The Goat Pen

Considering it's January, ok...

I wondered who would take the bait.

aTm wrote: I'm sure some asshole like Jerry Jones has a good time doing blow off a strippers tit in his suite in his billion dollar stadium, and I've never done that, but that motherfucker hasn't lived my experiences either, some of which were great.

I'll take the hookers and blow over winning the metrics fantasy league, Biggio.

And of course, aTm missed the bigger point of it's not about how hard it is to be rich these days, but rather how hard it is just to be average because of the inflated cost of necessities like housing and health care.

Saint wrote:And of course, aTm missed the bigger point of it's not about how hard it is to be rich these days, but rather how hard it is just to be average because of the inflated cost of necessities like housing and health care.

You are right, it is a lot harder to make ends meet these days for the average person and it will continue to get worse. But politics has zero effect on this. The reason is technology. Every year as technology gets smarter, there is a chunk of society who lose their economic value in our system. The struggle is to try and stay ahead of that movement. The days of picking out a career and earning a living doing that your entire life is long gone. Your job will eventually be phased out and you have to adapt or save enough during your viable years that you can cruise the rest of the way.

Every profession will be effected. You've seen it already in the journalism and publishing field and what technology has done to that industry. My brother in law, the trial attorney, doesn't make near what he used to and is now using his savings and wealth to acquire large amounts of land to buy and sell because he sees future sustainability in that. ATM hasn't felt it because he's in a profession that is benefitting from the current technology boom., but it will eventually catch up with the IT guys as well.

Even Bill Gates worries about artificial intelligence. Now, his worries are more cataclysmic with taking over the world and such, but what about the time that leads up to that point where more and more people are phased out of economic importance? No politician is able to stem that tide.

Surely a guy who studied that much and could focus to the point of not dating nor drinking nor partying at all as a youth is a valuable asset for some business somewhere. If he is really telling the truth, he should be able to get a fairly well paying job almost anywhere. Now then, if he is bitter about making 6 figures a year rather than multi-millions, he's obviously not as intelligent as he thinks he is. And if he's not making 6 figures a year after all that studying and self-denial, then he's really not as smart as he thinks he is or else he's a liar...

His main problem is he doesn't know how to have fun. He denied himself during his formative years, and now he thinks he can just snap his finger and start "having fun". It doesn't work like that. It takes practice and fortitude, esp. in the case of women, drugs and alcohol. You can't just quit after your first hangover. You've got to get back in there and do it again. And again. And again. Same with women. But this clown thinks he can eschew the real work of alcoholism, drug addiction and philandering during his youth but then reap the benefits when he "arrives" at age 30 and everybody else has moved on. Actually, I'm thinking this guy has just been an idiot since day 1. People like that, fuck 'em...

sardis wrote:
You are right, it is a lot harder to make ends meet these days for the average person and it will continue to get worse. But politics has zero effect on this. The reason is technology. Every year as technology gets smarter, there is a chunk of society who lose their economic value in our system. The struggle is to try and stay ahead of that movement. The days of picking out a career and earning a living doing that your entire life is long gone. Your job will eventually be phased out and you have to adapt or save enough during your viable years that you can cruise the rest of the way.

Well said, and nice to meet you. I knew that guy at PNN was a pod.

It's hard to be average? Now there is a statistical conundrum. Smh.

Hey, I'm not the one expecting government to save the day.

That's the great American myth: that working hard gets you anywhere. It doesn't. Working hard makes someone else a lot of money off of your effort. You just end up tired and frustrated. The kids you knew in college with the trust funds and the summer homes in Aspen run the world no matter how hard you work. They make money by exploiting you and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it because you don't have a giant pile of money that allows you to walk away from things you find repugnant.

Out of the thousands of things I've learned, this is the only one that I think anyone else might benefit from hearing. Regrets are the worst things, and once your life is pretty much over they will pile up at a rate you can scarcely imagine when you are young and full of optimism.

The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
-W. Penn

Does anyone know if this anti-vaccination nonsense that has become disturbingly prevalent is a uniquely American problem or is it happening in Western Europe as well?

America leads the way, but there is a large contingent of anti-vaccers in England too.

Totally disagree with Brook's blog post. I'm (intentionally) surrounded by friends who've made fortunes (1%ers) from average to below average beginnings. Some with postgraduate degrees, some from commuter state college degrees, and some with HS diplomas. Some in large corporations, some in small businesses, and some in one-man band businesses. It don't come easy, but it is there now as much as ever. Made more so because technology has eliminated many barriers to entry. Anyone can publish and broadcast to the entire world for free. You no longer need to marshal 1000s of workers to create a business empire.

This is typical American housewife sheep-mentality. I know a family in my hometown that decided not to vaccinate the kids. I have heard from other families that interact with them that their children can't go to public schools because of it, and one of the kids supposedly contracted some type of shit that could have been prevented with a vaccine. I don't know what it was or if that is even true. I could believe it. I just wish it was the cunt wife/mother that contracted it.

Cletus wrote:Does anyone know if this anti-vaccination nonsense that has become disturbingly prevalent is a uniquely American problem or is it happening in Western Europe as well?

SnoodGator wrote:Totally disagree with Brook's blog post. I'm (intentionally) surrounded by friends who've made fortunes (1%ers) from average to below average beginnings. Some with postgraduate degrees, some from commuter state college degrees, and some with HS diplomas. Some in large corporations, some in small businesses, and some in one-man band businesses. It don't come easy, but it is there now as much as ever. Made more so because technology has eliminated many barriers to entry. Anyone can publish and broadcast to the entire world for free. You no longer need to marshal 1000s of workers to create a business empire.

Shit, I work in finance in NYC and I can't say I'm surrounded by friends that are 1%ers (I have some, per the shit I still take from you guys on the backyard apartment dweller friends I have). I got a slew of 5%ers by a mile...not a whole lot of 1s. Good for you. Either way, I think the dude was a bit extreme and "woe is me" but I wholeheartedly believe that the American Dream of "work hard and stay out of trouble and you will have success" is a myth. TImes have changed and there are many barriers to entry in many disciplines that have been lowered thanks to technology. However, outliers (including me) notwithstanding, the majority of people born into a certain class are overwhelmingly likely to die in that class (or lower). Upward economic mobility is not as great as it was 40 years ago. That's is just what the data shows and your (or my) experience doesn't matter.

"but I wholeheartedly believe that the American Dream of "work hard and stay out of trouble and you will have success" is a myth."

Well, I guess it all depends on what you you consider "success" (and that applies to everyone). Somebody (perhaps like the malcontent who posted that rant) would think making $100K a year is chump change just b/c it doesn't put him in the class of old money brahmins. If that's your standard, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. But many people would consider such an income to be hugely successful. Again, it's all relative and depends on who you are comparing yourself to. But the fact is, unless you're Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, there's always going to be somebody making way more jack than you, so you even a mega-multi-millionaire (or even somebody who is barely a billionaire) could sit there and lament their fortune compared to, say, Michael Bloomberg or whoever. But that person isn't going to find much sympathy, I suspect...

I know a couple of folks in the 1%, but around here, they're pretty much like everybody else. I saw one today when I went to see my nephew play basketball, she was there watching her son and I sat there and talked to her. Asked her to walk me thru her typical day and it was like any other non-working mom you would imagine (she is divorced). Wake up, fix breakfast for her kids, get them ready for school, take them to school, go to the grocery store and fuck around for a few hours, then go pick up the kids, help them with homework, fix dinner and get them ready for bed.

Now then, she of course could have as much help as she liked if she wanted, but she pretty much lives like everybody else I know. Yeah, she's got a couple of houses in Colorado and the Bahamas that she and her fambly spend time at when they've got time off, but on a day to day basis, she's living the same life as most everybody else I know. Well, not everybody I know, I mean, Linwood, the 60 year old dude that unloads trucks at the grain elevator and still lives with him mom and is an alcoholic and makes $20K a year, yeah, I know him, but he's an outlier (at least as far as people I know), but amongst my peers, this mega-rich gal I saw today is living pretty much just like everyone else. I guess the difference is, that's how she chooses to live whereas everybody else that does it doesn't really have a choice....

I can believe there are enough people not vaccinated to be able to cause an epidemic

You are correct. In some areas, it approaches 50%.

My ex has been for years very anti vaccination almost to the point of making me sick. So on a Tuesday when I had them I scheduled them both doctors appointments and they both got a bunch of shots. They got Aglimesies Ice Cream so they were fine. Of course their mom flipped but fuck her.