United States of Distraction

I check a few websites daily to get my news (most are linked to the right – l mean physically on this blog) and one of them (nj.com) is that of the state’s largest newspaper which has by far the least pertinent information for me. Based on my rough estimate of New Jersey-related events and the percentage that the Star-Ledger covers:

• Local government budgets – 0%
• Murders – 1% (unless  a pretty woman is involved in which case it jumps to 50%)
• New Jersey public pension system – 2% (which drops to 0% if you exclude official press releases)
• Bruce Springsteen – 25%
• Mike Francesa’s app: 50%
• “Jersey Shore” – 75% (which jumps to 100% if either Snooki or Mike “The Situation” is involved)

Why the embargo on so much that directly impacts our lives and the obsession with what any thinking individual would deem trivia? This book blames it on corporate ownership (either direct or rented through advertising) of the media. Excerpts follow with my comment at the end*.

Generation of Sociopaths (2): Debt and Deficits

From chapter 9 of the book:

A Generation of Sociopaths (1): The Brief Triumph of Long Retirement

Bruce Gibneys’ first book had a chapter (12) on the various pension crises that I kick off (what may be a series) with:

Nonsense Factory (12): The Rest

From the chapters of least interest (and most skimming) of the book:

Nonsense Factory (11) Remedies: How Many Wrongs Make a Right?

From chapter 12 of the book:

Nonsense Factory (10) Proof: The Evidence for Evidence

From chapter 11 of the book:

Wealth Mismanagement

Always wary of investing in anything more complicated than a CD I thought this book might explain me into feeling comfortable with riskier investments.

It didn’t. The author’s Chip Score method for evaluating a portfolio struck me as slightly less confusing than his brush with generating fake news.

Yet some interesting excerpts, especially in regard to fake government statistics.