Financial Confusion??? Financial mess...

Though I am not an economist, I do see red flags in the way our system is set up. For starters, let us take a look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). It was founded in 1896, yes, 1896. Tell me how something that is almost 120 years old can still be a useful tool in today's economy. Also, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is based on only 30!!! companies. That number that you see going across the screen on every business show and newscast, the one that is being watched by every armchair broker, depends on just a  fraction of what is really going on... So think about it for a minute. Three of the companies, or 10%, of the whole DJIA, are McDonalds, Coke, and Disney. Seriously. What what is to happen then if the United States when on a crazy health kick and boycotted burgers, fries and soda? Will we fall into financial despair? Will the market crumble and formerly rich men in Brooks Brothers suits find themselves on the ledge of the penthouse because that little running ticker on the bottom of their screen says what the rest of us working class joes already knew... things are sh***y!!! Same thing can be said for the annoying mouse with oversized white gloves. How much longer can he be popular and is it really wise that a large portion of the economic fate of the free world be in those abnormally freakishly large hands? Now of course, this post may be a little far fetched and is intended to make you laugh but the argument can be made that the Dow is an economical measuring tool that really does not matter to the majority of us working class stiffs. One hundred points here, hundred points there, majority of us will be getting up for work the same time tomorrow, thankful that we still have a job (if you do) and going on with our lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne was quoted as saying, "Families are always rising and falling in America." I would have to disagree. The same families that were wealthy went that Dow Jones started over a century ago are the same families that are wealthy today. Believe me, they share even less of the puzzle than they did that way and are looking to take over a lot more... I should catch some sleep now, regardless of how the Dow closed today I still have to go to my second job in a few hours.
Is it hot in here or am Crazy?

Too politically Correct???

"Oh my God!!! You look great, did you lose weight?" Now, you probably cannot even remember how many times you have overheard people starting off a conversation like this. How come you never hear the truth and someone say something like, "WOW, you really let yourself go didn't you. You became one fat bastard!" That is what I want to hear people say to each other if it is in fact the truth. It is 2012, it is time to come with it. Let us stop sugar coating everything. When did we start to care so much about what people thought anyway?
We now use all of the unheard of jargon to sound polite when in fact we should just tell the truth. We use these terms like "Socially Inept".... Socially Inept??? screw that, the kid is a stalker for god's sake. He'll start off small like ripping the wings off of flies and the next thing you know he has a suit of human flesh in his shed and is the next unabomber. The other great one is Attention Deficit Disorder. Now, before you start sending hate mail I an sure that there are a handful of kids who actually suffer from this but to label every pain in the A** with this is silly!!! When I was in school teachers called this a ball buster, they didn't cater to them, they put the smack down and straightened the kid out. Here are some more; "Promiscuous"... Sl*t!!! It is nice, simple, for letters and you do not need a dictionary to realize that she intends to put out!!! "Good with his hands"...Translation- he is one dumb bastard!! You can go ahead and spend that college fund on the home extension you always wanted dad, believe me, Harvard will not be knocking on your door anytime soon. Chemical Dependent??? I don't even what that means!!! How come every celebrity  anorexic who stays in shape by doing some lines of Colombian BamBam is considered Chemically Dependent but my friend Jorge on  the corner who hits the glass pipe is called a junkie. Yeah, that makes sense. You see the moment you use the "PC" term it more or less loses all meaning. You try so hard not to step on anyone's toes, you miss the point and fall flat on your face.
Is it hot in here or am I crazy???

How the f*@% is this considered news???

I start my computer this morning and click on what is supposed to be a reputable news site and am greeted with Nicole Kidman changing the color of her hair, Kim K now dating some other rapper and the year of outfits dedicated to Kate Middleton!!! If I cared any less about these three topics you would have to check me for a pulse. This is what sociologist refer to as "Planned Diversion" and the more you read the news the more you will see how true this is. The powers that be fill us up with paternity tests on Maury and lesbian transvestites who ski on Jerry just so we never stop long enough to see how bad things around us really are. We are happy with super sizing fries and hearing about the latest celebrity divorce. We are more up to date on who had a wardrobe malfunction on the red carpet than the fact that North Korea is attempting to play mad scientist with rockets. The national debt is skyrocketing faster than unwed celebrities are adopting little hungry kids from countries that I can neither pronounce of have any intention of visiting but the great majority are too concerned to see if the cast of the Jersey shore are wearing undies when they fall down. As of the writing of this post we are $15,635,058,662,755.38 in debt. If there are 312,677,239 Americans then we are roughly 50k in the hole for each person. This is a made up number that obviously could never be settled.
Planned Diversion has taken us off track. The real stories are either never published, put on page forty of the paper, or so watered down they lose meaning. We are overworked and and underpaid, paying for a house that we will never truly own because even if you settle your mortgage; miss one tax payment and the cops will be more than happy to help you move your possessions to the front curb. We are in a state of emergency here that no one wants to recognize... People are destitute and defeated. There is nothing more dangerous than a desperate man who cannot feed his family and has nothing else to lose. Right now the majority of the protest are peaceful but people are starting to wake up to the horror that is their existence.  Call me a conspiracy nut, say I am over acting but they can only amuse us for a little longer with the latest celeb checking into rehab, the time for action is long overdue...
Is it hot in here or am I crazy???

Review Time!!!

At least once a week I will be reviewing films recently released on dvd or books that have come out. I will do this to save you the time of actually seeing it or reading it if it sucks. Okay, here it goes.

The Descendants     Oh sweet jesus this movie was painful to watch. I still do not get all the hypeover it. Was I supposed to laugh, think , cry... slit my wrist and hope I bled out before the closing credits? It had potential but with the exception of a few witty one liners I have to be honest and tell you I thought the movie sucked. George Clooney was good as usual and that is where it ends. Is here validated at the end? Did he even seek validation? What is with the father in law? Too many questions and not enough enjoyment... Big T says skip this one and wait until it comes to cable.

Carnage   I looked forward to this because I had heard that the play was brilliant. Unfortunately, the movie was not. If I really wanted to spend an hour and a half watching drunk people argue in a living room I would have just had a family reunion. This is the best that Roman Polanski can some up with now? This movie not only doesn't go any where, it never even starts. Polanski should be thankful he is not allowed back on U.S. soil after this flop, the heckling alone would be worse than the prison sentence awaiting him.

Student loan rate doubling!!!

There is a possibility that the student loan rate will double from 3.4% to 6.8%.  Are they serious with this? Years ago when I was in high school, early nineties, and yes I look a lot older than thirty three and no you do not have to remind me that the years have not been kind. But when I was in high school that had that silly statistic about how much more money you would be projected to earn over the course of a lifetime if you went to college, graduate school, etc... What no one told you is that even at that time the list must have been obsolete for twenty years!!!
A recent (yesterday) Associated Press report shows that three out of every five recent college graduates  are unemployed.That doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the ones who are underemployed flipping burgers and working the merry go round at carnivals (I love me some carnie folk!) That is 60%!!! for all of you who suck at math. An article last month stated how 12% of all new york lawyers who have passed the bar cannot find a job in the field. I can't even imagine being in the hole for 200k in student loans and not be able to find work. Yet, every plumber I know drives a Cadillac and every electician has multiple homes... something your guidence counselor forgot to mention.
If we ever intend to stay competetive with other faster growing countries we need to give our youth incentive to go to school and some light at the end of the tunnel, not doubt and a lifetime of debt. As it is, we have enough forty year olds living in the parents' basement working part time and complaing about their computer speed because they cannot access their amatuer porn fast enough...
Is it hot here or am I just crazy???

I am a coward. You can laugh if you like. One of the purposes of this site will be to amuse you of course. But it is true, I have never stood for anything and have never spoken for anyone. I have been a quiet observer on the sidelines since I was brought into this world thirty three years ago. (Yes, I know what you are thinking; the years have not been kind and I look a lot older than thirty three.)
I am a pacifist but have never gone to an anti-war march, hell, I don"t even have a peace sticker on my car. I fully support the occupy wall street movement but the thought of visiting them or spending the day there has never passed my mind.
That is where this blog comes along. I will be posting at least once a day about a plethora of things that surround us in our lives. Some of it will be serious, some of it will be silly but I promise that whatever it is, it will rack your brain and make you think. I am fair, I do not see race, religion, tax bracket... you get the point. I do however see stupidity and foolishness and will be the first to point it out. You will not always agree with what I am typing and then again, if you did you would not need me and would be perfectly content and amused by the going ons in your own fucked up head...