Coming soon to an unknown blog near you...

A few things in the queue. I am working on two papers: one on religion and one on the philosophy of science. And no, I don't feel like being more specific right now. Also working on two videos, one on the position, which is growing in popularity, that the Dark Ages weren't that dark and one on some of the new arguments coming out of that funny little creationism/ID movement. I also intend on posting a more impromptu piece on my experience with contemporary philosophy and philosophers since my first year of college in 2004. The video on the Dark Ages will most likely be up within 24 hours.

Ghouls & Slugs--
Matt

Joy-gasm!

Know what I did today? I went to a bargain book sale, bought copious amounts of knowledge for an exceedingly cheap price, then I came home to my apartment and spent the night reorganizing my library while watching "Inherit the Wind" (the original, not the remake) and "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1950).
It's been a good day.

Ghouls & slugs--
Matt

"Oh god, he's in MY head!!!"

My YouTube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainGhoul

Most videos will be cross-posted here. Some won't. Enjoy. Or don't.

Ghouls & slugs--

Matt

I think my ears are bleeding

I read a lot of financial publications: BusinessWeek, Investor’s Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal regularly and others when I get around to them. I don’t know why—I suppose I’m a masochist. In a two-hour window I came across these articles.

Freddie Mac loses $151M in 1Q, but beats expectations

Eurozone finance ministers take aim at 'scandalous' executive pay

Exxon: Profit Pirate or Tax Victim?

Well, Freddie Mac, being one of the many government programs responsible for the current "subprime crisis", is hemorrhaging money. $151 million in the first quarter this year and $4.5 billion in the previous two quarters--how about that: a government economic program demonstrating the government's complete inability to deal with matters economic.

And "scandalous" executive pay. I hate this topic so much that I could kick a kitten through a steel fan whenever it comes up. Let's go over this again: A good CEO is indispensable to a corporation. Hell, a competent CEO is still pretty valuable. The CEO must project a very complex, long-range business plan to be successful. As an analogy, there is a reason the quarterback is paid more than the long snapper. A good long snapper is desirable, of course, but a good quarterback is much, much more valuable. (I'm not responsible for that analogy, but I don't recall where I first saw it--it may have been in an article by Andrew Bernstein). And I am not at all surprised that an article on executive pay from AFP begins by referring to executives as "corporate fat cats".

And Exxon is getting reamed for being successful again. The article focuses briefly on the exorbitant taxes the company pays, but not for long. Hilary Clinton is quoted in that article as saying, "There is something seriously wrong with our economy when Exxon's record $11 billion in quarterly profits are seen as a disappointment by Wall Street...This is truly Dick Cheney's wonderland." Really, Hil? That is something a belligerent college freshman with zero knowledge of economics screams at a protest in front of the university library.

And her statement is quite telling. She has dropped even the pretense of assuming that $11 billion is "too much" when others have eared "too little". That a company is earning record profits period is enough to condemn them. That we expect them to earn record profits is indicative of "something seriously wrong with our economy". Beg pardon, but aren't profits good for the economy? I suppose not, when profit-seeking is a trait to be damned as insufficiently self-abnegating.

Lastly, here is an interesting article about the effects of farm subsidies on the "food crisis". It is a decent read until the very end where it calls for the money dumped foolishly into subsidies that distort market prices be dumped foolishly into programs like The World Food Program.

Farm Subsidies are the Real Culprit

I'm going to go take some Advil.

Ghouls and slugs--

Matt

I...just...uh...if...er...WHAT?!

I was going to say something about how religion's abandonment of reason will render religious people incapable of dealing with reality and will inevitably lead them to adopt unquestionably asinine rituals. However, I think this video speaks for itself.



When I see shit like this I'm not sure I could eat the amount I want to vomit.

Ghouls and slugs--
Matt

Still flopping...

Drudging my way through finals at the moment. If anyone is actually reading this, that is my excuse. But here is a little bad-assery to make up for my huge gaps in between posts.



Enjoy.

Ghouls and slugs--
Matt

More psycho-ravings from the peanut farmer...

If he had a tophat, monocle and cane he'd at least be entertaining. Jimbo Peanut on meeting with Hamas leaders:

"When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that's the dictator, because he speaks for all the people."

Well, there you have it. He really does have peanuts growing out of his ears. Does anyone remember when Ahmadinejad said there were no homosexuals in Iran (despite its public executions of homosexuals)? I suppose if you kill all dissenters and the only thing left are the anal polyps who grovel at your feet, you really do speak for all the people.

(LL: Myrhaf)

Sorry, folks...

To anyone who may actually be reading this (or, failing that, to the voices living in my head): I apologize for the large gaps of time in between posts. I fully intended to post with the frequency of at least three to four posts a week. However, I got busy with some university stuff and a few personal things.
I have a couple of post ideas lined up and will try my damnedest to get two of them in within the next 24 hours. So check back.


Ghouls and slugs--
Matt

Just die already, Jimmy

Well, Jimmy Carter is strutting around the globe like he matters again. This time, he is going to the Middle East (again) and says he will meet with Hamas leaders. Fortunately, Israeli leaders told Jimbo to go get bent.

Diplomacy with Islamic terrorist groups is morally and politically tantamount to diplomacy with the likes of Hitler. There. It's that simple. It's time for Jimmy to go away now, before he further damages our nation's credibility. 

This nation owes Michael Milken an apology (and much more)...

I didn’t want something like this to be the first substantive post I make on this blog, but I’ve been busy and this topic sort of fell into my lap. So, here it goes.

I was discussing high-yield bonds with an economics major a few days ago at the university I attend and, naturally, Michael Milken came up. Now, by way of full disclosure, as far as I could gather, this particular individual's influences are Keynes and Samuelson. So, of course, he launched into the tired old tirade about Milken (“The Junk Bond Lord” he kept calling him) putting little old ladies out on the streets in financial ruin, about all the damage the junk bond scandal had caused the economy and how all of this is what happens when we (i.e., the government) allow the economy and all its actors to run around unchecked by regulations.

For those of you who don’t know, Michael Milken is the financier who pretty much single-handedly created the high-yield bond market in the ‘70s and ‘80s. In 1988, however, the SEC filed securities fraud charges against Drexel Burnham Lambert, a major Wall Street investment banking firm, and one of their directors Michael Milken. Milken had set up a high-yield bond trading department within DBL that would soon produce an amazing 100% return on investment. The whole tragic story of the government’s hounding and destroying of this man’s career is chronicled in the book Payback: The Conspiracy to Destroy Michael Milken and His Financial Revolution. The whole thing is too long and fury-inspiring for me to get into it now.

Milken eventually plead guilty to six securities felonies in a plea bargain that permitted him to escape jail time but required what amounted to $600 million in fines and other charges. He was sentenced to ten years in prison anyway.

Now that the background is done, my response to this individual was essentially this:

Michael Milken did more for America than all of the 20^th century’s altruist heroes combined.

Let us break this down. Milken created millions of jobs. Millions. He was a financial pioneer who created a new and innovative way for businesses to raise capital. Enjoy that cell phone in your pocket? The reason they are so cheap and ubiquitous is because of the junk bonds that helped fund MCI in the 1980s. Own anything from Barnes & Noble, Chrystler, Calvin Klein, Hasbro, Mattel or Time Warner (there are countless others)? Milken’s junk bonds financed all of these companies (keeping many from bankruptcy).

Incidentally, Milken did donate hundreds of millions of dollars to education and medical research. But you’ll almost never hear about that from his detractors. So, why is he trashed whenever his name is brought up? He was selfish. His financial genius made him a billionaire. And he did it on Wall Street, working for an investment bank—you can’t get much more capitalist than that. This alone, of course, is grounds for condemnation by the dominant moral philosophy of the day: altruism (both religious and secular alike). Milken became the “symbol of 1980s greed”, and that was his real crime. He was condemned and punished primarily for being successful.

As a final note, I suggest everyone read ABC reporter John Stossel’s book Give Me a Break wherein there is a section in which he claims that Michael Milken, as a greedy capitalist financier, has done much more good for humanity than has Mother Theresa. Gotta love it.

Ghouls and slugs,
Matt

P.S.
I'll try to post with more frequency in the future

M.