Friday, February 13, 2009

Peak Sarcasm Report

Work Expectations, Realizations, and Depression in Older Workers

We found significant effects on depression at age 62 both for full-time workers who expected not to be working full-time, and for participants not working full-time who expected to be doing so.

Shocking!

These results hold even after adjustment for earlier depressive symptoms, sociodemographic and other relevant controls.

Remarkable!

The findings suggest that working longer and retiring earlier than expected each may compromise psychological well-being.

Unexpected!

The current financial crisis may result in both scenarios as some workers may have to work longer than expected due to the decline in pension and other wealth while others may retire earlier due to job loss.

Surprising!

This is going to change the way we think about depression not only for our generation but for all generations to come.

Based on what I'm reading in the abstract, if employment continues to deteriorate, then perhaps we could someday call this era the Great Depression? That could be a catchy way to link unemployment with how people are actually feeling.


What? You say THAT name was already been taken by a previous generation? I suddenly feel like I've been living in a cave and have been completely unaware of my surroundings. Point me to another study. I want to know more!

Study reveals shocking truth: Most Facebook apps are silly, pointless

A new study from number-crunching firm Flowing Data did some eye-opening work recently, dividing 23,160 Facebook applications into 22 categories. A whopping 9,601 of them fall into Facebook's "just for fun" category, followed by "gaming" and "sports" with over 2,000 each. In other words, the majority of Facebook applications are goofy time-wasters.

This is an unsettling piece of news that I don't think any of us saw coming.


Unbelievable!!!

Blondes Make Men Act More Silly, Study Says

Don't be surprised if you see a man acting dumb, he may be distracted by a blonde beauty. The recent study revealed that men's mental performance became worse after they looked at blonde women.

My entire world is being flipped upside down. I hope you realize that.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stag,

My entire world is being flipped upside down. I hope you realize that.

I know what you mean. It's like discovering that real estate doesn't always go up or that a $35K/year income won't cover a $500K mortgage. Shocking! Completely counter intuitive.

Oh well, at least deficits still don't matter. And of course we can still rely on wall street to manage our investments properly. Nobody in the world is better than wall street at allocating capital (to themselves).

Stagflationary Mark said...

mab,

And of course we can still rely on wall street to manage our investments properly.

We can still rely on the political management of expectations too.

When we were feeling down, we were told, "Mission Accomplished." Hindsight showed that backfired in a major way though. Mission Accomplished became the joke of the century.

Therefore, the new administration is working outside the box. Reverse psychology for the win!

'Doom' talk scored as 'not presidential'
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/09/ramped-up-obama-rhetoric-could-backfire/

Mr. Obama has gone much further than that. Just Friday, Mr. Obama said a report that 600,000 jobs were lost in January meant "it's getting worse, not getting better. ... Although we had a terrible year with respect to jobs last year, the problem is accelerating, not decelerating." Last week he said, "A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."

Mission Problems Getting Worse!
Mission Problems Not Getting Better!
Mission Problems Accelerating!
Mission Problems Not Decelerating!
Mission Problems a Crisis!
Mission Problems Near Catastrophe!


But he isn't the only Democrat ramping up the rhetoric while talking down the economy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said last month that our economy "is dark, darker, darkest."

Mission Problems Dark, Darker, Darkest!

Rep. David R. Obey of Wisconsin said, "This economy is in mortal danger of absolute collapse."

Mission Problems Show Mortal Danger!
Mission Problems Inidicate Absolute Collapse!


And Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said of the economic-stimulus bill, "If we don't pass this thing, it's Armageddon."

Mission Problems Headed for Armageddon!

There's a lot more we can do.

There's borrowing more money so that we can pay thugs to destroy our property. The sooner we get this excess housing inventory under control the better.

There's also raising property taxes. I'm not sure how that's going to help, but mine sure went up in 2009. The government did a fantastic job appraising my house just before the Seattle area home prices began to buckle.

Anonymous said...

Stag,

Here's a Grosse exaggeration: But my area is different.

http://listings.listhub.net/pages/MIREAL/30596849/?channel=yahoo

Grosse Pointe, MI was one of the ritziest zips in the U.S. for a good portion of the 20th century. In the 1990s, I visited a friend in Detroit. He drove me through the Grosse Pointe area and to view the old mansions. They were really something.

Apparently, the circus doesn't stay in town forever.

According to the Census Bureau, we have ~ 130 million dwellings. Currently, 19 million dwellings are vacant. Of the occupied dwellings, > 50% have two or fewer residents.

Oh, but we have to stop house prices from falling. Talk about a (Grosse)ly (Pointe)less exercise in futility!

So many (auto)matically think their area is immune. I just don't see it.

The pundits (including Calculated Risk) look at rates of sales. That seems like a meaningless metric to me given the huge excess supply of unoccupied and under occupied homes.

The number of houses changing hands doesn't change underlying demand imo. Especially now that the myth of rising prices has been debunked. I see years and years of excess supply, regardless of the number of house being passed back and forth.

We're on (auto)-pilot to candy mountain. You can't "bank" on it though.

Anonymous said...

Stag,

What do you think about this slogan for the punzi?:

It's mourning again in America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_in_america

Stagflationary Mark said...

mab,

I like it. I think there's money to be made with that slogan.

The Mourning After Pill

It can't stop trillion dollar deficits but it can stop their unintended consequences from entering your thoughts.

I also have an idea to help people save money. What if we all move in together? Think how low our property taxes would be if we all split the cost?

No need to do it all at once. It can be done in stages.

Stage 1: Children move back in with their parents when they lose their jobs.

Stage 2: Parents move back in with their children when they lose their retirement nest eggs.

Did It mention that the Mourning After Pill would be sold by the case?