Shopping at Amazon?
Wait! If you click on the Amazon banner link at the top of the page first, HCN will get a percentage of anything you purchase for 24 hours!
Open predictions
Our local book authors
User login
Who's online
There are currently 6 members and 141 guests online.
Currently online
Recent Recommendations
:porkchopped:
So, any suggestions on how to go about building that sense of pride in the community?
Bah.
'ed
This breaking news just in,
Generalissimo Francisco Francothe economy is still dead!Thanks for the feedback last thread guys.
HomeGnome wrote:
1) You have to remind people how much they have.
The media makes its money by pointing out the problems in America. We have an immigration problem because everyone else would love to have our problems.
2) You have to get people to feel they belong.
Too much of what we do is isolate and alienate people. Salesmanship by making people feel inadequate because they don't have an I-pod or 3-d TV. We create anxiety and then we should that as leverage to sell them things they don't need.
3) You must convince people that what they do makes a difference in their lives.
We engage too much in the politics of powerlessness and empty rhetoric. The message is "get angry but don't expect anything to change" This is the Tea Party in a nutshell: I'm mad as hell but don't know what to do about it.
Sorry for the soap box so early in the morning but HomeGnome started it.
Slogan for the month: Join the American Revolution.
Now that first chart is a Loss Ness monster, frickin' Godzilla!
Disempowered Paper Pusher wrote:
No worries:
"Senator Titus Claudius scoffed at the authors of the Foreign Barbarian Invasion: Impacts, Mitigation, and Risk Management report, saying, "Obviously, these people have warned of barbarian invasions before - and look - Rome is as rich and prosperous as ever." The Senator went on to proclaim that because of the unlimited amounts of land left to conquer and the unparallelled might of the Imperial army, no barbarians could ever pierce the walls of Rome. Additionally, the Senator said that preparing for an imminent invasion would divert needed funds from temple building and wine production."
It looks like we are forming a second peak in the 5-14 week category and it is beginning to bleed over into the 15-26 category. By November those people should be causing the 27+ to start a secondary peak.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
That red line is scary.
HomeGnome wrote:
Time travel?
Seriously - people need a stake, investment in the original sense of the word, and to believe they can actually have an influence on, and shape, their own collective future by their actions in an amoral but mostly fair universe.
Tyranny and the illegitimate exercise of authority destroys all of the above. Especially a national security state controlled by a financial republic.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
We're going to need more
!
That red line has a lot of Willy Loman in it.
That spike in the 1-3 month unemployed is part of what is driving the sharp decline in UEMPMED, the median duration of unemployment and I picked that number apart a bit yesterday...
energyecon: Decline in UEMPMED - Labor Market Deterioration?
When are we going to admit that this problem is simply not going to go away, and this is a new level of structural unemployment, until we implement some or all of the following measures:
(a) Reducing work-week hours
(b) Permanently changing the country's stance on immigration
(c) Reducing the retiring age
(d) Starting trade wars and implementing an autarkic strategy for the national economy
HomeGnome wrote:
You still pooring? Bring it on!
Gnomenclature,
I think you have to decide what pride means to them.
For a good many of the revelers, it's the only natural experience they will have encountered, so they associate the near-wilderness as a place to trash, and not worry about.
Not sure how you change that?
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
poor pour?
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
And one that rewards sociopathic behavior, and even idolizes it, as late stage capitalism does.
We essentially live in a kakistocracy, as that is what the economic model demands.
kakistocracy - Wiktionary
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Me either and I've been pondering this question for weeks now.
I think a lot of it has to do with "social proof"; i.e. trash on ground already, ok to litter.
I'm still at square one on how to convince these folks (without resorting to violence) to NOT litter in the first place.
adornosghost wrote:
Good morning everyone. The NZ quake was bad. I'm hearing billions of dollars damage, and a ruined city. That one will leave a mark that will last for decades.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
I expect that high schools will a grade 13 for those students who can't prepare for college in 12 years. It is cheaper for a high school to run a remedial English class than it is for a college.
I wouldn't be surprised if the minimum working age was raised either.
As life expectancy increases we have a choice:
1) more years in retirement
2) more years in working life
3) more years preparing for working life.
I suspect a lot of the increase will go into 3.
adornosghost wrote:
Cool! This worked really well for Venice, except that it accumulated so much debt it could not afford a military. So it became neutral and had no military.
And then Napoleon showed up in the lagoon in 1797. Guess what happened?
I'm heading off to the links, but I thought I'd quickly applaud you on an excellent post.
Rajesh wrote:
Interesting that you've picked the most expensive option to society of the three.
adornosghost wrote:
It rewards economically efficient behavior, then powers conspire to make sure that sociopathic behaviors become and remain economically efficient. The rest follows naturally in absence of attempts to disincentivize these behaviors.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
Do not confuse investment with consumption. Option 1 is definitely consumption. Option 3 depends on the ROI you get from education and maturation.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
I'll go along with that.
adornosghost wrote:
That's why regulatory capture is so toxic. It's the sociopolitical equivalent of the AIDS virus. Though we're also dealing with a sort of "ideological capture" as well, which makes it even more intractable.
Rajesh wrote:
More years to delay working life... lets see in Victorian England, the fortunate sons tried to delay real life until after 30...marriage too...go long brothels and other recreational clubs!
When I used to live in the Big Smoke and watch the 10 o'clock news, the only time the wilderness was brought up, was on account of a lost hiker, or some other near or fatal calamity, and the newsreader woud give a knowing look to his fellow newsreader after having read from the teleprompter, somebody else's words, that practically said, "what in the world were they doing out there, it's dangerous!".
A friend that works at the National Park told me 25 years ago the average visitor stayed for 2 nights in the park, but now the average stay is a drive-though in a day.
So much of our world is not real, how do you convince people that you can't just order another river, F.O.B. Shanghai, to replace the one you ruined?
Vonbek777 wrote:
I thought that was called grad school.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
to get out of the car would be DANGEROUS!!!
Two Camps Differ on How to Tackle Stubborn Joblessness - WSJ.com
" "Real [gross domestic product] is growing, but not fast enough to create the hundreds of thousands of jobs each month needed to return employment to its pre-crisis level," Christina Romer, until Friday the chairwoman of the White House Council Economic Advisers, said in a speech. "This shortfall in demand, rather than structural changes in the composition of our output or a mismatch between worker skills and jobs, is the fundamental cause of our continued high unemployment. Firms aren't producing and hiring at normal levels simply because there isn't demand for a normal level of output." "
Our political masters refuse to recognize the structural problems. Why? Because doing that would require dramatic shrinking of FIRE and dramatic further decreases in asset prices. Too many oxen getting gored. So we will keep pouring trillions into the capital markets to continue the levitation of asset prices and the protection of FIRE.
By the way, you can see in the article above that Goldman Sachs strongly supports this diagnosis - that the big problem isn't really structural, so we just need to continue pouring money into home prices, stock prices, and bankers' pockets. Surprise!
Vonbek777 wrote:
The proportion of high school graduates going on to further education is a record and I expect it will increase more over the next few years. As I said above, whether that is a good investment or not remains to be seen.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
I finally got members of my Transition group to go huckleberry picking yesterday, and get out of their organizing minds.
They loved it.
HomeGnome wrote:
Rajesh wrote:
I've learned more since I've gotten my degree than I did to earn it.
But my mother instilled a love of reading and thirst for knowledge in me.
HomeGnome wrote:
If you stop learning, you will end up in front of a TV, listening to Beck.
Here's a video
YouTube - Aerial footage of Christchurch earthquake damage
Check out the twisted railroad line... wow
Like the addict, we got to hit rock bottom before real change will happen. Look around, things are still nice and easy for the majority of folk. Maybe some nervous tics and a bead of sweat forming but, hey, all told we're still fat and happy. Gotta get a lot worse before we get better, methinks.
HomeGnome wrote:
As a college student majoring in accounting, I can honestly say that I've learned far more reading CR than I have in four or five 300 level survey courses.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
And according to the "welcome to the recovery" crowd, just as fictional.
Vonbek777 wrote:
Then there is the idea of eliminating the idea of work entirely. I lived in the Soviet Union in 1990 and the regime there achieved that entirely. They are doing pretty well with that concept in Dubai and Saudi Arabia as well.
HomeGnome wrote:
I think the true key to a life of critical thinking, is orneriness. You would think being hard-headed would be an impediment to learning, but life is funny that way.
HomeGnome wrote:
It wasn't too long ago that people considered a high school diploma optional. You could still get a middle class living doing work for automakers or as a salesman.
But the enrollment in GED courses, indicate that more people are realizing that it's a different employment market and not having a diploma is a big problem.
Rajesh wrote:
Quantity, not quality. It's better than nothing, but that's about it. We waste vast amounts of money and people's futures on poor educations.
Our biggest problem in education is poor quality. Instead of a rigorous push to improve that, we allow education to be a preserve of mediocrity. Too many parents just dump onto others all responsibility for the intellectual development and blossoming of their children. We should be applying strong social pressure on parents to educate their children much better than the parents were educated. We are too nice. We pay teachers as a group too little, and we expect too little of them. We are too cheap and, again, we are too nice.
Rajesh wrote:
I have a GED and a college degree.
High School was booooooooooring.
Rajesh wrote:
I blame human resource departments. When managers used to take the time to do interviews, life was different. Now little files with little lists with little checkmarks determine whether someone makes the cut...
The
squirts out another cash cloud and escapes a legal battle:
Capmark Settles With Lenders Owed $1.5 Billion to Avoid Lawsuit Over Loan - Bloomberg
Capmark Financial Group Inc., the bankrupt lender partly owned by KKR & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., reached a settlement with secured creditors designed to avoid litigation over a $1.5 billion loan.
The settlement will save the company between $108 million and $135 million on the loan and stave off a lawsuit that might cost $50 million, according to papers filed today by Capmark and its lenders in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.
Vonbek777 wrote:
You are not alone.
adornosghost wrote:
.... or in any one of a multitude of other echo chambers. We have a lot of people living in a wide variety of echo chambers, some painted all blue, some painted all red, and lots of other monochromes in between, with each group learning little or nothing.
Vonbek777 wrote:
Blame the corporations. After sitting through a meeting or two at a business school, I've decided that most of the undergrad programs are just job training that corporations have successfully pushed on the students with the schools being a willing participant for Debt. (sic) of Education money like the good gatekeeper it is.
.
People knock (for good reason) the for-profit people for robbing students, but the non-profit business schools are quite the same. I still believe that fields like Economics can be a solid academic field of study, but when you get into something like "school of hospitality", then puh-leaze.
Rajesh wrote:
I realize I've been outside of the US for quite awhile now, but what is the chance we eliminate these things?
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Only curves w/in miles.
I know you know the area-- Canterbury plains are Kansas flat, and the hedgerows make for quite the Lewis Carroll maze, size of a Kansas county.
thanks for that C'church Bot Garden tile. A real treasure, that place.
Amazing so little injury with this quake.
Vonbek777 wrote:
Not for serious jobs.
Anak wrote:
I've been quite fond of it myself.
The last time I was there, the Red Hot Chile Peppers were playing. Alway my base before heading off Fly Fishing, and getting my driving down. (passenger goes to the curb).
Rajesh wrote:
I'm no expert but I am not convinced that life expectancy is increasing. Sure the average has increased but this may be due to an increase in saving premature babies and other categories of people who would not have been kept alive by machines in the past. In fact, I don't think quality of life has increased, either. Increases in diseases, cancers, etc. So many pollutants, chemicals, genetically modified materials out thee (not to mention all of the known toxins we have produced that remain powder kegs, like lead in house paint, asbestos, etc.). All to say, I don't think raising the retirement age is of any use (any more than any random tax we could implement).
patientrenter wrote:
Yes, I hear the secret handshake takes care of everything in those cases.
patientrenter wrote:
Oh contraire. I've seen really large real estate development/infrastructure jobs having great people eliminated because they didn't fit into a box. CV's can't suss out repoire or character assessment. I've seen PhD's hired into jobs they had absolutely no experience in because that is what is valued in Asia.
Cat Daddy wrote:
It is merely useful to those concerned with deficit reduction.
There's a lot of old brick buildings there, and just looking at the fury of how far some of the brickbats were thrown, is shocking.
Newer construction seemed to fare ok, in comparison.
It is amazing so few people were hurt, compare it to Haiti, and it's like a polar opposite earthquake.
Vonbek777 wrote:
That's more a personality thing, not a sign of intellectual ability. I know plenty of people in each category:
Ornery people who are narrow-minded morons;
Ornery people who are curious and smart;
Get-along people who are narrow-minded morons;
Get-along people who are curious and smart.
Social skills and critical thinking skills are two different dimensions. Sure, there may be some connections, but they are not direct opposites.
I like driving on the other side, but Melbourne was a little tricky getting used to, with those trams all over the place. London, ha! fugghedabout it!
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Speaking of polar--
European Space Agency captures images of huge ice island
Probably more liberal lies, and is just a shot from some hippys never used bathtub.
Vonbek777 wrote:
Reputation inside your peer group.
That's the key for serious jobs.
OT: Gold
Field Museum Gold Exhibit.
wonder if Slummy will be working as a docent.
patientrenter wrote:
So make sure you average your golf score among the group and bring the beer?
adornosghost wrote:
looks more like a petri dish with some mycelium growth on the sides and some bacterial contamination in the middle.
patientrenter wrote:
Actually, most of it is connections and luck.
Never was my gig, as I was educated to be unemployable. If you are employable, you probably have been trained.
Our biggest problem in education is poor quality. Instead of a rigorous push to improve that, we allow education to be a preserve of mediocrity.
We are not letting kids progress at their own rates. Institutional classroom learning K-12 destroys motivation by holding back those ready for more and pushing those who aren't ready. Which basically keeps the class at the lowest common denominator. Then we wonder why these kids meander around never finding their umph.
And now we are removing their motivation to succeed by setting them free only to find there are no jobs.
I could talk about theories of the educational system all day.
patientrenter wrote:
To build your reputation you need to work the entry level jobs, which have HR as the gatekeeper.
Vonbek777 wrote:
LoL! That sounds good.
Unfortunately, I have never had a golf game or a beer with members of my peer group. Grading in your peer group sounds a little easier. Maybe I should move groups?
Never was my gig, as I was educated to be unemployable.
Liberal arts degree?
Outsider wrote:
This may radicalize some, but I have seen little evidence.
Most are just getting by, and resolved to the conditions.
Umph?
adornosghost wrote:
Is there an app for that?
adornosghost wrote:
Yes, and driver goes to the oncoming. Easy to forget with so little traffic.
We drove from Picton to C'church but down the west coast first. We knew we'd hit the big time 'cause we saw a stoplight, first in hundreds of miles and a week of driving.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Ambition, JD.
The type of thing that makes a man drive his chevette to Reno to load up on silver dollars.
Although with your love of ponies it was probably a Mustang.
adornosghost wrote:
It's possible your industry is structured quite differently from mine. So I won't make any ignorant comments about your situation.
I will comment that "connections" for me translates into reputation. People I have worked for, or with, over decades are now spread throughout my industry. They know what I can do, and that forms my reputation. You can call that "connections", but it's not connections based on beer or golf.
patientrenter wrote:
yep, the
comes in lots of colors, but that is a feature, not a bug...
energyecon wrote:
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Priced accommodations for a family of five in what are supposedly our own parks? And now Yosemite is full bore adopting anti-family transit transportation changes despite near universal revilement except the vocal elite who have an agenda not quite the same as most. It been soundly rejected since at least 1988 and still coming. There's already 20% fewer accommodations than 15 years ago. Don't even get me started on the failure to rebuild motorhome sites after the flood.
It was a Pacer, man.
Outsider wrote:
History and biology. I was making the point that a truly educated person could not participate in the current economic and social model, which needs employees trained enough to do the job, but too uneducated to realize the consequences.
adornosghost wrote:
Be careful what you don't wish for. I began the study of Chinese the summer Nixon resigned with a thought of an art history major for goodness sake.
Training was strictly on the job, but agree about the connections and luck part of it.
http://www.allsportauto.com/photoautre5/amc/pacer/1976_amc_pacer_15_m.jpg
Cherry ride, man.
Disempowered Paper Pusher wrote:
Yes. So figure out the entry point you can master, and then get on with it. There's always an entry point, if you have enough ability to actually do the job well.
Oomph? surely you've heard of umph/oomph.
Oomf?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oomph
Rajesh wrote:
Other countries have one or two years of required civil service (or military service) between school and work. Keeps people out of the work force longer and gives them some real world experiance as well.
99 weekers up at the wall
99 weekers standing too tall
Slap some down, kick them around
Lots less duration it seems can be found
adornosghost wrote:
You're personalizing and over-generalizing.
adornosghost wrote:
Who designed that keyboard you are typing on?
adornosghost - So you're talking about training to be unemployable by being overeducated?
Just trying to get where you're coming from. I like to understand all sides.
josap wrote:
Wasn't it here in HCN world where someone's brainstorm was to institute a draft, no exemptions, prioritizing top down as to daddy's income? Trust fund troopers, country club corps?
Rob Dawg wrote:
I just attended the Tuolumne River Plan Public Meetings in Tuolumne Meadows, and had dinner with the Superintendent of the Park.
You are really not going to be happy.
I am, but I'm an elite snob.
Don't worry about that motor home, you will not be using it in the near future.
Anak wrote:
I've been lucky and have had connections.
adornosghost wrote:
I will be making a senior job offer soon to a person who may or may not have a college degree - I never even asked. He is currently unemployed. I don't care. The job requires him to be razor-sharp, supervising technical PhDs and others, and to herd ornery corporate cats effectively. He can do it well. How do I know that? Because I have seen him do it when I worked with him decades ago, and I know other people who have seen him do it over and over again since then.
Maybe my industry peer group is just much smaller than the ones that most readers here are used to. But reputation is the key in my industry, and you can't fake or hide on-the-job performance, or a failure.
energyecon wrote:
True, but those are the conditions of my life experience.
Anak wrote:
We need to get the people who know which handbag to wear with which shoes working on fixing all the uncoordinated fashion out there in America.
Go camping in the woods, not hoteling or moteling in the woods.
A campground spot is $20, it wont break anybody's bank.
The lower campgrounds of the Natonal Park here tend to be dominated by Mexican-Americans, as it's a cheap vacation. Don't know that i've ever seen one of them with an RV though. They were content on spending $852.64 on their gear, which often includes a netted dining area with table underneath, to keep the mossies @ bay, for about 5 or 6 people.
You'll find Bob & Betty Bitchen' in the higher campgrounds in the park, they've got a trailer, or 5th wheel or RV, but they're not having nearly as much fun as the folks down below...
Don't worry about that motor home, you will not be using it in the near future.
Plan B: Live in national park in motor home.energyecon wrote:
Great analysis. Thanks.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Actually, when you reach 62, it is $10. A week in Yosemite is $70.
josap wrote:
This was tried several times in the US and never successful.
Go camping in the woods, not hoteling or moteling in the woods.
Bed bugs.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
The same thing happened on the Titanic. Steerage FTW.
It's FREE to camp at Congaree National Park.
Congaree National Park - Camping (U.S. National Park Service)
But but but Obama reaffirms his commitment again to helping middle class with just 2 mo to go until mid terms.
This should have been done before $1 Trillion TARP and bailouts for corporate losers like GM
Too little, too late....it's going to be a really fugly next 2 yrs!
Anak wrote:
I missed that one. Having met some very wealthy Swiss young men, just out of thier years of civil service, it does make a large differance in thier view of the world.
I remember some time ago when I quoted this line about Jazz from the movie 24 Hour Party People and a few cognoscenti on this board took umbrage - YouTube - 24 Hour Party People Jazz is the last refuge
...
still a great line.... my mistake for not cutting the clip a second sooner... oops
Other countries have one or two years of required civil service (or military service) between school and work.
Maybe if they choose not to go to college and have no real plans. But then, it still could be voluntary.
It would get in the way of a tech nerd who just wants to get into MIT and get on with life. That kind of kid would also probably not be well suited for military service.
And with the oligarchy in charge, I really don't want my teen to be a tool of the state, if you know what I mean.
Anak wrote:
During WW2, the UK was hard-pressed for coal workers, so every class of almost adults was impressed into action, including the offspring of toffs...
and I believe it was poic who did not like my take on the movie Born Rich
since I have not seen it. I only need to see the synopsis and then see the list
of those interviewed and know its bullocks. that's what I said.
on further investigation it seems my instincts proved out...
that 'piece of shit' (tm) didn't even get a distribution deal and that dear
friends tells me the world.
Outsider wrote:
Young Israeli nerds can serve in a special technical unit that helps the IDF meet its technology needs. We can be smart about it, if we wanted to do it.
patientrenter wrote:
Yes, but the Israeli defense budget is huge, can we support a larger one yet? Israel gets, what, a $3 billion annual subsidy from the US? Where would our money come from for this? Doesn't one have to think about the fiscal implications of what they're saying?
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Having done both tent and RV camping, I like tent camping best.
Israel probably has a great system (from what I've heard about it), but is our society ruled by those who have a vested interest in their young? Seems we're less congruent.
The monied interests would no doubt securitize and derivatize my teens to the front line of hell somewhere. No thanks. I don't believe in their causes (anymore).
Sure, next thing, he's gonna tell us he didn't see Ishtar, but he loved it, because he and Warren go way back.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
IIRC it was voluntary, not required.
Outsider wrote:
Interesting to see that this view of public service now persists in the US, and it tells you where the country is going.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Probably convinced him to do "Reds."
If TPTB are screwing the adults in this country, why would we entrust our young to them? It doesn't make sense.
They would probably use the young to defend TPTB fortresses against the common folk once the SHTF (or whatever that acronym is - I can't remember all these acronyms)
Outsider wrote:
ROI on borrowed human capital to oligarchs: good
Return of borrowed human capital to homes: not so good
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
Maybe Israel would return the favor, and subsidize our compulsory service technical corps? LoL!
I pass no judgment on whether employing young people in compulsory service for military purposes is the best idea. I am only saying that, if we were to do it, we could ensure that we made the most of a wide variety of different abilities, including technical nerdy ones.
HomeGnome wrote:
I know three people that do, including one medical doctor and one phd. High school to far to many is a waiting to get to college, waiting to be old enough to drop out, or waiting to be done and get on with life.
patientrenter wrote:
"Your uniqueness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."
patientrenter wrote:
And America would get a chance to meet itself again, and put away the notions that we can be slotted into colored groups, divided against ourselves...
1860: Blue & Grey
2010: Blue & Red
Can someone explain this to me? I am honestly confused, as I am not an economist.
CR wrote: In August 2010, the number of unemployed for 27 weeks or more declined significantly to 6.249 million (seasonally adjusted) from 6.752 million in July. It appears the number of long term unemployed has peaked, but it is still very difficult for these people to find a job - and this is a very serious employment issue.
If the 27+ers are declining by 0.5 million, where are they going? They can't be finding that many jobs. How does this group decline? I can see it leveling off, maybe. But if it is as difficult as they as for a long-term unemployed person to find work, how can this number decline?
bring back the draft? and how would we fight unpopular wars,,, besides
with a draft more people start to pay attention to where their 19 year old son or daughter is sent to fight
the way things are now at least we can just put the war aside and go shoppin...
I like to celebrate differences, not eliminate them.
We can be different and still get along.
Blue and red make purple. Do we really want a unicolor society?
Outsider wrote:
Agreed. I'm just wondering how many generations that can go on before something changes.
Freego Walkabout wrote:
Their benefits expire and stop being counted, they become discouraged, they find jobs, they have been out so long they retire.
patientrenter wrote:
Fine. And I'm just asking: where's the money?
Service doesn't have to be military service. Ameri-cor type jobs work just as well. Teachers aids, nursing home helpers, camp ground clean up, just something usefull and teaches responciblity.
What our country lacks is a transition from childhood to adulthood. College does that in part for some, but not for most.
Outsider wrote:
Barneyville?
OT:
"In terms of religion, the Soviet Union was relatively free of apocalyptic doomsday cults. Very few people there wished for a planet-sized atomic fireball to herald the second coming of their savior. This was indeed a blessing."
(I'm reading "Closing the Collapse Gap" by Dmitri Orlov)
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
What exactly is the value of that? Do I really want to spend a lot of time with Red State people?
with a draft more people start to pay attention to where their 19 year old son or daughter is sent to fight
But would that change anything?
If anything, I would think it would just raise the level of consternation of parents.
Nobody listens to j6p complaining where his kids are going off to war.
Freego Walkabout wrote:
Usually it takes that long to apply to grad school and get in.
mock turtle wrote:
Again, where is the money for that?
Freego Walkabout wrote:
some find work, many are shifting up into the next category or giving up looking
Dmitri is a very talented writer, wry beyond words.
What our country lacks is a transition from childhood to adulthood. College does that in part for some, but not for most.
I'd rather see apprenticeships come back than forced government service.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
Too late, I am from a Red State.
josap wrote:
Do you really want a society where the state makes that transition for people, or where people can figure it out for themselves, and learn some self-initiative?
I'm also intrigued by a certain group of people (you are not necessarily included in this) that appreciate financial, regulatory, and personal freedom, yet find favor in certain hierarchical, rigid structures within society, like the military, or corporate life.
Either your pluribus, or you're against us.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
see judge smalls (youll get nothing and like it)
Outsider wrote:
Agree, but other than some union type of employment, I don't see that happening.
Disempowered Paper Pusher wrote:
Not true at all.
I've posted about my past here before, about going to a college without paying, and how most of the teachers/ professors response was 'fine by me, most of the people who pay dont show up anyway'.
During that period I ran a small business of my own, which gave me plenty of experience in my field as well as experience in the business end of things.
If you pigeon-hole yourself into thinking there is only 'one-way' to do things, then you cant seriously blame an HR dept. for that choice.
What do I have to show for it? I work about 20hrs a week now, completely from home(or anywhere there is an internet connection), for companies who REQUEST my skills. Very little debt, and no worries about 'pissing in a cup' so some HR clown can see if I fit-in.
I am grateful for the path Ive taken, and had I listened to the older generation when I was younger and doing all this stuff, who sounded just like you, I am 110% certain I would be just as bitter now as they were then.
Thanks Rob Dawg. Now I understand. They just conveniently disappear.
Rajesh wrote:
Being from a Red State doesn't make you a "Red State person" in temperament. I'm outside the country, so I'm colorless
.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
I love his explanation of the value of boondoggles. I've given a similar approach but much less succinctly than "we need boondoggles that create more problems than they solve, so the citizenry is better prepared for a full-on collapse"... maybe this is the point of Wall*Street too?
If we try to rid our society of all differing opinions and viewpoints, we are going to end up with 300 million different societies in the US. Each consisting of a citizenry of one. Because, after all, everyone is wrong except me.
Outsider wrote:
It's not possible to conduct controlled experiments on diversity (of opinions, backgrounds, etc). To get a sense of the possible effects of different levels of diversity, you can only look at different countries or regions in the world, and compare their societies to their level of diversity.
Countries like Finland and Denmark have historically had low levels of diversity, and have a certain type of society. Countries like the US have had higher levels of diversity, and are organized a little differently.
It's a subject of endless controversy, I am sure, but I think you can get some idea of the impact on society of more or less homogenization by looking at different countries (over long enough periods to capture the longer term impacts).
Freego Walkabout wrote:
until all hell breaks loose...then they inconveniently re-appear
And thanks mock turtle, I got yours too.
Freego Walkabout wrote:
Shadow inventory.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
I still support requiring people on extended unemployment to donate five hours a week at an approved charity.
Expand that stipend to recent high school/college graduates and you have a way to benefit America from the resources available while providing some social support.
Don't worry about them, they've been wished into the cornfield of high fructose, they'll be ok.
Yes, shadow inventory is the new early retirement.
Agree, but other than some union type of employment, I don't see that happening.
How about this. You young have these choices to transition to adulthood:
Go to college
Start working
Apprentice with someone
Do an internship stint
Civil service
Of course, the govt. would have to be shelling out big bucks either way. And if they require an option, they need to fund it.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
If you Bilderberg it, they will succumb...
While a noble idea, mandatory public service in the US would just end up being distorted for the benefit of the security-defense complex. Everyone would have to submit to DNA sampling, for one. Gridlock is the better ; just let elite factions fight amongst themselves.
I've posted about my past here before, about going to a college without paying
I haven't seen your story. Are you talking about auditing classes?
Outsider wrote:
What would you want your own children to do?
Outsider wrote:
How about this: The choice that you make with minimal coercion and propaganda IS your transition to adulthood.
While a noble idea, mandatory public service in the Legion would just end up being distorted for the benefit of the security-defense complex. Everyone would have to submit to Denarius sampling, for one. Gridlock is the better ; just let elite factions fight amongst themselves.
patientrenter wrote:
Many would rather be entertained than strive to learn anything new. Something new AND USEFUL is totally out of the question.
Rajesh wrote:
Fine, but you've just created a huge government bureaucracy to track this. Plus a bunch of charities with a huge excess of labor resources (some motivated, some not) with no money to do anything. My mom has run a bunch of charities....if people aren't motivated, they don't work.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
Guess what I am saying is I see far too many young adults not growing up. They are protected from too much reality, they have helicopter moms and daddys who open thier wallet to fix whatever mess the kid gets into. I see adult people who have no experiance outside of the suburb they grew up in, no understanding of different cultures or ways of living.
So forcing people to get off the narrow path they are programed for seems like a good idea to me. Doing some public service enhances life and adds depth to understanding. It isn't just military service, allthough some would enjoy that choice.
RIF, a few days ago, I was worried I was Elvis and vice versa, and now i'm getting the same vibe with you.
I still support requiring people on extended unemployment to donate five hours a week at an approved charity.
I forget who, but I remember someone on this blog commenting that volunteering is bad for our economy in that it takes away paying jobs from its citizenry. I thought that was an interesting viewpoint. And maybe has some validity.
Well the daughter architect still has a job.
The son still wants to be a shrink.
Me, I'm a panic-y lawyer who has to go attack pantry moths some more. They get inside sealed plastic food containers, and grow and multiply and fill their earth. Does my degree of panic indicate we have hit bottom?
josap wrote:
Care to explain how to (a) pay for it and (b) how your own sense of "too many adults not growing up" might have been exactly what your parent's generation said about you and your generation?
My hunch is that the American polity has always been diverse, but now it's lack of a tolerance and a common vision, in spite the differences, that is so damning.
I could be generous and say that controversy sells papers and airtime, but clearly a lot of the divisions arise from an artifice that could only be deliberate.
There is an infinite amount of garbage to pick up by the road/beach/trail. There is somebody who might clean my kitchen. I'd even give them Peet's coffee with organic milk!
*So, how do you begin to build that sense of pride?*
1) You have to remind people how much they have.
The media makes its money by pointing out the problems in America. We have an immigration problem because everyone else would love to have our problems.
2) You have to get people to feel they belong.
Too much of what we do is isolate and alienate people. Salesmanship by making people feel inadequate because they don't have an I-pod or 3-d TV. We create anxiety and then we should that as leverage to sell them things they don't need.
3) You must convince people that what they do makes a difference in their lives.
We engage too much in the politics of powerlessness and empty rhetoric. The message is "get angry but don't expect anything to change" This is the Tea Party in a nutshell: I'm mad as hell but don't know what to do about it.
Sounds about right to me, except that I don't feel I know enough about the Tea Party to form a judgment about everyone in it. Still, I think most of this is spot on.
I'm minded to look at the tail of this - meaning, how many |what percentage are unemployed for 40 weeks, 60 weeks 80 weeks, 100 weeks. I went to the BLS data retrieval form Table A-12. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
They have no such retrieval criteria - it seems. I'm not au fait with this data. Ideas ?
I'm curious because in my cohort of friends - youngest mid-40s; 5 of them have been unemployed for 2 years.. 2 YEARS, one 3 years - Of course they aren't ummm unoccupied nor broke - 3 in the shadow-economy ( taxes are "voluntary") , 1 does music gigs, 1 does a ( legal until whenever ) dope-shop.. They were all in the corporate world - as ME, EE, computing, Change Management consultants, recruitment consultant - they all say we'll never go back - its less money now but I'm having more fun. But I think if they was the "right" job out there in the corporate world... Maybe not..
What would you want your own children to do?
Probably what most parents would want. I would want them to do whatever is best for them.
For one it might be college. For another it might be an apprenticeship. For another it might be straight to work.
We can't pigeon hole because different people have different abilities and strengths. That's why some aspects of public education doesn't work too well. We are all individuals and are not as homogenous as rubber stampers need us to be.
"The media makes its money by pointing out the problems in America. We have an immigration problem because everyone else would love to have our problems."
You are drinking too much American
. Everyone else are definitely NOT wanting the same kind of problems that USA has. Illegal immigration is huge problem even in many poor countries, next to even poorer. If somebody wanted to envy a North American country then it would be Canada. They are light years ahead of USA in terms of education, health care, decent gun control, workers' rights, human rights, social services, you name it.
JD
I saw Ishtar and that Elaine May helmer had its moments
the moment they departed NYC is when the movie fell apart...
...
say you attend Sundance where they screen around 150 movies
how do you take them all in - well you can't so you must use a cheat sheet
to cull the herd...
...
quit being an ass
josap wrote:
If a genuinely large % of our kids are growing up with parents whose wallets over-insulate the kids, then we can help fix that by focusing on the adults.
For example, how many of those adults are paying big bucks to spoil their kids whilst they are not setting aside enough to support themselves in their old age, expecting the rest of us to do that for them?
How many of those parents are extraordinarily well-off because of ridiculously low taxes on high-income people? Capital gains have been taxed at 15% in the US for years, even though most of those gains go to very well-off people.
Hey JD....
"the average visitor stayed for 2 nights in the park, but now the average stay is a drive-though in a day."...
I think some of this may be due to restrictions or crowds. I absolutely love Yosemite, but getting space there for the whole crew is tougher than the hikes.
On that note, have you read Ansel Adams AUTObiography? His description of pulling into Yosemite for the first time is incredible. The following tales of exploration are something I've read over & over.
Sorry for the OT stuff....
http://www.coinarchives.com/c6a8fcc9bba4ee32dde8486bfd44fd3e/img/heritage/3009/thumb20004.jpg
See all those test-cuts on this silver Roman Denarius?
Those were from a series of merchants that were dubious of the coin actually being silver, and not silvered on copper. There are about 7 test-cuts in total on the coin.
Monetary inflation had come to Rome, riding on technology. the knowhow to silver-wash copper coins to make they look like they weren't.
The value of a copper coin compared to a silver Denarius was about 40-1
...a Denarii Derivative, if you will.
The hoi polloi back then could verify the worth of each and every individual Denarii out there through a fairly simple test, but how do we test-cut the Dollar?
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
We can pay for unemployment, we can pay for overseas military bases, we can pay for war.
My parents may have said the same things about me at times, but I was on my own and self suporting at 17. Yes, I made some screwy choices but I also paid the price for those choices and learned what worked for me and what didn't.
Falling down isn't the issue, how you get back up is the important part.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
I have been waiting for this type of statement to be discovered on the pyramids in hieroglyphics.
lawyerliz wrote:
We'll send broward!
BTW, where is he? Did the proverbial truck run him over?
Outsider wrote:
I dont know what the term is, if there is one.
I went to a fairly large college in the midwest, although obviously not receiving that 'piece of paper' most people would seem to covet. What I did instead was find the classes I wanted, or needed to learn from, and just showed up. No registration, no fees, nothing. This includes doing the homework, participating in the class, etc. After awhile, especially in the smaller classes like a 3 or 400 level psych class, some of the teachers would come up to me afterwords and ask if I ad made a mistake in being in that class, since there was no record of me being enrolled. I would honestly tell them that I didnt have the money to attend, but wanted to learn the subject. Out of 3 years of doing this, I only had one teacher tell me to never come back, most would almost light up like a bulb when I explained what I was doing there.
I dont think a single other student knew my situation, all probably thinking I was just like them. I operated under the assumption that if they ever did find out, they would probably be fairly upset that I was doing the same thing for free, that was costing some of them 10s of thousands of dollars.
It worked out for me in the end. Maybe I got lucky, who knows.
I have been waiting for this type of statement to be discovered on the pyramids in hieroglyphics.
It's in a papyrus. I could find it for you.
But there really has been a breakdown in social norms.
The helicopter parent problem is solving itself as we speak.
Those wallets have been emptied. Not to worry about kids being pampered if this economy keeps going in the direction it is now.
We might find a generation of more motivated and conscientious young as their parents are stopped from impeding their development.
The hoi polloi back then could verify the worth of each and every individual Denarii out there through a fairly simple test, but how do we test-cut the Dollar?
Oh sure. Next thing you'll be saying is our society is going the way of ancient Rome...
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
Agreed. I would have encouraged any student like that - a true student.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Hold it up to the light. If you can see a security thread and watermark it is probably worthless.
Rajesh wrote:
As any businessman knows - it is always important to have fresh product in the pipeline.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
I consider that a high compliment. I'm sure it's only temporary.
Rob Dawg wrote:
thats hilarious +10!
Rajesh wrote:
.....if that "charity" didn't normally hire others and compete with other "for profit" ventures. Most do. What then will the state do with all the "volunteers" harvested from DUI charges, court systems, and other "community service" requirements?
It worked out for me in the end. Maybe I got lucky, who knows.
That's a great story.
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
You got lucky.
Campground spots are popular, but not that hard to get, you can book them months in advance, it's not that hard to do...
I haven't read Adams's autobiography, i'll have to check it out. I only know him through his photography and shared trails.
I walk by this once or twice a summer, and sometimes there are icebergs into late summer, and one time I was with a few friends, and we swam out to an iceberg abut a dozen feet from the shore, and it's easy getting there, propulsion and all, but getting back was harder, and we all hit the shore and felt a little frozen, upon return, ha!
http://planetrambler.com/150mph/090914-18_GreatWesternDivide/AnselAdams-FrozenLakeAndCliffs.jpg
Edit:
Would they be 'lakebergs'?
Ah well, I'll quit bugging you all. Time to focus on life in this s.f. :have a great day all:
Outsider wrote:
A surprising number of professors, originally tricked into debt servitude to the academic system by a genuine thirst for knowledge, and now browbeaten by budgets, publication and research quotas set by administrative officials, and apathetic students getting their tickets to the real world punched here, would probably be okay with or even welcome this sort of thing. A pity I wasn't as inventive.
Outsider wrote:
Outsider wrote:
i swear i hear on the radio earlier this week, an candidate from texas saying,
"hey over in china they dont have any of those pesky pollution laws and people there are willing to work for almost nothing...we have to be like china!"
he may get his wish, but i hope the board of directors are ok with a little central planning
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
Great story. Love it.
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
They weren't though - the other 99.9% could care less if they learned anything - just want [need] to show the paper at the interview.
For that matter 99.9% of HR & hiring managers could care less what they learned - they too want to see the paper so as to cover their own ass if the hire doesn't work out.
That is what schools charge for - the credential - not the knowledge. It explains why Harvard paper is worth more than Normandale Community College - learning is the same, the prestige not even close. Any knowledge gained is an accidental by-product.
Everything but the diploma, what a great learning story.
Thanks for sharing~
Call it 'diploma see' ha!
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
Yes, that is a great story and I hope you tell it again and again.
I have an analogous story from the other side. I wanted to teach at a university despite only having a master's degree. I was counseled against even considering it by the departmental bigwigs, reminding me about the importance of degrees, publication and seniority. I told them I cared nothing for the hierarchy of academia, I simply wanted to teach. The response was, well then, teach.
As it turned out they needed some quasi qualified yeomen to do the trench work.
I'm now lecturing to a crowd of eager students happy to have a real world guy as an instructor, earning next to nothing compared to the tenured types, but happy as a clam.
Anyhow, RWNBT, appreciate your story. There's a hole to fit every turnip, as the Chinese say.
we need to be more like china
China Admits Tainted Pet Food Link - April 26, 2007
Toys Just One Danger Imported From China - 8/18/2007
17 Killed in China Mine Explosion - May 10, 2010
Dozens Killed in Chinese Mine Explosion -June 21, 2010
30 Killed, 13 Trapped in Separate Chinese Mine Accidents - July 18, 2010
Chinese Mine Accidents Multiply - 28 dead, 192 Missing - April 2, 2010
Chemical Spill in China Poisons Water Supply. Brings Danger and Coverup - November 26, 2005
China's Rivers - Frontlines for Chemical Waste - Feb. 23, 2006
Chinese Air Pollution Deadliest In World - July 9, 2007
Child Labor on the Rise in China - March 7, 2001 (A school exploded when teachers forced students to assemble fireworks
Chinese baby formula scandal businesses sold tainted formula that killed babies and injured 6,000, with kidney failure
Left In Alabama:: AL-05 Mo Books Thinks We Should Be More Like China - Updated with Video
mock turtle wrote:
Mo's middle name isn't Ron by any chance, is it?
OT I received my T-shirt. Not sure exactly when -- I was traveling on business this week and it was waiting for me when I got back home.
Haven't spotted my handle yet -- I post rarely enough that I may not have made the cut.
The shirt is great.
dryfly wrote:
Point made, and I agree. The knowledge was something I wanted, the social connection that I made, while ancillary to me, were just as important later in my life.
Like I said, it was a fairly large college, around 40K enrollment. Out in the 'real world' later on, I would come across people with respectable positions in companies, who went to this same college, and be able to 'reminisce' with them. Most times it was about off campus locations, hang out spots, etc. However, a few times, it was about fraternity organizations, and my knowledge of them from back then. Having never been associated with any one in particular back then, I was free to roam around to them all. These sorts of conversations, I found to be more valuable than any credential bestowed upon me by the institution at large.
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists wrote:
I know I'm late to this party, but I wanted to point out that this is one of the best historic examples for Iran to continue developing nuclear weapons that I can think of. Who knows when some nutty American President or Israeli Premier will feel the need to expand at Tehran's expense?
Anak wrote:
Good bless them for realizing this. Usually it is the reverse - they not only don't recognize the value they detest those with the skills.
My sis taught at a third-fourth tier law school one year as adjunct... she was the only one w/out a lot of academic publications behind her but was also the only one who had actually stood in courtrooms at trial. She was an ex-DOJ criminal tax & white collar crime prosecutor and was 23-0 in her cases [yes a perfect record - all convictions, many with prison sentences - try getting that done w/ influential white collar types - they need her back at DOJ!!!]
Any way the academics hated her - she actually taught the law students both law and how to lawyer. They cancelled her contract after one year.
This is my favorite Chinese export story, one minute you are brushing your pearly whites, and the next minute you're seeing the pearly white gates, but at least you've got fresh breath for Saint Peter...
BBC NEWS | Americas | US warns over Chinese toothpaste
dryfly wrote:
Higher education is a brand in many ways. Which is one reason I still get a good laugh out of Belushi's "COLLEGE" sweatshirt in Animal House
John Belushi - COLLEGE
HomeGnome wrote:
yeah...mo er less
and this wasnt even the quote i was looking for, but it was almost as good
the original was from a candidate in texas but cant find the link yet
mock turtle wrote:
Newt Gingrich agrees. None of that "heavy hand of government regulation" in China these days! They're more like us than we are.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
pretty amazing: all that force concentrated in a small bell-shaped area.
dryfly wrote:
It is certainly true that Harvard paper gets things that paper from elsewhere can't, even if the learning were the same.
But that is two extremes. What puzzles me is the strength of belief here that hiring decisions are focused mainly on potentially superficial characteristics of job candidates, like their educational credentials or who they play golf with.
I can understand that, if you operate in a very large undifferentiated talent pool, you can get lost. But I feel that I can know the people in my field who I'd want to hire, or who'd want to hire me. There is only one degree of separation amongst my peers. Surely others have that too, or can arrange it.
For example, if I were interested in getting a job as an architect in a certain specialty, or in a certain city, I'd immediately lay out a plan to learn / move, and then contact the key people and call them directly to explain my situation and ask their advice on my plan. People are amazingly helpful in these circumstances. It's a bit like RWNBT's experience with his professors.
I know not everyone can open every door. But most people can find SOME door they can open, if they really want to. It is best to encourage that, instead of discouraging it.
MB wrote:
makes me wonder if a year of toiling in the fields, working in a mine, pulling and rebuilding engines, welding, carpentry any manner of physical labor...might do a bunch of these politicians some good...just to get perspective
"She was an ex-DOJ criminal tax & white collar crime prosecutor and was 23-0 in her cases [yes a perfect record - all convictions, many with prison sentences"
You are talking about a football game or justice system? Should the justice be all about finding out of the truth and not some "ha ha, I win all of my cases as prosecutor.". 3rd world prosecutors also win ALL of their cases...
Look at the newfound respect NK got, once it joined the club.
That bit of stretched rail would make for a perfect musuem item on the wall...
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Nuclear capability is the "drives a Jaguar" of the country country club?
OT: Last night, another HCNer, rosethorn, told me about a documentary called Dangerous Knowledge -
Got hold of it and watching it now ( Thx rosethorn ), though my wife says "O no, you are going to shout at the TV for getting things wrong aren't you?" Probably, but I live in hope they get it right and its important to me to know what people are being told.
patientrenter wrote:
I agree. But having lived in sales now for 25 years its clear to me people prefer to work with people they 'like' as opposed to people who are competent. Its best if they are both but given the choice 'likes' trump 'competence' in most all cases.
And how American DOJs win their cases? Easy, "You confess now, you get 5 years or I will come after you, you will get 50 years". Even many poorer innocents will choose the five years when really pressed. 90 percent of cases never even go to trial, especially poor defendants are coerced into deals.
RIF wrote:
Yeah, it's similar, a very costly vehicle, that's probably leased and the only reason you got it was to impress others not worth impressing, and in reality, you only drive it to the country club of nations, nowhere else.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
If you have to afford it, you can't ask.
{Craig's List 2020?}
For sale, one nuke, never used.
Will consider trade for rare aged scotch, and/or diplomatic immunity.
I know this will sound shallow and petty.... but is there anyway I can find out if my screen name is on one of those HCN t-shirts? If it is, I will buy one immediately
I looked at the screen shots of it, and was not able to find it in the small magnified section.
*even if its not, I will probably buy one eventually...
LoserBeachBum wrote:
9 out of 10 of their cases never go to trial - too risky, too expensive. So when they take one to trial it better be a convictable offense and backed up with evidence. This was before RICO so they actually had to have evidence. In most of these cases the well connected defendants [in one case a personal friend of the sitting president & vp]. They frequently got off on 'technicalities' - almost as if escape hatches were left in the cases for them to find. My sis did a thorough job making sure none were there. No one cried when she left DOJ.
I've enjoyed your mirth, much.
LoserBeachBum wrote:
If you weren't guilty, you never would have come to the attention of the police and prosecutors. Or so goes the mantra from the criminal justice crowd. Kind of embarrassing then, when all those "convicted criminals" are freed by DNA evidence that proves their innocence.
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
Not shallow nor petty at all ( or as shallow and petty as me ) - its the only reason I bought mine. check this pic:
Porcollage | Hoocoodanode?
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
Yes. Fourth line up from the bottom of the pig, second name on the left hand side
dryfly wrote:
People who work get bored when they don't work. People who don't work never get bored. - graffiti, Paris, May 1968 ..
LoserBeachBum wrote:
Not at the white collar level - again you show your astounding ignorance of the American system.
Also DOJ never leans on 'poor innocents' to confess - that's beneath them unless they are doing it to non-citizens - they leave the task of beating up on the poor to the states & locals - they know that beat a lot better anyway.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
With an increasing amount of class material, schedules, tests etc. moved online it probably isn't as workable as it was in the past.
dryfly wrote:
What a pity. I hope you've avoided the worst consequences of that behavior.
I am not particularly sociable (as you can tell from the tone of my comments). I recognized that early in life, so I have chosen fields that rely more on technical ability than social ability. If a person has limited social skills, my advice is to choose more technical fields, and more technical jobs. (Traders on Wall Street aren't known for good social skills, to take an extreme example.)
We each have to pick what we're best at, and avoid what we're worst at. Each peg has to find the corresponding hole. I can see from the level of frustration occasionally on display here that it's not worth fighting a mismatch.
MB wrote:
Again - not white collar. Exact opposite usually - evidence up the wazoo yet get off on 'no contest' [no sentence, only minimal fines]...
Am I on there? This might be my Navin Johnson phonebook moment
YouTube - The new phonebook's here!
Online Video Lectures and Course Materials — Open Yale Courses
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
The value goes down a lot once they've been used.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Likewise, JD. "Telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" and all that. At least we don't have to use fish signs (
) these days.
How does one make a silk purse out of a sow's ear made of cotton?
patientrenter wrote:
You can shrink FIRE without increasing asset prices. In fact, if you cut transaction costs, you tend to increase the prices of assets. Just imagine if homes only cost 2% to sell, rather than 8% by the time you get to all of the borrowing costs, realtors, title and escrow. It would raise the market values considerably, because imbedded in the price is the cost of reselling.
patientrenter wrote:
You win some lose some. Being an independent I try to get my 'likable' people in front of their influential decision makers - then make sure the rest of us 'unlikable' types get our work done so there are no actual concrete [physical product] excuses as to why they can't award us the work. For the most part it works. But damn that can be a lot of maneuvering & work.
dryfly wrote:
The wherewithal to hire a competent attorney on the part of the defendant puts the fear of God into the prosecution.
I was watching a documentary on the SDS the other day, and it turned out that for all their bombings, few of them received any serious sentences whatsoever. That's because they had good attorneys, who were able to get most evidence excluded because of the many ways the FBI broke the law in order to obtain it. With some legal aid kid for a lawyer, they would all have gotten 99 years, just like most legal aid clients do.
SPOOL wrote:
Why does he hate these cans!!!
HomeGnome wrote:
The Education system will have to switch its focus from delivering knowledge to measuring knowledge.
No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, etc.
Re: "Most economists say the nation's businesses must create 120,000 to 150,000 jobs a month simply to accommodate the natural growth of the labor force due to increases in population and immigration.
Although payrolls have increased by 723,000 jobs since December, it would take years of sustained job growth, at 300,000 to 400,000 jobs a month, to begin to recapture the 8.4 million lost during the recession, which began in December 2007."
SPOOL wrote:
20 lines up, right hand side, one name in. You're a jowl person (but I'll still talk to you any day!)
My father immigrated to the USA in 1952, and he landed right in the middle of the McCarthy Era, and this was after having seen the double-header of fascism and communism, the decade before...
I remember him telling me how strange it felt, this self-censoring country, he had blundered into~
withou plea bargaining the so called justice system as we know it would collapse
the plea bargaining system encourages prosecutors and police to over charge suspects, defendants, so they have negotiating room
federal law especially provides for huge sentencing extremes, like up to 200k dollars fine and 20 years imprisonment for minor offenses such as defacing the wall of a post office or park bench...this , again lets the prosecutor say hey ill recommend 1 year to the accused, reminding them they could get up to 20
my advice.... go to the edge..settle day of trial, or go to trial if you have a good mouth-piece.... defendants win 9 out of 10 times before a jury,
if ll you have is a public pretender...unless it is a wide eyed-novice-true-believer, you are likely flucked
but.... if you are truly guilty...take a good plea bargained deal and sit down
edit spelling
Jury Nullification.
HomeGnome wrote:
Where do they hide the bodies?
Rajesh wrote:
I love these Orwellian names, historically considered...
No child left behind meant the end of many children getting ahead (widespread gutting of gifted programs)
And the Race to the Top... has at least a half dozen connotations.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
That's polyester!
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Or replace this:
"It would take 50 solid years of supply from either 32,000 (1.65Kw) wind turbines, 4 Three Gorges Dams, or 92 million solar PV panels (2.1Kw), to match the energy we consume from the cubic mile of oil we use each year. Scaling up any of these technologys in anything like the time frame needed is inconceivable."
How about we put up one more of the Stone Heads?
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Are you or have you ever been a member of this free republic, or any free republic?
Blackwater Created Shell Companies, NYT Reports - CBS News
War is a racket.
--Smedley Butler
pavel.chichikov wrote:
Do you really think so?
adornosghost wrote:
How about we end the dumbass War on Terror and spend that 3 BILLION a week on alternative energies?
HomeGnome wrote:
Who needs alternative energy when you have free money that can buy the energy we already produce?
Blackwater is one of those leftovers from the Section 8 Years, everybody knows it was rotten to the core, but is there any action to get them off of Big Gov's payroll?
MB wrote:
Never scared my sis because she knew she had the budget of the whole US Gov behind her - she would be the lone att'y for the gov't [sometimes a local US District Att'y in support but in technical cases like these they are worthless - frequently being political appointments anyway].
Many times it would be herself against a stable of NYC 'Wall Street-type' lawyers - all Ivy. She from the big Midwest State U. Didn't rattle her. She ate them alive.
The real concern was political connections - in one case the defendant & the judge were personal friends, belonged to the same high powered social clubs. The judge tried everything to derail the trial on technicalities but the DOJ made it clear they would take any such move to appeal over his head - not a good thing for a crony judge. Result was the judge let it go through to trial & the jury returned a conviction but at sentencing the judge gave an EXTREMELY soft fine & no jail time - just said the man was a pillar in the community and deserves a 'second chance'. Case closed.
Foreign Exchange: Saddam Turns His Back on Greenbacks - TIME
Money as a weapons system
(MAAWS)
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
sure but we cant use the same free money to buy all the energy they already produce
HomeGnome wrote:
+100
We need to start. No starting, no progress, no getting anywhere.
"withou plea bargaining the so called justice system as we know it would collapse"
It has not collapsed in European countries, even petty thieves go to trial. Confession is taken into account of course but must be backed up by other pieces of evidence too.
skk wrote:
Let us know when you're finished skk. The summary's characterization of the causation for Turing's suicide sounds so grotesquely off-base.
Hey, don't fuck with my hegemony, punk.
I'll send guido to rearrange your kneecaps, and besides, you tried to kill my dad, and you know what they say, revenge is a dish best served retold.
HomeGnome wrote:
I think this has always been true through out history.
Commander's Guide to Money as a Weapons System Handbook - Table of Contents
What do the experts say about Chapter 15, JD?
josap wrote:
The bloodless revaluation?
Read this paragraph carefully:
"For a decade, middle class families felt the sting of stagnant incomes and declining economic security. Companies were rewarded with tax breaks for creating jobs overseas. Wall Street firms turned huge profits by taking, in some cases, reckless risks and cutting corners. All of this came at the expense of working Americans, who were fighting harder and harder just to stay afloat – often borrowing against inflated home values to pay their bills. Ultimately, the house of cards collapsed."
This was a part of O's radio address this morning. I completely agree with the sentiment, unfortunately his actions ( to date) haven't matched his words.
flaminia wrote:
Turing died of attempts to chemically heterosexualize him. Grotesque doesn't begin to cover it.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
Power and control, of people, weapons, food stuffs, land usage.
black dog wrote:
Interesting. The President actually uses the term "borrowing against inflated home values" in a public address... Something's coming.
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
Yes, you are on there and, no, I'm not going to tell you where. I nearly burned out my eyes looking and you get to pay the same dues. I'm on there and until recently I didn't post very often at all. The first 1000 people is really a lot of people for this blog.
edit: oops, I should have kept reading the posts before responding.
black dog wrote:
In reality we need a Sherlock Holmes icon as in 'No shit, Sherlock.'
I'm giving some thought to investing in a TBTF bank in Kabul, and having us bail me out when it fails, yeah that's the ticket.
josap wrote:
Isn't that why money was invented?
http://robertbonnett.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/no-bullshit.jpg
flaminia wrote:
Someone already told me, and on the enlarged version I can barely make it out down there...
I just completed the order for the shirt. Money well spent,.either way.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
If its close enough to the landing strip at the airbase - there's a chance a pallet or two of
's might find its way into your possession.
RevolutionWillNotBeTelevised wrote:
Sorry, I know how much people used to love "Where's Waldo" books...
"Where's the TARP money?"
black dog wrote:
Very point blank statement. Does this mean he got the clue?
Now if he has a clue, how does he get congress to make changes in tax law, put a jobs program in place or do something constructive?
HomeGnome wrote:
yeah he didnt want to sell "his" oil for dollars no more
we showed him...dont wanna take bucks for oil? we gotta little neck tie party waitin for ya
yeah saddam was a monster...but we were ok with that especially as we supported his 8 year war with iran
so after spending all this blood and treasure it appears we will likely see a new tyrant arise in iraq to replace the old ones
mock turtle wrote:
The problem is, they might outbid us. This whole elite game is fighting over a smaller resource base to see who will be the last standing.
The outcome will not be good.
Eat your hearts out, rest-of-the-world. Only in America are houses again FREE for the asking. WTF. "...and a very big constraint to [snip] buyers is the wealth-constraint." aka, if you're broke, that's no reason not to get a free house.
(And anyone here dare asks why buy PM's or international commodities.)
NY Times today...
excerpt:
"“Loans that have zero down payment perform worse than loans with down payments,” said Mathew Scire, a director of the Government Accountability Office’s financial markets and community investment team. “And loans with down payment assistance” — like Mr. Middlebrooke’s — “perform worse than those that do not.”
But the surprise is the support these loans have received, even from critics of exotic mortgages, who say low down payments themselves were not the problem, except when combined with other risk factors like adjustable rates or lax underwriting.
Moreover, they say, the housing market needs such nontraditional lending, as long as it is done prudently.
“This is subprime lending done right,” said John Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an umbrella group for 600 community organizations, and a staunch critic of the lending industry. “If they had done subprime this way in the first place, we wouldn’t have these problems.”
At Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, Eric Belsky, the director, said the loans might be the type of step necessary to restart the housing market, because down payment requirements are keeping first-time home buyers out.
“If you look at where the market may get strength from, it may very well be from first-time buyers,” he said. “And a very significant constraint to first-time buyers is the wealth constraint.” "
ENJOY... - NY Times
Kinda wish I was in Black Rock City tonight, they're burning the man...
http://www.anonsalon.com/bm03/images/houseofcardsmp.jpg
black dog wrote:
So therein lies the answer. Middle class wages and job opportunities, higher corporate taxes, global reach of Federal corporate law/regulation, titular FIRE regulation, incenting consumers to deleverage, tighter credit standards.
The Burning Man Project :: Welcome Home
im not disagreeing with most of what you said,...im just indicating the justice system as we know it would collapse
mock turtle wrote:
YouTube - Thanks for the memories Saddam
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
Will that something hurt or help?
And who will it help or hurt?
Or will congress just not pass anything? Cause all they seem to want to do is fight, point fingers and grandstand - doing something constructive seems beyond them now.