Obama's Unemployment Graph of Shame

Remember back in the day where stimulus was being pitched as, without it, we'd see unemployment grow to nearly 9%?  Well, when plotting exactly what's happened, it is clear that the administration was either far too optimistic, completely clueless, lying, or some combination of the above. 

The graph is brutal, and will be a bludgeon for the Republicans to use throughout the election cycle.  Obama can't distance himself from it as far too much political capital has been spent on it.  You own this, Champ. 

In the mean time, check the last three data points.  Double-dip, or bumps in the road?  If you listen to our fearless leader it is the latter.  Too bad his track record on economic projection to this point has been an abject failure. 

Likewise, in a shockingly underreported analysis by USA Today, the country now has $61.6 trillion in unfunded future financial commitments.  Just to understand how big that is, here is what that number looks like when written out: $61,600,000,000,000.00 

Think about that! 

It comes out to $527,000 for each and every US household.  Here's hoping you have a spare half million lying around. 

The train wreck this administration is wreaking upon our economic survival is staggering.

Brown County Lottery for Packers Tickets - Winner!

In our new town, Packers tickets are nearly impossible to come by.  Season tickets are completely sold out, and are handed down within families like treasured heirlooms.  Single game seats can be had from scalpers, but usually at outrageous prices.  

 Fortunately for us, there is another avenue.   

Back in 2000, the team agreed to make 40,000 single game tickets available for purchase if the residents of Brown County agreed to accept a 0.5% sales tax that was used to fund the Lambeau Field expansion.  The motion passed, the Frozen Tundra was upgraded, the tickets freed up.

The tickets are made available via lottery for every adult in Brown County that chooses to participate, and since we're residents, my wife and I both applied.  Guess who went two for two?  Woot!   

The good news is we both got drawn, and that they're both regular season games (getting stuck with preseason games would really stink).  The bad news is that one is on Christmas, the other is on New Year's Day (hello, Frozen Tundra), and that neither game is against our beloved Vikings.  

I'm in the process of trying to find other lottery winners that got drawn with the Vikes and want to trade, and we'll see how successful I am.  In the mean time, I just hope they decide to play this season and we actually get a chance to use these. 

Surprise: Weiner is a Lying Dirtbag

As was reported here a couple of days ago, Anthony Weiner was indeed lying. I think most objective people are not surprised - if you have just a basic understanding of human nature and social media, you knew the guy was lying from the jump. So when it was announced yesterday that there was a lot more evidence against him, and the new pictures found their way forward, there was little surprise. Littler still when a press conference was hurriedly called so he could "take full responsibly."

Here are some random notes about the conference and surrounding events:

• What does "taking full responsibility for my actions" mean? He's not quitting. Only apologizing. That's full responsibility?  Wow.
• What's up with trembling voice? Dude, you lived the life you wanted. The choices you made were all yours. You chose your lifestyle and were under total control of the decisions you made to propagate it. So why are you crying? That you got caught and can no longer send inappropriate messages to women half your age? Maybe that's the reason. 
• Here's a heads up to everyone that uses the net: everything you do is traceable. Everything. The email you send, the "anonymous" post you make on a blog, every website you visit, your Facebook post, every tweet you make, you name it, it's traceable. And no matter how you try and delete and cover things up, it lasts in the cyberworld forever, and will eventually be found out by someone. There is no such thing as anonymity on the web. Ever. 
• I think he keeps his job. Clinton did much, much worse. Hell, Ted Kennedy killed a woman. 
• He likely won't keep his marriage, but I don't think that matters a whole hell of a lot to him anyway. 
• I'm truly amazed at how many on the left, especially the left bloggers, got played. They so wanted this to be a hit job against their favorite attack dog that they lost every iota of objectivity, and much of their integrity. All of the articles blaming Breitbart for the "hack," explaining how the account was indeed "hacked," and generally pointing the finger everywhere except in Weiner's direction make them look like the partisan punks that they are. And at the end of the day, they got totally played by Weiner. Like a 20-something girl on a Twitter feed, they were merely a tool for him to use. And use them he did. 
• What's up with the shaved chest (and I assume pits as well as everything else)? This look started in the gay community and jumped over to some in the hetero community, but why, I'll never know. Again, it is just all so disturbing, especially for a guy married in his mid-40's. Don't get me wrong, a little bit of man-scaping is fine. But the totally clean shave is just downright creepy. 

This story likely won't be dying as the wife still has not talked in public, and the media machine likely will not rest until she's weighed in. It will serve as a distraction to Democrats coming into the 2012 election. How long it remains so will be completely up to the man responsible for it all.

Monday Morning Blues

Here's Joe Bonamassa to ease us into the work week.

Play on, brother...

Sticking it to "The Man" in Green Bay

Last Thursday I attended a conference at St. Norbert's College here in Green Bay.  At 2:00, I needed to head back to the office, and was greeted by this friendly crowd. 

This was half of the protest, with the other half residing on another corner. 

The union garbage in this state is getting out of hand.  Between efforts to repeal Walker, to destroying the state capitol and wasting precious state funds in midst of a protest, to standing on a non-busy corner at 2:00 on a random Thursday, the union effort appears misguided at best, and wasteful and ignorant at worst. 

Here's a couple of tips to help our union brothers and sisters:

• There's a recession going on, dipstick.  Unemployment is now over 9%, and underemployment at a whopping 17%.  That's just about one in five.  To think you have some special right to not feel the same pain that the private sector has felt since Obama took over (when underemployment was about 7.5%) is ignorant. 
• If you want to protest, how about doing it when you're going to be seen - like at rush hour where people that are actually working and paying taxes are commuting home?  Thursday at 2:00 at a college campus will move the needle for your cause a whopping jack squat.  At 2:00 the state's taxpayers are working, not working on their sun tan, trying to relive/imitate some cool 60's protest. 
• Based on new unemployment numbers, drops in durable goods orders, and continuing deflation of housing, the economy has begun its double dip.  It is going to get worse from here, and unless you're adding value to your employer, you'll find yourself one of the ever increasing company of un/under employed. 

Instead of bitching, you may want to get to work and be thankful you have a job at all.  Lots of your neighbors don't.

MBA Graduation Anniversary

This month marks the 20th anniversary of my graduation from graduate school.  While a milestone, I don't look back at the period fondly. 

Upon my graduation from St. John's, my dad offered some really poor advice in strongly suggesting I attend grad school immediately.  Since it was the late 80's, with 8%+ unemployment and a tough job market, it was easy to listen to his advice.  While my undergrad GPA was not that hot (3.2 - I did not apply myself as much as I should have in school) I scored a very strong 81st percentile in my GMAT, so when I applied to the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, despite not having any true business background, I was accepted. 

Unfortunately, my dad's advice could not have been more wrong. 

I began the day program immediately the fall of my graduation, and lived in a studio apartment on my own in Cedar Square West.  Beyond school, the culture shift of a suburban boy living alone in a tough urban environment was very hard.  So, in my first week there, when a young black kid sped past me on the stairs with terror in his eyes and holding his stomach (which was bleeding profusely from either a gun or knife wound), I was ill equipped to process it.  At all. 

School itself was a nightmare.  Group work was critical for success, and the pack quickly identified who the strong and weak team players were.  As a student straight from undergrad, with no business experience, and with a strong stench of being intimidated, I was quickly relegated to the "B" groups - weaker players and foreign students.  Despite working harder than I ever had in my life, I could not make the necessary progress.  This was exacerbated by being tied to foreign group-mates; their tuitions paid by rich relatives or their governments, coasting and allowing me (and others) carry far more than our share. 

A prime example - for our MIS class, we were to break a very sophisticated case into a detailed decision tree, and then supplement it with a written document of why we did what we did, and the worth of the decision that ultimately came out of the end of our analysis.  Three out of the five in our group did all the work - from breaking down the case to tree development to rough draft of the write up.  One of the two that did nothing volunteered to type up the paper.  Given that he hadn't done anything to that point, we appreciated him at least doing something, and were happy to be "complete" with our project.  In class two days later, the man who offered to type the paper (Sudir - I will never forget his name), didn't show up once class started.   Throughout the two hour class my group members and I traded panicked looks, and at the second break I rushed down to the student union to try and call Sudir and find out what was happening.  I was relieved when he picked up the phone, but that relief quickly turned to terror as he stammered "Uh, we have a problem..."  Despite pleading our case to the professor at the end of class, the prof's decision was immediate and final - no paper, no grade.  Enjoy the "F."  I was forced to drop the class (no refund) rather than absorb the hit to my GPA.  Thus were the risks of being part of a bad group. 

At this point in my life things careened off of the tracks, both at school, at my part-time job, and with my relationships.  I quickly feel into a horrific clinical depression that just about put me in the hospital, and just about cost me my life.  Though my family and a couple of really lucky breaks (or divine intervention as I like to view it) I was able to get the help I needed, and I recovered fairly quickly.  Through the whole process it was clear that the full-time MBA program was not for me, and I needed to go get a job.  If possible, I could finish my education through the evening program. 

And that is exactly what I did. 

I was fortunate to work for a company that paid my tuition, and I took one or two classes every period without fail.  The evening classes were made up of no full-time students; just folks working during the day and trying to further their education at night.  My comfort and confidence in class grew immensely, and I finally held my own in the contentious class discussions that were used not only to prove how good your point was, but how stupid others' were.  I finally belonged. 

However, night school had its own set of difficulties.  I was already working long hours in my job, and my class load afforded no breaks.  For three long years I could never relax and had the constant feeling that I needed to be reading something, working on a paper, or otherwise working.  While it was hell, it was nothing compared to some of my peers that had more demanding jobs and/or kids.  How those folks did it, I'll never know. 

So when I look back on this anniversary, I ask myself: was it worth it?  Good question.  My MBA did help me in my career as it opened positions to me that likely would not have been opened without it.  It greatly shaped how I view business as I'm able to see things far more holistically based on my education.  It also enhanced and extensively honed my innate strategic capabilities.  I'm definitely farther in my career because of it.  But damn, it was a long, hard road.  It was clearly the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. 

So twenty years ago, when I graduated with the first grad school degree ever bestowed on my family (which was quickly followed by my brother and sister), I felt pride, exhaustion, and relief.  All of those emotions have since faded, and what's left is an appreciation of how lucky I was.  Things could have turned out quite differently - academically, career, and otherwise.              

Weiner is Lying. Period.

One look at this video is the only proof needed. 


Innocent folks don't behave this way.  They just don't.

The FBI could solve this "hack" in about 5 minutes.  They won't be involved, though, because making a false accusation of a felony is itself a crime.  So instead he lawyers up and launches his own "investigation."

This guy is a pig - on display for all so see (no pun intended).  Those that are defending him by continuing to parrot the "hack" theory have lost all objectivity.

Disgusting

Memorial Day Pig Roast at Big Rock Resort

My wife and I attended our third consecutive Memorial Day weekend celebration pig roast at our place at Leech Lake’s Big Rock Resort; the finest resort on Leech Lake. 

For almost two decades a group from Michigan comes into the resort to fish, have fun, and roast a pig.  And we’ve been fortunate to have been invited to their party. 

After about 24 hours, with the smell wafting throughout the entire area, the pig was ready to be consumed.  And it was so tender, that Larry, the cook, just broke it apart with his hands. Utensils were never used, until the ham came into play. 

I was fortunate to dine with the best looking girl at the party.  Again.  Not sure how I get so lucky.

 Most of the cabins and trailers came out, with everyone bringing a plate to share. 

Calling it a feast was an understatement.  It has become a great tradition, and one that we’ll hopefully continue to enjoy for many years to come.