Stuff that sucks

Here's a very depressing but very realistic summary of the current outlook on retirement. My 401(k) has lost about 1/3 of it's value. But I'm lucky because I'm 29 and have only been saving for 6 years. I hope I get most of that money back. But with the way the stock market is changing, should I still invest? Or has this whole idea of retirement been just a complete sham? It feels like it has been. I have no trust for anyone in management. I feel completely disillusioned. There is no hope for change, because all you end up with is a compromise that is not what you wanted to begin with.

Why Baby Boomers Suck:

I am a member of Generation Y. The generation that wants is all, that deserves it all. The generation that did get it all. We are a generation that thinks we all deserve trophies at the end of Little League, even though our team is 1-7. We are the generation that has multiple valedictorians not because they are all smart, but because our terrible education system just couldn't say No and pick just one. I detest Generation Y.

As a son of parents born in 1955, I am a product of a generation that grew up listening to stories about the horrors of WWII, but didn't have to experience anything remotely like that War. Its a generation that began to come of age during the so-called counter culture of the late 60's. It's ironic to think back to that generation. Rebelling against authority, then carrying that rebellious nature through the 70's until the previous generation is finally on the way out in the 80's and unleashing all that pent up energy in every conceivable way. It's where we are now.

The Environment is trashed. The economy is trashed. The past 30 years, my lifetime has been one huge fuck-up. If anything, the baby boomers will be known as the generation of huge rewards with no responsibility. All marketing with no substance. What has been presented to us is the packaged bacon in the store, and what is hidden is the huge pig farm, slaughterhouse and genetic pig engineering which is the actual reality and truth.

I feel like we have passed the point of no return. I feel like my son is going to grow up into a world of nothing but mess. I feel very ashamed to be a part of all this. We call this civilized society. This is not civilized. This is just as gory and messy as the African Savannah. If God is watching, he's got to be thinking that things have really gotten out of hand in a very bad way.

I love my Ipod Touch

I love my Ipod Touch. It keeps getting more and more great apps! It's pretty good for gaming, with Simcity, Fieldrunners, and Wolfenstein 3d. (I can't wait for Doom!). The Touch also shines in other apps. Today I just downloaded the Wall Street Journal App for free. It appears to be very similar to the New York Times app, meaning you get all the content for FREE! This is great! People complain about the banner ads being too big or whatnot. Big deal, it's free. So far, the performance seems ok. The NYT app was really flaky for awhile, then was upgraded to v2.0 which was very stable.

My wife has an iPhone, and it sucks as a phone. Lots of dropped calls. What's the point of a modern phone if it drops calls like it's 1998? If it didn't drop so many calls it would be an incredible phone. I'm so glad I don't have to pay for an iPhone contract.

Case of the Mondays

Angry and succinct! I love it!

For decades now, a driving principle of corporate America has been that the cure for any problem is to pay workers less, make them do more, and get rid of benefits.

Wall Street thinks it deserves a raise, and gives it to itself!

Huh?

This cartoon doesn't make much sense to me. I think the labels are wrong.

Say you keep the super tanker labeled 'Free Market'. Shouldn't the pirates be called 'Greedy bankers' with a destroyer off in the distance that is labeled 'Congress'. Wouldn't that make more sense? This cartoon seems like someone in a bank drew it.

I saw this cartoon on The Big Picture and reading the comments after the post a lot of people have similar feelings to mine about the picture.

Angry White Man and the EPA

There is a once-popular term in our culture, coined the Angry White Man. Michael Douglas has portrayed one and most would consider Rush Limbaugh as the stereotypical example. You don't hear this term very often anymore. It was very popular during Clinton, but after Bush came to power, the term faded away. I don't have any murderous streaks, nor am I a fanatical right-wing true believer. However, I am white and I am angry. I am angry with the past 8 years. I am angry with how a lot of my civil liberties have been taken away using fear. I am angry that the current Administration is being so nice to the bankers, while behaving in a very different manner to the auto industry. The seemingly bi-polar attitude is confusing and disappointing.

Now onto the EPA. I was watching Frontline tonight and they were talking about how the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound are really messed up from pollution. This caught my attention as I live in the Seattle area. A though occurred to me as I did dishes after the program: Why isn't anyone framing the big banks as big polluters? Wouldn't that help the public and Congress understand just how crazy-good some of these bankers have it? We all know about the term 'Toxic Assets' (now "Legacy Assets") so why don't opponents to the bailouts frame the argument that these banks have completely polluted our clean waters of the economy, and to let the polluters do the cleanup with taxpayers picking up the tab is just silly. Has anyone tried to frame the situation like that? Does that argument even work here? What's needed is an EPA-style Superfund cleanup. Now a Superfund cleanup usually makes the responsible party(s) do the cleanup, but there is a lot of government oversight involved during the cleanup to make sure that the cleanup actually happens. These bailouts and TARP just seem like we are writing blank checks, with very little oversight and complete trust that the banks will 'do the right thing'. TPM has a great report card on the Obama Administration, and I agree with the grades given. I voted for Obama and am very supportive, but I just feel completely disillusioned and disappointed with how he's been treating the banking management.

So as an opponent to the bank bailouts, I am calling these bankers economic polluters and it is time that they paid for the cleanup. Paid for the cleanup with money, shareholder losses, reputation losses, etc.

I emailed the Planet Money guys about the Bankers as Polluters idea, so we'll see if they respond to my comments.

Generational Analysis, and JC windshield cracks

So there is this very interesting article on Minyanville that talks about how the current generation that is in power, the Baby Boomers have continued their philosophy of me first, no sacrifice. While I don't quite agree with all the authors say, I do think that the idea of 100-year, 4 generation cycles does hold some merit.

Prophets of Doom

This is sorta ironic, because right now I'm reading the excellent Masters of Doom, but here is a list of people who disagree with Obama's economic policies.