The Captain has many New Year's resolutions.
Boost my bench press to 175.
Keep Natasha's cooking off my waist and keep under 145 lbs.
Get Cisco certified.
Increase revenues for my various ventures by 20%.
However, sadly the Captain has another one.
The Captain will be scaling back Captain Capitalism.
This is not an end of the blog, but rather a drastic reduction in posts. The reasons are multiple but basically boil down to two things;
1. I've made a conscious decision to spend more time with Natasha. Fun as this blog is, it doesn't really pay the mortgage, plus you have to have your priorities straight. And as much as I all love you, Natasha is that special kind of dame.
2. The blog has already achieved what I wanted it to and that was to establish the empirical data that proves whether capitalism or socialism is the optimal economic system. After 5 years I now find myself simply updating charts or reiterating topics I've already written at length about. The posts are just simply short posts or links to other posts that highlight either the proof that capitalism works or the inanity of liberals and leftists.
This of course does not mean there won't be any posts, but the posts I do make will basically be one of three things;
1. Long, more substantive postings that could be considered essays that will tackle larger concepts than simple correlations between economic growth and taxes.
2. Short, quick charts where there will be little, if any commentary in that I trust you are all smart enough junior, deputy, aspiring, official or otherwise economists to figure it out on your own.
3. Video/audio of some speeches/seminars I plan on putting together which I think is the new way blogging/media in general are going.
I certainly welcome any links you guys want to send that you think are post worthy, and as always, all Cappy Cap readers are allowed to contribute their own writing if they so desire (CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com). However, posts on my own will be of no particular frequency, probably averaging around one per month.
Regardless, I wish you all the best in 2010 and the best for capitalism. However, if there's one thing I've learned about capitalism it's that it doesn't need luck. It's reality. It's the people that need the luck if they ever decide to abandon it.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Everything Wrong with California
Summarized in one succinct proposal.
C
R
I
P
E
S
I would go on my regular tirade about how the sciences and what not, not only gets people out of poverty if you study and major in them, but is also the primary factor in what drives the wealth producing capacity of a nation. I would also point out this is the bonafide definition of racism. I would also point out some saying about "socialism" being "equal misery and poverty for everyone" but why bother. It's Berkeley. Self-prescribed medicine couldn't have happened to a more deserving people.
C
R
I
P
E
S
I would go on my regular tirade about how the sciences and what not, not only gets people out of poverty if you study and major in them, but is also the primary factor in what drives the wealth producing capacity of a nation. I would also point out this is the bonafide definition of racism. I would also point out some saying about "socialism" being "equal misery and poverty for everyone" but why bother. It's Berkeley. Self-prescribed medicine couldn't have happened to a more deserving people.
The Gift of Nothing
I received many gifts this Christmas. A sweater, some chocolate, some scotch. But the best gift, the absolute best gift I received was a gift from three of my friends.
Nothing.
Three men, three of my buddies, all three of them got me nothing.
And I'm being sincere when I say I appreciate nothing. And the reason why is this;
Nothing necessitates nothing in return.
It reminds me of the scene in Donny Brasco where Al Pacino and Johnny Depp are exchaning gifts. Both work for the same mafia so they basically just give each other handfuls of cash. Never mind this is essentially what happens on Christmas anyway (except there is a loss of efficiency and utility when cash is traded via goods). What I'm talking about is they effectively gave each other nothing.
This is why nothing is the best gift. You are not compelled to get a gift in return. Not only does this save you the hassle and the money, it alleviates you of the guilt or the compunction to get somebody something because they're probably going to get something for you.
I looked at one of my buddies who got me nothing and I said, "hey, thanks for the nothing." And with a sincere face and retort he said, "Hey, no THANK YOU for getting me nothing."
Now in general girls have a hard time understanding this. They seem compelled to get SOMETHING for every one. Can be the most worthless freaking crap trinket on the face of the planet, but they still feel compelled to get their far-removed acquaintences something. And the reason why is they think that if they don't display some kind of action or show some kind of affection for their friends via buying them gifts, their friends are going to somehow think they don't like them anymore.
But men have this unspoken understanding that we basically don't like spending money and our true gift to our true friends is to make it so they don't have to spend money either.
Even on birthdays. I don't know when my dad's birthday is, and he knows mine is sometime in July, but he doesn't know the day. We don't exchange gifts either on birthdays or Christmas and we're fine with that. The true gift is the convenience of not having to worry about it, nor compelling one another to do something about it.
Ergo my fellow junior, deputy, aspiring and otherwise official economists, take it from the Captain. The best thing to give your fellow chum is nothing. Nothing is the greatest gift an economist can give. I wouldn't recommend giving "nothing" to a female loved one, but for the guys nothing is as good as it gets.
Nothing.
Three men, three of my buddies, all three of them got me nothing.
And I'm being sincere when I say I appreciate nothing. And the reason why is this;
Nothing necessitates nothing in return.
It reminds me of the scene in Donny Brasco where Al Pacino and Johnny Depp are exchaning gifts. Both work for the same mafia so they basically just give each other handfuls of cash. Never mind this is essentially what happens on Christmas anyway (except there is a loss of efficiency and utility when cash is traded via goods). What I'm talking about is they effectively gave each other nothing.
This is why nothing is the best gift. You are not compelled to get a gift in return. Not only does this save you the hassle and the money, it alleviates you of the guilt or the compunction to get somebody something because they're probably going to get something for you.
I looked at one of my buddies who got me nothing and I said, "hey, thanks for the nothing." And with a sincere face and retort he said, "Hey, no THANK YOU for getting me nothing."
Now in general girls have a hard time understanding this. They seem compelled to get SOMETHING for every one. Can be the most worthless freaking crap trinket on the face of the planet, but they still feel compelled to get their far-removed acquaintences something. And the reason why is they think that if they don't display some kind of action or show some kind of affection for their friends via buying them gifts, their friends are going to somehow think they don't like them anymore.
But men have this unspoken understanding that we basically don't like spending money and our true gift to our true friends is to make it so they don't have to spend money either.
Even on birthdays. I don't know when my dad's birthday is, and he knows mine is sometime in July, but he doesn't know the day. We don't exchange gifts either on birthdays or Christmas and we're fine with that. The true gift is the convenience of not having to worry about it, nor compelling one another to do something about it.
Ergo my fellow junior, deputy, aspiring and otherwise official economists, take it from the Captain. The best thing to give your fellow chum is nothing. Nothing is the greatest gift an economist can give. I wouldn't recommend giving "nothing" to a female loved one, but for the guys nothing is as good as it gets.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Spoiled Brats
Listen to me and listen to me well.
The world's worst can more or less be sourced from the upper classes where they are brought up rich, have everything handed to them, and then find some kind of religion or cause by which they can go on a crusade that makes them feel better and allows them to become a hero.
What is the epitome of evil (and listen to me VERY carefully now because this is a gem) IS WHEN THESE PEOPLE PUT THEIR DESIRE AND EGO AHEAD OF THE LIVES OF OTHERS EITHER BY KILLING OTHER PEOPLE OR FORCING THEM TO DO SOMETHING THE EGOMANIAC WANTS THEM TO DO.
Karl Marx was a rich spoiled brat kid of a lawyer.
Lenin a physicist.
Castro the son of a plantation owner.
It is only kids who have everything paid for whose minds get idle and concoct grandiose ideas about what they're going to do with their lives. And it never involves real work. It never involves real production. It invariably involves finding a way to criminalize the current system, so they can heroically "rally" against it, inflating their egos, while silently living off of daddy's dime while they try to bring down the system that puts money in their bank accounts.
Adam Gadahn, though not terribly wealthy, is another perfect example of a idle-minded spoiled brat from the suburbs who was too fat to kiss a girl and instead of making something of himself joined Al Qaeda because it was instant celebrityship, "heroism" and attention/meaning in his worthless meaningless life.
Why is this relevant?
Well not that they're going to try to bomb planes or carry out terrorist attacks, but one group of people I do know have no problems avoiding real jobs and make careers by telling people what kind of lives they're going to live as if they're on a life-long crusade;
Congress.
Tell me, does anybody know one person in congress that paid their own way through college?
The world's worst can more or less be sourced from the upper classes where they are brought up rich, have everything handed to them, and then find some kind of religion or cause by which they can go on a crusade that makes them feel better and allows them to become a hero.
What is the epitome of evil (and listen to me VERY carefully now because this is a gem) IS WHEN THESE PEOPLE PUT THEIR DESIRE AND EGO AHEAD OF THE LIVES OF OTHERS EITHER BY KILLING OTHER PEOPLE OR FORCING THEM TO DO SOMETHING THE EGOMANIAC WANTS THEM TO DO.
Karl Marx was a rich spoiled brat kid of a lawyer.
Lenin a physicist.
Castro the son of a plantation owner.
It is only kids who have everything paid for whose minds get idle and concoct grandiose ideas about what they're going to do with their lives. And it never involves real work. It never involves real production. It invariably involves finding a way to criminalize the current system, so they can heroically "rally" against it, inflating their egos, while silently living off of daddy's dime while they try to bring down the system that puts money in their bank accounts.
Adam Gadahn, though not terribly wealthy, is another perfect example of a idle-minded spoiled brat from the suburbs who was too fat to kiss a girl and instead of making something of himself joined Al Qaeda because it was instant celebrityship, "heroism" and attention/meaning in his worthless meaningless life.
Why is this relevant?
Well not that they're going to try to bomb planes or carry out terrorist attacks, but one group of people I do know have no problems avoiding real jobs and make careers by telling people what kind of lives they're going to live as if they're on a life-long crusade;
Congress.
Tell me, does anybody know one person in congress that paid their own way through college?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Are You a Good Deficit or a Bad Deficit
See, "good deficits" are those under democrats. "Bad deficits" are those under Republicans, because, well, uhhh, because republicans are nazi poopey heads.
And sadly, that is not a simplification of the argument they use.
ht
And sadly, that is not a simplification of the argument they use.
ht
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Why Avatar is a Netflix Movie
Tea Party goers
People who bitch about socialism taking over the US
and in general those who would like to see the US in its former 1940's greatness should put their money where their mouths are and not see this movie.
I was immediately skeptical of the movie when I saw obviously "Americanized" forces landing on a "undisrupted, virgin" land to take over "people who didn't look like us humans."
Sure enough Avatar is nothing more than a political statement.
Oh, sure, glitzed up with lots of special effects, but my economic spidey senses were tingling and I deep down inside knew this was going to be some kind of lecturing speech about either evil Europeans invading America in the 1500's or some kind of "Gaia" Earthy, feeling, enviro kind of thing.
Rumor has it is the "hero" is a Marine who decides to defect and some "planet nature force" helps the natives win against an obviously superior technological force. I really don't care to back this speculation up because I'm going to go out on a "crazy" limb here and take it for truth until I'm proven wrong, kind of like straddling a Texas Hold 'Em bet in that I'm supremely confident these rumors will be proven true because that's just the slant of Hollywood, and of course if I'm proven wrong, please let me know and I will take down this post. Until then, I'm going to take a wild guess and predict this Hollywood movie is going to prove my cynicism right.
Regardless, so for all you people who are all upset about socialized medicine being passed you have a choice.
Continue to throw your money at this political/propoganda machine or for once, truly boycott something that is nothing more than leftist propoganda.
I have a nice LCD projector with no children, no lines and no parking hassles in my basement. I fully intend on watching it at my house, Rumpleminze in hand, knowing I've denied these leftists sales and attendance...not to mention who in God's name actually enjoys going to the theater nowadays?
PS- I will be burning lots of wood to counter the fact I did not emit carbon driving to the theater so as to continue my contribution to global warming.
People who bitch about socialism taking over the US
and in general those who would like to see the US in its former 1940's greatness should put their money where their mouths are and not see this movie.
I was immediately skeptical of the movie when I saw obviously "Americanized" forces landing on a "undisrupted, virgin" land to take over "people who didn't look like us humans."
Sure enough Avatar is nothing more than a political statement.
Oh, sure, glitzed up with lots of special effects, but my economic spidey senses were tingling and I deep down inside knew this was going to be some kind of lecturing speech about either evil Europeans invading America in the 1500's or some kind of "Gaia" Earthy, feeling, enviro kind of thing.
Rumor has it is the "hero" is a Marine who decides to defect and some "planet nature force" helps the natives win against an obviously superior technological force. I really don't care to back this speculation up because I'm going to go out on a "crazy" limb here and take it for truth until I'm proven wrong, kind of like straddling a Texas Hold 'Em bet in that I'm supremely confident these rumors will be proven true because that's just the slant of Hollywood, and of course if I'm proven wrong, please let me know and I will take down this post. Until then, I'm going to take a wild guess and predict this Hollywood movie is going to prove my cynicism right.
Regardless, so for all you people who are all upset about socialized medicine being passed you have a choice.
Continue to throw your money at this political/propoganda machine or for once, truly boycott something that is nothing more than leftist propoganda.
I have a nice LCD projector with no children, no lines and no parking hassles in my basement. I fully intend on watching it at my house, Rumpleminze in hand, knowing I've denied these leftists sales and attendance...not to mention who in God's name actually enjoys going to the theater nowadays?
PS- I will be burning lots of wood to counter the fact I did not emit carbon driving to the theater so as to continue my contribution to global warming.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Philosophy Degrees Are Worthless
The sad truth is that majoring in philosophy is like paying some aging baby boomer professor $4,000 a quarter to tell you to read Plato.
This is a much cheaper alternative.
This is a much cheaper alternative.
Maybe Google is Capitalist After All
Effing brilliant.
What I love though is how they make it seem that Google "avoided" paying a British tax bill.
No, Google looked at corporate tax rates in the EU and said, "To hell with all you high-tax socialist places, we're going to Ireland where it's 12.5%." Google set up its subsidiary in Ireland and "avoided, schemed, side-stepped" nothing.
Google PAID the Irish government its taxes. It never owe or was behooved to Britain for anything.
Welcome to "capital flight." The leftist's worst nightmare.
What I love though is how they make it seem that Google "avoided" paying a British tax bill.
No, Google looked at corporate tax rates in the EU and said, "To hell with all you high-tax socialist places, we're going to Ireland where it's 12.5%." Google set up its subsidiary in Ireland and "avoided, schemed, side-stepped" nothing.
Google PAID the Irish government its taxes. It never owe or was behooved to Britain for anything.
Welcome to "capital flight." The leftist's worst nightmare.
China's Largest Mall
Not that you'd watch the whole thing, but
1. imagine all the carbon they emitted building this.
2. Did they do the "appropriate" environmental impact study on this?
1. imagine all the carbon they emitted building this.
2. Did they do the "appropriate" environmental impact study on this?
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Haiti - The Model of Socialism
Hey, but at least they had good intentions.
Right? Because that's all that matters, right?
I mean, forget whether it works or not. It's just that a bunch of rich spoiled brats in the west who never worked a real job in their lives "meant" to do good and that's all that matters.
Right?
You leftists mock and ridicule capitalists and free marketers all you want. In the end capitalism has done more to eliminate poverty than any government program. But of course, it's never been about ending poverty with you people, now has it? It's been about making you feel good and finding you a cushy job at a non-profit so you can feign like you care and can fake like you actually are doing something of worth in this world, just as long as you can avoid having a real job and avoid doing real work.
Right? Because that's all that matters, right?
I mean, forget whether it works or not. It's just that a bunch of rich spoiled brats in the west who never worked a real job in their lives "meant" to do good and that's all that matters.
Right?
You leftists mock and ridicule capitalists and free marketers all you want. In the end capitalism has done more to eliminate poverty than any government program. But of course, it's never been about ending poverty with you people, now has it? It's been about making you feel good and finding you a cushy job at a non-profit so you can feign like you care and can fake like you actually are doing something of worth in this world, just as long as you can avoid having a real job and avoid doing real work.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
This Chart Deserves More Attention
Natasha, as you know came out with a calendar and if you have not ordered it, I recommend you do so (shoot me at e-mail at CAPTcapitalism@yahoo.com).
Sadly we did not reach the 1 million sales mark, even though she is obviously deserving more along the lines of 10 millions in sales.
However, even more deserving than that is this chart right here, which I am now ordering you to forward to people because it is that important of a chart. Forward it to Glenn Beck, forward it to Rush Limbaugh, forward it to liberals who just plain don't get it, but forward it because it is very important.
What this chart shows you is America's economic production over time. It is the rolling 20 year average of RGDP growth and the reason it is a rolling 20 year average is because GDP growth is very volatile and no discernible trend can be seen with the naked eye. However, when you average it out over generations you see essentially a HALVING of our ability to produce.
The ramifications of this are so severe that I am literally stunned so little commentary was made about this and it got such little traffic, thus behooving my re-posting this chart with a little eye candy and basically a direct order you forward this.
1. The obvious fact our ability to enrich ourselves has been halved should be of immediate shock-and-ponder value. This chart alone should trigger people across all political spectrums to ask "Why is this happening" because if it keeps going you can expect the country to not just plateau, but decline. This means we will suffer a decline in our standards of living per capita over the long term.
2. This speaks volumes about the future of Obama-Ponies-and-Puppies-for-All government entitlement programs. Where, precisely, is the economic production going to come from to fund these government programs that are growing faster than the economy. There will come a point that ALL economic production will go to finance medicare and social security, not to mention the debt servicing of our national debt.
3. Pensions? 401k's? IRA's? I dated a rather rich girl one time. She got her job due to her grand-daddy and by no intellectual merit or skill on her own. She make insane amount of coin, kept getting promoted and had banked more money in her 401k plan than I could ever hope to dream. Well the jokes on you guys who have been banking on your pensions and 401k plans. Unless they're invested in gold or foreign countries or something where economic growth is actually occurring, you can expect your pensions to go unfunded when you need to retire. Who knows, by that time rolling RGDP growth will be 0% and you'll then really start to ask about the methods of discounted cash flow to value stocks.
4. Can we please lower the freaking taxes already? You want to spurn economic growth and all you can do is think about spending more government money? Where do you think the real production in this economy comes from? ACORN employees? Government funded art projects? Rebuilding roads that needed to repairing?
5. Can we also please knock it off with the worthless liberal arts degrees and start channelling our children into studies that actually produce stuff? What ever happened to that big push into the sciences back in the 1950's to keep up with the Ruskies? You want to have a nice nursing home? Well too bad, you let your kid major in "art history" on the grounds that "we don't interrupt, we're hands off parents, whatever our child thinks is gold" and now he can't even afford the rent on his coffee barrista income let alone the gas to come pay you a visit because he's taxed at a 60% rate on a dwindling $27,000 per year income.
Sorry, sorry. I have to keep telling myself, I don't control this. I can't get excited about this. There's nothing I can do when the masses are so ignorant. All I can do is play video games, drink heavily and listen to some Lawrence Welk.
Sadly we did not reach the 1 million sales mark, even though she is obviously deserving more along the lines of 10 millions in sales.
However, even more deserving than that is this chart right here, which I am now ordering you to forward to people because it is that important of a chart. Forward it to Glenn Beck, forward it to Rush Limbaugh, forward it to liberals who just plain don't get it, but forward it because it is very important.
What this chart shows you is America's economic production over time. It is the rolling 20 year average of RGDP growth and the reason it is a rolling 20 year average is because GDP growth is very volatile and no discernible trend can be seen with the naked eye. However, when you average it out over generations you see essentially a HALVING of our ability to produce.
The ramifications of this are so severe that I am literally stunned so little commentary was made about this and it got such little traffic, thus behooving my re-posting this chart with a little eye candy and basically a direct order you forward this.
1. The obvious fact our ability to enrich ourselves has been halved should be of immediate shock-and-ponder value. This chart alone should trigger people across all political spectrums to ask "Why is this happening" because if it keeps going you can expect the country to not just plateau, but decline. This means we will suffer a decline in our standards of living per capita over the long term.
2. This speaks volumes about the future of Obama-Ponies-and-Puppies-for-All government entitlement programs. Where, precisely, is the economic production going to come from to fund these government programs that are growing faster than the economy. There will come a point that ALL economic production will go to finance medicare and social security, not to mention the debt servicing of our national debt.
3. Pensions? 401k's? IRA's? I dated a rather rich girl one time. She got her job due to her grand-daddy and by no intellectual merit or skill on her own. She make insane amount of coin, kept getting promoted and had banked more money in her 401k plan than I could ever hope to dream. Well the jokes on you guys who have been banking on your pensions and 401k plans. Unless they're invested in gold or foreign countries or something where economic growth is actually occurring, you can expect your pensions to go unfunded when you need to retire. Who knows, by that time rolling RGDP growth will be 0% and you'll then really start to ask about the methods of discounted cash flow to value stocks.
4. Can we please lower the freaking taxes already? You want to spurn economic growth and all you can do is think about spending more government money? Where do you think the real production in this economy comes from? ACORN employees? Government funded art projects? Rebuilding roads that needed to repairing?
5. Can we also please knock it off with the worthless liberal arts degrees and start channelling our children into studies that actually produce stuff? What ever happened to that big push into the sciences back in the 1950's to keep up with the Ruskies? You want to have a nice nursing home? Well too bad, you let your kid major in "art history" on the grounds that "we don't interrupt, we're hands off parents, whatever our child thinks is gold" and now he can't even afford the rent on his coffee barrista income let alone the gas to come pay you a visit because he's taxed at a 60% rate on a dwindling $27,000 per year income.
Sorry, sorry. I have to keep telling myself, I don't control this. I can't get excited about this. There's nothing I can do when the masses are so ignorant. All I can do is play video games, drink heavily and listen to some Lawrence Welk.
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