Recession Medicine

God, Please Make It Stop

I had a marketing idea for "Worthless." Find blogs of the poor unfortunate kids who had been lied to for all these years that they could "follow their heart and the money would follow," send them an e-mail or a link to "Worthless" and hopefully save them $45,000 in tuition for a worthless degree.

So I did a simple search on the internet:

"blog" and "I'm majoring in"

The results were hilarious, but absolutely painful, meriting a post unto itself. I'm warning you however, it is PAINFUL to read some of these blog profiles. I found the RARE IT major and threw those in there to provide your brain a break, but, no, seriously, pour yourself a martini first:

A "Woman's" Life and Passions. And THIS qualifies as writing??

You Too Can Have an Exciting Career in Digital Media Arts!

Shazika will be majoring in Sociology, minoring in English, and living with or off of her parents till she's 34.

Please do not tell me teachers are not baby sitters. What's the economic model here? Everyone in the US becomes a teacher while the Chinese "make all the stuff?"

I'm majoring in Children and Family Studies, which is basically code to say that I'm majoring in people! God, shoot me now.

Yeah, math is tough kid. You know what's tougher? Unemployment.

I'm going to go to school for 6 years so I can teach ELEMENTARY topics to ELEMENTARY students. No, no, there's no education bubble here.

FINALLY, somebody who is actually going to produce something in this economy AND not have a government job. Atta boy Dustin!

Three cheers for Aditya!

I love cats, Battlestar Galactica and walks on the beach.

My mom threw something like this up on the fridge when I was 7.

Majored in "Sustainable Tourism." But he got "good grades."

Good for you, pursue a career in the military. If you haven't noticed, everybody else is majoring in "Elementary Education" too.

Wait, wait, wait! Lemme guess! Yet ANOTHER 20 something girl majoring in (oooohhh...could it beeeee???) ELEMENTARY EDUCATION?

If you can turn that passion for "writing" that every 20 something seems to have and turn in into a passion for writing code, that might help. But wait, wait, lemme guess. The math would be too hard?

Don't worry, I'm sure Ashraf prefers to pay the extra taxes to create-make work jobs for all you "elementary education" majors.

"Heaven's Wrath" the sequel to "Faster Than the Speed of Love."

I love having 3 months a year off and avoiding any major that requires math or intellectual rigor...err... I mean "I love kids and I want to make a difference in their lives." Can I have my government check now?

Hey, I wanted to be an F-16 Fighter Pilot, chocolate ice cream taster, lingerie consultant, international spy when I was young too. I just grew up.

"PIANO PEDOGAGY???" I don't know what that is, but something tells me her parents will be preparing her old room she had before she left for college.

Ug, "global studies?" Good thing she went to Ecuador and help revolutionize the economy. I hear Ecuador is the booming economy nowadays and will save the global economy from its credit crisis it's in today. All those Peace Corps and global studies majors finally paid off!

Majoring in "human performance." Eat, Gag, Barf.

I have to end on a positive note. Thank you Arnab for being a productive member of society.

Good News Everyone!

The socialist state known as "California" is going to run out of money. Fry, I want you and Leela to go the California and see if you can pick up some of the few remaining conservatives in an effort to expedite their capital and intellectual flight. Zoidberg, see if you can go there and mock all the liberals and just generally annoy them.

HAR!!!!

I'm not a big Star Wars fan, nor one of those nerdy types that have a thing for Leia, but I think the nerd population just cumulatively had a massive cardiac arrest.

Anybody know the author of this for proper dues?

Welcome to Equality

We will treat them like equals.

And they will not like it.

Bravo

Bra-freaking-vo.

Your Economic "No Freaking Duh" Moment of the Day

Apparently, those brilliant Fed economists in San Francisco no less have finally figured out ONE MAN cannot turn around the economy all on his little lonesome.

Apparently, the economy is a bit more dynamic than that. Because I always though the recession was "Bush's Fault." And the recovery would be SOLELY due to Barry Obama.

I mean, because it's foolish, outlandish even to suggest it would be the remaining 299,999,998 people in the country that would actually have something to do with an economic recovery. Nope, it has to be a handful of reaaaaaaaaally powerful people that can turn this country around. Especially a few people in an institution like the Fed. Because we know monetary policy is 100% responsible for the economic production of all nations.

Am I the only one that isn't a f#cking moron in the economics profession? For the Patron Saint's Name of Frick.

Last Christian Standing - Compliment or Shot Across the Bow

From The Last Christian Standing:

Captain Capitalism has left the church and now lives with the fruits of nihilism: a clear minded despair and misanthropy moderated by the use of cheap liquor

I only posted this because:

1. It's forcing me to look up two different words - nihilism and misanthropy
2. It's one of those things I don't know if it was meant to be a compliment or an insult
3. Even if it was intended as a good-hearted insult, I'm predicting it will still probably be taken as a compliment.

Will report back once I look up dem der fancy words.

Post post - Not only was he accurate, it was a genuine compliment too! Thanks LCS!

PS - Rumpleminze isn't cheap.

Out-Freaking-Standing

From our Mathematics Agent in the Field.

Antioch College Accurately Prices Liberal Arts Degrees

You may vaguely recall "Antioch College" and the reason why is that it was in the Capposphere before. I strongly recommend reading the original post to get the background, but the short version is the school was traditionally a conservative college. Was overrun by liberals and feminists. Gets shut down because of poor management. The Spearhead and myself cheer. A mom of one of Antioch's graduates brags about how great Antioch College was and how we're evil. My crack staff of Agents in the Field find out her daughter works at a non-profit, government funded theater in Ohio. We all laugh as once again, it proves the school produces nothing.

BUT GOOD NEWS EVERY ONE (Prof. Farnsworth accent)

Antioch College is back and charging NO TUITION.

The ONLY economic commentary I have on this, and the sole reason I recapped everything above is simply this:

Finally, a liberal arts school that accurately prices its programs. $0 for a worthless degree.

Now children will merely waste their time and not their money.

A Pair is Grown at Boundless.org

Boundless.org is THE place preachers kids like me go to get a good laugh at the sheeple who follow, blindly, whatever the church tells them. They have forfeited any ounce of sentient, independent thought, they reference bible passages to explain their behaviors and mistakes, and they fully throw themselves to fateism, allowing them to chalk horrendously stupid decisions on their part to "god's plan," while taking full personal responsibility for the rare decision they make that pays off. But what makes this site so entertaining is to see this mindless, blind, lazy jettisoning of intellect to a religion run full steam, head on into the realities of human nature and sexuality.

There was, however, one man who is no doubt ruffling feathers at the (veritable) cult of Boundless.org.

David Murrow.

he dared to write a piece that was critical of the modern day church and suggested the church has become more feminized to the point it alienates men. By default (and whether he did this knowingly or not, I don't know) he implied that women were looking for biological and Darwinistic men who displayed NON-christian traits of manliness, impatience, independence and the lack to conform. He also pointed out the glaringly obvious fact that church by its nature, weeds out real men. To stick with the "modern day" church is essentially against male nature. Which means the few males that remain are pansified, listless, indecisive, conformists. Traits women viscerally LOATHE, but "good" modern day christian traits women of the church artificially champion.

The train wreck happens when the christian women start complaining about the lack of manly men in church, while at the same time hypocritically demanding any man that courts them follow christianity to the point of "beta-ness."

I enjoy watching them try to reconcile this irreconcilable situation. Mr. Murrow makes an honorable and well-intended attempt to help them.

But we all know what happens to those who do good deeds.

To quote Jesus from the Book of Matthew, Chapter 28, Verse 213, Section B, Subsection aa:

"Enjoyeth the decline."

Councilman Michael Brown

There are just some guys you wish you could purge from the Guild of Real Men.

And wow, who would have guessed! Just like Barry he has no real world experience either! He also has the tell-tale sign he never had any intention of working a real job, based on his worthless degrees!

Political Science undergrad with a MA in "Public Administration" aka "I'll Tell You What to Do, And You'll Like It!"

Just another worthless, crusading human being.

Charlie Parker Wednesdays

Milltronic Machines Morons

Company in Waconia "can't find the precisely, finely tuned, only to our specified product line and business model, fresh out of college, ready and competent, labor" to fill their jobs.

Because, of course, you could major in "Milltronic Machines" at the U of MN.

I remember that being a very popular major in my day. Many students majored in "Milltronic Machines."

Yep, to get that PRECISE, FINITE, SPECIFIC training to fill that PRECISE, FINITE, SPECIFIC job.

Oh, no.

No no no no no no no!

It's below Milltronics Machines to create an (GASP NO!) ON THE JOB TRAINING PROGRAM!!!!!!!!!! (enter 50's chick screaming here). That would cost TOO MUCH MONEY for some aging geezer to get off his ass and maybe train the next generation to do what he does. No, that kid should HAVE KNOWN EXACTLY WHAT TO DO once he left the IT department at the U of MN.

Look, I'm just as ready as the next guy to lecture and berate idiotic Minnesotan suburbanite children for majoring in "Musical Therapy," but you gray hairs in industry better come to grips with the reality real fast that labor can't just go from school to the assembly line without SOME training.

Honest to god, sometimes I think the Gen Y OWS brats actually have a point. But what do I know? I'm sure simply telling youth today that they "need to hit the ground running" is the equivalent of a significant and thorough training program equipping them with the skills they need to do a successful and productive job. I know I loved it when my bosses said to me "I don't have time to explain this to you." Or quoted the holy chant "this is a steep learning curve." Yep, that sure prepared me for the job at hand!

Am I the only one here who isn't a moron?

She Liked How I Drove Standard Transmission

I never claimed to understand the fairer sex. I only claimed I knew how to respond in a very Pavlovian manner to their actions that would result in successful outcomes. It's kind of like not fully understanding how all the mechanics of a sports car works. You just need to know how to drive it very well. For example, flowers.

Flowers are stupid. They are dumb. They serve no function nor purpose. But girls like them and they can be deployed as an effective and useful tool when trying to court them.

Why do girls like flowers?

Heck if I know. And heck if you should care. All you have to know is that girls like flowers. Don't bother wasting your time and exploding your brain cells trying to figure out why. Just accept it as fact and use that fact in your strategies and schemings.

Now, of course, there are some logical theories as to why women do certain things. Girls probably like flowers because it psychologically shows them (just like diamonds) you're willing to waste money on a frivolous item to make her happy (ie-you're an easy mark). Girls like bad boys probably because bad boys Darwinistically are better fighters and are willing to protect her and the little ones when the heathens come to attack. Girls like dancing probably because it begets them attention on the floor. All these theories are brought to you by the Philosophy Department at Manosphere University and the cumulative wisdom of the men who have lived before you. However, sometimes women will display a trait or a behavior that is so weird that it leaves even the world's greatest pscyho-sexual philosophers speechless and dumbfounded.

For example, it has not happened once.

Not twice.

But thrice I have been complimented by a woman/girl about my ability to drive stick.

The first time it happened I merely dismissed it, almost to the point I forgot about it. My memory was jogged however when the second girl several years later said, "You drive stick really well." I was about to chalk it up to coincidence, until the third woman a couple years later mentioned how she "really liked how I could drive a standard transmission." In the end I accepted it, but could not for the life of me figure out;

1. Was I really that good at driving stick???
2. Does being able to drive a standard transmission actually turn women on???
3. What am I doing so uniquely in driving a stick that makes me stand out from the rest??? Do I "clutch" real well? Maybe I am an aggressive bad boy when I shift from 1st to (GASP, NO!) 3rd!!!

Another one was my voice. I've always, ALWAYS had a nasally kind of voice. Not terribly annoying, but I was surprised I ever got a radio show. Apparently some women find nasally voices attractive for there have been a handful of women who have complimented me on my voice. And not so much the voice, as much as my speech patterns as I was to find out.

SPEECH PATTERNS?

Understand it was not my vocabulary that impressed them. That would make a little bit of sense in that intelligence can be attractive. But my tone and pattern and sound, even mannerisms somehow was found attractive by several women.

Then the weirdest one of them all - "I like your natural scent." Keep in mind this, like my voice admirers, was not from women I was necessarily romantically involved with. These are friends, girlfriends, the occasional one-dater type. So this isn't like they liked me, they just liked my "natural scent." They weren't talking about my cologne. This was when I was wearing no cologne and they just liked the actual scent my body was giving off. Like I was a dog, marking my territory, running around trees and chasing cats or something.

Now why am I telling you young junior, deputy, official, aspiring and otherwise economists out there about this? So that when it happens to you, you don't question it or (as I did in one case) ridicule the girl for thinking I had a nice "scent." Your goal here is not to find out WHY, simply because you can't. Heck, half the time I bet the women don't even know why. Your goal is simply to accept and use it to your benefit.

If the girl likes the way you tie your shoes - accept.
If the girl likes how you smoke a cigarette - accept.
If the girl says she loves the shape of your elbows - accept.

I don't know why these things are the way they are, but certainly you have probably had the ladies express an admiration for a quality you were completely unaware of. Don't botch it up, don't become self-conscious, and don't ridicule or interrogate her about it, just accept the fact she gets really turned on based on how you water the plants and water your plants more.

This has been a public service announcement by Cappy Cap.

Get to the 10 Minute Mark

The intro is long, but download this and get to the first caller. You just can't make it up.

The first caller comes in around the 10 minute mark. The sheer SCREECHING in the background should make you run to your local urologist and get a vasectomy. It should also make you laugh as the woman tries to rationalize why she had a kid and the nervous laughter gives her true feelings away.

I'm pouring a martini and enjoying the silence.

A Gift for My Swedish and Aussie Allies

I often have the horse blinders on and forget that the problems we're suffering in the US are also the same problems other freedom fighters are suffering in other countries. Save Capitalism for example is on the frontlines in Sweden and the Oz Conservative is (obviously) fighting in Oz. What I didn't realize though is in some cases the situation is much worse than it is here in the US depending on the "front" we're fighting.

Britain for example looks like their social decay is about 15-20 years ahead of ours. Greece, the unions are the envy of even the most unproductive Wisconsin teacher's union member. And Japan the men have become immobilized not by any threat of the government, but a lack of an economic future. However, of the key three fronts we're fighting against, feminism I believe has made greater progress in Sweden, (surprisingly) Australia and other countries than they have here.

While this is bad news, it made me realize a bit of good news. In hindsight, the Manosphere, the origins of which is from the good ol' US o' A, has actually made great progress. First, it has become a resource, available to the world to let men and freedom-loving women know there are others who believe the same things they do and it's alright to express them - ie no you're not crazy and no, you're not alone. Second, it is the millions of hours of wisdom consolidating and crystalized into helpful tomes of advice for young men so they need not suffer like their predecessors did. Third, it helps people identify and be aware of the threats and problems the communism/feminism ideology brings. And finally, it is essentially a think tank that comes up with ways to counter socialist and tyrannical forces that uses feminism as its clandestine delivery vehicle to infect (and ultimately) destroy democracies.

However, the "manosphere" is not like a vaccine that can just be given to men across the world and POOF! They're just as wise and as experienced as we are. You need to read copious amounts of philosophy, studies, statistics, even economics that is splattered across the hundred or so Manosphere blogs out there. It would take just too much time. But there is a very good starting point or stepping stone to at least vaccinate our foreign friends against the evils of feminism/communism and that is my gift to them:

Tom Leykis.

Tom doesn't broadcast his show anymore, but there is a depository of all of his shows. I recommend Leykis to my foreign friends as the first step to inoculate themselves, not necessarily because of the message, but because of the format (MP3) his show is in. Its easy to download, put on your MP3 player and listen away.

Understand though, Tom can be crass, and sometimes just outright wrong on a handful of things. He refers to women unacceptably at times, is unfair in a handful of instances and I believe would qualify at times of being a genuine misogynist (though, methinks he does this just for shock-jock value). I won't mention these instances because you'll hear them if you listen to the show, and frankly, they're not appropriate or advocated by this blog. However, the remaining 90-95% of his show does have merit and will at minimum open your eyes in terms of the relation between the sexes.

The next step would then be to go on the internet and start reading up on the Manosphere, but, if you're like me, you don't much like reading. Regardless, hopefully this is the first step that will wake millions of men from the brainwashing they've received and clearly identify the threats facing freedom and the west forced on you by feminism and their communist overlords.

Mexico is Immune to Tornados

Wow, didn't realize the Mexicans have figured out how to control the weather so well!

How Gen Y Will Undermine Asset Prices

My two favorite realtors are Diana Olick and Craig Kamman.

I like Diana because she is smart and hot.

I like Craig because he is smart and...well...kind of homely. But then again, I am not a girl, and I have been informed he looks like Napoleon Solo from Man from UNCLE.

Regardless, Craig has an optimistic tone to his real estate analysis, searching for the bottom so once again he and his fellow realtors can start looking for an upswing in real estate.

Sad to say, I don't think this upswing will ever materialize. The reason is simple:

Gen Y just isn't responsible enough for home ownership. Matter of fact, they're not responsible when it comes to a lot of things and this bodes very ill for asset prices, be it housing, stocks or bonds.

Housing for example requires too much maintenance, work, paper work, and just plain old-fashioned fiscal responsibility. You have to have your financial house in order before you qualify for a loan. You have to be able to have reliable and secure employment to make the payments. You have to pay for things like insurance or taxes you didn't notice before when you were renting. And, gosh darnit, you have to learn how to do basic house maintenance. These factors alone will deter the latest generation coming off of the dying American assembly line, but there is another factor that will keep them out of the housing market that isn't their fault - their horrendous employment prospects.

Naturally many of them chose to major in Music Therapy or Chocolate Eating, so they deserve the long waits in the unemployment line. But lets face it, the previous generations have done a craptastic job of maintaining the US as a viable and growing economic concern and have left this latest generation with the worst labor market since the Great Depression. And without jobs, people can't afford houses. Plus you throw in the bad taste the housing crash has left in people's mouths, and you can forgive Gen Y being a bit reluctant to become home-owners, just as Gen X after seeing the Divorce Olympics put on by the Baby Boomers is now reluctant to get married.

Following the same thread that jobs permit people to afford a lot of things, investments or stocks would be another asset category suffering from poor job prospects. Since I've opted to make less than $30,000 a year to enjoy the decline, I haven't contributed to an IRA or 401k in years (this is also because I believe they will be confiscated away anyway, and their preferential tax treatments rescinded). But that is by choice for me. Tell Gen Y to invest in a 401k or IRA all you want, without jobs, they can't. They don't have the disposable income. Plus, I don't think they have the financial acumen to put together a budget, let alone a long term retirement plan. They're too busy playing X-Box (which I'm for) in their single-parent's basement (which I'm against). Regardless, since nobody looks at dividends or cash flow any more for their retirement plans and only focus on capital gains, I'm sorry to say the cash flows necessary to maintain the 12.83% rate of return the entire retirement industry banks on will not be there to inflate those capital gains into reality simply because Gen Y isn't responsible enough to save for retirement AND they just plain can't.

Finally, bonds are not that safe either. All the collections and past due loans I get to work through, not to mention my decade of previous experience, it is the teens and 20 somethings that are the worst abusers of credit. Some of them literally have no idea that they're supposed to pay what they borrowed back. It's almost as if the concept of BORROWING is lost on them just like our president. They think it's just a gift, and so they rack up credit card balances they can't pay, student debt loads they can never afford, and buy cars they could never pay back. Of course, Gen X and the Baby Boomers were no saints when it came to fiscal discipline, but it's not getting better with successive generations. It's getting worse.

Whatever your opinions on generational fiscal austerity are, the fact is dem der bonds you're relying on for the interest income and principal payment? Yeah, guess who will ultimately be responsible for paying back those debts? Be it federal treasuries, REIT, bonds, etc., you name it, it's going to be Gen X and Gen Y (and mercy, I'm afraid to think what will come after that.). Again, I don't see them as the fiscally responsible type capable of earning most bonds a AAA rating.

Sadly what we're witnessing here is how tough fatherly love translates into economic growth and fiscal responsibility, both of which are required for assets to maintain their value, let alone increase in value. But because we failed to install the harsh, fatherly love and fiscal discipline in future generations, those generations will frankly not be able to produce the economic production and profits that are necessary to prop up those asset prices. Future generations will rent, because owning homes is too hard, and so I predict demand for housing will drop well below what the historical trend has been, bringing prices with it. I believe because of a crippled economy, the idea of trillions of investment dollars artificially propping up stock prices and mutual fund prices, just isn't going to materialize as Gen Y lacks the means and ability to invest for retirement. And when you want that "safe haven" of bonds and fixed income? Well fixed income securities require responsible, fiscally disciplined people on the other end to pay you back.

In short, the (entirely falsely premised) retirement system that relies 100% on perpetual and unsustainable capital gains, will be crushed even sooner and the only real reason to invest in assets would be an inflation hedge against the dollar. That or you could invest in firms that outsource their jobs overseas to maintain profitability, and hope that foreign demand for goods made by US based firms (but produced overseas) more than offsets the decline in demand here.

But don't listen to me. I'm just a meanie, evil economist here to ruin everybody's good time.

Walker Recall Fraud

Received this and believe it is something worth forwarding to anybody who lived in Wisconsin as I truly believe the Wisconsin teacher's unions are absolutely 100% prepared to commit voter fraud.

A web site has been set up which will alert you if it is discovered that unknown to you your name and signature appears on a Walker Recall Petition. If you are interested there is no work except to add your name to the site which has the name verifytherecall.com Should you be listed among the signatures of dead or false signatures the crime includes identity theft. If interested several minutes of computer time will assist the monitoring system which is not yet operational. Anyone living or dead outside of Wisconsin is also potentially included in the petitions thus far checked .