Inaugaration Day Playlist (for Depressed Genration Xers)

On a day when millions of people are worried about the future, there's nothing like music to get us through a tough day... 
(This playlist is not safe for work or for IQ's under 100)

First... a little music to set the mood:
REM It's the end of the world as we know it
Billy Joel We didn't start the fire 
Disturbed Land of illusion

Down the rabbit hole we go:
Jefferson Airplane White rabbit
 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Don't come around here no more

Potential theme songs of the new administration:

James Bond Theme From Russia with love
Operation Ivy Knowledge
Rage Against the Machine Bulls on parade
Bad Religion 21st Century Digital Boy
The Poxy Boggards Aboard the good ship Venus
Anthrax I'm the man
Nine Inch Nails Head like a hole
Dynamite Hack Boyz in the Hood 
Nashville Pussy Struttin' Cock and I'm the man
Cabaret Money
Cover of ABBA's Money Money Money 
 Janis Joplin Mercedes Benz

This First Lady's going to be quite different than the last one, and now we have the prominent First Daughter as well:
Flying Lizards Money
Aqua Barbie girl 
Marilyn Monroe Diamonds are a girl's best friend
Madonna Material Girl
J.Geils Band Centerfold 

Distinguished man of character or misogynistic douchebag?  You decide: 
 The Buzzcocks Orgasm addict (includes the line,"winos and heads of state")
Sublime Date rape 
The Dickies If Stuart could talk 
Nine Inch Nails Closer 
The Poxy Boggards Hey nonny nonny 
Prince Cream
The Descendents Clean sheets
James Laid 
My Darkest Days Porn star dancing
Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg Let's do it
The Bloodhound Gang The bad touch
Killer Pussy Teenage enema nurses in bondage
2 Live Crew Me so horny 
Don't follow this link... it's worse than the last one 

One way to keep himself out of trouble:
King Missile Detachable penis

 

 What a lot of people will feel like doing:
Bob Marley Smoke two joints
 George Thorogood One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer 
UB40 Red, Red Wine
Iron Maiden Run to the hills
Bruce Springsteen Born to run
No Doubt A little something refreshing

What the rural working class Trump fans are thinking:
Hank Williams, Jr. A country boy can survive
Steve Earle Copperhead road 
Dolly Parton Rockytop 

Bad habits we'll see repeated:
L7 Wargasm

Bruce Springsteen War 
The Cure Killing an Arab (this song is anti-war, OK?) 

Some of the people about to get royally screwed:
Les Miserable At the end of the day
Cheech & Chong Born in East L.A.
A day without Mexicans
Johnny Cash The man in black 
Everlast What it's like 
Rush Working man 
NWA Boyz in the hood
CWA Only straight girls wear dresses
Rob Dikinson Intelligent People

 Johnny Cash The ballad if Ira Hayes

Never forget, the future is up to all of us.  Songs to get psyched up for a few crazy years: 
Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA 
Green Day American idiot 
Bob Marley Get up stand up 
Social Distortion Don't drag me down 
Queen We will rock you/we are the champions
The Descendents Coolidge
Amanda Palmer Ukulele Anthem
Green Day She
Face to Face You've done nothing 
Rush Tom Sawyer 
Kansas Carry on wayward son 
Boston Peace of mind
Queen Spread your wings
Dick Dale Miserlou 
Emerson Lake and Palmer Fanfare for the common man 


"I looked up one day and saw that it was up to me.  You can only be a victim if you admit defeat." -The Descendents 

 

State of the Economy on January 3rd 2017

OK, we're under three weeks away from Donald Trump being sworn in as the new President of the United States of America.  My most intelligent friends are scared shitless by this.  Many are  wondering if the country can survive four years of this guy without getting into a nuclear war.  Seriously.  Other friends of mine, particularly in this part of the country, can hardly contain their excitement.  I just saw a Facebook post by a college student I know that said, "16 more days!"  A comment joined in, "things are about to change." 

So, I decided to write down a few facts about the economy.  I checked these out yesterday.  On New Year's Day next year (providing humans still populate the Earth then) we will see how things look and compare the two. 

Everyday items:

1 gallon of gas (Kernersville, NC 7/11 on S. Main St, 87 octane)- $2.35
1 gallon whole milk (Food Lion/Kernersville)- $2.79
1 dozen large eggs (Food Lion/kernersville)- $1.29
Box of Twinkies (Food Lion/K-ville)- $3.99
18 oz. box of Life cereal (Food Lion/K-ville)- $3.88

Economic indicators:
Dow Jones Industrial Average (4:15 pm, 1/3/17)- 19,881.70
S&P 500 (same time)- 2,257.83
Nasdaq (same time)- 5,429.08
Gold (Feb futures)- $1,160 per ounce
Silver (March futures)- $16.35 per ounce
Oil (WTI) - $52.52 per barrel
30 year fixed rate mortgage rate (jumbo/wellsfargo.com)- 4.25%

Unemployment rates:
 
U.S. unemployment rate (Nov. 2016/BLS)- 4.6%
North Carolina unemployment rate (Nov. 2016/U.S. BLS)- 5.0%
Winston-Salem, NC unemployment rate (Nov. 2016/U.S. BLS)- 4.5%
Greensboro/Highpoint, NC unemployment rate (Nov. 2016/U. S. BLS)- 4.8%
Rocky Mount, NC (rural area/Nov.2016/U.S. BLS)- 6.8%  

Over 80% of the US Population Did Not Vote For Trump

Fun facts to know and tell at a party...

According to cookpolitical.com the popular vote in the 2016 was:

Hillary Clinton- 65,844,610 votes

Donald Trump- 62,979,636 votes

But the current U.S. population is:  328,131,072   (geoba.sa)

So... only 19.1 % of the total population voted for Trump and a little over 20% voted for Clinton

Which means 80.9% of the total U.S. population DID NOT vote for Donald Trump.  Yes, that includes kids and all.  But still, that's a lot.

A Very Big Idea from a Very Small Place

For us Americans, Avinash Meetoo's accent can be a bit hard to understand.  The word "vehicles" confused me for a minute.  But this is definitely a good TEDx talk to check out.  First, he's one of many people, but not near enough, looking for ways to get people working in this weird time in our society.  Two, his idea of mixing STEM education with arts is great.  Three, this guy is from Mauritius.  Yeah, that's a little tiny island way the hell out in the Indian ocean off the coast of Madagascar.  That's a big island off the eastern coast of Africa.  So here's a guy in a place most Americans don't know exists, giving a TEDx Talk about a huge issue for everyone around the world.  The future of work in a world where technology is replacing millions of jobs on a continual basis.  But hardly anyone here in the U.S. is talking about this issue.   That's why I started this blog.  Finding ways to make a living in the 21st century is a huge issue.  We need to get on this.

Housework is a Waste of Time When You're Starting a Business

How did Jo Rowling, as she was known then, write a book and take care of a baby while living as a single mom "on the dole?"  You can find her answer at 16:30 in the program above. 

"I didn't do housework for four years, I'm not Superwoman.  Living in squalor, that was the answer." - J.K. Rowling


I just finished doing dishes.  But I don't live alone.  I live with my mom right now.  She really likes to cook.  In fact, she often spends hours a day in the kitchen.  Which is fine.  Except that I'm trying to spend as much time as I can on activities necessary to build my little business.  In her mind, I'm just playing around on the computer or "coloring," as she often refers to the artwork I do (and sell).  But since she spends so much time cooking, the kitchen usually looks like the Tasmanian Devil just passed through.  I have to spend a good ten or fifteen minutes moving stuff around just so I can get to actually washing the dishes.  As a lifelong bachelor, I like to dirty as little as possible in the kitchen so I don't waste much time cleaning up.  My mom has a very different take on things.  So I wind up really frustrated when I'm doing dishes, because I'd rather be spending that time building my business. 

I also don't like to vacuum, dust, tidy things up, and all those other things that a person can literally spend hours a day doing.  I have better things to do.  If you aren't a maid, or you don't own a bed and breakfast, then you're not getting paid to clean house.  I love the quote by J.K. Rowling above, because here's a person who's a success by any measure, who shared that attitude while working on her passion. 

Let me be clear.  I'm not saying you have to live in a hoarder house or a cabin in the woods, or never clean at all.  I'm just saying that you can save a lot of time by cleaning house as little as possible.  Yes, I'm a slob, and quite happy with that.  I realize I can live in a dirtier environment than many people.  But if you're are creating your own side gig or small business, cut house work to the necessary minimum to give yourself more time to work on pressing work.  This is one of many ways to create more time in the day for your business/passion/creative project. 

Ways to Get Free Stuff to Sell

Here's a picker video I just found on You Tube, doing a little Curb Scouting for free stuff.  This is just one of the many ways you can get stuff for free (with a vehicle and a bit of gas) that you can resell to make money.

Here's a few of my personal stories of money made off of free stuff:

- I got the bug to buy and sell stuff from my dad.  Both of my parents loved checking out garage sales, and my dad was really into shooting when I was little, so he was always going to gun shows.  I learned how to haggle over prices from watching him.  He was always buying and selling guns and gun parts to make a few extra bucks here and there.  One of my favorites was when he bought a whole case of 10,000 pro-gun bumper stickers off a guy for $30.  The classic "I'll give up my gun when they pry my cold, dead fingers from around it," was one of the six different stickers.  Within a month, my dad had sold enough stickers to pay for the whole case.  At that point, the rest of the stickers were free.  I watched him use those stickers to sell, trade, and to sweeten deals for the NEXT TEN YEARS.  He ended up getting hundreds of dollars of stuff from that case of stickers.

-Working as a furniture mover for years, people were always offering us movers stuff just to get rid of it.  I got a free refrigerator, a washer and dryer, and lots of odds and ends.  I actually turned down most of the stuff offered because I didn't have a place to put it.  My biggest score as a mover was in Newport Beach, California when a guy offered me a custom made leather couch and love seat.  They were awesome, except for being a weird peach color.  "The wife says they just don't match the new house," the owner said, "Can you guys get rid of them."  I said, "We sure can," in a flash.  After checking a few consignment shops, I figured they were worth about $6,000 new.  But I just needed some extra cash, so I sold them in the Recycler (SoCal classified newspaper that pre-dated Craigslist) for $300 in a couple of days.

-In an earlier post I wrote about how I saw an old dining table in two pieces by the dumpster at my storage unit.  I hauled it to my unit, took a few photos, and sold it to an antique shop about four days later for $150.  I don't go to great lengths to find free stuff, these deals just came my way.

If you're looking to find free stuff to start selling, here are some places to start:

-Cruise your city, like the guy above, and look for decent stuff sitting on the curb for free.
-Dumpster diving.  OK, there are a lot of crazy dumpster diving videos on You Tube.  Don't pull medicine or other potentially dangerous stuff from the trash.  Also, it's illegal to dumpster dive in many places, there's no need for you to get busted.  But if you cruise the dumpster areas in apartment complexes, you'll often find pieces of furniture and other items sitting outside that you can grab for free without getting in any trouble.
-Craigslist.  Scan your local Craigslist "Free" section regularly for things you can pick up and resell.  I saw a piano for free here in my area once.
-Facebook groups.  I've never done this one, but I just saw a video about it on You Tube.  Join a bunch of groups and look for free stuff.
-Garage, moving, and estate sales.  Here's another one I just saw on You Tube.  There's a picker who emails all the people advertising garage sales every week in his area, and says he'll haul off anything left over for free.  He owns a for-profit thrift shop, and says he gets two or three calls a week to come pick up a van full of stuff each week.
-Clean out houses for real estate investors.  Another idea I just saw on You Tube.  If you have a truck and can find some help, you can offer to clean all the junk out of houses for investors who are flipping houses in your area.  You can actually get paid to clean out a "hoarder house" and then sell anything that's worth money.  Obviously this is a lot of work, but it's another way to get free stuff.

OK, there's a few ideas to get you going in the picker world for no money.  Have fun.

What does a Trump presidency mean for jobs?

This isn't me talking, this is self-made billionaire, entrepreneur, Dallas Mavericks owner, and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban talking about what effect Donald Trump will have on the economy as a president.  Bottom line, Trump will, without a doubt, say or tweet things that will have huge consequences both on international relations and the stock markets.  If there's one thing we can all agree on with Donald Trump, it's that he doesn't know when to shut up.  Yes, some people like that about him.  But as a president, there's a time to keep your thoughts to yourself.  Actually, that's necessary much of the time for the leader of the free world. 

Now, I know this clip of Mark Cuban was shot a week before the election.  When news first broke of Trump's electoral college win, the Dow futures dropped the equivalent of 800 points.  That was a huge negative reaction to the surprise of him winning.  Yes, since that time, there's been a big rally in the stock markets here in the U.S., with the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaking the 19,000 mark for the first time ever.  So isn't this a good thing? 

If you're a big time investor who owned Goldman Sachs stock three weeks ago, yeah, it's a good thing.  But for the average person, it doesn't make much difference.  In fact, the stock markets have risen COMPLETELY on the hopes of WHAT MIGHT happen in a Trump presidency.  The stock markets routinely over-react to news.  In this particular case, president-elect Trump has yet to take office, he hasn't made a single policy, and no one knows exactly what WILL happen as he takes office.  The stock markets have risen because they're betting on everything good THAT MIGHT happen, and completely ignoring what could possibly go wrong.  Hey, the stock markets really get stupid sometimes.  This is one of those times. 

Like Mark Cuban said in the clip above, Trump can't keep his mouth shut when something makes him happy or pisses him off.  It's a 100% sure thing that Trump will say something that will have major political, social and financial repercussions at some point.  In fact, just by taking a phone call from the head of Taiwan a couple days ago, Trump managed to piss off China, the largest nation by population, and one of the biggest economies, on Earth.  Instead of apologizing for making a rookie mistake as a politician, he doubled down on stupidity and went on a Twitter tirade about China.  Yes, he made some valid points, but he did so in a totally stupid way.  If Trump's comments cause a war, a trade war, or continue to ignore the United States' longstanding foreign policy, we will see a big stock market downturn, companies downsizing because of hostility in countries they do business in, more terrorist attacks, and most likely a serious recession here.  None of those things are good for jobs here.

Yes, I know Trump said he'd bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.  Yes, I saw that he bribed the air conditioning company Carrier $7 million to keep 800 jobs in the U.S.  But they're still sending 1300 jobs to Mexico.  And now EVERY big company will want bribes to keep jobs here.  Trump has never created high paying manufacturing jobs in any large amount.  He doesn't have a background in technology, where most of today's good paying jobs are created. 

So here's how I see it.  There are at least 20 million unemployed and underemployed people in the U.S., although these people don't show up in the unemployment report.  No one has real plans to create jobs for these people, and I'm included in that bunch.  We need to start creating our own jobs if we can't find good paying employment.  While the Trump administration may take actions to help the highest paid people in our society, there is no real plan for average folks.  People talk about the dwindling middle class during elections, but then little action follows.  Here we go again... same ol', smae ol'.