Tag Archives: middle class

The Great Tandem Vanishing Act

23 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on The Great Tandem Vanishing Act

Tags

, , , ,

The middle class is vanishing, by whatever measure one uses.

If you ask the mainstream media, they will tell you that about half the country is still middle class. In fact, a CNBC article that just came out says that “52% of American adults live in ‘middle class’ households”. Of course that is down from 61 percent in 1971, but considering everything we have been through in recent years, that still looks pretty good. But is it the truth? In the end, it all comes down to how you define “the middle class”. If I defined the middle class as anyone that makes from zero dollars to a trillion dollars a year, then 100 percent of Americans would be considered “middle class” by that definition. So we can’t just look at the final number they give us. Instead, we have to dig deeper and find out how they came up with the number in the first place.

The larger the household, the more income it takes to sustain a middle class lifestyle. And according to CNBC, the definition of a “middle class household” is extremely broad at every household size…

Household of one: $26,093 to $78,281
Household of two: $36,902 to $110,706
Household of three: $45,195 to $135,586
Household of four: $52,187 to $156,561
Household of five: $58,347 to $175,041

If you are single person and you are making just $26,000 a year, there is no way that you should be considered part of “the middle class”.

Ken Fisher would assure this is nothing but an accounting entry anomaly. Just part of our history – which is also vanishing.

If a ruling political establishment and its media organs offer lavish rewards of funding, promotion, and public acclaim to those who endorse its party-line propaganda while casting into outer darkness those who dissent, the pronouncements of the former should be viewed with considerable suspicion. Barnes popularized the phrase “court historians” to describe these disingenuous and opportunistic individuals who follow the prevailing political winds, and our present-day media outlets are certainly replete with such types….

World War II ended nearly three generations ago, and few of its adult survivors still walk the earth. From one perspective the true facts of that conflict and whether or not they actually contradict our traditional beliefs might appear rather irrelevant. Tearing down the statues of some long-dead historical figures and replacing them with the statues of others hardly seems of much practical value.

But if we gradually conclude that the story that all of us have been told during our entire lifetimes is substantially false and perhaps largely inverted, the implications for our understanding of the world are enormous.

*Poof*!!! Just gone…

Fiat Dark Magic has a Price

03 Saturday Aug 2019

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Fiat Dark Magic has a Price

Tags

, , , ,

The sorcery will continue until society collapses.

The American middle class is falling deeper into debt to maintain a middle-class lifestyle.

Cars, college, houses and medical care have become steadily more costly, but incomes have been largely stagnant for two decades, despite a recent uptick. Filling the gap between earning and spending is an explosion of finance into nearly every corner of the consumer economy.

Consumer debt, not counting mortgages, has climbed to $4 trillion—higher than it has ever been even after adjusting for inflation. Mortgage debt slid after the financial crisis a decade ago but is rebounding.

Student debt totaled about $1.5 trillion last year, exceeding all other forms of consumer debt except mortgages.

Auto debt is up nearly 40% adjusting for inflation in the last decade to $1.3 trillion. And the average loan for new cars is up an inflation-adjusted 11% in a decade, to $32,187, according to an analysis of data from credit-reporting firm Experian.

Unsecured personal loans are back in vogue, the result of competition between technology-savvy lenders and big banks for borrowers and loan volume.

The debt surge is partly by design, a byproduct of low borrowing costs the Federal Reserve engineered after the financial crisis to get the economy moving. It has reshaped both borrowers and lenders. Consumers increasingly need it, companies increasingly can’t sell their goods without it, and the economy, which counts on consumer spending for more than two-thirds of GDP, would struggle without a plentiful supply of credit.

Excellent piece from the WSJ. Read the whole thing. Stunning admissions (with and without inflation tricks). And, the graphs…

“By design.” It’s really the same as any other carnival trick: wow the masses, and separate them from their money.

For voters… the only candidate talking about any of this is crazy uncle Bernie, who by design, cannot win.

The Times They Are A Changing

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If one diverts one’s attention from felons catching footballs or running for president, the signs of financial fallout and societal decay abound in America.

The middle class is broke and vanishing at an alarming rate. Forty percent of working Americans do not meet the $28,000 federal standard for poverty qualification. And, again, those are people who are working. The real rate of unemployment in this country is staggering – probably close to 20%. Those poor without jobs and those marginally employed make ends barely meet via debt and government subsidies. Almost 50 Million are on food stamps.

The government caused a lot of the problems. Fiat money backed by nothing, runaway spending, burdensome taxes and regulations, and job-destroying programs like NAFTA and ObamaTrade have filed the growth of the government, select corporations and a wealthy, well-connected few. The lower, middle and upper-middle classes have been run through the ringer.

Whole Industries are changing. Everything that can be outsourced overseas is. No jobs for us. Everything that can be automated is. No jobs. Insane levels of immigration pushes native citizens out of the labor force. No jobs.

The jobs that remain for the people are low paying, bereft of benefits, and, increasingly, temporary (permanently temporary).  Those jobs too are cut whenever possible.

For years, decades the prosperity script was: go to college; get a good company job; buy a nice house; buy a nice car, and; have a family. Today, there are few corporate jobs to be had and they treat you like shit and pay you similarly. All those other things can only be accomplished by going into ridiculous levels of debt. All this is encouraged by the government and the Big Club. Theirs is a bastardized version of capitalism – corporatism – as bad for the free as communism.

Increasingly, many of the formerly normal concepts have become worthless. College education isn’t anymore. Schools used to educate young people. Now they mold them into pathetic, emotionally challenged wimps. These folks are not fit for employment or much else. And, many (maybe most, now) who do get jobs are employed in areas which do not require formal education anyway. Again, its only those lucky enough to find the jobs.

America is on edge, a time bomb waiting to go off.  All that is needed is either a trigger event(s) or enough realization by the people of how had they’ve been shafted the bomb goes off. Unpleasant to contemplate.

Rather than attempt to avert the disaster our “leaders” do everything conceivable to hasten the day of reckoning. Stupidity and evil are constantly on display in D.C. and mirrored throughout larger society.

I have written about this before:

These troubles will ultimately resolve themselves. After the inevitable big national bankruptcy we will have the chance for a reset. This should include universal debt repudiation and a return to a real monetary and financial system based on the free market. If done right there will be no room or need for any government meddling.

This future fresh start is the silver lining to look forward too. Make the best of the wild ride until then.

I am optimistic about the future though maybe not the immediate future. What to do until then?

The best lesson I ever got in college came in the way of side advice from a professor, the legendary C. F. Floyd. He said, “get your life out of sync with the rest of the world as fast as possible.” If the rest of the world falls apart, you need not participate.

b0248deb731ac51fa6f939fdf31e8b8a

Unnatural and deadly. Google.

I’m a big fan of Jame Altucher and Farnoosh Brock, both of whom rail against college for college’s sake and conventional, mythical employment. See if you agree with their reasoning and if their ideas are compatible with your life.

Learn what you want to not what you “need” to. Don’t go into debt. Don’t support a government bent on killing you. Don’t sacrifice family time slaving for a soulless corporation which really hates you. Pay no heed to the entertainment/distraction industry and their efforts to blind you.

Change yourself a little and the Big changes you encounter won’t hurt as much. Be yourself. Be free.

 

The Middle Class, The Internet and Bos Taurus Dung

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

This morning the front page of the Augusta Chronicle reported that President Obama vowed, during his State of the Onion chat, to help the middle class.  I did not watch this speech nor the Republi-con response (had to have one).  I haven’t wasted time on these yearly debacles in, well, years.  However, experience has taught me that a politician always means the exact opposite of what he says.  Ergo, the middle class has been targeted for destruction.

The middle class has been under assault for decades.  Two of my favorite websites, http://endoftheamericandream.com/ and http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/, regularly feature stories about the dramatic decline of the American middle class.  They seem to be run by the same man (or men); they are very fond of lists.  “27 Facts That Show How The Middle Class Has Fared Under 6 Years Of Barack Obama,” and so forth.  Give a few of these a read after you consider Deflate-gate and the racial ramifications of “SELMA.”

Remember, this is the man who said your health insurance costs would go way down if not disappear entirely.  Looked at that withholding statement lately?  Whatever Barry said, let’s assume it may be the death knell for the middle class…

I also read somewhere recently that the Obama regime wants to help us by regulating the internet.  This all reminds me of a hack speech I did watch, years ago, wherein Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich jointly expressed their resolve to “help us.”  They didn’t.

I guess the new internet rules (laws, orders? who cares…) will do for the web what the TSA did for ease of air travel or what the Department of Education did for schooling.  I would educate myself this scheme if I thought it mattered.  Washington does as Washington wants so we’ll just have to accept whatever they “give” us.  Who knows, this blog may soon contain a header advising potential readers they have to pass through a metal detector or pat-down prior to reading further.

Thank God for democracy; you can consult one of your elected representatives to explain these plans to you in detail.  I myself recently visited with several members of Congress.  I took a picture:

IMG_20150118_154334876_HDR

(Look at those thoughtful faces.)

 

Random Thoughts and Such – July 25, 2013

25 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Random Thoughts and Such – July 25, 2013

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

The summer is passing by and I feel woefully inadequate about my postings of late.  My other projects and life management I fear I’m probably doing the best I can.  Oh well….  And, thanks for all your recent kind regards!

Let’s see what afoot lately…

The Wall Street Journal had a good article recently called The Rise of the Warrior Cop.  It concerns the never-ending militarization of law enforcement in America.  It even notes the Founders reservations about standing armies and that the police have become, de facto, just that.  Interesting piece; give it a read.

Alex Jones’ site ran a story about the decline (death) of justice in America.  See: http://www.infowars.com/america-no-longer-has-a-functioning-judicial-system/.  I have written about this subject extensively both from research and from personal, professional experience.  In short, the Just Us system is out of control.  For every George Zimmerman (or Roderick Scott) there are a hundred innocent people railroaded trough systemic corruption.

Sometimes even the Huffington Post gets it right.  Here’s a story on the decline of the American middle class.  I do not agree with all of their root causes but they have the problem dead to rights.  The part about “financialization” is spot on.  This is a huge part of what I (and George Carlin) refer to as “The Big Club.”  They run and own everything.  You and I get the crumbs, if any.  It’s shocking really.  We’re No. 27! We’re No. 27!  Wheeeee!!!

Government madness abounds unabated.  D.C. has rewarded Phil Mickelson for his excellent performance of late with a 61% tax hit.  A small-time magician in Missouri is required by the feds to write a 32-page disaster plan for his performing rabbit.  Etc.  Next, they’ll make rabbits write plans for magicians.  What a great country!  We’re No. 27!!!

More to come…