Aaron Clarey - Captain Capitalism - Top Shelf

The Best of

Captain Capitalism

Top Shelf

Aaron Clarey

Copyright 2012 Aaron Clarey

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Aaron Clarey.

ISBN:

ISBN-13: 978-1480058873

ISBN-10: 1480058874

DEDICATION

To all the Junior, Deputy, Aspiring, Official or Otherwise Economists,

and to all our Lieutenants, Agents in the Field, and Men in the Field

Thank you for your continued support and readership

Did you buy something on Amazon today yet???

Preface

(Do not skip!)

If you we re like me when I was a kid, chances are you would skip the preface or the foreward when given a reading assignment.

Why?

Because we all know the only reason the author put in a foreward or a preface or other such nonsense in his book was SOLELY to make your homework take longer and ensure you spent a higher percentage of your life studying instead of having fun.

However, because of the scope of this writing project some items about The Best of Captain Capitalism Top Shelf do need to be addressed, necessitating this preface.

First, understand the primary purpose of The Best of Captain Capitalism was to have all my blogging literary works backed up incase open-minded liberals at Google deemed my free speech inappropriate. It was also to have a physical copy of these works in case the economy collapsed so badly or the government became so oppressive access to the original online/digital version of these works would either be deleted, inaccessible , banned or destroyed. It is my hope that people buy this book not so much for my own personal profit or gain, but to hav e thousands of copies of the wisdom, observations, and empirical data that has been accumulated on Captain Capitalism out there for the public to consume no matter what the political or economic environment.

Second, this book is merely the first of a series. With over 3,500 posts its nearly impossible to consolidate it all into one, digestible tome. Therefore it has been categorized into logical pieces. Top Shelf is simply the first of this series containing my absolute best posts that not only need to be backed up, but are good enough to warrant an enjoyable book unto itself. Top Shelf will be followed by Super Awesome Economic Genius and a yet-to-be-titled book on courting and The Manosphere. Additionally, some posts fall into multiple categories and will be included in multiple books in the future resulting in some repeat posts . This is not out of laziness, but thoroughness Ive included them in more than one book.

Third, because blogs are capable of multi-media and books are not , there are some features that will obviously be missing in this book. Notably, links, embedded videos, and any images I may have pilfered from the internet. All of my charts or government-made charts are included, however, there are many instances where the text will be referencing a link or a chart that is simply not there because the chart was proprietary and I deleted it . Additionally, all charts and graphs are in black and white and will obviously cause confusion as to which line is referring what data series in which chart. I apologize in advance but you should be able to look up the post on the internet and see the chart online and in color. The only other option was to charge $55 for this book in thats how much it would cost to have colored charts in this book. I may in the future do a colored version as more of a collectors item, but that is on the back burner.

And finally, I knew it would upset people and loyal readers if I changed and tweaked any of my original writing. I know how important it is to readers and literary scholars that an author complete a work, and then not constantly re-tweak it and re-polish it. So out of respect for these people and the literary profession ALL TYPOS AND GRAMMATICAL ERRORS HAVE BEEN KEPT IN THE BOOK to remain true to the original Cappy Cap works.

Take that you grammar Nazis!

Top Shelf

Vast Prosperity Begat They Mystery

One of the more popular local radio shows in the Twin Cities area is called Garage Logic. And one of the running gigs they have is the Mystery. The Mystery is where you would have people lobbying their city council to ban leaf blowers because of the pollution and noise. Or middle-aged, gray ponytailed Baby Boomers protesting the war on the bridges spanning over the Mississippi. Or overzealous do-gooders passing smoking bans.. At first it seemed to confuse the host so much that I wrote this theory as to explain The Mystery. Then it dawned on me that if The Mystery were solved, the whole "Mystery" gig wouldn't fly anymore. Kind of like preventing Niles and Daphney from ever getting together. However, I think the insights provided in my explanation does explain these peoples behavior and to a larger extent what ultimately drives liberals. Hope you enjoy.
The epitome of the mystery is that there are people out there who act, say, and believe things that are completely illogical. They then give you an incredibly weak or obscure rationale as to why they do, say or believe such things. This can range from a government worker demanding higher pay when theyre already paid 30% more than their private sector counterparts, to a mob of students destroying the downtown Seattle area in protest against globalization, to an environmentalist claiming that cutting your lawn with a weed whacker emits 2 million pounds of greenhouse gases into the environment.
At first glance they are seemingly unrelated. However, there is a common thread they share and this is the solution, the reason why there is the mystery;
They refuse to adhere to reality because they are lazy.
It is quite a link to claim that an environmentalist who insists a sole weed whacker emits 2 million pounds of greenhouse gases does so because he doesnt want to adhere to reality because his is lazy, but let me make several daring and dangerous links.
First off, there is a reality. There is a real world. It is the world we all live in, and whether we accept it or not, we have no choice but to abide by it.
Governing this real world are many laws, but two undeniable laws in particular are related to The Mystery;
One, in order for a society to survive they must produce the goods and services necessary for survival and produce them more efficiently should society wish to improve standards of living.
Two, it is human nature to be lazy i.e. to get more for less.
It is these two undeniable (and diametrically opposed) laws that necessitate an economic system that is based in reality. This economic system must be based in human nature and what they are prone to do, not in human kindness or what we would hope for them to do. It is because of this that capitalism is the most efficient and successful economic system and any attempts otherwise, as evidenced by the former Soviet Union, current day North Korea, former Marxist Ethiopia, Cuba, etc., are bound to fail.
Therefore, capitalism is not debatable, it is reality.
However, capitalism is not infallible and has one great weakness;
It has a tendency to spoil its participants.
Be it a Baby Boomer who had the luxury of growing up during the post WWII economic boom turned 60s radical, leftist, anti-war hippie, or their modern day suburbanite anti-globalization protestor equivalent, both share a common trait;
They largely owe their unrivalled standards of living, employment, and wealth to capitalism, ie-vast prosperity.
Yet at the same time capitalism is so successful that it effectively shields them from the harsh realities of life. And without having to work, strive or suffer for that wealth, these people, especially when growing up, not only take such high standards of living, employment and wealth for granted, but consider them rights and entitlements.