ONTD is boring

I decided to mix it up because ONTD_P is getting a little tired but regular ONTD is boring as shit.
Christina Aguilera said Maroon 5 wouldn't have been successful without her!
OH NO!

Nine-Year-Old Girl Plays Football, Kicks Ass and Maybe Changes the World

This is the story I got the blog from no one gives a shit here we go.
Apparently she set up an account with Dreamwidth--
I don't even know what that is but apparently it's blogging stuff.
STAY TUNED.

We've been told, over and over, by politicians in both parties, that in order to have an economic recovery, we're all going to have to sacrifice. We're going to have to undergo brutal austerity measures that make our lives demonstrably worse for a while in order to get back to prosperity. We just have to accept wage and benefit cuts, high unemployment, and cutbacks to government services, because that's the only way we will recover from this crisis.


That's just not true.

Not true just keep spending money you don't have.

Since the pursuit of happiness is actually enshrined in that Constitution conservatives love to tout, we've collected five suggestions for improving the economy that would also make our lives better right now.

Oh boy.

1. Longer weekends, more vacations.



Annie Leonard pointed out at the New York Times that Americans work longer hours than people in any other industrialized nation. We work nearly nine weeks more than Western Europeans, and we get far fewer vacations.


Yet right now there aren't enough jobs to go around. So instead of continuing to squeeze the workers who are still employed for more hours, Dean Baker suggested that we spread those hours among more workers.

Except companies already do this.
Good luck getting employed full time, idiots.

His idea, to subsidize shorter work-weeks with unemployment insurance benefits, would create an incentive for businesses not to lay off workers, but to cut their hours a little instead. His example, that a worker might put in 20 percent fewer hours but take only a 10 percent pay cut, would of course take some money from a worker's check, but at least compensate the worker with more free time.

...
BUT THINGS COST MONEY YOU FUCKING IDIOTS.
10% LESS MONEY IS DIRE STRAITS FOR A FAIR PORTION OF THE WORKFORCE
DO YOU RETARDS EVEN LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD?

(A recent article in Canadian magazine MacLeans also pointed out that Dutch workers, women in particular, often only work part-time to spend more time with their families—and that the Netherlands consistently ranks as one of the happiest nations on earth.)

There it is. Send women home.
SEXISM THIS OFFENDS MY LABELS.

Of course, part of the problem with the economy right now is that the workers who do have jobs aren't making enough money to keep spending, so any policy that saw those workers taking wage cuts could be problematic for recovery as well as for the people themselves.

Or as I read this, "we're really just jerking ourselves off here."

Therefore this idea works best for workers who already make a solidly middle-class salary; people barely making ends meet as it is would be little helped by additional cuts to their salaries.

... And part of a recession is a reduction in the middle class--
Am I the only person that understands anything anymore?
Am I going crazy?
Then again I did find a full time job.
As in I work 40 hours a week.
In times this insane.
I guess it really is as Warhammer says: only the insane have strength enough to prosper.

Price pointed out that in addition to fewer hours, more generous leave policies would actually create demand for jobs. “In practice, federal policy incentivizing employers to offer more paid vacations, family and parental leave and paid sick days, in addition to getting the US closer to international norms regarding these vital labor standards, would likely lead to additional hiring at the current relatively low level of demand.”

Personally I'd just destabilize the entirety of Africa and the Middle East (not that they need much help in that regard) and make about 1000 new bullet factories but that's just me.
number 2 is pretty boring and actually makes some sense so I'm glossing--

There's been a lot of focus on the youth unemployment rate, with good reason. But there's also a crisis facing older workers, who, facing long periods of unemployment, are being forced to spend their retirement funds early. 

Logan's Run up in this motherfuck.
No but seriously ask Japan what happened when it forced its geriatric workforce into early retirement and didn't have sufficient numbers to replace it.
(Protip: what happened was effectively the same as what's happening now) 

4. Bicycle stimulus.

No.

"Green jobs" have been called for as part of any recovery package since the beginning of the economic crisis, a way to not only move the US back toward economic prosperity, but also to shift our priorities toward environmental sustainability. One interesting example of green job creation would be investing in bike paths in urban areas where cycling can easily take the place of car travel.

I have solved literally 100% of the economic, political and social ills of this country in the last 3 weeks during my planning period.

If fixing the mortgage crisis is win-win, investing in bicycle infrastructure is win-win-win: it not only could create jobs that would stimulate the economy, but is better for personal health and also for the environment, replacing gas-powered cars with people-powered transit. 

My job is 25 miles away through dangerous interstates and the hood.
I'm not biking.

Bicyclists save money on transit, are healthier overall, and don't have to spend time and money on the gym, and a city that invests in bike paths and safety encourages more and more people to take up biking to work.

...
So fuck the gym industry I guess.

When people drive less or give up owning cars entirely, the money they would have spent on gasoline and car insurance then can be pushed back into the economy in other ways—Philly CarShare noted that cutting back on driving increased people's purchasing power by nearly $3000 a year.

Then there was my solution of capturing the automotive industry and making it 100% electric.
I can't decide if I'm for or anti business, honestly.
I guess as long as they do what I say I'm for them but then I'm assuming direct control when it stops.

5. Raise wages.


Republican presidential candidates like Rick Perry have been trying to score with the talking point that 46 percent of Americans don't pay any income taxes.

Yes. I already solved this issue.
Plebeians, listen to me.

Perry, especially, doesn't like to follow that point up with an explanation of why. It would undermine his chief campaign promise: that he's a job creator, that as governor of Texas he's been good for the economy, 

Fucking Texas.
I saw they tried to secede from the union today.
They're lucky I'm not Caesar, in fact.
I only know one way to bring unruly provinces back into the fold.
I mean it would cease to be a province but you get where I'm going with this.

The federal minimum wage isn't enough to support one person, and certainly not enough for a family—

ALREADY SOLVED THIS PROBLEM.
Jesus Christ how many teams of PhD economists do they have working on this bullshit?
I don't know shit about economics (I do play EVE Online though) and I solve these problems over my lunch break.
Pro tip: I don't think the problem is lack of a plan. I think it's lack of balls to implement it.

It seems that the war on drugs is having a somewhat adverse effect on both the number of people using drugs and those infected with HIV (both are increasing). This declaration calls on all governments to halt the war and to adopt a more rational, evidence based approach to drug classification.

Wow who would have thought the war on drugs was an ill informed venture?
Holy shit this whole blog reads like ONTD_P jr.
And I hit the start.
Too bad it had such a promising start but then it just got boring as shit.
Then it ended.
Not that I'm complaining about that part.