Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Day 127: Copyright Scam

There is currently a court case going on concerning a man from Thailand who went to go study in the US, and to be able to pay for his studies and other living expenses, he asked his friends and family to send him foreign editions of textbooks, which he would then sell in the US, as they can be bought cheaper there.

So now this guy has been sued for copyright infringement and lost, though the decision was appealed and is now being heard in the Supreme Court.

The point which is being debated is whether copyrighted stuff which was made and created aborad can be bought and then sold in the US without requires the copyright owner's decision.

This whole care opens up a whole can of worms on the whole 'copyright ordeal':

the stakes could prove enormous for those who buy and sell books, movies, music, artwork, perhaps even furniture, electronics, automobiles, and clothing -- anything that may be considered "intellectual property."

"The idea -- upheld by the Supreme Court since 1908 -- is that once a copyright holder legally sells a product initially, the ownership claim is then exhausted, giving the buyer the power to resell, destroy, donate, whatever. It's a limited idea -- involving only a buyer's distribution right, not the power to reproduce that DVD or designer dress for sale."

"We're going to help the global economy with this," said Theodore Olson, an attorney with Gibson Dunn hired by the publisher. "The whole idea of the copyright laws is to provide people with an incentive to create books, movies, or other works of art. If you take away that incentive, you're not going to have creators out there doing things that give us pleasure or educate us."

"--Libraries would have to either purge their stacks of every foreign-printed work, pay a royalty, or essentially go out of the public lending service."



I mean, the whole textbook business is such a scam -- where people are forced to buy very expensive textbooks for school, which sometimes -- you do not even really need. Or where you have to buy a book, and you want to save yourself some money because hey, school's already so expensive -- and you want to buy it second-hand -- but then it turns out that you need the 9th Edition, which juuuuust got out this year, and you can only find the 8th edition version -- and then when you compare them, there's only a few sentences added and some punctuation corrected.


So now this guy is getting sued, for buying cheaper textbooks overseas and selling them in the US. The issue isn't even 'who owns what' -- but what profit was made and 'that profit should have been mine'. There's a general mentality that everyone has the 'right to make profit' in the liberal economic and democratic system -- that's exactly what this guy is doing. He's playing the Game we've all accepted and agreed upon to play: He saw an opportunity to make money and he took it -- isn't that what all the textbook companies do? They see they can make a lot of money and then they do it?

The whole point of 'incentive' that if this copyright points goes down the toilet, that people won't create 'art' and 'entertainment' anymore is such BS. Yes, everyone should have access to basic necessities to be able to live a life of comfort -- there's no reason why people should not do something simply because they are not getting a grotesque amount of money. There's lots of people creating 'free stuff' simply because they enjoy doing it and want to share what they create with everyone else without expecting anything in return.

If everyone has equal access to resources to live a life of comfort and explore career possibilities without monetary restrictions such as in the Equal Money System -- people would still create art and entertainment and do it because they like doing it -- and without going into Greed of wanting a shitload of money just because you can.

Investigate Equal Money -- we can make a better version of this reality.

Also check out the College Conspiracy documentary to get some perspective on our current educational system of a scam.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/26/justice/court-student-copyright/index.html
Enhanced by Zemanta

Monday, October 29, 2012

Dag 126: Turning a Blind Eye to Corruption

Corruption is one of the major problems in South Africa. Because the market economy is unable to meet the demands for basic needs - the government has a big role in making sure everyone is provided for. One of the means of financing these services, as we have seen in previous blogs, is the raising of taxes.

The money that is raised by the government is meant to be redistributed to the people of South Africa to combat inequality and dire living conditions. However, many municipalities keep on 'losing their money' where it seems to just disappear into thin air. Public officials working on district or regional levels use their access to these resources to enrich themselves, instead of putting the money where it's supposed to go.

When reading through South African newspapers, you'll constantly find stories of how this or that person has misused their position and thereby inflicted costs on communities in need of help.

To gain more understanding on corruption - here's a few words you may have heard about in the news - with their explanations (Guwa-Ngamlana 2009):

"a) Bribery: bribery involves the promise, offering or giving of a benefit that improperly affects the actions or decisions of a public official. This benefit may accrue to the public official, another person or entity. A variation of this manifestation occurs where a political party or government is offered, promised or given a benefit that improperly affects the actions or decisions of the political party or government.

b) Fraud: this involves actions or behaviour by a public official, other person or entity that fool others into providing a benefit that would not normally accrue to the public official, other persons or entity.

c) Embezzlement: involves theft of resources by persons entrusted with the authority and control of such resources.

d) Extortion: involves coercing a person or entity to provide a benefit to a public official, another person or entity in exchange for acting (or failing to act) in a particular manner.

e) Abuse of power: involves a public official using his/her vested authority to improperly benefit another public official, person or entity (or using the vested authority to improperly discriminate against another person, official or entity).

f) Conflict of interest: involves a public official acting or failing to act on a matter where the public official has an interest or another person or entity that stands in a relationship with the public official, i.e. a public official considers tenders for a contract and awards the tender to a company of which his/her partner is the director.

g) Favouritism: involves the provision of services or resources according to personal affiliations of a public official. An example would be a Mayor ensuring that only persons from his/her political organisation are successful in tenders or in employment.

h) Nepotism: involves a public official ensuring that family members are appointed to public service positions or that family members receive contracts."

One of the major arguments for free market economy is that the government cannot be trusted with the allocation of resources, because politicians and public officials will invariably pursue their personal interests in spite of the costs they inflict on society.

Within an Equal Money System this problem will be circumvented through not giving people the responsibility to allocate resources. Resources allocation will be a highly-automated system with many safety-measures, ensuring that no-one is able to manipulate the flow of resources so that they end up in their own pockets!

Source
Guwa-Ngamlana, N. 2009. http://www.afesis.org.za/Local-Governance-Articles/corruption-at-the-local-government-level-time-to-crack-the-whip, Consulted 29 October 2012.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Friday, October 26, 2012

Day 125: Double Con - Australian Mining Interests in Africa

The Australian Government is channeling money which was allocated as Australian Aid Funds towards companies who are members of the Australian Africa Mining Group Industry. Instead of this money being used for that it was allocated for, it is being used by these Australian mining companies to further their own interests.

They have been using the Aid money to fund their own Corporate Social Responsibility programs.

Now, Corporoate Social Responsibilities programs or short - CSR - is supposed to be the an initiative coming from the company itself, where the company shows that it is not just interested with profit maximization but also wants to contribute to the environment and social community and show that it has some ethical values.

Obviously, this sort of initiatives/projects are supposed to be funded with the companies own money, as a sign of good-will, where the company "gives something back" to the community it is taking from.

So now, these Mining companies, are using Aid money to fund their CSR projects, as a PR-stunt, to make them look good and responsible, while of course if this money hadn't been available, they wouldn't have done it -- so it's really just a con. Furthermore, a lot of these companies have been known to be involved in human right violation, labour abuse, corruption and non-compliance with environmental laws.

So this whole CSR in itself is already quite a scam , as a 'band-aid' for all the corporate sins, where they show a little goodwill here and there but where the corporate word/system will not have a look at how these sins came about and so do away with the traditional way of doing business and come up with a new business design which is not drenched within complete inconsideration and disregard for Life on Earth and the natural balance of things -- because if they had, they would not have to go and make a little 'corporate social responsibility' project on the side -- their whole way of doing business would be Living Responsibility which is the only way we are ever going to be able to produce and distribute goods and services on Earth without creating disastrous consequences for current and future generations.

So I guess in a way, these companies are tired of 'keeping up the facade' Of "goodwill" and "good intentions" -- where they blatantly use Aid money to fund their so called "goodwill" -- while at the same time preventing this money from actually going to people who need it -- I mean, Africa's already poor, now here comes some Rich country and exploit the mineral resources while at the same time denying it aid so that it can use that money for its own private interests.

But then, again -- aid money is also not a solution, which you can read about in these blogs:
Day 20: The Insanity of Economics - Food Aid Does not Help the Poor
Day 106: Structural Adjustment
Famine Caused by Excess of Food - Only in Capitalism!


So what is the solution?

The solution is the way of the Equal Money System, where we take a whole new look at how we do things in this world -- as all can clearly see that what is going on in this world is a Complete Fuck-Up and this could have only been brought about by us human beings acting in a way that support Fuck Ups.

Check out the Goals, check out the Wiki and Vote/Comment on the policies. Here's a real solution to the problems in our world, which will be integrated into every aspect of society -- so we can do away with 'band-aid' solutions which make us 'feel better' but make no actual contribution to manifesting actual change in this world.

Visit now: www.EqualMoney.Org and educate yourself on what Real Change looks like
Enhanced by Zemanta

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Why Communism Killed the American Muse

This is an important one.  So I want you to pour yourself a martini, get a nice comfy couch and light up a cigar.  You'll be strapped in for a while on this one.

Though traffic has improved drastically when I started posting about the Manosphere, I occasionally get the question,

"Why did you switch from economics to The Manosphere/Feminism?"

or

"Why did you abandon economics for all this Manosphere stuff?"

And the answer is simple.

I haven't. 

While a higher percentage of my posts could be deemed "Manosphere" the reality is that economics and The Manosphere (or the fight against feminism) are actually one and the same.  And not only are they one and the same, I contend the most cutting-edge, evolutionary developments in economics are not in central banking, nor international finance, nor the demise of fiat currency.  The furthest, most deepest front lines of this economic war between communism and freedom is where The Manosphere and feminism are duking it out.

Right off the bat it is not obvious how battling feminism is related, let alone, part of economics, let alone "the cutting-edge" of economics.  And in all intellectual honesty it wasn't until I sat down to figure out this post did I realize how they are indeed one and the same.  But what originally alluded me to think the two were related was the fact my "transition" from economics to "Manosphere" was very natural.  So natural, I didn't even realize it was happening.  So natural my readers didn't know it was happening.  All of the sudden my blog, as well as others, were writing about both economics and the Manosphere, suggesting the two were at minimum VERY closely related and tied together, at least philosophically.

So what makes them the same?  Well why don't you take a big swig of your highly alcoholic drink, take a seat and be prepared to be floored as I lay down some serious "Super Awesome Economic Genius" (TM).

First, we have to ask ourselves what is the most important thing in life to humans?  Some will say riches, some will say wealth, some will say health, but those are all wrong answers.  The correct answer is "other humans."  The reason why is that out of EVERYTHING on this planet, humans are the most interesting, entertaining, dynamic and intellectual things we'll ever run into.

For example, have the most advanced XBox video gaming system out there. It is still finite.  It is still non-sentient.  It cannot think, it cannot challenge you, and cannot engage you beyond what it is programmed to do.  It is limited.  The only reason it CAN challenge you (within the confines of what it's programmed to) is because OTHER HUMANS programmed it that way.  Furthermore, what do most people with video games do to maximize their fun?  They go online and PLAY AGAINST OTHER HUMANS, suggesting it is human interaction, not a pre-programmed pixelated campaign to kill Nazi's or zombies that provides genuine stimulation to people.

Another example - when do you cry?  Chances are when you ding your car or sell your boat, etc., you don't cry.  But when a family member or a loved one dies, you cry.  Why?  Because a human is the only thing you can really love, as well as love you back.  You could even make the same case for pets in that pets, though not as advanced as humans, have some of the same characteristics.  They are not finite, they are not programmed, dogs certainly have personalities, they are dynamic (meaning they don't do the same thing over and over again like a robot), and you can interact with them.  A Ferrari, you can't.

In other words, have all the things you want.  Super computers, Ferrari's, an awesome career, you name it, there is nothing more advanced and engaging that another human being.  It's what we're programmed to respond to, it's what we're programmed to be intellectually stimulated by, other humans are the most important thing in our lives.

Second, since human beings are the most important things in our lives, which ones mean the most to us?  Of course we don't PERSONALLY KNOW every one of the 6 billion humans on the planet, but the ones that are important to us fall into three categories - family, friends and loved ones.

It is here we must discern between men and women because, after all, we are trying to tie economics to the MANosphere.  Additionally, we have to make some assumptions that are not going to apply to every man in the world, but will hold in general.  Specifically, we must discern the order or hierarchy in which the average man values the above three - family, friends and loved ones. 

In general, the average man is going to love

His wife first.  Sometimes TIED with his children for first, which means HIS FAMILY comes first.
His children second
And parental-extented family TIED with friends for third.

This doesn't mean he wouldn't lay his life down for his friends.  This doesn't mean he would abandon his friends once he found a woman (though that does happen).  This is just ordering these for the sake of intellectual discussion.

Regardless, the point is the single most important thing in a man's life is his wife and children aka HIS FAMILY (not his parents, cousins, siblings, aunts, etc.)

Third, since a man's wife and children are the most important things in life for him, how does a man go about getting a family?  He has to attract a woman to become his wife.  And how does he do that?

He goes out, kicks ass and takes names.

The "kicking ass" and "taking names" primarily manifesting itself in the form of economic production.

This means he goes to school, learns a trade, stays in shape, develops a personality, develops hobbies, invents, creates, innovates, invests, enriches himself and does everything within his power to increase his marketability to attract a woman.  In short he becomes the most powerful economically productive unit in all of society.

However, it doesn't stop there.  It's not like he's running a marathon, passes the finish line and then quits once he attracts a mate.  He must keep going and continue being the powerful economic production unit he is because chances are there will be little kinder that need taking care of. 

So in short, the majority of economic production in this economy is incented and prompted by a man's strong psychological and instinctual desire to compete for a woman, secure a mate and then start and maintain a family, resulting in an economic model that looks like this:























However, there are some significant ancillary benefits to having effectively every man in the country working this hard, being this creative and being this productive.  Namely pure economic dominance for the US.  With all men engaged in the economy, working their best, trying their best, uninhibited by government regulation, taxation or politics, there was no doubt which country was the #1 economic power in the world. Additionally, in being the #1 economic power in the world, the US could afford not just the largest,but the most advanced military in the world ensuring our safety.  So while the above model is on the micro-economic level, the macro-economic model looks like this:



































Now here is where it gets interesting.

Let's just say, "hypothetically" you are an enemy of the United States (or any free and successful country). You are a communist psy-ops specialist in the Soviet Union.  Or heck, just a communist ideologue from the Frasier School that wants to ruin the US.  Whatever your origins, you are a communist that wants to destroy the US.  You envy its economic wealth, you envy it's economic production, you hate how it's dominant and #1, and it really grinds your gears they did it by letting people be free and do what they want.  You know you can't take on the US militarily, so how do you bring about its demise efficiently, effectively and cheaply?

Well if you look at the two charts you'll see two bottlenecks or weak spots than can bring the whole thing down.

You target the wife/women or the family.  PREFERABLY the wife/women because that's the first bottleneck before a family is created.

And now your are starting to see why feminism, The Manosphere and economics are related.  Since the majority of this country's (an any other free country's) economic production is based on a man's desire to live a happy life by getting married and (sometimes) having children, if you can destroy the quality and caliber of women, let alone the incentive to get married or have children, you can destroy the economic productive capacity of the United States, and thus the country itself. Thus, you see that feminism really isn't about "helping women."  It is nothing more than an thinly veiled economic and political attack against the US, freedom and capitalism.  This is why I call it "Killing the American Muse."

I didn't know what a "muse" was, until I read this Sinfest comic and looked it up.  A muse is (in societal terms) a woman that instills creativity, innovation and determination in a man.  ie-any babe that stirs our souls and we think might be marriage material.  You see this all the time where if a hot babe walks by men suck in their guys, puff out their chests and do whatever they can to impress her.  However, to be a true muse you must not just be good-looking, but also inspire the man, incentive him to do great things, work hard, etc., which requires you are nice, kind, witty, charming, and supportive.  The qualities and characteristics of a woman that makes her a good wife, creating the saying "behind every successful man there is a woman."

Of course, if you look at what feminism has done and intends to do to our women, you can see it is in COMPLETE opposition to these qualities and traits. You are not supposed to support the man.  You are not to help him out.  He is the enemy.  He is your oppressor, you are not a team.  You will co-lead. He will compromise.  You will be difficult, you will be belligerent, you will get in his face, you will nag, you will whine, you will complain, you will make demands. You entitled girlfriend!  You will have a career, ef the family and ef him, you can have it all, test-tube babies, turkey baster babies, career comes first, I'm a cougar, I can date younger, EPL, Sex and the City, 40 is the new 25, I'm a heroic single mom, you go grrrrl.  Vote for higher taxes, men should pay more, we're oppressed, the wage gap, evil patriarchy, free day care, free health care, free education, Obama's pecks, won't somebody please think of the children, I have my masters, where's my cushy 9 months a year government job?  Big is beautiful, you're so shallow for liking skinny girls, you should love me for me, shame on you for liking that type of girl, we're going to shove fat acceptance down your throats.

Well how the hell is THAT kind of muse going to instill ANYTHING in a guy but sheer disgust?

Simple, it isn't.  Feminism never intended to "improve" the American Muse.  Feminism is nothing more than a cover for communists to destroy it and thus destroy your incentive to produce.

The question is, though, are they succeeding?  And the answer is sadly yes.

In corrupting and destroying the quality and caliber of the average American woman, these veritable communists have completely disincentived men from participating in getting married, creating families and forming careers.  Men are getting married much later, and some, not at all because of the various legal and financial risks involved.  Men are having less children not just because they can't afford it in today's economic times, but BOTH parents MUST have careers!  Children be damned.  Worse though, (for the rest of society anyway) is that men are completely abandoning their traditional male roles and checking out of society altogether.  Not that they aren't dating.  Not that they aren't working, but they're not "manning up" as so many bewildered western women would like them to.  They are realizing just how little money it takes to support one man and choosing the path of least resistance.  They are living at home, not going to school, not bothering working hard, not trying their best, not inventing vaccines, not becoming doctors and not aiming to "achieve something greater."  They are making just enough money to get by, live their lives and service their needs.  Thus, the new micro-economy is looking like this:























Pay particular note to several items in the new economic model.

1.  The amount of green (economic production) is a lot less.  This is in part because the guy no longer has any calling to be a husband or a father.  That job has been replaced by the government.  The guy no longer has anything to do with the "mom" or the "children" and therefore only needs to produce the amount of economic production that is necessary to support himself.

2.  Also note the significant amount of "faux" economic production.  Namely the welfare spending of the government and the "make work government jobs" that are disproportionately filled by women.  Also, notice such an economy of nothing but teachers, social workers, therapists, counselors, etc. is unsustainable, thereby requiring additional financing by the Chinese (again, not real economic production).

3.  Notice the disconnect from the guy.  The guy is standing alone, separate from the upper half.  This means he is not only alienated from the economy, but also socially alienated.  He has no family, he has no children, and if he does, thanks to divorce chances are he is more or less removed from that as well.  He may as well be removed from this entire economy and country, and this shows in more and more men looking overseas for not just jobs, but families and lives.

4.  I didn't draw it, but the upper half of the economy will inevitably demand the "guys" below pay more in taxes to support the government-daddy-hubby matrix.  More schools, more health care, free day care, etc. etc., just look at what the feminists and communists are clamoring for and you'll see.  Additionally, this only provides further incentive for the guys below to work less, if not, collect a government check themselves, if not consider green pastures in other economies.

Ultimately though, the above model results in something that is loathed by BOTH ardent feminists and religious conservative types - the HATED Peter Pan Syndrome Man or "Manchild."



With their primary incentive (women) to engage in economic production eliminated why should they?  Without a potential future wife, let alone children, they can stay at home and bang on their drums all day because the average man needs a mere fraction of the money to survive and support himself than the average woman does.  Oddly enough, men seem to be OK with this.  It's other people that are having the problems.

The feminists/communists are pissed because these naive men were supposed to keep on working to pay the taxes to support their socialist utopia (though I doubt most feminists think that much about economics).

Religious types are angry because these men aren't "manning up" and creating more Christians/Muslims/Jews/Etc.

Women are angry because "why can't I find a maaaaaan?"  And "where have all the good men gone!?  Why, I have my triple masters in social work and I'm an independent strong woman!  You know, that's what it is!  Men are sexist pigs who are just intimidated by a strong, independent woman like me!  You probably want one of those hot, long legged, big boobed women!  Well, you know what, you're shallow!  If you don't like me and my muffin top, then you're not good enough for me!"

Regardless, the larger point is not the socio-romantic consequences of the "Man Child" or "Peter Pan Syndrome."  It's the economic consequences.  Communists, poorly dressed as feminists, have taken the one thing that truly matters and has given men reason to live throughout history away from them- a wife, and consequently a family.  Without that incentive men have no reason to work hard, innovate, create or excel except for themselves.  Some, yes, will go onto try hard and create riches for themselves, but most others will merely create enough economic production to "get by" pursuing leisure over labor (besides, with this economy, like they have a choice).  This wreaks havoc on the economy in that by taking out that one bottleneck (women) feminists have effectively sent the US economic engine into a coma, producing a mere fraction of what it's capable of doing.

Ergo, we here in the Manosphere aren't "bashing women" because it's a "he-man woman's hater club."  We aren't here because we find the battle of the sexes interesting.  And we aren't here because we're whining.  We're here for economic purposes.  We are identifying, warning people about, and assailing the single largest economic threat to not just this economy and other free-market economies, but to freedom across the globe.  Feminism is NOT about women, it is a Trojan Horse for communism.  And all the accusations in the world of us being "sexist" or "misogynist" will never stop us from pointing that out and exposing feminism for the evil it truly is.

Oooo! Feminists Hate Logic

Good geometric theorem.

The Ego Welfare Program

You, no doubt, already know about regular "ole" welfare.  You know, the government program/s that used to go to help people down on their luck, but today goes to anybody who's too lazy to work?  Yeah, that program.

Well, that's nothing compared to another, often unheard of government program, the "Ego Welfare Program."

You see, how it works is that for SOME people it isn't just enough to get money for nothing.  No, their egos would be bruised.  They would have to suffer the shame and scorn of knowing they were parasitical.  So instead they join the Ego Welfare Program.

How the Ego Welfare Program works is you have to register VERY early in your life starting in kindergarten.  Specifically you enroll in a public K-12 school district and take their "inflated ego" and "sense of entitlement program."  It's a 13 year program that starts at age 5 and runs until you turn 18.  In that program you learn how important, special and smart you are.  How you are destined to do great things because, without doing anything, you're already great!  Parental support is optimal for this program to work, but teachers are more than capable of instilling egos and entitlement mentalities into participants of this program on their own.

Next, the Ego Welfare Program requires you attend college and earn a liberal arts degree.  Doesn't matter what, just get a liberal arts degree.  Though not required, you are then strongly encouraged to get as many masters degrees in the liberal arts as possible.  Social Work, Early Education Development, Educational Leadership and other outright worthless BS, the basic tenets of which could be summarized on one 8 x11.5 sheet of paper.

After completing this second stage of the program you are 100% guaranteed by the NEA and the US College Administrators Association to have an ego and entitlement mentality that can only be rivaled by others in this prestigious program.  However, and here is where the genius of The Ego Welfare Program comes in, you are not employable even in the slightest, thereby making sure you have to go on SOME welfare program.  However, since the regular ole welfare program is too shameful, you have the benefit of STILL COLLECTING WELFARE, STILL BEING A PARASITE, but WITHOUT ALL THAT NASTY SHAME!

You get a government job.

Yes, your job is completely unnecessary.  Yes 1 private sector employee could probably do the job of 20 public sector employees.  And yes, there functionally and economically is NO difference between you and the local EBT/welfare bum.  But you get to claim you're "employed" *wink wink* thereby sparing your precious ego.

/> sarcasm

I will say it again for the cheap seats.

I have more respect for the welfare recipient, EBT recipient, government subsidized health insurance recipient who knowingly and admittedly steals from the taxpayer.  S/he is at least being "honest."

It is the millions of spoiled brats that graduate with degrees that don't offer society anything and through the democrats/socialists in our government lobby for more government programs and government investments (read -Solyndra, and the score of other failed solar companies) merely to provide them jobs.

The problem is it isn't really a job.

It's the most expensive government program that only exists for the sole purpose of sparing worthless people's egos.

(this post made to lay the foundation for another post that will be coming in the near future).

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Help Out a Cappy Cap Veteran

As you know we here at Cappy Cap are Pro-US veteran.  So when a vet writes a book AND is a Cappy Cappite, well, you know we're going to do everything to help the guy out.

I have not read his book, but if you're looking for a quick read and willing to help a Cappy Cap vet out, I'm recommending you buy "Breakfast with the Dirt Cult."  It's his first book, but he is more than open to criticism and constructive help.

I will be reading it and doing a review later.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.  THAT'S THE GUY'S BOOK!


Day 124: Desperate Borrowing Behaviour

Whereas loans used to be mainly for big expenses, such as buying a car or renovating a house - personal finance research unit head, Bernadene de Clercq explains how South Africans have resorted to borrowing from credit providers to pay for food, transport, medical bills, school fees and electricity bills.

Prices of electricity and fuel have increased significantly over the past few years - which is a factor that was not taken into account at the time when loans were taken out. This resulted in a situation where people are now unable to pay back their debts - leaving them little choice but to create more debt in order to provide for themselves.

This is obviously a big problem because no-one can get out of a hole by digging the hole deeper. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that electricity prices are expected to continue rising with an annual increase of 16%, and this for the coming 5 years.

Inability to pay back debts will cause more and more to resort to crime to provide for themselves, which will further jeopardize social and political stability - while appropriate use of the word 'stability' is already questionable.

South Africa is on a dangerous roads - where investors are starting to shy away from investment opportunities, fearing that the economy and state will collapse. A cutting of investment spending in the South African economy will hamper economic growth and further aid its downfall - causing prices to drop, unemployment to grow and crime to rise more...

An Equal Money System will not allow money to determine who gets what, loans will not be necessary, no one will be a slave to debt and entering crime to provide for oneself will no longer come up in anyone's mind. We live in a messy, chaotic world where everything is continuously changing and threatened with instability and even collapse - we don't have to live in a world like this - we are choosing to through the simple thought that 'we can never change what is here'.

This one thought is our God as it dominates our lives and in the name of this one thought, we allow billions to suffer every day - while there is a way - a simple way - educate yourself at www.equalmoney.org and bring out your vote!
Enhanced by Zemanta

For Every Cigar Smoking Man

Been trying to do this for the past year.  Don't know why I didn't look it up before:


Help the Captain Choose a Video Game

Figured I'd stand a better shot consulting the thousands of minds that populate the Capposphere rather than consulting a ton of reviews.

Looking to get a relaxing video game like Civilization where you build up a society, fight off others, and inevitably try to dominate the world.

I absolutely LOVED Civilization II way back in the late 90's.

What I hated was how the Civilization series then got INSANELY complex.  Soon you have to worry about spying, diplomacy, a bunch of peripheral BS that made it impossible to play even at the slowest time setting.

Any recommandations for a similar such game that is not going to make me pull out my hair?

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Top Shelf

Coming soon:



































And yes, I WAS tempted to make the pages black with white text, but I didn't!

Tolerant Liberal Thugs

Click on the picture and the link.

This is just another reason why you need to carry mace and a gun.

Why the Left is Afraid to Study Economics

From the Democratic Underground

Given this, how can you ever be broke? Answer, you cannot be broke. The U.S. government is not in debt simply because it can create currency to pay off the debt, and our creditors gladly accept our currency as payment on our debts. You see, the world needs our dollars because the world needs oil, and in order to buy oil, you need dollars, which means that the world needs to stockpile dollars, and that means that the U.S. can print all of the money that it wants without incurring massive hikes in interest rates to attract lenders. 

Seriously people.  I'm not making this up, but then again, it kind of confirms what we already knew.  Liberals and leftists are completely ignorant and clueless when it comes to economics.  They've been too lazy to bother studying it, let alone, understand it.  However, you'd think as they grew up, inevitably adult curiosity, let alone intellectual maturity and honesty would drive them to starting to figure it out.  Of course they don't, they merely double down and get more bitter.  But I think I've finally figured out why that is.

They're afraid.

Afraid of what?

Afraid that they'll inevitably realize they've been wrong this entire time.  That they're not as smart as they thought they were.  That they weren't as brilliant as their teachers told them in the 10th grade.

Only thing I'll add is notice how in the third paragraph the author describes what the "ideal" leftist economy would look like.  Also notice it's unsupportable and unsustainable because nobody is producing anything of value.

Seeking Advice from Women

Worst advice I EVER received from anybody when it came to dating girls came from my mom.  Some of the zinger of gems she provided me was:

1.  Women don't like jocks.  Yuck, gross, who likes those sweaty guys.
2.  Women like nice guys.  Be nice to a girl, be kind, be her friend.

and when I got stood up by a girl I was really looking forward to going out with back in college, she said,

3.  Well maybe she got hit by a truck.

Which is why Roosh's advice is not just hi-freaking-larious, but it is also true.  You do NOT listen to a woman when it comes to seeking out advice about dating women. (language and crassness warning, file complaints elsewhere)

While Roosh does hit on some of the main reasons why this is, there is one that stares us all in the face, but we don't see it:

How many women does the average woman date?

The real reason you should NEVER listen to a woman about how to go about getting a woman to like you or go out with you is because most women never try to date women.  It would be like asking General Patton how to write poetry or Barack Obama on how to grow an economy.

The people you should ask advice from when it comes to dating women are the world's best experts who have billions of years experience in the field.

Men.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Buying Cars You Can't Afford

For the young lieutenants out there:


Day 123: Health Obsession put Sharks in Peril

Fish supplements are now deemed 'the new gold', as they are being promoted as being THE latest weapon to keep you from being depressed, getting heart attacks and dementia.

This point has become a very lucrative business, due to lose laws allowing shark oils extracted from species which were caught outside Europe, to be sold in the U.K.


The actual effectiveness of these omega-3 pills, are however being quesitoned.

Greek researchers found out that people who took omega-3 were not less prone of dying of a heart attack or stroke that those who did not take omega-3 pills. Similar conclusions were established by South Korean researchers.


In the meantime, many sharks are getting caught and killed for their livers -- so we can ward of our fears of death -- which are not even grounded in fact.

Sharks' livers are packed with these oils, but many of these sharks take many, many years to grow and fully mature.

THe leafscale gulper for instance, takes 35 years before it even starts breeding. If we go and catch these sharks, the balanced gets thrown off very easily.

Almost 6 million sharks are killed each year in order to meet global demand. That's a shitload of sharks.


Whithin all of this, you do not only have all the 'health freaks' buying these pills to stay 'healthy' and 'vital' -- but many people also takes these pills as a supplement wihtin the belief that if they take these pills, they can simply continue an unhealthy lifestyle and the pills will just cancel it all out.

So here you then have the 'Jesus Died for Our Sins' story, where we daily go and crucify sharks and steal their liver so that we can keep on sinning and apparently not bear the consequence.

This type of absolute disregard of other beings, for the sake of entertaining our fears is completely unacceptable -- all for the sake of money. Then, whenever there is an 'animal attack' or accident in a zoo where an animal attacks a human -- there's big shit and the animal is put down. However, if you look at history, we human beings are the most destructive, murderous force on Earth -- is it really the animal kingdom who deserves being put down?


It is time to thoroughly re-investigate and re-prioritize our value systems.

We're all going to die at some point or another -- do we really have to go and drag thousands to our grave in our fear of it? And within that allowing some to make a fortune while others barely get to live to the age of 5?

We're all here on the same planet, the same home -- and whether we like it or not, our existence is dependent on one another. If we start cutting down on one piece of the whole, we all are doomed to fail.

Instead of living a life of fear and greed, wouldn't it be better to live in a world that is Best for All and where we care for animals, plants and humans as we'd like to be treated ourselves?

Investigate the Equal Money System -- a Socio-Political and Economic System designed to make the Best out of Life. Engage and Vote today on policies @ www.equalmoney.org. Show that you Care.


Enhanced by Zemanta

Micro-Capital Flight

Short one and them I'm going. 

Filled in for a buddy of mine who runs a security company last night.  I worked this gig before.  Basically baby sitting the adult children of DT Minneapolis as they are released from the night clubs around 2AM to make sure they don't puke, urinate or fight too much on the client's parking ramps. 

There are multiple ramps, but we meet at one to get radios, any kind of briefing about the evening and whatnot.  Once I met with all the other guards, I was enroute to the ramp I was assigned.  As I went downstairs from the "HQ" ramp I noticed a soda machine missing in the hallway that was there a no more than a year ago.  Last I saw it, however, it was tipped over as some of the local nightclubbers tipped it over.  Naturally the owner of the soda machine removed it since it was not profitable and was only going to get damaged.

Immediately my brain (which is gifted with SAEG - TM) realized what economic phenomenon I was witnessing.

Capital flight.

You see, it doesn't have to be the entire productive class fleeing France thanks for Hollande's 75% confiscation tax.  Nor does it have to be Zimbabwean's money flowing out of the country to invest in western companies' stock as a hyper-inflationary hedge.

Capital flight can be as simple as something as somebody deciding to move their sole soda machine out of DT Minneapolis.  It was obvious s/he wasn't going to make any money.  It was obvious the locals and club goers were not going to respect their property.  It was obvious there was no reason to put a soda machine there.

But what i really like about the now-missing soda machine is the "empty shelves of communism" aspect of it.  Admittedly, it was only one soda machine, but economically it was NO DIFFERENT than an entire grocery store whose shelves were empty.  What's better is who does it hurt?  If you think about it, it's the night-clubbers.  They now no longer have the opportunity to enjoy a soda as they stumble their way back to their cars.

Of course this microscopic economic phenomenon was unnoticeable to the drunk thugs and dregs of society as they walked by.  And that's another thing I like about the missing soda machine.  It's silent, it's clandestine, you don't notice it.  It's the reason why neighborhoods, cities and countries don't just "collapse" overnight going form pristine, vibrant communities with economic growth and low unemployment to the ghetto.  It's why they slowly, deteriorate and die out, the deterioration of which is unperceivable to the naked human eye.  It's also why people wake up one day and start asking, "what happened to this community?  Do you remember when it was nice."

Perhaps disappearing Coke machines is what gives economic rats like me the foresight to flee sinking ships.

Bachelors of Arts In Hedonism

No, no, I'm sure we can outperform China with our "best", our "future" majoring in "hedonism."

Aren't you suburbanite fathers happy you were so spineless when it came to raising your children or holding them to standards?  Good thing you're such "good friends" with you children and that you were considered the "cool" parents as you did everything in your power to avoid real parenting.

Something tells me "Worthless" will be selling for some time to come.

hat tip

Collecting Cans and Crawfish

My first job I took at the age of 3.  I was a thief. 

My dad, piss poor due to piss poor decisions, made it so we (my brother and sister) had to share a large McDonald's soda in an effort to save money.  He would strong-arm bites out of our REGULAR hamburgers (because Big Macs was what only the rich kids could afford - and you CAN follow up with any of my relatives and they will attest to this) because he himself couldn't afford a burger for himself and needed us to "share." Christmas was nothing more than a ruse for our parents to excuse what should have been normal purchases for children implied with parenthood (clothing) as "cherish gifts" while toys were never at the forefront.  What kid doesn't want another freaking sweater from St. Nick.  Toys were rare, pants were common.  And if we dared to complain, "Jesus will send you to hell" or some variation of material possessions being evil.  And so VERY early on I realized that if I was going to make any money, it wasn't going to come from my parents.  It was going to come from me.

My exploits into capitalism were amateurish at best.  My very FIRST foray into enriching myself was rummaging through the coats in the closet at the age of 3.  Scouring the pockets of every coat, I would manage to find loose coinage, the value of which I was unaware of because I had no concept of "cents" let alone currency.  Whatever it was, I was excited when I found a quarter with its intricate eagle design and intuitively knew it was worth more than the bland, boring Jeffersonian nickel. 

Technically this was theft.  I was stealing from my parents.  So at the age of 4 I went professional.  I earned my money the honest way from the Milwaukee County Zoo.

How?

Well, the soda machines had a fair amount of loose change hiding underneath their structures which permitted an already skinny 4-7 year old to fish out with his arm and make off with.  Every year and every trip to the zoo I would ignore the animals and go straight to the soda machines.   I think one day I made off with about $2, which was a fortune in 1980 dollars.  To hell with the alligators and gorillas.  I was making bookoo coin.

By 1981 I decided to become very entrepreneurial and try my hand at salesmanship.  I was going to sell frogs at church.

"Sunday Vacation Bible School" - which was nothing more than the worst, most boring form of baby sitting for Christian parents too lazy to take care of their kids during summer - was mandatory for me, because...well...my dad was the pastor.  But there were benefits of being the preacher's kid.  Namely the exhaust port of the church made for a great humid environment where frogs and toads would spawn on the north recessed basement window of the church.  I would hop down.  My brother, 2 years my junior, would lower a bucket with a string attached to it.  I'd load up the bucket with frogs and toads, hop back up and then stand at the entry to the church in anticipation of the Sunday Vacation Bible School students.

Why in anticipation for the Sunday Vacation Bible School students?

Because according to the Wisconsin Synod your children were required to bring offerings to Sunday Vacation Bible school and we knew those kids would gladly hock the 25 cents their folks gave them for a frog instead of donating it to some collection plate.

Our brilliant, grandiose capitalist plot would have succeeded had it not been for the observant teacher who, while handing out the collection plate, realized more than a normal number of children were holding frogs and toads and not one of them had cash nor coin.

Again, you ask any of my relatives, and they will attest that all of the above is 100% true.

Now, admittedly all of my early ventures into business were that of a naive toddler who didn't know "bounds" "rules" "limits" and..well..."law."  But when I was 8 I can honestly attest to having my first REAL  legitimate job.

I went straight.  I started collecting cans.

My dad, after divorcing, moved out to Michigan, where we would spend summers with him.  At the time you could get a whole 10 cents per car, and sometimes you'd get a full 20 cents for a large glass beer bottle.  Knowing I would get another sweater and no candy for Christmas, it was, despite my age, a very CLEAR sign of freedom to me that if I collected enough cans I could buy myself whatever I wanted.  NOBODY could stop me, I was in complete control of my future.

So I spent a summer collecting cans.

Dumpster diving.  Going to the beach to solicit empty beer cans from the locals.  Knocking on doors.  And over the course of the summer I earned myself a full $100.  I collected 1,000 cans, the 1,000th of which the recycler gave back to me as a trophy. (I actually turned it into a trophy, until my step dad threw it away assuming it was garbage).

However, I had a side business.  My 8 year old self knew the importance of diversification.

Crawfish.

Specifically, fishing out crawfish from the Black River in Michigan and selling them at 5 cents a pop to the local bait shop.

This was not as lucrative as collecting cans, but between my siblings and myself, we would literally "clear the market" of unwanted cans and bottles within a week in the town.  You could tell there were less cans and I intuitively KNEW it was because we cleaned house the week before.  Once collecting cans became less lucrative, we'd focus our efforts on our crawfish operations and increase our profits.  I was able to turn a bucket of crawfish into several boxes of Nerds and Tart n' Tinys at the local gas station.

From there I ended up working as a shit shoveler in the 7th grade.  And I don't make that up, I was indeed a shit shoveler.  I worked at an industrial greenhouse where we had to shovel and mix various sorts of manure with various sorts of ingredients because different types of manure have different nutritional properties for different plants.  After that I worked at a locker plant cleaning up dead cow parts.  After that I laid sod and installed retaining walls for a landscaping firm.  And after that I played campus cop at the U of MN (which I think most of you are familiar with).  

Now, why did I bring up my entire pre-adult resume?  Well certainly not to get an "awww, wook at da cwute wittle Captain."

I bring it up because I am done listening to the excuses of the youth today who think they have it tough who, by the age of 25, have never worked a real job that even comes close to what I did back in 1980 as a kindergartener. 

Whether it's been tutoring these adult children or trying to teach them in college or whether it's the latest incarnation of OWS/hipster purified douchebaggery, I'm done with it.  I'm sick of it.  I have no patience for these spoiled brats.

You little children have NO CLUE, NONE  as to what it takes to succeed, let alone merely get by and support yourselves.  You have parental subsidy, governmental subsidy, all of which not only shields you from the full effects of the real world, it stunts your growth from ever becoming a real adult.  Worse still, it spoils you in the truest sense of the word.  It decays you, it destroys your worth.  It makes you a worthless human being because instead of offering something of value to society, be it a skill or labor, you offer nothing.  And even worse than that you are entitled.  You demand, because of your mere existence, other people take care of you.  You're entitled to this.  YOu have a right to that.  Gimme food, jobs, health care, housing and spending money.

While all you've managed to do in your entire life is spend your daddy's credit card and drive mommy's car.

Ultimately it is the reason I don't care about the "plight" of college students.  NONE of you come anywhere near supporting yourself, and certainly nowhere near to the point you can claim you're "independent" (feminists, women's studies majors, pay particular note).

No, you are for the most part the most pathetic excuses for "adult" human beings I've ever witnessed.  And while admittedly, I was not the most "normal" 7 year old, at the age of 7 I was already more of a responsible, independent adult than most of you were, or ever will be, even at the age of 32 while you live in your mom's basement.

So the next time you protest something being unfair while your mom and dad and Obama are paying for 99% of your expenses (of course, all the while you claim to be an "independent adult") just look at the little 8 year old dumpster diving for cans and realize he's a better man than you are.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Central Banking 101

If you are like me, you are not intricately familiar about central banking, the case for or against central banking and the likes.  I never really studied the federal reserve/central banking and thus why I don't really comment on it.

However our good friend Save Capitalism has and it would be a good stepping stone into understanding the Fed.

Thank God We Got Rid of Chivalry

Welcome to the club!  All people are treated equally here and we do not discriminate.

Day 122: Poor Villagers Cursed with Riches - the AMAZON



Allow me to introduce you to Sani Isla. Deep into the heart of the Amazon rainforest, you can still find untouched land. Sani Isla is a 70 000 ha area of such land, inhabited by a community of only 422 locals. The biodiversity in Sani Isla is mind-blowing - to give you some reference: scientists say that 1ha in this region contains a greater biodiversity than the whole of North America together! Talk about paradise...

Two generations ago the locals were simply living their merry lives, hunting with blowpipes to provide for themselves. Currently, the locals are engaged in promoting ecotourism, trying to raise their income through an eco-lodge, where tourists come and are educated about life in the rainforest.

Sounds lovely, yes - but here's the thing:

Oil firm PetroAmazonas is pressuring the locals to grant them exploration rights in the area. In return, they promised the villagers cash, new schools, a new eco-lodge, better healtchare and university education for their children - and 'all' they have to do is accept plans for a seismic survey.

But obviously - everyone knows, that if oil is indeed found, the activities won't stay with just 'peaceful' exploring, they will take it to the next level, sweet-talk the villagers again to be able to also extract the oil, so that they can actually sell the stuff. The firm promised to 'minimise' the impact on the environment - but realistically: they'd be cutting paths and building roads, which leads more people to the area, which leads to more land being destroyed for agricultural purposes. Also - the freshwater ecosystems will be polluted, compromising the integrity of the forest's support system.

The locals are very tempted to agree with the deal, beacause their eco-lodge is not raising enough income. But imagine what is asked of them: to give up one of the few places in the world that has not yet been fucked up by people. An Ecuadorean shaman and his British wife are going to door-to-door trying to dissuade the villagers from giving up their land. And that's all the resistance this Oil Company is facing. Where is the international community, where are all the governments, where are all the NGOs saying: ENOUGH! FUCK OFF! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! No - just two people... kill them and nothing more stands in the firm's way - and there actually is a growing number of reports of activists being killed in the area.

I mean - this is an issue that concerns everyone - the WHOLE WORLD - how is it possible that a company is legally able to just walk up to the villagers and say 'look, give us your land and we'll give you all this stuff in return'. This land is not only to do with the villagers and not only to do with the firm - it is part of the world's ecosystem and one of the last examples we have left of what nature is supposed to be like in its fullest glory.

And - how brainwashed by money are we if, in order to make money, we'll maim the Earth - destroying a peace of paradise, instead of just investing in alternative fucking power-sources. It's not that difficult! And if we all just stop producing 50 variations of the same thing, instead of just one: the best one - we'll save so much on electricity, we won't need to go and dig up the Amazon forest to find more oil. Really - how stupid are we?!

The couple are loaning the villagers money to keep the eco-lodge afloat. It makes sense, of course, that if the villagers were supported through having their basic requirements met, as the firm is promising to do - then they wouldn't be tempted to consider their offer. Now, because the villagers are struggling in a capitalistic world, where they are not managing to meet ends - they carry the burden of having to choose between the welfare of their own children, or attempting to preserve a piece of the world that the world in its entirety needs.

In an Equal Money System - everyone would be taken care of, and as such, no-one can be bribed or pressured with promises of wealth - because everyone will already be wealthy - as such, each person can stand strong in not accepting or allowing anything less than what's best for all. And of course, in an Equal Money System - the firm wouldn't have been looking for oil in the first place - efforts would, instead, be made to develop renewable power-sources, because no profit can be made from oil extraction. So - this whole scenario would just not occur...

What are we waiting for? The rainforest can't hold out much longer...
Enhanced by Zemanta