PRay TeLL, Dr. Hash

<p>There is no more awkward conversation than with someone who feels the world doesn't recognize their value. They complain they're not being paid commensurately with their high-priced college education, and exhibit a cross between daydreaming and a sense of entitlement that should long ago been extinguished. No employer is required to pay you what you think you're worth. Worse, immature peo...

<p>When people traded chickens, even the very best chicken farmer couldn't make more than 10 times any other chicken farmer, it just wasn't physically possible, but then imaginary money came along and now the difference in incomes can be astronomical. The concept of a meritocracy, where the most productive people receive the greatest rewards, was established in the days of chickens to encour...

<p>“Contractor” has a tax definition. Businesses like to hire contractors because then they aren't responsible for the social obligations that come with hiring employees. Employers also like using contractors because there are many to choose from, they only have to use them when they need them, and if one costs more than they earn, or creates inconvenience, they don't have to use them again....

<p>There is and should be an adversarial relationship between employers and employees. Employers are only that because they have to be; if a business could make money without any employees, it would. Similarly, employees are only that because they have to be; if a person could live life on the beach drinking pina coladas, they would. Bringing these two reticent groups together can't help but...

<p>Jobs are a reflection of society, and people like to be around people who are like them, so it's natural that some industries become primarily gay, athletic, or socially awkward. There's also genderfication; industries that are primarily male or female, not because there's any kind of nefarious discrimination, but through self-selection. For example, Electricians, Mechanics, and Construct...

<p>Could America collapse? Let's review the concept:</p> <ol> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">There's no decline in America but if you squint hard enough...</p> </li> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It's a known fact that a strong WiFi signal prevents revolution.</p> &lt...

<p>The world is reeling; economically and socially; after The Collapse, there's going to be some kind of adjustment. After the initial fear and anxiety is over with, a few weeks perhaps, we will settle into a gradual readjustment of how things are; some different, most the same. In the vast majority of the country, Martial Law will not be imposed, and life will be a lot like before The Colla...

<p>The U.S. is in the midst of stocks, bonds and housing bubbles; plus, mix in the volatility of a raft of record-setting obligations: Student Loans, personal credit card debt, auto loans, public retirement, and the National Debt; then add a sprinkle of dysfunctional politics, social unrest, and international tensions; and the resulting witch's brew seems certain to collapse given any number...

<p>When the pressures get too great, something snaps somewhere, and our economy is creaking and groaning in warning. Engaging our flights of apocalyptic fantasy, like all red-blooded Americans do, how could you prepare for the coming economic collapse? Let's see: if the zombie apocalypse happens, ammunition, food and drugs will be the currency, but gold is the best bet for anything less than...

<p>Speculation of the U.S. splitting apart has been done to death in many books and several TV shows, and there's even some great websites. Usually, the theory goes, that it occurs after some apocalyptic event, like a virus, that destroys the military, because people don't really see themselves fighting trained soldiers and modern hardware, even if they do have a home assault rifle. However,...

<p>The idea of a State seceding from the United States comes up regularly among political novices. It's a fun concept to imagine but unilateral secession was decided in the most dramatic way possible, the Civil War, and if that wasn't enough, the Supreme Court nixed the idea too. It could possibly happen if the rest of the U.S. agreed but since secession would affect the lives and livelihood...

<p>There ain't gonna be a revolution, what would people revolt against? Wifi's good pretty most everywhere, and whatever's happening in Washington D.C. never seems to have any direct affect on anything back home. People revolt when they have something to gain, like freedom, not just a higher Minimum Wage. The only place you'll likely hear “revolution” talk is in the mornings at McDonald's, w...

<p>You only need to look around to see that there is no decline in America. Even homeless people sleeping on the streets doesn't mean there's more homelessness, it just means that the rest of the population now accepts seeing them on the sidewalks; no more batons, insane asylums and Work Farms. America's history is one of continuous improvement; both in the physicalities of life and intellec...

<p>Let's review some of the concepts about the next generation:</p> <ol> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The deal between older generations and the ones coming up has been broken.</p> </li> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Modern narcissism really became apparent when generatio...

<p>Probably only Millennial-written history books will remember the Occupy Movement. It was an arch-typical Millennial attempt at protest, essentially ineffective, in fact, more of a condemnation of Millennials than a promotion of their cause, because there wasn't a cause, not a clear one anyway; Occupy people were simply bored and anxious and demonstrating is easy, plus they got to do a lit...

<p>Socialism is attractive to unambitious people or when opportunity is concentrated. Millennials are becoming socialists because the Nouveau Aristocracy, supported by Republicans, have a lock on opportunity. The entrenched winners won't allow anybody else into the game so all that those out-of-luck people have left is socialism or revolution. Life is good so revolution is out as an option,...

<p>No accomplishment has lost more real value than a college education. For all the high-minded talk about expanding your intellectual and emotional horizons, it's really turned into nothing more than preschool for joblessness. New graduates recognize in their hearts when it seeps in a couple weeks before graduation, that they have nothing lined up except as future baristas, some facial hair...

<p>The cost of a college diploma has skyrocketed because it violates the free market system. America's universities have always been a hotbed of gate-keeping, rent-seeking, self-interested job security & pretentious pandering, but in the current crisis, the problem can be traced to government intervention, specifically, the government student loan guarantee policy, because students would...

<p>Modern medicine, diet, relatively easy lives, and the fact that most modern jobs are inconsequential, requiring almost no effort to perform, means Baby-Boomers aren't retiring. Plus, “Free” Trade moves the difficult jobs, such as manufacturing, that employers had to pay more for, off-shore. Farming, which at least provided opportunities to work, is now performed by machines or Illegal Imm...

<p>There is an aspect of younger generations that changes the world: they spend a lot of time in front of screens, and their phone is their trusted friend and babysitter. They “social network” every single day, every hour, sometimes every minute. This has had a profound, observable result, the most obvious being that so many sedentary hours leads to obesity and social awkwardness for some, b...

<p>Doubting new generations is not unique in history; it's almost an obligation to diagnose generations coming after your own. The impulse to judge is overwhelming, to repeat the negative refrains of every past generation for the succeeding one, the implication being that the world will end under new management, but there are clear changes and differences that are now occurring. For example,...

<p>Since the advent of Identity Politics, naming generations has become a thing. It started with the narcissistic Baby-Boomers wanting a special designation, but of course, now every age group wants to be special: Gen-X, Millennials, Gen-Y. The names have taken on an undercurrent of derision: resentment held by youth towards their elder generation because they suspect that conspicuous consum...

<p>Historically, societies battled for dominance; the strongest enriching themselves at the expense of the vanquished, and imposing their will by force. This is the story of human history: forever mired in violence, most advancement coming at the expense of conquest and looting, until the strong were conquered by stronger still. During the Enlightenment, philosophical thought and human intel...

<p>Political Parties are rife with misinterpretation; let's review some of the concepts:</p> <ol> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Conservative values tend to maintain the status quo.</p> </li> <li> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It's never clear what modern “liberal” values are since, by definition, they're always changi...

<p>The whole concept of campaign contributions is bizarre: the idea that people would give money to other people, most likely in a doomed attempted to gain public office, has no valid explanation outside of ego-driven delusion. How does it even work? It's got to be because people are conditioned to give to charity, and tithing to their church, or have political aspirations of their own somed...