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.