no, it doesn't increase the standard of living, it marginalizes those at the bottom of the food chain.

http://www.lightparty.com/Economic/Curse.html

have you ever talked to someone who feels it is necessary to drink/do drugs constantly? have you ever asked why they do it? it has to do with depression. when you are turned away from work for any reason (maybe the company was downsizing and had to let you go, may you are socially awkward and they decide you aren't good for business morale, maybe you made a mistake, work slow, etc.) that can likely cause you to go into severe depression. my father was let go from his job last year and has only been employed as a contract worker for, at the longest, just over a year, for the past 8 years or so since he was let go by Healthnet while they were downsizing. since losing his job at Healthnet he has become an alcoholic. he "catches a buzz", as you say, because he is depressed. i've actually had long, drawn out conversations with bums. every bum i've spoken to once held a decent job at one point, but something traumatic happened in relation to their work that lost them their job, house, etc., and now they have a fuck all attitude and drink. this is an effect of marginalization, and that is exactly what keeps people out of the workforce. if they were in the workforce, CEOs wouldn't be able to make as much as they do.

and then look at the millions of MySpace musicians, some of whom are just as talented if not more so, that are working their asses off trying to make it but unable to make ends meet. look at my man Mnemonic, who is more successful than the majority of musicians and grinds constantly, but still doesn't own a house, and lives by staying with different friends at their apartments and makes just enough money to get him a bus pass to work and eat every day. then look at the students who did well in school, but on some technicality or other they were unable to gain acceptance to a university, and they are in a position where they won't qualify for financial aid because they have too much money, but they don't have enough money to get into a junior college either.

you are looking at success stories alone and not looking at the whole picture. that is the same reason Hugo Chavez is looked at as some evil dictator while the true story is that, while i do not at all support having a ruler of any kind, he is looked at by the poor people of Venezuela as their hero.

...at the expense of others who were not creative enough, didn't time it right, weren't as lucky, etc. as the person that was successful.

my new theme song



erikboyd60@hotmail.com

"True poetry can communicate before it is understood"

-T.S. Eliot

battle record:

7-0-0

...And those unable to educate themselves, for any reason whatsoever, maybe a minor mental or serious psychological impediment, get left in the dust.

You are truly generalizing. This may be true for many, but not all. Now I can't predict how anarcho-capitalism would effect unemployment, but it is currently over 10% and, in fact, numbers show that with how bad this recession is (the worst since the Great Depression), regulation is actually largely responsible for keeping us away from unemployment numbers rivaling the GD (over 30%). Now, a 10% unemployment rate means millions unemployed. So are you trying to tell me that all of these unemployed people are simply too lazy to get a job and that's why they are losing their homes as well? You see, the problem here, like I_Guy said, is that all you care about are the economic factors. With there being actual human beings involved here, there are psychological factors involved as well, among other things. When society makes people feel like they can't, then they simply can't. Sure, there are strong individuals that overcome, but most people ARE NOT like that. My dad, for example, and many of my friends' parents, resort to things like drinking to solve their depression. It then becomes harder for him to go out and look for a job and he becomes less optimistic causing him to not seem like as good a candidate for a job.

Btw, what did you think of the bailouts?

We rocked a show with Percee P and more fans came out to see him than Perce.

Dude produces for the Living Legends, interned at Capitol Records back in rhe nineties under one of the most well-renowned A&R's in the history of the business, owns his own record company, and dropped his first wax (as a group with LA's Finest) on Fat Beats. Fuck promoters. He has an entire promotion team.

He's an independent artist. Fuck a manager. He's not stupid enough to let a major label screw him. He worked at one for years and knows the inner-workings. He cut out the middleman and, like I said, owns his own label.

Fuck a label. He actually wants to attempt to make money rather than making them money and getting screwed out of it himself.

Percee P did, but I digress. Street promotion is still a huge aspect, but he sells his shit online (MySpace, CDBaby, etc.) And at Fat Beats, plus he keeps himself busy doing shows where he also sells his CDs. Type "Mnemonic Radio" into google and you can see for yourself that he's not just BSing. I don't roll with dudes that aren't serious about their craft.

Dude, he owns Top Nation Records. It's as official as it gets.

I wasn't talking about music either. If you are selling a product there are a lot of factors involved. Have you ever written or even read a business plan? I'm in the process of learning how to write one for RHHF now. It's not exactly something that even the common person can do. And even when someone writes an outstanding business plan, the business has more than a 50% chance of failing because there's a lot to running a successful business and some people just don't have it in them to do it. It's not about mental capacity, but rather about what type of person they are. Someone who gets taken advantage of a lot because he is "too nice" probably won't do well running a business with employees under him/her. Their managerial skills won't be up to par. As for not being "creative enough", that isn't something that someone can just learn. So if they can't be creative they get left in the dust? What if they don't have the charisma to work under someone and so, subsequently, they become "un-hirable" and when they do get hired they quickly get fired because "they are bringing down morale" or they just seem to smug to work with customers (even though they are just shy or introverted. And yes, I know people who have been in this situation)??? If your boss doesn't want to deal with you because you are unsociable, you are gone. That's that.

You're in HS. Wtf do you know? I know people with nearly 4.0's who can't write an essay to save their lives and so they can't get into the USC's and Harvards, so they have to settle for state universities. Do you know how much easier it is to get a job when you can say "I graduated from USC" than "I graduated from SDSU"? Is it their fault that they can't write an essay? The problem is you assume that Aristotle's philosophy of tabula rasa is true. It is true that we are not destined for things like intelligence at birth, but we're far from being a blank slate either. Lucky for me, studying comes easy. I often find myself getting A's on tests I didn't even study for because I'm intelligent. Essays? My first drafts read like the works of William Shakespeare himself compared to the finished drafts of many of my peers, which include some very intelligent people. Other people don't fare so well. Is it their fault that they don't have the same capacity for intelligence/speed in gaining intelligence as I do? Should we penalize them because they are less able/reward me because I am more able?

I have a $2000 per year scholarship for football (half of tuition), full pell grant, full loan, etc. The whole sha-bang. Because of my football scholarship I can't get an out-of-state fee waiver. I tried to apply for the Department of Rehabilitation in Mississippi who, if I qualified, would pay for my schooling, but since I didn't qualify (on some bogus terms) they didn't give me a dime. Even with all of the money I have I still owe $1000. I couldn't buy my textbooks all year either. I need to pay for the rest of last semester's fees before I even register for next semester. I will likely be required to move back home and try to find a school that I can transfer to and see if the CA Dept. of Rehab will take me back. Plus all the schools are currently going through tuition hikes like crazy so that may effect it even more. I know people who have it worse. I guarantee I_Guy can give you a similar story.

my new theme song



erikboyd60@hotmail.com

"True poetry can communicate before it is understood"

-T.S. Eliot

battle record:

7-0-0

Once your realize this, you lose the inclination to blame, and point fingers, and crucify people for mistakes or mishaps that they really had no control over. People are simply a chemical in the dish, reacting as a chemical would given it's physical properties. We don't blame potassium for igniting when it encounters oxygen. It is a chemical reaction. Humans beings are just complex chemicals on a colossal scale, undergoing chemical reactions. Once you see this and see past our illusions, you begin to see that things happen and there's really not much we can do to intervene no matter how much the illusion makes us believe otherswise. Our intervention if at all possible is extremely limited. Once you see this you well realize that people can't just work harder, or be more creative, or be more assertive. It requires the proper stimulants to activate the behavior needed to do better, and if those stimulants don't come along -the behavior won't come along and people won't get any better. The stimulants may be obvious or they may be obscure or subtle, but they all play a physical role in affecting our "mind."

So study some philosophy and psychology (and even science perhaps) J-Breaks.

If you want to make money off of music than you have to reach a large enough market. What's his usual sale figures?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan#Economy

you just don't get it, and probably never will. Walmart practically pays their employees in dirt. the only person that a job at Walmart benefits is a student. don't even get me started on that snake of a company. if they are willing to put in the work to get a higher paying job but their mental capacity is holding them back, and their Walmart salary isn't making ends meet, is it not safe to say that they deserve a chance for a better paying job so that they can?

that's speculation. i agree that it is likely that the GD would have ended earlier if he would have done a few things differently, but it was lasseiz faire economic policy during the Harding and Hoover administrations that led us into the GD in the first place, and we have evidence that shows it would have declined worse if we had continued to stay out of it (to be fair, politicians were getting involved illegally at the time as well though).

yeah. that's the only thing allowing us to pay our rent right now. with all the expenses we have my mom's ~$40 an hour can only pay for the utilities and other expenses while my dad has to wait for his unemployment check every 2 weeks (which ALWAYS comes late btw) just so that we can pay the rent (albeit late. our rent is more than my mom's paycheck and my dad makes about half of what she does on unemployment) using both of my parents' monies combined to do so. my dad has gone on interviews, actively searched for jobs, etc., but no one is able to take him on as an employee and so he continues to be unemployed and it's been almost a year now.

yes, but stressors are the main, possibly sole cause of depression and they exist within the realms of the 6 factors of wellness, of which one is occupational. unemployment is a HUGE contributory factor to depression because it creates insecurity.

fair enough. however, it's absurd to assume that the only corrupt corporations are the ones that are failing.

1. he does, against my guidance, put sort of mainstream-ish tracks on his albums on occasion just to bring in mass appeal.
2. you're on this site and actually condoning that shit? do you actually care about hip hop and art in general? see, here's the problem. once again you are making everything about economics. this is art here. fuck economics. it's about good music and supporting it. if we just support artists like Mnemonic, they can build a career around hip hop.

idk. i don't ask him questions like that. i'll see him today and ask.

yes, and about 10% of the artists can do that while the rest, including many well known artists, get lost in the shuffle. you can't predict or formulate what people will like and respond to or not. Jeru should be much more well known than he ever was imo, but even with label promotion, for some reason, he never got there.

he's sold, i think, like in the vicinity of 1,000 copies of each of his albums, plus he's making another $10,000 or so off shows, merch and people signed to his label and his job at a teen center which pays him peanuts. all in all, about $20,000 or so per year is my estimate.

ask anyone in the industry or who knows about the industry. contracts are deliberately created to screw people so that the label makes all the money and very few artists are smart enough to be able to work the contract in their favor. read up on Jurassic 5, GZA, Del, Immortal Technique, MF DOOM, Q-Tip, etc., and how all of them got screwed many of which got screwed more than once.

but it's not very easy to maintain a business and so not very many people can go about doing it.

yes, but it closes your chances to make good money.

read above. that applies here as well.

my new theme song



erikboyd60@hotmail.com

"True poetry can communicate before it is understood"

-T.S. Eliot

battle record:

7-0-0

not necessarily. i'll respond later though. i need to go.

my new theme song



erikboyd60@hotmail.com

"True poetry can communicate before it is understood"

-T.S. Eliot

battle record:

7-0-0

http://www.unemploymentdepression.com/

best of luck to your father.

What I posted answers all the bullshit responses you give that state that people "should have" "should do" "could do" "can do" "needs to do." If you understand what I posted then you realize that all this bullshit talk is nothing but the foolishly mistaken mentality that the world suffers from, -thinking that people are purely sovereign creatures of the universe in complete control of their destiny, if only they work harder, or get better, or time it better, or whatever the fuck. All of this talk of what people should/could/need/ to do is nonesense, because as I said it is a complex physical process of response and stimulus. If no motivation exists, and no motivation stimuli becomes available, then the motivation will not be found.

And I also believe that people should try to always find ways to improve themselves and nobody is perfect. I don't believe I'm perfect but I always try to be happy with the way I'm living.

If you want to have a debate with me about my views, which obviously you do because you keep on responding to my posts, then do so while maintaining a certain amount of respect. Thank you.

how does that even make sense???? so when a MINIMUM wage is set, people are more likely to pay their workers that wage just because they know that it is ok to pay that low???? is this the logic here? please explain this to me because it doesn't make sense imo.

i'll look this up and possibly reply to this later.

he just can't get a job because of 1. the economy and 2. the fact that while he has a experience, is skilled, etc., he has no degree because he went to the army part way through earning his AA through Chaffey and when he got back he began working as a nurse, then had a change of career goals and became a computer tech. he's highly skilled and experienced, but because he doesn't have that degree, other people who are younger and less experienced get hired over him.

once again, occupational wellness is a big factor. i've studied this in order to become a personal trainer. limiting stressors is one of the most important things involved in wellness and subsequently personal training. stressors are found within the 6 factors of wellness -- mental, physical, social, spiritual, educational, and occupational. we need to limit stressors equally in each. so no, getting a job won't solve it, but it is a huge factor and a first step towards limiting stressors, ridding yourself of depression and leading a wholesome life.

i agree.

wait, what? what majority? you mean the majority of politicians? i don't personally know a single person who condoned the bailouts. everyone i've spoken to is pissed and most blame the political party they are opposed to for the bailouts. this is why i not only am against corporations (aka the hand behind the veil ) but the idea of a government as well.

and this is exactly why music is in the position it is in today. artists make music for the sake of art but make no money off of it and so these types of musicians are dying in numbers or being shoved to the back, while those willing to conform to a bullshit formula to make money are emerging. i don't feel that artful music should become niche. we need a balance on the airwaves. capitalism is all about exploiting a market so that the cheapest product that can be mass produced the easiest becomes the most prevalent. capitalism should be abandoned, at the very least, for things like art.

no, it doesn't. it's just like with stock. studies were done that had some of the leading stock analysts facing off against apes to see who picked stocks that would make them more money and the apes won:

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007....s-again

i spoke to him today. with all of his albums put together (his two solo projects, his duo with Mike Mictlan, and his group project) he's sold over 10,000 and over 5,000 with "Mnemonic Radio" alone. that is actually pretty damn good. the average underground hip hop artist sells far less. even the best indie hip hop artists sell short of 100,000 and we're talking albums like "Madvillainy".

like I_Guy said, that's not an option for a lot of people. it's just like with my family. we are trying to claim bankruptcy but we can't afford to pay the attorney.

see, but that is the problem. why does it need to be either own a business or work for a boss. people shouldn't have to have a boss. in a capitalist society, collectives are rare because their structure is not well-suited for a capitalist society. there is also little incentive for people to start collectives.

what i mean is enough money to maintain a house and be comfortable. my dad doesn't have a degree. he has a very hard time getting a job because of his lack of experience and so he often is unemployed for 2 years before getting another job, but when he is working, he makes upwards of $100,000 a year.

my new theme song



erikboyd60@hotmail.com

"True poetry can communicate before it is understood"

-T.S. Eliot

battle record:

7-0-0