Lets talk Garcia

So while checking my Facebook (yeah I still have one of those) on my lunch break I noticed a large amount of traffic on Stephen Garcia. Now I'll admit I too have a love hate relationship with the troubled former South Carolina quarterback, but after the first five games under his helm I can honestly say I am slightly relieved that the quarterback controversy is at least partially solved.
But before I get too far ahead of myself lets look at the good that Garcia did bring to the program. Concluding his collegiate career, Garcia placed himself in the top ranks of Gamecock quarterbacks of all time. He became the third quarterback to gain over 7,500 yards in his career completing over 50% of his passes (yes I can read). He was instrumental in our defeat of Alabama last year and with the Garcia-Lattimore dynamic duo we were able to muster an offense that led the Gamecocks to their first SEC East title and SEC championship berth.
Now the bad. While Garcia threw for 47 (some very breath-taking) touchdowns in his career, he also threw 41 interceptions. That's almost a 1-for-1 ratio on touchdowns to interceptions. His on the field confidence was something that, especially as of late, was not common for a junior quarterback of an SEC team, much less a 5th year senior. The fact that he led the NCAA in the most interceptions this season already was a great testament to that. Then there is the off the field violations...ironically enough, he was in fact given five opportunities to prove himself the caliber quarterback that we needed at Carolina and five times he showed the Gamecock faithful he wasn't.
Looking back I can honestly say I remember shouting at the TV waiting for Spurrier to put Garcia in over Blake Mitchell. I mean really. Garcia was a better talent at that phase than the starting senior, he just needed development. But lets not get too saddened, Steve Spurrier is not a coach that just throws any talent out on the field. As a former college quarterback himself, he has built a reputation for developing young talent and bringing teams to new heights...granted not as fast as most Carolina fans would have liked but still, we have seen an SEC East title in his tenure.Perhaps the sophomore Conner Shaw (who was a highly sought after QB himself lest we forget) is the fresh face we need after being dealt such a harsh break up with Garcia.
Love him or hate him we all now have to face facts, there are two kinds of people remaining in South Carolina right now. The Clemson sea of orange breathing a hesitant sigh of relief looking to this year's Palmetto Bowl, and then there's the rest of us. The Garnet and Black Army, who have bid farewell to one commander in hopes of predecessor, Shaw, leading us to new heights of glory...and an actual SEC title wouldn't be too bad either.

Lets talk double dipping

I find this a light and befitting subject to inaugurate this blog. So lets look at facts. We have all heard the word recession. Matter of factually its been thrown around pretty loosely from one analyst to the next but lets get a central idea on what a recession really is before we get too ahead of ourselves. By definition a recession is nothing more than an observed decline in aggregate (total) gross domestic product (GDP) for two or more consecutive quarters. Some will argue that I need to throw the unemployment rate in there somewhere, but I'll get to why I don't in a minute.
That being said, there is a new prediction being made of the world being on the brink of a double-dip recession and how horrible it will be and so on. Lets take a minute to view the facts on what is going on and how its very arguable that we really haven't full rebounded from the last recession. I'll take a target that I know everyone will love, fast food. Around this time last year Wendy's had a dollar menu...I know because I was an avid glutton of the spicy chicken nuggets (and if I'm feeling a little wealthy I still do on occasion). But in all fairness lets take the view a little broader and add all consumables. If you pay attention to your rising grocery costs you can spot the immediate trend I'm speaking of. Now not to get too lost in the weeds, but the rising cost of food is not singularly related to a recession, there are other factors but they all are causal of a decline in output.
If I were to shift focus for just a minute lets help you understand the coexistence of the markets and how they impact each other. The rising costs of oil raise transportation. Well unless you are autarkic and consume only what you produce, the goods and services have to be sent to wherever it is you obtain them. Those costs are placed upon the manufacturer, who then places the increased expense on the price of their product which causes the vendor to increase their prices to you. All of this is the domino effect of maintaining profit. Yet it does not stop there. How many of you out there practice this on your own...lets say in asking for a raise. The point here is that this is not an uncommon occurrence but at the same time it is indicative of how everyone should easily be able to notice that our economic growth has been significant since 2008.
Now, on to the unemployment before hitting the topic at hand again. The reason I left out unemployment from the definition is because its too vague in my opinion to be correctly utilized. D you know what the difference between and active job seek and a couch potato who doesn't have a job is...only one of them is unemployed by definition. Can you guess which? If you said the couch potato you'd be wrong. The Department of Labor Statistics does not include those who are not actively seeking jobs as unemployed. And there fore I rarely add them into the unemployment rates because available jobs can increase, the minimum wage may raise, but the unemployment rate can remain constant all because the non-job seekers now found it prudent to become job seekers thus throwing off the numbers.
Back onto the article at hand however, Nouriel Roubini (who is credited with being the economist that correctly predicted the 2008 recession) went on record with CNBC as stating the world is headed into a double-dip recession despite Europe's situation. While I definitely respect the opinion of Roubini, we need to look at facts. There has been no significant increase in economic growth. No where is that more evident than in rural America. Experienced non-skilled laborers are losing their long time jobs to new faces that will accept a lower wage to perform more duties. Its simple supply and demand, if I can get more for less which route do you think I will choose?
While Roubini is driving home a valid point that the world economy is in pretty bad shape, I feel he is placing fear into an already frightened population. Since its clearly observable that we have not had significant economic growth in the past few years, to state that we are headed into a new recession in my eyes is pretty reckless. Don't get me wrong, I do agree that signs suggest we are collectively headed into another financial crisis, and yes, the Euro Zone will have a significant impact on just how severe it will be, I do not find that getting the masses in a stir is the best route of seeking a solution or informing the public.
More interestingly, Roubini suggests a TARP, or as we know it in America "bail out", to stabilize the European financial situation. Now I'll admit more research into the spending of firms in Europe is definitely called for before I can make a strong intellectual stance on how beneficial or non-beneficial a TARP would be in Europe, I do know that this blew up in our faces as a nation. Wasteful spending by private organizations was not curbed and three years later we still find ourselves with minimal consumer confidence and even less financial intermediary confidence in the consumer.
Long story short, people might want to arm themselves with the knowledge that we never fully recovered from a recession, that would be like saying you healed a gunshot would with a Hello Kitty band aid, but also know that we are better than we were in 2008...just not by much.

The following link is where you can find a definition to Recession:
http://www.economist.com/economics-a-to-z/r#node-21529883