The History of Money

(Disclaimer:  You might not want to cite this in your bibliography for an economics paper.  So for that reason, just feel free to just steal any or all of this without any credit whatsoever…you’re welcome)

We’ll skip over all the boring stuff from ancient civilizations up to the 1600’s, the main point is that currency in some form or another was developed to represent a given amount of goods or materials, such as grain or wheat, or whatever.  Then man developed coins, each coin was made out of gold or silver and was literally worth its weight in that metal. 

Then, in the 1600’s in Europe, people started saying “Ya know, carting all these heavy ass coins is a real pain in the ass.  And we gotta carry them in these faggy little purses (Europeans in the 1600’s were very insensitive toward homosexuals, sorry).  Why don’t we store all this shit somewhere and get paper certificates for it instead?”  

And so it was.  All the gold and silver went to the banks and the government and the people didn’t care because they didn’t have to lug all that stuff around anymore. 

“Can we come redeem these notes for the gold they represent?” the people asked the government.

 

“Well yeah”, said the government, “but you can also trade them for ale and wine, so why would you?” 

“Ahh…good point…can we buy weed and hookers with them?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Ahh…ok then”

And so the people were happy.  And the governments started amassing stockpiles of gold and silver.  And then the governments had to defend those stockpiles, so they had to pay Soldiers to defend them and buy equipment for the Soldiers to use.  

So…in the 18^th century they just started printing more of these certificates, paper that was not truly backed by gold.  As more currency was injected into the economy, the value of it fell, causing inflation.

“Hey government…what the fudge is going on (18th century people never actually swore.  That practice never caught on until the advent of video games)?  These notes don’t buy near as much ale and weed as they used too”

“Yeah we know.  It’s called inflation.  It’s all Jimmy Carter’s fault.”

“Jimmy Who??”

“Never mind…sorry…gotta run”

By the beginning of the 20^th Century, just about everyone was on the “gold standard”.  But for generations the people spent their whole lives trading currency for their ale, wine, and weed, and really didn’t care what the currency represented.  Governments around the world realized “hey, screw this gold standard mularkey.  Let’s just print as much or as little money as we want, then we can manipulate the economy!”.  

Surprisingly, the US was one of the last to abandon the gold standard, when Nixon took us off of it in 1971.

“Dude, can we still buy our Schlitz and our Night Train and our weed?”

“Not the weed…you know better than that”

“Ahh right on…well we’re gonna do it anyway”

“Yeah Yeah we know”

And of course since the dollar really wasn’t worth anything anymore, inflation skyrocketed in the 1970’s. 

“Dude…it’s that inflation thing again…”

“We told you before…it’s Jimmy Carter’s fault”

“But he’s not even going to be president for a couple more years”

“Doesn’t matter, still his fault”

“But beer and wine is still cool right?  How about online poker?”

“It’s 1975 for crying out loud”

“Oh, all right man….peace”

And so it has gone.  These days we rarely even see those pieces of paper anymore.  They have been mostly converted to numbers stored in computers.  We buy something, swipe a card, and our number in our banks computer goes down a little and the store’s number in their banks computer goes up a little bit.  Seems pretty stable to me.

By the way, the man did let the dude use his money for online poker for a few years, but then in a brilliant move, swept in and shut down all the websites and took all the money.  Doesn’t really matter though, since it’s all imaginary anyway…

American Sniper and heroes

Well I haven’t opened up the Rant Box in quite a while, much to the dismay I am sure to the dozens of people who would accidentally stumble on it while searching for something else on google, but I thought I would today.  My reaction to American Sniper didn’t really quite fit into a Facebook post so this seemed about as good a spot as any.

So here’s the thing, I don’t see what the anti-war, anti-gun, anti-Clint Eastwood anti-everything, left-wing extremist hippies are all upset about.  I walked out of that theater thinking “what the hell were we doing over there in the first place?”  I saw a lot of busted up, broken people, broken lives, broken psyche’s, broken families, and lives lost and/or destroyed.  And for what?  So that now we have a group running around the middle east that’s even worse than the ones we tried to sweep out of there.  The place is a bigger mess than we found it, that’s what we have to show for the sacrifices that Chris Kyle and all of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and their families have made over the last 14 years.  What a goddam waste. 

I want to be crystal clear…I have the utmost respect for all of those I served with during that time.  The same to those who made those ultimate sacrifices.  When I chose to go back into the Army it was because I believed the line of bullshit I was being fed by our government.  I still believe the cause was just, but back then I also believed that going to war over there was the best course of action.  Now, hindsight as clear as it is, I realize that while my intentions were good, as were those of all who volunteered, the goals of the government were NOT peace and prosperity in the Middle East and the safety and security of our citizens and interests.  It was to perpetuate the chaos over there that so many profit from.

We’re all such sheep.  Myself included.  We bicker politically amongst ourselves under the illusion that we are advancing one ideology or another when in fact all of that has already been decided for us.  Our political arguments are brilliantly orchestrated by the Democrats and Republicans to keep us occupied and blissfully unaware that at the end of the day shit’s gonna go the way they want it to.  We’re like 3 year olds whose parents turn on Sponge Bob to keep us occupied and out of the way.  We will keep having wars that cost money and lives because that is how they stay in power.  That’s how their wealthy buddies stay in power.  The politicians and those they work for (which isn’t us) will keep finding new enemies to fight and if they run out they will just create them.

I think those of you who know me know that I am far from a tree-hugging, peace-nik who just blindly hates war and therefore all who are involved in it.  The military has been a big part of my life, I acknowledge the many benefits I have derived from it personally and that our country has benefitted as well.  I believe in a strong military force to defend our nation and protect the lives, property, and freedoms of our citizens.

Well this is getting long and boring as shit but I want to leave off with one point.  The next time we start thinking about intervening in foreign affairs, we need to tally up the costs of doing so before we take action.  How many American lives are we willing to destroy?  How many of our sons and daughters are we willing to watch get maimed and crippled?  How many families should we allow to be torn to shreds, how many great young minds turned to broken, PTSD crippled mush?  How much is it worth, especially if the true agenda is lining the pockets of the wealthy rather than truly defending our nation?

Chris Kyle was an American hero.  So are all of those who served in combat, risked their lives, and made all the sacrifices that were made in hopes of protecting each other and our nation.  You got a problem with the wars, attack the wars.  Attack the politicians that got us into those wars.  But don’t ever attack those who risked everything to protect us.

Back by popular demand (OK, my sister asked if I still did this lol)

Yeah so I decided to revive the Rant Box.  And if you're thinking, "damn, Rick must really have something important to say, on some crucial issue that significantly affects all of us as Americans" then you are absolutely right.  Obviously I'm talking about the Trent Richardson trade.

I'm not a Browns fan, per se, but I follow them and want them to win.  A lot of my friends are Browns fans and I used to be one too, until they were stolen from me in 1995 and then the cheif architect of said larceny became the owner of the new Browns in 1999.  None of that has anything to do with the Richardson trade, though, I'm just giving a little background on my point of view in this whole thing.  I'm not really emotionally invested like hardcore Browns fans are, but I am interested.

So I've gotten into a few facebook arguments over the trade, and many have thoughfully pointed out to me that I am an idiot for saying the trade is a good deal for the Browns.  Of course they are wrong, there are much better arguments for my ignorance than that. 

But here's why I think it's a good deal for Cleveland.  First off, having a great RB really just isn't that important in the NFL.  The Browns should never have drafted Richardson, or any RB, with the 3rd overall pick, and getting a first rounder back for him after he's basically been a bust is a fucking steal.  Not as high as the one they wasted on him, but overpaying for something does not raise it's value.  They recouped as much as they could from the draft blunder of the old regime, and they got back a lot more than they should have.

Second, he's been banged up and when he's played he only averaged 3.5 ypc, which to put it in perspective is fucking awful.  Make whatever excuses you want for his shitty numbers:  the line sucks, the passing game sucks, Trent's ribs suck, LeBron James is an asshole, but in the end it is what it is.  For a third overall pick he's been a bust, and to make sure I'm beating that dead horse into oblivion he's a bust at a position where even if he wasn't a bust it really wouldn't have mattered much.  Again, a first round pick for a bust of a RB.

Third, the Browns are doing something else here.  They are stockpiling picks, and draft picks are how you build a team in the NFL.  The Packers have done it that way, so have the Pats, the Niners, the Ravens, etc.  Ever notice how it seems like every year the Patriots have 112 draft picks?  That's not by accident.  Teams that try to ride a few superstars always fail, ask the Jets, the Eagles, the Redskins before RGIII.  Ask the Broncos (shit, wait, don't ask them, but ask any other team that's tried to do it that way lol).  You build a winner by drafting a shit-ton of quality players and hoping most of them stick.  You don't win by going all-in on a handful of stars or highly touted picks.  That was the Heckert/Holmgren strategy, and that's why you had Weeden and Richardson and basically not shit else trying to win football games. 

And Browns fans, if you're still not convinced that this deal was a steal for the Browns, let's look at what Packers fans think.  On the Pack's blog at SB Nation. 

Yep, 62% of Pack fans (including me) would not have dealt a first rounder for Richardson, even though we need a RB.  The sharp reader will also note that this poll reveals that 38% of Pack fans are fucking idiots, but that's not the point.  The point is, no matter how bad you need a running back, you don't burn a first rounder on one with a 3.5 ypc average and a history of being banged up.  And if somebody offers you a first rounder for a guy like that, you jump on it.

Sequester...It's all your fault...

Well it's been a while since I've launched into a rant...let's fix that...


So now everyone is freaking out about this "sequestor".  And as usual our politicians are trying to tell us how horrible life will be if their agenda isn't followed.  Liberals are telling us how the poor are all going to suffer and die, and the conservatives are telling us that our national security will be shot in the ass.  Democrats are saying that if the wealthy aren't asked to pay a little more that the middle class and poor are fucked.  The Republicans say that if we tax the wealthy more the whole economy will collapse and we're all fucked.  And, as usual, they're all full of shit.  Kinda.

But both sides are dramatizing this for political gain, which is what they wanted in the first place.  What's basically happening now is both parties have allowed the sequester to kick in so they can point their fingers across the aisle and blame the other side for it.  Because of course it's much more important to figure out whose fault things are than it is to actually work to solve the problem, right?  Yeah, that's what I thought too...when I was 10 fucking years old. 

Well, politicians, let me save you some time.  I'll tell you whose fault it is...it's our fault.  It's "We the People", who voted all you assholes in office in the first place.   We've sat back and watched you run this country into the ground for years.  And yet we keep putting you in office.  We keep rehiring you incompetent self serving assholes to run our government.  And the worst part is, we all agree you are assholes.  Take a look at this:

That's congress's approval ratings.  Stays right around 80% disapproval, which only makes me wonder what the fuck the other 20% are thinking, but anyway...  Here are the re-election rates for the House of Representatives since the 1960's:

Umm...wtf exactly is going on?  How this is even possible boggles my mind. 

I am as guilty as anyone.  I haven't voted for a long time, because frankly nobody who ever runs for office really excites me.  And in the past, I've never been a fan of voting "against" someone I don't like, I always felt I should be voting "for" someone I like.  So if I don't see someone I like, I don't vote.  Well, frankly, that shit is going to change, and I'm asking all of you to join me.  Let's fire these assholes, every single goddam one of them.  I don't care if they're Democrat, Republican, Communist, Libertarian or what the fuck they are.  Vote em out.  Clean house (literally) and start over.

First of all, that would send quite a message, don't you think?  Part of the reason these people never do anything is because they know they don't have to.  80-90% get re-elected no matter what kind of job they do, no matter what their approval ratings are.  I'll bet the new batch of senators and representatives will come in knowing that if they don't get the job done, we have no problem at all booting their asses out.

Second (or maybe first), we'll get rid of those responsible for this mess.  All those career politicians will have to go find real jobs.

Yeah, they'll just become lobbyists and be better off anyway, but hey I can't solve every problem dammit...    

King Obama

from obamacartoon.blogspot.com

Well I promised to go find some funny or happy shit to post but I just can't get past this whole Obama drone thing...so it's time to rant.  Given my position as a member of the US Armed Forces, I'm treading into some delicate territory, so I should make a few things clear right now.

This blog represents my personal opinions, and my opinions only.  They do not represent the opinions of the US Army or any branch of the military, nor any members thereof.  Hell they don't represent my wife's opinions half the time, but that's ok. 

I should also point out for the record that I am by no means anti-government.  I am, however, very pro-Constitution and can't sit idly by while it is shit all over upon by our government officials on both sides of the aisle.  We have a Constitution for a reason, and that Constitution also contains provisions to amend it if we find it no longer suits our needs.  What it doesn't provide for is the President or anyone else simply ignoring it or circumventing it every time he finds some provision in it inconvenient.

Basically, Obama has declared that he can order the killing of anyone, including American citizens, wherever he wants to and whenever he wants to.  This is fucking chilling, and I am not exaggerating one bit.  So if Obama decides that you are a terrorist, you can be assassinated without any trial or due process.

Yeah, this is kind of old news, except that now we finally know the Presidents reasoning for proclaiming this right.  A memo leaked to NBC claims that (quoting Judge Napolitano here):  the law reposes into the hands of any unnamed “high-level official,” not necessarily the president, the lawful power to decide when to suspend constitutional protections guaranteed to all persons and kill them without any due process whatsoever.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/02/07/obama-gives-himself-permission-to-kill/#ixzz2KHkdFEBv

Oh but Rick, it's not like he's going to send a drone over to your house for writing this blog post.  You're overreacting.  No, I'm not worried about Obama sending a drone over to kill me, or anyone I know, I'm not even worried about him using this self-proclaimed authority in a haphazard way.  But what I am really worried about is the precedent this sets. 

But hell, this isn't even a precedent.  Bush snubbed his nose at the Constitution also with the so called "Patriot Act".  You know, the one that says the government can spy on your phone calls, emails, what web pages you visit, library records, and all that shit without a warrant.  So the government has no need for warrants anymore, and apparently now it has no need for evidence or due process either.

The Constitution may not be perfect in bringing guilty people to justice.  The fact that people like Ray Lewis and Casey Anthony and OJ are walking free are proof of that.  (Well ok, technically OJ is in jail but not for the murder he committed).  But the Constitution is intended to protect the rights of citizens, and deliberately makes it difficult for the government to convict them and sets specific processes for convictions.  Just because the President finds the Constitution to be a fucking nuisance doesn't give him the right to circumvent it. 

Forgiving Ray Lewis...

Earlier this week I promised to rip Ray Lewis a new asshole on Super Bowl Sunday.  But honestly, I'm just not feeling it.  I really thought I hated they guy.  I thought that because every time I see him worshiped and glorified in the media I want to puke, cry, scream and yell, punch shit.  But I realized that it's not him that makes me so sick and pissed off, it's the media and you Ray Lewis lovers that do.  Does this country really not give one tiny fuck about what this guy did?  Is football so important that even if a guy is involved in a double homicide as long as he's a beast on Sunday on the football field it's all good? 

And make no mistake, he was involved.  That much is fact.  We can sit and argue whether he actually killed anyone or helped kill anyone or at what level he was involved, but he sure as shit was involved.  So let's establish that first and foremost.  Blood in his limo.  A disappearing white suit that he wore that night.  How the fuck do you lose a suit?  I lose shit all the time, ask my wife.  I've spent 10 minutes looking for a cell phone that I was holding in my hand, but I've never once lost an entire suit.  That right there is all I need to know to know Lewis must have had some role.  And it doesn't matter to me what role it was, because to me there's no difference if he actually stabbed those guys himself or if he saw it and didn't say shit about it.

But all that's been hashed through enough.  This rant isn't about proving he's guilty or what he's guilty of.  It's not even about how much I hate the guy, because like I said I thought I did but I don't.  I don't like him, but it's not him I'm mad at either.

He has gone on to live out a life that few of us could even begin to dream about.  He's made millions off of everyone who goes to his games, buys his jerseys and the products he endorses.  He's done all that when his ass should have been in jail and long forgotten.  He's done all that while two people are dead, two families devastated while their loved ones' murders have gone unpunished.  That's what pisses me off.

So when you fawn all over this guy, you spit in the face of those families.  When you talk about what a hero he is, you piss on those people's graves. 

It's one thing to forgive someone.  Even a murderer.  He didn't kill me or anyone I knew, so in a way it would be arrogant of me to even say I forgive him, because he doesn't owe me shit as far as an apology or remorse or restitution.  But what the hell is forgiveness, anyway?

Forgiveness is a weird thing.  Most religions preach it.  Some even require it.  And if you look up the definition of forgiveness it means "to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt".  But what the hell exactly does that mean?  Act like it never happened?  Hell no.  Never hold the offense against the person?  If that's the case then some offenses are not totally forgivable.  Maybe there comes a time when you can say ok, you've paid enough of a price.  But that doesn't mean it's forgotten.  Doesn't mean I can't still hold it against you and say you are not a hero.  You sure as shit aren't a role model.  You damn sure don't deserve the fame and fortune and adoration of millions.  So if I'm in any position to forgive Ray Lewis, then I don't forgive him, and I wont.  But I don't hate him either, at least not anymore.

I hope people will stop and think about all this shit for a minute before they start congratulating him on such a great career today.  Fuck that, it's a career he never should have had.  There should be no tribute, no grand retrospective on Ray Lewis today.  Don't make him a hero.  He's not a hero, he's not someone to look up to, I don't give a shit what he's done in the years since.  Forgiveness doesn't mean justifying the act, and by making Ray Lewis out to be a hero that's exactly what you do.  Go find a real hero, they are all around you.  Go find a fireman or policeman (or woman, I just think that fireperson or policeperson sounds stupid as hell).  But anyway find one of them, who go to work every single day knowing they might not come home that night, because they might have to give their life to save another.  Find better heroes in sports, you know, maybe somebody who has done all the wonderful things Ray Lewis has for people and kids and hasn't been involved in a double-homicide.

OK, I'm done, now go watch the Super Bowl.  Oh and do me one favor...either watch the damn game or leave the people alone who want to watch the game.  Don't shush me so you can hear some stupid ass commercial and then be all loud as fuck talking about the stupid ass commercial while I'm trying to watch the game.  That totally pisses me off.  But if you do, I'll forgive you...

F*&% Compromise...

So I found out that my mom reads this blog.  And apparently she's not a big fan of all the f-bombs in my posts.   So in the spirit of compromise I will attempt to make this an f-bomb free post.  No promises, mom...but I will do my best.

But anyway I opened up Fox News this morning because hockey hadn't started yet, and I see an article where President Obama is bitching that the Republicans wont compromise on gun control.  Apparently he seems to think that Democrats are willing to compromise but Republicans are not, which of course is total bullshit.  Nobody wants to compromise, and that's why nothing ever gets done.

Compromising is un-American.  We don't compromise with our enemies, we bomb the living shit out of them until they succumb to our desires.  We don't even compromise with our allies, we tell them what we're gonna do then we go out and do it.  And if our leaders do try to compromise with allies or enemies they catch a bunch of shit from We the People...because we don't compromise dammit!


We hate compromise because we hate to lose and we hate ties even worse.  It's our competitive nature.  Look at sports.  We used to have ties in sports.  There were all kinds of ties in hockey, the NFL didn't even have overtime until the 70's, and college football didn't until the 80's or 90's.  We used to be fine with ties, but somewhere along the line we said fuc....err...we said the heck with that, we need a winner.  Now ties never happen in college football or the NHL and rarely happen in the NFL.  Baseball commissioner Bud Selig had to apologize once for "a very regrettable situation".  If you're guessing it was about a lockout, or about steroids, or gambling or cheating or some horrible off-field incident you're wrong.  No, he was sorry that the fu....the darned all-star game ended in a tie.  We hate ties because we hate compromise.

The rest of the world isn't like that.  Soccer is the most popular sport in the world outside America, and every single game ends 1-1 and nobody gives a shit.  They're perfectly happy with ties.  Of course maybe that's because if one team wins then the losing team's  fans will burn the stadium down and trample everyone to death, but whatever it is they don't mind ties at all.  They love to compromise, hell the Europeans all even agreed to use the same kind of money.

We used to compromise in politics.  Back before the internet and youtube and pointless blogs like this one, there weren't too many outlets to use to try to sway public opinion in your favor so you could bludgeon your opponent over the head with it.  So we compromised, our leaders actually sat down and discussed issues with each other.  Of course the compromising usually meant we got tax cuts and spending increases and now we have 100 bajillion dollars of debt, but hey, we were all happy.

We hate compromising and now we don't have to.  We can go bitch on the internet instead!  (it's fun, you should try it sometime).

So maybe we can learn a little something from the rest of the world.  Not in sports of course, screw that I hate ties in sports.  But maybe we can set aside our competitiveness a little bit when it comes to politics.  I really think politicians (and us in general) argue so passionately about issues not so much because of how much we believe in them, but because we fffuuuuuu...we really hate to lose.  That fiery competitiveness is what got us to where we are now...an economic and military powerhouse and a complete shit sandwich when it comes to government.