Tag: Economics

Whoa! History

And now, dear worst-reader, let’s take a moment and give a listen to how the other part of the western world’s pseudo-democracies are viewing z’Germans.

“For the German people and their leader to work out a political strategy that has them encouraging people to think of southern Europeans as lazy and not working and somehow deserving of a different way of being handled as people in the north… Whoa! That is a very dangerous game to be playing. And for a politician who is smart–and Merkel is–this must be a sign of… Whoa! Have I got problems. There is austerity in Germany. The working class is not happy. It has prided itself on being better off than the southern Europeans. Not the least little factoid: If Syriza raises the minimum wage–to 750/month–it will mean that the German working class will earn less than them. And that’s going to be very difficult to understand and to process.” -Prof. Richard Wolff, 1:18 of vid.

Well, I suppose one thing has come from the recent Greek elections. The (main) issue has been shifted, avoided, weaselled around once again. Off the table is the fact that there are simply a few bad apples in the barrel–and a few countries that exist in meritless, unjustifiable living standards that have been financed by corruption, greed and old-money for far too long. Basically, what that’s saying is: nothing has changed in #eurowasteland. Obviously Prof. Wolff thinks the situation is worth watching–closely! Good for him. I’ll just keep living in it. Rant on. -Tom

The Same Game

Maybe, just maybe, dear worst-reader, you should stop playing the same game as everybody else. Ever think about that? I mean, that’s the ticket, ain’t it? There is one game and everybody (EVERYBODY) plays it. There is no variety in the games we play. There is no difference in the games we play. And so. Eventually that game has to either get incredibly boring, tedious and dysfunctional or something has to step in to either maintain its existence or at least save the players that win at it. For the game, obviously, must exist. The game is the thread in the quilt. The game is the glue that holds everything together. The game… But I digress. §And so. This is why I sad-laugh at the players of this game. Especially the players that complain about it and/or try to take a stance just because they are not winners in the game. Seriously. There is no global conspiracy or empirical plot. Humanity is simply too stupid to pull such a thing off. There is, on the other hand, THE GAME–which a few have managed to get all of you to play. So why not just enjoy the game? You’re not starving, yet, are you? And if you are starving then we can worst-write about over-population. Right? §Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not defending the likes of Jamie Dimon, wall-street, or government. But I’ve tried to worst-say here and there that the problems in the world of finance and banking are obviously deeper than what the complainers want us to think. That is. Since we’re in the process of repeating history (repeating, in fact, the beginning of the 20th century), one only need to look into the not-so distant past to see how those complaining now are only reaping what they’ve sewn. Hence, lowering expectations, or, as some like to call it, having your living standards lowered for you, is the only way to continue the game you have been playing ALL your measly life. And so. Unfortunately. The bankers in Davos are right. Since the worker-bees, wanna-bees and players of this game never saw it coming–when a few of us did see it coming–then the only answer, to avoid repeating history at a 1:1 ratio, is to either get out of the game or take a back seat while the big boys manage it. To understand the reason why the likes of Jamie Dimon, the Fed, bad government, etc., run our lives,  one only has to look at not only how we repeat history but how so few have been able to see and interpret that history in the first place. Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

A Billionaire Lectures Serfs in Davos – Claims “America’s Lifestyle Expectations are Far Too High” | Liberty Blitzkrieg.

Costs Plus BS Equals?

Back in the day, dear worst-reader, when I worked for the man–you know, like you still do–I remember vividly the beginning of the end. The end of working for the man, that is. Indeed. It started about two years before I dropped out (and tuned in). It was my last stint at one of those silly management consultant firms (btw, manage and consult is oxymoronic, or is it contradictory?) and the only task to be done as a business analyst was to find out the cost of doing business. Now. Try to process that for a moment. Other than the recipe and future plans of whatever it is corporation A is making/doing, there is no greater secret to a company than its costs. Hence the corporate culture of fear and paranoia that is #americant and the advent of krapp like limited liability corporations, the lie of the profit & loss statement and other things like the idear that HR (human resources) is actually a corporate department that is supposed to manage personnel, when, in fact, it is there to only fire (and/or not hire) worker-bees. With that in mind, I find this information made transparent by a software development company (see links below) fascinating. Boy, what I would have done to get my hands on these numbers back in the mid-90s. Not only does it reveal the/a cost structure of software development but it also provides a blueprint for a wide range of research and analysis for other areas. I hope this sets an example that transparency is a good thing and more companies should use it–even though hope is dead. Oh. Before I forget. It’s still not OK that Coke wants to keep trying to hide the formula for its sugar-water. Down with corporate secrets. Or something like that. Rant on.

Monument Valley in Numbers — Monument Valley by ustwo™ games.

Article on Monument Valley Numbers | TechCrunch

The Loser

Don’t blame yourself because of the courses in college you didn’t take, the job you changed or the amount of money you don’t have. There is a social and economic problem today and you are the victim. Blaming yourself only supports the illusion that you can solve the problem. What a painful thing this is to watch because 1) individuals can cause the problem but 2) they can’t solve it. That’s why worst-writer offers you an alternative. Just be the loser you are. And. Good luck suckers. Rant on. -This post motivated and worst-paraphrased after watching Richard D. Wolff’s video-cast from 8/7/14.

Über Confusing

The Krugman usually never confuses me. The Krugman is the man! That’s what I dig about him. I also dig that I can understand most of the stuff he blogs about. You know, economic stuff. Or–maybe not. In fact, it would probably be über-cool to have him as a professor–I bet he’s a good teacher. That said, he’s confused me this morn. Words like “historical knowledge” and “economic history” are confusing–especially when used in the realm of economic theory. He is an economic theorist, right? Nomatter. What I don’t get about this blog post is the connection he’s trying to make between what is basically being a teacher (and trying to teach Americans about their (economic) demise) and assuming that there is a lack of intellectual thought behind how some economists explain economics. It’s as though one side of the coin can see both heads and tails but the other side of the coin can only see the ass. Or what I’m trying to say is this: The Krugman is trying to explain theory to the masses that are only capable of reacting and NOT thinking about their actions. Or something like that. Rant on.

Macro Debates and the Relevance of Intellectual History | Paul Krugman | NYT Blog

Understanding War Econ

And yet another worst-link of the day requiring some but minimal worst-attention.

Link:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-27/bundesbanks-stunner-broke-eurozone-nations-first-bail-your-rich-citizens

Ok. Dear worst-reader, worst-writer will now come forth to be honest regarding choice of links posted here. I do not actually read zerohedge.com on a regular basis. I skim it every once-a-once. The link above is the second one I’m linking to in a matter of days. The thing is, I have a friend or three that read zerohedge regularly along with MarketWatch, WSJ, FT, etc. and they all seem to enjoy sending me all this business stuff because they know that I know nothing about it but am better than most and as entertaining as some when it comes to spewing bullshit. Also, since I’m usually the counter part yelling and screaming at these “business” minded individuals about the fact that they have to stop corroding their minds by ONLY reading stuff about business and economics, you know, read some Shakespeare or something, they are doubly entertained. That said… I thought it time to start including some of my responses to these knuckleheads.

Dear worst-friends who read too much econ and business websites. Worstwriter personalities think of too many things at once when you send me articles like this (see URL above). For example, worst-personality-1 can’t help but associate world Econ crisis with ww2. Worst-personality-2 thinks in more modern terms. So for the sake of shortness (not little people) let’s try and respond to 1 and see where that leads. (2 is probably too boring and I’m already bored responding to you guys.)

The issue and or question sent to me along with the link (above) was about whether or not the EU was going to go down the path of war mongering (like the US has done) in order to deal with its debt crisis. My response was thus:

The short term issue about propping up debt ridden countries is not about wars. If anything the current banking reaction is actually about 1929. If you recall, and things are very similar today, there was a huge amount of speculative wealth lost across the board at the outset of the depression but more importantly, there were alternative political systems waiting in the wings to decided upon democratically. Many people FALSELY believe that world war 2 is what saved the economy (maybe this is your association to war). But what really saved the world economy turned out to be government policy that favored big banks. Hence Roosevelt’s policies, today ridiculed by conservative whack jobs, were in reality the catalyst that would lead to the crazed greed voodoo economics 35yrs later, i.e. Reaganomics. Roosevelt saved political conservatism because he got the banks, through their fractional banking trickery, to get money to the confused voting public! All American whack jobs should be more respectful. That said and before I get too far off topic…

Read the zerohedge.com article (see URL at top of post) and my impression is that some rational thinking bankers, i.e. bankers that are not propping up war machines and/or consumer debt laden societies that have politically weaned their economies of manufacturing and thereby sold their souls to the Anglo-Saxon speculation god, (Greece, Spain, Italy, etc) need to find ways to redistribute national wealth before begging for handouts to cover the empty pockets those nationalists actually stole from (Greece and Spain great example here). Again, what conservatives truly feared from the depression was the onslaught of a public that would hold them accountable while communism was waiting in the wings. European bankers led by the Germans know this very well. The European debt crisis will not be solved by redistributing wealth from Germany to the debt laden Anglo-Saxon bank driven countries. So maybe it’s time to rouse Das Volk another way.

Rant on.

-tgs-

Millenial Essence

Article to read and worst-write about:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-20/retail-death-rattle

Best worst-quote from above URL:

“The country is being kept afloat on an ocean of debt and delusional belief in the power of central bankers to steer this ship through a sea of icebergs just below the surface.”

There are moments, believe it or not, where even worstwriter, dear worst-reader, is astonished at how the platitudes, placative nature and vehemence can all combine so gallantly with willful ignorance, blind arrogance and the lust for bullshit. Which brings me to the worst-question motivated today: if there are people smart enough to write these kinds of articles (see URL above), how come they always seem to miss the essence of what they are addressing?

But worstwriter, what do you mean by “essence”?

Indeed. Worstwriter must take issue with zerohedge.com, a financial weblog penned mostly by the wondrous but invisible Tyler Durden. Durden, btw, is a character from a movie. And not just any character. Durden is the perverted alter-ego of a very confused and wannabe careerists automaton. But I suppose that’s neither here nor there. See the movie Fight Club. The article is not only over the top but it’s also under the bottom–so referencing ships at sea and the potential of icebergs is a mute issue. This weblog post is typical of the mentality of so many who are unable to grasp and cope with reality. I will go out on a worst-limb here, too. Usually the persons that can’t grasp the reality that they live in are those who participate in it (for whatever reason). A cruel irony, perhaps. And because of that Volk like Durden takes the point of view of the blame game–I’m sure much to the chagrin of his counterpart either from the book or the movie. (Again. That’s neither here or there.) There’s one thread, though, that permeates zerohedge.com and many bitch&moan weblogs out there: It’s called THE BLAME GAME. Oh yeah. That’s right. I said it.

The blame game is indeed that commonplace that so many pseudo-millennial-intellectuals meet these days in the land of the free-to-be-stupid. I’m so bored of people blaming consumption and the banks and the fed… Where the fuck were all these people (including millennials, x-geners, and late baby-boomers, i.e. all those participating in consume-to-survive society) twenty years ago?! Where were all these people when America decided to spend 2 trillion on wars (that no one has even begun to pay for yet)? Every-time I hear someone bitch about “the fed” I can’t help but giggle and picture all these people with their over-sized, over-expensive paper cups of mocca from evil-corporate overloard coffee brewers. With that in mind. Has anyone ever considered THE FACT that the current Fed-imposed inflation, which thereby diminishes earnings and living standards, is probably the only way to save the shebang from total collapse? And yet some one wants to bitch about retail space as though such a business endeavor in a sea of rotten business endeavors would actually make any difference? And so. Let’s get to the ESSENCE, dear wort-reader.

With a few more years of Federal Reserve and to-big-to-fail banking manipulation AND inflation maybe the US could finally begin the process of turning things around. Of course the real joke, on those who are incapable of grasping ESSENCE is this: It’s obvious that in this current economic situation no other country (like Russia or China or India or all of South America) sees the economic vacuum currently in place. Countries should be taking advantage of this and try moving ahead or at least catch up to the US and Europe. But everybody just sits around like they always have. Which brings worstwriter to yet another ESSENCE: human nature and the want of serfdom. There were and are ways to avoid the situation we are in but no one – NO ONE – is willing to make the political sacrifice.

Oh well. Blame iGadget, the Fed, retail space,… ESSENCE.

Whatever.

Rant on.
-TGS-