The Lawyers are Coming Hurray, Hurray!

I pulled these charts from one of my older posts as I've found them interesting.

I particularly like the surge in law students with the baby boomers.




And with the democrats in office, no doubt any shot at tort reform is out the window...not that the Republicans were all over that either.

I Like Smart Women

That's one of the great paradoxes living here in the Great White North,

that you can't find BOTH looks and smarts.

It's almost like setting up a character for D&D or a video game and you're only alloted a certain amount of points to allocate to looks, charisma, intelligence, wisdom, strength, etc. etc.

So you know if the girl is super attractive, then you're pretty sure she's super dumb simply because before she was born she put all her points into looks.

But I may have found the cure for what ails many-o-American men; Iceland.

It's the only country where the women score higher than men in not only reading/social sciences, BUT ALSO MATH according to a study put out by the OECD.



Alas, it may not be impossible to have looks and intelligence.

One More Time, For the Stupid People

Seeing the true Nazis of our generation have seemed to make it to the front headlines, I find it necessary to once again, repost this seemingly overlooked fact that the temperature of the Earth, going back 400,000 years is chaotic and volatile and that we are fools to require 6 billion people and 35 trillion dollars worth of economies come to a halt and change their lifestyles for a bunch of childish socialists and their conspiracy theory.



Somebody should be compiling a list of these scientists so 2 decades from now when temperatures go down, we can ruin their careers.

And You Thought the Worst Was Over?

Ha! The best is yet to come with the housing crash!












And I'm a-sensing a slight recession in the wind.

I also forecast smaller banks and mortgage firms that got all high on the "Housing Bubble Hooch" and made insanely stupid loans are going to collapse and consolidate.

That damn reality, always burstin' everybody's bubble.

Bachelor Pad Economics - Lesson #2

For the ladies.

I walk into what is arguably the finest, classiest place in all of the Twin Cities right now;

Matty B's.

Matt Burke's joint, for those sports aficionados, of the Minnesota Vikings.

Happening jump swing band, ample dance floor, score of people dancing east coast swing. Everybody having a good time and dressed very professionally.

Now I shall level with you, I don't bother asking girls to dance much any more because they largely fall into three categories;

1. Female friends that there is no romatic potential.
2. Swing "SNatzi's" which is a contigent of 20 and 30 somethings in the Twin Cities that value their entire lives on their ability to swing and not their ability to get a job.
3. Girls that rehearse the Minnesotan Women State anthem; "No"

So upon entering Matty B's my primary objective was to have a cocktail, listen to the band, and as an unkbeknownst bonus side show laugh at this Jesus Freak I know wearing false-advertising-provocative clothing get hit on and serenaded by the sax player 30 years her senior.

But as I gallivant to a table to talk to a couple acquaintances, I see in the back corner this drop dead gorgeous girl.

Now, there are girls that you look at and in a factual manner say, "Yes, that girl is VERY attractive."

But it is a statement of fact. An emotionless obsevation.

Angelina Jolie is hot, sure, but I'd rather skin myself that talk to her.

But every once in a while, the old man upstairs sends you something that is not only a factually "attractive woman" but an attractive woman that has something else about her that is so COMPELLING that you have no choice but to go and pursue her.

And in an odd way, even though you haven't talked, it is no longer an emotionless observation that she is an insanely attractive woman, but there is actually an unexplained and unwarranted emotion you have for this particular femme fatale.

Other non-economist people just call this "love at first sight."

So when you put your hand on a hot stove burner, I remembered from biology class, the pulse or pain does not actually reach your brain, it goes to the brain stem, where the brain stem in an automated response will immediately jerk your hand away.

It was the same thing as I immediately got up out of my chair and with unrivalled confidence I approached the table where her and her girlfriend were sitting and I asked her to dance.

Band playing.

Ample, yet populated dance floor.

Good lookin' guy.

Good lookin' girl.

Decked to the nines.

And then....

The "Ping Pong Game."

Ah yes, the Ping Pong Game.

Let me explain this to all you aspiring female economists out there so that this does not happen to you.

You see, there are a very limited, VERY EFFING LIMITED supply of men out there that know how to dance and can make you look like a billion bucks out on the dance floor. Furthermore, there are very limited men (bravado set aside) like me who not only know how to dance, but enjoy it and would like nothing more than to take you on a whirlwind tour of the different ballrooms in the world to trip the light fantastic.

So when a guy comes up to you and asks you to dance there is a correct answer.

And that answer is "yes."

Now there are other answers that we men, of unrivalled skill, culture and talent, will accept that are incorrect answers knowing full well you've passed up a great catch and realize it is you that has truly lost out. Such acceptable answers are;

No

Not now

I'm tired

No thank you.

I don't know how to dance.

I'm just here to drink.

I'm gay.

Etc. etc.

But what we men, of unrivalled talent and culture, one might even say Cary-Grantishness (and I'm not being arrogant here) will not tolerate is when you point to your friend and in a 7th grade way say whilst giggling, "No, you dance with him."

And then your friend, in an equally childish, immature and insulting manner, giggles and then points back at you and says, "no, you dance with him."

And then in a ping-pong like fashion, completely oblivious to the man who has taken his time to come over there and offer you what is literally a once-in-a-life-time-opportunity point at each other and say;

"No you dance with him."

"No you dance with him."

"Tee hee. I don't know how do dance. No you."

"Tee hee!!! No I don't know how to dance. No you!"

"Oh, she knows how to dance, but she won't admit it."

"No, stop, you should be the one to dance with him."

All the while and in front of the young man who had the courage and fortitude to ask you to dance.

There is no quicker way to go from;

-A woman who had the potential to tell her grandchildren that grandpa saw her and fell in love with her the moment he saw her and said, "that is the woman for me" while grandpa to that day still thinks she is the most gorgeous woman on the face of the planet

to;

- A woman who is 50, frumpy and fat wondering why she's alone and divorced watching re-runs of Sex in the City and will die alone with Jessica Parker

than playing that insanely stupid, childish and unacceptable Ping Pong game.

So all aspiring Junior, Deputy, Official and otherwise Female Babe economists;

Bachelor Pad Economics - Lesson #2 - DON'T PLAY THE PING PONG GAME.

Say "yes."

Why I'm a Genius and Why Chicks Should Dig Me

Sorry for the short posts here crew, but finally putting the finishing touches on my move, namely an X-Box 360.

And you can't just buy it.

You have to set it up.

And you can't just set it up.

You have to test it.

And you can't just test it with anything.

You have to test it with Call of Duty 3, because lord knows when those Nazi bastards are coming back.

But, as with most things, genius does not strike when you are sitting there philosophizing. For example, not one good idea ever came from a philosopher at some university's philosophy department (beyond new and creative ways to rationalize socialism).

Genius strikes when you're doing day to day tasks where you have to sit and do nothing.

Going #2 is a perfect example. I theorize more great ideas were concocted whilst sitting on the can. Going #1 doesn't really give you the time.

But in my particular case, genius finds me more often than not while I'm driving. Going here, going there, going to work, going to dance, going to class, etc. etc. I think I must drive about 10 hours per week and that's a lot of time for genius striking.

Well it struck last night when I was going to pick up the newest member to the Cappy Cap household (read-X-Box 360).

I have found a way to solve our global warming problem that will be palatable, if not, preferable to both sides.

And no, I'm being serious, I am not kidding.

You see, it has not been since 1998 that I've had an office job where I actually had to be there. ie-the technology existed that the duties of my job could have been done from home.

Yes, it may have cost a little bit to install a higher end computer or high speed internet, and yes I may have had to put a fax machine in, but by and large, and ESPECIALLY TODAY, most people have the set up by which they could work from home.

And I'd gander that if one thinks about it, most, I'd say 75% of office jobs could be done from a home office. If not at lesast 75% of the work could be done from home, thereby eliminating the need to drive to work.

If companies were to allow employees to work from home this would render a bevy of benefits.

First there'd be a lot fewer cars on the road, less traffic jams, what cars that would be on the road would get to where they're going much faster, thereby exhausting less "greenhouse gases" thereby solving our problem (of course, most on the global warming crowd don't realize automobile emissions don't account for the majority of greenhouse gases and just hate people with nicer cars than them).

Second, you would not get the slightest argument from people whose jobs would then be done from home.

Third the highway system would wear out less, we'd arguably even need less money spent on roads and transportation in general.

The only drawback or road block I see to this is the Pointy-Haired Bosses of the world that compose (I estimate somedays) 99.9% of the corporate muckymucks of the world. Armed with MBA's they no longer can think independently or have a creative thought. That, or they're just such control freaks they cannot trust you will get your work done or that you might write that report IN YOUR BOXERS!!!!

But with spinless corporations bending over backward to seem "socially responsible" to they may placate the political crowd, the political will may be there for them to actually take measurable action and some corporations may just offer employees, or encourage employees to work at home because "they care about global warming."

Although, a conspirary theory does pop into mind.

If we eliminated the need for 75% of people to travel to work, we then by default eliminate the need for 75% of office space. Commercial property would tank, downtown office buildings would be rendered immediate money losers. Vacancies would sky rocket. Skyscrapers in every major city would have to convert to some other use (more freaking condos?). That's a whole lot of money that a whole lot of businesses don't want to see lost and may pose an economic argument why some businesses rather you not be able to work from home.

This aside, the idea is perfectly feasible. The government offers some kind of tax incentive or break for companies AND people that have a "work from home" program. It requires no costly expenditure by companies to cut back on emissions, the employees would eat it up.

All that's left to do is wait for the sure-to-come contra-American thinking that "we CAN'T do that because XYZ"

I hate those people.

Regardless, that's why I'm a genius and chicks should dig me.

Spanking North Korea

Modern day, pansified Western Diplomacy

Say It Aint' So Prodigal Joe!!!

No ECONOMICS SUPPER CLUB THIS WEEKEND????

Yep, sorry kids. AM 1500 is doing a special Twins promotion. And as all good capitalists, we know we have to bow to the market.

But don't worry, we'll be back next week with all our wholesome economic goodness.

In the meantime, keep tuning in, but methinks it's time for the Captain to take a vacation.

If You Really Want to Piss Off a Liberal

There are many things you can do. I STRONGLY recommend buying this book and giving it to the younger liberals, but if you don't want to drop the $12 on the book (or $5 on the Kindle version) there are many things you can do like;

1. Feel no guilt for your success.
2. Succeed and insist that you did it by hard work and failed many times before you succeeded and that the reason most people fail is because they never try.
3. Work in the private sector
4. Compete
5. Insist you keep score
6. have a box of Kleenex handy so when they open their mouth and complain, you can give them a tissue to cry in.
7. Point out America is successful because of a combination of capitalism, British culture, hard work, military strength and aggression, as well as engineering and science (not art and philosophy or "Insertethnicgrouphere"Studies).
8. Point out that people like you don't need people like them to survive as you support yourself. Yet people like them need people like you to survive because they are not self-reliant and need income transfers and therefore should be grateful...or just call them an ungrateful parasite, it's just quicker.

But if you really want to give them a heart attack just show them this chart of executive compensation as a multiple of the average worker's earnings;



And then, like The Economist did in the article, defend it.

Where the Smart Money Is

Free markets really piss off leftists.

The idea that people can just take their money and invest it where they please all whilly nilly like, pursuing evil things like "profit" and "success" and "progress."

When they really just ought to bend over and take it and shell out money to the poor as they should (you really should click this link and read it, it's a short piece).

What really gets the left's ire up is when free people in a free market have the audacity to take their money and MOVE IT OUT of a market because one of their ilk starts making it unprofitable to stay in that particular market.

One such an example is the French rockstar that decided to leave France and change his citizenship to Swiss to avoid about a 70% tax rate. The hell this poor boy caught.

Another one is the bevy of people bailing out of Venezuela's market when Hugo Dumbsh!t Chavez opened his mouth. Venezuelan markets tanked as the wealth producers and savvy foreign investors seeing him nationalize anything of any worth, bailed out on that nation.



Best follow the smart money.

The Hypocrisy is Astounding

I interviewed Ilan Sharon, a representative for the movie Obsession, a while back about the movie and his general thoughts on it. It was a good interview, and unfortunately we did not have the time to fully discuss what we wished. However, after the show, he pulled me aside and mentioned the "Island Hopping" theory he had about how brainwashed muslims couldn't link nor maintain consistent arguments, ergo, there really isn't any basis or rationale in their hatred for the US and the West, and it more or less boiled down to religious fanaticism that drove him.

The example he gave me was this;

"If you go up to a radical muslim and say, "what do you think about 9-11 and who brought the Towers down," the majority of them will say it was a conspiracy between the Jews and Bush to give them a reason to persecute muslims. "

But then ask them what they think about Osama Bid Laden and they say, "YEAH!!! Wasn't he great!! Did you see what he did to the Twin Towers!!???"

Another interesting example of sign of mental retardation is when a journalist (whose name escapes me now) interviewed some Lebanese muslims asking them what they thought about America.

"We hate it, we want to wage jihad against it, blah blah blah."

And then when he asked them, "Where would you like to live?"

"OH, we would love to live in America! It's free! Everybody is successful, you can do what you want!"

So, young junior, aspiring, and official deupty economists, can somebody explain these two pictures I've found?





And Lee Hamilton and his leftist likes think we can engage in "constructive dialogue" with these bipolar freaks?

Great.

Iranian Super Models

No wonder their men are so pissed off and want to blow everything up.

http://www.farsnews.com/imgrep.php?nn=8510270448

I've Had This Debate Before

Albeit a bit more diplomatically, but my argument was that attraction is determined by the opposite sex. ie- heterosexual men and homosexual women determine whether women are attractive, just was heterosexual woman and homosexual men determine whether men are attractive.

http://www.leasticoulddo.com/index2.php?date=20030901

But try to tell any woman that you don't find pregnant women attractive, even though you are a heterosexual male and ergo by definition define what is attractive in the opposite sex and you are a sexiest, evil, jerk.

Ode the Members of the Cappy Cap Crew

Sinfest is the best online comic, period.

But the resemblance of this comic is unbelievably uncanny to my crew in Minneapolis, I must honor my friends by posting it. Ergo you will forgive me for posting these, while the inside jokes will only be gotten by the members of The Crew.

http://www.leasticoulddo.com/index2.php?date=20030221

this one is for all the Guys of the Minneapolis Crew

http://www.leasticoulddo.com/index2.php?date=20030305

And the guys at UMPD

http://www.leasticoulddo.com/index2.php?date=20030416

And all the guys in American that plum had chivalry kicked out of them by this time

http://www.leasticoulddo.com/index2.php?date=20030508

This one's for Fed-Ex

http://www.leasticoulddo.com/index2.php?date=20030515

This one's for the Crew's Cougar Hunter-Minh

http://www.leasticoulddo.com/index2.php?date=20030529

Marinti's Flow, Babe's Show Because they Know

The Economics Supper Club is on!

This Saturday (and every Saturday) from 1-3PM central standard time on the Twin Citie's largest and most popular talk station, AM 1500, KSTP.

Tune in on the radio or listen online at www.am1500.com

Call in with your stories, your comments or tales.

651-646-8255

OR

For you Canucks up north and all points in between,

1-877-615-1500

You will enjoy.

Now Adjust for Illegal Immigration and Healthy Young People Who Choose Not to Have Health Insurance

I would also surmise a lot more people could afford health insurance if 15% wasn't taken out of their paycheck for social security and another 6% for Medicare.

The Captain's New Stock Pick

Again, time for... (drum roll)

ANOTHER STOCK YOU ARE 100% SURE TO LOSE ALL YOUR MONEY IN!!!!

Yes, another stock that if you are so stupid to invest in it, then you deserve to lose all you money.

Instead of boring legal disclaimers that tell you that you can't sue me if you invest in any company I discuss, I figure it's best just to tell you NOT to invest in the stock because it's insanely risky and you're most likely going to lose your money. Actually, scratch that, you are CERTAIN to lose money. Even if you short it, you'll lose money. And if we were to be legally technical about it, if you (for some unknown reason) MAKE money on this stock, then I can sue you!

Glad we got the legal stuff out of the way. Let's move on.

So I would have liked to invest in this stock long ago (because I love to lose money).

Unfortunately there's some damn SEC rule that you can't buy a stock if it goes public in foreign markets for 45 days. Bastards. For this is what's happened to the stock price;



Now what you'll notice is that it's listed on the Hong Kong market and their ticker symbols consist of numbers, not letters.

The only problem is that if you have a standard online US brokerage account, you can't trade in foreign exchanges.

So after much research and inquiry I finally found its counterpart traded on the OTC.



What is most interesting is the drastic difference in volume. On the HK market volume is consistently in the multiple millions, whereas here in the US it's only a mere fraction, very low volume.

Another tidbit of information is that this is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Now the 2nd largest bank by market capitalization (I think) AND it was the largest IPO ever.

This behooves the question why volume isn't higher for its US counterpart on the OTC.

And I have a simple, but hard to believe conclusion, unless some of you traders could perhaps provide a little more insight;

A US equivalent to trade in is so damn hard to find that ultimately would be investors become discouraged, give up look, thereby denying this stock additional liquidity. I theorize how much the stock price would go up based on additional liquidity hitting the market if it wasn't such an expedition to find the darn ticker symbol.

Once Bitten...

I saw this in The Economist.



Yeah, right. After all the hell you people put Bush through for going into a country to fight radical Islam, like he's going to do that again. Indeed, no good deed goes unpunished.

No More Condos

The party's over!

Every guy has had the experience at least once during his earlier days at college of sticking around till the party is all but completely dead, the good looking people hooked up long ago and in a half-drunken daze you wander aimlessly thinking that some babe is going to pop up out of nowhere.

The hosts of the party give you subtle hints to leave and are somewhat wary of your presence. But there you are, ignorantly blissful and optimistic that you're still going to get some play that night hoping the party continues on and re-ignites itself.

Such is the situation with our beloved real estate developers in this beloved nation in this beloved housing bubble, ESPECIALLY CONDOS

Good Christ, half my day is spent explaining to middle aged men, who should know better that "no, starting another condo development is not worth the while."

And that, "no, we are not going to refinance or look at funding alternatives."

And that, "no, I don't care how "luxurious" or "unique" it is, "Westcreekwillowpalmheightsoakdaleway" is not anything special and is no different than the other of billions of condo developments out there."

I’m surprised I haven’t seen any proposals to build condos on the now-frozen lakes in Minnesota.

But no, they still keep coming. Like freaking zombies. Developers who all they've known is
construction and real estate. Hammer whacking, framing and landscaping. For 15 glorious and uninterrupted years, they don't realize that the chart has precipitously dropped on them and that the capital markets have dried up on them. They think the party is still going on.



So, for all you analysts, researchers, bankers, and economists, particularly in the Twin Cities market, mayhaps I can interest you in some spiffy charts I’ve found. Some charts that will repel the horrid condo-zombie horde by showing them that not only is the market flooded, but that they would lose their shirt if they tried to squeeze another condo in.

One, the market is saturated.



All that pent up demand by empty nesters and "cool hip Gen-Xer’s" looking to live in the "cool hip murderous town."

Yep, plum ran out of them, everybody who wants a condo has one. Because in the past 3 years YOU FLOODED THE MARKET WILL 11,000 CONDOS!!!!! Whereas historically about 100 or so hit the market each year.

Two, when ONE IN FIVE UNITS BEING CONSTRUCTED IN THE ENTIRE TWIN CITIES REGION IS A FREAKING CONDO YOU MIGHT JUST HAVE AN OVERSUPPLY ISSUE HUH!!!!????



And this data doesn’t even include the full spectacularly horrible year of 2006!
Regardless, there is a lesson to learn here in the condo market and the overall housing market. And that lesson is the importance of teaching EVERYBODY the basics of economics.

Imagine that if instead of wood shop, all these developers and contractors would have taken basic economics. Imagine the LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED! But I kid you not when I say that of all the real estate deals I’ve looked at in the past 3 years ONLY 2 HAVE HAD ABSORPTION studies done. Ie-only two developers bothered to gauge how well their housing would sell.

Scores, arguably a hundred real estate deals passed through my hands the majority of which didn’t even bother to calculate whether they’d actually be able to sell their inventory of houses. Heck, I remember one a couple years back where this developer added 220 housing units to a town with a population of 2,800. Assuming 3 people per unit, that’s 660 new people that have to fill those houses. In other words, the population of this town is going to grow by 24% OVERNIGHT????

But what really gets me is how these people think nothing of asking to borrow millions of dollars of other people’s money and then are so irresponsible, or it just plain doesn’t occur to them, that they don’t even bother to find out whether they’d be able to pay it back or not.

2007 and we’re making mistakes that are as stupid and as egregious as Holland Tulip Bulbs, Dotcoms and electing Hugo Chavez into power.

The people will pay for their ignorance, oh yes, the people will pay.

Our Friendly Foreign Financiers

And So the Two Great Evils Combine

You always knew socialism and radical islam would join forces.

A Long Overdue Post on Australian Economics

Good lord am I sorry to all you Aussies out there. I promised Frank that I'd do a post on Australia, but then I got the "Captain Capitalism" signal up in the sky and had to respond to what is now coming up on a 6 month, non-stop drive of contribution to GDP. 4 months straight of 90-100 hour work weeks, then the holidays and then moving to the burbs.

So while I was going to do a bit more in depth analysis, I'm sorry, I just don't have the time. But I will say this;

When I pulled these figures from the OECD I was amazed just how similar Australia and the US were. I'm kind of amazed how countries that were once under the British Empire do markedly better than any other empire, HK, US, Australia, etc.

Anyway, here are the charts.






And of course, what professional, full scale, in-depth macro-economic analysis is complete without the manditory analysis of a country's Miss Universe contestant? Besides, the Gods of Bachelortude demand it!

What I Don't Get About the Brits

Wallace and Gromit I can completely endorse.

Black Adder I can completely understand.

The British Spitfire is something I envy only second to the P-51 Mustang.

But there are two things I don't understand about Britain and that is the Royal Family and the BBC.

I surmise the former is some kind of obsession that we here in the US have with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, but the second is a bit of a creature I'm sure I won't understand since I didn't grow up in the UK.

Thus, having no knowledge or understanding why the BBC is so key to British culture, I shall post a chart from another jewel of British culture, The Economist, in the hopes of boosting British readership.

And hopefully somebody from across the pond can explain to me why this is relevant.

Why I'm Reminded of Denzel Washington

Man on Fire, or as I like to say "Hombre En Fuego" because it sounds cooler.

especially the fahWAY in the word "Fuego."

Good quote from Denzel Washington;

"You want a wish?"

"Yes, please."

"I wish you had more time."

wish I had more time.

So here's the quick little chart I saw in The Economist which proves something we all know, but adds to my theory that it isn't just low taxes that matter, but an uncorrupt and mature/responsible society in order to enjoy economic growth and high standards of living.



Back to work. Joy.

Mass Transit My Ass

We're always told that mass transit, ie- buses, car pool, vans, trains, etc. makes our transportation system more efficient. Of course, those who are doing the telling are typically leftists that want you to ignore what your eyes and empirical evidence tells you and instead heed the "facts" "experts" tell you.

Then I saw this picture from China.



Please do not tell me those large-assed, slow moving monstrosities known as "buses" are the SOLUTION to our traffic troubles.

Wait Till the Baby Boomers Retire

It is a not commonly pointed out fact that America is not the only country with Baby Boomers. Practically the entire developed world has a plurality of 50+ somethings that are on the verge of retirement...or in the case of Italy, they've already retired about a decade ago.

What also isn't commonly pointed out is that these Baby Boomers will start retiring pretty much now, and if they haven't already, they'll be switching their investments from risky stocks, to less risky bonds.

This selling will put downward pressure on equity prices leaving future stock prices in the hands of future generations to make those companies more profitable than ever so that their stock prices continue to increase.

But, being forever the cynic, when I look at the French students protesting to my Gen X breatheren opining whether Britney Spears is wearing panties, somehow I don't think this



will continue.

From the Ghettos to the Greatland

During my college days I managed to live here; Riverside Plaza, better known as "Ghettos in the Sky" or the "Crack Stacks"



And even then I shared a one bedroom with a buddy to cut down on rent.

Since that time I've slowly progressed upward in my living quarters going from a friend's basement to a studio apartment to living in my own basement (whilst I rented out the upstairs units) and so forth an so on.

But as of today, after saving my pennies and nickels, and after 14 years of living in the city, I am now officially a citizen of suburbia. I finally got the hell out.

Would have liked to made more posts as of recent but was busy moving my ass out of the deteriorating city. And not a moment too late and a spat of crime has taken Minneapolis and their "rolling stop ticket"-issuing police by storm. And I shan't stick around to see the outcome.

Now city pushers are going to claim that the city is waaaay superior to the suburbs. Typically leftists who envy the wealth and income generating potential of those that live in the burbs, and thereby not only try to marginalize the suburbs (to rationalize why they live in the filth-hole city), but also criminalize them (so as to provide a rationale to extort money from the burbs to pay for a bevy of socialist programs) . But let me point out several things;

1. I lived in a very nice part of Minneapolis
2. I had my house burglarized.
3. I had one car broken into
4. I had one stolen
5. I had yard signs stolen off my property
6. Crime in Minneapolis just shot up 20% this past year.
7. In this "great" neighborhood of Minneapolis, 3 people were killed no more than 1 mile from my joint.
8. I pay $15,000 per student to attend the utter waste of money known as the Minneapolis Public Schools.
9. and for the "honor" of living in this crap hole I got to have my property taxes increase 350% in only 7 years of living there.

I now live in an area where

1. there have been no murders in the past 7 years.
2. Police reports show "stolen bikes" as the number one crime
3. Nobody is going to steal my yard sign or spit on my Coleman bumper sticker
4. I don't have to pay for parking every 30 freaking feet.
5. My property taxes for a similarly value property ARE ONE THIRD that of the craphole known as Minneapolis.
6. And instead of shelling out $15,000 per student per year to essentially have them baby sat, I'm shelling out only $8,700 per year to have the kids in my neighborhood EDUCATED.

Anyway, just wanted explain why the absence of posts. Still have yet to unpack...and truthfully, I just wanted to rile up a friend of mine who has been giving me guff for moving out to the burbs and "swore" he was going to write a post.

Now he'll have to.