Miles Franklin Is Back

After some confusion, kinks have been worked out and Miles Franklin is back as an official Cappy Cap sponsor.  Still waiting on a banner image, but if you were in the mood to buy precious metals RIGHT NOW, here is the official link.

Just remember if you buy through Miles Franklin tell them Aaron Clarey aka Captain Capitalism sent you so the ole Captain gets his commish!

The Father Could Not Be Reached for Comment

We don't need no stiiiiiinnnnnnking fathers!

New Sponsor 02DA Battle Academy

Looking for fire arms training, battle training, both remotely or in person.  Then visit our new sponsor:

Why the Left Co-opts Society's Awards

If I were to say:

"Oscars"
"Grammy's"
"The Nobel Peace Prize"
"Pulitzer" and
"Ivy League"

chances are most of you would have a twinge of a slimy, snakey, oily type of feeling in your stomach.  The hair on your neck would likely be rising.  And your eyes would squint, showing a hint of distrust.  This is a good sign because it shows your instincts, which have been honed over the past 2 million years to detect BS, are working just fine.  Because as time has gone on, these "prizes," "awards," and "clubs" that were once signs and proof of being the best and elite in our society, are now nothing more than obsoleted and meaningless status symbols that have been co-opted by the left to serve and advance their political agenda.

The Oscars no longer measure what was the best film or who was the best actor.
It's a platform for clueless (but culturally commanding) celebrities to vomit their leftist ideology.

The "Ivy League" is no longer where the best and brightest of our country go to study.
It's a club for rich, incompetent children to network with other rich, incompetent children.

And Mr. Obama's Nobel Peace Prize?  Heh, it might as well be the prize in a Crackerjack box.

But why does the left want to infiltrate, take over, and then use these institutions to merely award themselves awards?  What's in it for them?  And why are the hairs on the back of our necks going up when we hear about these awards?

The reasons be these answers three:

One - False Proof of Authority/Superiority

While you, me, and anybody else with half a brain have our BS detectors go off when you mention these awards, the majority of people do not.  They really still believe that if it won a Grammy, then it must be the best song.  If it won an Oscar, it was the best movie.  And that if you graduated from the Ivy League, you're really smart.

So if the left can control the electing or governing bodies of these institutions they essentially can "prove" to the sheeple of society that they are indeed right, correct, superior, authoritative, smarter and better than everybody else.

This is the best book to be reading.
This is the best musician to be listening to.
This is the smartest person in the class.
This is the best journalist in the country.

Of course, none of that is true.  President Obama (both a graduate from the Ivy League and Nobel prize winner) is neither smart, nor a noteworthy peace maker.  But that doesn't matter.  The left has won over the key voting boards to give him these now-plastic trophies which dupes enough Americans into voting him (and other talentless leftists) into office.

Two - Lowering/Eliminating Standards

Leftists hate only one person more than somebody who has more money than they do.  A superior person.

Superior at what?

Superior at anything.

Looks
Physique
Atheletics
Smarts
Work
Entrepreneurship
Art
Beauty

The left cannot simply abide it.  So to ensure NOBODY is better than them at anything, they try to change the actual definition of "good," "bad," "excellent" etc., resulting in behavior that has just become simple insanity:

Fat acceptance
Elimination of the honor roll
Elimination of keeping score
Trigger warnings
The beach body protests
27th place trophies
The protests against Page 3 models

and let's not forget the outright circus that "victimhood" has become as professional victims claim oppression because of race, sex, ethnicity, privilege, 37 different genders, and lord knows what else.

Regardless, the aim of this insanity is very simple.  If they can eliminate standards, then they can hide their true selves - lazy, worthless, inferior people who (typically) live parasitic lives.

However, merely "surviving" is not enough for these people.  And though they do their best to hide in the elimination of standards, their psychology still needs to be the best at "something," ergo...

Three - Egos

More than masking their true nature, leftists need these awards, institutions, etc., to feed and protect their egos.

Making money isn't enough.
Being in power isn't enough.
Having complete victory over the United States isn't enough.

They need to be recognized and honored with trinkets and awards no matter how worthless the brand name of those awards have become.

You see this especially with Hilary Clinton.  The woman has more money than she could ever need.  She owes ALL of her success to her rich father and her philandering husband.  But instead of divorcing the guy and moving on her merry, luxurious way, she still needs to be in the spotlight.  She needs to run for president.  She needs to become a senator.  She needs to become the Secretary of State.  And she needs all those people fawning over her when she delivers speeches for $500,000 a crack.

The reason why is because deep down inside she knows she hasn't done anything of value truly on her own.  But she is so afraid of the toil, work ethic, and slavery required of that would be required of such real accomplishment, that her fear is stronger than the shame she has in taking the plastic trinkets, playing "make-believe powerful woman," imagining herself to be an accomplished individual.

And so not only do they award themselves awards to fool people into thinking they're the "best," they do it so they can fool themselves as well.

Unfortunately, this facade is not going to last.  And the reason is very simple.  The internet.

The internet is breaking the left's grip on the scams these awards have become.  Nearly all forms of media and art are now directly marketable to the consumer, doing away with gate keepers such as editors, guilds, publishing houses, and record companies.  People are also allowed to effectively vote, not just with their dollars, but likes, follows, retweets, traffic, etc.  And while the dying dinosaurs fight desperately to insist that they are the only true "chosen ones" to determine what is "best" in society" with these archaic and outdated awards, the true democracy that comes with the internet is proving empirically otherwise and identifying society's real champions.

It's why fewer people are watching the Grammys.
It's why fewer people are watching the Oscars.
It's why nobody cares that you went to Cornell.
And it's why everyone knows Obama winning the Nobel Peace prize made the prize a joke.

The truth is, this is one of the few bright spots in society I see.  Previous to the internet everything was filtered either through a MSM network, an editor, or a publisher.  And people really didn't know if "X" was the best movie or "Y" was the most deserving candidate for the "Presidential Medal of Freedom."  Now, not only do we have the ability to know just what a farce these awards have become, but nearly every award has been replaced with a digital judging system wherein all people get to determine who and what is the best in our countries.  Enjoy that decline!

We Need a Nationwide St. Scholastica Day Riot

Whilst the media whips up racial hatred and division by focusing on Ferguson v. 3.0 Baltimore, I think we should focus on a different riot I learned through the History Extra Podcast - the St. Scholastica Day Riot.

Apparently, back in 1355 at Oxford two students went to a bar, had a disagreement with the bartender, and then assaulted him.  After the mayor requested the university punish the students, which he refused to do, some students gathered and started rioting in the town assailing locals.  People from the region ended up coming to town to exact revenge and did precisely that killing 63 scholars.

Of course, this would not happen today, but there are times given how both the students and staff of modern day academia act I would love nothing more than a St. Scholastica Day Riot of our own.

Debating the $15/hr Minimum Wage Debate with Leftists

A video request, but some economic goodness within:

Ranking Schools by Value Added

Of course, most liberal arts majors have no intention of adding value to anything, so this report will be moot, but if, you know, you were interested in becoming a contributing member to society then you would be very interested in this report.

Episode #91 "Why You Should Never Listen to the Clarey Podcast"

Clarey's tippy top super secret "women's body project"
"www.goodguys.com" and why it would fail
You should so date your students
A girl forces herself on 26 year old Cappy
What Cappy wants to see under the dress
Displaced Bottom Feeder College Students
Why Basic Income is stupid
80% of welfare recipients are lying sacks of parasitic scum

AND MORE!

in THIS EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast!

What "Six Figures" Means Today

"Six figures."

Hadn't heard that term in a while...that was until I was the unfortunate bystander to a "dude-bro-douche wedding" as I sat in my hotel lobby availing myself of the free internet.

Upon hearing that, sure enough, I looked up from my laptop, and there was your stereotypical frat boy about to take the first step towards getting divorced get married, drunkenly slurring to the security guard about how much he made and she didn't (there will be a VERY interesting story about this in my upcoming podcast).

"Dude, you know how much I make!?  SIX FIGURES!  How much do you make 'Ms. Security Guard????'"

So the ole Captain decided to do a little research on the FRED database at the federal reserve to see just how much "Six Figures" was nowadays in terms of "Cappy Dollars."

This presented some minor, but technical problems as there is not universal year in which "six figures" actually meant something.  But since your ole Captain knew that was a lot of money when he graduated from college (in 1997) he decided to arbitrarily use that year as a base and make some calculations and observations from there.

First, "six figures" which was no doubt a princely sum back in 1997, is worth no more than $67,700 today.  Certainly a decent wage for a late 20's/early 30's douche, but not what it meant back in 1997, and certainly nothing to be bragging about to a security guard protecting your drunk frat boy ass at his own wedding. 

Second, if you felt compelled to actually make what the equivalent purchasing power of six figures meant back when it meant something, you would have to make $147,500 today to earn those bragging rights.

But the two charts above also point out some interesting observations and the effects of inflation.

As a returning WWII vet, if you made "six figures" in 1947, you were boss.  It would be like making $743,000 today.

If you were a baby boomer, making "six figures" during Ford's administration, you were pulling down the equivalent of $300,000 today.

But sadly, with the effects of inflation, compound/exponential math, today's young "go getters" and "business leaders," "six figures" really doesn't mean anything anymore as it is now an obsolete metric of success, wealth, and income.  You only make $67,700.

So today, if you're going to brag to people about how you make "six figures."  Realize that's like saying to all generations and people before you,

"I'm solid middle management."

You aren't rich.
You aren't special.
And you certainly don't have the right to be degrading people who make less than you.

Why America Needs Bruce Jenner

It gets pretty good ranty at the 4:20 mark once I lay down the premise:

The False Rape Accusation Bubble Bursts

Uh oh leftist man-hating academia is in trouble.

Feminazi Cartoon

This was hilarious.

Until the MRA's came in.

Then it was gut busting.

The Summer of "Fuck You"

I had originally written an intro chapter for The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty titled "The Summer of Fuck You." However, after finishing it I didn't think it was "ideal" for an intro chapter and opted to write a new one instead.  That being said, it's perfectly fine writing and I decided to save it and use it as a separate post. Ergo I present to you "The Summer of Fuck You."


Booze, Repossession, Cursing and Cigars

The Great Recession had hit me on all fronts in life.  My job (which was in banking at the time) was constantly under pressure to find business, any business, otherwise we'd have to lay people off.  My part-time job (moonlighting as a dance instructor) was suffering from attendance that was half of what it was two years previous.  I couldn't refinance my mortgage at a lower rate because it was underwater and banks wouldn't refinance rental property.  And what money I was making on the internet qualified more as a hobby than any serious source of income.  I was staring bankruptcy right in the face, and with no solution under my control the dread, fear, and helplessness that ensued shortened a fuse that was already way too short. 

Then, one Tuesday, my morbidly obese boss called me into his office and wanted to have a chat about a loan I had written up.  I had spent nearly 6 hours writing the report for this loan.  These 6 hours were completely unnecessary as even a quick skimming of the applicant's basic financials proved he would not be able to pay back the loan.  But I knew what was coming.  So desperate was my boss for new business he would lecture and berate me for being “too harsh” and that I should go and rewrite the entire report to his liking which translated into English meant “lie your ass off and make this loan look good so I can make a commission.”

Sure enough I was proven correct.  My boss started going into how I was too harsh in my analysis.  That things were not always black and white.  That the numbers I calculated (though mathematically correct and precise) were still “unacceptable,” and I “better learn to become a better team player” etc., etc.  However, he went an extra step further, this time criticizing my ability to do my job.  How I wasn't a team player.  How my writing skills were not up to par and a bunch of other things that I knew just weren't true.  He was lying and trying to get a commission on a loan that he knew would never be paid back.  He was being dishonest and effectively trying to steal from the bank.  He was the epitome of the “bankster scum” liable for the destruction of the US economy.  And this scum bag dared to have the gall to lecture me for getting in the way of his commission.

After the lecture I returned to my desk.  Because of the precarious nature of my finances I had already developed the skill of letting this stuff roll of my back.  I had developed the skill of ignoring it and not letting it get to me.  But something inside my brain broke.  Something snapped.  I mentally could not tolerate the impossible situation I was in.  And for the first time in my life I made a decision that was decidedly bad.

I grabbed what few things I had on my desk.

Called up my boss' boss.

Told him my boss was a criminal scum bag.

And then I quit.

I walked off the job and returned to my shitty duplex.  Grabbed one of the few remaining cigars in my humidor.  Poured a nearly full glass of cheap whiskey.  Unfurled a lawn chair out back and permitted myself to do something I hadn't in nearly 3 years.

Enjoy life and relax.

A couple hours later my (now ex) boss called.  By this time the alcohol had amply made it into my blood stream, making me an even more colorful conversationalist.  And so, despite being hammered, I delivered what was arguably the greatest “fuck you” speeches ever delivered to a boss.  He was more or less speechless.  He murmured something about me being unprofessional, but in the end I told him he was fired...and may have followed up with something about his weight.  I hung up on him, returned to my cigar and vat of rail-quality whiskey, and proceeded to pass out in my backyard.

The next few months that ensued was what I like to call “The Summer of Fuck You.”  Since things were outside of my control, why would I worry or work so hard to futilely do nothing about it?  My fate was cast, nobody was going to help me, there were no jobs to have, the situation was truly helpless and this was all inspite of “doing the right thing.”  And so instead of “doing what was right” I decided to do what was wrong.  I refused to apply for jobs, I committed myself to letting the house go into foreclosure, I got drunk nearly every day and, when sober enough, played video games all day long.

Then something interesting happened. 

Out of nowhere I received a call around 2 in the afternoon.  It was from a recruiter.  I had slept till noon that day and had only been drinking for 2 hours, but was still drunk enough to be belligerent.  The recruiter said,

“I have your resume here and you have a very impressive background!”

“Oh yeah?” I semi-slurred.  “What about it?”

“Well, you have nearly a decade of credit analysis experience, you've programmed models, and the writing sample you left here was exemplary,” he explained. 

“So, what, you got a job or something?” I asked flippantly. 

Somewhat intimidated he said, “Well, yes, we actually do and we're looking for someone with your background.”

I said, “What bank?” and he proceeded to tell me

I knew the bank he was talking about.  It was what was considered a “community bank.”  Small banks that are bottom feeders in the banking industry and were the WORST when it came to credit and quality control.  They employed ex-bosses like mine, middle aged scum bags who were just in it for the money and didn't mind driving the bank into bankruptcy as long as they made bonus.  Knowing full well what laid in store for me if I decided to to work for this bank I bellowed out,

“Fuck you!  What?  Another shitty ass community bank that doesn't have it's shit together?!!!  Let me guess, your president was captain of the local high school football team back in 1976 and doesn't know jack shit about financial statement analysis or ratio calculation!!!  But you know he's a 'great salesman' and can play golf?!?  And let me guess, you got a problem loan portfolio the size of Texas!  Made loans to fucktarded midlife crisis men so they could run a bank into the ground.  Yeah, I totally want to come out there and help you guys clean up your shit!!!!”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, “....so what do you charge per hour?”

Somewhat shocked he didn't hang up or tell me to fuck off, but still drunk enough not to give a shit, I bluffed.

“$75 and hour!!!”

Silence again at the other end, “....how about $65?”

Not being drunk enough to turn that down I said, “Fine!”

After some additional and more sober discussion we agreed upon a starting date and duties.  But when I hung up the phone and the weight of what just transpired hit me, I looked around my dumpy basement office and said to myself, “What the fuck just happened?”

Surprises during “The Summer of Fuck You” didn't stop there.  Because I had given up all hope of any success in nearly all aspects of my life, I had changed my behavior correspondingly in all of these aspects.  Naturally, when I changed my behavior I got different results, usually for the better.

A girl once flaked 20 minutes before a date claiming “her friend just broke up with her boyfriend and needed her.”  I read her the riot act telling her that shit didn't fly in the 7^th grade and sure the fuck didn't fly at 30.  Sure enough she was at my place a week later in lingerie....um...”cooking” for me.

A carpenter quoted me $1,200 and then delivered me a bill for $1,500...until I went into a rage, cut him a check for $1,200 and threatened to see him come after me for the extra $300 (which he has yet to do till this day).

A bartender once tried to short-pour me a drink.  Once, and he didn't do it again after I said, “Hey, hey, hey.  Did I say pour me an 'eye drop' of Rumpleminze?”

But the most dramatic effect my attitude change had was not on my career, my dating life, or price negotiation skills, but rather my insignificant hobby – blogging and self-publishing books.

Before I quit my job I made sure to keep my writing life separate from my professional life.  My blog was (and still is) quite controversial.  And a huge risk in today's politically correct world was that if anybody found out about it I could easily be fired for “hurting somebody's feelings,” “offending somebody's sensibilities,” or being accused of various sorts of “isms” (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.).  However, with no career to care about, a house I couldn't care less if repossessed, a genuine indifference about the future, the philosophy of all of which was drenched in booze, there was nothing left to lose.  And since there was nothing left to lose I could go full throttle and speak candidly, bluntly, indifferently, not giving a one damn about who was insulted, who was offended, or whose feelings were hurt.

The results were like everything else during “The Summer of Fuck You” - unexpected and beneficial. 

Readership started growing at a rate faster than ever.  Loyalty increased as readers were not only more entertained and engaged, but knew I was speaking my mind (no matter how much they may have disagreed with me).  And while certainly my political adversaries were even more appalled at my crassness, bluntness, insults and harsher hate-filled tone, ironically the more I “insulted” them the more self-published books I would sell.

But the biggest irony was not how the popularity of my blog increased with the controversial, rude, impolite and extreme nature of my writing, but rather what was quickly becoming the fastest growing demographic in my readership – young black males.

Based on every sort of traditional political analysis or “conventional wisdom” black males would be one of the last demographic groups that would have an interest in, let alone agree with, my blog.  I, being an “evil white male libertarian conservative” could not relate to such a demographic, not to mention because of my “privilege” would be clueless, and therefore could not relate to young black men.  Furthermore, because of the incredibly direct, indifferent, and politically incorrect nature of my blog it would almost be a guarantee I would be seen as a racist and dismissed as such.

The opposite was happening.

It took a bit to figure out why, but I believe it's because what young black men experience today is very similar to what I experienced seven years ago during “The Summer of Fuck You.”  An impossible situation, one where there seems to be no hope, there is nothing under your control that you can do to improve it, and an impossible situation that is just too much to take.  You crack and simply give up.

However, in the case of young black men “cracking and giving up” is not as destructive as becoming a daytime alcoholic, daring banks to repossess your home, cursing at job recruiters, and giving up on all hope.  Rather it is much more productive in that you finally tire of doing “what was right” and instead start to search for “something that works.”  And it is this search, this desire to find something that works that has driven both you and me to this same crossroad.

The Potential

At this crossroads it is my sincere belief we both have the perspective and experience to fundamentally and permanently change and improve the standards of living, enjoyment, riches, happiness and lives of all black men.  Our unique, but similar experiences, combined with my background in economics and finance allows us to chart the clear and guaranteed path for all black men out of poverty and into a better life.  However, it is going to require more than just similarly shitty experiences and a desire for something better.

It's going to require strength.

Specifically it's going to require the strength to commit to discovering and accepting the truth.  The resolve to letting go of previous beliefs that have no empirical proof of being true.  Predispositions, biases and falsehoods that your life is just too short to believe in.  And lies that may feel good to the ego, but are essentially the true chains that keep black man down.  You must set aside your feelings and what you'd “like to be true,” and instead accept the fact that a successful life can only be achieved by abiding by what is true.  If you can do that, not only can black men achieve the success of their white brothers, but surpass them, even beating out their Asian brothers. 

Episode #91 The Clarey Podcast

Arm powered bikes
Crippling yourself playing dodgeball
POWERWALKINGWOMAN!!! Lookout here she comes!
Respect to fat people who start running
People who point out technicalities
Christopher Columbus discovered America according to written history - get over it
5 year old "transgendered" kids

And MORE!

In THIS EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast!

Chloe Love is the 1940's PinUp of the Conservative American Movement

Chloe Love, who is a nice and sincere darling of a girl, only has 600 followers on twitter.

I find this completely unjust in that this woman, who is at heart a hardcore American loving Libertarian, does A LOT for many men on the righter side of the political spectrum. 

If you want to help support a girl who is:

pro-sex
pro-men
pro-America
pro-freedom
pro-individualism

Do her the kindest of courtesies and simply follower her on twitter.

And yes, this is a personal request from me and YES it is for ultimately a good cause.  So I would very much appreciate it if you'd double her twitter followership overnight and give her a big surprise in the morning.

Math Proves the Left's Obsession With Corporate Taxes is Futile

It is coming up on 5 years now that I have avoided getting into debates or arguments with leftists in person or at social settings.  I sit there, ignoring them at parties, knowing full well the BEST outcome is them saying "agree to disagree" and the worst is me being asked to leave as I offended the effeminate and weak sensibilities of Minneapolis' effete and aging Gen X intellectual class.  However, while that is how I handle myself in personal situations, I am not unaware of the general political pulse of the nation, as I am constantly reminded of society's ignorance online.

Be it comments sections, links, articles, news, or posts I am acutely aware that nothing has changed and have likely gotten worse.  College students and their professors are hard to discern as they throw equally childish and victim-whoring temper tantrums over adult-world realities.  Democrats don't even try anymore to come up with convincing lies about national debts and e-mail servers.  And every soccer mom is seemingly rushing to have her precious (and otherwise completely normal) child diagnosed with the latest mental disorder to excuse her and her husband's lack of parenting.  It's an insane world, and I take solace in that I no longer care and am just going to watch the show as I imbibe in as much Rumpleminze as possible before it's over.

However, every once in a while a leftist choir will sing a chorus that is so parroted, so knee jerk and so Goebbels that it compels me to dust off my ole Economist hat, fire up by economist spidey senses, and do a little research that will debunk the lie indisputably.  Not because I want to have the research to point to at a later date should I be debating a leftist and need it.  Not because I wanted to know for a fact what the truth of the matter was.  But merely to piss them off and force their brains to the uncomfortable brink of cognitive dissonance as quickly as possible.  And chorus the choir was singing this time was "evil corporate tax breaks."

Now this chorus has many variations:

If corporations paid what they did in 1950 all our problems would be solved
Corporations get all this "corporate welfare"

and the always bland, non-discript and completely void of any intelligence whatsoever

Corporations don't pay their fair share!

So I did a little bit of digging, pulled the national data on corporate profits and corporate taxes going back to 1947, and have more than enough data to put an end to this debate and the above claims once and for all.

First, corporate welfare.

Unfortunately, this isn't a matter of facts or statistics, as much as it is the left's complete ignorance of basic accounting.  Because there is no such thing as "corporate welfare" UNLESS you want to consider the bank bailouts and grant money to solar companies welfare.  In that case, yes, that IS corporate welfare and it is wrong.  But sadly most leftists confuse merely giving corporations a TAX BREAK with a HANDOUT like welfare.

The truth is that all taxes (corporate or individual) are based on there being a profit to tax in the first place.  This is the concept of "before tax profit," the amount of money left over after a company deducts all of its operating expenses from its total revenues.  This "before tax profit" is the amount taxed because taxing a company on its revenue would be like taxing a father of five on his gross salary.  Certain expenses need to be deducted so that the individual/corporation can pay for vital expenses to merely exist and run a business.

Now the stated corporate tax rate is 40% in the US (and most states).  However, sometimes local and national governments will give a corporation a tax break if they invest in a certain town, build a plant in an impoverished area, etc. etc.  However, this is NOT welfare.  It is merely LOWERING the tax the company has to pay to the government.  So instead of paying 40% the company pays 35% or 30%.  The company did not "collect a welfare check" that required the taxpayers to bail it out.  It was already self-supporting itself and NOT parasiting off of society.  It is merely just a lowering of its tax bill.

Understanding this fact allows us to move onto chorus #2, "Corporations use tax loopholes to lower their taxes!"

You damn right they do.  And it's all legal.

Historically, the left was right.  In one year (1951) the effective tax rate was 50% for US corporations and yes the economy was booming back then.  However, this had more to do with the fact the US was the only industrialized economy remaining in the world and our corporations were the sole suppliers of goods to the world.  That argument aside, the effective corporate tax rate has since gone down to today's rate of 25%.

This effective rate of 25% (whilst the statutory rate is 40%) proves corporations are indeed using whatever loopholes they can to park money overseas and lower their tax bills.

However, while the left will jump to say, "SEE!!! SEE!!!!!!" they need to realize it's a Pyrrhic victory.  The reason why is that corporate taxes are out of their control.  Many other countries have found that instead of hating and villainizing corporations, they'd rather woo them (and their jobs) to their home countries.  And they do this by LOWERING, if not ELIMINATING corporate taxes.  This has given rise to rich nation states such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Bermuda, the Caymans, Lichtenstein and Luxembourg, as well as corporations (who are global in nature) simply moving their HQ's and operations to tax-friendlier countries.  And no matter how desperate you are to get them to pay those 50% tax rates they did back in 1951, the more you squeeze them, the more they flee.

Alas, just like I have to accept the fact it is outside of my control to get leftist faux-intellectual Minneapolitans to adhere to logic, leftists have to accept the fact forcing private companies to pay more in taxes is increasingly outside of theirs.

But let us say corporations are not like wet soap, and the harder you squeeze them, the faster they slip out of your hand.  Let's just assume we "magically" could wave Paul Krugman's "magic wand of Keynesianism" and force ALL corporations to ALL pay 50% of their profits to the state.  And let's ALSO assume corporations would not move their investments or even be slightly disincentived by you stealing 1 out of every 2 dollars they earned.

Well that's the leftists' dream come true, isn't it?

If corporations "just paid their fair share" then all of the country's financial problems would go away?

Right?

So sorry.  It's that damn reality math that keeps getting in the way. 

In a make-believe Keynesian Dreamworld where Robert Reich and Paul Krugman run through daffodils, holding hands, while wearing speedos, the additional money raised if we retroactively applied a 50% tax rate to all corporate taxes going back to 1971 (when our national debt started its upward climb) would amount to:

$7.9 trillion.

A full $10.2 trillion short of our national debt.

I'd even be more than willing to throw in a couple extra trillion to account for inflation and savings in interest, but I'm terribly sorry leftist speedo worshipers, it's MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SOLVE THE COUNTRY'S PROBLEMS THROUGH TAXING CORPORATIONS!  In order to do that, we'd need a tax rate closer to 80% and that would just send companies screaming offshore.

The reality is that the US has a spending problem and not a revenue problem.  But complicating this problem is that the left in this country is too lazy to do some basic math to even determine whether their ideas are feasible, and complicating it even more is that the left is mentally impaired to the point they would rather believe in their religion of socialism than the reality of math.

The real issue is how do YOU react to these people?

Like I said, I gave up 5 years ago trying to convince them.  When I pointed out simple things like the above math I was called a racist, a fascist, etc. etc., and it finally dawned on me there's no reasoning with insane people.  The only thing to do is make your case, mock and ridicule those who believe in these lies, and then enjoy watching reality destroy these delusional peoples' lives as the reality socialism promised them never materializes.  It's my new favorite past time and sadly, about the only one left to truly enjoy.

Enjoy the decline!
_________________

Aaron Clarey is a mean guy who uses math and other tools of patriarchy and privilege to bring (only!) minorities and women down.  When he's not busy oppressing people or kicking kittens he hosts The Clarey Podcast as well as runs his consulting division, Asshole Consulting.

The Bakken/Williston, North Dakota's Unemployment Rate

Williams County is the county that is ground zero to the Bakken oil field boom.  Of course with the collapse in oil prices they've been laying people off, but I always like to see the visual consequences of it.  What is particularly interesting though is I've never seen an unemployment rate of below 1%.  It's a testament to just how insanely hot that labor market was, and could be the target we aim at for the US labor market as a whole.

CEO Dan Price & the $70,000 Minimum Wage

Decided to sober up the discussion of executive compensation with some (GASP!) MATH!

Hey! Shoot That Kid! He's Escaping the Plantation!

Uh oh!

The "Signal Values" of Credentials is Eroding

It's hard to believe, but employers (and pretty much everybody else) are starting to realize that having a college degree means absolute jack crap.  This in turn means the value of degrees is going down AND that the charlatans in academia may actually have to find real jobs.