with your dollars. You can take back your money and effectively mute the bailout by refusing to do business with these institutions or demanding a rebate or discount for the amount you're owed.

When these figures become more finalized I will be calculating what each taxpayer is owed and therefore what specific amount every taxpaying American should request from these firms.

In the meantime BUY MY BOOK!

It basically rips apart all the scumbags who caused this debacle and really is a great book if you just want a good solid tutorial on how this debacle came about.

List of Companies Receiving Aid from the Bail Out

A question put out to all the aspiring, deputy, junior, official or otherwise economists;

Does anybody know where I can find a list of all the companies receiving or applying for the $700 billion bailout money?

I'm quite adamant about upon finding out who those companies are, calculating the amount they owe every taxpayer and when using their services, demanding that amount back from them in the form of a discount or cash up front.

How Mexico Can Benefit from the US' Weakness

Silently, quietly, Mexico is starting to look like a rapidly developing nation that has promise and potential (notice I said POTENTIAL, not HOPE). GDP is growing at a faster rate than the US. Work ethic seems to be more embedded in the culture than their American counterparts,

but above all else they have both lower corporate


and overall taxes.

And while they certainly have some corruption issues, they are rapidly forming the perfect cocktail to start to catch up to their Gringo counterparts.

However, let me also add two items into the mix, so that if President Calderon is listening, he may avail himself and the Mexican people of some great economic opportunities and not have to suffer the same economic fate as the US;

1. With Barack Obama and the socialists now about to take over the US, the rich, the productive and the entrepreneurial classes of the US are going to be looking elsewhere to invest. The US has higher corporate taxes rates (which are bound to go up) and higher overall taxes (which are bound to go up) not to mention socially, it's just going to be a hellish time to be a productive citizen in the US. Mexico because of its lower tax structure can profit from this by doing some kind of promotion or advertising in publications like the Wall Street Journal and poach not only investment from the US, but entire corporate headquarters. Ford very recently decided to put its aptly named Fiesta plant in Mexico, I can foresee this happening 20 fold with other firms as well.

2. Mexico, is frankly, warmer than the United States. It could just be me in that I live in Minnesota and it's November already, but when I think about where I want to live, an igloo in Brainerd, Minnesota versus and nice small little hacienda on the ocean, the hacienda wins. This is a big draw for the richer classes, not to mention middle and poorer classes because who wants to deal with shoveling snow all this time when you can sit and soak up some rays, or heck, just not have to worry about a heating bill?

The only real problem Mexico faces is its corruption and crime issues. If these can be resolved or at least contained, and the government can guarantee it doesn't pull off an Argentina circa 1999 or 2008, it will attract capital more so than ever before as the potential for capital flight out of the US has never been so great.

It's simply a matter of whether Mexico wants to reach up and institute the policies to pluck this low hanging fruit.

Hope, Change and a Tanking 401k

You mean socialism and communism are BAD for stock prices?


Ever since Barack Obama was elected, stocks have lost over 10% in just 5 days, proving once again my complex analysis of Barack Obama's economic plan was correct.

Aren't free markets a bitch?

The Captain Will Have His First Book Signing

Though I know most of you are at least an inconvenient 1,000 miles or more away, if you happen to be in the Twin Cities area tomorrow I will be having my first book signing!

Located at the Panera Bread at the Knollwood Mall in the scenic suburb of Hopkins.

330-530PM.

So if you want to stop in and say hello, or perhaps just avoid shipping fees and get a book, please feel free to stop in!

Rule #1: Do NOT Turn Men Down for Dancing

In addition to my dance classes, as my goal is to get my students to dance, I host "field trips" wherein I take my students out to various bistros, ballrooms and jazz clubs, thereby allowing them the chance to practice the moves I taught them...and grant me an excuse to write off my booze for the evening. This last Saturday I went to a Latin joint for my Latin and Salsa dance students, and though lightly attended, we all had a good time.

However, while sipping away at my Rumpleminze and talking with some of my students, I witnessed out of the corner of my eye a phenomenon that is all too common and must be eradicated immediately. An immigrant invariably of Hispanic descent, was sheepishly standing by a support column, visually trying to assess his chances of getting a group of girls sitting at a table to his right to dance with him. Inevitably he got enough courage to approach the table and as far as I could tell, didn't identify any one particular girl he'd like to dance with, but more or less just threw the option out on the table to see if ANYBODY would dance with him.

Unfortunately I knew what was coming for I had been there a million times before.

The girls looked at each other, pointed at one another, giggled and then tried to foist the "chore" of dancing with this man on their friends, all the while utterly insulting him there as he waited patiently for a grown up to arise from the group and say, "yes I would like to dance."

He had more patience than I did, as he sat there a painful 30 seconds while the little girls giggled amongst themselves and pointed at one another, but inevitably he turned away and left the girls to themselves.

Now ladies, I know it is not fashionable to provide women advice on...well...anything. And I know that because of the political climate in the US anything meant as constructive criticism is construed as misogyny. But, out of the benefit of advancing society and perhaps finding you a future love, tough. This is for your own good.

First, this is the primary reason you "can't find a man." Oh sure, you'll let Chip McWinthrop buy you a drink at the local sports bar on daddy's dime, you'll sign up for utterly pointless online dating services such as Match and E-Harmony, but when Pablo comes up to you and asks you to dance, oh, no. That's just outlandish now isn't it?! Let me explain to you how you are shooting yourselves in the foot. It doesn't get any more Cary Grant than a man who not only has the gall to approach a table of girls, but has the skill to back it up on the dance floor. A man that knows how to dance is like an automatic screener. If he has taken the time to learn a skill such as dance, chances are he is a bit more refined, intelligent, not a drug dealer, not living at home or whatever else was your ex-boyfriend in the past.

Second, I don't give a damn if you do or do not know how to dance. Sit there and wish all you want, you will never look like Ginger Rogers sitting, sipping your cosmopolitans and opining about how you'd LIKE to dance watching Dancing with the Stars, unless you get off your ass and dance. That's why men "LEAD" in dancing. About your only responsibility in dancing is to not fall down, otherwise a good lead will be able to make you look like a million bucks on the floor. Of course you can continue to sit there and look like a dime-a-dozen with your eleven other friends sipping your mojitos, but that's just me.

Third, out of pure simple courtesy, you needn't dance with us, but by god, if you dare do the giggly girl sh!t, pointing at each other saying, "no you dance with him! No YOU dance with him! Hee hee hee!! No, she really wants to dance with you!" while a true gentleman is standing in your presence, you earn the right to be perpetually single for the rest of your days. Be true grown up women, and afford these men the simplest of etiquette. This has not only happened to me, and "Pablo," but practically every male friend I know. And you know what the consequences are? When you finally do decide you're ready to dance or perhaps go to a fancy place and meet a refined Antonio Banderas, too bad. All the good guys quit and either don't show up or don't bother expending the calories of energy to go up and ask you to dance anymore. This is of no concern when you're 25 as 25 year old men still have it in them. But if you're 35 and you're constantly wondering "where are all the good 30 something/40 something/50 something men?" Yeah, that WAS us. We're enjoying some X-Box 360 and a scotch with our buddies over a poker game...might even invite Pablo.

Fourth. Understood. You just want to enjoy some jazz. You just want to listen to some serious Latin. You just want to hang out with your girlfriends and be left alone. Fine, we get that and can appreciate that. Then don't sit near the dance floor, while dolled up in some kind of alluring dancing attire as you gyrate to the music in your seat looking like a puppy dog begging for a bit of ice cream to fall off your cone. And for the love of Pete, don't take the token dance lesson at the beginning of the evening. It's called false advertising. Not that the men are stalking, but they do pay attention to who is taking the lessons or is exuding the body language that they'd like to dance. This way (well, in theory anyway) we only ask the girls who want to dance to dance and leave the others be in peace.

Fifth, it is a dance. That is all it is. Oh sure, we might angle to ask you out later, based on how much you try to commandeer the lead away from us. We wouldn't have asked you to dance if we didn't find you at least a little bit attractive, but it's not a proposal of marriage. It's not an indecent proposal. It's not even a date or even a compliment on your hair. It's a dance. It's about 3-5 minutes of moving around on the floor. Heck, the music is so loud, it's impossible to get to know you. So don't worry, we have no "aims" on you. We (shocking as it may be) just genuinely want to dance.

Sixth, take it from me. I've been teaching dance 10 years. And when it comes to dance ladies, the men ARE GONE when you get older. The vast majority of people in my dance classes without partners are women. The men just don't dance, especially the older they get. I have had classes so lopsided that there were 6 women for every man. And beg and plead as much as I do with my male friends to show up and pinch hit, very few of them do. Ergo, if you ever want to be the girl that is the center of attention on the dance floor, or (the ultimate coup de tat) be that girl who steals all the attention at the reception away from the bride and onto you, then by all that is Metal-Gear-Solid-sacred you do not turn down a man who is asking you to dance.

Time to Play: "If the Shoe Was On the Other Foot"

Yes, the game everybody loves to play in America;

IF THE SHOE WAS ON THE OTHER FOOT!

The game where if the shoe was on the other foot, there'd be outrage, but since it's not, there isn't!

Where Should I Invest My Money Under Barack

For those of you who were interested, here's my interview on The Marty Andrade Show on election night. It ended up becoming more a discussion on which countries to invest your money in under a Barack administration as it was more or less a foregone conclusion Obama was going to win.

Obama's Effect on the Stock Market

There was much speculation and discussion about whether or not the market had "priced" an Obama and socialist party victory into stock prices. And up on Obama winning the market promptly tanked 4% the very next day (and the day after). Of course there are those out there who contend that the market tanking had nothing to do with Obama and his propensity to increase corporate taxes, but I was sent an outstanding chart by a reader from George named Geoff.


The chart above shows Obama's Intrade closing value versus the S&P 500. Obama's trade value was inverted so as to show the relationship between stock market values and his likelihood of being elected.

The correlation is quite strong coming in above a .9 correlation coefficient. Of course I will readily admit that there was most certainly other things going on in the market that had nothing to do with Barack that drove the price of stocks down while Barack's Intrade value was going up. However, I am willing to bet the free pony Obama has promised me that even after adjusting for these figures the market was trading down based on the fact Obama would increase taxes on not just corporations but people as well.

You have to understand right now that I am more or less just preaching to the choir, as I've found to try to talk rationally or logically with Obama supporters is quite pointless as no matter how much data or logic you throw at them, you still get "hope and change and, uh, you know stuff." So now, all I'm doing is just creating and empirical record so that when there are bread lines I can show those people in the breadlines some neat charts from 3 years ago that explain why they're waiting in line for bread in the first place.

Can't You Just Let 4th Graders Be Kids?

When I am king, I will make it illegal for teachers to teach or discuss politics with children until they are seniors in high school. This just shows you how some teachers literally put themselves, the teachers union and their paychecks ahead of the kids and have no problems pimping out their ideology instead of teaching the children skills that will help them in life;



Can you socialists just let kids be kids? Can you?

My god, the brainwashed kid trying to give an answer why he likes Obama? He can't answer why he likes him! He's just trying to placate the teacher!...Of course, I don't get all that much of a different response from full grown adult Obama supporters, but, eh, hope, change, puppies and ponies. What do I care?