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Guest Post: Dude, Where's My Job
Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform
Dude, Where's My Job
The storyline being sold to the American public by the White House
and the corporate mainstream media is that the economy is growing, jobs
are being created, corporations are generating record profits, consumers
are spending and all will be well in 2011. The 2% payroll tax cut,
stolen from future generations to be spent in 2011, will jumpstart a
sound economic recovery. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.
PROPAGANDA MINISTERS
It was another wise old man named Ben Franklin who captured the essence of what those in control are peddling:
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”
The economy is growing due to unprecedented
deficit spending by the government, fraudulent accounting by the Wall
Street banks, the Federal Reserve buying $1.5 trillion of toxic mortgage
“assets” from their Wall Street owners, various home buyer and auto tax
credits and gimmick programs, and Fannie, Freddie, and the
FHA accumulating taxpayer loses so morons can continue to purchase
houses. Jobs are being created. According to the BLS, we’ve added
951,000 jobs since December 2009, an average of 79,000 per month. Of
course, the population of the US is growing at 175,000 per month. It
seems that there are millions of jobs being created, just not here as
shown on these graphs from the NYT.
The storyline of corporate profits is true.
As a percentage of national income, corporate profits are 9.5%. They
have only topped 9% twice in history – in 2006 and 1929. When you see
the paid Wall Street shills parade on CNBC every day proclaiming the
huge corporate profit growth ahead, keep these data points in mind. Do
profits generally rise dramatically from all time peaks?
You might ask yourself, if corporations are
doing so well how come real unemployment exceeds 20%? The answer lies
in who is generating the profits and how they are doing it. It seems
that the fantastic profits are not being generated by domestic
non-financial companies employing middle class Americans producing
goods. Pre-tax domestic nonfinancial corporate profits are not close
to record levels as a share of national income. They exceeded 15% of
national income once in the late 1940s, and repeatedly topped 12% in the
1950s and 1960s; in the third quarter of this year, they were 7.03% of
national income. I wonder who is making the profits.
According to BEA data, financial industry profits and “rest of world”
profits — that is, the money U.S.-based corporations make overseas —
are relatively much higher now than they were in the 1950s or 1960s. And
the taxes paid by corporations are much lower now than they were then,
as a share of national income. The reason that corporate profits are
near their all-time highs is that Wall Street corporations and
mega multinational corporations are making gobs of loot and paying less
of it out in taxes. Isn’t that delightful for the CEOs and top
executives of these companies?
The profits are being generated on Wall Street through collusion with
the Federal Reserve, as the insolvent Wall Street banks accept free
money from the Federal Reserve to generate speculative profits at the
expense of senior citizens earning .20% on their CDs. The
mega-multinationals are ”earning” their profits by continuing to ship
American jobs overseas at a record pace. The Economic Policy Institute, a
Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million
jobs overseas this year. The additional 1.4 million jobs would have
lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.9 percent, says Robert Scott,
the institute’s senior international economist. “There’s a huge
difference between what is good for American companies versus what is
good for the American economy,” says Scott. The hollowing out of the
American economy has been going on for decades and despite the usual
rhetoric out of Washington DC, it continues unabated today.
But consumer spending has surged, so the recovery must be solid and
self-sustaining say the brainless twits on CNBC. Consumer spending is
rising because the top 1% wealthiest Americans are doing splendidly as
they are now reaping 20% of the income in the country, levels last seen
in 1929. The Haves have more, the Have Nots have less. The top 10%
wealthiest Americans own 98.5% of all the stocks in the country. They
feel richer because Ben Bernanke has propped up the stock market with
trillions of borrowed money from future generations. The other 90% of
Americans have stagnant or non-existent wages, rising costs for fuel and
food, falling home prices, rising debt levels and little hope for the
future. They have been thrown a bone of extended unemployment bennies, a
temporary payroll tax cut, and extended tax cuts. Any spending they are
doing is on credit cards as the austerity deleveraging storyline is
another big lie by the MSM.
Greater Depression
The figure of 15 million unemployed reported by the government and
regurgitated by the corporate media is one of the biggest lies in the
history of lies. The real figure is 30 million and I will prove it using
the government’s own data. I created the chart below from BLS data (ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.ceseeb1.txt) to
prove that we are in the midst of a Greater Depression and no amount of
spin by politicians and the media can wish it away. When we look at
jobs in America across the decades, a picture of a country in decline,
captured by financial elites, reveals itself. In 1970, America still
produced goods, ran trade surpluses, and paid wages that allowed
families to thrive with only one parent working. Only 34.6% of the
population was employed, with a third of these workers producing goods.
| (Millions Employed) | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2007 | Dec-09 | Nov-10 |
| Mining & Logging | 677 | 1,077 | 765 | 599 | 724 | 676 | 763 |
| Construction | 3,654 | 4,454 | 5,263 | 6,787 | 7,630 | 5,696 | 5,615 |
| Manufacturing | 17,848 | 18,733 | 17,695 | 17,263 | 13,879 | 11,534 | 11,648 |
| Trade, Transport. & Utilities | 14,144 | 18,413 | 22,666 | 26,225 | 26,630 | 24,653 | 24,806 |
| Information | 2,041 | 2,361 | 2,688 | 3,630 | 3,032 | 2,748 | 2,717 |
| Financial Activities | 3,532 | 5,025 | 6,614 | 7,687 | 8,301 | 7,657 | 7,573 |
| Professional & Business Serv. | 5,267 | 7,544 | 10,848 | 16,666 | 17,942 | 16,488 | 16,861 |
| Education & Health Services | 4,577 | 7,072 | 10,984 | 15,109 | 18,322 | 19,350 | 19,719 |
| Leisure & Hospitality | 4,789 | 6,721 | 9,288 | 11,862 | 13,427 | 12,991 | 13,174 |
| Other Serices | 1,789 | 2,755 | 4,261 | 5,168 | 5,494 | 5,314 | 5,402 |
| Government | 12,687 | 16,375 | 18,415 | 20,790 | 22,218 | 22,481 | 22,261 |
| TOTAL EMPLOYED | 71,005 | 90,530 | 109,487 | 131,786 | 137,599 | 129,588 | 130,539 |
| US Population | 205,052 | 227,225 | 249,439 | 281,422 | 299,398 | 308,200 | 310,300 |
| % of US Population Employed | 34.6% | 39.8% | 43.9% | 46.8% | 46.0% | 42.0% | 42.1% |
| Source: BLS Establishment Data |
Whether it was due to the woman’s movement of the 1970s or due to
financial necessity, the percentage of the population employed grew
relentlessly until it reached 46.8% in the year 2000. The level of 46.8%
meant that when the opportunity to be employed was available, this
percentage of Americans wanted a job. Since 2000 the population of the
U.S. has grown by 28.9 million people. The labor force between the ages
of 18 and 64 has grown by 26.1 million people since 2000. The
government insists that millions of Americans have chosen to “leave the
workforce” and should not be considered unemployed. This is laughable.
Why would people choose to leave the workforce when wages are stagnant,
retirement looms, prices relentlessly rise, and they are drowning in
debt? The truth is that at least 46.8% of the population wants to be
employed. That means that 145.2 million Americans would be working if
they had the chance. Only 130.5 million are currently employed. This
means that there are really 30 million Americans unemployed versus the
15 million reported by the government and MSM.
Not only is the country short 30 million jobs, but the type of jobs
reveal a country of paper pushers, consultants, temp workers, government
drones, waitresses, and clerks. The chart below shows the distribution
of jobs through the decades.
| (% of Employed) | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2007 | Dec-09 | Nov-10 |
| Mining & Logging | 1.0% | 1.2% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
| Construction | 5.1% | 4.9% | 4.8% | 5.2% | 5.5% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Manufacturing | 25.1% | 20.7% | 16.2% | 13.1% | 10.1% | 8.9% | 8.9% |
| Trade, Transport. & Utilities | 19.9% | 20.3% | 20.7% | 19.9% | 19.4% | 19.0% | 19.0% |
| Information | 2.9% | 2.6% | 2.5% | 2.8% | 2.2% | 2.1% | 2.1% |
| Financial Activities | 5.0% | 5.6% | 6.0% | 5.8% | 6.0% | 5.9% | 5.8% |
| Professional & Business Serv. | 7.4% | 8.3% | 9.9% | 12.6% | 13.0% | 12.7% | 12.9% |
| Education & Health Services | 6.4% | 7.8% | 10.0% | 11.5% | 13.3% | 14.9% | 15.1% |
| Leisure & Hospitality | 6.7% | 7.4% | 8.5% | 9.0% | 9.8% | 10.0% | 10.1% |
| Other Serices | 2.5% | 3.0% | 3.9% | 3.9% | 4.0% | 4.1% | 4.1% |
| Government | 17.9% | 18.1% | 16.8% | 15.8% | 16.1% | 17.3% | 17.1% |
| TOTAL EMPLOYED | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Source: BLS |
In 1970, jobs in the goods producing industries made up 31.2% of all
jobs. Today, they account for 13.8% of all jobs. The apologists will
proclaim that corporate America just got phenomenally more efficient and
productive. That is another falsehood. In 1970, we were a net exporter,
consumer expenditures accounted for 62.4% of GDP, and private
investment accounted for 14.7% of GDP. Today, we consistently run $500
billion to $700 billion annual trade deficits, consumer expenditures
account for 71% of GDP, and private fixed investment is a pitiful 11.5%
of GDP. We’ve degenerated from a productive goods producing society to a
consumption based, debt fueled society. This is a classic late stage
trait of declining empires. Rome and Britain before us experienced
similar declines.
The most damning facts that can be garnered from the BLS data relate
to how we’ve become a nation of bankers, real estate agents,
accountants, lawyers, tax specialists, and fast food fry cooks.
Manufacturing jobs have dropped from 25% of all jobs in 1970 to less
than 9% today. Jobs in the spreadsheet generating, credit default swap
creating, subprime mortgage pushing, frivolous lawsuit filing, tax
evasion sector of the economy went from 12% in 1970 to 19% today.
The misinformation and lies will continue. The MSM keeps repeating
that jobs are coming back. You don’t hear which jobs. Hysterically, the
four fastest growing job categories according to the BLS are:
- Administrative and support services
- Food services and drinking places
- Couriers and messengers
- Performing arts and spectator sports
The well paying goods producing jobs are never coming back. American
manufacturing jobs have been shifted overseas for more than two decades
by corporate America. Now those jobs have become more sophisticated,
like semiconductors, software and even medical and finance. The
American middle class is relegated to being McDonalds fry cooks,
Wal-Mart greeters, and temp workers. What has happened to the American
middle class was not an accident. The wealth of the country has been
pillaged by an elite group at the very top of the economic food chain,
who were able to reap the rewards of globalization (outsourcing American
jobs), manipulate the debt based financial system through synthetic
fraud products, and avoid taxes by hiring thousands of lawyers,
accountants and tax consultants. When you hear that the rich need lower
taxes, corporate taxes are too high and increased productivity is great
for America, remember what they have done to the country since 1970. If
corporate America and its leaders continue to reap obscene profits while
the middle class falls further into the abyss, societal unrest will
beckon.
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Mugabe 2 and his police state media.
Great piece on the employment (or lack thereof). The one area he missed is wage deflation due to globalization. Wage deflation and persistently high levels of unemployment are a double whammy to the middle and lower class.
But the stock market doesn't care. The corporations are sucking the life blood from everyone and getting richer all the while. And, it is the corporations that make up the stock market. The top 10% of the income earners can support the stock market and the corporations. This is why the stock market continues to rise. Doing more with less (employees) is a bonanza for big corporations.
And doing less with more is the holy grail of all socialists.
While there is an awful lot to be angry about, if you don't think you will only fan the flames and do more harm.
P.S. I don't think that most corporations are getting richer. Their stock prices are going up, but they are squandering capital and operating in liquidation mode. They postpone maintenance, investment in R&D and plant.
Wrong, Bearster boob! The banksters are most certainly getting richer from FDI (foreign direct investment) and proprietary trading, something allowed in that so-called "financial reform" Dodd-Frank Act!
The vast majority of these companies offwhoring manufacturing jobs will end up unwittingly digging their own graves.
Even Ford knew that a business can only survive if its market can afford to buy its products.
OTOH, the PRC's market of a billion plus dwarfs the US' comparatively paltry 300 million...
Honesty: Stiglitz/Summers quietly said 1.5 years ago there would be 10%+ unemployment for years to come. Everything else has been BS.
Humor: June 2009, Geithner and the US economic plan was literally laughed off the stage at University of Beijing, "Bwhaa! ha! Where's the numbers?"
New Normal: Hide the decline
Would it be alright if we waterboarded summers?
I'd prefer to see it done to Timmy the Weasel.
*
Let the top 10% have their stock market. They can trade that useless shit back and forth. I have plenty of guns, ammo, gold and silver. In the end we will see which prevails.
Hey Harry, why don't you do some hiring over there at your stores?
Since 2000 the population of the U.S. has grown by 61.6 million people
Ummm, something is screwy with your population figures. The U.S. population didn't go down between 1990-2000, and sure as hell didn't increase by 61.6 million people between 2000-2010.
There was an error in my chart. It should be 28.9 million. I've since fixed the chart and some of the calculations to reflect the correct figures. I sent it to Tyler, but he may not be able to post the corrected version. The correct version is here:
http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=8936
"There was an error in my I.Q.
"It should be 28.9.
"I've since fixed that by posting under my other AKA ...'Smokey1' here on ZH... which makes me seem somewhat less of a total MORON.
"The correct version is here ...which will get my hit counts up @ www.theSheepPlatform.com ... my pathetic excuse for a blog."
SJQ
..................................................................
Hey MORON...I'm calling you out into the street on ZH... Are you All Hat like Denninger?
"Keep posting on my articles and I will obliterate you like the sheep fucking American traitor that you are."... #820176
I'm right here waiting... I have all night to play or are you an Obese Big Mouthed Pussy that's afraid to debate when he cannot use his sissy delete button?
DP---If Quinn was worried about hit counts he wouldn't have banned you from his blog. DP, forever trying to justify his cowardice by spamming delusional 9/11 conspiracy shit onto Quinn's blog. Back to your sheep now DP. They anxiously await your return so that you may consumate your love affair.
Hello in there !
Come out Jim Quinn.
No point in playing PRETEND
Use your own voice... MORON !
Wow another internet tough guy - other than being a dickhead do you have any actual criticism or debate about what he posted?
Watch and learn...Newbee!
Go do some reading... back in time... the links are all there... above.
Cyborg-Gurus aint always what you might think.
Till then STFU!
boys will be boys I 'spose
Declining US employment is structural not cyclical. The 02-07 recovery was unable to fully replaced the job losses of 01-02. This is the second leg down. Why? No mystery. Jobs were exported overseas, not because Americans are incompetent, but because it's been US policy since the monetarist revolution of the 1970s and 80s. Now even service jobs are leaving and the trend will strengthen.
But there's a big future in security, prisons, gun manufacturing, and undertaking.
Undertaking - won't be necessary, bulldozer/backhoe operator will be in high demand though.
I was thinking just dump them in the ocean and let the fish eat them.
That might work if you run them through a chum grinder first.
Well said, CE!
And the same private equity firms and hedge funds always seem to own/invested in those establishments (security, privatized prisons, munitions, etc.).
Ever see the movie Escape from New York? :)
the blurb referencing the Economic Policy Institute stats and comments (1.4m jobs) are a joke. You can't directly coorelate overseas employment numbers of multinational companies with our employment numbers here to directly give those 1.4m jobs to Americans. "senior economist"? demented is more like it
"The well paying goods producing jobs are never coming back." Nor are a lot of other things.
Check our Jim Willie's latest missive on Ultimate Cost Of 0% Money
aka "capital destruction." The pieces of the puzzles are coming together rapidly now to expose the rotten fruits of Wall Street & Gov't. Moreover, he retorts the false idea of a gold bubble.
http://www.kitco.com/ind/willie/dec292010.html
God help us all...
Excellent article.
And compared to the M1 or M2 inflation, those "profits" are what?....
Why do we work?
Most work to acquire wealth, security and independence.
Problems begin to manifest when it becomes obvious to the common man that no matter how hard he works or how successful he is; he will be unable to attain these goals. Common man realizes "it all pays the same" and slacks just hard enough to make a payday. He knows the system is rigged and if he has to play, he is only going to go through the motions... Just like that guy shilling for the carnies... His heart isn't in it.
The whole US is physically and socially hollowed out like an egg shell that had the contents sucked out through that tiny hole...
All Presentation -- No Content.
Soon the greed that sucked out all the good content will suck out enough air to create a vacuum. Then the shell will implode.
Hmmm... Time for an Omelette...
Good analogy.
"Hmmm... Time for an Omelette..."
cockadoodle do bitchez...
There I fixed it for you.
Work is not a problem,
there is always a need for someone to clean the toilets or whatever.
The problem is Pay and Renumeration.
Why should Tiger Woods be paid millions to put a small ball in a hole and why should Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan etc. be rewarded on a bet to fuck up the world economy ?
Everybody wants to work,but no-one expected to be exploited like a slave.
what should be the hourly rate for someone cleaning your shit ?
or does that come under slave labour ?
even the mainstream media acknowledges that
Wall Street is nothing more than a rigged ponzi scheme cartel:
(from wall streets "fortune"):
The US Justice Department warns on Wall Street trading cartel
Posted by Colin Barr
December 29, 2010 1:27 pm
The nation's top antitrust cop urged regulators to stiffen derivatives trading rules -
or risk having giant banks join up to make a mockery of financial reform.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that rulemaking proposals floated this fall by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission "may not sufficiently protect and promote competition in the industry."
Smooth landing not quite assured
Justice took issue with how the SEC and CFTC would restrict Wall Street ownership of the clearinghouses that will be used to settle derivatives trades, bets tied to the values of financial assets and market indexes.
Derivatives markets have become a major profit driver at dealers such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Deutsche Bank (DB), and the five biggest U.S. banks control 97% of a domestic market whose notional value is estimated at $234 trillion.
The global market is, of course, at least twice as big.
Reducing the risk of a big blowup there was a major focus of the Dodd Frank Act adopted this summer.
But the Justice Department said
regulators' failure to set an explicit limit on the big dealers' aggregate ownership of clearinghouse stakes could leave the SEC and CFTC far short of their stated goal
of preventing the biggest banks from ganging up and driving trading prices higher.
The Justice statement compared derivatives trading platforms to airports
and warned what hell might break loose without limits on who owns what.
Limiting aggregate ownership and imposing stringent governance requirements … may prevent the emergence of a dominant trading platform controlled by major dealers to the detriment of other market participants. The creation of such a platform would be roughly analogous to the three or five largest airlines controlling all landing rights at every U.S. airport - the big carriers could use this control to disadvantage smaller carriers by restricting landing rights or raising their rivals' costs to access the airports.
Most derivatives trading now takes place over the counter, in contracts negotiated among the big dealer banks and with their customers.
The Dodd Frank Act seeks to push most derivatives trades into regulated clearinghouses or exchanges in an attempt to boost market transparency and reduce so-called counterparty risk - the fear, seen most recently in the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers - that one's trading partner will fail to make good on its obligations.
Though the SEC and CFTC offered two proposals for restricting individual ownership of the clearinghouses – mutual organizations in which other members absorb the costs if one fails – the Justice Department warns that without aggregate position limits, those proposals could prove ineffective.
In the Department's view, however, it is not sufficient to impose restrictions only on individual ownership or control; an aggregate cap on ownership or control by participants and members also should be required. This is because the major dealers as a group likely share very similar incentives to limit access and to otherwise insulate themselves from competition.
Accordingly, while the cap on individual ownership will eliminate the chance that a single entity could gain direct control over a clearinghouse to the detriment of competition, under the SEC's proposal, there is no barrier to a group of entities -major derivatives dealers, for example - working together to control a clearinghouse to their combined competitive advantage.
Because billions of dollars in trading-related profits are at stake, both the banks
and their opponents have shown a zeal for lobbying both legislators and agency rulemakers.
Michael Greenberger, a University of Maryland law professor who has been calling for regulators to clean up the derivatives markets, said the Justice Department statement will send a strong signal to the SEC and the CFTC, which he said
have been less than decisive in cracking down on Wall Street overreach.
"This is a very important step when the expert on anticompetitive behavior makes such a powerful set of comments," he said. "This is going to be very influential on the courts and on the commissions."
Tags: antitrust, cartel, derivatives, Wall Street
---------------------------------
December 29, 2010 1:27 pm
Street Sweep
Following the money in banking, economics and Washington
Justice warns on Wall Street trading cartel
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/29/justice-warns-on-wall-street-t...
Am I the only one that noticed that his chart of "millions employed" is actually "thousands employed"? I mean unless the US population is actually 310 billion rather than 310 million. When attempting to tackle complicated, difficult and much debated subject matter, no better way to look like a dumbass then to fuckup your decimal points....
"...no better way to look like a dumbass then to fuckup your decimal points...."
SmokeyQuinn is so fucked up he can not decide if he is Smokey1 or Jim Quinn.
And... oh by the way... three steel reinforced concrete building just turned to dust on The 9/11 because Allah willed it through his 'profit' Osama bin Laden and the 19 Merry Pranksters*
* gospel according to SmokeyQuinn.
da hook our joooobs.....
I just landed a part time job after two years with nothing. I am making 9% of what I used to make. But it's better than nothing. I was self employed doing consulting work for the last 7 years. That died in 2009. I haven't had a response since then on any jobs I applied for.
Temporary work, the new slave labor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brj2UkUPjCI
How the hell did you get important documentary film of the latest Town Hall meeting of MORONs @
www.TheMoron'sPlatform.com
SmokeyJimQuinn's Bestiality Blog ?
Hey MORON...I'm calling you out into the street on ZH... Are you All Hat like Denninger?
"Keep posting on my articles and I will obliterate you like the sheep fucking American traitor that you are."... #820176
I'm right here waiting... I have all night to play or are you an Obese Big Mouthed Pussy?
Wow - thought I had accidentally tuned in to C-SPAN there for a minute
Is it just me, or do any of you think that ammo is coming out of the ears of many suppliers in this country. I can remember a time in 2005, when this was not so. Me thinks that this will not always be the case and that time is fast approaching. Part of me wants to buy , buy , buy, while I still can .
How much shooting do you think you'll have to do? Personally I
keep a good stock of 12ga 00 buck and .45 ACP. I sincerely hope I
don't need it.
There is product available, unless you have special needs, but prices could be better in most cases.
IMO If you are training yourself or others, it makes sense to have several years stock at your current usage. If you like competition, that can consume a pickup-full a year ;-) Otherwise, if you have trained to picking up a new firearm and hitting consistently after a few rounds, then why do you need a lot of ammo?
Strategically it is best to avoid battle, especially when your fellow combatants are family and friends. Tactically, if you are forced to battle, and survive uninjured, likely you acquire more ammo than you started with. A few remote ammo caches, with a spare weapon or two, might come in handy if you survive your main position being overrun, but caches should contain no more (each) than 4-6 times what you or your group can carry in "battle dress". Before stockpiling ammo beyond that level, consider that if things fall apart you could go a year without firing a shot, but will use consumables in medical, food, batteries, toiletries, dog food etc that are likely to be in short supply.
Just adding to the thread with a general hello from a new ZH member. I've been coming here for a while now and filling in knowledge on topics of interest when I can. We generally have some pretty sharp people in ZH, so I look forward to adding to the debates and commentary when I can.
Welcome. Keep your sense of humour and you will fit in just fine.
.
"The wealth of the country has been pillaged by an elite group at the very top of the economic food chain, who were able to reap the rewards of globalization (outsourcing American jobs)..."
Not all strictly true. Americans, with their high salaries, tax rates, social welfare expenses and overregulation are unable to compete with more nimble, lower-cost producers.
There are only two alternatives: either you build a closed economy, start socialist planning, raise tariffs and erect barriers, or you admit that lower living standards are a necessity if the nation is to become internationally competitive again.
Both choices have serious downside.
I'm thinking the "closed economy" idea sounds pretty good. The U.S. is huge and has all the resources it needs, IF it can close its borders.
We had a much higher standard of living back in the 1970's and earlier when we did absolutely NO trading with China (nor Russia nor eastern Europe, and very little with Japan and India).
If we combine with Canada and maybe western Europe into a giant, closed economy with no immigration and no involvement in foreign wars (just point our nukes at anyone that threatens us) we'd all be a lot better off.
Socialism has been tried before and didn't work.
Shouldn't I, as a free individual, have the choice to buy Chinese or other foreign goods if they are cheaper than American ones? And shouldn't I have the freedom to exchange my USD for any other currency?
Slaves don't have freedoms. Only the illusion of freedoms!
Yes, you should. As to the two alternatives you mention above, the
US will most likely end up with both simultaneously.
Or, we could downsize our military expenditures to match our biggest competitor, close all our bases outside the US, drastically cut government and it's spending and the taxation that accompanies it. Eliminate legal tender laws, then see how well we do.
It is the creation of a police state, that promotes a small number of corporations at the expense of the general public, coupled with the criminal syndicate that is the FED, that has cost us our competitive edge.
The answer is in the creation of true free markets, absolute minimum government and sound money. You cannot have sound money as long as you have legal tender laws. The solution is simple- the implementation is the hard part.
Remember: black markets are free markets.
Sound money...the concept has an american ring to it...The Secret of Oz
Rep. Kucinich tossed his snowball into hell with the NEED Act (HR-6550) and Ron Paul basically got shot down with this attempt.
"black markets are free markets"
Absolutely correct. The world has a thriving black market that has
existed forever. Anyone who has spent time in third world countries
has encountered it in one way or another. The U.S. will go through
the learning curve and develop their's. Actually we have it if one
considers the drug trade. Competition can get a little rough though.
Then why does it take fraud to perpetuate what is an "honest" system? Globalization has no honest component to it, requiring the lack of honesty to perpetuate it. Advocating the descent to Third World standards has no room here.
When one hears the words "compete" in the context of economics, reach for your gun. Someone is about to rob you and your country.
You summed it up pretty well. Either we compete on the basis of price (cheap labor, no OSHA, no EPA) or we all pay more for what we buy in order to subsidize those of our fellows who have easily replaceable skills. Standing in the way of the latter choice is, among other things, management that sees its bonuses tied up in the domestic workforce's salary and benefits (which could be slashed by outsourcing and lead to a fatter bottom line).
There is no way the jobs are coming back absent one of these two tough choices. Even if some magical new technology emerged tomorrow in the US (think the auto industry, computer industry), written into the business plan and feasibility study would be the outsourcing of the grunt work to low cost labor centers.
About the only advice I might have for anybody today is "don't make babies".
Allow me this one fantasy chindit and I'll negate what's 'standing in the way': An enforceable global minimum wage.
Either that or the consumer with a discerning, focussed conscience.
<Sigh> I know, I know...I might as well ask for a peaceful Abrahamic religion.
If I had the power to make fantasies come true, GoinFawr, I think I'd start close to home and set myself up with Priyanka Chopra, but that's just me. Selfish, no?
Or both!
Lowering living standards is not the result of wishing for it.
Living standards are coupled with the quality of the general environment.
The US has spent an extremely large amount of resources (taken from the world pool, hence diminishing the capacity of others to achieve the same) to better the US general environment. And therefore the standard of living is now fixed. Wishing for it to get lowered will give no substantial result.
The consequences of it is that now quite a lot of US citizens through their work output can no longer afford to live in the US (their life mode is largely subsidized by various means)
The US is the Hilton Palace of the world and many, many people who work in a Hilton palace simply do not live in it.
Thinking of a wage arbitration has no ground, just like wishing for a wage arbitration to come between Flint, Detroit and Park Avenue. Wont happen. The quality of the general environment wont let it happen.
Kreditanstalt, What a morooooon!
Yeah...right....the same American-based multinationals who have offshored all those jobs, or created all the new ones overseas, and refuse to pay federal taxes, while further profiting from their private equity leveraged buyouts which destroy companies and employment while enriching themselves, then do all those securitizations and peddling of securitized debt, and ultra-leveraged speculation for further wealth transfer, are the ones "we are supposed to compete" with??
You don't make any frigging sense, moron.
Hysterically, the four fastest growing job categories according to the BLS are:
- Administrative and support services
- Food services and drinking places
- Couriers and messengers
- Performing arts and spectator sports
About #4 - are they hiring people for the actual sport or just to spectate?Shit in one hand, and wish in the other and see which one fills up faster. Lot's of wishing going on in the MSM, though I must say I did not hear that Goldmans sack or JP Morgue defaulted today due to physical silver delivery.........
I do have to say that I have never seen anything like this in my entire life. It is a almost complete eclipse of creditable reporting and analysis. All hopium and spin now. The invisible hand is clearly very large. I am impressed (in a frightened sort of way).
lmao
Dude, Where's My Job?
We just hope that the prostituting administration will finally float the one proposal we have all been waiting for: free blow jobs for everyone in perpetuity, funded by the Federal Reserve's monetization of the Sinking Hooker fund. - Tyler Durden 12/6/10
Smokey1 says ...
Hey!... JimQuinn... Where's My Blow Job!
I's been defending your sorry ass from TheDP and all his honestest troofs and such 9/11MORON attacks on you all night.
Why that there Tyler D. Dudes just might takes himselves really serious like, and sees you for what you is and are...
I wants and surely needs whats you promissed me, if and when I posted for ya's here... before TheDurden boot's you to the fucking curb off his cyborg-blog...
..............................................................
"We believe that any time we observe someone manipulating truth or reality in order to achieve ulterior, selfish goals while masking these in some form of a hypocritical aura, we will expose such an action and certainly make our voices heard."*
*TD
i think i paid enough in taxes in 2010 to at least get a fucking blow job out of it...
between state, federal, and SS, it's close to 50 grand and counting...
Heres the top (or bottom)
BreakingNews Judge OKs strippers' class-action suit against Rick's chain for alleged cheating on wages - NY Daily News http://nydn.us/eXyNaw
what about the 160,000 or so strippers?? are they included in this?
"The 2% payroll tax cut, stolen from future generations to be spent in 2011"
Since when is cutting taxes a problem? Would not the spending side of the equation be the real problem? Why the F%(* do we never cut spending? NVM, I know the answer to that unfortunately.
Hey CPL, nice post. Yes we can expect yet another tax hike that is good for us like our Canadian gas tax too. Evetually we will need all the kids and adults working just to pay the bills while the corporations get richer. Nice system. However I do believe with Canadian debt to income levels exceeding that of the US consumer now our real estate bubble will pop and we will be joining the world in red ink during this next contraction that isn't going to happen if you believe all the MSM imbeciles or the economic Guru's. In my 47 years I have yet to see a recovery that looked anything like this one. Like the US our manufacturing base was outsourced years ago and our companies did nothing at all with the tax incentives given to them by our government except to strengthen ties to the US export machine and put the rest in their pocket. All will become apparent up here in Canada in about six months to a year. All ponzi's end one way or another.
When the SHTF in the Canadian housing market, the banks will still be able to claim that they are special because all of the risky mortgages are backstopped by the CMHC. There will be no need for a bailout because the taxpayer is already on the hook! That's a hell of a deal, for the banks. No risk of default. The borrowers, who were enticed by low rates and slutty banks will be blamed, and perhaps rightly so, but the people get their information from the newspapers who just cut and paste kool aid from the real estate boards. How can the average schmuck know any better? Young people grew up with their boomer parents telling them that their main objective in life is to buy real estate. Lucky for me, I've been too poor to qualify for a mortgage throughout most of the craze, and now that I have a job with some disposable income, I'm renting, trying to keep costs down and buying PMs.
Watch in the next few years as Flaherty and the banks point fingers at everyone but themselves for enabling this scheme, while F. warms up for his next act, namely, handing over the CPP to the private sector to loot. They are literally sporting wood at the thought of the management fees they can rake in.
These seemingly clueless buyers are going to be introduced to a new term shortly - negative equity, bitchez!
More O/T, but here in CIAland, they are training dogs with 2 handlers, in case 1 gets killed.
Punta Gorda, home of CIA U.
http://www.impacu.edu/
"
IMPAC University® reserves the right to restrict enrollment of students-at-large in in any of its courses or programs."infowars is populated by morons
I live in the midst of this cit.
An excellent post, but one should not get too "evil corporations and rich people did it" about this. I work for a major corporation and I can attest that the people running the show are too stupid to carry off something like this deliberately. Its just one of those thigns which happens when dimwits are left in charge for too long. A few, like Soros and such, do play a deliberate roll in looting the middle class, but most of them are just ill-educated cretins who are deathly afraid of losing their place at the trough...and so just follow the herd.
The cure will be both easy and hard - easy because it really just means taking away the taxes and regulations which hamper the domestic making, mining and growing of things - hard because the aforementioned dimwits will be losing their place at the trough, and thus will fight long and hard against reform. But it can be done - and it will be done, I believe. I do think that the average American has finally had quite enough of this.
Year 2010 is ending and $ 600 B finished yesterday.
Will you be kind enough to print another $ 1 Trillion only for 2011 so that we keep Ponzi Casino floating, otherwise it may plunge like Titanic.
Ball is in your court buddy Ben
Thanking you
Fraud Street gang
plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9yFNy0f6E4
1. Recession 2007 -2010
2. Depression 2011
3. Suicidal stage 2012
4.Adam & Eve era 2013
5. Back to Stone Age 2014
Hello buddy Helicopter Ben
So long you are printing unlimited for us, we will keep jacking up the Casino, nothing to worry.
Who cares for hundreds of doomers posting their comments daily here and wasting their time for nothing.
Thanking you
Fraud Street gang
The Casino doesn't care or worry about China or any one else i./c WH / Capitol Hill / Pentagon except daily POMO's.
Bigger the POMO's, higher it goes.
Very simple
without oxygen humans would die. our banks need the Fed just like people need air to breathe.
Pilbara faces cyclone risk December 30, 2010 - 2:23PM
A tropical depression over Australia could develop into a cyclone over the next few days and bear down on offshore oil and gas installations, and iron ore shipping zones, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said today.
Gale-force winds may develop along the Pilbara coast in Western Australia by Saturday as the storm makes its way out to sea, though flooding was not expected due to the storm's steady movement, the bureau said in a warning notice.
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals export hundreds of millions of tonnes of iron ore mined annually from inland Pilbara deposits via coastal terminals at Port Hedland, Dampier and Cape Lambert.
Also Cockatoo Coal ceases operations as mine flooded
Be Careful with longs of miners
I wonder how many people just look at the net pay from their electronic payroll stub. If so, the amount of this tax cut will almost be completely offset by an increase in each individual's health insurance premium. Thus for many people, they will see no difference in their net pay, after all the deductions and taxes, etc. With 80 percent of the people living paycheck to paycheck, a 10 to 20 percent increase in health insurance would be a catastrophe. New health rates go into affect in a few days.
Just wait till they start developing the shale gas plays.
NEWS on the WikiLeaks Assange front.
The US chance of finding something that will stick looking a bit more difficult.
Dow zooming up to 12k... not a crack in the damn!!!
Congress deserves a big thank you for ignorning the DEAD WRONG doome public.
Time's Man of the Year 2.0?
time to be honest folks... no matter how much it hurts
America is coming back : )
Go to a major leage sports game lately? (Incredible ;)
http://youtu.be/TrSTeM8Zh_8?hd=1
http://youtu.be/zf3x01h2gtY
TOTAL COLLAPSE IS UNFOLDING
Mission accomplished. lulz.
Man, that music? sucked. Those dudes could use a personal trainer, in addition to at least a little music education.
You know what those angry twats need? A stint in the army, courtesy of THE DRAFT.
I guess I could be missing the point.
2001= "the event". "the collapse". "The beginning of the great FALL"...
All MEANINGFUL trends for a society that values individual liberty, sound (stable) money, prospierty, property rights, rule of law, justice (not just us),etc
the event was predicted by many dating back in history.
even as early as the 16th Century
In the city of God there will be a GREAT thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader (?) will succumb'
'The third big war will begin when the big city is burning'
-Nostradamus prophecy
got my ebt card from .guv on xmas eve....joy to the world! it fits right in with my free insurance for the wife and kid, heating fuel assistance letter and my VA disability.....i'm feeling kinda guilty...like a freeloader, ya know? i should feel bad, right? after all, i went to the market and got 20usd worth of ice cream, 20 usd worth of nicely-spiced hamfrom spain, 30usd on frozen pizzas.......all on honest americans taxes! oh wait a minute....i forgot that i became unemployed two weeks ago(two days before my daughter was born) and the small organic farm i've helped build and manage for years didnt qualify to pay INTO unemp insurance.......ah yes, can't suck ALL the milk out of the boob.
so, for all youse who believe in the spectacle, i wasted your "tax" dollars on the most expensive caviar a bottomfeeder like myself could find on my cat.
Wasting good caviar on a cat? I can't believe you did that. You're
just trying to start some shit.
Tyler D...WTF happened to you, Marla carciket...eh...too. Make some noise and get sum sush monies...eh. Fight club lol, what a hollysodomay fright day trader jerk off ye has become, tell the truth you are Ashton!
Skippy...what a dog and pony show to vent the rage...day trader dog meat assembly line shite.
PS watch this get meditated.
(D)
ever wonder why they called goebbels 'the rabbi' during his school days?
Yeah, I wonder. Tell me why.