Following decades of allegations from the 44-year-old data processor, the vast conglomeration of all matter and energy known as the universe admitted Tuesday that it was directly responsible for every single hardship in the life of Dave Schwartz, and apologized for continually foiling him at every turn. The cosmos admits it could have given Schwartz good organizational skills but deliberately chose not to. 'Dave has good reason to say the universe is conspiring against him, because, well, it is,' said the cosmos, acknowledging that it has thwarted Schwartz's hopes and dreams from the moment of his conception. 'He may sound melodramatic when he goes on and on about the whole world having turned against him, but he's actually not that far off. The forces of time and nature genuinely want him to fail at life, and fail hard.' 'So, yes, his anger and frustration are totally understandable,' the universe added. 'Pointless and futile, but totally understandable.' Sources close to Schwartz have long speculated that his failure to find success in work, love, and life stemmed from his own poor decisions and lack of resolve, but the very source of all causality verified Tuesday that, just as Schwartz has always claimed, the blame for each misstep and unfortunate circumstance rests squarely on the cosmos's shoulders. Schwartz Using the metaphysical concepts of blind chance and cosmic predetermination, as well as other powers beyond human comprehension, the universe claimed to have 'done its best' to increase the earthly burden on Schwartz, carefully engineering everything from his difficulty concentrating for more than five minutes, to his receding hairline, to the time he threw up on the playground after eating a whole bag of candy. 'We've pretty much been riding Dave's ass from day one,' confirmed the eternal concept of fate, which Schwartz has specifically, and accurately, blamed over the years for his inability to find a decent parking spot anywhere, ever. 'Like that time he was dating the perfect woman and we introduced him to Deborah, who lured him away from the love of his life and proceeded to make his next two years a psychosexual nightmare of neediness and betrayal. That was all us.' 'Oh, yeah, and then we rigged it so she dumped him,' added fate, chuckling. 'By the way, Deborah's doing great now. Rich husband, two beautiful kids, house on Martha's Vineyardwe set her up real nice.' According to the universe, it has for more than four decades enjoyed 'torturing' Dave by presenting him with desirable life optionssuch as that big promotion at work, or the fantastic deal on that 1998 Mazda Miataand then placing them just far enough out of his reach that they remain unattainable. In addition, numerous ethereal essences and karmic forces stepped forward this week to come clean about 'really piling it on' during periods of Schwartz's life when he already had enough on his plate and couldn't be expected to take much more cosmic punishment without snapping. 'Back in '02, we purposefully made enough things go right for Dave that he actually managed to convince himself that fate didn't exist and that the universe was a hopeful place full of limitless possibilities, all of which could be his as long as he believed in himself and maintained a positive outlook,' the universe said. 'Two days laterboomwe slam him with an IRS audit and some back pain.' 'Totally threw him for a loop,' added the whole of all existence. 'He literally looked up at us and asked us, 'Why? Why are you doing this to me?'' When questioned Tuesday as to the motive for its actions against Schwartz, the universe told reporters that it had no good answer except to speculate that perhaps its essential nature was simply 'cruel and meaningless or something.' At press time, Dave Schwartz was stuck in a traffic jam with severe indigestion. 