Saturday, February 28, 2015

Kansas Snow Storm Road Trip Linkage

The costs of falling in love - payment one way I assure you.

And the bubble goes "POP!"

Isn't this the same MSM entity that purposely edited the audio to make Zimmerman sound racist?

When leftists try to "do economics."  (note, she's ugly too!)

What, wait?  WHO just did WHAT!!???

DT and the Man will keep me company on my trek back home.  YOu should listen to them too.

Aurini opens business for his philosophy consulting venture "Aurini's Insights"  Consider visiting him if you have a question about philosophy and everything Davis.

A PhD In Gardening

Honest to god.  I thought it was:

1.  A spoof
2.  And if not a spoof, a bogus degree offered at a bogus school.

It's the University of Michigan.

Which I guess is now a bogus school.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Tonight's Bed Stand


Embrace the Suck Part 2

More pictures from this lousy life.  These pictures include scenes from our hike in the Red Rocks state park, a hike down to the Colorado River from the Hoover dam, Cowboy Aurini who is taking well to his new Nevada home, me and the affable Sergeant Rumpie Fluffalo summiting Turtle Peak, and a trip out to the Valley of Fire north of Vegas.









Monday, February 23, 2015

Embracing the Suck Part 1

As many of you know it is my 40th birthday party and I rewarded myself for living this long with a 2 week trip out in the wild west.  The first part was a trek to what (invariably) led to Las Vegas, but entailed exploring the southwest corner of Colorado.  Specifically, visiting Mesa Verde national park and a wonderful hike though "The Canyon of the Ancients" which has similar Ute Indian dwellings from the 1100's.  Just wanted to share some pics and prove to my loyal readers that I am not "goofing off" or "having fun," but am hard at work ensuing that I am as Cappy as I can possibly be.

However, I did want to explain one of the pictures below because it is pretty cool.  It is the cemetery from a true western town that did exist called "Pahreah."  Not only was it a real western town, it was also a movie studio location for various western shows, and a couple of movies.  Not least of which was the final scene in "The Outlaw Josey Wales."  I will simply make the statement that "adventure is out there" and all you have to do is leave your home to discover it.








I Didn't Even Know the Oscars Were On

It's nice to see America is losing its tastes for watching Hollywood masturbate to itself.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Episode #84 National Parks Podcast Edition

In this surprisingly curse-free podcast:

Observations about the US National Park Service
"Retract the broom stick from my ass"
What Cappy would do if he went back to corporate America
The Priest, the Marine, and the Mountaineer Cappy hung out with in Denver
Cappy's just another, normal, guy
A dad gives up his high paying career to raise his daughter

AND MORE!!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Misogynist MGTOW's

This won't be controversial at all (slight language warning):


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Why the Left Will Never Stop

Language warning, but a true observation:

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Road Trip Linkage

A ranger goes to college and runs into...hipsters.

You will never replace the nuclear family or a real life father.  No matter how much money you throw at it.

Your first mistake was to assume non-profit people were there for anybody other than themselves.

Two crappy Minneapolis law schools merge into one big crappy law school.

Dalrock is kind enough to cite me in his post about how HR women view the hiring process like dating.

Outstanding

From our Grunge Girl Agent in the Field.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Episode #82 The Clarey Podcast - Road Trip Edition

I wont lie I recorded this podcast drunk and half of it was not up to my standards after listening to it sober.  Ended up cutting out half of it.  Regardless!

GWAR, KMFDM, Ministry, Revolting Cocks
Emulating people versus being yourself
Naive, idiot Cappy buying flowers for his dates in the 90's
Complete douche moves Cappy did as a youth
Ennio Morricone is still alive and we're all going to Europe
Fuck Switzerland
World's hottest flight attendants? Mexicana Air!

AND MORE!

In this road trip episode of The Clarey Podcast!

I will be road tripping for the next two weeks out west and to the south in celebration of my 40th birthday party.  Posts and podcasts will depend on internet access and free time.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Things Liberal Arts Majors Can't Do

Leave the awesome to the STEM, IT, and geek professionals.



PS - No liberal arts majors were hurt, nor used in the production of this video or any of the awesomeness you just witnessed.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Victor Borge Now Ennio Morricone

I was talking with The Great Matt Baldoni about music.  I often run my amateurish musical tastes past his to ensure that my ears do indeed have a good taste for good music and I'm not accidentally going pop.  So when I confessed an appreciation for the Spaghetti Western's symphonic scores, specifically the works of Ennio Morricone, I was happy to know that not only did he highly approve, but that Mr. Morricone was still performing.

I thought the man was dead.

This upset me because there are still some stubborn greats that have given death the finger.  Victor Borge was one of them, and I was fortunate enough to see him twice before he inevitably passed.  But did you know Don Rickles is still alive?  And so why not see Ennio Morricone?  There are many truly great legends that still live and PERFORM to this day that we either assumed were dead, or our parents lacked the cultural tastes to inform us of their existence in the first place, leaving us to discover them on our own, only to assume they were dead.

Ennio's performances are relegated to Europe now.  And though I generally loathe the continent, I do believe I am going to have to fly out there to see this great musician before he passes.  Besides, he has the hallmark of a great man that very few modern day ones can match.  And to that, I think we should get a rag tag band of Cappy Cappites to wear tuxedos and rendezvous to see this man perform at least once in our lives.


Debbie Turrentine and the Child Outsourcing Industry

Debbie Turrentine is a 35 year day care veteran in the Springfield area.  And she's upset!  And the reason she's upset is because the State of Illinois is likely to cut not give as much money as they did last year to the Child Outsourcing Industry.

But what is the Child Outsourcing Industry you ask?
And why should we care?

Well young lieutenants, aspiring economists, and agents in the field, pour yourself a cocktail and let Uncie Cappy explain.

It all started long ago in the late 60's and early 70's when two variables or trends were taking place.  One was the 2nd wave of feminism that was educating (then) young girls about independence, equality, and (for some of the more extreme elements) how they did not need a man.  Women could do anything men could do.  And not only could they do that, they could "Have It All" (TM) - a career, an education, a retirement, a husband, and children.  Of course even though this was a trebling of the amount of work that would be required to technically have "everything," the number of hours sadly, did not treble.  Which meant an increase in one of these "things" would necessitate a decrease in another.

The second thing was no-fault divorce.  This allowed husbands and wives to divorce without there being any wrong doing by one of the parties.  In other words, you could divorce for any reason.  So frivolous could the reasons be, people often called it "frivorce."  This resulted in a BOOM in divorce for the first generation to be married under it - the baby boomers.  And just as Jackie Robinson made baseball a hallmark of black athletes, the baby boomer generation made divorce an Olympic event.  Divorce rates skyrocketed to where 1 in 2 marriages ended in divorce, and worse, it now seems this "All American Pastime" has passed onto Gen X and Gen Y.

Now these two trends or "variables" at the time were likely well-intentioned.  Why wouldn't you want women to have all the opportunities and successes of men?  Who wouldn't want to have it all?  And why ruin or even inconvenience your life if your marriage is no longer working?  On the face of it, they seem very logical, even libertinely American.  But sadly they were quite myopic.  For there was one insy, winsy, teeny, weeny, nearly borderline microscopic problem.

Children.

For while the people at the time were very much focused on their own lives, they failed to account for what the two aforementioned variables would do to any would-be mistakes children that would have been brought into this psychotic, dysfunctional, narcissistic environment world.

You see, the problem with children is apparently they take not only resources but TIME as well.  And to deal with these inconvenient parasites society, in nearly ALL parts of the world, naturally evolved a familial structure or system based on the division of labor.

ONE parent would work to earn the resources to support the family, while
ONE parent would stay at home and take care of the children.

This system worked for 2 million years, 3 billion if you include preceding evolutionary relatives of humans, and still works for the vast majority of mammals on the planet today.  However, the people of the 60's and 70's were too busy focusing on themselves to have an ounce of foresight, selflessness, or just plain common sense about how this would affect children.  And so the two aforementioned variables delivered a one-two punch to the families, but mainly children, of America.

By the mid to late 70's children were being brought up under broken homes.  By the mid 80's any social shame in being a single parent was expunged.  And today, it's gone so far that the nuclear family is mocked, while women turkey basting themselves are celebrated as "heroic."  Never mind that children from single parents or broken homes do worse and suffer more on pretty much every other variables.  Society was adhering to the two aforementioned variables and that trumped all.

But there was a problem, especially for the women.

Precisely how were they supposed to "have it all" with these damn parasites running around?  Apparently, you can't just leave them to fend for themselves.  They need to be tended to, taken care of, fed, and entertained.  And what if there's no other spouse in the house?  By golly, that just really throws an inconvenient crimp in one's career and social life, doesn't it?

But never fear, the Child Outsourcing Industry is here.

The Child Outsourcing Industry was originally just a loose network of grandparents, friends, families, and loved ones that would occasional watch over your inconvenient parasites should you and your spouse need a night out and a little adult time.  In its undeveloped and unenlightened stage, it operated from the premise the people who brought the parasites into the world would be responsible for said parasites.  However, such naivety and ignorance was quickly abolished as the desire for "women to have it all" and parents to get out of inconvenient marriages trumped the needs of their children.  And thus, over the past two decades the Child Outsourcing Industry went from mere baby sitters and grandparents to a multi-trillion dollar, government subsidized industry, full of professionals, social workers, and babysitters-posing-as-teachers who would take those nasty, disgusting parasites off of your hands, and raise your kids for you while you pursued a career and filed for divorce.

Of course, this industry does not come cheap.

With the job of parenting now outsourced to the state, the full cost and burden of rearing these unwanted parasites falls on the taxpayer.

Baby sitting masquerading as "daycare"
Baby sitting masquerading as "pre-school"
Baby sitting masquerading as "elementary school"
Baby sitting masquerading as "before/after school activities"

And shucks howdy, let's not forget all the other euphemistic ways the Debbie Turrentine's of the world help take care of your parasites

Special ed "teachers"
Social workers
Guidance counselors
Nutrition specialists
Community centers
Summer program coordinators
School lunch coordinators
School breakfast assistant diversity counselors
 
When you ad that up, by gosh that's some serious dough!

But thankfully in a very Keynesian way, this is a BLESSING, not a curse.  For you see, people like Ms. Turrentine with their worthless liberal arts degrees in "Baby Sitting" "Education" or "Early Childhood Development" or "Social Work" would normally not be employed, for their degrees were more "hobbies" and easy ones that avoided math and practicality.  But now they can find ego meaningful employment for their worthless government make work job profession.  And they are only to happy to do so.

There is however, one slight, minor drawback.

In order to finance all of the Child Outsourcing Industry the taxpayers need to shell out around $2.5 trillion annually.  This necessitates that BOTH parents work to pay the extra taxes needed for the Child Outsourcing Industry.  Thankfully, women wanted to have it all, which means instead of suffering at home raising their own children, they are enjoying a rich, rewarding life, hard at work being "equal to men," stuck in traffic, commuting 2 hours a day, working soul-sucking jobs, bucking for that promotion, kissing their boss' ass, and paying that much needed 50% tax rate (of course, don't let the fact the majority of women major in and pursue careers to merely raise the children of other women, and thus are still being mothers, making this whole industry redundant, kick you in the teeth).

So, as you see, Ms. Turrentine is right.  If the taxpayers don't shell out more dough, some people may actually be FORCED to dirty their hands parenting their own parasites.  Parents would have to look away from Narcissus' pool and contemplate such distasteful things like altruism, selflessness, compassion and love for their children parasites.  And since we all know that men and women are entitled to "have it all," have the right to divorce at any time, and are the most important things in this world, it is vital the government step in and make sure something as inconvenient as children does not interrupt their perfection.

Enjoy that decline, people.  Enjoy that freaking decline.

Aaron Clarey is an evil, right-wing, libertarian, racisthomophobesexistCISgenderedwhitemaleophile, who believes in Western-civilization-centric concepts like empiricism, morality, independence, self-supportation, reality and other hate-based concepts.  He is the author of a lot of mean books, a podcast that should be banned, and a YouTube channel where he spreads his hate.  He even charges for his hate with his consulting division "Asshole Consulting."  He lives in his mother's basement and oppresses people different than him.

Hellz Yes - Man from U.N.C.L.E.



If you want to know why this is a great thing, you need to purchase this and then be as cool as me. 

I should warn you though.  Owning such a cool DVD series in an attache case has been known to make women misbehave themselves.

The Race Whore Industry Scared Stupid...Literally

Everybody knew and warned me that in publishing The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty I would face a ton of backlash.  To that I responded,

"Tis Christmas, Theo.  It's the time of miracles."

(Bonus points if you can guess the movie and connect the dots)

However, I didn't think the backlash would start so quickly and so STUPIDLY.  Below, a fake review of my book by a fake account.  I highlighted the date it was posted for a reason.




















That reason being I published The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty at around 6PM February 9th and had sent out NO pre-published copies to anyone.

Either FedEx is super fast and this guy is a very fast reader, or he's just a pimp from the Race Whore industry, not to mention a genuine racist for trying to block a book that would help out a minority group.

It's very simple.  If you want to strike back at this blatant racism and evil, you can buy The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty here or simply tell friends about it.  They are scared and it's not even been out 72 hours yet.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Remember the Aggregators

Sure, the aggregators send us traffic, but how often do you send back the love?

Viva La Manosphere
Delusion Damage
Manosphere 24/7
Libertarian Zebby
Instapundit

And the Pretty Lies Continue

Whatever dipshittery you aging women who blew your chances years ago have to tell yourself.

My favorite is how it's all about inner beauty....

but she still has to wear heels, eyelash extensions, and learn the "beauty pageant walk."

Enjoy the decline, ladies.  Enjoy that decline.

Uh Oh! The Truth About Female and Male Professors!

Brilliant little chart program here where you can type in a trait or word and see (based on major) whether men or women professors in those fields are described as such.  It is based on RateMyProfessor.com and the data is just too funny and telling.

I've tried the follow search terms:

Entertaining
Funny
Pointless
Rambles
Fell Asleep

the best one, however is

hates men/hates women.

Also, do not just look at the sex ratio, also look at the difference between STEM and non-STEM.

Dating Problems of Men in the Bakken

I received this Asshole Consulting request earlier this week and after I thought about it, the video warranted to be a post unto itself.  The reason is not just because of the interesting dating dynamics that result from an environment where men out-populate women 10-1, but the 21 YEAR OLD kid who made the request is every woman's dream come true circa 1950 (makes six figures, owns his own house, got promoted, etc).

However, the tragedy is that it's not 1950.  And what would have been a SUPREME catch back in the day, is eschewed by young women today as they are too busy chasing after their liberal arts majors and the commensurate poor careers that come along with it.  Thus, the next time you hear a woman say, "Where have all the good men gone?" I want you to point them here:


The NPV of a College Degree

Oh no!  Maths!!!!!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Episode #81 The Clarey Podcast

The symphonic scores of Spaghetti Westerns
Cappy's childhood memory of his backyard going on forever
The sad realization adventures have a limit and end
Where humans never set foot in America
Cappy refuses to pay a ticket in Switzerland
Cappy refuses to ever move to Switzerland
"Look it up in the dictionary" vs. "Google it"
Parents who'd rather read Danielle Steel that spend time with their kids
Allowing your dogs to piss in your house
Fan mail

AND MORE

in THIS CURSE-LADEN EPISODE of The Clarey Podcast.

The Extermination of the Individual

Uncie Bern Bern delves into the sick and evil world of communist Russia.

Monday, February 09, 2015

Cowardly, Lazy, and Typical, Communist Greeks

Yep, this is not surprising at all.  The ole "reparations" gambit.

Anything to avoid real work, eh Greeks?

"The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty" NOW AVAILABLE!!!!!

Happy day all!  The Black Man's Guide Out of Poverty is now available on paperback!  Kindle will be following shortly when I get around to it tomorrow after recaulking the seams in my wood burning stove pipe that decided to start belching out smoke earlier this morning.

Stupid Americans Not Playing Keynesian Ball

Given the largest stimulus post WWII, many-a-Keynesians are (secretly) very upset their academic and government economics models are no longer working.

Never mind economics isn't a real study in the first place.
Never mind their flagship economic model (Keynesianism) is based on data only going back to 1947.
Never mind their Lord and Savior (John Maynard Keynes) explained ONE economic phenomenon in his life (the Great Depression)
And never mind every "great" contemporary economist today has failed in their job to get the economy going.

No, we're just going to sit and pout and (scramble) to find/concoct reasons our economic models aren't working and the economy is remaining stagnant despite trillions in stimulus spending.

But while they live-up to the phrase "those who can't do teach or work for the government," real economists are going to try to rationally explain why, despite trillions of dollars in stimulus spending, US economy growth is stagnating. 

Enter - "Animal Spirits."

Animal Spirits is an economic term that is used to describe humans' natural "instinct" of sorts to capitalize on economic opportunities to (primarily) enrich themselves.  And what is perplexing the world's dumbest economists Keynesians now is "Why aren't those gosh darn animal spirits resulting in more growth, investment, and spending!"  We currently have relatively low taxes (if you use government revenues as a percent of GDP) and we also currently have relatively high spending (as a percent of GDP).  And interest rates are at an all time low.  So why aren't those people blowing their life savings on investments, opening up businesses, and buying consumer crap they don't need!?

Well, there's some problems.  While many on the left will point to consumer confidence, the commensurate spending is just not materializing.  THis has resulted in a divergence between confidence and the velocity of money (the rate at which a dollar is received and then respent).





















But if we look at another chart, you start to see something that is really killing those ungrateful, disobedient Animal Spirits - debt.






















(it should be noted the chart only has data going back to 2009, but generally correlates with the velocity figure.  The US FRED database for some reason only goes back to 2009 and I'm too damn lazy to go hunting for the data)

You see, that whole housing crash has had a lengthy effect on people's memories and thus psychologies.  Gen X was obliterated during the housing crash, having whatever equity that may have been built up in their homes destroyed.  And Gen Y is currently saddled with their student loans, not to mention the worst job market (for them) since the Great Depression, prohibiting them from spending money even if they wanted to.

The result?

Throw all the Keynesian stimulus you want at this population, it's been trained to become minimalists, eschew debt, and not play Keynesian ball.

The truth is that effectively two generations' faiths have been destroyed in their futures and the American dream.  And when you take that away from any person, they have no real reason to mobilize as labor, let alone be foolish to start a business.

That sad truth for the charlatans posing as academian and government economists is that when your beloved leader does nothing to boost the economy and spews hatred against investment, success and private property (you didn't build that, not paying your fair share, 14% taxes on overseas profits, Obamacare) it scares away Animal Spirits no matter how much money you piss away on government deficits and no matter how low you set interest rates and no matter how much QE money you print.
You completely failed to instill ANY faith in the future of America, and worse, instead of painting a picture of a future America where success, profits, riches, and wealth are championed, you painted one where such things are criminalized and confiscated.

Your laziness, love for socialism, and envy of others has blinded you from practicality, effectiveness, and reality.  And so you can print off all the money you want.  Promise single mothers all the free housing you want.  And make all the worthless community college degrees free to all 315 million Americans.  None of this Keynesian poppycock will result in genuine confidence among the American people, especially the innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and other non-parasitic classes who are your only hope of growing the economy.  Ergo, you can expect that velocity of money to stay nice and low and perhaps while you're down there try to scrounge around for some other lofty, theoretical reason your grand, master economic theories are failing.

Dear Seattle, This Is Your Future

You socialists are so dumb.

Sunday, February 08, 2015

Sunday Linkage

This is another reason the US dollar has maintained its reserve status.

"Feminist Choir" proves my law that laziness drives all of leftism.

Affirmative action on parade.  I shall not attend.

Why Corporate America is not your friend either.

QOTD - "Envy drives leftism. The beautiful, never claim EQUALITY with ugly people. Intelligent people do not claim equality with dumb people. Equality is only claimed by those who feel inferior."

I would merely add "are inferior."

How Laziness Explains Everything About Politics

Breaking it down for ye'all


Friday, February 06, 2015

" I Like to Travel, Tee Hee!"

"Lousy Western medicine and their lousy culture and all their damn patriarchy!  I'll show them!!!"

You sure did sweetheart.  You sure did.

Thursday, February 05, 2015

Thursday Night Linkage

A hottie redheaded wifey explains how to avoid Valentine's Day.  I wasn't really paying attention to what she said.

"Journalism" was never a real profession to begin with.  I think the baby boomer infested MSM proved that and removed it far far away from being the "4th branch of government."  But hey, you get your Masters in Journalism all you want.  Real people will just start blogs.

Before you become a mechanic.

Your funny ha ha for the day.

What Single Parents Should Say

I made this comment and realized that it is more profound than I originally thought:

I've never seen, "I'm sorry to my children and I humbly thank all the people who are paying extra taxes and sacrificing extra parts of their lives to afford me and my children a better life.  I will dedicate my life to pay you back."

Never.  Never.

Always, "you owe me more" "don't judge me" "you don't know what I've gone through."

Fuck 'em.  Not even their children will visit them in the nursing home.  Their best friend will be a government check.  They wasted their lives.  Let them suffer it.

Cover's Done!

Still waiting on my $14.4 billion from the Democrat party and Amazon to finalize the book.  In the meantime, here's the cover.  The model is also the photographer and he did a hell of a job.


Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Your Taxes 2015

As our prodigal son returns (because, well, he has to because it's his nature), Child Elkins returns with his 2015 Tax Guide

It's tax season folks, and whether you're an individual or a corporation or a self employed contractor, it pays to pay for Elkin's guide. 

You can find it here and make money on this purchase because the price you pay will more than adequately pay for the price you paid in tax savings.

So stop screwing around thinking you know better trying to read all those damn IRS rules and regulations.  Just buy Chad's guide already!

The $10 Billion Blackmailing of the Democrat Party

100% serious.  You can make it more serious by buying copies for your fellow black male friends.


Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Durrr, I'm a Libral Arts Majer!

Facts!  Gotta love me some facts!

Also no surprise the business majors are bottom barrel too.


Monday, February 02, 2015

IBM Baby Boomers Actually Get It

I didn't believe it when I saw it, but there is ONE company and ONE group of baby boomers who know how profitable it can be to get rid of all that damn office space and allow your employees to telecommute;

IBM.

Read to the part where they gained $1.9 billion when they sold their unneeded office space.

What savvy, charming, handsome, and clairvoyant economist, gifted with SAEG(TM) no less, saw this coming years ago?

Hint - it's not Janet Yellen.

Sunday, February 01, 2015

Understanding the Economic Concept of "Wealth"

"Wealth" or being "wealthy" is well understood by most people in society.  We know "wealth" when we see it.  We all know we want to be "wealthy."  But when it comes to having a thorough and fundamental economic understanding of wealth, most people (even economists) fail.  The reasons are many, but most people just don't have the time or intellectual desire to fully think through "wealth."  However, if you take the time to do, not only do you drastically improve your understanding of economics, but you also dramatically increase your chances of being happy.  And that, ultimately, is the point and purpose of economics and life.

The first "stage" or level of understanding of wealth people have is money.  I remember a friend of mine and I in college walking across campus on a blustery fall day.  The wind was blowing and somewhere upwind somebody must have dropped some cash because soon $1 and $5 bills were blowing right across our feet.

For a nanosecond we were stunned because, well..."there's money blowing across our feet."  But soon our innate, human instincts kicked in and we were scrambling to grab as much cash as we can, pushing each  other out of the way in a spirited friendly competition of enrichment.  After grabbing all we could see we were each about $15 "wealthier," but what I remember most about it was the IMMEDIATE and RAPID genetic response we both had to chase and push each other over bits of green colored paper.

The question is why were we so excited about paper?

Obviously it wasn't the paper as much as it was the stuff the paper could buy.  And if we could grab that money it would allow us to buy stuff that would directly help support and enhance our lives.  And this is the second "stage" of people's understanding of wealth.  It's not about the money.  It's about the stuff.

This is a key epiphany to have because what you realize is that economics is not about the "money" a nation prints.  It's about how much stuff it can produce.  This is why, again, Adam Smith wrote "The Wealth of Nations" not the "Money of Nations."

However, what precisely is stuff?  Yes it is goods and services that can be used to help extend, maintain, and enhance your life, but does just having more "stuff" necessarily make you wealthy?

Well, yes and no.

Everybody needs a certain amount of "stuff" to survive.  We all need a certain amount of food.  We all need a certain amount and quality of shelter.  And we all need a certain amount of clothing.  But for the vast majority of mankind's 2 million year existence on this planet just scrounging up this basic level of "stuff" was incredibly challenging.  Again, it was no more than 300 years ago that hunger was the number on thing humans were battling against for survival.  Thus it is very much hard-wired into our brains to scrounge and consume as much stuff as possible for survival (which is why dogs will not stop eating just as humans won't either and we have an obesity problem despite the "food" problem being solved).  Ergo, human's drive to be wealthy is not so much about the stuff itself but to have the peace of mind, sense of security, and psychological benefit that comes with being wealthy.  i.e. - you never have to worry about starvation, survival, shelter, or work again (notice how immediate and happy people are when they win the lottery).

Now, in a literally sense to be wealthy, this would mean you would have to store up all the food you're going to eat, have a house you will live in forever, and have all the other material items and "stuffs" collected at some massive depot.  Then, slowly, but surely, you'd eat through these resources, dying fat and happy. 

But "stuff" doesn't work that way.  Food rots.  Milk spoils.  Even houses deteriorate and collapse without maintenance.  So how does one get wealthy without owning that actual stuff?

Well, welcome to the third stage.  Time.

At first you'd be tempted to say, "well I would just store all my wealth in the form of money to purchase future stuff!"  And this is true.  You could store your wealth in the form of money in a bank account, silver or gold in a vault, or some other form of economic medium that stores your wealth.

But (bar winning the lottery) how did you get so wealthy in the first place?  Where does this "wealth," the ability to buy future stuff (and so much of it you don't have to worry about it anymore) come from?

Well, the answer is time.

Again, barring winning the lottery or inheriting wealth, you have to understand what wealth really is and what its origins truly are. For while wealth is just "a lot of stuff" stuff at its "economic-atomic level" is created with human time.

I've mentioned this before in several of my books because the concept is so important, but everything you see around you ONLY exists in its current form because human time went into it.  The computer you are reading this on right now was sand, metals, and minerals in the ground.  And that sand, metal and minerals would remain there had it not been for humans to dig them up out of the ground, refine them, and then assemble them into this computer.  The walls and sheet rock in the room you are currently in would still be timber and rock somewhere had it not been for humans who cut, hauled, and built the building around you.

In other words, yes, stuff is the true source of wealth, but stuff does not exist unless humans exchange their time turning raw materials into usable, consumable stuffs.

Thus, when we look at this or any other economy, it is no so much various tradesmen and specialists exchanging their wares, products and services as much as it is an exchange of time.  I will give up my time producing a car in exchange for money.  This money will allow me NOT to buy groceries, but rather to pay for the time of the thousands of people involved in producing groceries.

This then puts the onus and origins of wealth in the only place it can be - your time.  Specifically, how valuable is your time relative to other people whose time you are going to exchange yours for.

If you are going to become an "English major" or an "aspiring rap artist" or a "professional activist" let us be very clear what you are saying.  You are saying,

"My time is worthless.  One minute of my time has little to no value because nobody will exchange one minute of their time executing their profession for me executing mine." 

HOwever, if you were to become a doctor, an engineer, a pharmacist, or a tradesman you are saying,

"My time has value.  One minute of my time will command MULTIPLE minutes of other peoples' because my trade, my skill is that much more difficult, specialized, and in demand."

And it is this disparity, this difference, this deficit between how many minutes of other people's time you can command with a mere minute of yours that builds wealth. 

This is why the "Masters in Pansexual Horned Frog 19th Century Literature Studies" makes $9 an hour serving fries to an electrician who makes $50 hour wiring the house of a surgeon who charges $90,000 for 5 hours of open heart surgery.  However, don't think of it in terms of "dollars per hour" think of it in terms of "minutes of a skilled person per minutes of an unskilled person."

If I do the math right, just ONE MINUTE of the surgeon above can command 2,000 minutes of the Pansexual Horned Frog Literature major.  And since it is human time that ultimately makes all stuff, you can see with such an huge ratio how skilled people can accumulate and command such wealth.

This, technically explains to the atomic level what wealth really is and where it comes from.  However, this is only on an economics level.  There is one final stage to truly understand wealth, and this also involves time.

Understand there is a law of diminishing returns to wealth.  That once you get enough of it, you derive less and less benefit from it.  So when Bill Gates made his first billion, no doubt he was very happy.  But what about the next billion?  And the next billion?  And that one after that?  For all practical purposes the "first" billion took care of most of his material needs, desires, and wants.  But as fun and awesome it is to have lots of "stuff," stuff is not the most important or sought after item in the world.

It's other people. Specifically their time.

Yes, you can command people through money and the labor market to give you 4 minutes of their time in exchange for 1 of yours.  But they are working for you and in the end are giving you the finished product of "stuff."  But what humans truly value is the time and company of other people who do not give them a "product" or a thing in the end, but companionship, love, friendship, and intellectual stimulation.  It is (again) why playing video games is fun, but playing against your friends online is even better.  Going to a movie is great, but watching it with friends is better.

In other words the ultimate form of wealth is other people WILLINGLY deciding to spend a percentage of their finite and dwindling lives hanging out with you.  Not in the expectation there will be "stuff" at the end, but simply because they want to.

This then changes the focus of wealth from "skilling up" or "leveling up" so your time is more precious than other people's time in the labor market, to that of being a good and enjoyable person.  A good and enjoyable person that people willingly spend their time on.

Are you honorable?
Are you honest?
Do you speak the truth?
Are you interesting?
Are you funny?
Are you selfless?
Are you altruistic?
Do you have standards?
Do you have ethics?
Are you charming?
Are you entertaining?
Are you interesting?
And are you humble?

In other words, to be truly wealthy you need to command other people's time in two different ways.  One, economically so you can accumulate enough wealth all your material needs are taken care of.  But, two, socially so other humans willingly spend time with you and you have good social, familial and romantic lives. 

This final "stage" or epiphany is arguably the most important economic lesson humans need to learn.  Because once realized not only does it makes people happier, but it has a drastic and amazing effect on your personal finances.  For once you realize that true wealth comes from friends, family, and loved ones, your need to make a ton of money for material wealth disappears, or at least is severely lessened to a minimalist level.  And if all 315 million Americans realized this, imagine what would happen to our finances.

Nobody would be borrowing money to buy a fancy car they can't afford to impress people.
Nobody would be buying designer jeans or bags to impress people they hate.
Nobody would be slaving away to pay for a mortgage on a McMansion next to the Joneses. 

Nearly all consumer and personal debt would be wiped out (or severely lessened), people would adequately save for retirement, and a level of sanity and economic knowledge would pervade the entire population that no doubt would lead to a much more stable, brighter, and happier economic future.

But something tells me more people will tune into Kim Kardashian's derriere than read this article.

Oh well, enjoy the decline!