After months of speculation, Mitt Romney has finally settled on his Vice President choice, Paul Ryan.  Of course many Republican conservatives are elated with this choice, as Ryan represents everything they like: smaller government, tax breaks for the rich, eliminating social programs, and a "dog-eat-dog" capitalism that leaves many poor, hungry and disenfranchised.

Democrats are equally pleased with the pick as Paul Ryan represents an easy target to rail against.  For Democrats Ryan is the poster child for everything wrong with Republican conservative philosophy. 

Political pundits on both sides of the aisle will spend the next few months sniping at each other and battling it out on Fox, CNN and MSNBC, but honestly we don't care about that.  What we care about here at The Survival Guide is how does a Mitt Romney - Paul Ryan ticket affect me?

The Prison Industry is the most profitable economic sector in the United States.

We reprint this article today from Mutope Duguma, a prisoner in Pelican Bay, to give our readers a chance to understand prison from the perspective of someone in the system.  We also hope that it serves as a cautionary tale for our young people to stay away from crime and to avoid the profit-based prison system at all costs.

(View original SF Bayview article here).

There are many reasons why athletes go broke; some legitimate and some not.  Adam "Pacman" Jones however is the poster child for spending money frivolously and recklessly.   Seemingly having learned from the errors in his ways, Pacman Jones recently addressed the incoming NFL crop at the 2012 Rookie Symposium warning them of some of the pitfalls of wild spending and the NFL lifestyle.

Pacman Jones was a can't miss prospect in 2005 and was drafted with much fanfare by the Tennessee Titans in 2005.  Although he lived up to the hype on the field, his off the field behavior was a constant source of embarrassment and frustration for the team.  Bar fights, wild partying and team suspensions derailed his efforts and ruined what was a potential hall-of fame career.

According to the American Bar Association only 55% found legal jobs requiring passing the bar 9 months after graduation.  Read more about the risk-reward of law school here

The new Nike shoe, the Air Yeezy 2 designed by Kanye West, is one of the most highly anticipated shoe releases in history.  People are literally kicking and screaming to get a pair of the shoes that go for $245 retail. 

Even with all the hype and limited supply one man clearly went off the deep end by paying $90,000 for a pair of the shoes on eBay.

WTF?!?

One in five Americans today cannot read or write well enough to fill out a job or read a bedtime stories to their children.  Adult literacy is one of the basics for survival.  Check out some resources here

150 ponzi schemes were reported in 2009 compared to only 40 in 2008.  These schemes cost investors over $16.5 billion. African American churchgoers lost millions in this ponzi scheme.