Well, hopefully everything is back to normal now. Our new used car has been inspected by our mechanic (No charge again, by the way, because he "didn't do anything" -- everything looked good so there was nothing to fix-- but he did inspect it which should be worth something. But if he doesn't charge, he doesn't charge, what are we supposed to do, leave $50 on the ground on way out?) and by the city of DC, and is ready to be officially licensed. Also, our AC has been fixed, supposedly. I added the qualifier because the repair company seemed so incompetent that I find it hard to believe that they actually did something right. When we turn it on, cold air comes out, so that's good, but I keep waiting for it to crap out again. We had the same repairman come out three times, and I had no confidence whatsoever that he could get the job done. He was so inept. I kept thinking, "14 million people unemployed and you have a job?"
Actually, this ties into something I wanted to talk about. One of the main things you hear about the state of our economy, primarily from people on the right, is that our high unemployment is somewhat the fault of the unemployed and that if they were better workers they would still have jobs. Herman Cain illustrated this during the Republican primaries with his if-you-can't-find-a-job-don't-the-government-yourself-blame-yourself rant. On his podcast, Adam Carolla (who's funny, but incredibly stupid when it comes to economic matters) asked the question, "Who do you know, who's actually talented and a good worker who doesn't have a job?" He then went on to give examples of people he knows who are good at what they do and are employed, and people who aren't good at what they do and aren't employed. His advice to the unemployed is essentially, "be better".
Now, this is fine advice for an individual. I actually 100% agree that more people need to step up and take responsibility for their lots in life. I know many people who, whenever they are struggling, act as if the universe is just against them. It's a confluence of unrelated events perfectly coordinated to keep them down. They ignore the simpler, but harsher, explanation. With that said, "being better" will not solve unemployment on the whole, because "better" is a relative term, and it is literally impossible for everybody to be better than the next guy. Somebody has to be the worst at their profession. Do these people not deserve to earn a living? Should they just crawl under a rock and die? Yes, the blame-yourself crowd is right. If you're above average at what you do, you probably will always be able to find work. But some very simple mathematics should lead everybody to conclude that this isn't nearly enough. We need an economy that can support everybody, not just the best, and we don't have that right now, because we don't have enough people spending enough money. It's a demand problem, plain and simple. Unless we solve this, it doesn't matter how many people pull themselves up by their bootstraps, unemployment will stay high for a long time. And I have little confidence that we will solve this any time soon, but I don't want to get into that now -- too depressing.
In other news, I went to the Nats game last night against the Yankees. The Nats got crushed 7-2, but still it was fun. The crowd was about a 50-50 split fan-wise. This is pretty typical. DC is a transient city and the Nats are only like seven years old, so the fan base isn't huge.
We had some semi-obnoxious, hardcore Yankee fans sitting around us, who kept trying to get these pro-Yankee cheers going. At one point, beloved Yankee Derek Jeter his a grounder that the Nats' shortstop, Ian Desmond, threw away allowing Jeter to get to second and allowing two runs to score. A mini-chant broke out among Yankee supporters, "Derek Jeter... clap, clap, clap, clap, clap... Derek Jeter... clap, clap, clap, clap, clap..." Being the wise-ass I am, I shouted out, "Yep, Derek Jeter. He's great at getting on by error. That's really his specialty." The Yankee fan immediately in front of me turned around and said, "Hey, he's better than your crappy shortstop who threw it away." He said it as if I own the Nationals. Right, Ian Desmond is my shortstop. Actually I do have him on a fantasy team, but somehow I doubt the bozo in front of my knows this.
I took a strange route home from the game. I took the metro to Dupont Circle with some folks, because we were going to get a post-game beer at an establishment there, but I backed out at the last minute. I had already knocked a few back at the game (nothing like the time-honored ballpark tradition of paying $8 for a Miller Lite in a tin bottle), so I did the hangover math in my head, and determined it wasn't worth it to continue. Ever since I got married, my desire to get drunk has really gone down. If you take away the prospect of meeting women, binge drinking just loses it's luster -- it's really the milieu of the single man.
So I walked form Dupont Circle up to Adams Morgan / U St, with the intent on taking the bus or walking home. Being hungry (paying for overpriced ballpark beer is one thing, paying for shitty overpriced food is another) I decide to get a slice of pizza. Now, in DC we have something called the "jumbo slice" and it's ruined late-night pizza eating. In a race to the bottom competition, all pizzerias have attempted to get bigger and cheaper and greasier. Unlike in a city like, say, New York, where you can actually get a normal-sized good slice of pizza. All you can get here is a disgusting folded-over slat of oil and cheese, with paper-thin semblances of a doughy base and a crust. Where's Herman Cain when you need him?
I swore off jumbo slices years ago, so I went to the one decent pizza establishment that didn't serve them and ordered a slice. But of course, a jumbo slice was handed to me five minutes later. They had apparently changed their ways and started serving jumbo slice -- so sad. I took a few bites of it and then tossed about four fifths of it into the trash. I absolutely hate throwing away food, especially when I've paid for it. But I also hate stomachaches and heartburn, and my $5 was gone either way. No sense making a sunk cost fallacy.
I narrowly missed the bus home, so I decided to walk the remaining two-miles home. It was just as well as the bus was jam-packed anyway. But, in a stroke of super good luck I saw another bus coming only minutes behind the one I missed. I hopped on that one and it was nearly empty, presumably because everybody was already on the first one. I was home in 10 minutes. It made up for the bad pizza experience.
Well, that's it. Until next time...
[A great '80s song, and as I learned last night, the coming-to-bat music for Nationals catcher Jesus Flores.]
Actually, this ties into something I wanted to talk about. One of the main things you hear about the state of our economy, primarily from people on the right, is that our high unemployment is somewhat the fault of the unemployed and that if they were better workers they would still have jobs. Herman Cain illustrated this during the Republican primaries with his if-you-can't-find-a-job-don't-the-government-yourself-blame-yourself rant. On his podcast, Adam Carolla (who's funny, but incredibly stupid when it comes to economic matters) asked the question, "Who do you know, who's actually talented and a good worker who doesn't have a job?" He then went on to give examples of people he knows who are good at what they do and are employed, and people who aren't good at what they do and aren't employed. His advice to the unemployed is essentially, "be better".
[Such a clown, but I'll damned if I didn't love Godfather's as a kid.]
Now, this is fine advice for an individual. I actually 100% agree that more people need to step up and take responsibility for their lots in life. I know many people who, whenever they are struggling, act as if the universe is just against them. It's a confluence of unrelated events perfectly coordinated to keep them down. They ignore the simpler, but harsher, explanation. With that said, "being better" will not solve unemployment on the whole, because "better" is a relative term, and it is literally impossible for everybody to be better than the next guy. Somebody has to be the worst at their profession. Do these people not deserve to earn a living? Should they just crawl under a rock and die? Yes, the blame-yourself crowd is right. If you're above average at what you do, you probably will always be able to find work. But some very simple mathematics should lead everybody to conclude that this isn't nearly enough. We need an economy that can support everybody, not just the best, and we don't have that right now, because we don't have enough people spending enough money. It's a demand problem, plain and simple. Unless we solve this, it doesn't matter how many people pull themselves up by their bootstraps, unemployment will stay high for a long time. And I have little confidence that we will solve this any time soon, but I don't want to get into that now -- too depressing.
In other news, I went to the Nats game last night against the Yankees. The Nats got crushed 7-2, but still it was fun. The crowd was about a 50-50 split fan-wise. This is pretty typical. DC is a transient city and the Nats are only like seven years old, so the fan base isn't huge.
We had some semi-obnoxious, hardcore Yankee fans sitting around us, who kept trying to get these pro-Yankee cheers going. At one point, beloved Yankee Derek Jeter his a grounder that the Nats' shortstop, Ian Desmond, threw away allowing Jeter to get to second and allowing two runs to score. A mini-chant broke out among Yankee supporters, "Derek Jeter... clap, clap, clap, clap, clap... Derek Jeter... clap, clap, clap, clap, clap..." Being the wise-ass I am, I shouted out, "Yep, Derek Jeter. He's great at getting on by error. That's really his specialty." The Yankee fan immediately in front of me turned around and said, "Hey, he's better than your crappy shortstop who threw it away." He said it as if I own the Nationals. Right, Ian Desmond is my shortstop. Actually I do have him on a fantasy team, but somehow I doubt the bozo in front of my knows this.
[Hey, Tim Riggins, Jeter stole your girlfriend.]
I took a strange route home from the game. I took the metro to Dupont Circle with some folks, because we were going to get a post-game beer at an establishment there, but I backed out at the last minute. I had already knocked a few back at the game (nothing like the time-honored ballpark tradition of paying $8 for a Miller Lite in a tin bottle), so I did the hangover math in my head, and determined it wasn't worth it to continue. Ever since I got married, my desire to get drunk has really gone down. If you take away the prospect of meeting women, binge drinking just loses it's luster -- it's really the milieu of the single man.
So I walked form Dupont Circle up to Adams Morgan / U St, with the intent on taking the bus or walking home. Being hungry (paying for overpriced ballpark beer is one thing, paying for shitty overpriced food is another) I decide to get a slice of pizza. Now, in DC we have something called the "jumbo slice" and it's ruined late-night pizza eating. In a race to the bottom competition, all pizzerias have attempted to get bigger and cheaper and greasier. Unlike in a city like, say, New York, where you can actually get a normal-sized good slice of pizza. All you can get here is a disgusting folded-over slat of oil and cheese, with paper-thin semblances of a doughy base and a crust. Where's Herman Cain when you need him?
I swore off jumbo slices years ago, so I went to the one decent pizza establishment that didn't serve them and ordered a slice. But of course, a jumbo slice was handed to me five minutes later. They had apparently changed their ways and started serving jumbo slice -- so sad. I took a few bites of it and then tossed about four fifths of it into the trash. I absolutely hate throwing away food, especially when I've paid for it. But I also hate stomachaches and heartburn, and my $5 was gone either way. No sense making a sunk cost fallacy.
I narrowly missed the bus home, so I decided to walk the remaining two-miles home. It was just as well as the bus was jam-packed anyway. But, in a stroke of super good luck I saw another bus coming only minutes behind the one I missed. I hopped on that one and it was nearly empty, presumably because everybody was already on the first one. I was home in 10 minutes. It made up for the bad pizza experience.
Well, that's it. Until next time...
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