Curt Doolittle

Theme: Incentives

  • There are 3 major competing ideas of rationality/irrationality in economic theor

    There are 3 major competing ideas of rationality/irrationality in economic theory. https://t.co/JQ7qklS1Kh

  • There are 3 major competing ideas of rationality/irrationality in economic theory.

    There are 3 major competing ideas of rationality/irrationality in economic theory.

    1. Mostly applied by neo-classical economists which assumes rational actors are at play. That people when they have access to information required to make what is deemed a ‘rational’ choice will pursue their own interests and act accordingly, and of paramount importance to all their fancy math is that they will act predictably, and this view of homo-economicus is absolutely necessary for the type of planning that most mainstream economists like to engage in. It of course also provides an endless justification for their own profession. There is only marginal utility in this view and what it occasionally gets right is just that in some cases, the value judgments of the economists line up with the aggregate effects created by the value judgments of the actors in question making real world decisions.
    2. Mostly applied by behavioral economists, is the observation that people in fact do not always act rationally. That people are full of ‘biases’ and do not act in predictable ways. Although this often still leads to many trying to seek top down control of society to direct people to make decisions that are in their own purported best interests as determined by the behavioral economists who have created a laundry list of hundreds of alleged cognitive defects. The challenge with this theory is that the values of the economists are again externally placed onto the actors in question. And when people choose bad methods to achieve their stated goal they are by default labelled as ‘irrational’, or stated to be seeking the wrong goals due to what they label as ‘cognitive biases’. This is in fact, a fallacy on its own because its predicated on a false axiom that people are either irrational or rational in working towards their goals. What I like about the behavioral economists is that they are of course thinking critically and rightfully of the above view of the classical economists and showing that obviously people do not act in a perfectly predictable manner. Daniel Kahneman would be the most popular person of this general view, a brilliant statistician.

    3. A very uncommon outlook is one that I think is the most consistent view of human behavior in economics to date, and its fairly old. The origin of this line of thought begins with Mises not only a great economist but a very original sociologist and liberal philosopher who produced a lot of material that I very much recommend reading. All conscious human action is purposeful, and since all purposeful, conscious action requires thought before execution all such manner of human behavior is inherently a product of rationality. It cannot be irrational by our very nature. Irrationality is reserved for the unconscious un-thinking reaction to stimuli. But such irrational behavior lasts for moments, it does not make economic decisions for us. Thinking of all human behavior as purposeful and inherently rational simply means that one must adopt a radical subjectivist approach to human values, following the subjective theory of value as developed by Carl Menger. The apparent ‘irrationality’ as described by behaviorists can only be labelled as such by inflicting external values on the actors being observed, and we are unaware of the values of the actors. When someone is choosing methods ill advised for their own stated goals these goals can be independent of time preference and other values which are not available for the observer to see. Not all people are as good at pursuing their goals, not all people are as intelligent or logical as one another, not all people choose efficient methods and this too is a result of values. To state such apparent failings of individuals to achieve their ends as simply ‘irrational’ is a very anti-human view. The idea that 3rd party observers know better than others is to disregard the values of the actors at play and is therefore a fallacy which is inherently conducive to top down planning of the lives of such people who we think, ought to be adopting our own values. All humans are rational, its what makes us human.

    A side note about Menger’s Theory of Subjective Value is that it has never been refuted, and so convincing in fact that Marx even read Menger in his later days and stopped writing because he basically knew he was wrong on his labor theory of value which was borrowed from the classical economists.

  • There are 3 major competing ideas of rationality/irrationality in economic theory.

    There are 3 major competing ideas of rationality/irrationality in economic theory.

    1. Mostly applied by neo-classical economists which assumes rational actors are at play. That people when they have access to information required to make what is deemed a ‘rational’ choice will pursue their own interests and act accordingly, and of paramount importance to all their fancy math is that they will act predictably, and this view of homo-economicus is absolutely necessary for the type of planning that most mainstream economists like to engage in. It of course also provides an endless justification for their own profession. There is only marginal utility in this view and what it occasionally gets right is just that in some cases, the value judgments of the economists line up with the aggregate effects created by the value judgments of the actors in question making real world decisions.
    2. Mostly applied by behavioral economists, is the observation that people in fact do not always act rationally. That people are full of ‘biases’ and do not act in predictable ways. Although this often still leads to many trying to seek top down control of society to direct people to make decisions that are in their own purported best interests as determined by the behavioral economists who have created a laundry list of hundreds of alleged cognitive defects. The challenge with this theory is that the values of the economists are again externally placed onto the actors in question. And when people choose bad methods to achieve their stated goal they are by default labelled as ‘irrational’, or stated to be seeking the wrong goals due to what they label as ‘cognitive biases’. This is in fact, a fallacy on its own because its predicated on a false axiom that people are either irrational or rational in working towards their goals. What I like about the behavioral economists is that they are of course thinking critically and rightfully of the above view of the classical economists and showing that obviously people do not act in a perfectly predictable manner. Daniel Kahneman would be the most popular person of this general view, a brilliant statistician.

    3. A very uncommon outlook is one that I think is the most consistent view of human behavior in economics to date, and its fairly old. The origin of this line of thought begins with Mises not only a great economist but a very original sociologist and liberal philosopher who produced a lot of material that I very much recommend reading. All conscious human action is purposeful, and since all purposeful, conscious action requires thought before execution all such manner of human behavior is inherently a product of rationality. It cannot be irrational by our very nature. Irrationality is reserved for the unconscious un-thinking reaction to stimuli. But such irrational behavior lasts for moments, it does not make economic decisions for us. Thinking of all human behavior as purposeful and inherently rational simply means that one must adopt a radical subjectivist approach to human values, following the subjective theory of value as developed by Carl Menger. The apparent ‘irrationality’ as described by behaviorists can only be labelled as such by inflicting external values on the actors being observed, and we are unaware of the values of the actors. When someone is choosing methods ill advised for their own stated goals these goals can be independent of time preference and other values which are not available for the observer to see. Not all people are as good at pursuing their goals, not all people are as intelligent or logical as one another, not all people choose efficient methods and this too is a result of values. To state such apparent failings of individuals to achieve their ends as simply ‘irrational’ is a very anti-human view. The idea that 3rd party observers know better than others is to disregard the values of the actors at play and is therefore a fallacy which is inherently conducive to top down planning of the lives of such people who we think, ought to be adopting our own values. All humans are rational, its what makes us human.

    A side note about Menger’s Theory of Subjective Value is that it has never been refuted, and so convincing in fact that Marx even read Menger in his later days and stopped writing because he basically knew he was wrong on his labor theory of value which was borrowed from the classical economists.

  • the surest paths to success

    —“One of the surest paths to success is to tell people good things about their bad habits/vices/economic shortcomings/etc…especially when dealing with fast lifestyle/r reproductive model…The success in the West was built on a k model and ruthless truth…unfortunately, due to mass third world migration (r dominated reproduction model) and the weakening of the West over the last 70 (the removal of harsh Darwinian pressures which has led to a version of the utopian mouse experiment plus severe post-war social engineering) the market for the Leftist sales tactic of telling people good things about their bad habits has an exponentially growing market and will be exceedingly successful.”— Rafael Lad

  • the surest paths to success

    —“One of the surest paths to success is to tell people good things about their bad habits/vices/economic shortcomings/etc…especially when dealing with fast lifestyle/r reproductive model…The success in the West was built on a k model and ruthless truth…unfortunately, due to mass third world migration (r dominated reproduction model) and the weakening of the West over the last 70 (the removal of harsh Darwinian pressures which has led to a version of the utopian mouse experiment plus severe post-war social engineering) the market for the Leftist sales tactic of telling people good things about their bad habits has an exponentially growing market and will be exceedingly successful.”— Rafael Lad

  • Male and Female Differences in Mindfulness and Its Affect on Relationships

    Nov 28, 2019, 9:37 AM NET: We are baited into an ideal that s no longer accessible because the incentives are no longer functional. Women are a sex prize on a pedestal, and men are a resource prize. From: 5 Ways Women Are Trained to Hate Men by John Hawkins of RW News and 5 Ways Modern Men Are Trained to Hate Women by David Wong of Cracked There is actually a lot more propaganda aimed at getting women to hate men than vice-versa. 1) Hollywood/Commercials: Ever heard of the Lifetime Network? Every man is a menacing stranger, every husband a wife-beating philanderer, and every date, a potential rape waiting to happen. Then there’s the hapless, incompetent father character who has become such a staple of television shows and commercials that he’s become a stereotype. There are lots of groups that can — and do — complain about how they’re portrayed on TV, but men could kvetch as much as any of them if they so desired. 2) Women’s Magazines/Romance Novels: You might think women’s magazines are all about today’s empowered women who are starting their own businesses, competing with men on their own terms, and working their way to the top in politics. Uh…not quite. In other words, women buy women’s magazines to figure out which sort of men they should pursue and how to please them so they can get married. That’s kind of shallow, but not any moreso than men, who buy men’s magazines primarily to figure out how to impress women. The problem is that women’s magazines, like romance novels, have set the bar so high that there are like 12 guys who meet it. A man is basically looking for a woman he thinks is attractive, who admires him, who’s nice to him, who wants to take care of him, and who likes to cook and have sex. In other words, it’s still probably the same basic formula that cavemen were using. The message women get today, on the other hand, is that they should be looking for a man who looks like a cross between a bodybuilder and a professional model, who should either be filthy rich and/or a viking/pirate/vampire who’s incredibly dangerous and romantic, but can be converted into a house hubby via his emotion-releasing attaction to a woman, so they can live happily ever after, in eternal passion and in complete comfort forevermore. One of the biggest reasons that the age people first get married in this country has gone up considerably over the last few decades is the ideal consistently presented by women’s magazines and romance novels is so far out of line with reality that almost every real man women run across seems like a disappointment in comparison. 3) The court system: The whole “women can do anything a man can do,” “we’re empowered” thing reminds me of a tactic John Stewart likes to use. He makes serious commentary that he wants to affect how people think, but when he gets called on it, he says, “Hey, I’m just a comedian. You can’t take what I say at face value!” In other words, it’s “clown nose on, clown nose off” based on whatever best suits his purposes. We get the same thing with the court system Men and women both have equal responsibility to take care of a child. So, can the father have shared custody after a divorce? No, the kid needs his mother. The woman makes more than the man. Can he have alimony? A man getting alimony? That’s ridiculous! Women are just as tough as men and can do anything they can do in the office! Unless, “Oh my gosh! Someone told a joke about a prostitute and a priest walking into a bar! I’m traumatized! It was almost as bad as the swimsuit calender on the wall! That’s was sexual harassment!” A good looking guy asks a woman out and she goes. An unattractive man asks a woman out and it’s sexual harassment. Clown nose on, women are empowered and strong, clown nose off, women are delicate little flowers who’ll be bruised by being treated the same way men are on a day-to-day basis. 4) Politics: Haven’t you heard about the “war on women?” Women are being asked to pay for their birth control — just like men are! So obviously, they’re being kept down! Haven’t you heard that women don’t make as much as men? Granted, they don’t work as much either or in professions that are as dangerous or unpleasant, but still, it’s men keeping women down! The rhetoric doesn’t need to have anything to do with reality; it just has to be useful to the politicians using it to try to get elected. 5) Liberal feminism: Liberal feminism has as much to do with hating men as it does with empowering women. It tells women that there’s a “patriarchy” out there that doesn’t exist, that men have it better than women, plays up any and all grievances between men and women, tells women they’re victims, and generally does all it can to promote gains for women at the expense of men. Liberal feminism is more of man hater’s philosophy than it is a way to lift up women. Thank goodness that there are so many women out there who don’t pay attention to the conditioning that’s all around them in modern American society. — CURTD – ANALYSIS — “Man is a nesting resource” INSECURITY – HIS ATTENTION IS ELSEWHERE Still talking to his ex Ogling at other women Comparing her to his mother or ex (vs Marrying Up, Divorce, Extract, and Dispose of) INSECURITY – HIS MIND IS ELSEWHERE Obsession with gadgets and machines Turning into fitness freaks (vs Obsession with appearance, nesting, status, and hyperconsumption) UNATTRACTIVENESS – HE DOESN”T FIND ME ATTRACTIVE Inflated male egos in a relationship Zoning out and being a selective listener Being completely unromantic and ignoring expressing love Not putting in the effort to turn on their partners and taking sex for granted (vs inflated female perception of value, talking nonsense to men as if they’re girlfriends, being unattractive, and requiring waaaaay too much work to ‘get some’.) UNINTERESTING – HE DOESN’T SHARE MY INTERESTS Hogging the TV remote Unwilling to compromise with activities and interests (vs omg moronic shallow expensive attention whoring interests) DISRESPECTING – HE DOESN”T RESPECT ME Being disgusted by women’s hygiene issues Making a mess and leaving stuff all over the house Slouching on the couch for the entire weekend Excessive burping and farting –VERSUS– “Woman is a sex resource” Men were raised to conform in order to get an attractive woman (and there aren’t any waist-hip ratios any longer) Men were raised to conform in order to put women on a pedestal. (women are used as bait to civilize us) Women conspire against our sex drive (ok for women to ‘advertise’ despite the fact that we find it exasperating) Men can no longer dominance play or achieve manhood by ‘achievable’ means – women dominate the commons. We Feel Powerless in obtaining sex and attention and so there is no point in being civilized. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE DEMAND FOR MINDFULNESS For women, mindfulness is almost impossible in general, because of ‘worries’ (threats). For Men: “90 Percent of Our Energy and Discipline Is Devoted to Overcoming Sex-Hunger, to Behave Like Civilized Human Beings” —“It’s like that for most men, most of the time. We’re starving, and all women are various types of food. Only instead of food, it’s sex. And we’re trying to conduct our everyday business around the fact that we’re trying to renew our driver’s license with a talking pair of boobs. So, from about age 13 on, around 90 percent of our energy and discipline is devoted to overcoming this, to behave like civilized human beings and not like stray dogs in a meat market. One where instead of eating the meat, they want to hump it. Again, if you want to experience what it’s like, get a testosterone injection.”—

  • Male and Female Differences in Mindfulness and Its Affect on Relationships

    Nov 28, 2019, 9:37 AM NET: We are baited into an ideal that s no longer accessible because the incentives are no longer functional. Women are a sex prize on a pedestal, and men are a resource prize. From: 5 Ways Women Are Trained to Hate Men by John Hawkins of RW News and 5 Ways Modern Men Are Trained to Hate Women by David Wong of Cracked There is actually a lot more propaganda aimed at getting women to hate men than vice-versa. 1) Hollywood/Commercials: Ever heard of the Lifetime Network? Every man is a menacing stranger, every husband a wife-beating philanderer, and every date, a potential rape waiting to happen. Then there’s the hapless, incompetent father character who has become such a staple of television shows and commercials that he’s become a stereotype. There are lots of groups that can — and do — complain about how they’re portrayed on TV, but men could kvetch as much as any of them if they so desired. 2) Women’s Magazines/Romance Novels: You might think women’s magazines are all about today’s empowered women who are starting their own businesses, competing with men on their own terms, and working their way to the top in politics. Uh…not quite. In other words, women buy women’s magazines to figure out which sort of men they should pursue and how to please them so they can get married. That’s kind of shallow, but not any moreso than men, who buy men’s magazines primarily to figure out how to impress women. The problem is that women’s magazines, like romance novels, have set the bar so high that there are like 12 guys who meet it. A man is basically looking for a woman he thinks is attractive, who admires him, who’s nice to him, who wants to take care of him, and who likes to cook and have sex. In other words, it’s still probably the same basic formula that cavemen were using. The message women get today, on the other hand, is that they should be looking for a man who looks like a cross between a bodybuilder and a professional model, who should either be filthy rich and/or a viking/pirate/vampire who’s incredibly dangerous and romantic, but can be converted into a house hubby via his emotion-releasing attaction to a woman, so they can live happily ever after, in eternal passion and in complete comfort forevermore. One of the biggest reasons that the age people first get married in this country has gone up considerably over the last few decades is the ideal consistently presented by women’s magazines and romance novels is so far out of line with reality that almost every real man women run across seems like a disappointment in comparison. 3) The court system: The whole “women can do anything a man can do,” “we’re empowered” thing reminds me of a tactic John Stewart likes to use. He makes serious commentary that he wants to affect how people think, but when he gets called on it, he says, “Hey, I’m just a comedian. You can’t take what I say at face value!” In other words, it’s “clown nose on, clown nose off” based on whatever best suits his purposes. We get the same thing with the court system Men and women both have equal responsibility to take care of a child. So, can the father have shared custody after a divorce? No, the kid needs his mother. The woman makes more than the man. Can he have alimony? A man getting alimony? That’s ridiculous! Women are just as tough as men and can do anything they can do in the office! Unless, “Oh my gosh! Someone told a joke about a prostitute and a priest walking into a bar! I’m traumatized! It was almost as bad as the swimsuit calender on the wall! That’s was sexual harassment!” A good looking guy asks a woman out and she goes. An unattractive man asks a woman out and it’s sexual harassment. Clown nose on, women are empowered and strong, clown nose off, women are delicate little flowers who’ll be bruised by being treated the same way men are on a day-to-day basis. 4) Politics: Haven’t you heard about the “war on women?” Women are being asked to pay for their birth control — just like men are! So obviously, they’re being kept down! Haven’t you heard that women don’t make as much as men? Granted, they don’t work as much either or in professions that are as dangerous or unpleasant, but still, it’s men keeping women down! The rhetoric doesn’t need to have anything to do with reality; it just has to be useful to the politicians using it to try to get elected. 5) Liberal feminism: Liberal feminism has as much to do with hating men as it does with empowering women. It tells women that there’s a “patriarchy” out there that doesn’t exist, that men have it better than women, plays up any and all grievances between men and women, tells women they’re victims, and generally does all it can to promote gains for women at the expense of men. Liberal feminism is more of man hater’s philosophy than it is a way to lift up women. Thank goodness that there are so many women out there who don’t pay attention to the conditioning that’s all around them in modern American society. — CURTD – ANALYSIS — “Man is a nesting resource” INSECURITY – HIS ATTENTION IS ELSEWHERE Still talking to his ex Ogling at other women Comparing her to his mother or ex (vs Marrying Up, Divorce, Extract, and Dispose of) INSECURITY – HIS MIND IS ELSEWHERE Obsession with gadgets and machines Turning into fitness freaks (vs Obsession with appearance, nesting, status, and hyperconsumption) UNATTRACTIVENESS – HE DOESN”T FIND ME ATTRACTIVE Inflated male egos in a relationship Zoning out and being a selective listener Being completely unromantic and ignoring expressing love Not putting in the effort to turn on their partners and taking sex for granted (vs inflated female perception of value, talking nonsense to men as if they’re girlfriends, being unattractive, and requiring waaaaay too much work to ‘get some’.) UNINTERESTING – HE DOESN’T SHARE MY INTERESTS Hogging the TV remote Unwilling to compromise with activities and interests (vs omg moronic shallow expensive attention whoring interests) DISRESPECTING – HE DOESN”T RESPECT ME Being disgusted by women’s hygiene issues Making a mess and leaving stuff all over the house Slouching on the couch for the entire weekend Excessive burping and farting –VERSUS– “Woman is a sex resource” Men were raised to conform in order to get an attractive woman (and there aren’t any waist-hip ratios any longer) Men were raised to conform in order to put women on a pedestal. (women are used as bait to civilize us) Women conspire against our sex drive (ok for women to ‘advertise’ despite the fact that we find it exasperating) Men can no longer dominance play or achieve manhood by ‘achievable’ means – women dominate the commons. We Feel Powerless in obtaining sex and attention and so there is no point in being civilized. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE DEMAND FOR MINDFULNESS For women, mindfulness is almost impossible in general, because of ‘worries’ (threats). For Men: “90 Percent of Our Energy and Discipline Is Devoted to Overcoming Sex-Hunger, to Behave Like Civilized Human Beings” —“It’s like that for most men, most of the time. We’re starving, and all women are various types of food. Only instead of food, it’s sex. And we’re trying to conduct our everyday business around the fact that we’re trying to renew our driver’s license with a talking pair of boobs. So, from about age 13 on, around 90 percent of our energy and discipline is devoted to overcoming this, to behave like civilized human beings and not like stray dogs in a meat market. One where instead of eating the meat, they want to hump it. Again, if you want to experience what it’s like, get a testosterone injection.”—

  • Nov 30, 2019, 1:37 PM ALL OF PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN A FEW LINES: All h

    Nov 30, 2019, 1:37 PM ALL OF PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN A FEW LINES: All human behavior is reducible to one cause: (a)All human behavior serves the acquisition of capital. (b)All emotions reflect changes in the state of capital. (c)Cooperation is disproportionately rewarding for the acquisition of capital. (d)All speech is negotiation serving acquisition of capital (e)Capital is anything we seek to acquire. There are a limited number of dimensions of human differences : (a) Depth of neoteny, Rate of Maturity, Depth of Maturity. (asian shallow fast, european medium slow, semitic deep medium), and african (deep fast) (b) Degree, Direction of (sexual) Dimorphism (c) Degree of Agency (trait intelligence and conscientiousness) (d) Female(herd-consumptive-empathic-psychotic) vs Male(pack-conservative-analytic-autistic), (e) Size of the underclass (deadweight burden). The competitive advantage of any polity consists in (a) A Power-distribution of rule of law of reciprocity(prohibiting rents, forcing markets), (b) A Pareto-distribution of capital(voluntary organization of production), and (c) A Nash-distribution of Returns (distribution of income). (d) The degree of suppression of reproduction of the underclasses (dead weight). There are a limited number of dimensions of group competition: (a) Predation (Mongols, all of islam), (b) Parasitism (gypsies, jews, russia, south america), (c) Production and trade (germanic european), (d) Production and autarky (france, eastern europe, india, china, japan). If any statement in psychology, social science, law, ethics, politics, is incompatible or in conflict with those laws, then it’s false.

  • Nov 30, 2019, 1:37 PM ALL OF PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN A FEW LINES: All h

    Nov 30, 2019, 1:37 PM ALL OF PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN A FEW LINES: All human behavior is reducible to one cause: (a)All human behavior serves the acquisition of capital. (b)All emotions reflect changes in the state of capital. (c)Cooperation is disproportionately rewarding for the acquisition of capital. (d)All speech is negotiation serving acquisition of capital (e)Capital is anything we seek to acquire. There are a limited number of dimensions of human differences : (a) Depth of neoteny, Rate of Maturity, Depth of Maturity. (asian shallow fast, european medium slow, semitic deep medium), and african (deep fast) (b) Degree, Direction of (sexual) Dimorphism (c) Degree of Agency (trait intelligence and conscientiousness) (d) Female(herd-consumptive-empathic-psychotic) vs Male(pack-conservative-analytic-autistic), (e) Size of the underclass (deadweight burden). The competitive advantage of any polity consists in (a) A Power-distribution of rule of law of reciprocity(prohibiting rents, forcing markets), (b) A Pareto-distribution of capital(voluntary organization of production), and (c) A Nash-distribution of Returns (distribution of income). (d) The degree of suppression of reproduction of the underclasses (dead weight). There are a limited number of dimensions of group competition: (a) Predation (Mongols, all of islam), (b) Parasitism (gypsies, jews, russia, south america), (c) Production and trade (germanic european), (d) Production and autarky (france, eastern europe, india, china, japan). If any statement in psychology, social science, law, ethics, politics, is incompatible or in conflict with those laws, then it’s false.

  • Jan 1, 2020, 9:19 AM MEANINGFUL NEW YEAR DATA DEBTIFICATION #3 Global stocks hav

    Jan 1, 2020, 9:19 AM MEANINGFUL NEW YEAR DATA DEBTIFICATION #3 Global stocks have increased in value by more than 25 trillion dollars over the past 10 years. #4 In the United States, 84 percent of all stocks are owned by the wealthiest 10 percent of all Americans. #5 The U.S. government is now more than 23 trillion dollars in debt. #12 Total U.S. household debt is about to cross the 14 trillion dollar mark. FINANCIALIZATION #13 A study that was recently released found that 70 percent of all Americans are struggling financially right now. #14 The average family in the United States cannot afford to buy a home in 71 percent of the country. #15 58 million jobs in the United States pay less than $793 a week. #16 According to the Social Security Administration, 50 percent of all Americans make less than $33,000 a year. #17 63 percent of the jobs that have been created in the United States since 1990 have been low wage jobs. #42 Almost one-third of all U.S. Millennials are still living with their parents. DESOCIALIZATION #27 Over the past decade, the suicide rate among young Americans has risen by 56 percent. #28 The suicide rate for the overall population increased by 41 percent between 1999 and 2016. IDIOCRACY #29 One survey has discovered that 15-year-old students in China are almost four full grade levels ahead of 15-year-old students in the United States in mathematics. #30 A different survey discovered that one-third of all American teenagers haven’t read a single book in the past year. FORNICATION #33 23 percent of all U.S. children live with a single parent. That is the highest rate in the entire world by a wide margin. #34 Today, approximately 40 percent of all babies in America are born to unmarried women. #35 The U.S. fertility rate has fallen 15 percent since 2007 and is now at the lowest level ever recorded. CALIFORNICATED #38 Today, almost half of all homeless people in the entire nation live in the state of California. #39 Over half of all California voters have considered leaving the state. DECIVILIZATION #40 According to an American Bar Association survey, only 38 percent of all Americans know that the U.S. Constitution is the highest law in the land. #41 58 percent of American adults under the age of 35 agree that some version of socialism “would be good for the country”. #43 According to the Pew Research Center, only 65 percent of Americans now consider themselves to be Christians. That is the lowest level ever recorded. #49 A survey that was conducted a couple of months ago found that 67 percent of all Americans believe that we are “on the edge of civil war”. RESTORATION #51 A majority of Propertarians believe they can solve these problems by reorganizing society with their new constitution. See what I did there? 😉

    Source: Michael Snyder from The Economic Collapse Blog