The Biggest Scam of the 21th Century

Off Topic
101

[quote]wigsa wrote:
four60 wrote:
The biggest scam is that we can live without WAR or disease. The sad truth is without them there would be to many people to feed.

BULLSHIT.I am actively involved in the socialist movement in Ireland and believe me,hearing this shit is one of the things that pisses us off more than anything else.It is a FACT that there is enough rice,wheat and corn in the world to give everyone,yes everyone,3,000 calories a day.And that’s before meat,dairy and other products.It’s the wastage and over-consumption of food by the North that causes people to starve to death on a daily basis.

Think about it.How can you make such a ludicrous claim when child and adult obesity levels are at an ALL TIME HIGH in every single developed country on earth??Capitalism and the greed it encourages is the problem,not the amount of people in the world.Get real.
[/quote]

I would rather die struggling to feed myself and my family than be a fucking sheep. If I were in a place where I couldn’t do that, I would move. It goes back to entitlement: Just because you are a human doesn’t mean you have the “right” to taken care of. If you don’t have what it takes to make it, then let your pathetic excuse for genetics be removed from the gene pool so that they don’t contaminate the rest of us! Life has no guarantees. It is up to the individual to make his/her decisions and live with the consequences. In ALL societies there are a FINITE amount of resources. Some more than others, but they are there. If you are smart, you will figure out how to get them. If you are not smart, you will fail and die. If you are lucky or hard working, you may get by with out being smart, but ultimately your circumstances in life are a cumulative result of your decisions and actions!

I pay my taxes and I don’t complain. I am in the highest tax bracket and I got over the fact that the successful are punished for their success a long time ago. I will just earn more. I have no problem with earning more. What I do have a problem with is people that didn’t risk and sacrifice and struggle to get where I’ve gotten to, think that I owe someone something that they didn’t have the balls to go for it themselves.

As humans, we evolved. Those of us that were able to survive did. Those of us that failed to do what was necessary to survive, died. That’s ok. That’s what it is to be human. That’s why all of us are here on this website: we want to consciously evolve and improve ourselves so that we can increase our chances of survival and attracting a quality mate. We at T-Nation (most of us) are the pinnacle of the human species. We like to lift heavy shit - It keeps us in touch with our primal instincts and our very humanity. LIFE IS STRUGGLE. The strong will survive. Socialism feeds the weak. FUCK THAT.

102

No one mention PETA yet?

103

[quote]Testy1 wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
Testy1 wrote:

I don’t believe he was saying don’t go back to school, just don’t go straight from undergrad to grad school.

As far as employment history, if you can’t factor in that thousands of people were losing their jobs during a period when someone wasn’t “chasing the dream”, then you most likely shouldn’t be in charge of hiring.

There is a significant difference between working in a warehouse and getting your MBA in this job market, and just working in a warehouse.

If you don’t understand that, I know why you aren’t in charge of hiring.

Yeah people are losing/lost their jobs. The ones that are putting in effort to be better in the field with laid off are going to look better than those that are sitting back blaming the economy for their situation.

How is this not common sense?

Again, no one is saying that you shouldn’t be trying to better yourself. It’s doubtful that someone that has taken the initiative to get a degree is going to stagnate in a warehouse.

Maybe that is part of why the economy is in the state it’s in, we have beancounters doing the hiring.[/quote]

Your reading comprehension is lacking here. You quoted someone who told OP not to get his MBA saying that he “should post more and others should post less.” When neither of you have any fucking clue what you are talking about, given the current job market.

Why do people who don’t do this for a living suddenly think they know how successful businesses run once they log into the internet?

Oh and I’m sure a designer such as yourself could asses a potential employee better.

104

[quote]Sick Rick wrote:
No one mention PETA yet?[/quote]

How can People for the Eating of Tasty Animals possibly be a scam?

105

Beans, is that avatar your hand? If so, that’s FUCKING SWEET!

106

[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Testy1 wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
Testy1 wrote:

I don’t believe he was saying don’t go back to school, just don’t go straight from undergrad to grad school.

As far as employment history, if you can’t factor in that thousands of people were losing their jobs during a period when someone wasn’t “chasing the dream”, then you most likely shouldn’t be in charge of hiring.

There is a significant difference between working in a warehouse and getting your MBA in this job market, and just working in a warehouse.

If you don’t understand that, I know why you aren’t in charge of hiring.

Yeah people are losing/lost their jobs. The ones that are putting in effort to be better in the field with laid off are going to look better than those that are sitting back blaming the economy for their situation.

How is this not common sense?

Again, no one is saying that you shouldn’t be trying to better yourself. It’s doubtful that someone that has taken the initiative to get a degree is going to stagnate in a warehouse.

Maybe that is part of why the economy is in the state it’s in, we have beancounters doing the hiring.

Your reading comprehension is lacking here. You quoted someone who told OP not to get his MBA saying that he “should post more and others should post less.” When neither of you have any fucking clue what you are talking about, given the current job market.

Why do people who don’t do this for a living suddenly think they know how successful businesses run once they log into the internet?

Oh and I’m sure a designer such as yourself could asses a potential employee better.[/quote]

Who’s reading comprehension is lacking?

This is what he said,

“Getting an MBA just out of college is not the way to go. You will not get nearly as much out of it as you would if you spent five plus years out in the business world. I went back and got my MBA fifteen years after college. There were several fresh college graduates in my program as well. They were smart and eager. They were loaded with conceptual knowledge. What they lacked was experiential knowledge.”

My guess is he has more years experience than you have been out of diapers.

107

In agreement with the OP,to be more specific-college immediately after High School in America was the biggest scam of the 20th century IMHO, I’m hoping we get over it in this one. The whole idea originating in the 50’s that your 18 year old kid has enough ingrained work ethic to go to a place with other 18 year olds and nearly 0 structure and learn enough to move up another social rung and give the illusion of prosperity.

the humanities, writing, philosophy all those 'foo-foo" majors could be learned better in a different setting.
And show me that ultra-capable med/engineering/pre law student that can drink like a fish and party and gobble shrooms or whatever and still ace all his/her exams, and I’ll show you somebody that could be even more successful without the college subculture where you “find yourself” in a series of superficial prescribed rituals.

On a larger scale, to rephrase George Carlin, the biggest scam of human civilization was when we let the traders and the priests take over everything.

This century? so far, the occupation of Iraq.

108

[quote]tom.birnen wrote:
Religion … NOTHING has killed more people/caused so much trouble, pain, etc…[/quote]

I take issue with this statement. Spoken like a true idiot. People did all those things. Not religion. They used their religion as a reason to do it It was manipulators who did all those bad things. If there was no such thing as religion, they would have found some other way to manipulate the masses.

Do not paint good people in a bad light, that is plain wrong. There are millions upon millions of people who do good things and help people in the name of their religion as welll, but you choose to ignore that. You need to develop the ability to look past your own bias. It boils down to human nature.

This brings me to what a lot of other people are saying. There is no biggest scam, there’s billions of tiny scams that are started by a person or group using it to better themselves. Some are more successful than others, but a scam is a scam, it just boils down to how many people believe it and how many don’t. At the end of the day, it’s just like the Angry Chicken guy said, survival of the fittest. If someone can step on your back to get to a better place, you shouldn’t be surprised when they do it (the wise man expects it and prepares for it ahead of time). Stop thinking others will bend over so you can step on their backs, they probably won’t. At best, you’ll get a group that helps each other get up to that special place, but nothing is promised in this world, you have to get it yourself by any means you choose to do it. It’s human nature and it’s been around as long as humans have been around. The only difference is the scale.

109

[quote]Ratchet wrote:
angry chicken wrote:
polo77j wrote:
Biggest scam of the century: Entitlement

Polo, you are a fucking mind reader! And damn you for beating me to it! LOL

ENTITLEMENT

Stop whining about wasting your time getting a degree and now you “cant” get a job.

I don’t have a degree and I’m a commissioned sales person in the mortgage industry. I bring in five fucking figures a month. I also lose five figures a month in deals that fall through, regulation changes, and borrowers that are morons.

For example, just this week, the FBI raided Taylor Bean and shut them down. I have six loans there. I just lost about $50,000 in gross commissions. But that’s ok because I can always earn more!

Last month it was APB that got out of wholesale - Lost about $40,000 there…

And don’t think that I have this shit easy. I work a MINIMUM of 12 hours a day. I bust my ass. Because I want it and I believe in myself. I don’t have an employer holding me back and telling me what I’m worth. I know what I’m worth, and the buck stops here. I sink or swim based on my own merit.

Get into the mortgage industry. People will ALWAYS buy and sell real estate. Just make sure that they are working with you and not someone else! How do we do this? Sales and Marketing! You guys have finance degrees, I don’t - you could blow my socks off if you marketed yourself correctly. You could steal all my clients. But you won’t.

I know that if I want 15 closed loans a month, I have to have about 25 full loan applications, which means I need about 40 appointments, which means I need to make about 200 phone calls/visits to my database and I need to send out about 5000 pieces of direct mail so that I get between a 5% and 8% response rate. In most cases, the leads are weak, but I get ten or so qualified people a month that way. The rest are from Realtor / past client referrals.

Or get into internet marketing! Any asshole can put up a website and sell shit (we are on one!). Figure out a need that people have and sell them a solution to their problem. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE!!! The gov’t and Media do all the work for you by making people feel inadequate in their own skin. They will buy shit to feel good. They may as well buy it from you!

I think I laid this out earlier in another post, but it bears repeating here - Study these five areas:

The English Language, Communication, Sales, Marketing, and Public Speaking.

Quit bitching that the big, bad world isn’t giving you a job. Lift your skirt, grab your balls and go out and create some fucking opportunity for your selves! YOU are responsible for YOUR life!

Best of luck!

This post needs to be stickied as it applies to all facets of life…
[/quote]

Exactly. I handle the sales/marketing for a company and that shit is fun and rewarding. You aren’t expendable, because you are the one bringing in the business. You also get paid based on performance; I wish every job was like that, as they are much more fulfilling.

110

Biggest scam: Shamwow

/thread

111

[quote]erik56 wrote:
Biggest scam: Shamwow

/thread[/quote]

You ever used a shamwow buddy? I’m assuming no, because you’d be saying wow every time you used that towel

112

[quote]dday wrote:
jasmincar wrote:
I don’t get it when someone is saying global warming is a scam. Think about it one second: why would someone want to make you believe in global warming?

Al Gore sure made some bank off making the world believe in global warming. People should know he is the guy who gets the majority of the money on the carbon credit scam. Basically Al Gore is the biggest scam of the 21st century and Obama.[/quote]

Al Gore didnt invent global warming. The first who discoved that CO2 could make the atmosphere temperature go up is Svante Arrhenius in the 1800’s.

If Global warmimg is something invented by Al Gore why then people in Europe and Canada are concerned about this? What about the scientist? You should try to think about it more than two seconds. Thinking that it is a scam makes no sense

113

I don’t expect to be handed anything. I don’t want to be handed anything.

I just want the opportunity to prove that I am valuable. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

Sure, I do believe the entrepreneur spirit should be highly respected. I have the ideas, I just don’t have the resources and technical knowledge to apply them.

114

[quote]SickAbs wrote:
erik56 wrote:
Biggest scam: Shamwow

/thread

You ever used a shamwow buddy? I’m assuming no, because you’d be saying wow every time you used that towel[/quote]

Yeah the sham is the real deal. It’s so strong it will suck out your very soul

115

The ShamWow… it doesn’t do shit.

116

[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Testy1 wrote:
countingbeans wrote:
Testy1 wrote:

I don’t believe he was saying don’t go back to school, just don’t go straight from undergrad to grad school.

As far as employment history, if you can’t factor in that thousands of people were losing their jobs during a period when someone wasn’t “chasing the dream”, then you most likely shouldn’t be in charge of hiring.

There is a significant difference between working in a warehouse and getting your MBA in this job market, and just working in a warehouse.

If you don’t understand that, I know why you aren’t in charge of hiring.

Yeah people are losing/lost their jobs. The ones that are putting in effort to be better in the field with laid off are going to look better than those that are sitting back blaming the economy for their situation.

How is this not common sense?

Again, no one is saying that you shouldn’t be trying to better yourself. It’s doubtful that someone that has taken the initiative to get a degree is going to stagnate in a warehouse.

Maybe that is part of why the economy is in the state it’s in, we have beancounters doing the hiring.

Your reading comprehension is lacking here. You quoted someone who told OP not to get his MBA saying that he “should post more and others should post less.” When neither of you have any fucking clue what you are talking about, given the current job market.

Why do people who don’t do this for a living suddenly think they know how successful businesses run once they log into the internet?

Oh and I’m sure a designer such as yourself could asses a potential employee better.[/quote]

This is why I have posted so little in seven years on this site. Time and again it amazes me how people can take one line, or less, out of a 500 word post and go to war against the poster. Counting beans, you are looking for absolutes where none exist. You are calling me out on specifics for a reply that left room only for generalities.

The man got his degree in finance. As another poster noted, this is a very generalized degree at this time. If he had said he had been accepted into Harvard Business School, I would have congratulated him and sent him on his way. Getting more and more conceptual knowledge in a field that he has yet to find an application or employment in does not really make sense to me. If it does to you, great, my self worth will not be damaged by our lack of agreement.

To the gentleman with the education degree, congratulations. We always need more good qualified teachers. Keep in mind, however, that your situation is apples and oranges from the OP’s. A masters degree or a PHD has more of an immediate impact in your field. It is the exception rather than the rule.

As far as telling the guy to stay working in a warehouse, I do not believe that is what I said nor was it my intention. The point I was trying to make is to be the best that you can possibly be where you are now with what you have to work with in this moment. Many unexpected but successful careers have started in such a manor. Too many people, especially in your generation, seem to operate from the stance of “pay me this” or “give me this job and I will show you what I can do.” Real life does not work this way.

Whether someone goes immediately from college to grad school is their choice and theirs alone. I do not care. I am simply trying to share a perspective that you do not have, because I do have more life experience than you (experiential knowledge).

BTW, it may interest you to know that I am a consultant by trade. And believe it or not, a very large part of my business is locating, interviewing, and selecting appropriate candidates for job positions. Companies pay me well to do this. My personal opinion? I could care less if you have an MBA if it was gotten before any real world relevant work experience. There are exceptions to this, such as teachers, etc. If I have a candidate that has spent the last 2 1/2 years working and learning in the real world up against a candidate that has spent the same time in getting an MBA from your average State Univ., I’m usually going to take the one with real experience.

Beans, you are an accountant, and a new one if memory serves. Just got your CPA. Congratulations. Pursuing advanced classes as you progress would be great. I also think that there is plenty for you to learn to keep you busy for a few years before that is necessary. What if you wake up in three years and realize you will go stark raving mad if you have to do another days work in accounting? Believe me, it happens.

117

[quote]jasmincar wrote:
dday wrote:
jasmincar wrote:
I don’t get it when someone is saying global warming is a scam. Think about it one second: why would someone want to make you believe in global warming?

Al Gore sure made some bank off making the world believe in global warming. People should know he is the guy who gets the majority of the money on the carbon credit scam. Basically Al Gore is the biggest scam of the 21st century and Obama.

Al Gore didnt invent global warming. The first who discoved that CO2 could make the atmosphere temperature go up is Svante Arrhenius in the 1800’s.

If Global warmimg is something invented by Al Gore why then people in Europe and Canada are concerned about this? What about the scientist? You should try to think about it more than two seconds. Thinking that it is a scam makes no sense[/quote]

There are more scientists that believe that the world is going through a natural cycle and we’re still coming out of the ice age than believe it’s global warming.

I never said that Al Gore invented global warming, I specifically quoted your comment about why would someone want to make you believe in global warming, my response was that Al makes a freaking killing on “global warming”, greed is an excellent motivator to make someone believe in something.

118

OP…Whaaa…stop crying.

A degree never is a guarantee of any job. Hard work you go through college with should keep you on the prowl and prepare you for a carrer.

Go out and beat the bushes…it will never fall in your lap.

119

[quote]Anonymous Coward wrote:
Then why are you studying it?[/quote]
Because it interests me? Would you studying gay art if it didn’t interest you?

120

Global Warming
Male enhancement pills
The supplement industry
The wealth envy crowd
The 40 hour work-week

College isn’t a scam, but it is over-hyped, often by people who haven’t gone. I have friends who had to work harder or start with lower positions in a company than I did due to lacking a degree, but due to their hard work they aren’t far behind me and they don’t have stupid loans. It’s also not for everyone, there are plenty of people who would be better off starting their own business, becoming an apprentice under a tradesman, joining the military, etc. instead of going to school. I’ve worked manual labor jobs in between career jobs, but if you have a 4 year degree and can’t find work you would do well to seek out a career counselor.

Obama is not a scam. He promised his constituents free stuff at the expense of the working man, and he is doing his damnedest to produce. His socialist views and his extremist friends where exposed long before he was elected. He is working hard to prove that you can judge a man by the company that he keeps.