In terms of conspiracy theories, the term alone "forced labor camps" is enough of a buzzword to place an opinion in the conspiracy theory category. Forced labor camps coming to America is absolutely absurd. However, if you think about it for a moment, we already have forced labor camps here in America.
I forget which historical figure said it, but the first step towards knowledge is to call things by their proper name. In a forced labor camp, a man is held there against his will, performs labor under some sort of authority, and receives no compensation for his labor. Forced labor camps are prisons.
We've had prisons for as long as I can remember and currently about one percent of the United States population is incarcerated. Of course, many people in prisons deserve being there. We have murderers, rapists, and thieves in prisons. However, our prisons hold a lot of people that are not murderers, rapists, and thieves.
A lot of the prison population is there because of the war on drugs. Simply using or selling illegal drugs will expose a man to mandatory minimum sentences of several years. During these years, these prisoners will be subjected to forced labor.
However, when we think about forced labor camps, we may think about the holocaust or the internment of Japanese citizens after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Should America bring forced labor camps in the way that most people think about such camps, these labor camps probably would not be introduced as a separate entity. People will adapt to anything gradually and what the forces in charge would do is to slowly increase the number of reasons to put a man in prison.
When you think about it, going to prison for years for smoking certain herbs is the opposite of freedom. However, this is reality and we all accept this as normal. This isn't the way it should be but we don't live in shouldland.
When the forces in charge want to imprison more of the population, men will go to prison for traffic violations, minor debts, political incorrectness, and hurting other peoples feelings. And when a man can not clearly determine or know what will or will not get him arrested, we will all be living in 1984.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Hillary Clinton Voters
There are a couple of things that drive me absolutely crazy in life. Rush hour traffic, slow unreliable internet, and running out of toothpaste are all such things. However, highly irrational decisions tops those last three things. Insert Hillary Clinton voters here. Before I go any further, I'd like to state that I believe that Hillary Clinton would be a terrible president. She would just be another Obama and continue the slow gradual decline of America with her economic policies.
Do I hate her? Yes
Do I think she should be in prison? Yes
Do I think her policies would be bad for the overall economy? Yes
But this isn't why I have problems with supporters of Hillary Clinton.
My parents both want Hillary to become the next president and they have both been life long democrats. I ask both of them why they want Hillary to become president and they say....
"Because she is a woman."
I then go on to ask them what policies, platforms, or economic plans they like or dislike about Hillary and they say....
"I don't know."
This is usually where my frustration starts to rise but then I ask them if they will bother to look up what Hillary stands for or what she promises and they say....
"I don't have time. I don't care."
And it is this sort of logic train that makes me want to just quit working as an accountant, get off the grid, become a farmer to grow potatoes, and never contribute anything to GDP again.
Now look, I won't hate anyone because they support a person that I loathe. A couple of my good friends want to have Bernie Sanders as president and I can understand why. Bernie wants to give people free government stuff including college debt forgiveness, free education, and a higher minimum wage. In that sense, I can respect Bernie Sanders supporters because they are actually voting in their interests and have causes they believe in. All that stuff would destroy our economy but at least I can understand why people would want that.
I could even respect Hillary Clinton voters if they told me what polices, platforms, and procedures they supported. You want to vote for Hillary because she is pro abortion, anti gun, promotes LGBTQ+ rights? I'm cool with that, I can respect that. I don't agree with that at all but at least I can understand the supporter actually researched something.
But what really drives me down the rabbit hole is when people want to vote for Hillary for the sole reason that she is a woman. I really can't see where the value lies. Whether or not the president is a man or a woman bears little to no effect on the standards of living. It was just like in 2008 and 2012 when we had voters that voted for Obama just because he is black.
But when society values diversity over qualifications, we get sub optimal standards of living.
My dad is an entrepreneur. He's owned his business for the last 30 years. He built it up from nothing. He believes in hard work, drive, determination, and that any person out there can become a success as long as they want it enough. He is against single moms pumping out babies for welfare. He is against governments taxing small businesses and giving it to welfare. He is against income redistribution. He believes in the middle class hard working American. He ought to be a conservative. He would like to have Donald Trump as president as his second choice. But who is his first choice as president?
Hillary Clinton.
And this just boggles the mind because those two options are close to polar opposites. The only way I can explain this is....
Decades of leftist liberal brainwashing.
You have to vote for Hillary because
Racism
Micro aggressions
Black lives matter
Carbon tax credits
Women, Women, Women
Clinton's policies don't look like they will help the economy.
Increasing the minimum wage to $12 per hour will just put poor people out of work, increase expenses for businesses, make goods more expensive, and discourage economic growth.
Increasing taxes on big corporations and "the rich" will just encourage them to move assets out of America or cut back on production.
Increasing government spending and programs without an increase in taxes just increases our national debt.
And despite explaining all this to my dad, he still wants a woman as president. And I'm pretty sure this is the same kind of mentality of the average Clinton voter. I really hope this isn't the case but I wouldn't be surprised if 50% of Clinton supporters are going to vote for Hillary for the sole reason that she is female.
But whatever happens this November, I am reasonably confident that America will get the president that it deserves. Mmm the coffee is good.
Do I hate her? Yes
Do I think she should be in prison? Yes
Do I think her policies would be bad for the overall economy? Yes
But this isn't why I have problems with supporters of Hillary Clinton.
My parents both want Hillary to become the next president and they have both been life long democrats. I ask both of them why they want Hillary to become president and they say....
"Because she is a woman."
I then go on to ask them what policies, platforms, or economic plans they like or dislike about Hillary and they say....
"I don't know."
This is usually where my frustration starts to rise but then I ask them if they will bother to look up what Hillary stands for or what she promises and they say....
"I don't have time. I don't care."
And it is this sort of logic train that makes me want to just quit working as an accountant, get off the grid, become a farmer to grow potatoes, and never contribute anything to GDP again.
Now look, I won't hate anyone because they support a person that I loathe. A couple of my good friends want to have Bernie Sanders as president and I can understand why. Bernie wants to give people free government stuff including college debt forgiveness, free education, and a higher minimum wage. In that sense, I can respect Bernie Sanders supporters because they are actually voting in their interests and have causes they believe in. All that stuff would destroy our economy but at least I can understand why people would want that.
I could even respect Hillary Clinton voters if they told me what polices, platforms, and procedures they supported. You want to vote for Hillary because she is pro abortion, anti gun, promotes LGBTQ+ rights? I'm cool with that, I can respect that. I don't agree with that at all but at least I can understand the supporter actually researched something.
But what really drives me down the rabbit hole is when people want to vote for Hillary for the sole reason that she is a woman. I really can't see where the value lies. Whether or not the president is a man or a woman bears little to no effect on the standards of living. It was just like in 2008 and 2012 when we had voters that voted for Obama just because he is black.
But when society values diversity over qualifications, we get sub optimal standards of living.
My dad is an entrepreneur. He's owned his business for the last 30 years. He built it up from nothing. He believes in hard work, drive, determination, and that any person out there can become a success as long as they want it enough. He is against single moms pumping out babies for welfare. He is against governments taxing small businesses and giving it to welfare. He is against income redistribution. He believes in the middle class hard working American. He ought to be a conservative. He would like to have Donald Trump as president as his second choice. But who is his first choice as president?
Hillary Clinton.
And this just boggles the mind because those two options are close to polar opposites. The only way I can explain this is....
Decades of leftist liberal brainwashing.
You have to vote for Hillary because
Racism
Micro aggressions
Black lives matter
Carbon tax credits
Women, Women, Women
Clinton's policies don't look like they will help the economy.
Increasing the minimum wage to $12 per hour will just put poor people out of work, increase expenses for businesses, make goods more expensive, and discourage economic growth.
Increasing taxes on big corporations and "the rich" will just encourage them to move assets out of America or cut back on production.
Increasing government spending and programs without an increase in taxes just increases our national debt.
And despite explaining all this to my dad, he still wants a woman as president. And I'm pretty sure this is the same kind of mentality of the average Clinton voter. I really hope this isn't the case but I wouldn't be surprised if 50% of Clinton supporters are going to vote for Hillary for the sole reason that she is female.
But whatever happens this November, I am reasonably confident that America will get the president that it deserves. Mmm the coffee is good.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
The difference between little boys and little girls
I may be dating myself a little bit with this following story.
Back when I was in the fourth or fifth grade, our teachers were teaching us how to use Microsoft PowerPoint. Microsoft PowerPoint is a software used to create slideshows for presentations but I remember getting the most amusement from adding in silly clip art with ridiculous sound effects.
The teacher split the class into two groups, boys and girls.
The girls created a slide show that was a promotion for the fourth grade dance. It was colored in a lot of pink and they inserted some clip art of a dove holding an invitation in its beak. They added text on the screen saying "Come to the fourth grade dance." They added the time and location and other relevant details at the time.
The boys created a slide show of a Mexican in a sombrero walking from the left side of the screen to the right side of a screen and having a tiger shark swim in and bite him in the butt.
Back when I was in the fourth or fifth grade, our teachers were teaching us how to use Microsoft PowerPoint. Microsoft PowerPoint is a software used to create slideshows for presentations but I remember getting the most amusement from adding in silly clip art with ridiculous sound effects.
The teacher split the class into two groups, boys and girls.
The girls created a slide show that was a promotion for the fourth grade dance. It was colored in a lot of pink and they inserted some clip art of a dove holding an invitation in its beak. They added text on the screen saying "Come to the fourth grade dance." They added the time and location and other relevant details at the time.
The boys created a slide show of a Mexican in a sombrero walking from the left side of the screen to the right side of a screen and having a tiger shark swim in and bite him in the butt.
United States Net Worth
A lot of the economic measures of the United States, I look up with very few google searches. In fact, most of the figures are posted, up to date, at usdebtclock.org. It is a great resource to find our total government debt, largest government expenditures, debt to GDP ratio, and budget deficit.
The figures that disturb me a lot is our total debt of $19 trillion and that we are still running budget deficits of almost $500 billion yearly. However there is one figure that is not present on the website.
What is the net worth of the United States? We run budget deficits every year. Those deficits go towards the total government debt. But what is the total United States debt?
A quick google search for Net Worth of the United States brings up a Wikipedia page named Financial position of the United States.
The data is only current as of Q1 2014 but the total assets of the US equal $270 trillion while the total liabilities of the US equal $146 trillion. This leaves a net worth of $124 trillion. Upon learning this fact, I feel a little bit better. And to a certain extent, I could understand why leftists don't care about economic matters are cool with spending towards infinity.
However, the sigh of relief was just a gut instinct. The net worth doesn't include the $100 trillion of unfunded liabilities that will come due in the future. Subtract those liabilities out and the net worth of the United States is only $46 trillion.
I'm reminded of a quote from Terminator 3. You didn't stop judgment day. You only delayed it.
The figures that disturb me a lot is our total debt of $19 trillion and that we are still running budget deficits of almost $500 billion yearly. However there is one figure that is not present on the website.
What is the net worth of the United States? We run budget deficits every year. Those deficits go towards the total government debt. But what is the total United States debt?
A quick google search for Net Worth of the United States brings up a Wikipedia page named Financial position of the United States.
The data is only current as of Q1 2014 but the total assets of the US equal $270 trillion while the total liabilities of the US equal $146 trillion. This leaves a net worth of $124 trillion. Upon learning this fact, I feel a little bit better. And to a certain extent, I could understand why leftists don't care about economic matters are cool with spending towards infinity.
However, the sigh of relief was just a gut instinct. The net worth doesn't include the $100 trillion of unfunded liabilities that will come due in the future. Subtract those liabilities out and the net worth of the United States is only $46 trillion.
I'm reminded of a quote from Terminator 3. You didn't stop judgment day. You only delayed it.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
FM 21-76 US army survival manual
One of the chapters of Enjoy the Decline by Aaron Clarey is SHTF. It is a chapter that gives some guidance if disasters happen such as an economic meltdown or the destruction of our power grids. It is always a good idea to prepare for an emergency before it happens and Aaron gives a list of things you should stock up on before a disaster happens.
One of the items on the list is a physical copy of the FM 21-76 US army survival manual. After doing a quick Google search, I was surprised to find the entire manual was available online for free. The manual is only 277 pages long and I'd recommend anyone with some extra spare time to read the manual before hand and get a physical copy of it.
One of the items on the list is a physical copy of the FM 21-76 US army survival manual. After doing a quick Google search, I was surprised to find the entire manual was available online for free. The manual is only 277 pages long and I'd recommend anyone with some extra spare time to read the manual before hand and get a physical copy of it.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
The big issue no one is talking about
Of all the threats to America, the biggest issue is an internal one. In the past, I thought it was the poor that were absorbing the majority of government spending however a quick look at total government spending shows that Social Security and Medicare account for almost half of government spending. Currently, the United States has total unfunded liabilities of $100 trillion. Unfunded liabilities are promises to current citizens which will come due in the future. These include Medicare, Social Security, debt held by the public, and a few other items.
These are unfunded liabilities because we don't yet have the money to pay for these promises.
To put things into perspective, the total gross domestic product of the United States is only $18 trillion. The $18 trillion per year includes all of the production for the entire United States for just one year. Our current unfunded liabilities is 5.56 times our GDP.
With more and more of the baby boomers retiring and the millennial generation struggling to get decent employment, it is possible (if not already the case) that the unfunded liabilities will grow at a faster rate than GDP which leads to a situation where the unfunded liabilities can never be completely paid off.
This is how the economy will collapse if changes aren't made.
The federal government admits this. Every social security statement has the clause that by the year 2020 or 2030, social security will only be able to pay out 75% of the benefits it promised.
So, what is most likely going to happen?
1. Benefits will have to be cut in some way. In a sense, this is already happening. The government could just pay out a fraction of what it promised or just break the promise all together. A lot of people will fight tooth and nail against it and this is the reason why politicians never touch the issue. Threatening to strip the program is akin to political suicide. If benefits do get cut, the government would most likely grandfather in the older generation and strip the benefits away from the youth while still requiring the young to pay for the old. This is why the retirement age for my generation is 67 instead of 65 however the government will say it is because people are living longer.
2. Increase the FICA tax. This is hard for politicians to do because raising taxes is akin to political suicide. It is from FICA where the funding comes from. This also has the negative effect in that raising taxes on the average worker will hinder or destroy economic growth and may increase the dependence on other government programs.
3. Print more money. The government promised a number of dollars it would pay to social security recipients. It never made any promises on how much that money would be worth. Since this is a gradual solution and Americans slowly adapt to a lousier standard of living over time, I believe this is the most likely or used method.
People ask me why I buy gold and silver. People ask my why I want to buy guns and ammo. People ask me why I want to buy land in the middle of nowhere and learn how to grow potatoes. This is why.
These are unfunded liabilities because we don't yet have the money to pay for these promises.
To put things into perspective, the total gross domestic product of the United States is only $18 trillion. The $18 trillion per year includes all of the production for the entire United States for just one year. Our current unfunded liabilities is 5.56 times our GDP.
With more and more of the baby boomers retiring and the millennial generation struggling to get decent employment, it is possible (if not already the case) that the unfunded liabilities will grow at a faster rate than GDP which leads to a situation where the unfunded liabilities can never be completely paid off.
This is how the economy will collapse if changes aren't made.
The federal government admits this. Every social security statement has the clause that by the year 2020 or 2030, social security will only be able to pay out 75% of the benefits it promised.
So, what is most likely going to happen?
1. Benefits will have to be cut in some way. In a sense, this is already happening. The government could just pay out a fraction of what it promised or just break the promise all together. A lot of people will fight tooth and nail against it and this is the reason why politicians never touch the issue. Threatening to strip the program is akin to political suicide. If benefits do get cut, the government would most likely grandfather in the older generation and strip the benefits away from the youth while still requiring the young to pay for the old. This is why the retirement age for my generation is 67 instead of 65 however the government will say it is because people are living longer.
2. Increase the FICA tax. This is hard for politicians to do because raising taxes is akin to political suicide. It is from FICA where the funding comes from. This also has the negative effect in that raising taxes on the average worker will hinder or destroy economic growth and may increase the dependence on other government programs.
3. Print more money. The government promised a number of dollars it would pay to social security recipients. It never made any promises on how much that money would be worth. Since this is a gradual solution and Americans slowly adapt to a lousier standard of living over time, I believe this is the most likely or used method.
People ask me why I buy gold and silver. People ask my why I want to buy guns and ammo. People ask me why I want to buy land in the middle of nowhere and learn how to grow potatoes. This is why.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Declining standards for university
Throughout my time at university, there was one instance that left me dumbfounded on how little the average college student knows. To provide some background, I was sitting through a geography class. Yet another completely useless classes that had nothing to do with accounting yet I was still required to take in order to get a degree.
Regardless of which major a student chose, he was required to take two lab courses. The options included physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology, and geography. Physics, chemistry, and biology would have been an unnecessary headache. Astronomy was offered at unreasonable hours and geology was all taken so I was left with geography.
Thirty of us were sitting in a lab class and I think we were reviewing the topic of great circles. The instructor handed out maps to everyone in the class and asked us to locate China on the map. However, the maps were not labeled with the country name and this led to some confusion. After a minute, I noticed a girl close to me asking where China was.
And that is when it hit me. I could understand it if our instructor asked us to find a country like Nepal, Mongolia, or Yemen but China is the second largest country in the world (total land area).
If a 18 year old girl doesn't know where China is or what the outline of China looks like, it is really easy to jump to the conclusion that America is slowly turning into idiocracy. However it would be too easy to jump to this conclusion. Maybe we aren't dumb. Maybe this information is just absolutely irrelevant to the average Joe.
This girl, despite not knowing where China is located, mostly likely functions really well in the world today. She got up, got dressed, drove to classes, completed assignments, worked a job, paid bills, and spent time with her boyfriend. Upon graduating, she would probably work some job, buy worthless garbage, produce children, and watch Netflix. She would do all the things the average America does.
Every so often, I'll check zerohedge and hear some sort of article stating that most American's can't remember the stuff taught to fifth graders.
three branches of government
first five presidents
planets of the solar system
what is a pronoun
when did the civil war start
what is the biggest country
what is the most populated country
Yet, all this information really doesn't affect the average Joe's ability to function on a day to day basis.
Regardless of which major a student chose, he was required to take two lab courses. The options included physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology, and geography. Physics, chemistry, and biology would have been an unnecessary headache. Astronomy was offered at unreasonable hours and geology was all taken so I was left with geography.
Thirty of us were sitting in a lab class and I think we were reviewing the topic of great circles. The instructor handed out maps to everyone in the class and asked us to locate China on the map. However, the maps were not labeled with the country name and this led to some confusion. After a minute, I noticed a girl close to me asking where China was.
And that is when it hit me. I could understand it if our instructor asked us to find a country like Nepal, Mongolia, or Yemen but China is the second largest country in the world (total land area).
If a 18 year old girl doesn't know where China is or what the outline of China looks like, it is really easy to jump to the conclusion that America is slowly turning into idiocracy. However it would be too easy to jump to this conclusion. Maybe we aren't dumb. Maybe this information is just absolutely irrelevant to the average Joe.
This girl, despite not knowing where China is located, mostly likely functions really well in the world today. She got up, got dressed, drove to classes, completed assignments, worked a job, paid bills, and spent time with her boyfriend. Upon graduating, she would probably work some job, buy worthless garbage, produce children, and watch Netflix. She would do all the things the average America does.
Every so often, I'll check zerohedge and hear some sort of article stating that most American's can't remember the stuff taught to fifth graders.
three branches of government
first five presidents
planets of the solar system
what is a pronoun
when did the civil war start
what is the biggest country
what is the most populated country
Yet, all this information really doesn't affect the average Joe's ability to function on a day to day basis.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)