Computer Banishment

I’ve decided to banish myself from computer usage for a week, starting monday. Being on a computer 24/7 for the last 13 years of my life probably made me more than a little socially awkward. Time to go outside.

Presidential Politics #2

Barack Obama, having already picked a “safe” candidate in Biden and being slightly in the lead, forced John McCain to pick a “risky” candidate in Palin today. And I don’t mean risky in a strictly negative way. If Palin is depicted as capable in the media, she can push McCain into the White House in 2 months time by picking up a substantial number of female voters feeling betrayed by the loss of Hillary. But Palin’s lack of credentials can also scare away voters from a ticket already seen as weak and incompetent. From my point of view however, McCain did exactly what he needed to do.

Let me explain… Being slightly behind, John McCain had no choice but to come out swinging. If McCain had picked a safe candidate, not only will he have to make up the gap by himself, he would have firmly cemented Obama’s lead in female voters after Hillary’s endorsement. McCain also has to deal with his issue of image; people see him as out of touch. Palin, at 44 y/o, and having won beauty pagents in the past, can inject a sense of youth and energy into the McCain campaign. Especially with today’s sensationalist media coverage, it will not surprise me if the McCain/Palin ticket outpolls the Obama/Biden ticket in a week’s time… But… It probably won’t happen.

Presidential Politics

A couple of days ago, I was rummaging around on Facebook and saw a highschool friend’s status message. It read “J— is SICK OF THE DEMOCRATS. They want all this change, but how are they going to pay for it? With our hard-earned money! Healthcare for everyone? HOW?”

Now, before I take sides on this issue, I want to clarify that I’m a Libertarian, which means that I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal. J makes a good point in that universal healthcare will cost a lot of money. J, however, did not take into account how out of control the current “Republicans” are when it comes to fiscal responsibility. Sure they will lower taxes, but they are doing so by borrowing. What this means is that for whatever tax cut we get, we will eventually have to pay that tax cut back, with interest on top. Now, this might still be better than no tax cuts at all, but this is far from being optimized. What the government need to do is to cut taxes with reciprocal cuts in government spending. The war needs to go. Social Security and Medicare need reform. Etc etc. If you look at government debt levels of the last 40 years, the republicans havce done far worse than the democrats in devaluating America. The republicans aren’t fiscally conservative anymore. They are essentially populists for the rich.

I explained all of this to J, but I never received a response. A day later, his status message read “J— doesn’t like Obama.”

ignoramus to the max.

Armadillo

Found this little sucker outside of my buddy’s apartment

Adderall and Tea

If you’re wondering why I’m publishing my fourth post of the day, it’s because I’m on an Adderall trip. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was six, which is also the age I got drunk for the first time, smoked my first cigarette, and fingered a girl. And you think I’m joking…

I’m on Adderall mostly because I want to stay awake long enough to revert back to my old sleep schedule. I’ve been awake since 2pm yesterday, and I have yet to sleep. Adderall really is a miracle drug. Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve always hated writing, and to write this many words in one sitting without being pressured to do so by a teacher with a yardstick (the way it was done in China, and she fucking used it on some poor kid), nor a professor in whose hands hold your future career (not that it mattered in my unemployed case anyways), is quite a pharmacological accomplishment.

Tea on the other hand, is a much subtler stimulant. In fact, it is so subtle, that I often fall asleep right after drinking tea. WTF you say? I have no idea either. Caffeine works sometimes, and other times makes me WANT to sleep instead. Once in college I had a history midterm the next day, and like usual I was pulling an all-nighter (26 times junior year). I took two caffeine pills, the equivalent to 4 coffees, and then proceeded to fall asleep within 25 minutes. That was one of the most disappointing Bs I’ve ever received.

My question is, why isn’t Adderall available to everybody? If it is safe enough to be distributed in massive dosages to kids, why isn’t it safe enough as an OTC medicine for adults? The government seems to flip out over any medicine that alters the state of mind, good or bad. Stop telling me what I can and cannot do to my own body!

Wow, that sounded like a pitch for abortion

3.3 Percent

The US GDP grew 3.3 percent in the second quarter. Boo fucking hoo. Take a good look at the S&P over the past month or two and you’ll see that this has already been priced in. What worries me is that 12 months month to month income adjusted by PCE is in the negative territory for the first time since 05/06. Except this time around, we won’t have a ridiculous Bush taxcut to keep consumer spending afloat. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely believe that the Bush tax cuts kept us out of a recession in 2006, however, it was done at the expensive of future spending. We’re seeing our national deficit skyrocket. Like a home owner who over-borrows, America will now have to pay a higher price to keep borrowing.  We’ve seen that through the collapse of the US dollar since 2001. USDX dropped from around 120 in 2001 to 78 now. $1 in 2001 is now worth $.65 in the global market. This progression almost exactly negatively mirrors the increase in US debt over the past 8 years.

This newfound optimism of the past couple of months does not make sense. The reason the market has picked back up is closely related to oil prices. Oil prices on the other hand is closely related to the Dollar. The Dollar has been rising, thus oil prices have been lowering, thus the stock market has been rising. I, however, do not understand the rise in the dollar. Is the market forecasting more government stability or less government spending in the near future? Will the new administration offer better fiscal management? Does anyone really know? Does anyone even know who will be the new president, or their policies? I say the Dollar is rising because the economies of the rest of the world is falling faster than America’s. Thus market makers are forecasting lower interest rates for the rest of the world. This, however, does not add value to the American markets in absolute terms, it merely distorts it. If you can’t tell by now, I remain bearish on the market. Due to the uncertainties surrounding the new president, I will remain bearish until June of 2009. Give the market some time to figure out what the new pres is going to do.

Oh, did I mention I studied finance in college? Did I also mention I’m unemployed?

Hi

First of all, I’m too lazy to get a theme for this blog, so if any of you out there wants to help me make this thing look less like a piece of shit, feel free to let me know.

And I’m writing my first entry at 6:14AM on a Thursday morning. Not because I found some free time between brushing my teeth and taking a shit before I go to work, but because I’m still fucking awake from playing Geometry Wars 2.

Now, I’m no highschool or college student, enjoying the life without worries. I’m almost 24, and it has been more than 2 years since I graduated with a degree in finance from a top undergrad business school, even with a good GPA! Yet, I’m unemployed, car-less, and homeless (that is, if couch/mattress crashing counts).

What brought me to this situation? Well, it involves deferring my grad school admissions, quitting my 55k/yr job so I can “chill”, and wrecking my 1998 nissan sentra into the back of an F-250. Most of these might seem to have been caused by my own fuck ups along the way, and… yeah, I know, fuck you.

So this will be my medium to share whatever adventures that lie ahead. And good morning to you.